The Best Burger Ever!

OMG – Look at this thing of beauty! We had gilled hamburgers over the weekend and I’m not ashamed to say – we had them twice. They were THAT good! I love that something as simple as a terrific, juicy burger can instantly make everything right with the world – at least till you swallow the last bite!

The hubs and I found these awesome buns in the bakery department of our local market (Fred Meyer – aka Kroger in other parts of the country). They had melted cheddar cheese and sliced jalapenos on them and the very second we saw them we said –“We gotta have burgers on those tonight!” We’d been planning on making a Mexican lasagna, but the very site of these beautiful buns whisked that idea away in an instant!

The buns were soft on the inside and just a slight crust on the outside. The jalapenos gave each bite just a tiny hint of heat and jalapeno flavor. They were – in a word – perfect.

We cooked up a few slices of bacon, sliced some sweet onion and red, ripe tomato and I shredded some lettuce – I LOVE shredded lettuce on a burger WAY more than big ol’ flat lettuce leaves – there’s more crunch!

I put the tomato and onion between the burger patty and bottom bun. All those fresh veggies on top of a slice of melted cheese can get too slippery – not that a messy, drippy burger isn’t terrific, but it’s nice when it can all stay together too – you get every flavor in every bite. I suppose it doesn’t photograph as pretty – but hey, just check out that close-up shot, above!

Mmmm…wish I had one now! Next chance you get - make yourself a great burger - there is nothing better!

Roasted Corn Dip

There are few appetizers in my arsenal that are not only my particular favorites but ones my family or friends request again and again as well. This is one of them….roasted corn dip. It’s variation of Emeril Lagasse’s Fire Roasted Corn Dip – but I don’t always fire roast the corn and I changed up a few ingredients too, so I simply call mine – roasted corn dip.

Now, when I was young, corn wasn’t to be on or in anything ‘cept a cob or my mouth! It couldn’t be creamed and it couldn’t touch anything else on my plate. Funny – as an adult I now love corn in just about anything! I will say I pretty much gotta have sweet white corn as opposed to yellow. I love the crisp bite to the little, white kernels...yellow corn seems big and chewy to me!

This dip is creamy and the sweet taste of the corn comes through the gentle spice of the peppers and jalapeno – but it’s the garlic that makes it sing. It’s not a ‘garlicky’ dish at all….but the combination of all thee flavors together with the cheese and the sweet and the heat is just darn near prefect. There’s never any left when I make it for a party. Key to a successful corn dip is in the details….make a nice, fine dice on your veggies. Nothing I dice is any bigger than the kernels of corn into which they’re mixed – most of them are smaller. This allows a prefect marriage of flavors in your mouth rather than a big ol’ chunk of pepper and only three corn kernels. Are you pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down? I mean…if you’re gonna make something delicious – why not make it as delicious as it can be??

So – we start with veggies – these are the bigs – and you’ll need about ½ of each one shown as well as the name sake ingredient….

…..Super Sweet White Corn! Now like I said, I don’t always fire roast in which case I do use the corn shown above. Come corn season though, I’m all about getting the corn onto the hot grill to pick up some nice fire roasted flavor. Since I can’t wait for corn season to have this addictive & savory snack, a bag’ll do just fine.

Get all your peppers diced – you can use a yellow in place of the orange if you want…..

…then try not to cry when you finely dice up that ½ onion.

This is one whole jalapeno pepper, seeded, matchsticked and VERY finely diced. You want it’s flavor throughout so dice it super small so it gets well distributed throughout the dish.

We add in sliced green onions into the mixture as well as a few on top of it.

I ask you – is there any better food than cheese? Jack melts beautifully – you’ll need about 12 oz. total – 8 to mix in and 4 for the top.

And of course – the garlic. Mince or press about 4 large cloves so you have a good, fat tablespoonful.

Add 1 T of butter to a hot skillet and pour in the corn. I like to make ‘holes’ in the corn ‘mass’ so heat gets through so it doesn’t just steam in the pan. Leave the corn to roast for a few minutes at a time and then stir. If you stir it the whole time, it won’t get any caramely colors to it ands won’t be as yum-tastic!

See? It’s getting there! I don’t wait for every kernel to get the golden brown color – but want a very good amount of them to be. Once it’s reached the desired ‘roastedness’, I empty the corn into a large bowl to wait while I finish cooking up the other veggies.

Next up, put the peppers (not the jalapeno) and onion in the hot pan. Add salt and pepper and stir-fry for about 2 minutes.

Mmmm....it’s all hot and steamy and smelling good! Steam doesn’t make for such a good picture though!

After two minutes, add the corn back to the pan and season with salt and pepper once again. Stir until combined…..

….then put the jalapeno and garlic in! OMG give this a good stir and you will immediately know what I meant about the garlic just ‘making’ this dish. The smell is unbelievable! Cook the mixture another 2 minutes, then transfer the lot of it to a large bowl to cool just a bit – maybe 20 minutes or so.

Once the mixture has cooled a little, stir in ¾ of the green onions and the mayo.

After those are well combined, add in ¾ of the cheese and mix well.

Spread in a casserole dish – size is sort of up to you… This is a Pampered Chef oval stoneware pan – it’s about the equivalent of a 9x13, but oval. I’ve used a big, round corningware dish as well and a dish a bit smaller so the dip was a bit thicker – but the above dish is my fave to use. The stoneware keeps it piping hot too – awesome. I think an 8x11 rectangle would be really close to this if you’re using a rectangle pan. Craaaapp….for something totally uncomplicated I’m making it way too complicated! Just use yer fave shallow-ish casserole dish!

Top with the remaining cheese and green onions. At this point, you can put it in the oven or, if you’re going to bake it within an hour or two, just cover it and leave it on the counter – no point in chilling it, making it take longer once you do bake it. If you won’t be needing it for several hours, cover it, chill it, then remove from the oven a good hour before baking. Bake at 350-degrees for 25 minutes if not chilled – or approx 50 minutes of it is chilled. The top should be golden and bubbly and the center should be good-n-hot (stick a knife in the center then feel the blade between your thumb and forefinger).

And Presto! Not only is it bubblin’ hot but the dish changed color and size as well! Okay –here’s the deal…I made the dish in all the prep pics a week ago but because guests were already at my house when it came out of the oven, I put it out onto the counter without taking a picture of the finished product! Oops! So, when the hubs had a friend to dinner this past Sunday (he brought the fresh-caught salmon in the dinner pic with the spicy green beans), I used the rest of the peppers and a smaller bag of corn to make a slightly smaller version of the original – and that’s it abov

Yum – hot and full of flavor……….That sweet corn with the peppers and garlic….OMG………

This dish is a home run – heck, you could probably eat is as an actual corn side dish and forget about scooping it up with chips! It takes a fair amount of dicing prep – but it’s SO worth it. Enjoy!

Roasted Corn Dip

Ingredients:

1 regular-sized bag frozen super sweet white corn

1 tablespoon butter

salt & pepper (pinches here and there to taste)

1/2 medium/large onion – finely diced

1/2 red, yellow and green bell pepper diced small

1 medium jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and diced very fine

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 cup mayonnaise

12 oz grated Monterey Jack Cheese

4 finely sliced green onions

Directions:
Heat a large skillet to high heat and melt 1 T of butter then add frozen corn. Allow corn to cook between stirrings to caramelize and turn golden on most kernels – about 7 minutes. Remove from pan to large mixing bowl. Add the onions and peppers. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add the corn back in and continue to sauté for 2 minutes – season with a little more salt and pepper. Add the jalapenos and garlic. Continue to cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool slightly, turning the mixture into the large mixing bowl. Once cooled a bit, stir in the mayonnaise and 3/4 of the cheese. Mix well. Stir in the ¾ of the green onions. Season with salt and pepper once again if necessary. Pour the mixture into a 6 cup oven-proof oval baking dish. Spread evenly and top with the remaining cheese and green onions. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes or until bubbly (if you chill it after making it rather than putting it right into the oven, cook for approx 40 - 50 minutes)

Serve hot with tortilla chips

Side Dish Side Note.....

Meant to mention with the Spicy Beans blog - this side salad was super cheap and super tasty. I know making pasta salad from 'scratch' is a snap - but when I saw boxes of Suddenly Salad on sale for 98 cents a box, I grabbed 2 for a super-duper fast side dish to go along with the beans and salmon. But I wanted to boost it just a bit, you know? I wished I'd had feta cheese on hand as this was a new 'limited edition Greek Style' Suddenly Salad - but I didn't . Howebver, I DID have string cheese and tomatoes! So....

I sliced up two string cheese sticks and one roma tomato (and coulda put in extra sliced olvies but I hate'm) and it jazzed up the salad quite well! Makes it look a little more homemade - and taste a little richer and more flavorful. You can add whatever you like to these box mixes - good way to use up leftovers! Have fun with'em!

Spicy 'Chinese Take-Out' Green Beans

My baby's 16th birthday is coming up and she's requested her favorite dish - homemade pork fried rice. We're expecting quite a few people at her party....about 22 to 26 - so we're filling in the dinner with egg rolls and salad and, deciding we needed one more item to round out the whole meal - I went searching the internet for an 'asian-type' green bean dish. We all like beans and can take some spice so that seemed the perfect fit. I found a few different recipes, and morphed them to fit our palette. I made them Friday night to test'em out....they were so good! Two friends happened by while I was making them and one said they were the best beans he'd ever eaten! So - need a really good and spicy (not too spicy) green bean? Here you go ;-)Ingredients are simple - you probably have all of these in your kitchen already... Oyster sauce, sesame oil, green beans (blanched), soy sauce (I like low sodium), red pepper and garlic (and salt and pepper of course) - oh...and red pepper flakes too, I just forgot to put them in the pic!

In a medium skillet over medium high heat, heat the sesame oil and add the red pepper and stir in hot oil for approx 2 minutes - add garlic and stir another minute. Next, add in the blanched green beans and toss. Pour in oyster & soy sauce and season with salt and pepper and continue to toss beans to coat and heat them through - about 4 to 5 minutes.

Serve hot alongside your favorite meat or fish and other side dish :-) I promise the yum-factor on these beans is WAY high!

Spicy 'Chinese Take-Out' Green Beans

Ingredients:

1 lb green beans - blanched (add beans to boiling water - boil for 4 - 5 mins then transfer beans to ice water bath to cool and stop cooking. Remove cooled beans from ice water to colander to sit until ready to use)

1/2 T sesame oil

1/4 of a red pepper - finely diced

3 to 4 big cloves garlic - minced

2 T oyster sauce

1 T low sodium soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

teaspoon or two of red pepper flakes (opptional)

Directions:

Pour sesame oil into hot medium skillet and add red pepper, stir-frying for about 2 minutes - add garlic and cook for additional 1 minute. Add in blanched green beans and toss. Pour in oyster & soy sauce and toss well to coat beans. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add in red pepper flakes if you choose and continue to toss until beans are heated through - approx 4 to 5 minutes. Serve hot!

Road Trippin' Lytle Style - The Curtain Call

The hubs, daughter, her BFF and I went camping for Spring Break this year (as we usually do). It turned out to be a ‘farewell trip’ as we decided upon our return home that we’ll be selling our trailer which we love because the economy still sucks at our house! :-( But that’s a whole other post - which, actually, I probably won’t be posting about! ;-)

Anyhoo – We had a great time on our trip – which should’ve been to Oregon’s high desert country (read: dry and mostly warm & sunny). However, we had to change plans at the last minute because the mountain pass we would’ve had to traverse became covered in several feet of snow thanks to the biggest storm of the whole last year, just two days prior to our vacation! Grrr… So – to the beach we went. The coastal weather in Oregon, in April, is sketchy at best – but over 4 days we donned coats for only two! That was a terrific surprise :-) All in all we had a super fun time, but life isn’t perfect - and as can happen, a few hick-ups popped up to challenge us.

Although we went coatless for half of our stay, two other days (and clearly prior to our arrival), it was rainy…really rainy! Of course, the spot right outside out trailer door was a mud pit and out door mat’s size wasn’t quite sufficient to span the gloppy mass. Thank heaven for a plethora of pine cones and twigs!

Not only did this mat-extending project work like a dream – it was kind of a piece art too! I found I enjoyed seeing it every time I exited the trailer :-) Besides…I love pinecones and sticks…..oh and rocks too. ;-)

Another kink in our plan was that we had no running water in the trailer – long story short, the water pressure at the park first popped the water line to the toilet (which wasn’t a deal-breaker as we can shut off the water line to the pot and still be able to use it via cups of water in the bowl, and flushing to the holding tank). However…we found we can’t shut off the water to the shower faucet which was the next thing to blow! So – with all water shut off, we had no water save for the 5-gallon bucket now sitting in the tub for toilet usage, and for boiling so I could wash dishes. Um…..yeah….washing dishes with a pot of boiling hot water is a pain in the ass – not the mention the hands! So, we used as few dishes as possible and when it came time to cook something that normally would’ve required scrubbing a pot or pan, we either scrapped the idea or……I made disposable cookware

With a hearty flame lapping underneath, this triple layer foil ‘pan’ worked wonders! The bacon cooked to a perfect crispness and was as tasty as ever on our cheeseburgers. Scratch that….cooked on an impromptu foil pan….it was even better. And the hubs? He thought I was a marvel :-)

For us, camping means a fire gets sparked up every day by about 4 o’clock. While I don’t build or tend it, I do like to poke at it with a stick...get the end all aglow-n-such. Well, on day two a flat and clean cut of wood called to me.

So, my charcoaled poking stick became my pencil and I branded the log with the family name thus christening our fire as the official Lytle Evening Flame.

Later, as the hubs was about to once again stoke the fire, I shouted, “Wait!” I pointed to the burning wood, “Look...a heart!”

There it was in plain sight…a heart in our fire. We just stared at it for a moment, I snapped the pic and more wood was put on to keep us warm, thus pushing the heart further down into the embers. I was glad I’d taken the photo then…but even more so now. I didn’t know at that time that we were experiencing our last camping trip. That heart will forever represent the fun we always have when we take the trailer on the road for family fun. Camping is about togetherness, adventure and love. From the very first trip in our very first trailer (a pop-up. 7 years ago) when I made t-shirts emblazoned with the motto, “Road Trippin’ Lytle Style” to this latest outing that left us water-challenged, every trip has been unique and given us memories that will last a lifetime. There will be no ‘tent-camping’ trips in our future….we’ve done our time in tents…. It will be fun to take the next step and go on to other kinds of vacations. We’ve loved our trailer camping trips….but out there somewhere….new adventures await.

Light & Lovely Lemon Squares

Mmmmm....I LOVE lemon! Lemon curd and sour cream lemon pie are my favorite lemon treats. I used to make these lemon bars all the time but for some reason, they'd taken a back seat for quite a few years. So, when I had my mom out for dinner recently, I pulled out the old Betty Crocker cookbook to bring them to the forefront once again - I'm SO glad I did... Yum!

I actually meant this to be a pre-Easter post but could get my photos to upload :-( I thought the light yellow color of these mellow-tarted bars would be perfect for the pastel holiday. But better late than never! If you have a passion for lemon, give these a try - with their flaky shortbread-type crust and smooth lemon middle....you won't be sorry!

Lemon Squares

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup butter – softened
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon peel/zest
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
Powdered sugar for dusting


Directions:
Heat over to 350. Mix four, butter and powdered sugar with a pastry blender until well combined and fine. Press mixture in an ungreased 8x8 or 9x9 pan building up sides ½ inch. Bake crust 20 minutes. Meanwhile, beat granulated sugar, lemon peel/zest, lemon juice, baking powder, salt and eggs with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy – about 3 minutes. Pour over hot crust. Bake 25 – 30 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center. Cool and dust with powdered sugar. Cut into 16 squares.