Hamburger Rolls with Cream Cheese

Oh, most heavenly of all the heavens! I cannot believe I went my entire life without this recipe! Kyle's family made this a lot, apparently, so it's a good ol' family traditional meal. Warning, though: it's infused with delicious fatness, and also a little on the expensive side, but this was a special occasion. Or, Kyle really wanted to eat it.

Hamburger Rolls with Cream Cheese

Prep time:

Cook time:

Ingredients

1 Lb Hamburger

1 egg

1 t salt

¼ t pepper

¼ Cup bread crumbs

½ Cup water

1   4 Oz pkg cream cheese

Flour

1 T oil

2 T flour

1 ½ Cup beef broth

½ cup sour cream

1 t tarragon

Directions

Mix together hamburger, egg, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, and water.  Roll out on a sheet of plastic wrap into a 4x20 rectangle.  Slice cream cheese in thick slices (about a 1/4 in) and lay end to end down one side of meat rectangle.  Carefully lift plastic wrap and fold hamburger mix over the top of cream cheese and seal edges.  Cut into 8 pieces and coat each with flour and place in frying pan with the 1 T oil.  Brown on all sides, about 15 minutes total.  Take patties out of pan and keep warm.  Add beef broth to pan and keep warm.  Add beef broth to pan and bring to boil.  Meanwhile add flour to ¼ cup water and stir until smooth.  Add to beef broth and heat until thick.  Add sour cream and tarragon and heat until hot but not boiling.  Add meat patties back in and heat for a few minutes till ready to serve.  Serve with gravy over rice, potatoes, or noodles.

Sooooo good! You'll want to be careful in cooking the hamburger roll, because it's super thick, and you don't want to end up with raw meat in the middle. You should have the burner set on one of the lower settings (not the lowest setting, because that'll just take forever) and flip it over once the meat is browned halfway up the sides of the roll. But seriously, I can't think of anything that ever tasted as good as this. Probably shouldn't eat it very often, considering how fat infused it is, but... meh.

Enjoy!

Last night

Do you ever feel like not cooking? Yesterday, I was just so tired, and I really wanted some comfort food, so I grabbed a can of split-pea soup and fried up a grilled cheese sandwich. Yet even when I don't feel like cooking, I still manage to make something as simple as grilled cheese with a little flair. I like my grilled cheese with mayo on it (don't judge until you've tried it!) and ham, except the ham went bad, so I put on some pepperoni instead. I also had sliced tomatoes on it. So good.

Not my picture; I didn't think to take a picture last night

Not to mention, a cold front came in yesterday, so we had to commemorate that day with soup. Something about it being cold requires you to make soup. I don't know what it is, but that's the seasonal rule.

The pea soup was horrible, but then it was in a can. One of these days, I'm going to use my mom's recipe for split-pea soup. We have it every year for New Years. She uses the rest of the Christmas ham, and it takes all day for her to cook it because she also uses dried peas. So good.

My Universal Pasta Sauce

This is my favorite pasta sauce ever. It's easy, it's delicious, and it takes only 5 minutes to make. Not to mention, really cheap. This is the sauce that my freshman roommate always saw me make, and coincidentally, she thought that pasta was my favorite food in the world.

The only reason I never got sick of it (considering I made it almost every night) was because it's a very forgiving and ubiquitous recipe. You can make it with any cheese, add any meat that you wish (ground beef, sausage, bacon bits; you name it!), and every time, it turns out delicious.

Universal Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

2 T butter

2 T flour

1 c milk

1 c cheese of your choice

Salt and pepper to taste

Seasoning of your choice, to taste

Directions

Melt butter in a sauce pan, then add flour. Stir until well blended. Add milk, salt, and pepper, then stir consistently until thickened (if you don't stir it often as it cooks, the milk and flour will separate; if it's separated already, stir constantly until it blends together again). Once thickened, add cheese of your choice (pick a cheese, any cheese. I used cream cheese once, about 2-3 ounces. It was good. I also used nutmeg and cinnamon for the spices. Get creative!). Add spices (I usually like parsley and red pepper flakes). Serve on pasta of your choice.

I used mozzarella for the cheese. It's seriously delicious, and tastes much better than your generic Easy Mac. Possibly cheaper, too. If not, then it's pretty darn close to that price range. Mom always used to make this with two cups of cheddar cheese and threw it in with macaroni noodles, and that was the macaroni that I grew up with. Yum.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Leek Soup

Every time I go to the grocery store and see leeks, I remember how my mom taught me once how to slice leeks in preparation for leek soup. It's loads of fun. Not to mention, really good. It's got a slight, onion-y taste to it (only a good deal milder), and it brings a perfect balance to the soup, because when you slice them long and stringy, they're a whole lot like short noodles.

This whole meal cost me under $5. Admittedly, most of the things I got were on sale, so no problems there.

Chicken and Leek Soup

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 Large Leek

5 Medium Large Potatoes

½ lb Chicken Tenderloins

2 Pealed Carrots

1 C Broccoli

8 C Water

2 C Milk

1 Tb Basil

1 Tb Parsley

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. In large pot, boil chicken in water with 3-4 bouillon cubes until cooked all the way through. Do not drain. Peel and cube potatoes and put in soup immediately (potatoes take some time to cook; make sure that it has time to cook). Slice leeks, carrots, and put in soup with milk and pieces of broccoli. Add spices. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes (it should have been boiling the whole time you've been preparing it). Enjoy with gusto.

Serves: 6

I was going to make a video of how to cut and prepare leeks, but I don't want anyone to see my clumsy hands, so I'll just post this video:

She has three different ways of preparing leeks; go with the third one. She calls it the "julienne" slice. It's really pretty, and looks great in the soup.

Fellah really liked this soup. In fact, he was prepared to drive up to his parents' house and make them try it (note: they live an hour and a half away). I really like to make up my own recipes, so I apologize if there are too much spices. I was guessing how much I really put in, so use your judgement on whether or not it's too much.

It's also perfect for cold nights. With dinner rolls. Make dinner rolls. I dare you.

Enjoy!

Eggless Pancakes

This past weekend I really got to get cracking on the breakfast foods. Saturday morning, I made Dutch babies (family name for German Pancakes - I'll post the recipe later) with my little sister. Sunday morning was a little more difficult to find something to make. I ran out of eggs, and at breakfast time, nobody wants to go to the grocery store or go knocking door to door begging for a cup of sugar.


Without eggs, our breakfast options were frustratingly limited to oatmeal and grits. That is, until we found a recipe for eggless pancakes.

Eggless Pancakes

Adapted from:  http://www.goeggless.com/

Prep time: 5 minutes

Rest time: 15 minutes

Ingredients


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cardamom powder (I substituted with 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
1 cup milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp butter (this was a little much, especially since it's only for greasing the pan)

Instructions


Mix dry ingredients. Add milk, oil, and water. Whisk together until just combined. Do not overmix – let the batter be slightly lumpy. Let it rest for 15 minutes (I got frustrated after 10 minutes from being so hungry that I went ahead and cooked them. I don't think the rest time is completely necessary - give it at least 5-10 minutes). Gently heat butter in a wide pan, and pour two tablespoons of batter into it. Cook until bubbles appear, and the underside is golden. Carefully flip over and cook other side.

Makes: 10 pancakes.

Maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised when I tried them, but they were. They aren't very filling (probably a tribute to the lack of eggs), but they are very cheap to make and much easier than any batter I've ever tried.


And, hey! If you're vegetarian, this is an awesome recipe to try!

On discounts and coupons

My favorite thing in the world (followed closely by cookie dough) are coupons. I love ‘em. I’d eat them too if they weren’t made out of paper. Recently, I’ve discovered this lovely little website called couponmom.com. You have to be a member, which put me off for a second, but it’s totally free! What a deal!

What they do is find out the area you live in, ask you for your favorite stores to shop at, and then they match the coupons with the sales, which gives you a super good deal. It’s really easy to use, not to mention, saves you a lot of time and money.

Voilà!