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!

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.

Creative Burger

Really, how creative can you be with a burger? One way is to try new breads. I patted out four burgers and then realized we had no buns. However, we did have two pieces of French bread. I changed the shape of the patties to better fit the bread.

To the meat I added worcheshire sauce and a small amount of Tony Chachere's seasoning. I added cheese once the burgers were finished cooking. Burgers were good. I went a little too light on the seasoning since we had two relatives over.

Note: Today is Thanksgiving and the burgers were not cooked today. Today I celebrated with family. Over fifty relatives gathered at my parents farm for food, fellowship, and fun. Great tradition!

Happy Halloween

In an effort to get junior to eat a hamburger I tried to make a jack-o-lantern face in the cheese. For some reason he has decided he doesn't like hamburgers. He won't even eat a happy meal burger. A cheesy face had it work. This picture was just as I was pulling it off the grill. Granted, it does not really look like a jack-o-lantern. However, he is four. Surely if I tell him what it is then he will eat it.

It didn't work.

Pizza Burgers

In an effort to try a variety of flavors in hamburgers I recently grilled "pizza burgers". In the burgers I added Italian bread crumbs. I also added a little oregano, salt, and pepper. When the burgers were on the grill I added some tomato sauce. Finally, when the burgers were almost finished I added some shredded mozzarella cheese.

On the side, I grilled diced mushrooms and onions. These were cooked in an open foil pack on the grill with a little extra virgin olive oil and salt.

I thought the burgers were excellent but my wife thought we should have bought a better cheese. I can't wait to prepare these again!