Stuffed Surprise Burgers – The Tastiest Burger I’ve Had in Ages!!!

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barbecue, bbq, Burger, Cheese, Grilling, Hamburger, recipe, stuffed

  

My 17 year old daughter wanted to make dinner last night. All she would say was she was making burgers. She was being very secretive about what exactly she was doing with them. Low and behold it was a stuffed burger with surprise ingredients in the middle. These were stuffed with tomato, onion,cheese and relish. They were delicious!!! I’ve been trying to keep my posts really healthy, but this recipe was too good not to share!

My daughter, with some help from her dad, cooked these plump beauties on our charcoal grill. You can’t beat the taste of a charcoal grilled burger! The only better thing is a stuffed, charcoal grilled burger!

  
Stuffed Surprise Burger

This recipe comes from “365 Ways to Cook Hamberger and Other Ground Meats” by Rick Rodgers.

2 eggs

2 lbs. ground beef (85% lean)

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp prepared mustard

1 large tomato, cut into 6 slices

1 small red onion, cut into thin slices

6 thin slices of cheese, we used pepper jack, but take your pick!

2 tbsp pickle relish

Prepare a hot fire in a grill. In a large bowl, beat eggs with a fork. Working as quickly as gently as possible, add ground beef, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper and mix well. Form into 8 patties about 1/2 inch thick.. Spread mustard over 4 patties, then layer on tomato, onion and cheese slices, trimmed to fit,if necessary. Spread relish over cheese. Place remaining patties on filled patties and pinch edges together to enclose filling and create 4 stuffed burgers.

Place patties on an oiled grill set 4-6 inches from the coals. Grill, turning once, until well browned outside but still pink and juicy inside. Cook about 14 minutes for medium or shorter or longer if desired. They should be cooked long enough to melt the cheese inside. The stuffing will keep burgers flavorful and juicy!

Meanwhile, open up buns and toast on sides of grill til warm and lightly browned. Place cooked burgers in buns and let everyone choose their own fixings. Personally, I just dipped mine in Ketchup and it was perfect!!!

We served our burgers with a side of oven-baked, seasoned curly fries. It was a great Friday night family dinner!!!

Enjoy!!!

Pesto and Feta Stuffed Chicken

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Chicken, Cooking, Feta, Food, pesto, Pesto and Feta Stuffed Chicken, recipe, stuffed

  

This pesto and feta stuffed chicken looks so delicious and fairly easy to make! I can’t wait to give this one a try!

OK so I just finished this post and it’s gone…. So you get to see my second version.  Not sure what happened to it I had just saved it and the only thing that was left was the last picture i put in and the title.  So here we go with round two of this. […]

https://theartofallthings.wordpress.com/2016/02/26/pesto-and-feta-stuffed-chicken/

Spinach and Mushroom Manicotti – Ahhhh! Cheesy Pasta Goodness!!!

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#insidekelskitchen, Cooking, Food, manicotti, marinara, mushroom, pasta, recipe, ricotta, spinach, stuffed, Stuffing, vegetarian

  
Why on earth have I never eaten or made manicotti before??? Somehow I made it through 49 years without encountering this delicious food! I was thinking about what to make for dinner the other night. I try and think of what I’ve made the few previous days and make something different. I run through the various meats in my head (Chicken? Beef? Pork?) and I run through flavor profiles (Mexican? Italian? Spicy? Creamy?). So the other day I was stumbling on the meat. Nothing sounded good, so I decided it was time to make a vegetarian entrée. My friend Michael had mentioned manicotti in a Facebook post and I had my inspiration! Manicotti it is!!!

Even though I’d never eaten it before, I had a vision in my mind of what it would be; a nice big pasta tube stuffed with cheesy goodness! I picked up some ready-made Barilla pasta at the store and the recipe on the back of the package actually looked pretty good, so I decided to go with it. It did not disappoint! The ricotta, spinach and mushroom stuffing was creamy and wonderful. OK, I’ll admit it! I did lick the bowl that I mixed the filling in.

I topped my stuffed manicotti with my homemade marinara sauce (See August 11, 2015 blog post for recipe). I don’t mean to brag, but I LOVE my sauce! It’s so delicious!

Since I decided to leave any meat out of this recipe and chose low-fat ricotta, this was a pretty low-fat meal. But don’t let this fool you! This was still a very hearty and satisfying meal and it was easier to make that I expected. I will definitely be making this again in the future!

  
Stuffed Manicotti with Spinach and Mushrooms

1 box manicotti (14 pasta tubes)

1 batch homemade marinara or 1 jar ready-made

1 clove garlic, chopped or pressed

12 oz Ricotta cheese

12 oz mushrooms, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

12 oz fresh spinach

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook manicotti in salted boiling water for 7 minutes, drain and set aside to cool. Spray sauté pan with non-stick spray. Over medium heat sauté garlic until tender, add mushrooms, add salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are tender. Steam the spinach and chop well. Mix ricotta, egg, mushrooms, spinach and half the parmesan. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the filling into the manicotti tubes. In a 9 x 13 inch greased baking dish, place ½ the marinara sauce, arrange the manicotti on top and cover with remaining marinara and parmesan cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!