Month: June 2018

beef sliders with pepper jack, bacon, guacamole, and the hottest d*@# poblano peppers i’ve ever had

Lauren2 Comments

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I learn something new nearly every time I cook, and this week, I learned that poblano peppers can be extremely hot. And that when you handle hot poblano peppers and touch your eye, your eye will begin to burn. And when you get in the shower to rinse your eye, the water can transfer the burn to the lower part of your face. It was an eventful evening. There I was with one hand holding an ice pack to my eye and the other snapping photos of food on the grill. Am I a dedicated blogger or what? See, I go through all the trials and tribulations and fall into all the cooking pitfalls so you don’t have to. You’re welcome. 🙂

I wonder if other bloggers undergo these trials…

The pain in my eye subsided after a couple hours, but the burning in my hand burned well into the night. At midnight, I finally plunged my hand into a bowl of cold milk, which helped immensely. I had never had hot poblano peppers in my life—these were jalapeno-level spicy.  I love spicy food, but there’s spicy food and then there’s just pain. And when your mouth is in pain, the pain definitely overwhelms any taste there might be in my humble opinion.

Other than the near-ER visit, everything else went smoothly, and the beef sliders were tasty though very messy. If there’s a trick to eating a burger without all the toppings falling off, I have yet to learn it. This slider has all my favorite foods: creamy tangy guacamole, crispy BACON, a sliver of crunchy poblano pepper (I’m still bitter!), and pepper jack cheese atop a ground beef burger with spicy and creamy chipotle mayo. We utilized our grill for the bacon, peppers, and beef patties, which gave them a delectably smoky flavor. This is a slider recipe to keep! Enjoy! Oh, and if anyone wants to take these poblano peppers off my hands, you’re welcome to them! Just be sure you have some milk in the house.

So, we made the sliders with grilled corn with butter, chili powder, and salt (recipe), pasta salad with marinated tomatoes (recipe), and iced peach tea with mint (recipe). The pasta salad and iced tea recipes you can make ahead of time. Since the corn is also cooked on the grill and takes a little longer to cook than the beef patties, I would start with the corn and then move to the slider recipe. This gets you nice hot burgers.

Happy grilling!

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peach iced tea with mint

Lauren2 Comments

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Are there certain foods (or drinks) you can’t stay away from? I can’t stay away from ice cream, white chocolate, Nutella, anything cookies & cream-flavored, anything coffee-flavored… well, anything with SUGAR! (I mean, if we’re being honest…) pasta, pizza, potatoes, CHEESE!, bread (Hmm…this list is more extensive than I realized), and this peach iced tea. It’s real good. Like I forget how many glasses I’ve had. I am guzzling it like there’s no tomorrow. Good thing I didn’t add liquor to it! I’d probably be under the table right now inarticulately crooning Les Miserables songs or adding obscure movies I will never watch to my Netflix queue (Did you know there’s a documentary on Feng Shui on there? Who knew?)

The best thing about this recipe, other than the peachy flavor, is how easy it is. You’re basically making the tea and then adding homemade peach simple syrup to it. The longer the peach and mint flavors have time to coalesce in the refrigerator, the more flavorful they’ll be. Drink up!

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pasta salad with marinated tomatoes

Lauren4 Comments

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I was recently told that it would be beneficial to my readers if I posted my July 4th recipes before the actual holiday so they could actually make them on the holiday. Sorry, first-time blogger here making first-time blogger mistakes. So for the week and a half we have left before the 4th, I will be posting more recipes than normal so I can get them all posted in time. I have been cooking up a storm much to Justin’s delight. Justin is my taste tester, a role he prizes (or at least pretends to [this is Justin, I love it, continue on]). He is also my editor, content consultant, dishwasher, and oftentimes, even my Amazon echo when I have a cooking question but have my hands covered in flour or oil or what have you. I shout all kinds of questions from the kitchen, which he graciously Googles for me.

“How many ounces are in a quart?” (32 ounces by the way)

“How can you tell when scallops are done?” (they should be white and non-transparent)

“Is this chicken supposed to be purple?!” (we were making coq au vin)

“How do you thicken whipped cream?” (put in refrigerator over night) Continue reading “pasta salad with marinated tomatoes” →

steak and chicken dinner with the neighbors

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In the year and a half that Justin and I have lived in our  house, we have only gotten to know two of our neighbors. I think this is partly due to the garages being in the back of the houses instead of the front.  The only time we really see our neighbors is when they are getting their mail or mowing their yard. The couple across the street are fun and enjoy good food and drink so we invited them over for dinner. Continue reading “steak and chicken dinner with the neighbors” →

prosciutto-wrapped asparagus

Lauren1 Comment

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This is an awesome appetizer! Make this now! It’s a little tricky cutting and wrapping the fragile layer of prosciutto around the asparagus. Do not add any salt to this recipe as it is already salty from the prosciutto. These can be made ahead and stored at room temperature up to 4 hours before baking.

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farmer’s pizza

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I almost always want meat in my meals. If I don’t, I tend to think I’m coming down with a cold. But occasionally a recipe is so good that I don’t miss the meat. This is one of those recipes. I wasn’t sure how all the ingredients would play out, but I found the creamy mascarpone, spicy tomato sauce, and peppery arugula make this pizza just awesome. ‘Nuff said. Continue reading “farmer’s pizza” →