What's cookin'? - Spicin' it up!

Who doesn't like hamburgers and French fries? It's the all-American meal!

Now they have miniature hamburgers called "sliders" that are all the rage for some reason. They are cute. They are mini. They are the perfect size if you are trying to watch your amount of food intake. Of course, for the men in my family, mini cheeseburgers means that you can eat more of them!

 I followed the directions that I saw online to make these Easy Cheeseburger Sliders and then topped them with Sweet Chipotle Barbecue Sauce. 

Instead of frying individual burgers, you put the ground beef mixture (chopped onion and breadcrumbs) in a square baking pan.

 Poke a few holes in the meat mixture for grease to escape. The burgers are baked at 400° for 30 minutes. Then, pour off all the grease. (Be aware that the meat will shrink and pull away from the pan after done baking!) Being in a square pan makes it easier to cut into individual, square, slider size. 

We topped each burger with cheddar cheese and put the pan back in the oven for a few minutes in order to melt the cheese. We used King's Hawaiian rolls as our slider buns - they are the perfect size!

We also topped this burger with a Sweet Chipotle Barbecue Sauce. This made the burger!

We love this sauce!

The recipe made extra, so I stored it in a mason jar. But, we have used it in so many things that is almost gone - and I just made it on Saturday!

To make it, you combine in a blender: 1 chipotle pepper and 1/2 cup grape jelly. Pulse on "chop" until pepper is almost completely pulverized. Next, add 8 oz. (one small bottle) barbecue sauce (we use Sweet Baby Ray's).

Yum!

If you've never used chipotle peppers, they add a spicy, yet smoky, flavor! Be careful though! You only need one pepper (and a little of the sauce) for this recipe. There are five or six packed in that little can, so I just put them rest in a Tupperware and store them in my fridge. They keep for a while.

The boys have been using the sauce for their afterschool snack of chicken nuggets. I used some tonight for my mango meatball wraps which I will describe in another post - Delicious!

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Thr French fries that I made were Oven- Baked Potato Wedges. Nothing really fancy - you probably already know how to make these.... but in case you don't, I'll share the link where I found the recipe:

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/08/baked-tater-wedges-and-utahs-famous-fry.html

 

We liked the potatoes because they were full of flavor and had a little crunch. They weren't greasy at all.

The recipe also includes a "Utah" sauce for dipping. We skipped that, as we are trying to avoid mayonnaise-based sauces.

This was a great, kid-friendly meal. And my husband was happy too, since it went well with a beer. It was a Saturday night, after all!

What's cookin'? - Ham BBQ (A Pittsburgh tradition)

 Ham Barbecue

Growing up in Pittsburgh, everyone knew what ham barbecue was, and almost everyone's mom made it. We ate it at picnics. We ate it during the Steeler games on Sundays. My mother-in-law still makes it when we come to visit.

I thought everyone knew what it was. My first realization that it was only a Pittsburgh dish occurred about 15 years ago when we lived in York, PA. I had some of my stamping downline group over for dinner and I made this easy, traditional dish in order to feed the masses. Everybody loved it!  My "upline"
was on the phone with her husband and told him that I had made "some sweet and sour ham sandwich thing" that was really good. I giggled, thinking that she had never eaten it before. Turns out no one there had ever heard of it before.

Well, I thought, chalk that up to the regional differences between South Central PA and Pittsburgh. Like "jumbo" and "gumbands". No one knows what the hell you are talking about!

Then we moved to Connecticut - even farther away!  

It was bad enough in York when I had to ask for "minced bologna" at the deli counter in order to get my beloved "jumbo " - now I have to pull my hair up in an "elastic" because no one has ever heard of a "gumband"! Hahaha

Anyway, I made my mother-in-law's ham barbecue recipe here for a stamping/ scrapbooking recipe swap a few years ago. Once again, everybody loved it but no one had ever heard of it!

If you are from Pittsburgh and you are reading this - you know exactly what I'm talking about! Go "dahn" to the "Shop and Save"  or "Gieagle" and get yourself some Isaly's chipped ham for this recipe because it's the best!

If you're NOT from Pittsburgh, you want to go to your deli and ask for chopped ham, but ask them to "chip" or "shave" it - whatever they use for really, really thin little pieces/slices. Get ready for them to look at you like you have three heads....

If you are like me, you buy Isley's chipped when you are home in Pittsburgh for a visit and take it back with you! That way, you save yourself the hassle of asking the person behind the deli counter to "chip" or "shave" 3 pounds of chopped ham for you! In Pittsburgh, they already have it prepared like that - they just reach in and grab it, throw it in a bag!

Here is the recipe that I use. It is from my mother-in-law and it is the best!

Ham barbecue is great for an informal dinner and/or feeding lots of people. Try it at your next get-together (or next year before a Steeler game)!

•  2 T butter

•  1/4 c onion, chopped

•  1/4 c ketchup 

•  1/4 cider vinegar

•  1 T Worcestershire sauce 

•  1 can tomato soup

•  1/2-1 c brown sugar

•  1/8 t ground black pepper

•  3 lbs. "chipped" chopped ham**(see note)

** In a large pot, melt butter over moderate heat. Add onions - cook until soft (about five minutes).

** Add all other ingredients except ham. Cook to a low boil, tasting to adjust amount of brown sugar. (I use almost a whole cup in mine.) 

** Add ham and stir. Cook until heated through.

Serve on buns. 

**note (edited 4/22/15)

 I've come to realize that 3 pounds of ham is more of a guideline.

The last two times I made this I have only used 2 pounds, and had 1 pound left over for regular sandwiches.

Maybe it's the "better to have more than enough then not enough" Italian way of thinking....

Or, if you really need to make that extra pound of meat - better have extra ingredients on hand, not quite doubling the recipe.