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!