Cheeseburger Sliders

I had plannned to make these sliders with hawaiian rolls, however after I made the  buttery dinner rolls Randal wanted me to use those instead.  I have seen versions of these sliders all over pinterest, I decided to make a small batch as it was just for the two of us, I also decided to not include any kind of binder or breadcrumb as we don't do that with regular burgers and I didn't want this to be meatloaf like.

Randal was definitely skeptical when the beef came out of the oven, but after adding the cheese and his favourite hamburger toppings he admitted they were very good, and even said he would these again.

1 lb ground beef
1/2 red onion, diced
1 tsp worcester sauce
salt and pepper
hawaiian rolls/dinner rolls
cheddar cheese, sliced

Preheat oven to 400.

In a bowl, mix together the beef, onion, worcester sauce and salt and pepper.  Press beef into an 8x8 baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, drain any fat that is in the pan.  Top with the sliced cheese and return to the oven until melted.

Cut the beef into squares, and serve on the rolls with ketchup and pickles.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Pizza and salad

Tuesday: Chicken tikka, jasmine rice

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Chicken alfredo and salad

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Buttery Dinner Rolls

Yesterday was Randal's birthday.  We don't usually do much for our birthdays, we go all out for Christmas but the rest of the year for any celebration we just go out for a nice dinner.  As his birthday was mid week we did that on the weekend before, then on the actual day I made him whatever he wanted for dinner, this year he wanted Italian sausage spaghetti so as a last minute thing I decided to throw a dough together in the bread machine and make some buttery rolls to go with dinner.

I cannot adequately describe just how buttery and delicious these rolls turned out to be.  I could have happily just eaten those for dinner, definitely the best dinner rolls I have ever made!

1 packet dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup warm milk
1 egg
4 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter, melted

In a small bowl, add the yeast to the warm water and set aside.

Pour the warm milk, sugar and the quarter cup of softened butter to the bread machine pan.  Add in the yeast mixture.

Add the 4 cups of flour, salt and set bread machine to the dough cycle.

When the dough cycle is complete, place the dough onto a floured surface.  Divide the dough into 4, then divide each section into 4 pieces of dough.  Roll into balls and place in a buttered pan.  Cover and leave to rise for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350.

Brush the rolls with melted butter and bake for 20 minutes.  Brush the hot rolls with remaining butter as soon as they come out of the oven.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Southwest chicken flatbread and salad

Tuesday: Char Siu pork, fried rice and egg rolls

Wednesday: Randal's birthday, he wanted italian sausage spaghetti and salad

Thursday: Cheeseburger sliders and fries

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Meatball sliders, parsnip fries

Tuesday: Full English breakfast

Wednesday: Chicken tikka, lemon rice, paneer naan

Thursday: Cuban sliders, fries

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

Green Bean Stir Fry

We have been on a sugar snap pea kick for a while now, especially stir fried sugar snap peas, so I decided to go looking fir a stir fried recipe for the green beans I had sitting in the fridge.  I decided on a recipe I found on the food network as I had everything on hand and it looked simple enough to make.  I cut back on the red pepper flakes from the original recipe and we both thought they were very good!

1 lb green beans
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

In a small bowl, mix together the honey, vinegar, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

In a large pan over high heat, stir fry the green beans in the olive oil for about 3 minutes.  Add in the ginger and garlic and stir constantly for a further 2 minutes.  Pour the sauce over the green beans, cook for another minute and serve.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I have been having too much fun playing with my new ice cream maker, which means we have really good home made ice cream in the freezer, but it's not so good for any attempt at healthy eating.  This vanilla ice cream is actually so good that we have made it twice in the last 2 weeks.  It tastes so much better than store bought ice cream and I love knowing that there are no questionable ingredients in it. 

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

In a medium pan, whisk together the milk, cream, salt, scraped vanilla bean and half of the sugar.  Bring to a boil.

While the milk is heating, combine the egg yolks and remaining sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat until the mixture is pale and thick.

Once the milk has come to a boil, whisk about a third of the hot milk into the egg yolks.  Return the yolk mixture to the pan of milk, stir constantly over low heat until it thickens, should only take a few minutes.

Pour through a sieve and leave to cool.

When the custard is at room temperature, stir in the vanilla extract and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Pour the refrigerated mixture into the bowl of the ice cream maker (make sure the bowl has been in the freezer for at least 12 hours) and mix for 20 minutes, until thickened.  Transfer to an air tight container and freeze until ready to serve.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Herb roasted chicken, red creamer potatoes and green beans

Tuesday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Wednesday: Italian sausage spaghetti

Thursday: Tacos

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie

SRC - Hot Cross Buns

Time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal, and due to some computer problems this is my first reveal for 2015. This month I was assigned the blog  searching for spice  by Corina and immediately I was very excited to see lots of familiar English recipes.  I was tempted by Jamie Oliver's favourite chicken curry because I do love a good curry, but after finding the hot cross buns  I was sold on making some.  

I have had one complaint with the hot cross buns I have found here in the states... they all have crosses made out of icing.  The only way to eat a hot cross bun in my opinion is toasted and buttered, throw a slice of english cheddar on there and and it's even better, but toasted is a must, and that's why I have issues with the icing crosses.  So I was very excited to see that Corina's recipe had the crosses made the traditional way with flour and water and baked onto the bun.

After looking at the recipe I realised that one thing missing that I know is in English buns was mixed peel.  Now I know I am not going to find that here in Houston, and I also couldn't find currants, so I had to make do with lemon and orange zest and raisins.  I was definitely concerned that the substitutions would affect the flavour, but as soon as I started kneading the dough I could smell that familiar hot cross bun smell.  I knew they would be good, and I have definitely been enjoying my first batch of toasted Emglish hot cross buns in 13 years!

500g plain flour
300ml whole milk
75g sugar
7g yeast
50g butter
1 egg beaten
zest of an orange
zest of a lemon
150g sultanas/raisins
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
apricot jam for glazing

Crosses:
2 tbsp flour
Water

Bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat and leave until just warm.  Add the yeast and sugar.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, butter and egg.  Slowly add the milk mixture until a soft dough forms.

Add the sultanas/raisins, orange and lemon zests and cinnamon.  
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, cover and leave to rise for one hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size, knock it back, tip out onto a floured surface and divide into 12 pieces, roll each onto a ball and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Leave to rise for 1 more hour.

Heat the oven to 350.

To make the crosses mix the flour with enough water to make a thick paste, pipe the crosses onto the buns and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Melt some apricot jam and once the buns come out of the oven, glaze them with the warm jam.   

    
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Leftover bbq brisket and potato salad from the weekend

Tuesday: Tacos

Wednesday: Quinoa stuffed peppers

Thursday: Bbq chicken thighs, baked potatoes and corn

Friday: Eating out
  
See other menu plans over at Organizing Junkie