The Nifty Foodie

Burgers are such an easy meal to throw together in the summer. We used to make our burgers with 93% lean meat, but we’d hate how dry the burger came out. I thought it was the recipe, but no, it was the meat. You totally need some fat in that beef to make a burger taste absolutely amazing.

We usually buy 93% meat for most of our cooking, but now for burgers, we get 80% or 85%. Whatever is on sale.  I swear it makes all the difference in the world.

Now, I’m sure most of you are thinking, “Ok Amy, seriously? You didn’t know this?” Yeah, I really didn’t know that this made the difference. My husband knew, but stubborn me kept blaming it on the recipe.  

For the 24×24 party we threw, we googled the heck out of Minneapolis food and found that the Juicy Lucy was pretty darn popular out there. Such a simple concept…a cheese stuffed burger. The cheese fiend in me wants to know why aren’t those served out here??

We need Juicy Lucy burgers in our lives…seriously.

And if you haven’t had a Juicy Lucy burger yet, I highly recommend you try making these. Absolutely delish!

Juicy Lucy
Source: adapted from Cooks Country

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of white sandwich bread, torn into rough pieces
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 1/2 lb 85-percent-lean ground beef
• 1/2-inch thick slice deli American cheese, cut into quarters

Directions:

1. Using a potato masher or your hands, mash the bread, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper in large bowl until smooth. Add beef and gently knead until well combined.
2. Divide the meat mixture into 4 equal portions; divide each ball in half so that you have 8 balls of equal size. Using small ball of meat, encase each piece of cheese in meat to form a mini burger patty. Mold remaining half-portion of meat around the mini patty and seal the edges to form a ball. Flatten the ball with the palm of your hand, forming a 3/4-inch-thick patty. (Note:  To avoid the cheese from oozing out and the burger from separating, it’s essential to completely seal in the cheese. )
3. Grill burgers over medium fire until well browned and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes per side. Transfer to plate, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. (Since the cheese is very hot, don’t omit the resting part.). Makes 4 burgers.

When I was a little kid, I had such trouble spelling “Mississippi”. Was it too many “s”s or the double “p” that threw me for a loop? I just couldn’t get it. My house was less than a tenth of a mile away from the river, and I just couldn’t spell it. That bothered me. My parents taught us a little fun way to spell it eventually, and now I can’t ever spell Mississippi wrong. When in doubt, I tell myself “M-i-s-s… I-s-s…i.P.P.i”. There was an emphasis on the cap letters, so it became a bit of a rhythm to say it in my head that way before spelling it out.

Since I grew up living so close to the Mississippi, I’ve seen the river have its ups and downs. Literally. When the river gets high in the Spring, boats appear like they are floating on the levee. And of course, when it gets low, you’ll barely see the tops of the boats. It’s crazy how much it varies, and this year was no exception. For the first time in almost 40 years, the river was so high that the Corps of Engineers had to open a spillway north of Baton Rouge in order to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge from catastrophic flooding. Sadly, this spillway isn’t just land. People actually built their homes and farms in the spillway, so they had to evacuate. While I’m glad that nothing catastrophic happened to our big cities, it still hurts to know that some people suffered from this.

While I was watching a news segment about the river one night, I couldn’t help but think about the massive journey that the water takes. All the way north from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. There are so many different cities that the river just flows by, and my husband had the greatest idea. A culinary journey down the river–from Minneapolis all the way to New Orleans. Our party idea featured foods that are notorious in the major cities along the river: Minneapolis, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans. I was so stoked when Foodbuzz let me know that our party proposal had been accepted for this month’s 24×24, so I called up our families and had them over for this awesome party!

For Minneapolis, we grilled up the famous Juicy Lucy burger! You can’t go wrong with a cheese stuffed burger, and this burger was one of the favorites of the meal!

For St. Louis, we baked a gooey butter cake. We served it with ice cream and various summer fruit sorbets. The cake is a yeast based batter on the bottom and of course, a gooey butter base layer on top. Many of us (myself included) have never had a gooey butter cake, but it was a great hit! I think next time, this would go perfectly with some fresh fruit.

For Memphis, we made some fabulous BBQ Baby Back ribs. This was my first time ever working with ribs, and it really wasn’t that bad. These were very flavorful ribs and super tender, since they were in an oven for a good part of the morning before finishing off on the grill!

And of course, for New Orleans, we made some grilled corn grits. Grits are a favorite around here, and in one of our favorite restaurants, this is how they make the grits. It’s fabulously rich and flavorful! You probably don’t want to know how much heavy cream and butter are in these grits, but I’ll tell you anyway later when I post the recipe!

Oh, and since we’re all from Louisiana, we had to add in a little lagniappe for NOLA: Hurricanes. I mean, how could you NOT? For a hot, summer day, these are always a hit!

*all recipes will be shared on the blog at a later date*

It was so wonderful to spend time with our families, and I’m so glad everyone enjoyed the food. You know it was a good party when people ask for the leftovers and recipes as they’re leaving!

Thanks so much to Foodbuzz for making this party happen! We really enjoyed the different foods from cities along the river, and also had a blast spending time together!

I love meatloaf. My Mom used to make meatloaf for us all the time as kids, and almost everytime I have meatloaf, it reminds me of my Mom. We joke about the way my Mom makes hers, though. She forms it in a donut shape and nukes it in the microwave. Yep, she nukes it. AND it comes out perfect! Crazy, right?

I’m sure weirder things happen in the world of cooking, but I always found it funny that her meatloaf comes out of a microwave.

The hubs and I, about a year ago, found our go-to recipe for meatloaf. We still love it..it’s fabulous, I promise. However, I’m always wondering if something better is out there, and I stumbled across this recipe from Alton Brown. The hubs was a  bit skeptical when I mentioned I was trying  a new recipe. He wanted his favorite, and I don’t blame him.

However, this meatloaf came out yummy! You don’t taste the vegetables, but you get an explosion of flavor and it has a good kick to it too. I think our go-to is slightly better, but this one is less steps and dishes. Torn….

I will say that this meatloaf recipe just really changes the way I think of meatloaf, because of the kick from the chili powder and cayenne. I’m thinking of somehow merging the two types of flavor profiles to get a (hopefully) awesome recipe someday, if I’m brave enough.

Good Eats Meatloaf
Source: adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces garlic-flavored croutons
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 small carrot, peeled and broken
• 3 whole cloves garlic
• 1/4 red bell pepper
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup catsup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Dash hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon honey

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a food processor bowl, combine croutons, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme. Pulse until the mixture is of a fine texture. Place this mixture into a large bowl. Combine the onion, carrot, garlic, and red pepper in the food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed. Combine the vegetable mixture and ground beef with the bread crumb mixture. Season the meat mixture with the kosher salt. Add the egg and combine thoroughly, but avoid squeezing the meat.
3. Onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, mold your meatloaf.  Insert a temperature probe at a 45 degree angle into the top of the meatloaf. Avoid touching the bottom of the tray with the probe. Set the probe for 155 degrees. (Mine took 55 minutes to fully cook, if you’d rather not use a thermometer.)
4. Combine the catsup, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and honey. Brush the glaze onto the meatloaf after it has been cooking for about 10 minutes.

My husband and I usually keep two types of meat on hand for cooking: chicken or ground beef. Sometimes we stray from the norm and do seafood or steaks, but to make our food budget happy, those are our staples. Chicken is so versatile and super easy to find meals for, but ground beef? I always feel a little limited there for some reason. I find it hard to find new ways to incorporate ground beef into our meals (feel free to comment if you have good ground beef recipes).

A while back, the hubs made some killer sloppy joes, and I thought I should challenge his with a good solid Cooks Illustrated recipe that I found. This recipe was pretty good, but a little bland compared to what the hubs came up with. Next time, I think I’ll have to spice things up a bit.

I paired this with some awesome oven baked fries and enjoyed the meal with a glass of lemonade. Classic summer meal, right?

Sloppy Joes
Source: mildly adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion , chopped fine
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• Ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon tabasco sauce
• 4 hamburger buns

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and salt and stir until coated with oil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 10 minutes (if onion begins to burn after 5 minutes, reduce heat to low). Add garlic and chili powder and cook, uncovered, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add beef and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until just pink, about 3 minutes.
2. Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper, brown sugar, tomato puree, ketchup, water, and tabasco. Simmer until Sloppy Joe sauce is slightly thicker than ketchup, 8 to 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Spoon meat mixture onto hamburger buns and serve.

Whew! This is the last post about the party we held. I’m sure you all are ready to move on with blog entries, so I’ll keep this one quick. There are no recipes, because these kabobs are very simple to put together, and most of the ingredients are from a bottle.

First of all, I always soak my skewers in water for a good hour. You don’t want flare-ups in the wood, and this helps to avoid it.

For the steak, we basically marinated the steak overnight in store-bought marinade (specifically this one) and then cut them into smallish square pieces and skewered them (about 5 pieces per skewer). We then seasoned with salt/pepper and threw them on the grill, flipping after a couple minutes to get a good sear,  until the steak is cooked.

Vegetable kabobs are very versatile. You can include/exclude whatever you want. For ours, I used red onion, yellow/red bell peppers, zucchini and mushrooms. After they are skewered, lightly brush on some Italian dressing or just plain olive oil and then grill. This will ensure that they don’t stick to the grill. Just be sure not to drizzle or brush with a heavy hand, because that would cause major flare-ups and you don’t want burnt mushroom, do you? That’s what I thought.

On a side note: I like to keep my meat/vegetable skewers separated, because some vegetables take longer to cook than the steak does (especially if you like them cooked less than well done) and also raw meat on vegetables just grosses me out.