BBQ Bacon hamburgers with Blue Cheese Spread

Red Robin is dead to me.  After making this hamburger, they've got nothing.  This was such an amazing hamburger.  If you have a brother, I'm sure you can relate to explosions. Gasoline.  Firecrackers.  G.I. Joes.  Most likely- a mixture of all three.  Well, this hamburger had the explosion of flavor unlike any explosion my oldest brother could have mustered up: BBQ sauce, bacon, blue cheese spread, and French Fried onions.  Gadzooks!  My husband took one bite and fell into a food coma.  He stared off into space and drooled for a good three minutes before snapping back into reality.  He wasn't the only one in awe though.  My mom and brother also thought that this was an amazing hamburger.  In fact, after I had only made one per person, they fired up the grill after polishing off the first and cooked, assembled, and ate -no devoured- a second one.  The original recipe used this secret formula as sliders, but I did full-on fourth pound burgers.  I loved it.  These would be fantastic to take as an appetizer for a football party or any other party for that matter.  Unless you go to nothing but little kid parties like me- I don't think these would fly with toddlers. 

 BBQ Bacon Hamburgers with Blue Cheese Spread
source: ourbestbites.com (my heroes!)

Burgers:
1 1/2 lb ground beef
2 T  BBQ sauce (I used Cattleman's Kansas City BBQ sauce- the best bottled sauce I've found)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Hamburger buns or slider buns
more BBQ sauce
lettuce
cooked bacon
French Fried Onions

Blue Cheese Spread:
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
1 T red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c crumbled blue cheese

Combine all the ingredients for the blue cheese spread and mix well.  Store in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the hamburgers.

Combine the ground beef, 2 T of the BBQ sauce, salt, and pepper.  Assemble the patties into the desired size.  If you use 1 1/2 lb ground beef, that will make 6 1/4 lb. patties.  That's right- I'm a mathematical genius. Grill over medium-high heat for about five minutes per side.  After you flip it, brush it with some of the BBQ sauce.  Cook the hamburgers to your desired doneness.  Remove them and prepare to assemble the happiness that is these hamburgers.

I toasted my buns because I like toasty buns. * woot woo *

Spread some of the blue cheese spread on the bottom of the buns.

Top with a piece of lettuce.  I call iceberg "jackpot lettuce" because once my dad was on the prowl for some lettuce.  He searched the front fridge and struck out.  He went into the back fridge, opened it, opened a drawer, and you could hear a faint "jackpot."  He came out with a head of iceberg lettuce.  Ha!  Jackpot lettuce it is!

 Top with some cooked bacon.

 Plop a patty on there.

 Put a tad bit of BBQ sauce on the patty and top that with the French Fried Onions.  Don't forget to make sure the camera is focused before taking a picture.  Sheesh.

 Spread more blue cheese stuff on the top bun.  Enjoy the glory!  I'm telling you- It's a gourmet burger!  It tastes so amazing. 

I served this with my favorite homemade french fries.  As a side note, the last time I made these fries, I tossed them in sea salt and cajun seasoning when they came out of the fryer the second time.  Good golly, they were good.  My husband said that he liked them better than "Five Guys Burgers and Fries" Cajun fries.  aaaah!  Let a heavenly ray of light beam down upon those fries.  They were amazing.  In fact, I'm pretty sure they got translated because there's no way I could have eaten all of those myself within a few minutes.  Now, they're up in heaven chillin' with Moses. 

Cashew Sweet and Sour Chicken

Honestly, I don't where they time has gone for the past two weeks.  I have meant to blog some recipes, but then I get wrapped into some silly TV show or just go to sleep.  I work from home on a computer, and some days, I was working straight from 7:30-4:00 with few breaks in between.  I think the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is stare at a computer screen for another second.  Nonetheless, here I am with another tasty recipe. 

I'm not going to lie.  I was skeptical when I saw thi recipe because the sauce had a little ketchup in it.  I love ketchup on hamburgers and hot dogs, but usually, when ketchup ends up in a sauce, something goes terribly wrong.  This recipe, however, is an exception!  I thought it was fantastic.  It would have been even better with the cashews, but me, being the genius I am, forgot to add them at the last minute.  Either way, I was impressed!  I served it with fried rice and cream cheese rangoons (see the chinese label), and it was just as good as a chinese restaurant without the sick stomach afterward.

Cashew Sweet and Sour Chicken

source: Our Best Bites website

2 T corn starch

1 T apple juice

1 lb. chicken, thinly sliced (Slice it thinly while it is partially frozen to get nice, thin slices)

1/3 c water

1/4 c sugar

1/4 c cider vinegar

3 T soy sauce

3 T ketchup

1 T oil

1/3 c chopped cashews

1/4 c green onions

1 t dry ginger

2 t garlic, minced

6-8 oz snow peas, edges trimmed off

1 8 oz can pineapple chunks

Combine 1 T cornstarch, apple juice, and chicken.  Toss well.  Set aside.



 Combine 1 T cornstarch, water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup.  Set aside.

 Keep all the other ingredients on hand and ready to go for when the chicken is done cooking.

Heat 1-2 T oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the green onions, garlic, and ginger.  Stir-fry for one minute. 

 Add the snow peas and pineapple.  Stir-fry for another 3 minutes. 

 Whisk the sauce to blend it and pour it into the pan.  Bring it to a boil.   Cook for one minute, stirring frequently.  Stir in the cashews and serve over hot rice. 

 Garnish with more green onions and cashews, if you'd like. 

This is a really fast and delicious meal!  I'll be adding it to my small reportoire of Chinese food to make again and again.