Bacon Bleu Cheese Garlic Sliders

These were so good I just had to share! I Instagrammed my way right through this recipe.

2 pounds 90% lean ground beef
10 strips precooked bacon
4 oz. (container) crumbled bleu cheese
3-5 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup yellow onion
1-2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp. Seasoning Salt (like Lawry's)

Prepare by finely mincing the onion, pressing the garlic and chopping the precooked bacon into tiny bits. Next place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together by hand until well combined. 

Once combined, form little meatballs ever so slightly larger than golf balls and then squish them into adorable little patties that are cute enough you are thinking of naming them all and crocheting bonnets for them. Don’t do it. It will make it much harder to turn around and eat them and believe me… you really want to eat them!

When you are done forming them into adorable patties, admire them and imagine what all of that bumpy bleu cheese is going to look like once the sliders are grilled.

BBQ the sliders on a nice hot grill, turning only after the first side has some nice grill marks. Flip. Finish those puppies off and then bring them inside. Don’t overcook them. It would be so sad if they dried out. Dry sliders aren’t anywhere near as cute as juicy ones.

Serve on little adorable buns. We used hawaiian rolls. Lettuce (or coleslaw!), some mustard and mayonnaise… Heaven on a bun. Take them from amazing to FREAKING amazing by making some of Ree’s super delicious onion strings to put on top! ((hold me))

Perfection!

These two recipes were perfect together.

Cucumber Dill Salad (I call it Tzatziki Salad) I added two cloves of minced garlic some chopped chives and a bit of chopped fresh mint. It was better than fantastic. It was DELICIOUS!!

We ate it with this divine Rosemary Mustard Chicken. I never knew chicken breasts could taste so heavenly.

Cheesy Peasy Salad

This salad is one of our all time favorites. It's light and crispy but quite substantial as far as salads go. And so yummy! Company worthy for sure!

What you'll need:
4-6 cups bit sized greens (I like to use a combination of baby spinach, butter lettuce and iceburg)
3 green onions chopped
2 cups fresh or frozen peas (I don't precook them, though you can) If you try this with canned peas I'll be forced to cause you some sort of bodily harm.
1 1/2 cups swiss cheese grated
6-8 Tblsp. Mayonaisse
3 tsp. granulated sugar
5 slices crisp bacon (crumbled or chopped) -- If you try substituting bacon bits for the real deal... well, I promise not to hurt you but I will retract my company worthy rating of the salad!

What to do:
In large bowl layer half of every ingredient. Just sprinkle the sugar evenly and then plop the mayo in blobs on top of the first layer. Repeat the layers ending with the sugar and mayo and cover. Refrigerate for about two hours. Toss just before serving. Bacon can be withheld until after chilling. It will be crunchier this way.

It's Salad Season!

Every Summer I feel the need to make specialty salads for dinner at least once a week. There is just something about the heat of the day that makes me crave light and lucious foods! I love getting new salad recipes! So I'm just going to right ahead and assume that you do too.

I will be posting a couple of sald recipes over the next week as Summer approaches. What can I say? Since there is no snow on the ground it's as good as Summer to me! So I say, bring on the salads!

Rosemary Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

This sandwich is SCRUMPTIOUS! You will Mmmm and Oooh over it the whole time you are rapidly ingesting it.

I wish I had taken pictures of it as I made them because I'm sure you would believe me more fully about how incredibly yummy they are. You'll just have to take my word for it though.

What you will need:

5 medium sized chicken breasts
2 - 3 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive oil
3 tsp. fresh Rosemary chopped small
3 cloves garlic minced
salt (several shakes)
pepper (a few turns of the grinder)
Focaccia bread or crusty buns

Toppings:
Hellman's Mayonaisse
2 avocados sliced
1 tomato sliced (if you like them... I don't)
1 medium red/purple onion sliced thinly
head of butter lettuce
Havarti cheese sliced
1 pkg. pre-cooked bacon warmed


About 30 minutes prior to putting them on the BBQ, prepare chicken by coating them in 2 - 3 Tbsp. of EV olive oil, the minced garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Let them marinate at least 20 to 30 minutes. Of course you can marinate them for longer if you want to. Cook them on the grill. (I won't attempt to tell you how long this takes to do them perfectly. My husband is master of the grill here so I don't really know how long it takes!)


Now prepare the focaccia bread. Cut into sandwich sized wedges. I like to cut them triangularly as they look more attractive this way. I was unable to find focaccia bread this last time that I made these sandwiches so I bought several of the fresh "crusty buns" instead. But herbed foccacia bread is much preferable. I don't like the cheesy focaccia bread with this. But really, whatever you prefer. Now slice the wedges across the center and brush the inside of the "buns" with a bit of olive. When the chicken is done, pop the buns or focaccia buns inside down on the grill for a couple of minutes to make them just ever so crisp. Just some light grill marking is what you are aiming for.

At the table have all of your toppings available on plates. The bacon can be warmed (I just stuck all of them in together for about 15 seconds) or it can be used cold. Assemble your sandwich as you please and enjoy! These are so incredibly yummy and very company worthy. I'm sure there are plenty of variations you can make to the toppings you'd like on them to make them yours.

I think you're going to love them!

Summer Garden Zucchini, Tomato & Cheese Casserole

You'd need:
*4 medium sized Zucchinis
* 3 bright red juicy Tomatoes
*An Onion
*Oregano
*Salt & Pepper
*Extra Virgin Olive Oil
*Parmesan Cheese (can be powdered kind)
* Shredded Mozz. cheese
* Chicken breast strips or boneless skinless thighs

1) Saute' in a large skillet or large frying pan, EV olive oil with chopped onion & zucchini sliced thin.
Saute' it until soft, but not squishy.
2) Generously add salt, pepper and a dash or two of oregano and a couple shakes of dried basil
3) Put zucc. mixture into large baking dish (I use a glass pyrex 9X13) with small slices of raw tomato layered on top
4) then on this sprinkle w/ Parm cheese and then sprinkle the mozz. cheese on top of that (desired amount)
5) Saute the chicken on high temp. until golden brown in the pan that you just emptied the onion/zuch. out of. Nestle the chicken in the “stuff” that’s already in the cass. dish. Sprinkle some more of the cheeses over top.
Cover with tin foil and bake at 350* for 20 - 30 minutes.

This will be very moist, with a brothy-soupy juice bubbling; but the flavor is so fresh and delicious!! It would be good served sort of as a soup or you could serve it over pasta... Good to have french bread to dip into the extra juice!!

Strawberry Spinach Salad

12 ozs. fresh spinach leaves
1 qt. fresh strawberries - hulled, quartered
2 tsp. sesame seeds
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. grated onion
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. paprika


-Wash and drain spinach, then squeeze dry between layers of paper towels; tear bite-size pieces.
-Toss together spinach, strawberries, and sesame seeds in a large bowl; set aside.
-In a separate bowl, beat together oil, sugar, vinegar, onion, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika.
-Pour prepared dressing over salad and toss to coat.
-Serve immediately.

Mango and Black Bean Salad

This is one of our family favorites! It's especially good if you make it a few hours ahead of time but still delicious (perfect for Summer) if you make it just before scarfing it down.

1 large mango, cut into small chunks
1 avocado, cut into small pieces
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup red pepper, finely chopped
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 handful cilantro, roughly chopped
1 recipe Lime Dressing

Dressing:

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed (or bottled) lime juice
2 Tbsp good quality olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp liquid honey
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbsp water

Whisk together and pour over salad just before serving.

HAWAIIAN CHICKEN

OVEN TEMP. 375

5 BONESLESS CHICKEN BREAST
ROLLED IN BEATEN EGGS (2) AND THEN IN CORNSTARCH
FRY UNTIL CHICKEN IS BROWN
PLACE IN OVEN SAFE DISH
SAUCE:
4 TBS KETCHUP
JUICE FROM A CAN OF PINEAPPLE AND A CAN OF PINEAPPLE SLICES
2 TSP SOY SAUCE
1/2 C. BROWN SUGAR
1 TBSP. CORNSTARCH
COOK IN SAUCEPAN OVER LOW HEAT UNTIL SUGER MELTS
POUR OVER CHICKEN
TOP WITH CRUSHED PINEAPPLE AND PLACE A PINEAPPLE SLICE ON TOP OF EACH CHICKEN BREAST
BAKE FOR 35 MIN. OR UNTIL CHICKEN IS DONE.
SET OVEN TO BROIL AT HI-TEMP, BROIL FOR ABOUT 8 MIN. (WATCH CLOSELY) JUST UNTIL PINEAPPLE TURNS BROWNISH ON TOP
SERVE OVER RICE!

This is Oh so "company" worthy. Really pretty presentation too.

Dilly Macaroni Salad

1 cup elbow macaroni
1/2 cup mayonaise or salad dressing
1 cup cubed cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1 cup cubed cooked ham
1 cucumber seeded and diced (and peeled if you want)
1/2 red bell pepper chopped
4 green onions sliced
1 Tablespoon vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried dillweed



Cook macaroni. Drain well and cool. Combine macaroni, cheese
cubes,cucumber, green onion and bell pepper.
Blend together mayonaise or salad dressing, vinegar,salt and dillweed;
add to macaroni mixture. Toss lightly. Cover and chill well. Makes 6 servings.