Cheese Burger My Way

Well Spring is here in England and the weather has been superb with lot's of sunshine and warmth.  With that, I felt it was only right to get the party started and fire up the grill.  I like using charcoal because I believe the food tastes better than if using propane, but that's just me and everyone has their own preferences. 

So I decided that a thick, juicy, mouth watering burger along with chips would be great to have flaming on the grill.  To me there's just something about grilling a nice burger, hearing it sizzle and the smell that brings back memories of spring, summer and good times.  I'm looking forward to many more meals on the coals.

Cheese Burger My Way
500g minced beef
1/2 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/2 - 1 red or green chilli finely chopped
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
S+P

Toppings I had on hand
spinach
tomato
avacado
onion
ketchup
mustard
Mayo/miracle whip

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well with your hands.  Shape into 3 patties or 4 if you like them smaller.  Place on grill and cook for 3 minutes per side depending on how well done you like them.  Add your choice of cheese and cover until it's nicely melted smothering the burger.
I served mine with some home made chips by slicing up a few potatoes, seasoning with salt and pepper, tossing in olive oil and baking for 10 minutes or until a crispy soft.  I also made my own buns where I got the tasty recipe from Reni over at cinnamon spice and everything nice.  Ever since making these buns I haven't bought any at the store, they are super easy and wonderfully delicious!  Thanks Reni!  Oh, one more thing is you can't forget a nice cold beer to compliment this delicious meal!

Mom's Sloppy Joes

I remember way back in middle and high school the great food that was served....just a bit of sarcasm.  Sloppy Joes especially with the meat in some red sauce steaming in the tray waiting to be spooned onto a small, flat, tasteless bun by the lunch lady.  This song reminds me of it oh so well.  I never let my taste buds anywhere near that chow.
Now on the other hand my mom's Sloppy Joes were fantastic.  With my dad working long hours and my mom going back to school we had these regularly because they are really easy to whip up and delicious.
When I was home last my mom gave me a copy of the family cookbook.  We have a large Italian-American family and it was my Aunt Loretta's idea to compile a list of everyone's favorite home made recipes to share and put them into a little book.

This has some great recipes in it.  No it's not for sale, just something that was passed around the family...but that gives me an idea for a future one!  So this is where I got the Sloppy Joe recipe from.  This recipe actually came from a cousin about 30 years ago and has been passed around to many family members but I call it mom's. 

Mom's Sloppy Joe's
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
1 cup ketchup
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
About 1 tbsp Olive oil
Shredded cheddar cheese to top it off

Heat oil in a large skillet and saute the onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes.  Throw in (not literally) the ground beef and cook through.  Add the vinegar, mustard, ketchup, S+P and give a good stir.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Since I like to do everything from scratch I even made my own rolls.  I've visited and tried many dishes from this site many times and have never been disappointed.  This is a great recipe for home made buns/rolls.  I tested one right out of the oven because I had to see how it tasted, I let it cool of course but just a little.  It was really good so I scarfed the rest of it down.  No more store bought buns for me.
I like mine with cheese but you can leave it out if you want.  I also served it with some chips (that's what they call them here in England)/potato wedges and a nice cold gin and tonic.  Be sure to have plenty of napkins...why else would they call them sloppy?

Banana Oat Bread

My girlfriend Nicole suggested to me that I start a food blog seeing as how I love to cook and do it well.  Now I'm no claim to fame when it comes to writing so I figured I'll give it a shot and share my recipes with family and friends.  So here goes....
I was at the veg shop the other day and saw some very ripe brown bananas for half price because they were going bad.  I suddenly got the idea of making some banana bread to put them to good use.  Now there are tons of banana bread recipes online but I have tried this recipe before and it was mouth watering delicious so I decided to go with it again. 

***See my modifications below***

2 cups all-puropse flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Dash of salt

1 1/2 cups regular oats

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (I used 4 small and 2 medium bananas)

1 cup brown sugar 

2/3 cups light buttermilk

1/2 cup light olive oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to a scorching 350º F/180ºC (I always have to convert living here in England)

First combine the buttermilk and oats in a small bowl and let sit for about 30 minutes.   In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients - 2 flours, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon.  Now in a different bowl mix the bananas, olive oil, vanilla, sugar and eggs together (I mashed the bananas first with a fork to make it a little easier).

Add the dry ingredients and oat/buttermilk mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined.

Spray, grease, or oil (anything to keep it from sticking) an 8x4 baking pan, but any bread pan will do (I have no idea how big my pans are, plus they are in cm).   Divide the batter equally into the two pans and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Let it cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and enjoy.  

***I used wholemeal and white bread flour since that's all I had - seemed to come out ok.  You could also substitute wholewheat, rye, or spelt flours in this as well. 
I like cinnamon so I used 3 Tablespoons.  I didn't have any buttermilk so I used 2/3 cup of milk and added just under a tablespoon of white vinegar, let that sit for 5-10 minutes = good substitution (if you didn't have white vinegar you could also use lemon juice).

***You could also get creative and add a variety of yummy stuff - walnuts, slivered almonds, any kind of seed, raisins, coconut flakes, raspberries, etc. 

Slice and enjoy by itself or a little spread of butter!!