Kickin it old school

We went retro for dinner last night and had an old family favorite. Cheeseburger Pie!! Hey, it doesn't have to be fancy everynight, and this is actually a fave of Jims. He was realy excited when I told him I was bringing it back. So here it is....maybe it will be a favorite in your home as well. It's easy!!!

1lb lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 large onion, chopped
1 C shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2C Bisquick mix
1 C milk (we use Silk)
2 eggs

Heat oven to 400* Spray 9inch pie plate with cooking spray

In medium-skillet cook beef and onion over medium heat until beef is cooked. Drain, spread in pie plate, sprinkle with cheese

In small bowl, stir remaining ingredients with whisk or fork until blended. Pour into pie plate.

Bake 25 minutes.

Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.....

But -
Give him a can of beer, and you have dinner for two!


The chicken is blushing.....

I took a small break from dinner duties and let Jim work his magic. And magical it was.

Beer Can Chicken
(or soda can chicken)
There is no set way to do this, but here is what Jim did

One 31/2 - 4lb chicken
One can of beer (you can use soda as well - cola or lemon lime will do)
One small whole onion OR potato
Seasoning Rub - We used McCormick Montreal Chicken
Butter
One aluminum, disposable pie plate

We have a beer can chicken rack that I picked up at Linens and Things for about $5. It is a metal contraption that has three legs and a support for the can of beer.

Rinse your chicken
Empty half of the can of beer into the pie plate...NOT your tummy!
Place can with remaining beer in the rack.
Generously rub chicken with butter and seasoning rub outside, as well as the inner cavity.
Place chicken down over the beer can on the rack.
Place the potato or onion in the neck cavity to seal in vapors.
Place the pie plate with beer on the grill. Place chicken and rack in plate. Cook for 2 hours until skin is dark and very crisp.

We have a charcoal grill and Jim allowed the coals to get hot, slid them around to form a ring around the pie plate and added a few charcoals every 30 minutes to keep it hot. As you can see in the picture, the top rack is removed and the chicken is down with the pie plate sitting on the base rack where the charcoal sits.

According to the chicken rack packaging if you have a gas gril, place the chicken on left side of grill and set the right side burner to low-medium.

When done, CAREFULLY remove, secure the base with a hot pad and gently lift chicken from rack. Seriously...be careful here, there is REALLY hot beer in the can.

I served this with roasted red skin potatoes and cucumber salad

dinner

So, like I said in my cookie post - I made dinner in the crock pot today. I LOVE the crock pot! Did you know that can throw frozen meat in it? For real - just remember it will create more liquid as it cooks and you may need to adjust your other liquids. You can do so much more than pot roast and soup in a crock pot, and tonight's dinner was yummy, healthy proof. I made Balsamic Chicken with Spring Vegetables that I found on the year of crock potting blog. When I told Jim about it, I got "sounds weird" for a response. He ended up liking it more than me. Jim never complains about my meals, he eats it and after dinner, whenever I make something new this is how the conversation goes:

Me "How was it?"
Jim "Great" "Really good" "One of your bests", etc.
Me (provided the response is one of the above) - "Thanks - I totally rock, don't I". OK, I don't say that, but you get the point.
Sometimes Jim says "good" - When he says good, I follow up with this question
"Was it - I ate it because you made it and I shouldn't complain since you took the time to make good, or was it make it again good?"
You see, Jim knows better than to complain about a meal because, quite frankly - its just rude. Someone cooked for you, etc., etc. On the other hand, I don't want him to force down a meal every other week just to be polite. So the line of questioning above weeds out the icky meals.
For the record - I rate the new meals also - we each have a 50% stake in the verdict. I won't cook something one of us really doesn't like. Its part of the power of being adult - you can choose. When we have kids, I can throw out the, I don't care if you don't like it just eat it card (which btw...I am not sure that I agree with).
Wow - I really really rambled there. Sorry.
Sorry for the crock pot picture, but its the only one I took. I liked how colorful it all was.



Here it is - super easy:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
• 2 zucchini squash (on the smaller side)
• 2 yellow squash
• 1/2 large red onion, or 1 whole small red onion
• 2 bell peppers (I used one red and one yellow)
• 1 whole head of garlic, peeled with bulbs in tact (peel your garlic, separate the bulbs and leave whole)
• 1/4 C balsamic vinegar
• 2t Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper

1. Place chicken in crock pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
2. Wash and cut all your vegetables and put into a mixing bowl.
3. Peel the head of garlic, but keep the cloves intact.
4. Toss the vegetables with balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.
5. Pour the vegetables on top of the meat.
6. Cook on high heat for 3 hours, then switch to low for 4 hours***

***If you are planning to put this together and leave for the day, I would suggest cooking on low for 8-9 hours. I did mine on high for 3 hours, switched to low for 4, and then placed on the warm setting for about 2 hours. The chicken was cooked through when I switched to warm (7 total hours).

I served this with whole wheat couscous.

Enjoy!