Great view for a morning run

I've been in Baltimore for work since Sunday - hence the no blogging. Great views for my morning run though!

I'll post more pics when I'm back in Utah!

Italian Meatloaf Burgs

I wrote a post a few weeks back about burgers and how much I love them. Well, I just wanted to let you know - I REALLY do love them! With burgers, the possibilities are endless! You can just about turn your burger into anything you want it to be.

I was reminiscing the other day about a trip I took to Europe with my mom, step dad, brother and step sister…it was an awesome trip…filled with lots of laughs…some fighting…lost luggage keys (poor Jill)…crazy Scottish people karaoke-ing to Abba and falling through doors at a dive bar…LOTS of driving (I mean lots)…women with beards…hairy cows…lots of shopping…castles…William Wallace…one pound fefty…AND best of all some really amazing food!

I think one of the most memorable meals for me (well, besides the blood sausage my brother ate - holy yuck!!) was at this little dive somewhere in England that served these awesome burgers. Let me tell you, they weren’t just burgers it was like eating a whole meatloaf on a delicious bun. These burgers were so juicy and tender and just all around dang yummy! Oh and they were huge! Seriously, a meatloaf on a bun.

I love meatloaf - and we have already established that I love burgers - so, why not meatloaf burgers? And not just plain old meatlof…Italian meatloaf, which really is like a huge meatball. Oh yeah, these are good!

• 1 pound ground beef
• ½ pound Italian sausage - I use hot
• 10 basil leaves chopped up
• Handful of fresh oregano chopped up
• ½ onion finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix up. Do not over mix, just mix until incorporated. Make over sized patties (this made 4 huge patties). BBQ until cooked through - yes, they need to cook through because of the pork. To make these extra fantastic, add a little garlic butter to your bun and toast - delish!

You could also make these with turkey - ground turkey and turkey sausage. I think they would be just as good too!

Crock Pot Beer Pork Tacos

I love Mexican food…oh wait, I love all food :) But I really do love me some yummy Mexican food…you just can’t go wrong.

The other day, I came across this website with a bunch of taco recipes. One in particular caught my eye - crock pot cheddar beer chicken tacos - these suckers look delish! AND here you are thinking…more tacos? Yep, more tacos. And I am serious when I say, these were exceptionally yummy too!

I had just made a trip to the Costco and bought a package of the pork tenderloin roasts. Well, I love pork tacos, so why not use pork instead of chicken in this recipe? It could be tasty…and it was! The pork was so  tender…I mean, so tender and extremely flavorful.

I followed this recipe pretty much all the way through - I mean I didn’t add any fresh onions or jalapenos or anything, which just isn’t like me, but I wanted to see how they would turn out by just using the original recipe. A couple of notes: In the recipe it mentions not using all of the spices…well, I used all of the spices because I like big flavor! I would say my roast was about 3 pounds. It also says to add the cheese at the end. I didn’t  add the cheese because I didn’t want the extra cleanup (yeah, it would get all gooey in my crock pot), but I definitely topped with cheese. Last, but not least, I used a full bottle of beer. It was just easier.

Anyway…Here is a direct link to the recipe. Have fun with it! Enjoy!

Great Weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun. We got a lot of activities packed into it too!

On Friday, we went to a Bees game. I took a few pics...but as you can see, not too many. The game was fun...I think the Bees won...but since I really don't care about baseball (I just care about the socializing) I can't tell you for sure.  :)

haha...funny sign!

It was such a nice day on Saturday, that we spent most of the day inside watching movies...oh wait, that doesn't make sense...OK - I just needed a day to relax. We did have lunch on the patio though, so quit judging :)

Saturday night, we had our Mother's Day BBQ at my sister's house. It was SO fun. We made Thai food and you all know my love of Thai food! We had papaya salad, thai pickles, lots of sticky rice, pad thai, thai bbq beef, etc. There was a ton of food. Great company too!

Yum - look at all that food!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday was another beautiful day. This time we were more productive and started the day off with a motorcycle ride up to the cabin. Instead of taking pictures of how green it is getting, I took some pics of our messy hair. 

Woo...look at that hair

We finished Sunday off with a yummy bbq - ribs, chicken, and an awesome grilled corn salad!

You can find the ribs and chicken recipes here. The corn salad was super easy to throw together too:

• 5-6 ears corn
• 1 small container cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1/4 of a red onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 jalapeno
• Juice of two to three limes
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Queso fresco or cotija cheese for topping

Cut the tomatoes in half and place in a bowl with the onion and red bell pepper. Grill the corn until it starts to get a little bit of char. Cut off the cobb and place in the bowl. In the meantime, place the cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice and olive oil in a food processor. Blend until fairly smooth. Dump over the corn, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper. Mix well and top with cheese.

Can't go wrong with that and it is super easy to make!

Well - hope everyone has a great week.

Chicken, tomato, spinach pasta

The other day, I was checking out Pulse when I came across this yummy pasta recipe. Well, you know me - I just couldn't pass up the opportunity and since John was working late it seemed even more appropriate!

And guess what - it was very yummy! I added in some mushrooms, some hot Italian turkey sausage, and clearly topped it with a boat load of cheese. It was great! I suggest you give this little recipe a whirl - I guess that Pioneer lady really does know what she is doing :)

Other than the pasta - life is great. Lots of work for us, but we have some fun trips (Florida and Aruba) planned for this summer and fall - so we will get a break! Whew!

Garlic Risotto

So you all know I have a deep love for the garlic rice that John makes, right? I mean, it is so good! You may or may not smell like garlic for 3 days after - but seriously, it is worth it.I know that John loves risotto - he raves about how good it is every time I make it - then again, maybe it is because I don't make it ALL that often OR maybe he really does love it - yep, I am going to stop over analyzing right now.

Instead of making garlic rice, I decided I would try and make a yummy garlic risotto. It turned out great - definitely a keeper and will be repeated very soon. It isn't quite as garlicky as the garlic rice, but still yummy nonetheless.

Sorry about that spoon - Either way, you can see it looks creamy and D-lish!

Before you make this recipe though - be warned it is labor intensive in that you have to sit there and stir for pretty much 30-40 minutes straight.

1 cup ariborio rice
4 cups chicken stock
6-8 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream

Place the chicken stock in a medium sauce pan and heat to medium - keep simmering. In the meantime, place your olive oil and butter in a skillet and heat to medium high. Once your butter is melted and bubbling, throw in your rice and garlic. Toast until light brown.  Turn the heat to medium and add one cup of the hot chicken stock. Stir frequently until it cooks out. Repeat this process one cup of stock at a time until your stock is gone. Turn the heat to medium low once the majority of the stock is evaporated, but the risotto has a nice creamy texture. Add in the cheese, cream, and salt and pepper and stir to combine. 

The recipe has simple components, but like I said, it does get a little cumbersome stirring, stirring, and stirring. We served this with some yummy sauteed spinach and grilled steaks, but if you added in some chicken or shrimp - this could be a meal on its own. 

Mmm!

Enjoy!

Professional Kid Sitter

This weekend we had my niece Liv over so my sis could go out for her anniversary dinner. We had a fun night, but let me tell you - seven year old kids ask a lot of questions. I will be much  better prepared next time I watch her for all the questions. I mean stuff you don't think about asking...for example:

Liv: Who just text you?
Me: My friend, Monica.
Liv: Why did she text you?
Me: She text me to say that she is soooo hungry.
Liv: Why did she text you that?
Me: Because she hasn't eaten because she is working.
Liv: Where is she working?
Me: She is in California.
Liv: Why is she in California?
Me: Because that is where she is working - she is at a tradeshow.
Liv: What is a tradeshow?
Me: It is where a whole bunch of companies that are similar get together and try and sell their stuff.
Liv: Like Overstock.com? Was Overstock.com there?
Me: No, this was for the dental industry. Like for toothbrushes, floss, that kind of thing.
Liv: The dental industry? Was Dr. Barret there?
Me: Yes - yes, Dr. Barrett was there.
Liv: Well, Dr. Barret is my regular doctor - not my dentist.
Me: Thinks to self - oh crap!

And then, just like that - we moved on to a new set of questions. It was so funny! She is entertaining to say the least - I mean that kid has some energy. She is stinking cute as can be though - take a look!

Yeah, she brought her entourage of stuffed animals with her. Oh and yes, she made that pizza all by herself. Pretty yummy!

After we ate dinner, she played us some music from her "phone." I must say - the little girl has good taste.

It was a fun night and totally out of the norm for us - but it seriously was a good time. For amateur kid sitters, we did OK :) Maybe we will be professionals soon if my sister lets us watch her again.