Mushroom and Swiss Sliders with Spicy Fry Sauce

I really enjoy eating sliders; more so than a regular sized burger. I'm not sure if it's because I can get away with eating more than one hamburger or if it's because they are so cute.
Just because these burgers are cute doesn't mean they can't pack a punch of flavor in your mouth. The spicy fry sauce is the perfect addition to these sliders, and it gives the flavor a little "kick." I'll definitely make these over and over.

Ingredients:
1 serving of spicy fry sauce
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 whole medium onion, finely diced
8 ounces, weight white mushrooms , chopped finely
1/2 cups white or red wine (optional)
Salt and pepper
2 pounds ground beef
Worcestershire sauce
4 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
6 slices Swiss cheese, cut into four squares each
8 whole dinner (slider) rolls, split

Directions:
Melt butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cook over medium heat for five minutes, stirring frequently. Add mushrooms and toss around, then add wine (if using), 4 dashes Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Cook for several minutes over medium heat, or until all liquid has evaporated. Transfer mushroom mixture to a separate bowl, scraping all contents from the skillet.

Mix ground beef, heavy cream, 4 dashes Worcestershire, salt and pepper in a bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly mix ingredients. Form 1/4 cup of the meat mixture into patties, making an indentation with your thumb to keep the patties from plumping too much when they cook.

In the same skillet as the one used to cook the mushrooms, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium to medium-high heat. Add four patties at a time, indented side face up. Cook for 4 minutes, then flip.

Spoon generous portions of mushroom mixture on each patty, then top the one or two squares of Swiss, depending on your preference. Place lid on skillet and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until burgers are cooked through and cheese is melted. Remove to a place and keep warm while you repeat with the rest of the meat mixture.

Toast halved buns under the oven broiler. Spread generously with spicy fry sauce. Place patties between buns and serve immediately with fried onion strings.

Source: Pioneer Woman

Fried Onion Strings with Spicy Fry Sauce

These little things may be thin, but they sure are dangerous. Before I even realized it, Aubrey and I had almost knocked out a whole onion. They are like a blooming onion from Outback Steakhouse sans the bloom. And even though they're fried, they aren't very greasy if you drain them on a few paper towels.
The spicy fry sauce reminds me a lot of Guthrie's sauce. I'll definitely be making this more often to add to hamburgers and as a dip for french fries and chicken fingers. It's absolutely amazing! You can adjust the red pepper to suit your taste buds.

Onion Strings

Ingredients:
1 whole large yellow onion
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups All-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon (scant) salt
1/4 teaspoon (to 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne (red) pepper
1 quart (to 2 quarts) Canola oil
Black pepper, to taste


Directions:
Slice onion very thin. Place in a baking dish and cover with buttermilk and soak for at least an hour.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Heat oil to 375-degrees. A candy thermometer comes in very handy here.
Grab a handful of onions, throw them into the flour mixture, tap to shake off excess, and plunge into hot oil. Fry for a few minutes and remove as soon as golden brown. Repeat until onions are gone.
And the words from Pioneer Woman's mouth: "Eat before your family sees them. Repeat with another onion, because they'll be really mad if they didn't get any."

Definitely make the spicy fry sauce below to dip these little suckers into:

Spicy Fry Sauce

I doubled this recipe:
Mix together 1/3 cup Mayonnaise, 2 Tablespoons Ketchup, and 1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (use less if you have a sensitive mouth).

Source for onion strings: Pioneer Woman
Source for sauce: Pioneer Woman

Frozen Food Friday

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

It sure has been a hot summer here in south Alabama. There's nothing like a cold scoop of ice cream to cool you off. I was really happy with this strawberry ice cream recipe. The strawberry is definitely the star of this creamy treat. I love the tiny pieces of strawberries mixed throughout, and the deep red strawberries mixed with the cream make the prettiest shade of pink.

Please don't hold it against me that I'm in desperate need of a manicure. Maybe I'll get one for my birthday next week.

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vodka or kirsch
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Slice the strawberries and toss them in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring every so often.

Pulse the strawberries and their liquid with the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until almost smooth but still slightly chunky.

Refrigerate for 1 hour, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Source: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Bow-Tie "Lasagna"

If you are looking for a quick and filling weeknight meal, you'll have to give this recipe a try. It took me about 20 minutes to cook this meal from start to finish. The result was creamy delicious
bite-size pieces of lasagna. Aubrey isn't a big fan of fennel, so next time I'll probably make my own Italian seasoning sans fennel. This makes a ton of pasta, but it reheats really well. I just put it in an individual pasta bowl, add a little water, and cook it in the microwave for a couple of minutes.


Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
5 cups Bow Tie pasta
3 cups of your favorite Marinara sauce
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:
Brown the beef in a skillet and drain. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions. After pasta is cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce.
Add your meat, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Source: Pioneer Woman - Tasty Kitchen

Frozen Food Friday

Dreamy Creamy Nutella Ice Cream

I have been so excited to make this ice cream. If you've never tried Nutella, you are seriously missing out. It's the best stuff since sliced bread. The first time I was introduced to it was when I traveled to Paris with my BFF, Meredith. There were little food stands around the Paris selling crepes and Nutella. I don't even think we tried it in Paris; we were too afraid, I guess. It wasn't until a few years later when I tried it one day while snooping for a snack in my mom's pantry.

My favorite way to eat Nutella is right off of a spoon, and that's what I feel like I'm doing when I eat this ice cream. This ice cream is very rich, which is good because it keeps me from eating so much in one sitting. I found the consistency a bit odd. It never really hardened in my ice cream maker, so it was a little soupy when I stuck it in the freezer. However, it turned out really creamy once it froze.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Nutella
1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tablespoon evaporated milk

Directions:
Warm the evaporated milk in a medium saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the Nutella, and stir until it melts and both ingredients become one. Cover and refrigerate for several hours until well chilled, preferably overnight.
Whisk again and churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers directions.

Source: Chocolate & Zucchini

Bacon and Wild Mushroom Risotto with Baby Spinach

Risotto can be made into a complete meal when vegetables and meat are added. The choices of combinations are endless. This recipe says to use a combination of wild mushrooms, but I like to stick with the baby bellas and the button mushrooms. There are some wild mushrooms that remind me of other things such as squid tentacles and frog legs. Thanks, but no thanks!
This particular risotto has an amazing smoky flavor, thanks to the crispy bacon. I also chose to sprinkle a little of the cheese on top of the risotto after serving instead of mixing it in. Therefore, I used less cheese and saved a few calories.




Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
6 bacon slices, chopped
1 cup chopped shallots
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
4 garlic cloves, minced
12 ounces wild mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
1/3 cup dry sherry
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup (2-ounces) grated fresh Asiago cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a small saucepan (do not boil); keep warm over low heat.
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add bacon to pan; cook 8 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon. Add shallots, oil, thyme, and garlic to drippings in the pan; cook 6 minutes or until shallots are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in mushrooms; cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rice, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in sherry; cook 1 minute or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 cup stock; cook 4 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of stock is absorbed before adding the next (about 25 minutes total).

I recommend pulling up a chair to save your feet. :)

Stir in spinach; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with bacon.
Yield: 5 servings

Nutritional Info (per 1 1/4 cups risotto and 1 Tablespoon bacon):
405 calories; 19.1g fat; 38mg cholesterol; 145mg calcium; 42.6g carbs; 555mg sodium; 16.5g protein; 3.5g fiber; 2.4mg iron

Source: adapted from Cooking Light

Frozen Food Friday

Bananas Foster Ice Cream Sundae

I recently found a recipe in my ice cream recipe book for Roasted Banana Ice Cream. I really love bananas, so I'm not sure how I looked over it so many times. I love how this recipe uses real bananas instead of banana flavoring, and they added a nice aroma to our house while they were roasting in the oven.
Once everything was pureed, I had to have a little taste. I was surprised at how much this tasted like the banana pudding that Aubrey's grandmother makes (recipe coming in the near future). It was amazing! That night I was brainstorming about what to put on top of the ice cream. I thought of crushing up vanilla wafers at first. That would be good. But I wasn't satisfied with that. I wanted something more. Bananas Foster! That's it! I could make Bananas Foster to drizzle on top. Perfect! I searched for recipes on the computer and found one that looked delicious. And delicious it was! This is one of my favorite ice cream recipes that I've made (I feel like I say that every time). Please try it. You can also put the topping on a scoop of vanilla ice cream, which would be very good.


Roasted Banana Ice Cream
Source: The Perfect Scoop

Ingredients:
3 medium-sized ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400-degrees.
Slice the bananas into 1/2-inch pieces and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring just once during baking, until the bananas are browned and cooked through.

Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup in the baking dish into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt, and puree until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the chilled mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisking will thin it out.

Bananas Foster Topping
Source: adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon butter
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon orange juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 large firm bananas, sliced
1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Directions:
In a large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in the brown sugar, orange juice, cinnamon and nutmeg until blended. Add bananas and pecans; cook, stirring gently, for 2-3 minutes or until bananas are glazed and slightly softened. Remove from the heat; stir in extract. Serve with ice cream.

Tres Leches Cake

This cake was a favorite among the birthday party guests. My mother-in-law even came over a couple of times to snag a piece of leftover cake for dessert, and I think Aubrey even ate some for breakfast.
I used a butter cake box mix for this cake, and it was perfect. It was fluffy and moist all at the same time.
You can try a less guilty version of this recipe if you wish.

Cake

Ingredients:
1 box butter cake mix, plus ingredients listed on the box
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 can (14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Prepare the cake according to the directions on the box.
Once the cake is cool, poke holes all over the cake with a toothpick. In a medium bowl, mix together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. Pour milk mixture evenly over cake and place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Once ready to serve, spread the whipped cream frosting over the cake.


Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons granulated white sugar

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and wire whisk in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. When chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

Source: Frosting recipe from Joy of Baking

Chocolate Tres Leches Cake

Tres Leches cake is a favorite in this house. Since we had 21 people over for Aubrey's birthday, I needed to make two cakes. So, why not try a chocolate tres leches? You can certainly use a chocolate cake mix, which is probably what I will do next time. This was a wonderful chocolate cake, but it was very dense and probably needed 1 1/2 or double the milk mixture. I served vanilla bean ice cream on the side, so that added the perfect amount of moisture.
The homemade chocolate whipped cream was wonderful, and I thought it was the perfect addition to this cake. I had to refrain from eating it right out of the bowl.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
6 eggs, separated
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa, and baking powder. In a medium sized bowl, combine the milk and vanilla. Set both aside.

Place egg whites in a clean bowl and beat at high speed until peaks are formed. Turn the mixer down to medium speed and gradually add the sugar to the egg whites. Once the sugar is dissolved, add egg yolks and beat for 3 minutes. Continue beating egg white mixture on medium-low speed and add flour and milk alternately until well blended.

Pour cake batter into the cake pan and bake for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool, then poke holes all over the cake with a toothpick. Pour milk mixture (recipe below) evenly over the cake and place in the refrigerator. Spread the chocolate whipped cream topping (recipe below) over the cake before serving.


Tres Leches (Milk) Mixture

Mix together the following:
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream


Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, sugar, and cocoa powder and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and wire whisk in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour so the cocoa powder has time to dissolve. Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

Sources:
Cake: Food.com
Whipped Cream Frosting: Joy of Baking

Arroz Rojo con Achiote (Red Rice with Achiote)

If there was one thing I was worried about cooking for the big birthday party, it was this rice. I wasn't sure how multiplying the ingredients x 3 would work out in the cooking process. Even though it took significantly longer to cook, and it burned a little bit on the bottom (but not scorched), I thoroughly enjoyed this. I think other people did too, because several got up to get seconds.
I ordered the achiote paste from a Mexican grocer, but I believe you could use tomato paste as a substitute. They have the same consistency and a similar flavor. Achiote paste is made from the red seeds of the annatto tree. It's an ingredient used a lot in the Yucatan peninsula.

Ingredients:
2 medium-large ripe tomatoes, chopped, or 1 can (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup chopped white onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon achiote paste (probably can substitute tomato paste)
1/3 cup safflower or canola oil
2 cups medium- or long-grain white rice
3 cups chicken broth
1 green bell pepper
5 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs, chopped, plus a few sprigs for garnish
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

Directions:
In a blender, puree the tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Add the achiote paste and blend until well mixed. Pass the mixture through a sieve.

Meanwhile, roast the peppers. Use long-handled tongs to hold them over a gas-stove burner until their skins are evenly blistered and charred, about 5 minutes; or roast directly over a very hot charcoal or gas grill. Alternatively, roast under a preheated broiler, turning occasionally, until evenly blackened and blistered, 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper or heavy-duty plastic bag or a damp kitchen towel and leave for 5 minutes before peeling. To peel, use your fingertips to peel away the blackened and blistered skins. If any areas resist, use a knife or rinse under running cold water. Don't worry if charred bits remain. Slit the peppers open and use your fingertips, a small spoon, or the tip of a small, sharp knife to remove the seeds and white veins. Chop the pepper and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until it starts to turn light gold, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato puree and fry, scraping the pan bottom occasionally, until the puree is absorbed, about 3 minutes. Stir in the broth and add the bell pepper, parsley sprigs, and salt. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook the rice for 25 minutes. When the rice is almost cooked through, remove the pan from the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes.

Toss the rice with a fork, then spoon into a warmed bowl, garnish with parsley sprigs, and serve.

Source: Savoring Mexico