Best Hamburger

I don't have a picture of this hamburger, but it was so delicious. It is our new favorite, I was weary about trying it because of some of the ingredients but oh man, it was great.

Recipe From: Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 2 pounds 80/20 Ground Beef
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
• Tabasco Sauce, To Taste
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Red Onion, Sliced
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• ¼ cups Real Mayo
• Kaiser Rolls
• 1 cup Crumbled Blue Cheese
• Your Favorite Lettuce

Preparation Instructions

Place the ground beef into a medium mixing bowl. Add 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper. Add a few dashes of Tabasco sauce. With your hands, mix the meat and seasoning well. Set aside.

Next, for the onions, heat a medium skillet over low heat. Add in 2 tablespoons butter. Dump in the sliced (not too thick, not too thin) red onions. Now add 2 generous tablespoons brown sugar. Give it a toss to combine the ingredients, and then allow the onions to caramelize over low heat for about twenty minutes, tossing occasionally.

While the onions are caramelizing, make the spicy mayo: Place ¼ cup mayonnaise into a small bowl and simply add a few dashes of Tabasco. Stir together and test for taste.

Next, slice the Kaiser rolls in half and spread each half with about ½ tablespoon of butter. Place them face down on a grill pan or skillet over medium heat. Lightly grill the rolls so they’ll be tough enough to hold the spicy mayo. Let the rolls cool on a plate until you need them.

Form the meat into two patties and place on a grill pan or skillet over medium to medium-low heat. Allow each to cook about 3 minutes, then using a spatula, rotate 45 degrees, leaving it on the same side.

Flip the burger and cook it for a couple of minutes, rotating it 45 degrees again to get the nice grill marks.

Now add a large helping of caramelized onions over top of that glorious patty, followed by an equally generous helping of crumbled blue cheese.

As it finishes cooking, spread the spicy mayo on the Kaiser rolls and transfer the burger onto the bottom half of the bun. Top with a handful of greens and top with the bun.

Hot Pockets

This is my new favorite lunch and once you have home made hot pockets you will never eat frozen ones AGAIN.

Recipe from: Our Best Bites

Breadstick dough:

1 1/2 c. warm (105-115 degrees) water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 1/2 c. flour

In a large bowl (the bowl of your mixer, if you have one), combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 c. flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your finger.

Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and place dough in the bowl. Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Remove from bowl and place on a lightly-floured surface. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Roll into a rectangle and cut about 8-10 equal portions. Leaving a little bit of a "margin" on the right and left sides, add toppings with the cheese going on last.

Stretch the dough out a little to give yourself a bit more dough to work with. Fold the left side over the middle and then the right side over that. Starting at the bottom of the "mummy," tightly roll the filled dough, stretching it very gently as you go to make sure you're getting a tight seal.

Place on a sprayed cookie sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt, Garlic Powder, and Parmesan Powdered Cheese. When finished, cover the pan with a clean cloth and preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

When oven has heated, bake pockets for about 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. For shine, you could brush the tops with a bit of egg white mixed with water during the last 5 minutes of baking, or you could rub a little butter on top of the rolls while they're still hot.

FREEZER INSTRUCTIONS:

Bake according to directions and allow to cool. Place in a Ziploc freezer bag, squeezing out all the air. When ready to serve, just pop in the microwave for 2-3 minutes (depending on how fast your microwave cooks).

Cinnabon

I know, I know, Mom's cinnamon rolls are the best. However, this is the perfect recipe for when I want to be lazy and use the bread machine. Try it out, I promise it won't disappoint. It really is a cinnabon clone.

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Freezer Tips:

After shaping the rolls and placing them in the greased pan, they could rest, covered, in the fridge overnight. In the morning, simply place them into the preheated oven to bake--a very fast breakfast. The unbaked rolls also freeze well (I used 2 8-inch square disposable pans and put 6 rolls in each pan.) The night before, simply put the pan into the fridge. In the morning, they're ready for the oven. Easy and great to have on a cold morning. I was a little concerned that they didn't look doubled before I baked them this way, but they rose perfectly in the oven.

Hamburger Soup (Crock Pot)

Alright, it's soup season for us right now! Awesome, I love fall. This soup I really
love. It might not be your favorite but I love it.  I usually eat this soup with Mom's
yummy Cinnamon rolls but I think she needs to add that recipe on because truthfully
they are the BEST and she is only worthy of putting her recipe on this blog.....



3 Large potatoes, cubed
3 carrots, sliced
1 can peas
3 onions, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 1/2 lbs browned hamburger
1 can Tomato soup and 2 cans of water
1 Tb. brown sugar.


Place vegetables in a crock pot . Season with salt and pepper.
Put hamburger on top. Mix soup and water and pour on top.
 Cook on high for 2-4 hours

Cherry Cheese Cakes

Okay guys this is a fun recipe for cheese cake. It says Cherry because we like Cherry the best
 but you can use any flavor you want...

2 Pkgs 8 oz.  Cream Cheese (softened)
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs, beaten
1 can cherry pie filling
20-24 Nilla Wafers

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and eggs. Mix until well blended. Spoon into individual foil lined baking cups. With a Nilla wafer on bottom for the crust. Bake at 375 for 10-12 min. or until they lose their shine. Chill overnight spoon cherries topping on top.