Curry Turkey Burgers

Tonight was turkey burgers with a kick and wild rice. The wild rice was just from a box, no biggie there, you can choose any side to go with this dish.

Turkey Burgers

What You Need:

• 1/2 c. mayo
• 2 t. curry powder
• 1 lb. ground turkey breast
• 2 oz. feta cheese w/ tomato & basil, crumbled
• 4 Greek pita flat bread
• Red onion slices
• Spinach
• Feta Cheese

What You Do:

Heat broiler. Mix curry powder with mayo and set aside. Combine turkey, 2 T. of curry-mayo, feta, 1/4 t. salt. Shape into four patties. Broil 4 inches from heat for 11-13 minutes, flipping once. Spread curry-mayo on bread, add a patty, onion slices, feta and spinach.

Hope you enjoy, we did! Thanks for having Dinner at The Hampton’s and see you around the table next time!

Just Because

If you haven’t already guessed, I love to bake! So, I often bake just because….the only catch…I force myself to give most of it away, or freeze it, or I find myself eating the day away. Today, my boys (22 months & 3 months) made Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits, which are essentially cinnamon rolls only flakier and without waiting for dough to rise. Enjoy!

Sweet Cinnamon Biscuits

What You Need:

• 2 c. flour, sifted
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 3/4 c. buttermilk (TIP: If you don’t have buttermilk, mix 1 T. vinegar with regular milk)
• Butter
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 t. cinnamon

What You Do:

Pre-heat oven to 400° and grease a baking dish.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda and mix well. Stir in oil and buttermilk. Stir until just combined. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead. Roll out to a 15 x 8-inch retangle. Spread butter over the dough. Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mix (the last two ingredients). Roll up the retangle, like a jelly roll, and pinch to seal. Cut the roll into 1 1/2 inch slices. Place slices in baking pan and bake 15-20 minutes. If you oven cooks unevenly, make sure to turn the pan halfway through.

Classic Porkchops

Last night, I made classic porkchops with pan gravy, left over potatoes and peas. With the porkchops, just sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper and fry them in a little oil over medium heat. It will take about 6 minutes on each side. Remove the pork chops and allow to rest before cutting or eating. Use the pan juices to create gravy, by first sprinkling a little flour (like 2 tablespoons) into the pan and whisk together with the juices and left over oil. Allow it to cook for one minute. Add a little milk and whisk until the rue (flour mixture) is creamy and evenly distributed. This is the step that will get rid of the lumps, so work with it. When it is nice and smooth, add about 1/2 to 1 cup chicken stock, depending on how much gravy you want. Whisk together and turn the heat up a little to get a simmer going. Allow to thicken to the consistency you desire, serve over pork chops with what ever sides you want. I also add some dried cherries to the gravy at the end. Dried fruit with a little tartness goes amazingly well with pork.

Thanks for having Dinner at The Hampton’s and see you around the table next time!

Cheez-It Chicken

As I have posted before, I am all about using what you have on hand. For me, this includes keeping the bottom of the bag cracker crumbs and using them for coating. I used chicken tenders because they are thinner and cook faster. Dinner was on the table last night in about 20 minutes and everyone was happy!

What You Need:

• 1 pkg. chicken tenders (usually 6 or so)
• 1 c. ground cheez-it crackers
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 c. flour
• salt
• pepper
• other spices (optional)

What You Do:

Pre-heat oven to 350°. I line my baking sheet with foil for easy clean up. Spray foil, or baking sheet, with non-stick spray. Dredge the chicken in seasoned flour (salt, pepper, and other spices), then dip in the egg, then into the cracker crumbs. Bake for 10 minutes and enjoy!

I served ours with parboiled, fried potatoes and green beans.

Thanks for having Dinner at The Hampton’s and see you around the table next time!

Sausage & Bow Ties

I had a pound of bulk pork sausage (from our infamous pig) in the frig that I knew needed to be cooked, so I threw it together with some bowties pasta and mushroom alfredo sauce and chopped zucchini. Yum! And, again, the best sausage I have ever had! This dinner doesn’t even require a recipe, just clean out the frig into a saute pan and toss with some pasta.

Thanks for having Dinner at The Hampton’s and see you around the table next time!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Today the Hampton clan gathered at my house for an early dinner and lounging around the house. It was nice, we all got to visit while the kids played and the guys watched car shows. As you may have previously read, we have entered the world of purchasing our pig to become our pork, no the pig does not live with us, we remain detached. Anyway, I used a pork shoulder to make pulled pork sandwiches…they were delicious. Everyone else brought sides, pasta salad, watermelon and two desserts…banana cake and pineapple cake….recipes coming soon!

What You Need:

• boneless, pork butt or shoulder, about 2 1/2 pounds, trimmed
• 2 1/2 T. brown sugar
• 1 T. paprika
• 1 t. each chili powder, ground cumin, black pepper
• 1 c. low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 T. cider vinegar
• 2 T. ketchup
• hamburger buns, kaiser rolls….whatever you like

What You Do:

Make a rub out of the cumin, chili powder, pepper and 1 T. of the brown sugar. Rub the entire mixture all over the pork and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Leave at least 4 hours, overnight is best. When ready to cook, put in slow cooker or dutch oven and add the chicken broth. Cook on Low (6 hours) or High (4 hours) or roast for 3 hours on 250°.

When the pork is done, take it out of the juices and let rest. Pour liquid through a fat separator and put in a sauce pan. Place on medium-high heat and whisk in ketchup and vinegar. Let cook for 3-4 minutes. Shred pork with hands or a fork. Pour sauce over pork and serve on buns immediately.

Thanks for having Dinner at The Hampton’s and enjoy! As always, see you around the table next time!

WEEKEND EDITION: Bake Sale

As previously mentioned, I am taking part in the Great American Bake Sale, please see previous post for more information about this and how you can donate to my team. Today, we had our yard sale, so I threw in a bake sale for good measure. The yard sale didn’t do too bad, in fact, we are going to be using the money to build our raised beds and get our garden going! Check out my other blog, The Garbled Gardener, to read all about it and see how to build a raised bed. The bake sale didn’t go as good, so I am going to be peddling my left-over treats around this weekend. For my post today, I wanted to share with you the ultimate bake sale items and how to have a successful sale by keeping it simple.

Pick the classics when choosing items to bake. I made chocolate chip monster cookies, peanut butter cookies topped with honey roasted peanuts, rocky road fudge, lemon yogurt cookies and some banana muffins. Below are the recipes for the monster cookies and the fudge, follow the link for the lemon cookies, the peanut butter was a basic p.b. cookie recipe prettied up with a sprinkle of chopped honey roasted peanuts on top before baking.

As far as classic bake sale tactics, always use simple, delicious items that everyone loves. Make those items perfectly. Make the portions big. Make the prices cheap and simple. I packaged everything together to be $1 per thing. Like two monster cookies, or three peanut butter cookies, or one huge rice krispy treat-you get the idea. Consider placement of your bake sale. If you are considering the front of a store, pick a busy one, pick a busy weekend and get the store managers approval. Don’t forget to ask about matching grants. Many store, like Wal-Mart, offer to match the amount made at a fundraiser held on site. Advertise!!! And, have fun. If you are passionate about the cause, your customers will pick up on that and become passionate themselves.

Chocolate Chip Jumbos (recipe courtesy of Good Housekeeping Magazine)

• What You Need:
  3 large eggs
  1 pd. butter, softened
  1 pkg. brown sugar
  1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
  2 T. vanilla
  1 1/2 t. baking soda
  1 1/2 t. salt
  6 c. flour
  2 pks. semisweet chocolate chips
  1 bag chopped walnuts

What You Do:

Pre-heat oven to 350°. In very large bowl, beat the eggs for about 4 minutes. Add the butter and both sugars, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Beat on low until well combined. Add the flour, chocolate chips and walnuts. Line large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by level 1/3 cups two inches apart. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the pans half way through. Immediately transfer to wire racks to cool when done baking. Continue the baking process until all batches are done. Make about 3-4 dozen.

Rocky Road Fudge (recipe courtesy of Good Housekeeping Magazine)

What You Need:

• 1 pks. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 c. butterscotch chips
• 1 c. crunchy peanut butter
• 1 T. butter
• 1 pkg. mini marshmallows

What You Do:

Grease a square metal baking pan and line with plastic wrap. In sauce pan, melt chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter and butter. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until melted. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallows. Pour into lined pan and spread evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 hours, or overnight, then invert and cut into 36 squares.

Hope you find great causes to use your baking talents and find these easy recipes among those in your bake sale arsenal!

Thanks for joining us for the weekend edition, see you around the table next time!

The Great American Bake Sale

I wanted to share with you all the Great American Bake Sale, an event by Share Our Strength, an amazing organization to help feed hungry children right here in the U.S. I signed up today to have my own bake sale and am excited to help.

I will be having my first bake sale this Saturday during my yard sale, but also have an online bake sale going and would be honored if you went to my site and donated. Thank you for taking the time.

Bourbon Salmon & Parmesan Couscous

Dinner tonight was delicious, satisfying and done in 10 minutes (literally), now I took a little help from the store, but who doesn’t need that most nights. We are big on seafood in my house and I have been exploring the grains aisle of our grocery store. I made a boxed parmesan couscous, which took only the amount of time for water to boil, and a frozen, pre-marinaded salmon ready to cook in steam pouches for the microwave.

The lesson of tonight’s meal, is cook fresh as often as you can, but if you are tired or need a quick meal don’t be afraid to use high-quality products from your local market!

Thanks for having Dinner at The Hampton’s and see you around the table next time!

Spicy Chicken & Left Overs

Tonight was pretty quick and easy. I took the left overs roasted potatoes and some corn on the cob and paired it with some spicy marinaded chicken strips.

What You Need:

• Trimmed chicken strips
• Szechuan season packet
• Olive oil
• Roasted Potatoes
•  Corn on the Cob
• Cooking Spray

What You Do:

Mix up the szechuan seasoning packet and let the chicken marinate most of the day.

Pre-heat the oven to 400°. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and place corn on the cob on the sheet. Spray the corn and sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Bake for 15 minutes or so.

Take corn out and let cool for a moment. Shave the corn off the cob and place back on the baking sheet in a single layer. Add the left over potatoes and put back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the chicken in a little olive oil in a non-stick pan. Since, they are strips they will cook quickly. This was a big hit in my house! Enjoy!

As always, thanks for having Dinner at The Hampton’s and see you around the table next time!