Poor and Hungry: Turkey Burgers and Lemon Mousse

There's something about a delicious burger that I have been craving lately.  And this was just perfect.  I had some onions and pimiento cheese around.. and 3/4 pound of lean chuck.  After having a get together and some left over dip and a little onion.. you'll spend just a few bucks for the fresh (grass-fed) ground beef and another few bucks when you buy day old sliced bread from Whole Foods.  I can never keep their bread long enough to use a whole loaf anyways, so this is perfect.

The trick for the onions is to carmelize them just right.. a tiny bit of butter and saute them on low/med for about 20 minutes.. get them nice and brown on the edges (and a little translucent in general). 

For the burgers -- Worcestershire sauce is absolutely essential.  A handful of breadcrumbs and an egg yolk will help it all bind together when you're using a pan. (rainy days have a downside..)

Then I found this amazing recipe from Serious Eats for a low-fat lemon mousse.  It was delicious, and with one cup of fat-free greek yogurt, it made 3 large servings.

Materials:

1 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt (1 container)
1 lemon worth of lemon zest

1 large lemon's worth of juice (but it could have standed to have another half lemon worth)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
1 envelope (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin -- whole foods sells 4 packets to a box
4 egg's worth of egg whites (large eggs)
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar

Method:
- Mix yogurt, zest, juice, and extract in a small bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

- To a separate small bowl, add water. Sprinkle gelatin on top and set aside.

- Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water (this will make the bottom half of a double boiler). Boil over medium heat. In another bowl, add egg whites, salt, and sugar, stirring gently to combine. Once water is boiling, carefully lower the bowl with the egg whites and others into saucepan. Whisk gently until sugar is dissolved and eggs are near-scalding to the touch. Remove bowl from pan.

-Scrape gelatin water into egg mixture and whisk quickly and thoroughly to combine.

-Put the hot bowl into a bowl of ice water and whisk quickly. Once the mixture is cool to the touch, add yogurt mixture. Continue whipping a few more seconds, until it's all combined.


-Divide mixture among serving vessels and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes. Serve cold.. and they suggest berries which would have been an absolutely delicious addition.

Their final product (ours disappeared pretty quickly haha).  And there's no guilt (not that I ever have any) with this dessert.

New Orleans Cooking Experience: Bourbon Pecan Bread Pudding

Y'all this was really one of the simplest and most delicious things we made in our cooking class.  It's the perfect blow-them-away dish at a party with the lowest amount of stress.  Check it.


Materials:
1 loaf French bread (day old -- usually for cheap at bakeries)
5 eggs
1 can condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup roasted pecans
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
pecans to sprinkle on top


Method:
Tear apart the bread into medium-large pieces.  Mix everything together and pour into a greased pan.  Cook at 350 for 45 min.

Then the finale is adding the bourbon sauce to it.
-1 stick butter
-1 cup brown sugar
-1/4 cup bourbon
Melt it all together over low/med heat and pour over the pudding.  Enjoy!

How amazing does that look?!

The Easiest Cobbler You Will Ever Make

PROMISE. I did it while drinking wine, and you know how hazardous that is for me. This is simple as well, cobbler (yes. dork.).. After visiting my Granddad Hall and Grandma Ginny for lunch (always a treat -- bbq!), they sent me off in style with a big bag of apples and peaches. It seems every time they go to the farmer's market, they come back with buckets of fresh finds. Love it. Since peaches have a fairly quick expiration date, I decided to go ahead and make this cobbler before it was too late.

Materials:
Peaches -- I used 5, but it coulda been better with about double that.
1.5 cups of flour (all purpose)
1.5 cups of sugar
1.5 sticks of butter
that's it!

Method:
Preheat the oven to 35o
Combine the flour, sugar, and (softened! not melted) butter in a big bowl. Stir it until it gets to wear if you grab it with your hand, it sticks together. It'll still be kinda crumbly.. no bigs.
With the butter wrapper, grease the inside of the pan (9x9 works best).
Cut up the peaches into medium sized pieces and put it in the pan.
Take handfuls of your "cobbler dough" and put it on top of the peaches.
Put it in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the top is a light golden brown.

It tastes like a sugar cookie with peaches -- so delicious.. and simple as anything. Gourmet-ish made easy.

Birthday Cupcakes

While trying to find a good recipe for cupcakes (John's birthday is tomorrow!) I came across some of these delicious looking confections. I wish I had the time Martha Stewart put into these.. but unfortunately.. I only have a few hours after work to whip something up. But here's some inspiration for another day:

Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcake with Toasted Marshmellow



These cupcake-pops are the cutest idea, seen on The Kitchn:



I'm probably going to stick with something simple.. who knows.

Strawberry Dumplings -- Summer Fruit Future Experiment

As I was browsing through my google reader -- I came across this in The Kitchn blog.. and cannot wait to try this recipe out (compliments of Gourmet). I'm obsessed with strawberries.. especially now that summer has rolled around, and want to get some from the farmer's market asap. Yum.

Newest Addition to the campsite: Nutella and Banana additions to S'mores.

First of, I'm obsessed with The Kitchn blog. They have great ideas and answer questions that I've always been dying to know about food.

Check this: a new way to dress up s'mores. I feel a dinner party dessert in the works...