barbecue burgers

This week I had the boys pick meals for the menu since they are home for the summer.  Duncan chose a recipe from an old Betty Crocker magazine for Dijon burgers.  I went to make them and felt nothing like Dijon burgers - I'm not a mustard fan in the first place, so I mad them Barbecue burgers.  I also didn't feel like chopping onions to put in the burgers because we got started late, I was making buns, wanted to make a dessert...
This is what I ended up doing.

Burger Ingredients

• 1/4 cup fat-free egg product (maybe a tablespoon or 2 more- it was what was left in the carton)
• 2 Tablespoons Barbecue Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 3 slices of bread - toasted and turned to crumbs in the blender
• 1.5 lbs extra lean ground beef

Extras

• buns -I actually used my favorite whole wheat bread recipe - doubled it and made 1/2 into buns and 1/2 into a loaf of bread
• tomatoes (fresh from the garden - yum)
• lettuce
• dill pickles
• barbecue sauce
• mayo
• cheese slices (we used colby jack)
• onion slices

Directions

1. Heat coals (or gas grill, or oven to broil.)
2. Mix all burger ingredients.  Shape into 6 patties.  
3. Grill burgers (or broil 5 inches from heat for 10 minutes turning once)  Add cheese during last minute of cooking so it melts.
4. Serve with desired toppings. We used what I listed in extras.

Marinated veggie/beef kabobs

This recipe is from my Taste of Home Magazine for this month.  It was Memorial day so I felt like barbecue, and these looked new and different.  Really I chose them because they had something besides bell peppers and onions on the kabobs.  They also had a the marinade for the veggies which was something I had not done before.  I thought the flavor was great, but they felt too oily for me.  I don't like my food to feel oily.
Since I wasn't really allowed to help much, these got taken off the kabobs before I could get a picture.  I had also bought 2 plantains which we grilled.  I would have sliced them into long slices and grilled them, but DH sliced them in skinny slices and skewered them like the rest of the food.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 beef top sirloin steak (1 1/2 pounds) cut into 1 inch cubes
• 8 cherry tomatoes (DH cooked and didn't use these - we even have some in the garden :(
• 1 large red onion (he didn't use this either.)
• 1 medium green pepper (he used a yellow and a red)
• 1 yellow summer squash (he used 2)
• 1 medium zucchini (he used 2)  

Directions

1.  In a small bowl, combine first eight ingredients.  Place half of the marinade in a large zip top bag.  Add the beef, seal bag and turn to coat.
2. Pour remaining marinade into another large zip top bag.  Add tomatoes.  Cut remaining veggies into 1 inch pieces.  Add to bag.  Seal bag and turn to coat.  Refrigerate beef and veggies for at least 2 hours.
3. Coat grill with cooking spray.  Heat grill.  Drain and discard marinade from beef.  Drain and keep marinade from veggie to use as baste.
4. Thread meat and veggies on skewers.  Grill covered over medium heat for 10-15 minutes basting frequently with reserved marinade.

Turkey bean burgers

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The original of this recipe is from taste of home's simple and delicious magazine.  I changed things around to make more than 4 burgers.  They were tasty, but they fell apart when cooked.  That is probably totally my fault because the original recipe called for an egg white and I subbed out egg substitute.  Next time I'd use 1 egg for this amount to see if that helped the staying together problem.)  I liked that they had hidden veggies in them.  DH even said he would have never known they had zucchini in them had he not read the recipe and watched me make the burgers.  That is saying something because he doesn't like zucchini.

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 egg
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1 cup finely chopped sweet pepper (I think I used orange)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1.25 lb. ground turkey (lean)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, coarsely mash beans.  Add the egg, zucchini, red pepper, and spices and turkey.  Mix together and form into 6 patties.
2. Grill on the barbecue for 4-5 minutes on each side or until internal temp. of 165.  Serve on buns with lettuce and onion.

Texas Burgers

This recipe comes from Taste of home simple and delicious magazine although I did change it up a bit.  I had to make more because it was technically for only 2 people.  I also made my burgers smaller and made them burgers on buns, not open face on Texas toast. I also used just 1 small can of tomato sauce and wasn't opening another one so I added some Ketchup..... This is how I made it for my family. 


Ingredients

• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1 cup Colby Jack cheese
• 1.25 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 2-3 Tablespoons Ketchup (I just squirted some more to make it look good.)
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon steak sauce

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the onion, garlic, thyme, 3/4 cup cheese and beef.  Mix well.  Shape into 6 patties.  (I made 2 5 oz. burgers, 3 4 oz. burgers and 1 2.2 oz burger - weight includes onion weight though.)  eaedzrrI grilled mine outside on the bbq.
2. In a large skillet, heat tomato sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and steak sauce.  Bring to a boil.  Cook an stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.  Add cooked burgers to the sauce.  Turn to coat.  Sprinkle burgers with remaining cheese.  Let sit for a minute to melt. 
3. Serve on buns - top with additional sauce.

Japanese Grilled Chicken

This was part of the menu from the Sandi Richard's book. She put this with some plain rice, and stir-fried veggies. I added some teryiaki sauce to my rice so it wouldn't be plain. The chicken was really good and simple. I didn't do the marinade overnight, just from the early afternoon. It probably would have been even better if I had put it in the marinade earlier. Here's the abbreviated version of just the chicken the way I made it.

Marinade Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon paprika
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a 9X13 pan with a fork. Add 1 3/4 to 2 pounds of chicken thighs turning to coat. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. Cook on the grill the next day. Yum.