Supreme Pizza Burgers

This is another recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and it was F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.  Definitely among the best burgers I have ever had in my entire life!!  Again, Ree's pictures and description are way better than mine, so please go check out this recipe on her blog.  You can practically taste the deliciousness through the computer screen!  For my own reference (I do use this blog as my recipe book!) I will include the recipe here too.

This is basically a supreme pizza in hamburger form, which is great because you can customize it depending on what supreme pizza ingredients the members of your family like.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 pound (or more) Italian sausage
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
Sliced Provolone or Mozzarella cheese (2 or 3 slices per burger)
Pepperoni slices
Marinara sauce (won't use the whole jar)
Grated Parmesan cheese
Kaiser rolls or good hamburger buns
Thinly sliced red onion (optional)
Whole green pepper, sliced in rings (optional)
Sliced black olives (optional)
Sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh - optional)


Procedure

Combine ground beef, sausage, and Italian seasoning in a bowl and mix well.  Form mixture into hamburger patties.  Fry the burgers on one side for several minutes.  Flip over and let cooking begin on the other side.  On the top of each burger, place 2 slices of cheese and several pepperoni slices.  Spoon a dollop of marinara sauce on top of the pepperoni and then lay a couple thin slices of red onion on top of that.  Layer the rest of the ingredients or not, depending on the tastes of your family ~ mushrooms, sliced olives, and green pepper rings.

Spoon a bit of marinara sauce on the top of all these ingredients and then layer another slice of cheese on the very top.  Cover with lid and let the burgers cook all the way through while the cheese melts and the toppings get warm.

In a separate skillet, cook the front and back of each side of the kaiser rolls in a good amount of butter.  When one side is done, flip over and on the top (cooked) side put a spoonful of marinara sauce and sprinkle some parmesan cheese while the bottom side cooks.  When the burger is done, lay it on this marinara "bed", top with the other half of the kaiser roll, and.... voila! 

A supreme pizza burger.  Delish!

Chicken Florentine Pasta

I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog, and it was WONDERFUL!  Very delicious, and it made me feel healthy. :-)  She has much better pictures, and a much better description, so you should just hop on over to her blog and read it there....

but for those of you committed to staying here, here is the list of ingredients:

1 pound of penne
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup dry white wine (didn't have any so I skipped this)
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 bag of baby spinach
2 cups grape tomatoes, cut length-wise
4 ounces of parmesan cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler (did not have chunk parmesan, just grated parmesan for spaghetti, so I used that ~ it doesn't look nearly as nice, but it tastes good!)

Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain, and set aside.

Cut the chicken into bite sized chunks, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add to skillet on high heat with butter and olive oil.  Lay flat in one layer and let the chicken cook on one side for a couple minutes.  Turn chicken over and cook on the other side.  Let the pieces cook through until they are nice and done.  Remove chicken from pan and set aside.   Turn heat down and add garlic to pan, stirring it around so it doesn't burn.  Pour in the white wine (if using) and chicken broth (double the amount of chicken broth if not using wine).  Allow the liquid to bubble up, and then cook so it is reduced by at least half.   Turn off the heat.

Add spinach, tomatoes, chicken, and cooked pasta to the skillet.  Toss to combine.  The spinach will wilt a bit as you toss with the hot chicken and pasta (and this is a good thing).  Add parmesan shavings (or grated parmesan) and toss again.

Voila!  Chicken florentine pasta!  Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Food Prep for the Week / Menus for the Week

With two birthdays this month, one party, Mother's Day, driver's ed, and an unexpected washing machine repair, we came to the end of the money in the grocery envelope, with several days of the month left to go, and no available envelopes to "rob" from.  I love challenges like this!  Last weekend I spent considerable time preparing the food we did have for future meals, so as not to waste any.  Also, this makes dinner preparation go much more smoothly during the week if some of the steps have already been done.  I enlisted the children's help, and we got a lot accomplished!

We cooked up the three pounds of hamburger I had in the freezer, then split it into 3 bags and re-froze it.

We chopped up a bunch of veggies for dinner that night, sautee'd the leftover onion and then froze it.  I have not frozen pre-cooked onion before, so this is an experiment!

 

 

We pulled the skin off lots of chicken thighs and drumsticks, marinated some of them for dinner, and froze the rest for future meals.

We had several over ripe bananas, so we mixed up a huge double batch of banana muffins to have at breakfast over the course of the week.

I also baked four loaves of bread for the week!  (three pictured)





With all of our cooking on Saturday, by Sunday we were tired of being in the kitchen, so we made something super fast and easy for dinner ~ scrambled eggs!

Here are our dinner menus for this last week of May:

Friday:  pizza and salad

Saturday: tomato-curry lentil stew (crock pot), home made bread

Sunday:  roast, carrots, and potatoes (crock pot)

Monday:  bbq chicken on the grill, garlic potatoes, fruit

Tuesday: taco soup (crock pot), tortilla chips

Wednesday: poppyseed chicken, steamed veggie


Thursday is payday, which means GROCERY SHOPPING and therefore all new food to work with!!!!!!!!

Honduran "Reprochetas"

For extra credit in her Spanish class, our daughter made these reprochetas one night for dinner. They were a bit labor intensive, and because she fried just one at a time, it took a while to make enough for the whole family. But they were really, really good! They are a traditional meat-less Honduran dish.


Ingredients

corn tortillas (we prefer flour, but bought corn ones for this in order to be "authentic"!)
tomatoes
onions
lemon juice
salt to taste
oil
Queso fresco, a soft white cheese similar to mozzarella (we found this with no problem at our large local grocery store)


Chop tomatoes and onion, mix with a bit of lemon juice (sorry no measurement!) and salt to taste. Set aside.


Heat just enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan. Slice the cheese and put between two corn tortillas.




Lay the tortilla stack in the hot oil and fry on one side until lightly browned. Flip over and fry on other side until equally done.




Remove from pan, drain, and pat excess oil dry with paper towels. Top with the tomato/onion mixture and eat like a tostada.


Enjoy!