Chicken Lettuce Wraps

These crisp lettuce wraps are a great, light dinner option on a hot summer day.

Ingredients:

2lbs Chicken Breasts
1 Tbl Sesame Oil
1 Tbl Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Garlic, chopped
1 tsp Ginger, chopped
1lb Mushrooms (I prefer Criminis, but any fresh mushroom will work)
2 cans Water Chestnuts
1 Blt Maggi Gins Stir Fry Sauce (see "Chinese Please" Blog for where to find this AWESOME sauce)
1/2 pkg  Bean Thread Noodles (find in the Asian isle)
3ea Scallions, chopped
1 Head Iceberg Lettuce

Start by cleaning chicken and cutting into long strips. 

 

Grind using meat grinder (see "What in Your Ground Beef" blog for tips on grinding meat.  Note: I do not add any pork fat to this ground chicken recipe).  If you do not have a meat grinder you can pulse in your food processor or just buy high quality, fresh ground chicken.

Next, wash mushrooms, pat dry and pulse in food processor until finely chopped.  Set aside.

Pulse water chestnuts in food processor until roughly chopped (careful not to over chop and make a paste)
 
In a large saute pan or wok, gently heat sesame oil and vegetable oil.  Add garlic and ginger, cook 30 seconds or so, add chicken.  Continue cooking until chicken starts to brown.   (Chicken will loose a lot of water at first, keep cooking until it starts to look dry and starts to brown). 

Drop 2 bundles of noodles into boiling (unsalted) water.

Add chopped mushrooms.  Cook for about 5 more minutes (or until mixture looks dry again).

Add chopped water chestnuts, sauce, scallions and 1 cup water.  Turn down heat to medium.

By now your noodles should be done cooking (they should be COMPLETELY clear, no white!)  Drain and using a clean pair of scissors, snip a few times just to make strands a little shorter.

Add noodles to chicken mixture.  Cook over low heat until the noodles have absorbed most of the sauce.  Check seasoning.  Add soy sauce if needed.

Serve with crisp iceberg lettuce.  Simply eat the same way you would with a taco.

Cherry and Almond Muffins

This is a great recipe to utilize those tasty cherries that are in season right now.  I have substituted half the butter and half the oil for non fat Greek yogurt.  I also subbed some of the flour for ground oatmeal.  These couple of tweaks do not effect the overall flavor or texture but they do help to make them a more healthy option for breakfast or a snack.

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Butter, softened
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 Cup Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
2 Cups Sugar
3 Eggs, Whole
1 Egg Yolk
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Almond Extract
1 1/2 Tbl Baking Powder
2 Cups Flour (you can sub whole wheat flour)
1 2/3 Cup Oatmeal Flour (Grind 2 cups whole oatmeal in your food processor or ninja to a fine powder)

1 Cup Buttermilk
2 Cups Fresh Cherries, pitted (See my "How to Pit Cherries Using a Pen" Blog)
Oatmeal and Chopped Almonds to Garnish

Beat butter, oil, Greek yogurt and sugar together.  Add eggs and yolk one at a time.  Add salt and almond extract.  Mix until creamy, scrap down the edges.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together flour, oatmeal flour and baking powder.

Add 1/3 of the flour mix to the mixer.  On low speed mix until flour is almost fully incorporated.  Add 1/3 of the buttermilk, mix.  Continue to add flour and buttermilk in 1/3's.  Scrap down bowl and mix one final time.

Remove bowl from stand mixer and fold in cherries by hand.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill paper lined muffing tin.  Liners should be 3/4 full of batter. 

Sprinkle the top of batter with whole oats and chopped almonds. 

Bake on middle rack of oven at 350' for approx 20min.  Muffins should feel firm to touch and toothpick should come out clean.  Careful, they don't get very brown so don't over bake.

Once cooled store in airtight container for up to 3 days

Notes:

This recipe makes about 24 muffins.  If you don't want to make all of them at once simply freeze the uncooked batter.  When you want a few muffins scoop frozen batter (like you would ice cream) into muffin liners and bake as usual (yep, go ahead and bake even if batter is still frozen.)  This is a great trick, you can have fresh baked muffins on a whim!

Feel free to sub any kind of berry, nut or extract (Blueberry with Lemon, Raspberry with Chocolate Chips, Orange and Poppy seed, Cranberry (dried) and Pecans)

How To Pit Cherries Using a Pen

Now that cherry season is here, let me show you a quick way to pit cherries.

Grab a cheap pen out of your junk drawer.

 

Remove all the insides, leaving only the plastic tube.

 

 Now simply push the pen threw the cherry and the pit should pop out the other side. 

What's in Your Beef?

Ever wonder what is in that ground beef?  Me too!  Let me enlighten you.

Ground Chuck, Sirloin or Round = Real cuts of beef and beef trimmings
Ground Beef, 100% Ground Beef = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat and cheek meat
Hamburger = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat, cheek meat and additional beef fat
100% Pure Beef Patties = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat, cheek meat and partially defatted chopped beef
Beef Patties = Real cuts of beef, beef trimmings, head meat, cheek meat, beef fat, partially defatted chopped beef, organ meat, water, binders and fillers

Never mind that all processed products are allowed to have a small % of "X Product" which could be absolutely ANYTHING! Including rodent hair and insects.  Bottom line, buy "whole" products as much as possible!

Then there is that delish "Pink Slim".  Just google it and you will never order a burger again!

Oh, by the way they bleach the meat before they grind it to kill any harmful bacteria that may have been transferred to the beef when it was butchered. 

Now that I have you super excited to go get a McDonald's Hamburger... Let me teach you how to make delicious ground beef at home.  Where you know exactly what you are getting.

Start by buying a nicely marbled piece of beef.  I prefer chuck because it tends to be a reasonably price and it is very flavorful.

If you have a local butcher shop or really great grocery store you can probably find Pork Fat Back.  If you cannot find this try and find a very well marbled piece of beef.

For every 1lb of beef add 3oz of diced pork fat (that is about the size of a ping pong ball).  Keep everything as cold as possible

Set up your grinder.  I have a Kitchen Aid attachment that works great.  Note how I placed a long piece of plastic wrap from the end of the grinder down to the bowl.  This is prevent meat from shooting out at me and onto the floor.  It is like a meat shield.

Grind all the meat on a medium speed to prevent it from getting warm from friction.  Once all meat has passed through grinder, remove plastic wrap shield and feed it down the grinder tub.  This sounds like a bad idea but trust me it will not grind the plastic wrap.  The plastic wrap will simply push any remaining meat through. 

Now using the paddle attachment mix meat for >1min.  Just to emulsify the meat and fat.  If you do not do this you will have a crumbly burger.

That it!  You have fresh Ground Beef, not Beef Bi Product that you buy at the grocery store.

Notes:
I make ground beef in big 5+ lb batches.  Then I turn  it all into burger patties (being sure to put a piece of parchment paper on each side of each burger to prevent patties from sticking together when frozen.  If you do not have 2 pieces of parchment between each patty, you will never get them apart when frozen).  The reason I turn it all into burger patties is because if I want to make one quick burger I only have to thaw 1 burger versus thawing a whole pound.  The pattied beef thaws much quicker than a big block so even if I am not making burgers it still cuts the thawing time down.

It is important to work with the beef as cold as possible to insure that the fat grinds properly.

Be sure to work very clean when making ground beef so you have no risk of imparting bacteria.  Remember you most likely will not be cooking your burgers well done.

Make ground pork and chicken the same way.  I do add pork fat to my ground chicken also.

The reason I use pork fat is because it is the most delicious animal fat available.  So if you are going to consume animal fat, make it good!

If you want a leaner ground beef simply cut back on the fat.

Use fresh ground beef within 3 days or freeze it.

Gourmet burgers

Be the hit at your next BBQ with these "Gourmet Burgers"

Beef and Blue Cheese with Grilled Onions and Fried Egg
- Makes 3 Large Burgers

1lb Ground Beef (See my "What's in Your Beef" Blog)
6oz Crumbled Blue Cheese
1 Red Onion
3 Eggs
3 Pretzel Rolls

Divide burger meat into 6 equal portions.  Roll into balls and place each one onto a piece of patty paper or parchment that has been cut into a 4"x4" square.

Place another sheet of patty paper on the top.  With a large can, smash them into thin patties.  They should be almost as big as the paper.

Place a spoon full of blue cheese on the center of one patty and top with another patty; sandwiching the blue cheese.  Gently press edges together to seal.








Cut red onion into 1/2" thick slices, skewer with a tooth pick to prevent them from falling apart and brush with a small amount of oil. 

Cut pretzel roll in half.

Grab your burger, salt, pepper, roll, onions, non stick pan (sprayed with pan spray), egg and spatula, clean plate and head outside to your HOT grill.

Season one side of your burger and flip onto hot grill.  Season the other side that is now facing up.  Place your onions on grill.  On the side or top shelf of grill place your non stick pan and add eggs. 

Flip your burger when you see a small amount of char around the edges.  Cook until you see a little juice coming out of the top, this is how you know it is a perfect medium rare. 

Toast pretzel roll.

By the time your burger is done your egg should be a beautiful sunny side up egg.

Stack your burger on the roll with a little lettuce, grilled onions (don't forget to remove the toothpick), fried egg and top with on olive. 


Beef with Caramelized Onions, Bacon and Cheddar
-Makes 4 Large Burgers

1lb Ground Beef
1 Small Onion, small dice (1/4"x1/4")
3oz Cheddar (diced very small)
1 Tbl Worcestershire Sauce
8 Slices Bacon, Cooked
4ea Rolls

Place a small saute pan over medium heat.  Add 1 tsp oil and all of the onions. 
Cook until golden brown, stirring often.

In a mixing bowl combine meat, cheese, worcestershire  and cooled caramelized onions.  Gently combine using clean hands.

Divide burger meat into 4 equal portions. Roll into balls and place each one onto a piece of patty paper or parchment that has been cut into a 4"x4" square. Place another sheet of patty paper on the top. With a large can, smash them into thin patties. They should be almost as big as the paper.

Cut your rolls in half

Grab your salt, pepper, burgers, rolls, spatula, clean plate and head out to your HOT grill.

Season one side of your burgers and flip onto hot grill.  Season the other side that should now be facing up.  Grill until you see a slight char around the edges.  Flip and continue cooking until you see a small amount of juice bubbling from the top.  This is a perfect medium rare.

Toast roll

Assemble burger, topping with some whole grain mustard and smokey bacon.

Teriyaki Chicken Burger
-Makes 3 Large Burgers

1lb Ground Chicken (Check out my tips how to make your own ground chicken in my "What's In Your Beef" Blog)

1/4 Cup Teriyaki Sauce

3 Sesame Seed Buns

3 Rings of Pineapple

In a mixing bowl combine chicken and teriyaki sauce.

Divide burger meat into 3 equal portions. Roll into balls and place each one onto a piece of patty paper or parchment that has been cut into a 4"x4" square.

Place another sheet of patty paper on the top. With a large can, smash them into thin patties. They should be almost as big as the paper.

In a 425' oven place burgers onto a baking sheet.  Bake 5 min or until chicken has started to become firm.

Now, Grab your salt, pepper, burgers, pineapple, rolls, spatula, clean plate and head out to your HOT grill.

Grill Pineapple until nicely charred on both sides.

Place precooked patties on grill and cook just until you have nice char on both sides.  Remember they are already cooked so don't dry them out.

Toast roll

Assemble burger with grilled pineapple and additional teriyaki sauce. 


Notes: 
If you like your burgers more well done, smash your patties thinner.

If you like your burgers more rare, smash your patties thicker.

If you don't pre cook your chicken burgers they will fall apart on the grill and I am not a fan of raw chicken near beef burgers.  Too big of a chance of cross contamination.

As tempted as you may be to add extra cheese to burger meat, DON'T...They will fall apart!

All burger patties can be made in advance and frozen until needed.  Thaw in fridge overnight before grilling.