The Buerglers

Ingredients: 1lb bacon, chopped into bits  1 cartons chicken stock 1.5 cups old fashioned grits (not instant!) 1 cup milk 1 cup heavy cream 4 tablespoons butter 6-12 ounces smoked gouda or smoked cheddar, grated  Fresh ground black pepper +  Salt + cayenne pepper to taste Directions: In a large pot or dutch oven fry chopped bacon until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove bacon on to paper towels to cool. You can drain the grease from the pan or leave it for added bacon flavor. Cook grits in chicken stock and butter according to the package (typically: bring to a boil, reduce to low and cook covered for 15-20 minutes. Stir/whisk often.) Add milk and cream and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Slowly add shredded cheese and stir until melted. Add crispy bacon bits back to the pot. Add black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper to taste. Serve with a scoop of fresh pulled pork or BBQ.  Also works great for shrimp + grits! Notes:  If...

I am a sucker for mint. Ever since the "if you're good at the mall we can get ice cream" days, mint chocolate has been my favorite combination.  When I was in college and procrastinating studying for exams I liked to bake. One winter I found the Andes Mints baking chips.  (Be on the look out, they're usually only available around the winter holidays. If you see them stock up...and send me a bag.) I've made them almost every winter since.  Though... they almost always came out too dry. This year I tweaked the recipe a little bit and it seemed much better.   Instead of 2 and 2/3 cups flour, I used just a little over 2 cups.   I was out of vanilla extract but Dr. Google informed me that you can substitute any flavored alcohol for an flavored extract , as long as you pair a complimentary flavor.  I just happened to have Creme de Menthe in my liquor cabinet.  This combination of changes was a sure upgrade. I made a double batch (I used 5 c flour for ...

Homemade Applesauce Serves 4-6, great for any meal Ingredients: 4+ good sized apples, at least one should be granny smith water scoop of sugar cinnamon to taste Directions: Wash, peel, core, and chunk apples. Place in saucepan, add "just a little bit of water" (no more than a quarter of an inch). Cover, and cook on medium heat until fork tender. Use a potato masher to mush to desired texture. Add a scoop of sugar and cinnamon to taste. Stir. Serve warm with dinner, and great refrigerated for breakfast, lunch or dinner the next day. Store in an air tight container for 2-3 days. If you want to use some for baby food, remove apples before adding sugar and cinnamon and blend until smooth, adding water until desired consistency is achieved.  Boom. Dinner for the whole family. Seriously, y'all, it's that easy AND delicious!  The fresh taste is worth the 10 minutes of preparation. And the best part is that its so...

Chipotle Pork Burgers I founds this yumminess on Epicurious  here .  The original is copied here and then followed by our variations: Ingredients: 1 pound ground pork (not lean) 2 teaspoons minced chipotle in adobo plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce 2 garlic cloves, forced through a garlic press 4 slices Muenster cheese 4 hamburger buns, toasted 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 large tomatillo (1/4 pound), husked and rinsed, then sliced 1/2 small avocado, sliced 1/2 cup cilantro sprigs Preparation: Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium heat. Gently mix pork, chipotle, garlic, and a scant teaspoon salt until just combined. Form into 4 (1/2-inch-thick) patties. Oil grill rack, then grill patties, covered, 4 minutes. Flip patties and top with a slice of cheese. Grill, covered, until just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Spread buns with mayonnaise and assemble burgers with tomatillo, avocado, and cilantro. Variation...

Looking for something fast and impressive to bring to a summer cookout?  This is one of my favorites and it's oh-so-easy. Strawberry Brownie Triffle Ingredients: 1 family sized box of brownies, prepared and cooled  1-2 pints of fresh strawberries (or other berries) washed, dried, hulled, and sliced 1 large tub of Cool-Whip, thawed 1 box of Instant Pudding, French Vanilla or White Chocolate flavor (optional) a splash of milk (optional) Preparation (optional): This jazzes up the Cool-Whip a bit and really sets the dessert apart.  If you want to use heavy-whipping cream to make your own whipped cream instead of Cool-Whip you can! If you don't have time, or don't care, skip this step. Pour a splash of milk (okay, it's probably like 1/3c) into a mixing bowl.  Pour pudding mix into bowl and mix with a hand mixer for a few seconds. Add Cool-Whip and mix for about 30 seconds Triffle: Cut the brownies into small squares and crumble 1/3 of t...

It's been a while since I've posted any recipes.  Being pregnant (read: food aversions) has kept me out of the kitchen. I did how ever find a cute Fourth of July inspiration on Pinterest and absolutly LOVE the original blog post on cake pop directions.  Normally I am a firm believer in Bakerella's directions, as she is the queen bee of cake pops, but this modified set gives credit to the creator and makes a few tweaks  that make the recipe even easier to follow. Source: eclecticrecipes.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest Because I was using only the ingredients and supplies I already had: regular frosting, chocolate cake mix, white and red candy melts, and generic sprinkles, mine weren't quite as festive as above.  I did spend time picking out just the blue, yellow and white stars from the mix pack, and used our Christmas / Valentine's Day nonpareils too. Not too bad for a clean-out-the-pantry Fourth of July snack. I also had some "color ...

(Please pardon this really old picture!) What I love about this recipe is that my Mom ripped it out of a magazine advertizement for was was then Durkee (now French's) French Fried Onions.  When I photo copied the recipe a few years ago, it even photocopied the food stains on the page.  Love. Another thing I love about this dish is that it's SUPER easy to make, a well stocked pantry and freezer has most of the items, and kids can help make it.  We each used to take one task of the preparation and it was literally ready in less than a minute. Ingredients: 1 standard bag of frozen potato rounds (aka tater tots or crispy crowns) 1 pound of ground beef (can sub ground turkey or soy crumbles) 1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed (I use one-two crowns of fresh) 1 medium to large tomato, chopped 1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of celery soup 1/3 cup milk 1 cup+ shredded cheddar, colby, or good melting cheese of your choice Garlic power and pe...

Monkey Cookies Two as promised tutorials for the desserts I made I my brother & sister in law's baby shower Just how did I make the monkey cookies (or as Connor calls them, Monkey Doo-keys)?  I started with the Betty Crocker sugar cookies in a bag.  Regular sugar cookie dough usually has to set for a few hours before making the cutout cookies.  Given all that I had to get ready for the party, I used as many short cuts as possible. I found a pack of Wilton animal cookie cutters  on sale at Michaels.  This provided the template for how to decorate the face too.  So helpful.  I also love using Decorated Cookies recipe for frosting and tutorial for decorating cookies using the " flooding " method. (She also has a great sugar cookie recipe that I used for these ).  Here's my step by step.... Outline cookies with stiff frosting and a #4 or #5 piping tip.  "Flood" with runnier frosting and a spatula. Let harden, about 1 hour +  ...

Katie? Who is Katie?  Katie is my rocking sister with some extreme kitchen creativity .  Since I am on mental brain fart for writing this week I asked her to share her secret, and wildly popular recipe for Copper Beech Balls.  Happy reading.  And even happier eating.  Quite a few years ago, on a random afternoon, 3 college kids were hungry and bored. “What to do what to do…” “Let’s try some amazing concoction of food and see what we come up with!” So, this is the prodigal child of that afternoon with a few variations that later followed: COPPER BEECH BALLS (background: we lived in Copper Beech apartment complex so hence the most creative name) Variation #1 1 tube jimmy dean maple sausage 1 box cream cheese 1 tube Pillsbury crescent rolls Directions: In a skillet, brown the sausage and drain.  Using a fork while the sausage is still warm, mix the cream cheese thoroughly.  Roll the mixture into 1 inch balls and cover with the Pillsbury .  Pla...

This is the perfect dish to make for a potluck, picnic, Friday in Lent, lunch for the week, or with an Italian feast.  In true Italian fashion, the measurements are "a little of this" "to taste" "a handful" "eyeball it", but I'll do my best to include some measurements. It's a pasta salad, not rocket science - have fun - and get creative! Ingredients: 1 standard size box of bow ties (farfalle) 1 pint cherry/grape tomatoes, halved 1 2.25oz can of sliced, pitted black olives Fresh mozzarella cheese, in pearls if you can find them or mini balls cut in quarters are fine. One package is perfect. Look for them in the "fancy cheese" section at the grocery. A few leaves of fresh basil, coarsely chopped A few tablespoons of Olive Oil (a flavored one, if desired) Italian spices to taste* Other ideas :  pepperoni, green or red bell peppers, carrots, left over grilled chicken, green olives, pine nuts, roasted garlic, etc Dire...

Last week I posted pictures of all the yummy food I made that week.  One of our readers, Sarah, asked for the recipe to the Egg Muffins... So eat your heart out! Adapted from the Primal Blue Print 6 eggs 1 red bell pepper - diced 1/4 pound cooked ground sausage or other cooked meat (drained) shredded cheese of choice (to taste) salt, pepper (to taste) Pre-heat oven to 350 Spray and line a 6 cup muffin tin. We suggest the foil liners as the paper ones disintegrated  Beat eggs in medium bowl Add diced bell peppers, cheese, and sausage Scoop into muffin tin until each one is almost full to the top Bake for 18-22 minutes.  A tester tooth pick will come out clean when they are cooked through Using this one egg per muffin ratio, the sky is the limit!  Add chopped or ground meats (real or soy) to your desires.  Add seasonal veggies for a variety.   We made these over the weekend and then reheated them in the microwave (about 25 seconds...

You're probably asking yourself, what is Dunwoody Dip? And it's a great question! It's easy to make. Melty. Cheesy. Meaty. A little bit spicy. And everyone LOVES it!  The origin, though, it's a more difficult to nail down.  My grandmother, who is from Dunwoody, Ga, actually heard about this dip when she was visiting friends in Denver.  Urban legend has it that some guy brought the dip to a party in Denver and when prompted for a name he stalled and said "Dunwoody Dip." Because, apparently he was from Dunwoody.   Who really knows? All I do know, is that this dip is yummy, very easy to make, and is always the first gone at a party or family get together.  Also, Eric might have married me because of this... Dunwoody Dip Ingredients: One tube of Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage Two cans of Rotel Tomatoes - Hot Two bars of Cream Cheese Big bag of Fritos Scoops Directions: Preheat oven to 325. In a large frying pan over medium-ish heat, brown the sausage. ...

As with any hobby, you have to make time to do it.  But when it's a hobby, it's fun and not a chore.  Maybe that's why I don't mind meal planning and cooking, it's FUN for me!  Eric and I aren't super great about working on a meal plan EVERY week, but not all weeks need it.  A few friends have been asking me about my process, so here it is.... Why did you choose to make weekly menus in the first place? And why not monthly menus like finance books suggest? I first learned of this idea when we were staying at a friend of Eric's house in Chicago.  I saw this cute index card on the fridge with the dinner titles listed with a M, T, W, TH, F next to them.  I thought this was so cool (clearly I didn't grow up with this method) and filed it in my "when I'm on my own" memory bank. Many organization, simple living, and finance articles suggest planning menus at the least on a weekly basis, better on a two week basis and best on a one to two mo...

I'm also so over the cupcake trend (yes, they're cute and tasty but I'm moving on).  I've been reading a lot of blogs that do cake pops or decorator cookies, but have been in the mood for something original and fresh.  I've had this idea for a while but was waiting for some free time to work on them. So here's what's been rolling around in my head as an adorable, delicious treat:  decorated rice krispie treats.  mmmmm. Recipe: After playing around with ratios of marshmallow and rice krispie, and the temperature to cut the treats, I decided that the ratio on the box is best.  If anything, use a few more marshmallows or a little less on the rice krispies.  But the tried and true recipe is the best.  Duh. Follow the directions to make and mold the treats. Shapes: I used a Calphlon "bars" sized baking sheet lined with parchment.  I poured about 2/3 of the mix to fill that.  I then used a second piec...