Cranberry Bog Turkey Burgers and Corn w/ Chive Butter

Cranberry Bog Turkey Burgers, served with Corn on the Cob with Chive Butter

Bog Burgers:
1 1/3 pounds (the average weight of one package from meat case) ground turkey breast
1 small McIntosh apple, finely chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
1 rib celery from heart of the stalk, finely chopped
1 rounded teaspoon poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil, for drizzling
4 sandwich size sourdough English muffins
1 cup prepared whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise or reduced fat mayonnaise
8 leaves Bibb lettuce, cleaned
Corn:
4 ears corn, shucked
4 tablespoons butter
20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

Combine turkey, apple, onion, celery, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper in a bowl and form into 4 large patties. Preheat a large skillet or a grill pan to medium high heat. Drizzle skillet or brush grill with vegetable oil and cook patties 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Toast split English muffins. Mix together cranberry sauce and mayonnaise. Spread muffin halves with cran-mayonnaise and pile in burgers and Bibb lettuce. Serve burgers with corn on the cob and berry desserts.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and corn and cook for 5 to 6 minute. Drain ears and spread with butter. Sprinkle ears with a generous coating of chopped chives.

Note: The above is a Rachael Ray Recipe... I do a few things different than how Rachael Ray does hers:
1. I don't do corn on the cob, I do regular frozen or canned whole Kernel corn, seasoning it with salt and pepper along with the chive butter.
2. I don't fool with the Sour Dough sandwich sized Muffins...Usually, I'll do Kaiser Rolls with this.
3. I don't use a skillet or Grill Pan. I use a George Foreman Grill to grill the burgers. (If you do that, I find the burger mixture sticks together better if you add a small palm full of dry bread crumbs.)

This is probably one of my TWO favorite Turkey Burgers. (The other being the Moroccan burger recipe at About.com's Busy Cook's site.) The combination of everything IN the turkey burgers- the apple,onion, celery...the poultry seasoning..all that in with the Ground Turkey and grilled off, THEN topped with the Cranberry mayo???OMG...Awesome- or should I say insanely good??!??!?! Give it a try!!!!

Nita

Garlic Braised Pork Steak w/ Red New Potatoes...

This is something of a new favorite at our house- well, with in the last two or three years anyway...Very simple...very good...and you definitely want to serve THIS with Broccoli!!!

Garlic Braised Pork Steak with New Red Potatoes


1lb -1.5 lbs Bone in Pork Shoulder Steak
6-8 Red New Potatoes
1 (10.75 oz) can Beefy Mushroom Soup (Campbell's is preferred)
1 packet Garlic Herb Soup Mix ( Lipton's is preferred.)
4-6 Cloves fresh Garlic popped out of their skins, lightly crushed.
Oil for saute`
Desired Seasonings.

Season the Bone in Pork Shoulder Steak, brown in hot oil in a non stick skillet. wash and rinse the new potatoes, cut into halves or quarters depending on size of the potatoes. Place the potatoes in the bottom of the Crock Pot. When the Pork Steaks are browned, place them on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle over the entire packet of Garlic Herb Soup Mix, add the fresh lightly crushed garlic, and the Beefy Mushroom. Cover, and cook on low for 9 to 10 hours. Serve hot with Broccoli.

Tator Tot Casserole

Tator Tot Casserole's been a favorite of mine since I was a really little kid...If Dad got Deli from Blair's IGA for dinner, that was always what I wanted...The only reall difference between that and mine- is that I use frozen chopped broccoli and shred cheese in it...(Usually either Colby Longhorn or Mild Cheddar.)

Tator Tot Casserole

1lb. Ground Beef
1 ( 10.75 oz) can cream of mushroom
2 (10 oz) boxes frozen chopped broccoli, thawed, and squeezed dry
1 bag of shredded cheese- Mild Cheddar or Colby Longhorn. ( get the 2c. yield size.)
1 bag of Tator Tots ( You want the cylander shaped ones, NOT the Hash Rounds.)

Preheat oven to 350-375... In a non stick skillet season and brown the ground beef,crumbling it and breaking it up as you go. When it's cooked, and not pink, drain and rinse it well. Put it in the bottom of a 9 by 13 baking dish. Mix it with the undiluted Cream of Mushroom soup, smooth it out all over the bottom of the pan- as evenly as possible. Layer the rest of the ingredients in the following order-
1. Broccoli
2. Cheese
3. Tator Tots- arrange in nice even rows to cover surface of the casserole. ( Last time I made this, it took an entire 28 oz bag of Ore-Ida Tots...)

Bake uncovered for 35-40 Minutes.

I'm not sure HOW many this serves but, it makes quite a lot!

Happy eating!!

Nita

C'mon in....pull up a seat at the table...and welcome...

I see you've found my second blog...so generously hosted by Blogger and Blogspot.com... Those of you that are familiar with my other blog at Blogger...ALL about my take on Crochet, my family, and my life...THIS blog is about just one of the sorts of glue that can keep a family together. Food.

To be utterly honest, I'm no Emeril Lagasse...or even a Paula Deen or Rachael Ray..although I have and still continue to learn so much from watching them on tv. But, honestly, A LOT of what I know about cooking,food, and my take on cuisine is through my own hands on succeses, and many failures along the way. My stepmother was a god awful cook.It still makes me shudder to think of the thousands of dollars worth of groceries my Dad paid for and ruined with her ineptitude, and refusal to learn better technique, and better her knowledge to produce something edible for my Dad to eat over the years. Believe me...It was BAD enough to make him want to guzzle his bottle of vodka, than eat his dinner; after she finished preparing her swill in his kitchen.So, I swore that I would learn better technique,have a better understanding, and knowledge base to work from in the kitchen. In some ways, I've succeeded, and in others, I've resoundingly failed. But, that's okay- Cooking is an on going learning process. It evolves, changes and grows as your knowledge base and increased technique and skill improves. Although honestly in the past twelve years since I seriously became interested in cooking...and the types of food I prefer to work with...honestly- I prefer a mix of things...sometimes it's fresh produce and herbs.Whole grains, even Vegetarian cuisine...or,sometimes it's Quick Home Cooking using convenience items from the grocery store. - But anymore, it's really a combination of both, and what really determines what goes on our dinner plates is what's on hand, and in the kitchen!

So, that's what this Blog is for- Dinner at the Love's...is my bumbling exploration, learning process, and growth as a cook...I'm the first to admit that I'm a very basic, down home Kansas Cook...that often has her nose in a cookbook..always eager to try something new..in hopes of preventing the boredom that comes with serving the same old stuff all the time! So, there you have it...some semblance of an introduction to what I hope to achieve with this blog....You're always welcome to drop in, grab a seat and see what's on the dinner table!

Nita