Burgerdillas

I was fucking around on the Carrows Website last week. I had a coupon and I wanted to see what was offered. I came across this picture of their burger quesidilla thing. I thought it looked good and easy to make. Then I realized that my husbands version would have to be different. Here is the version I came up with. In hindsite I kind of think i would have either fried the burger up as ground beef instead of patties, or done it as a longer thinner patty as opposed to a thick round one, and folded it burrito style. Either way he loved it, and it was sealed good enough to take to work and reheat! Here is my version of it. (Please note, I used a veggie burger in mine, and just let it cook in the oven and it came out friggin perfect!)

5 Burrito size flour tortillas
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 package mushrooms sliced
1 cup white onion halve and sliced
3 tbsp grill seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 slices bacon
1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
Mayonaise
2 tomatoes sliced
oil to sauté

Note: I did this all in one pan, to make it faster I suppose you could use two or three pans.

Preheat oven to 450. In large nonstick skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Toss in mushrooms and cook until soft. Don't stir them much so they can brown. Add in onions and sauté until onions and mushrooms caramelize. Remove onions and mushrooms and reduce heat to medium low. Place bacon in and turn every few minutes until crispy. In large bowl combine hamburger, salt, pepper and grill seasoning. For 3 long patties. Remove bacon from pan and turn heat back to medium high. Place burgers in the pan and brown on both sides. It is important not to cook them all the way through. Remove from heat. Heat tortillas for 30 seconds in microwave so they are soft and bendable. Place one tortilla on cookie sheet. Add 1/3 pepperjack cheese to center of tortilla, followed by 1/3 of tomatoes, mushrooms & onions and bacon. Place burger on top and spread mayo on the patty. Top with 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Halve a second tortilla and place half on top of the cheese. Fold the bottom tortilla over. I did it by folding on side and then slowly bringing up the corniners so I had a total of about 6 folds. Then place it folded side down on a cookie sheet. Repeat with the other two. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown on one side, flip and bake until brown on the second side. Remove and allow 5 minutes to cool. Cut in half and serve. We served ours with ketchup and mayo mixed together, and also with ranch. Both were great for dipping.

Fried Fish Tacos

INGREDIENTS
vegetable oil for frying
1 pound talapia fillets
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup beer
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups cabbage, shredded
1 lime
tortillas

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or in a large saucepan.
2. In a large mixing bowl mix 1 cup of the flour, the baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Add the oil, beer, and hot sauce. Stir until smooth.
3. Cut each fillet into 1 1/2-inch strips. In a small bowl combine the remaining 1/2 cup flour with the garlic powder. Cover the fish in the seasoned flour. Then place each piece of fish in the beer batter, making sure the fish is completely coated. Allow any excess batter to drip into the bowl.
4. Fry the fish in the hot oil until it is golden brown and crispy, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the fish and drain on a paper towel.
5. Serve tacos with fresh lime juice and topped with shredded cabbage and hot sauce.

Hamburger Pie

INGREDIENTS
1-1 ½ pounds ground hamburger
6 cups mashed potatoes
1 can French-style green beans, drained
1 can tomato soup
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1-1 ½ cups shredded Colby cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large skillet cook hamburger, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper over medium-high for about 5-8 minutes, or until no longer pink, stirring constantly. Drain excess fat.
3. Mix in the can of tomato soup, half of a can of water, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the green beans. Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
4. Place hamburger mixture in a 9x13 baking dish. Top with a layer of mashed potatoes then sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Turkey and Rice Soup

INGREDIENTS
12 cups turkey or chicken stock

5 cups cooked turkey

1 onion, diced

5 garlic cloves, minced

5 stalks of celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 cup wild rice, uncooked

1 cup white rice, uncooked

olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon rosemary

DIRECTIONS.

1. Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil. Saute the onions and garlic about 2-5 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the celery and carrots, cook about 2-5 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in spices.

2. Add turkey, stock and rice. Simmer over medium low heat for about an hour, or until the rice is cooked and the vegetables are tender.

Red rice

2 Cups cooked white rice
6 oz tomato sauce
1/4 tsp ground coriander seed
1/8 tsp chili powder
1 cub vegetable bullion
1/4 cup water
5 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 cup white or yellow onion chopped
1/2 cup fresh or frozen white corn
salt and pepper to taste

In large non stick skillet add rice over medium heat. Toss every minute allowing the rice to begin to crisp and dry out a little. In microwave safe dish add water and bouillon and microwave 2 minutes or until boiling. Stir until bouillon is dissolved. Add onions, garlic and corn to rice and continue tossing to cook. Combine tomato paste, bouillon, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper in bowl. Slowly add 1/4 of tomato mixture and toss to coat cook about 1 minute. Add another 1/4 tomato mix in and repeat until all tomato mixture is added. Cook until tomato mixture has cooked into rice completely so the rice is not wet. Taste for seasoning.

Note: You could sub veggie bouillon for chicken bouillon if you would like for a meatier flavor.

Red bean quesidillas

This portion will serve two

1 can red beans
1/2 cup fresh or frozen white corn
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1 tsp ground corriander
1.5 cups shredded monteray jack cheese
2 large flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350. Rinse beans. In microwave safe dish heat beans for about 1 minute 30 seconds. Combine beans, corn, tomatoes and corriander. Place tortillas on cookie sheet. Line half of tortilla with 1/4 cheese. Top with half of your bean mixture. Top with 1/4 cheese and fold. Repeat. Spray the tops with cooking spray and place them in the oven for about 10 minutes to cook through. Turn broiler onto high and brown side one of your quesidillas. Remove them and flip them over. Spray with cooking spray and brown that side. Serve with sour cream and salsa if you desire.

HINT! When browning the outsides of your tortillas DO NOT leave your husband in charge of letting you know when they begin to brown. If you do, you may end up hearing SHIT SHIT SHIT coming from the kitchen as you run in to find your dinner looking like this.

My husbands favorite breakfast potatoes

4 white potatoes quartered and sliced very thin
1/2 yellow onion fine diced
1 clove garlic fine diced
1.5 tbsp rosemary chopped
1 SMALL pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp olive oil
1 slice bacon

The key to making these potatoes right is to make sure to put everything in the right order. A very common mistake is for people to throw things in all at once and burn the onions and garlic. In a large skillet add olive oil and butter over medium heat. Toss in potatoes and leave them alone. The key here is to let them start to brown. Turn them a few times until they are a light brown. Add in the onions and rosemary and toss it all to coat. Make a well in the center of the potatoes and add in your slice of bacon. Once the potatoes are brown and the onions are clear toss in the garlic, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Reduce to low and toss a few more times. Remove the bacon before you serve this is simply there for flavor, I usually toss it in the pan with the other bacon I'm cooking to let it fry up properly.

I used to cook my bacon and then make the potatoes in the same pan but I found that any remnant pieces burned and it was also too much of a bacon flavor. The one slice of bacon gives it just a hint of smokey pork fat goodness.