Bacon-Butt Burgers for the Birthday Boy

I finally got to make my baby boy his birthday dinner tonight. His request:  hamburgers, my homemade macaroni and cheese with Ballyshannon Irish cheese, and canned peas. I made a run to the Farmer's Market and got two pounds of freshly ground chuck (poor chuck) at the butcher shop, some vine ripe tomatoes and lettuce. Strangely enough, the Farmer's Market did not have any lettuce! We had to go to Wal-Mart for that.

When your hamburger is ground fresh not a lot needs to be done to it. The only thing I added was a tiny bit of cayenne pepper and some soul seasoning.  I had some bacon ends and pieces (purchased in a 3 pound lump really cheap!) so I decided to give my hamburgers a bacon butt..  After mixing the seasonings gently into the ground chuck (poor chuck) I formed them into patties and added bacon pieces to the bottom and placed them in a pre-heated skillet on medium high to fry.

While the burgers began to fry, salted water went on to boil for the macaroni and I began slicing up a huge chunk of Kerrygold Ballyshannon cheddar cheese. It is Irish cheese and one of Nick's favorites.
Kerrygold cheese

When the water came to a rolling boil I added the macaroni and boiled until just tender. I do not like mushy noodles! It was dumped into the strainer (one pound of macaroni, by the way) and then back into the hot pot. One stick of REAL butter, half a pound of chunked Ballyshannon cheese and a splash of heavy cream get dropped into the hot noodles.  The amount of cream depends on how thick you want the sauce in the macaroni.  We use very little as we like the butter and the cheese to do the work.

In the meantime, the burgers have been flipped over.

The bacon has cooked into the butt of that burger like a glorious bikini bottom! The next is key:  DO NOT SMASH YOUR BURGER!! Good grief people. Let the burger be thick and juicy. Don't make the bacon give the hamburger a wedgie!!!

These yummy burgers were served with thick-sliced vine ripe tomatoes, lettuce, provolone cheese, onion, mac and cheese, and peas.  Here is the happy birthday boy with his dinner:

Even though his birthday dinner was delayed by one day, he was a happy fella.  He loved my bacon butt burgers and his homemade mac and cheese.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK! I LOVE YOU!


PS....I must qualify this.  The birthday boy specifically asked for canned peas. I don't really eat them anymore. I used to make them when they were little and we were broke. Now that we are better off financially and I am a little more knowledgeable, I use frozen. I used canned tonight at his request.

Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy

It was a beautiful day to worship. How nice it was to see Carolyn, the wife of our pastor, at church today. She is an amazing and special woman.  Her husband had knee surgery and has been out for a few weeks. Now he has a pinched nerve in his shoulder. I feel bad for them. I know he is anxious to get back to work. They need lifted up and loved on. The best way I know to do that is to cook. Today I am making them some of my mother's pork chops and mushroom gravy, butter beans and honey rolls.

I start with some fresh center cut boneless pork loin chops, placed in a baking dish and liberally sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. Next in the pan is some fresh white mushrooms wiped clean of their dirt and sliced. One family size can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and one can of evaporated milk. Cover with foil and place in a 375 degree oven for one hour until the pork is done, the mushrooms tender and the gravy nice and thick. I take the foil off when there is about 15 minutes left so it can brown up a little bit and get good and bubbly.

Here it is in all of it's yummy goodness! My mother used to make it all the time except she did not add the fresh mushrooms.  That was my idea. I love my fungus! The butter beans are almost done and I need to wrap this dish up and get it out the door and get ready for church.  I hope you are heading to service today too!!

Would Elvis Presley have liked this???

My very good (and very awesome) friend Tabitha Portal has created a *naughty* group on Facebook called "Tasty Food Pics & Recipes".  I love it! I like looking at all the recipes and getting ideas and sometimes I even try them. Today was one of those days. One of the ladies in there posted a recipe that I could not resist trying. It involves bananas (which I am always trying to get my husband to eat more of), peanut butter and chocolate (which is his obsession).

 So I started with my most favorite peanut butter ever, Jif. No, I did not get paid for that. It just happens to be my family's favorite. We have tried almost every one out there but this one makes us happy.

Slice the banana into 1/4" slices.

Next smear the top of one slice with peanut butter. I found that a knife would not work very well and it was easier to use my fingers. God gave us those tools and they are sometimes the very best to use.

I put them on some parchment paper so they would not stick to anything.  Freeze for (1) hour.

After one hour, remove from freezer and dip them into melted semi-sweet chocolate.

 Back onto the parchment paper to freeze for about two hours more! Eat and enjoy.

 The bananas get all creamy and yummy, the chocolate is crunchy and the peanut butter is just the right addition to keep it all from being too sweet.  Definitely going  into the "make often" category!!

Denny's Restaurant.....and God?

After about two hours of shopping at two amazing guitar stores, my hubs took me to Denny's for dinner.  The restaurant was fairly empty.  We sat in a booth and both ordered up Denny's new Western Skillet.  It was quite conceivably enough food for four people on one skillet! Breezy and I both did not get past more than a 1/4 of it.

While we were eating, a group of five young adults came in and sat at a round table behind our booth.  They were pretty typical college age kids, between 19 and 24.  I doubt a single one of them was older than 24.  Their talk mostly centered around the fact that they had been unable to purchase guns tonight.  One young man complained to the other why they were going out on Monday and not a weekend.  The fellow said he works on Saturdays and on Sundays he has to go to church because he is a youth leader. 

Honestly, from the conversation at the table I would have never guessed that any of them ever darkened a church doorway.  Many expletives were bandied about as casually as you or I may use the word "the".  Food was ordered and drinks were delivered.  The original young man who complained about it being Monday night extended his hands to his friends and timidly said, "should we go ahead and pray before the food gets here?"  He was rebuffed by all his friends and he acquiesed.  The young man who was a youth leader stated "I pray over every meal on the weekend, I don't need to do it right now".

So....his God is only for Sundays? What if I were one of the parents of the teenagers he was a youth leader for? Would he be embarrased? Is this modern day Christianity? The convenient kind? The kind where God is only for when I want him and not for everyday, all day, anytime, anywhere? And as I pondered this question, the Spirit gently turned that question inward.....do I put God in a box when I don't want him around? Furthermore, where would I end up without God's Grace?  I am 100% certain that God would never shove me in a box until he was ready to deal with me.  I am 100% certain that I have been guilty of doing just that.

As we were about to leave the restaurant, my husband spoke to the group, had them laughing.  And since "contact" had been initiated, I told the one young man I was proud of him for offering to pray before their meal.  They laughed it off with him telling his friends they were all going to hell for not praying.  I pray they know that there are REAL consequences for putting God aside.  I pray that the church they go to, that someone there will open their eyes.  Brandon Heath said it best when he asked God "Give me your eyes for just one second"  God help me to be ever mindful and let me see through Your eyes....