Tara's Smash and Squish Cheese Burgers

I have been on a quest to make the perfect burger.  I have fiddled with every topping, sauce, burger stuffing you name it.  But truly, the real secret is to stay simple.  And that is exactly what I did when I made these absolutely beyond burgers that are seriously delicious. This recipe is now my one and only.  The search is over and my mouth watering.  I deem these two: Smash and Squish. Voila! XOXO 

Some Secrets I Learned About Building a Delicious Burger:  add nothing to the burger meat.  Make the patty, refrigerate for an hour, then and simply salt before going into the pan.  Smash the burger in the pan. Toast buns, inside only so outside stays soft. Put special sauce on the bottom bun and build.  lightly salt almost every layer, except for the burgers which have already been salted.  

Mixing Up the Hamburger, There is Nothing to It, Literally

I used 1 lb of organic lean hamburger from Costco.  You can if you like, go to the butcher and have them mix up some deluxe concoctions like chuck and short rib which to me sounds like a really sick combo, but these were perfect.

So Here is My Recipe For the Burger

1 lb. lean organic hamburger and salt..  First make 6 round burger patties and put them into the refrigerator for about an hour.  Don't salt yet.  You will salt both sides before you put into the frying pan.  You also don't need to add anything else, not an egg, not an herb or spice, absolutely nothing. 

Special Sauce

1/2 cup Hellman's mayo or any other thick and creamy mayo, I used 1/2 fat, 1/4 cup relish, 1/8 cup ketchup, 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar, 1 small chopped dill pickle, 1 tbsp. finely minced onion, 1 tsp. sugar or sweetener.  Mix together.  Taste and add a little more of this or that but tangy and sweet with the texture of the pickle and relish are absolutely perfect.

A Few More Simple Ingredients

Here is what else you'll need:  hamburger buns, sliced onion, iceberg lettuce, sliced tomato, cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheese). You may want to add mustard, bacon, or any other fabulous deliciousness your heart desires.

Take your patties out of the refrigerator and salt both sides.

Get Out Your Cast Iron Pan, or any pan you have handy, put the temp to medium high heat and grease up with some olive oil.  When the pan is nice and hot, plop the salt seasoned patties into the pan and using a spatula, squish the burgers down so they get a little thinner.  I like to put a lid on it for a minute or two so the grease doesn't ruin my apron, lol.  When the hamburgers are brown on one side, flip. You will cook each side for about 2 minutes. While you are cooking the second side top with your favorite cheese and put a lid on lowering the heat.  Once cooked, put on a plate. Repeat this process for all of your burgers.

Let's Build a Burger

Toast the inner side of the buns in the oven or on the grill.  Once toasted, butter the toasted buns.  Then schmeer special sauce on bottom bun, top ice berg lettuce and sprinkle a little more salt, add the sliced tomato, sprinkle with salt again, add your cheesy patty, then top with a good slice of onion, sprinkle a little salt again, top with another patty and fix with the top bun.  Add more sauce of course if you like, but squish down, dig in and let the good times roll.  This is a simple but utterly freaking amazing hamburger.  Bon appetite! XOXO

WW Hearty Chicken Stew with Dumplings

 

Here is a soup I made from the WW app.  The dumplings are incredible and they are low in points too.  Everyone has their own chicken soup recipe, however if you are watching calories (and even if you are not), these dumplings are divine.  Here is the dumpling recipe (below) from my app.  Make your favorite chicken soup recipe then add these dumplings to it.  Or here is the link to WW for the entire recipe.  If you just want dumplings, recipe is below.

Hearty chicken stew with parsley dumplings | Recipes | WW USA (weightwatchers.com)

Dumplings

2 cups all purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. fresh parsley chopped and now get this, 0.666 of a cup of skim milk, which is a little over a half a cup.  Crazy!  But they turned out.  I also added extra spices and a pinch of salt.  

Whisk 1 cup of the flour first with all of the ingredients until well blended.  The incorporate the last 1 cup of flour with parsley and spices and stir until mixed well.

Drop 1/4 cupfulls of the batter into simmering chicken soup, should make 6, then simmer for 7 minutes.  Carefully turn the dumplings over, put a lid on it and cook for another 7 minutes.  So very precise!  Enjoy!

French Breakfast Muffins

Oven preheated to 375 degrees

Here is a nice "repeat" recipe I made for my kids and their friends over the years.  They are French muffins and they are lovely - especially with the cinnamon and sugar on top.  Perfect for this sunny Sunday summer morning.  Oh, please, do enjoy!

2 cups of flour, 2/3 cup white sugar, 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, pinch or 2 of nutmeg, 1 large egg, 1 cup milk, 6 tbsp. melted butter, 1 capful of vanilla flavoring.

Combine the dry ingredients, then combine the wet ingredients separately.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just blended.  The dough will be like biscuit dough, thick.  I like to use muffin liners, to save on the clean up of the muffin tins - if you don't, make sure you Pam spray all of the muffin cups.  So line a regular for 12 muffin tin with some pretty liners and goop the muffin mixture about 2/3 into the liners.

Then pop into the oven and bake for about 15-25 minutes.  Why the huge timeline?  Well, every oven is different.  Personally, I had to cook mine for 20 minutes.  To test, make sure they are nicely browned and put a toothpick into a muffin to test.  If it comes out clean with no wet batter, they are ready!

Topping:  1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon, 3-4 tbsp. melted butter.  Brush a muffin top with melted butter and dip into the sugar cinnamon mixture.  Voila!  You are ready and set to go.  My husband would like me to put blueberries in next time, so I will give that a whirl.  Otherwise, they are delicious!  Enjoy! XOXO