EATS! Mushroom Bacon Swiss Burger. Finally.

The Ultimate.

So we had to wait until they sounded good again to get the money shots of the burgers, as stated in my previous post.  Guess what?  WE GOT 'EM!

Let's recap, shall we?  

Here we have our ingredients.  Minus the onions because they're being caramelized in bacon grease.  

Something like zeeese...

Continuing the recap: here we have...

Perfectly seasoned CHUCK!  Fat is flavor, my peeps.  Here's my tricks and we hope you enjoy them thoroughly, add them to your repertoire, and send me some of your own!  

1.  Be gentle.  It's like biscuits, folks.  You can overwork the gluten in biscuits, you can overwork the connective tissue in beef.  Its a fact.  It will be tough as nails.  Rubber-band balls.  

2.  FRESH CHUCK. Here's what we do - use your best meat guy that grounds it fresh at least daily.  OUR local grocer grounds it on the hour.  No kidding.  If you request ground fresh, sometimes you can bat yer' lashes and be a return customer and they'll do it happily while you wait.  Very important.  Must be chuck, folks.

3.  Start bringing the meat to room temperature.  Don't mix this all together till you get all your ingredients in - this will help on the overworking front.  To one pound (1 #) ground chuck, pour in 2 Tablespoons water.  Don't laugh.  Just try it.  Then sprinkle in 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire.  Even if you don't like it.  Or someyackass you know doesn't like it.  They'll never KNOW trust me on this one.  Then hit it with salt, pepper, and some garlic powder.  And be generous.  Fold and poke gently until combined well. 

Now, this recipe is for BEEF lovers.  If you've got just "burger" or "grill"  people, you may want to use a mix of something in the beef, such as a favorite grill or steak seasoning, or a Cajun seasoning blend mixed throughout (don't ever make your patties and THEN season, people, that's a joke).  Play around sometime with brushing a marinade during grilling - that's good for a little something different sometimes.  My girlfriend just turned me onto this Dale's seasoning.  Its great!  She grilled chicken breasts that she had marinated for several hours.  DEEELIIIIIISSSSHH.  http://www.dalesseasoning.com/

OR do what my cattle rancher father does: FOLKS THIS IS THE SECRET.  This is my father's "Holy Trinity".  He cooks everything with it - and gets HOSTILE if I try ribs or kebobs or GREEN BEANS without it. Wowza.

This is huge.  This is my Dad's trick to lots o' good stuff.  

Lawry's seasoned salt, McCormick's garlic powder, McCormick's COARSE GROUND black pepper.  

To taste.  Perfect pop for food.

4.  Then, make your big-butt patties and... while the grill is getting to HIGH heat, the hottest you can get it, bring the burger patties all the way to room temp.  It's not going to cook RIGHT if you don't.   The only time you want to keep this big of a patty cold is if you want a really cool, rare center, then by all means keep them CHILLED.  Meanwhile, prep and set out the goodies...get 'em ready. Caramelize onions, saute mushrooms, fry bacon, bring Cheddar/Swiss/American/blue cheese to room temp. Slice tomatoes, lettuce, fresh red onions.  

Get your chips and sides and condiments because 

these puppies shouldn't have to wait on anything when they're ready!

5.  BUTTER the buns.  They'll be toasted lastly on the grill.  While the burgers are resting.  With the cheese AND the onions and mushrooms.  JUICES MIXING.  G  o   o   o   d. 

6.  Okay.  Grill should be, say, seventh layer of hell hot, then it's good to go.  HOT.  hot.  hot.  Get your clean serving tray and your favorite grillin' spatula.  No distractions, plenty of light (as I learned last night - artificial light and my camera don't mix for blogging).  Use your hot spots of the grill for the well-done crowd, and reserve the cooler spots (but still direct heat - very important - everyone likes a good sear) for the rare souls.  Put your burgers on and CLOSE THE LID.  Rare - 3-5, flip, 3-5.  Well-done - 5-7, flip, 5-7.  This is approximate and works for our grill, especially if the well-dones' were place in the hot spots.  On my Dad's gas Weber, it takes a bit longer.  Grill till DEEELISH and then move to clean tray. Place toppings on (except bacon, which gets kinda wilty)  and tent lightly with foil.  IMPORTANT.  Toast the butter buns lightly and when the burgers have rested 5 full minutes, tear into them.  AAAAAhhhhh.  Carnivore heaven.  These are so juicy.

OOOOOOOeeeeyyyyy

GGOOOOOOOOOOeeeeeeeeeeey

cheesy greasy burgers!!!

GOOD POINTERS.

Don't flip but once. If you can help it. 

Don't squish or press on the burgers.  It doesn't help them in any way. Promise.

Don't leave the lid open, they don't cook evenly.  Wind or air maybe?

I just can't get you close enough to this burger my friends.  You can practically TASTE it.

You gotta make these for someone you love, like now!

A Before & After in a Temperate Forest

This is the change in our world in exactly 1 month & 10 days.

If you don't like the weather or the scenery, give it a sec.  It changes FAST.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

OR should I say, NOW.  (?)

Officially canoe & pontoon time.  Oh, yeah, ticks & snakes, too.  

Comes with the territory, folks!  P.S. This is the shot from my main level bathroom window. Peaceful, no?

EATS! Apple Crisp. Yummy.

APPLE CRISP. Just like any family recipe, everyone has their favorite version.  

                       

Here's ours.  We hope you 

                                     

l o v e   i t  !

Country Apple Crisp

• 4 cups sliced apples
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed, more if apples are t
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup water, heated
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup butter, chilled
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup rolled oats, optional
• ¼ cup sliced almonds, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.

Place apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Dissolve the 1 T (or more) brown sugar in heated water and pour over all. Combine flour and sugar and cut in chilled butter, sprinkle in a small dash of cinnamon, if necessary. Toss in optional topping ingredients. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples. 

Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until apples are tender and crust is crunchy and golden. Broil lightly if necessary.

How sweet this is will be entirely up to you.  If we have sweeter apples that year, I learned quickly to reduce considerably the amount of sugar in the topping.  But...

don't omit the brown sugar from the apple-cinnamon mixture.  This is the trick to that delectable caramel-y sticky yumminess you see on the sides there... Oh, lawd.

I always end up broiling mine, on low if possible, just until the almonds BEGIN to toast (they have a tendency to burn faster than you can blink, so if in doubt, go ahead and take it OUT!), it will continue to crisp once out.  

Thanks for apples.

 

Calm After the Storm.

This was last night's gorgeous light after some wicked little rain storms blew through.  I love the light that only stormy skies produce. 

To stress that it was the LIGHT outside in these photos that was really that gorgeous, I didn't touch these photos after I loaded them onto my hard drive.  And I'm a BEGINNING photographer, to boot.  I wish you could have been here!

It was a beautiful evening.  Enjoy!

Little Twister

Last Friday after a couple emergency dashes to the basement (in the country we can't hear the sirens) and losing power, we decided to pack up the girls and check out the storm damage that had been buzzing through the grapevine/impromptu phone tree (check on grandma, check on parents, check on friends. Check).

this was our damage - my favorite apple tree!  more on that later.

our picnic park - my baby was worried but the playground equipment was saved.

i liked this shot for the storm chaser-feel of it

this was the truck we had heard was blown on its side, we got there right after they righted it

debris

this was a gentleman's RV that flew about 200 yards...

               and a tree from the hillside that the RV flew OVER

trees from the hillside

the freshly shorn hillside, wish I had a before-pic.

ignore the stellar photography.

more cavalry.

yowza.  bet we're not the only ones out of power.

note the older uprooted tree (grass around it) and the newly uprooted in the background.

our ground is SATURATED from rain, so when we get the wind...well.

debris.

our friends'

we drove by to check on her house - that is some major gunk.

her neighbors'.  they had SUCH a gorgeous yard with huge mature trees.  firewood.

on the way back I tried to catch some shots, at 70 mph, of the damage path the little twister took through the woods...

more shots of the little ridge.

the gentleman's relocated RV.  re-relocated.

damage path

So kiddies.  The moral of this tale is that we Ozarkers are constantly reminded to... 

keep our eyes on the skies.