Peppershire Burgers

Summer is dwindling down and the husband and I had yet to have a burger that we made here at home. We haven't had a BBQ here in Provo so we decided that needed to change.

Last night Chad and I bought a grill/griddle plate for our stove. I have wanted one for quite sometime so I could actually grill. We don't have an outdoor grill so this is the next best thing. Besides, I wanted one to do chicken and other things like that.

This all started with Chad wanting to have burgers. After getting the necessary items (grill plate included in that) we got down to making dinner! The burgers were an invention from Chad's brain, and by golly they were AMAZING! Way to go babe. Without further adieu, here is the husband to give you the down low on the Peppershire Burger.

Ingredients:
Makes 3 medium-large patties
1 lb Ground Beef
2 Cloves of Garlic
Worcestershire sauce
Onion powder
Salt and Pepper
Sweet Bell Pepper Relish (Deli style)
Pepper Jack Cheese
And of course, Hamburger buns!

Directions:
Put ground beef in a medium bowl. Before mixing with your fingers coat both sides of the beef with onion powder (to taste). Then, add the Worcestershire. Add enough to turn the beef from red to brown and so it is completely absorbed. Mince two cloves of garlic. Either mince by hand with a knife (the traditional way) it or use a zester like we did. You could also just buy minced garlic, like the stuff that is in the cans. It worked out great! Add your salt and pepper (again, to taste). Mix all ingredients evenly.

Next, make your patties. To prevent the patties from breaking apart, make a ball first and then flatten by shifting the ball from hand to hand. Once made, make an indent in the middle of the patty. This keeps all those good juices inside the burger. Grill to your liking of rareness or well-doneness.

Once patties are done, place on a preparing dish and grab the pepper relish and cheese. Spread first the pepper relish over the burger, as much or as little as you prefer. (We found that sweet bell pepper relish went along really well with the burger so we recommend that.) After spreading your pepper relish, add a square of pepper jack cheese, put it on your bun and enjoy!

This burger was great without condiments like mayo, ketchup or mustard because the pepper relish really did it for us. We recommend trying it without condiments first for the full flavor.

Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing honey! We had corn on the cob as a side and it was so great! I didn't do anything other than boil it and the corn was perfectly done with that sweet, salty, buttery, crisp bite you get when you have the perfect corn on the cob. We were well pleased with the whole dinner.

So what are you waiting for? Go and enjoy the rest of the summer/early fall weather with some wonderful food while it lasts! I know you won't regret it.

Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake and Grilled Chicken Caprese

I got a call from Chad the other day as he was heading home. He informed me that he was going to make me dinner. Now you have to understand, he doesn't do this that often; cooking that is. He can cook, but he doesn't do it that often. So when he does offer to cook, it is extremely sweet. I love it so much. He came home and told me his plan. I helped out with the main course but he picked the menu. Here is the menu he chose! It was delicious and super easy.

YUM!!

Side Dish:

Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake

(makes 4-6 serving)

Ingredients:

2 Medium-sized zucchini, cut in slices or half-moon slices

2 Medium-sized yellow squash, cut in slices or half-moon slices

2-4 Tbs chopped fresh basil (or even less, pretty much do it to how much you like basil)

2 Tbs thinly sliced green onion

1/2 tsp dried thyme (I like less thyme personally. It tends to over power everything else.)

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1 cup cheese (Italian mix -a pizza mix can work as well. Both of these mixes tend to have Mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and Provolone.)

1/2 cup coarsely grated Parmesan (use fresh cheese -I promise, it is worth it)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8" x 8" baking dish with olive oil or non-stick spray. Wash the squash and cut in slices or half-moon slices. Wash basil, spin dry or dry with paper towels and finely chop. Slice green onions.

Combine the sliced squash, chopped basil, sliced green onions, thyme, garlic powder, and the 1/2 cup Italian mix cheese. Stir together until the veggies are coated with cheese and the herbs are well-distributed. Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Put the mixture in the baking dish and bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.

When zucchini is nearly cooked through, take the casserole dish out of the oven and sprinkle over the remaining 1/2 cup of grated cheese. Put the dish back in the oven and bake 10-15 minutes longer, or until the cheese is melted and nicely browned and zucchini is fully cooked. Serve hot.

The recipe says that it keeps well in the fridge overnight if there are left overs... We wouldn't know. It was all scrambled up and stored into our bellies. 

Main Dish:

Grilled Chicken Caprese

Ingredients: 

1 lb thinly sliced chicken breast

2 Tbs olive oil

1 1/2 tsp Lawry's Roasted Garlic Salt with Oregano and Basil, divided

Mozzarella cheese

1 medium (regular, not roma) tomato

1/4 cup freshly chopped basil (We didn't use that much.. not even close)

This is the recipe we got form the McCormick website. We used it as a guideline. It was extremely vague so I just tried to go with it. Here is what I ended up doing so you have some better idea of how to prepare it.

We used two (larger) chicken breasts. One for each of us. I covered each one in plastic wrap and decided to pound them with a cup.... we don't have a mallet. So I pounded them so they were evenly pounded throughout the whole breast. 

I cut the tomatoes in thin slices. I put 1 Tbs of olive oil on each chicken breast, put them in a pan, sprinkled some of the Lawry's seasoning on each one, and grilled them on both sides (about 3-4 minutes) until they were done. With the tomatoes I put them in another pan, drizzled some oil on them, sprinkled some of the seasoning on them as well, and grilled them until they were softened and a deeper red. 

Once the chicken and tomatoes were done cooking I put slices of mozzarella on each piece of chicken. It amounted to about three-four slices per chicken breast. On top of the cheese place the tomatoes, a few for each piece of chicken. We took some chopped basil from the left over basil in our zucchini dish and sprinkled it on top. It was maybe 2 tsp to 1 Tbs in total, kind of used as a garnish in a way. Cover the chicken until the cheese is melted and then ta da! It is ready to eat! Enjoy!

Here is a link to the recipe that we used. I hope you can understand it better than I could. I just used it as a baseline really because I felt like it was incredibly vague. 

http://www.mccormick.com/Lawrys/Recipes/Main-Dishes/Grilled-Chicken-Caprese

It was such a wonderful dinner and it was amazing. I am so happy that Chad decided to make dinner and we got to try another new dish. We have been stuck in a rut with our dinners so I am glad that we got to do this.