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.



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.  

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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!

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. 



Her menu:

• Aunt Dorothy's Potato Soup


• Drop Biscuits


• Strawberry Shortcake


• Iced Tea

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.

Cheesy Potato Pie

This pie is a result of a "clean out the fridge" night.

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Cheesy Potato Pie

3 lb.  potatoes, peeled & sliced
3/4 stick butter
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 c. cream
2 eggs
1/2 sm. onion, chopped
Salt & pepper
1 c. Cheddar cheese (1/4 of a pound), grated
1/2cup mozzerella, grated

2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated

2  tbsp. bread crumbs
2 tbsp. butter, cut in pieces

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Butter a glass pie dish. Put potatoes in water and bring to a boil, until potatoes are tender. Drain. Place in buttered pie dish. Dot with butter.  Top with diced tomatoes.  Mix cream, eggs, salt, and pepper.  Add onions. Spoon mixture over potato slices.  Spread evenly. Cover with cheeses and crumb mixture and dot with butter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Deer Tenderloin

My Grillmaster is at it again!  This time it's one of his specialties, wild game. 

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Grilled Bacon Wrapped Deer Tenderloin

 

1 lb bacon

1 deer tenderloin, sliced

1 bottle Worchestershire sauce

1 T garlic

1 T lemon pepper

 

Marinate sliced tenderloin in Worchestershire sauce, garlic, lemon pepper for 4 hours or even overnight.  Remove slices from marinade, wrap with 1/2 a slice of bacon and grill over hot coals until done, 8-10 minutes per side.  Serve with a green salad and warm buttered rolls.

 

Optional marinade:  Teriyaki sauce, yum!

 

Tip: If you run out of bacon, skewer the rest of the deer meat with sliced veggies for kebabs.  :)

 

Sour Cream Pound Cake

You can always count on a good friend to give you a good recipe.

My friend, Karen, comes from a long line of good cooks.  Her grandmother was a great cook and her mom is "The Pie Lady".  She can whip up a Caramel Pie or a Coconut Cream Pie in the blink of an eye.  She always has the ingredients on hand.

Karen has turned out like her mom in that respect.  She's a great cook.  This is a recipe that she shared with me recently.  It's so easy, yet so delicious!

I've made this cake twice this week.  I polished off most of the first one myself, but took the second one to my inlaws' family get together.  I had to get that evil thing out of the house!  My hips have gotten wider just this week.  I'm trying to low carb, I really am.  I try to save my treat for that one-hour span, like the Carb Addict plan suggests, but it sure is hard with this treat around!

Karen prefers the cake 'nekkid', but I made an Orange Glaze to pour over the warm cake.  Most of it pooled up in the middle, but I just spooned that right out of the middle and onto my slice.  Mmm-mmm, good.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

1 butter recipe yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 half cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup sour cream

Mix well pour into bundt pan and bake at 325 until golden brown, 45-60 minutes.

Orange Glaze (optional)

1/4 cup orange juice
2 T butter, melted
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix together and pour over cooled cake.

3 Ingredient Cheesy Burger Skillet (low carb)

Three ingredients! 

That's all it takes to make this delicious low carb dish. 

3 Ingredient Cheesy Burger Skillet
 
1 lb. Ground Beef, cooked and drained
1 can french style green beans, drained
4 oz.  shredded cheese
 
After browning and draining the grease off the ground beef, add the green beans; stir.  Cover and cook on low for 10 minutes or until grean beans appear tender.  Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.  Cover for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Season with salt and pepper, then serve.

*I know I'm bad, but this  is really good with Velveeta cheese, too.  :)

Sugar-free Oreo Blast (low carb)

Want a quick and easy treat or a simple after-dinner dessert?  What about a Sugar-free Oreo Blast?

Sugar-free Oreo Blast (low carb)
 
1 serving Breyer's CarbSmart vanilla ice cream
1 serving Sugar Free Oreos, broken into pieces
 
Place ice cream and cookie pieces into food processor. 
Pulse until blended.  Serve in a cute ice cream dish or
small glass.  Top with 1/2 a SF Oreo. 

Now, find a nice quiet spot outside in the swing on a warm sunny day and eat slowly.

Tomorrow...an easy 3 ingredient recipe for a quick supper.