Chipotle Cheeseburgers

This month for my Allrecipes Allstars assignment we are working with Goya.  I have used Goya many times and have been very pleased with their products.  Even though I got a lovely box of free products....I would still sing their praises.  One of my first recipes I did was Chipotle Cheeseburgers.  It was very tasty.
Of course since this was dinner and there was no daylight my picture looks nothing like their beautiful picture on AR.  They added a big onion slice, tomato and lettuce.  We kept it simple because we wanted to really taste the burger to see if it was flavored enough.  Even without making the chipotle mayo (an extra task for you to do to make this burger) it stood out on it's own.  I sliced my burger in half and tried it both ways.  So I you want extra steps with high flavor/heat....go for it.  But without the special mayo it was still awesome.

Chipotle Cheeseburger
from GOYA on allrecipes.com

1/4 cup Goya Mayonnaise

1 chipotle pepper from a can of Goya

Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, finely

chopped

1/4 cup sauce from a can of Goya

Chipotle Chiles in Adobo Sauce

3 tablespoons Goya Minced Garlic,

divided

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh

cilantro

Goya Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning, to

taste

2 pounds ground beef (80% lean)

1 teaspoon Goya Vegetable Oil

6 slices Cheddar cheese

6 hamburger buns

6 (1/4 inch thick) slices red onions

6 (1/2 inch thick) slices tomatoes

6 lettuce leaves

 

1.	In medium bowl, stir together mayonnaise, 1 tbsp. chipotle sauce, 1 tsp. garlic, cilantro and adobo; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
2.	In large bowl, gently mix together beef, chopped chipotle, 3 tbsp. chipotle sauce, remaining garlic and adobo until combined. Divide meat into 6 portions; form into 1 inch-thick patties. (Take care not to over-handle meat or else it will toughen).
3.	Prepare grill to medium-high heat, grease with oil (or heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat). Cook burgers, flipping once, until charred and cooked to desired doneness (about 12 minutes total for medium rare). Add cheese to patties about 5 minutes before taking them off grill.
4.	To assemble, divide patties evenly among bottom buns; top with onion slice, tomato slice, lettuce and top bun spread with reserved chipotle mayonnaise.

 

Chebe GLUTEN FREE Bread Mixes

A few months ago I trolling around the blogs looking for gluten free and came upon Chebe Bread. These bread ingredients are identical to frozen product I found in my grocery (another post one day). 
When I realized the versatility of the mixes I ordered some from Amazon.com (who orders it directly from Chebe).  It is made from mannioc root or known as tapioca flour.  Other than some baking soda and seasonings (depending on the mix you buy) its really Paleo friendly.  However, the recipe on the box does call for cheese (1 cup) but the nice thing is....the mixes can be made with or without cheese.  SCORE!  I use cheese depending on my splurging mood.
What you see on the left is a few of their mixes.  What is missing is their cheese bread mix, Garlic and Onion breadstick mix.  They also send frozen dough if you want more convenience. They also provide many recipes for you to tickle your creativity bone.

Now, when I want to splurge on some bread (like a hamburger or hotdog) this is what I did...

 

PIGS in a Blanket....

• Make the dough (oil, eggs, milk and cheese)
• Cut my nitrate free organic hot hogs in half
• Divide dough in the number of 'dog halfs'
• Flatten dough and pinch/form around them.
• Bake @ 375 for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Aren't these just so CUTE?  With a little dish of ketchup, mustard, relish or onion....these were FAB!  K-man was thrilled and I didn't even both to mention that they were my gluten free stuff....

When I have a hamburger....too much bun kills me.  I'd rather be full from the protein and fillings of the burger than a huge bun.  Sure I can go bunless but sometime you want a soft, chewy package to PICK up your burger.  So I made a basic mix and instead their suggestion of 4 buns I made 6.  I didn't mind them being thinner.  If you want soft and thick.  Go for it.  I wanted thin and crusty.  When you have tomato and mayo, sometimes the bun falls apart and gets mushy.  NOT CHEBE buns!

 The topping is from King Arthur Flour.  Their Artisan Bread Topping.  It is sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, black caraway, flax and poppy seeds.  Very tasty!








Here's a view how thin they are....(kinda like those sandwich bun makers THIN version)






All in all, the CHEBE company is very accommodating.  I had a little issue that I posted on their FB site and a rep called me and replaced them.  Also in doing so he suggested to mix and match some of their other products.  Now, I've tried all except for the cinnamon rolls.  These will def be my Go-TO mix in the cabinet.  THANKS Chebe!!

My next recipe adventure will be using just straight tapioca flour and making my own rolls to see how they compare.  But it sure is nice to have these mixes around for whenever you need pizza crust, rolls, or buns.  Non-Paleo or gluten sensitive family members won't know what they are missing.  PROMISE!


 Enjoy!

Perfection vs. Hockey Pucks

I think many of us have different 'gauges' on the grill for when things are done. I know I tend to take things of the grill earlier to check it and I know about the 'carry over cooking' thing. Not many men can cook things to perfection on the grill everytime. Sometimes K-man hands me the grilled stuff thinking it's perfect but after it sits in the kitchen when I am prepping the plates....the carry over cooking killed the pink that WAS in the steak/burger earlier. It happens every so often. I was reminded of my Cooks Illustrated Foolproof Burger recipe when we caught a America's Test Kitchen TV episode on it. I had totally forgotten about this recipe!

The concept here is to add moisture/flavor to the burger so IF you happened to ACCIDENTLY over cook your burger to well done, it will still be flavorful and JUICY.

So I dug it out and made some.

Here's how you do it:



Make a slurry of bread and milk.












Add your seasonings and steak sauce. Mix well.











Add your ground beef to your seasoned slurry. (I try to use a fork instead of my hands. The heat of your hands can melt the fat in the burger that can make a burger tough.) Mix well.











Form into patties. If I am going to the effort of making this, I like to buy a couple of pounds and make several burgers to keep in the freezer for a quick meal.









Put your individually wrapped burgers in a ziploc bag for the freezer. Put aside your fresh ones for dinner tonight!








Here's the recipe:

Foolproof Burgers
from Cook's Illustrated Magazine also known as America's Test Kitchen from TV

1 large slice white bread, crusts cut off, broken into pieces
2 Tbsp. whole milk
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1 medium garlic clove, pressed through garlic press
2 tsp. A-1 sauce
1-1/2 pounds of 80% ground beef

In a large bowl, mix your bread pieces with milk. Mix with fork until it's a pasty slurry. Add your seasonings and A-1. Mix. Add your ground beef and mix with a fork to keep your warms hands from melting the fat. If you are a 'hands-on' kinda person...go ahead. Form into patties.
Keeping in mind that pound of beef will give you 4- 1/2# burgers. I can't see forming patties with anything less. They'd either be too thin or too small for the bun.

Don't forget one important point....when you are ready to put the burgers on the grill make sure you put a 'dent' in the center of each patty. If you noticed how the burgers swell in the middle as they shrink in the cooking process....this 'dent' will make your burgers form a flat surface rather a humped middle.


Suggested Extras as seen above/below:
Crusty kaiser rolls
Bacon
Queso Blanco
Ketchup
Sliced Onion
Tomato Slices
Lettuce
Mayo

Sorry, the pix bites here, but it was one of those last minute. Let's eat, oh god I need to take a blog pic...cut burger in one hand (mouth drooling) and snapping with other hand, turn off camera quickly and CHOMP! I squeezed a bit here so you could see that it was still juicy despite the pink pretty much gone. Great flavor too!

Cook's notes: I had some of these great big crusty kaiser rolls for these....when the burgers cooked they were so small compared to the bun, about an inch short all around. I should have snapped THAT pic. LOL If I had used the regular hamburger buns from the grocery the burgers would have fit fine....but these were super kaiser bakery ones....and they dwarfed the poor burger....it was so funny. Oh well, it tasted great and once you close those buns together with all those toppings who could tell my burger was a bit on the small side?

Don't forget to enter my FIRST giveaway, just a quick comment gets you in the running! Last day to enter Sunday August 30...

Enjoy!

Cheeeburger Anyone, er Pizza?

I love a good cheeseburger and I certainly love pizza. Why can't we have the best of both worlds and combine the two? Done! So does that make this a Cheeseburger Pizza or an Open Faced Cheeseburger? Oh I know....

Extra Large Open Faced Cheeseburger!

1 pizza crust or (I used 2 Middle Eastern Breads here called 'Lavash,' it's thin and has no pocket)
1 lb ground beef, browned
1 tsp. smokey hickory salt
1/2 onion, chopped
3 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp mustard
cooked bacon
sliced cheese
mushrooms
red onion
sliced tomatoes
shredded lettuced (I always use the angel hair cabbage, for it stands up to the heat on the pizza and stays crunchy, it doesn't taste 'cabbagey')


1. Brown the ground beef and chopped onion. I added the hickory salt in here for I wanted my beef to have an "off-the-grill" kinda flavor to it. Drain off fat.







2. Mix your mustard and ketchup together.

Do you notice the lil red spots on the white of the bowl? It was the last of my ketchup so aside from the random spattering around the edges I also got a chuckle from the 'farting' noise it makes when it gets to the end of a bottle...LOL. Yes, I teach middle schoolers, can you tell?



Spread your ketchup/mustard mixture on your crust or 2 breads.








Spread on your browned beef and onion mixture.








Put on your sliced cheese. I had a combo of Velveeta I was trying to use up and some 2% american cheese slices.

Add your mushrooms on top.

Bake @ 400 degrees until cheese melts and mushrooms shrivel.

While baking...


Slice up your toppings! Make sure they are all thin!
Crumble your bacon or leave in strips...you preference.








Make you open faced cheeseburger now. Put on the crumbled bacon or slices. Layer the cabbage or lettuce, arrange your tomato slices and finish with red onion!

This was soooooooooo yummy!

Classic Burger Restyled!

Mushroom Cheeseburger Bake

A classic cheeseburger filling baked in a simple press-in crust!

1 lb. lean ground beef (you can use turkey)
1 large onion, chopped
1 package mushrooms, sliced and sauteed (you could use ones from a can/jar)
1/2 c. ketchup
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 cups baking mix PLUS 2 Tbsp for mix.
4-5 Tbsp. water
1 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven 425 degrees. Grease a 2 qt. baking dish (I used my new 2 qt. non-stick glass dish, It was a dream, slid right out). Saute mushrooms, set aside. Cook ground beef and onions until beef is brown and onions tender. Stir in mushrooms, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and 2 Tbsp baking mix (I totally forgot about this); mix well and set aside.
Preparing crust: combine 1-1/2 baking mix with enough water to form soft dough. With fingertips dipped in baking mix, press dough into bottom and up sides of prepared baking dish.





Top with meat mixture. Bake 20 minutes. Take out from oven sprinkle with cheese and return to oven (can be turned off) to only melt cheese. Makes 6-8 servings.



Cook's Notes:
If you saw that I missed putting the extra 2 Tbsp of baking mix in my meat mixture. Not only did I not miss it...but I think the mixture needed to be a bit on the juicy side the crust being dry...overall I think it would have been too dry. It's not overly drippy and oozing with sauce down there.....What do you think?

This was one of those recipes I had stowed away in my recipe box that I got from a product I bought many years ago. It was a baking mix called "Recip-Ease." I googled it to see if they were making it still. I figured just because my store only carries Bisquick and Jiffy....doesn't mean it isn't being sold in other stores. But alas, I could not find it anywhere but the name only cross-referenced with some site Jamie Oliver has going...

K-man wanted me to tell you that this was "totally awesome" he also added and I quote him exactly: "This was just like bowling...totally up my alley" (LOL, I love him so....)

Burger Night!!

Yeah, like to see you bite into this!!! Well I used a fork. K-man did the 'smoosh' thing when he ate his!

Often times when I buy the econo-size ground beef, I put the rest in pre-made patties in my ziploc bags (the ones that you suck out the air) and we always have burgers for a quick meal.

Mega Muenster Burgers

1. Mix some ranch dressing with your prepared bag of cabbage/coleslaw mix. Not too much you want it still crunchy and not wet and mushy. Place in fridge.

2. Saute up some peppers and onions. Again, cook them until slightly wilted not totally soft. Remove from pan and cover in a bowl/plate.

3. Cook your burgers as you like. If you don't have Old Hickory Smoked Salt from Spice Islands, get some. This is great when you are cooking inside during the winter and your meats taste like they came off the grill. For REAL! A few minutes before they are the way you like them, place your cheese of choice on it. Tonight we used muenster. Cover pan and turn off heat.

4. Toast your buns, we used whole wheat ones tonight.

5. Place your slaw on the bottom bun...Pile it high.

6. Put your burger with the gooey melty cheese on the slaw.

7. Squeeze your ketchup on the burger. We use the Tabasco/hot and spicy Heinz Ketchup.

8. Put on your still warm sauteed pepper and onions. Again pile it high.

9. Put on your top bun. Serve with lots of napkins and watch the eyes of who you give this burger to get HUGE when you hand them the plate!!

K-man: OH MY HONEY!!!

Happy Friday!