The Taste of New Adventures!: Beautiful, Beautiful Food

I know I only update about once a month and that sucks. I'm sure I'd write more if I actually wanted to become a writer someday or maybe if I knew people were reading this. I only know of a few people that read this and to you all, I thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my long blogs. I think blogs are supposed to just be short and to the point but that isn't how mine are. Some people blog and all they write is a paragraph or two. I don't know what the point of that is but if it works for them, then that's awesome.

I've made a few things lately. Burgers. Tacos. A bunch of other stuff but i'll write about the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

First let me tell you about these burgers I made. I was gonna be grilling for Me, Michael, Gina and Conor. Two burgers a piece. Not just a regular old burger.

This was about a month ago and I'm trying to remember what was put in them.

I had about 2 lbs of burger meat.

fresh squeezed lime juice

fresh chopped parsley

salt

pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

and I think that's it.

I mixed it all up and made each patty about the same size. (I know from watching Rachael Ray that you don't want to mix up your burger too much or else it'll get tough.) I let them sit for about a half an hour in the fridge so that way all the flavors can sink into the meat.

I popped them on the grill over direct heat. I cooked them until they reached 160 degrees F. because we like our burgers well done. I like my burger well done and juicy. A lot of people think "Well done? You don't get any flavor that way!" or, "You want to be a chef and you like your burgers well done? What the hell?"

That's just how I like it! And you know what? They were awesome! Juicy burgers and put colby jack on some (my favorite) and muenster on some others. I also made a spicy mayo mixing

lime mayo

(Michael loves that stuff)

cayenne pepper

lime juice

and Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce (Extra Hot)

salt and pepper

I also sauteed some onions to go on top. So you have

The parsley lime burger

Muenster or Colby Jack cheese

Cooked onions

spicy mayo

and a bun.

I haven't found a better burger in town than my own burger creations. Michael agrees. There are no good burger places in Rockford. And that is the truth.

The other night, we had Mexican Night (well, sorta) at our apartment. Michael tried to make his moms mexican rice and I cooked the meat for tacos. My dad gets meat from Utah where the cows are grass fed with no hormones and they kill the cows naturally. The meat from this place tastes great and fresh and it's got beautiful marbling and color. The tenderloins are to die for! But anyways, we had two sirloin steaks left so I cut them into thin strips and cooked them on the stove in some olive oil, shallots, garlic, onions, and red wine. The meat cooked for about 40-45 min on medium and it came out full of flavor and tender too. I was worried about the meat being tender because usually you have to cook meat on the stove a little longer. But for me 40-45 min did the trick. We had tortillas with a little sour cream and the beef and onions.

SO SO GOOD!

We had a little trouble with the mexican rice. :/ It was good, but not as good as I've had before. I think it was missing flavor and we also needed chicken broth or stock. Next time, we'll have the broth and stock and it'll be much better. Still good though.

Here are a few pictures:

I think this picture is beautiful.

Oh! And let me tell you about some beer brats!

The other night me and Michael's friends Kevin and Taylor had dinner with us. It was a "B.Y.O.M" (Bring Your Own Meat) night and Taylor brought steak for herself, Kevin brought brats or italian sausage for himself, and Michael and I had Ribs. I also made garlic herb mashed potatoes for everyone. Me, Michael, and Kevin all shared our food. We had beer brats. Made with MGD beer!

Boiled the brats in the beer for about 15-20 min.

Then put them on the grill for another 10-15 and BOOM!

Those were some good ass brats!

The guys told me to poke holes in the brats so that way the beer could infuse into the meat! It really worked! They were really good and you could actually taste the beer in them. Pretty darn good.

Taylor also said I make a pretty damn good steak too.

At the end of the night, we were all full of good food and happy!