Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Grilled Burgers and Spicy Fries

My Grillmaster lights the grill once again! 


It was a weeknight and I was wanting a simple supper, something that didn't involve messing up a bunch of mixing bowls, pots and pans, and dinner plates.  I didn't feel like the clean-up. 

So I picked up some burgers, already pre-formed!  I was looking for easy, too.   I glanced at the prices of the french fries in the freezer section and remembered the half bag of whole potatoes I had at home just waiting to be turned into delicious homemade fries.

As I went through my mental list at the grocery, I picked up some buns, a Vidalia onion, some iceburg lettuce (I know), and some hamburger sliced dill pickles, our favorite. 

When we arrived home, my Grillmaster set about preparing the grill...charcoal only for him.   I prepared the condiments for the burgers and my youngest daughter scrubbed and helped slice the potatoes for the fries.

What a meal!  I took my mom (who is fighting cancer, on a bunch of meds, and nothing tastes good) a burger.  She ate half of it and declared it was the tenderest grilled burger she'd ever had.

burger

I know the cheese is not melted.  Poor fellow, I forgot to give it to him and it never entered his mind to put some cheese on the burgers those last few seconds on the grill.  So when he brought them in, I took a few of the hottest ones and threw some cheese on them.  

* * * * *

TIP: When we light the grill, we usually do enough meat and veggies for more than one meal.  This night we grilled a huge pack of barbequed chicken legs and some deer tenderloin wrapped with bacon to have another time.  Leftover grilled goodies make for a quick and easy lunch!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Kitchenaids and Potato Soup

Recently I've enlisted the help of my growing daughters in the kitchen.  I'm encouraging them to cook 1 meal a week each, starting out...hopefully to increase to several more in the coming weeks.  They arrive home before I get off work, so they can get a head start on dinner and I won't have so much to do when I get home.

My 13 year old chose the menu for tonight, did the shopping with the help of her daddy, and prepared and cooked most of the meal. 

pot soup

Her menu:

I thought she did a great job.  The soup was very filling.  I was a little scared that my Handyman would say, "Where's the beef?" but he didn't and was very satisfied with A's menu choice.  I'm very satisfied that I came up with this wonderful idea!  :)

Aunt Dorothy's Potato Soup

8 medium potatoes, diced

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups milk or cream

2 Tbsp cornstarch

celery and carrots (optional)

chopped parsley

Cook potatoes, onions, celery and carrots in boiling, salted water until tender, 20-30 minutes.  Drain the potatoes, add milk.  We used a potatoe masher to smash the potatoes and then stirred the milk into the smashed potatoe mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add cornstarch and parsley.  Simmer until thickened.  Serve topped with your choice of shredded cheese, real bacon pieced, and sliced green onions.