.southwest burgers.

It's not often we make our own burgers at home. I don't know why because they're so much tastier than anything you can get out and about, you know? I have had it in my mind for awhile to make these but I didn't have the right hamburger. You need to use a fattier ground beef for this because anything leaner and your patty won't stick together as well. What can I say? Fat holds it all together. :D



For these burgers, I wanted a spicy dressing so I went with chipotle mayonnaise. I put some mayo in the blender with 2 chipotle peppers (it was very spicy so if you don't want it as hot, just use one pepper), a squirt of lime juice, and a little salt and pepper. Puree until smooth and transfer to a bowl.










In a large bowl, mix together 2 lbs ground beef (80% lean), 1/2 cup corn, 1 jalapeno finely diced (seeded), 1 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1 1/2 tsp cumin, 1 clove minced garlic, and a small handful chopped cilantro.


Season with a little salt and pepper.























Take sheets of saran and patty out some of the meat mixture until you've used it all up. I got 5 large patties out of this so if you make them slightly smaller, you could easily get 6.


If you make a lot, you can easily wrap them up and put in the freezer.










Prepare all of your toppings. Leaf lettuce, tomato, and some sweet onion.



















Slice up some avocado. It just wouldn't be a true southwest burger without these.



















Slice up some pepper jack cheese. I used regular cheddar cheese for my daughter since she doesn't like spicy food. Feel free to use whatever kind of cheese you like best.















Throw your patties in a pan, or on the grill, or on a grill pan like I'm using here. I grilled these for about 12 minutes. 3 minutes on one side. Flip over and grill another 3 minutes. Flip back to the other side for another 3, and then flip one final time for 3. These were perfectly cooked and so moist and delicious.










During the last few minutes of grill time, I threw some onion rolls onto the pan to toast up.


To assemble your burger, put the patty on the bottom bun, put the cheese and avocado. On the top bun, spoon on some of that chipotle mayo, then put your tomato, lettuce, and onion.


Serve with sweet potato fries, regular fries, or chips. (or if you're being good... serve with salad.) Ole!

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_147vb9n5sf3

.beef stroganoff.

My husband is a big Beef Stroganoff lover. I started making this when we first married 15 years ago and it has been a consistent meal on my menu. Normally I make this with cut up sirloin, but I was in a rush and was making this for a family at church and didn't have time to run off to the store to buy steak. Plus, it's a little more cost effective using hamburger. Go with what you like. Either way it's quick and delicious.

The ingredients you need are:

• 1 1/2 lbs hamburger
• egg noodles
• 2 cans mushroom soup
• 1 carton sour cream
• 1 small onion
• garlic
• bay leaf
• sage
• mushrooms
• milk
• parsley
• salt and pepper

Start off by putting a pot of water on to boil with some salt. When it comes to a boil, add your egg noodles (I used the whole bag in this case, but normally I only use about 1/2 the bag). Cook according to the directions on the package. When done, drain in a colander.



Dice one small onion. I really love my Pampered Chef food chopper when I don't need a uniform dice. Makes quick work and minimal tears.


Mince up 2 garlic cloves too while you're at it. I didn't get a shot of it, but by now, I'm confident you know how to do it.

Chop up about 1 1/2 cups mushrooms. These are baby portabello mushrooms but really any mushroom will work. These were what I had in the fridge.

Fry up the hamburger. Add a bay leaf as you fry to infuse the flavor into the meat as it cooks.

Add 1 tsp ground sage. Mix all around.

When the hamburger is halfway done, add the onion and garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms are nice and soft. Season with salt and pepper.

Add 1/2 cup burgundy. Cook on medium high for a few minutes to cook down the wine. We just want the flavor here folks.. not the alcohol.

Crack open two cans Cream of Mushroom soup. Spoon into the hamburger. Reduce heat to low because we don't want any of the cream sauce (read: soup and milk) to burn on the bottom of the pan.

Add 1 can full of milk. Mix everything together.

Dump in your cooked egg noodles. Mix well to coat all the noodles.

This dish can look very boring so to give it some life, I added 1/4 cup chopped parsley.

You want to remove the pan entirely from the burner for this step.

Add 1 container of sour cream and mix in well. The reason why you want to do this off the heat is we don't want to cook the sour cream because it will curdle. We just want it to heat up from the heat of the noodles and meat and soup. You can add as much or as little sour cream as you want. Since this was a humongus amount of stroganoff, I used the whole thing but really.. go by your personal preference. Re-season with salt and pepper to taste.

Plate up and serve with your favorite veggie, or salad, and some rolls.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_46hq46kbcg