Fun Burgers

Let's face it, burgers can be boring. In the past I have tried ways to make burgers more fun...and the burgers I have made are usually fairly successful. However, tonight I did not want to make an extra trip to the grocery store for any special ingredients. So in an effort to make the burgers fun I looked through Juniors cookie cutters. The star quickly caught my eye due to ideal size for a burger.

After combining a pound of ground beef with a third a pound of sausage I shaped them into stars. A small amount of salt and pepper just before placing on the grill made these burgers taste great. After our crazy week we needed an easy dinner and the star burgers proved to be that.

I noticed some other fun shapes that I am sure I will use sometime soon!

Chicken Kabobs

Tonight my wife had her staff and their and families over for the end of their staff retreat to start the new academic year. This cook out was planned over two weeks ago...not realizing we would have an offer on our house and be making an offer on another house. Did I forget to mention that our new house is in a different school district and I am trying to get junior registered and enrolled the day before school starts? And, the home inspector for the new house wants me to meet him there to "show me some things." The phone call I just took was from our realtor with a list of 'to do's' from the inspection of our house.

Nevertheless, the grilling went on! A dozen adults and three kids (counting mine) crowed into our small house while the Mrs. and I dreamed of our large new house.

Kabobs look good on the grill and on the plate. However, they are not much fun to cook. Meats and vegetables cook at different speeds so I typically cook the kabob until the chicken is ready and worry less about overcooking a mushroom or under cooking an onion. Tonight, I used a simple marinade on the chicken. So simple, in fact, that I really couldn't taste it. A generous cup of lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Once the food was 'speared' I brushed extra virgin olive oil on the kabobs. As you can see from the shot I had to use both charcoal and gas to grill the 30 kabobs in a timely manner. This weekend I am craving some red meat!

Busy Times

Wow! Hard to believe that it has been so long since I updated my blog. I have been grilling some since May 15th (my last post) but life has been busy. June, as always, has me on the road much of the month and it will be a rare June that I am able to grill out.

Also, our house has been on the market since March and in an effort to keep it clean we really have not gone to the effort to grill out. We finally are under contract and have an offer on a home that has a great patio for future grilling efforts. I am excited about the possibilities there.

Finally, I have also started an executive EdD degree that took me away from home for three nights in late July. My class schedule will include two nights a month away from home...at least for the next two years or so.

Later this week I understand I am grilling kabobs for my wife's' staff retreat.... I will make an effort to post those pictures!

Teriyaki burgers

I can't claim credit for this recipe. Found it after searching for 'unique burgers'. Called the aloha burger here. One new thing I did to try to make uniform burger sizes. To achieve this I used one of my children's circular cookie cutters. It was fairly successful and I will certainly be using that cookie cutter again in the future! I may even have to use some of the 'more fun' shapes to see if the kids will be more eager to eat a burger.

The recipe was unclear on how to cook the pineapple so I decided to use the top rack while the burgers cooked. While the cheese was melting I also put the buns on the top rack too!

This was what the burgers looked like just before they were removed from the grill. Through the hole in the Swiss cheese you can see the pineapple ring. I dressed the burgers with just a little bit of mayonnaise. The burgers were a delicious mix of sweet and salty. I will certainly be trying these again in the future.

Electricity restored

Saturday afternoon we saw via facebook that several of our neighbors were celebrating the return of electricity. The morning started well with junior's t-ball game. Moments before the game started I was asked to call the names of the batters for the game. Of course, my daughter wanted to help.

Now I am searching the internet for a nice kabob recipe for Wednesday night. Eight adults and about that many kids are coming to our house. Hopeful to have more than kabobs on the grill. To be determined if my wife will allow me to cook another cake on the grill. :)

Weather

On Wednesday night areas of north Alabama were hit with strong storms including some tornadoes. My neighborhood survived damage however, we lost power Wednesday morning and have been told it could be a week before power is restored.

My in-laws graciously allowed me to bring the contents of my deep freezer over to their house. It will be challenging to grill this week if the blackouts continue. We did have plans to grill kabobs on Wednesday...stay tuned to see if that happens.

Leftover Barbecue

My travels take me all over north Alabama to small towns where I try to visit local barbecue restaurants. There is one place in Winfield, AL that has fairly good barbecue. Car Lots Barbecue, who does not have a website, is located on main street and is a great location for me to meet with families considering college.

One of their unique barbecue dishes is a stack of french fries covered in barbecue. With plenty of leftovers from my smoked butt this was a great and different meal.