BBQ Rosemary Chicken Burgers - hell yea!

I want to share with you my Rosemary Chicken Burger Recipe. I started making them a few month's ago and they are soo delicious, like for real delicious, and I know you will love them.

I don't eat red meat, or anything that lives in the Ocean or swims (gag), or pork, or any other poultry besides Chicken. I'm a wierdo-tarian. If I could I would be completely vegan, but the fat girl in me trumps the vegan in me so I am an unhealthy mix of weirdo-ness. I eat chicken and dairy. And soy meats and organic veggies. It's a daily struggle.

My family (which includes Roxanne) loves when we do Rosemary Chicken Burger night, and it always make me smile when normally picky eaters (Roxanne) tells me she "likes this meal." Cuz that's rare though she does enjoy the food I cook almost all of the time and I feel very confident in saying she will miss my cooking someday when she no longer lives with us.

And on to the recipe goodness:

BBQ Rosemary Chicken Burgers

Ingredients:

1 pckg ground chicken (turkey would also be ok, I guess)

1 teaspoon of fresh chopped Rosemary or 1.5 teaspoon of dried Rosemary

1 egg

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/2 tablespoon of Salt

1 teaspoon of Pepper

6 Ritzcrackers Crushed

1/2 tablespoon of Lawry's Seasoning or any other yummy seasoning you use

1 - 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesean Cheese

Directions:

Put the above in a bowl and mash it all together. Don't be grossed out, I promse it's worth it. If the consistency is too runny, add more Ritz crackers. If it's too dry, add more olive oil. You want it to be the perfect consistency so that they don't fall apart on the grill but are still really moist in side.

Once blended, form 2-3 inch wide patty's at your desired thickness. You should be able to make 4-6 depending on how you like 'em.

Andy added this part and it makes them oh so much yummier - once you put the burgers on the grill (or in the pan) brush BBQ sauce on the uncooked side, and do the same on the other side once flipped. You can keep brushing the sauce on during the cooking process to keep them moist. You can also make a little Rosemary Mayo and do the same thing (chopped Rosemary and mayo) and it turns out just as good. Or you can skip this part altogether.

Cook the burgers until no longer pink in the center - this is Chicken not beef, you want them completely cooked through. About 2-3 minutes per side.

Serve with buns or toasted bread, lettuce tomato, and my personal fav carmelized onions, and top with cheese, we prefer swiss. I make the most amazingly sweet & delicious carmelized onions. And I am not bragging. Ok, just a little. I seriously add these to almost everything I cook. Onions and honey make most meals better. Just sayin'.

And in case you are wondering, here's how I make my mouth-watering Carmelized Onions:

1 white, yellow or sweet onion

1 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

1/2 tablespoon of honey

Cut onion in half at the base (where the little root grows from) and peel outside. Cut in thinish strips all the down.  You should have a bunch of onion strips. I always use a white or yellow onion (good) but I prefer a maui sweet onion (best).

Heat pan over med-high heat with one tablespoon of oil. You can also use butter. Drop onions in pan and season with salt and pepper. Salt makes the onions sweat and get all golden brown so don't skip this step.

Stir and cover the onions. Turn heat down to medium while stirring occassionally.

After about 5-10 minutes or so the onions should be nice and translucent. Yay! I then add about a 1/2 tablespoon of honey. Stir and remove the cover.

Now let the onions get all brown and delicious to your desired liking. Keep stirring occassionally.

If you have time, turn them down to med-low and let them carmelize over 30-40 minutes, and if you don't have time you can keep on medium for about 10 minutes, or turn on high for about 5 minutes. The slower you do it the better, but we don't always have that kind of time.

If the onions seems dry during the process, you can add more oil or a splash of water. They need to be moist to carmelize.

And there you have it! These burgers & onions are perfect for the summer time! Pair with some grilled corn and watermelon and you have an instant summer meal. And then take a picture at your awesomeness.

If you try it, please let me know what you think. This is totally my own recipe and I am curious how it works out for everyone else.

Happy Grilling!

-M

Chicken Pot Pie Goodness

I made one of our all time favorite dinners on Friday night - yummy chicken pot pie. My mom gave me the recipe a few years ago and since then it has been tweaked and played with until it was just right. I still alter it every time I make it because I don't follow the exact recipe. And I alter it based on the ingredients we have in the house. If you're interested, here goes:

Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Start by chopping up two yellow onions and saute in two tablespoons of butter to get them nice and caramelized.

Chop up 6 stalks of celery around the same size as the onions and add to the pan. Make sure to salt the onion and celery mixture. It helps them soften as well as add's flavor. I always cook with kosher salt.

I also had one fresh carrot left from the farmers market last weekend so I chopped that up and threw it in along with some fennel we had on hand that I chopped up and added.

While this is cooking, rinse and pat dry chicken breast tenders (or you can use chicken breasts, etc). I seasoned mine with salt, pepper and a zesty seasoning blend I had on hand, but you can use your favorite seasonings and cook on medium heat in a little oil until golden brown on the outside. Don't worry about cooking it all the way through because it'll cook more in the oven later on.

Chop a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or use dried thyme) and add it to your veggie mixture. The add 2 can's of cream of potato soup and 1 can of cream of chicken soup along with 1.5 cups of chicken broth. Feel free to add more chicken broth if the mixture is too thick for you. Mix well and let simmer.

When chicken is done cooking, chop up in little chunks and then add to the pie mixture. Mix well, and season your mixture with a little salt, pepper, and Lawry's season salt to taste. I also added the juice of half a lemon to really bring out the flavors.

The add 0ne medium-sized bag of frozen pea's and carrots. Cheap and easy. Mix everything well and then transfer to your pot pie dish. The mixture will be enough for two pot pies. I didn't have two pot pie dishes handy so I put it in casserole dish. It all works the same.

Cover the mixture with your pre-made pie crusts. I always use Pillsbury, the other brands don't taste as good.

I then cut small slits into the pie crust to vent and brushed an egg wash over the crust.

Pop into the oven and bake at 375 for about 30-40 minutes or until a perfect golden brown (or until you are so hungry you can't wait another minute like we did).

(It was a lazy paper plate night, k?)

Pair this with a good movie (Grown-Ups) and an even better dessert (Peach Cranberry Cobbler) and you've got yourself an amazing Friday night. Does it get any better than this??

Hope you're having a good weekend!! Tonight I'm making Pot Roast for the family (even thought I don't eat meat, I'm gonna give it a whirl). I think I'm going to try this Food Network Recipe from Ina Garten: Company Pot Roast and pair it with these: Sweet Onion Potatoes Au Gratin from Rachel Ray. I always like to start with someone else's recipe and make it my own. I'll let you know how they turn out! Off to the Sunday Farmer's Market with the little one to get our fruits and veggies for the week. (And maybe some delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies that we never can resist). :) Happy Sunday!

Roast Chicken Love

So I am whipping up my favorite Sunday Night dinner; Roast Chicken with roasted veggies and potatoes. I usually switch it up every time I make it. Sometimes I roast the chicken alone and roast the veggies in a separate pan and make some mashed potatoes, but tonight I'm roasting the chicken and the veggies, golden potatoes all in one pan. I alter the recipe based on the ingredients I have, but here is tonights recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degree's

Peel and Chop Carrots, Potatoes, a fennel bulb, one yellow onion and set aside. (I also used the bulbs of some green onions I had, chopped and tossed in).

Rinse and pat dry one small roasting chicken (remove giblets and toss, ew)

Put the chicken in a medium roasting pan and toss veggies all around

Cut one lemon in half and squeeze on the chicken, and stuff the lemon inside

You can also slice up another lemon and toss with the veggies or put on top of the chicken

Soften two tablespoons of butter and rub all over the top of the chicken

Liberally salt and pepper the chicken and veggies

Chop some garlic and toss in with the veggies and toss a few cloves of garlic inside chicken

Stuff some of the onion and fennel from the pan in the chicken

Chop some Rosemary (or any fresh herb you have, I also love using thyme) and sprinkle on the chicken

Stuff a few sprigs of the Rosemary inside the chicken

Season with any other poultry seasonings you like and veggies too

Drizzle everything with olive oil

Finish the pan off with 1 cup of chicken broth to keep the chicken moist

Bake for 1 and a half hours or until done

And then have your cute husband carve the chicken. Always helps the meal taste better.

Ignore the paper plates. It was one of those nights.

I like to baste the chicken a few times through-out the cooking time with the chicken broth in the pan to keep everything moist. You can drain the drippings and use for a chicken gravy, yum yum. I usually serve crescent rolls with this meal. Tonight I also made a Cranberry Apple Chutney for the side. If you're interested, use a cup of cranberries, 1 apple finely diced and cook on the stove with 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar. I also added 1 half of lemon juice, and the zest of the lemon. Cooked on medium heat, then simmered for about 20 minutes. Went perfect with this meal!

I loooove to cook. I enjoy rolling up my sleeves and getting in the kitchen and cooking my stressors away. It's my therapy after a long day of work, I look forward to getting in the kitchen. I'm hoping to share more recipes with you in the future.

Our roasted veggies once I put in a serving dish. They were perfect!

This was a perfect fall meal and felt like the holidays were near. It helped that I was listening to Christmas music. Can't wait to pull out the decorations. I'm a sucker for the holidays!

Roxanne and Carter after dinner. :)

Hope you enjoy this meal as much as we will.

Here's to another rewarding yet busy week ahead of me. Goodbye weekend!

Xoxo,

Me

P.S. This is Carter yesterday enjoying his weekend with Mom, Dad and Rock.