I have been very lucky with the whole let's get started cooking thing. When I moved out of my parent's home and in with my best friend Melissa, my mom and future mother in law both got me cookbooks :) I also then began the University of Lissy; what's that you ask? Well Melissa is the extraordinaire of all things cooking and crafty - I learned many basics of cooking from her, that you don't put metal lids in a microwave, and that you do not feed onions to cat...but anyways.
When I moved in with my now-husband, I started listing a menu on a small white board hanging in the kitchen so we both would know what we were having each night, and so I could build my grocery list off of it. I usually take one night to either look thru all of my cookbooks (I think I have about 12 - my friends, family, and co-workers were very generous during my bridal showers!), Kraft magazines that I get, and my fave cooking websites, including www.cooks.com; Ron then looks forward to seeing the menu and commenting (usually good comments:)).
So onto tonight's meal. Usually on Monday's I like to plan easier meals because I'm tired after a long day at work. Since I've been sick for a bit, I have being a lot of easier meals, but trying to do them with a little bit of an interesting twist.
Tonight was "Special" Hamburgers and Cheesy potatoes, all thanks to cooks.com. Very easy to make with a little prep work and just a lot of waiting.
Cheesy potatoes
- 1 1/4 lbs frozen hash brown potatoes
- 10 3/4 ounce canned cream of chicken soup
- 5 ounces sour cream
- 5 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
- 3/4 medium onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, cut into pats
About 15 minutes into cooking I took it out to take a look, a flaw of mine, I always pick at what I'm making. I was afraid it was going to be too dry and cook unevenly, so I ended up adding about 2 1/2 tablespoons of sour cream and just spread it all around. I also sprinked some breadcrumbs on top to give it a little crunch. The husband (and I) loved it - perfect amount for 2 people, one being an adult male, and I would definitely make it again for a girls night in or a holiday:)
Now the "Special" Hamburgers - overall they tasted great. Unfortunately, the onion taste in them over powered, to me, the other ingredients. Also, the recipe calls to bake or broil them in the oven - I did start out by baking them, but when I checked in on them, they weren't holding together that well. I switched to broil and I believe that would've worked better from the start. If you do choose to bake, I would add maybe an egg and bread crumb mixture to hold them together better.
Overall, a successful and yummy meal - the "special hamburgers" would probably work really as sliders with some neat dipping sauces:
Special Hamburgers
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 3 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon horseradish
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard
Just a note, I also omitted plain horseradish and plain mustard and added 3 tablespoons of Emeril's horseradish mustard that I found at Ocean State Job Lot for $1.80 - good deal!
So, what do you think? Kinda long and boring...? I'll work on cutting it down (wanted to give you some background about me) and spicing it up - just like my food:) Adios for now!
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