Pecan Turkey Salad Sandwiches

Oh, the joys of Thanksgiving dinner.  You spend 8 hours in the kitchen cooking and devour it all in 15 minutes.  One perk?  Leftovers.  Now, I'm not talking reheated turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  That's nice one more time, but I love all the options to do with leftover turkey.  I found this gem of a recipe and loved it.  I made it one afternoon and asked my husband if he wanted some.  He kind of snarled and agreed.  He took one bite and asked, "Man... what did you put in here?!  This hits the spot!"  It was really good.  I'm sad that I'm almost out of turkey.  This would be miraculous on a criossant, but alas, I just had regular bread. 

Pecan Turkey Salad Sandwiches

source: adapted from "Cashew Turkey Salad Sandwiches" from tasteofhome.com

1 1/2 c cubed turkey breast

1/4 c thinly sliced celery

2 T craisins (the original called for chopped dried apricots)

2 T pecans (the original called for chopped cashews)

1 green onion, chopped

1/4 plus 2 T mayonnaise

1/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

lettuce

bread, toasted

Combine all ingredients except the lettuce and bread in a bowl.  Stir to combine.

Lightly toast the bread, put on a piece of lettuce, and top with the turkey salad and another piece of toasted bread.

If you're allergic to nuts, my heart breaks for you.  There is something about the crunchy addition of the pecans. 

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. 

Banzai Burger

My family and I have been trying not to eat out. It saves us a ton of money, and the food at home is pretty tasty. I used to love to go to Red Robin for their Banzai burger. If you've never been there, it's a hamburger with Teriyaki sauce, pineapple, cheddar, and lettuce. It makes me salivate just thinking of it. Since our days of spending 9.00 on a hamburger are over, we re-created it. I didn't use a recipe from anywhere. I just kinda winged it. It really hit the spot with me. It wasn't as salty as theirs. I loved it. Banzai Burger
1/4 lb hamburger
1/4 inch thick slice of cheddar
1 ring pineapple
teriyaki glaze
Lettuce
Mayonnaise

My husband made a 1/4 lb hamburger seasoned with freshly ground pepper and seasoned salt. When it was almost done, I put a 1/4 inch thick piece of cheddar cheese on top. He covered it with a lid so the cheese would melt. I got my bun ready by putting a little bit of mayonnaise on it. I put the hamburger patty on top. When you get the teriyaki sauce, make sure you get the glaze. It's thicker. You don't want the really watery Teriyaki sauce. Slather some teriyaki sauce on top of the hamburger. Add the pineapple ring. Slather a little more sauce. Top with lettuce. That's all folks! It is so easy and it tastes just like Red Robin at a fraction of the price.

Two Meat and Three Cheese Stromboli

This was one of the recipes that inspired my friends to ask me to send them weekly recipes. They all made it for their husbands. One of the husbands said, "That is one of the best meals you have ever made." Another husband said, "where did you get this recipe?!" She replied, "From my on-call cook!" That's right! :) This recipe is so versatile. You can do pepperoni, olives, and mozzarella. You can do ham and swiss. You can do turkey and provolone. One of the girls even tried Candadian bacon and pineapple! They are basically pizza toppings all wrapped up in dough, so you can do whatever you like on your pizza.
Three Meat and Two Cheese Stromboli:
originally from Taste of Home, but I've made it so much, I tweak it to my own liking.

1 loaf Rhodes dough- thawed
2 T dijon mustard
1/2 c salami
1/2 c pepperoni
4 slices Havarti cheese
1 c mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle. I think mine turned out to be about 15x10. Spread the dijon mustard over the dough, leaving one inch around the edges. Lay the slices of cheese down the center.
Place the pepperoni and salami into a food processor. Pulse it a few times.
You will end up with this. I guess technically you don't have to chop it up. You can leave it as is and layer it that way if you'd like.
Sprinkle the meat mixture onto the dough- leaving 1-2 inches from the edge. Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese.
Roll it up like you would roll up for cinnamon rolls.
Whisk the egg and brush it on the roll.
Put three slits in the top. Don't get all crazy and stab the poor dough. You just want 1/4 inch slits in the top for decorative purposes. If you're feeling sentimental, you can even use a knife to write "I love you" or something all sappy like that on the bread. It would be a cute surprise for any family member. Bake it for 25-30 minutes.
Take it out and slice it.
This is great alongside soup or salad. Get creative with the fillings. You can even have your kids help sprinkle the filling in or roll it up. I know my little girl loves to help with stuff like that. Now, if "make Stromboli" is on your bucket list, you can now cross that off the list. :)

Meatball Subs

I can't even count the number of times I have had a meatball sub from a sandwich shop. I love them. There's something about the juicy meatballs, the marinara sauce, the melted cheese, and the toasty buns. The best thing about these sandwiches is that they can be made from home for next to nothing. This is one of those meals that the family just goes nuts for. They can be made even quicker by using bottled marinara sauce and frozen meatballs; However, I have taken a pact with the anti-bottled sauce society that I will make my own from here on out. Here's a picture and the recipe:
Meatball Sub Sandwiches:
adapted from Taste of Home Celebrations

meatballs:
2 eggs
1/4 c milk
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T dried parsley
3/4 t basil
3/4 t oregano
1/8 t pepper
1 lb ground beef
1 c crushed crackers (I used Ritz)

Sauce:
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 t oregano
1 t basil
1 t parsley
1/2 t salt

6 submarine sandwich rolls
sliced provolone
mozzarella
Parmesan cheese
sliced red onions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the meatball ingredients and mix until well combined.

Shape into balls and put on a greased cookie sheet. Put in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
While the meatballs are baking, combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Stir to combine and simmer until the meatballs are ready.

While that is simmering, prepare the bread. I like to cut the rolls as shown below and scoop out some of the bread so you make a bread boat type of thing.

Take the meatballs out of the oven. They will be nice and brown. Add them to the sauce.

Turn off the oven and preheat the broiler. Put the sliced provolone at the bottom of each roll and put under the broiler until the cheese is melted. Watch it closely! It will burn quickly. Take out the rolls and plop some meatballs into your cheesy, bready boat.

Top with mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and red onion, if using.

Put back under the broiler until the cheese is melted. It won't take too long, so keep your eye on it!

Put the top of the bread boat back on and serve. I had to include the picture below because my 4 year old daughter took it. She got a hold of my camera, pointed it at the sandwich and said, "I have got to take a picture of this tasty sandwich so you can put it on your blog." Cute.

Here's a cross section of the sandwich. I actually added more sauce to it after the picture was taken, and that was really good.
Take that, Subway!

Tri-tip Sandwiches with homemade BBQ sauce

I loved grilled food. I think it is one of my favorite things to eat. There is something about the flavor that comes about when food is cooked on the grill. I bought a 5 pound tri-tip roast for less than 9.00. This is such an underrated cut of meat, but I would like to take a moment and personally thank cows for the delicious cut of meat known as tri-tip (for its triangular shape). Keep workin' it, Cows! I need and love your beef. :)

Now to the recipe- I got the rub recipe and the sauce recipe from Stephen Raichlen's book "BBQ USA." That should be underlined, but when I hit control U, something crazy pops up.

Tri-tip:
1 2-5 lb tri-tip
3 T seasoned salt
2 t paprika
2 t oregano
1 t fresh ground pepper

Place the seasonings in a small bowl and mix. Your fingers work the best for this, but you can just use a spoon. Pour the rub onto all sides of the meat. Let it cure in the fridge for at least 4 hours and up to three days. I did it for 8 hours, and it was divine.

While it is curing in the fridge, get the grill ready. Husbands are best at this. We did it over charcoal and we used mesquite wood chips. Our roast was about 5 pounds, and we cooked it for 20 minute per side. (That would be about 4 minutes per pound per side. That's a lot of pers.) So, if you had a 2 pound roast, you would cook it for 8 minutes per side. It came out perfectly for us. It was medium. Let it sit for about 10 minutes before carving.

We used our meat slicer and thinly cut the meat against the grain. Some people kind of chuckled when I told them I got a meat slicer for Christmas, but that thing sliced that meat to perfection. My husband said that this recipe made Lucille's look like McDonald's. I'm telling you... The flavor, and the thin cuts were amazing.

I toasted some hamburger buns, piled on the meat, slathered it with BBQ sauce (recipe below), and savored every bite. It was ridiculous! There was enough to feed 8 adults. That comes to 1.00 per person. Nice!

I served this with homemade macaroni and cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, and cornbread muffins.

BBQ sauce:
1 1/2 c ketchup
3 T white vinegar
2 T yellow mustard
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T lemon juice
1/2 onion, minced
1/2 c brown sugar
1 T chili powder
1/2 t garlic salt
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t ginger
1/4 t cayenne pepper

Add all ingredients and simmer over medium heat until thick. if it is too thick for your liking, add a little bit of water until it reaches your desired consistency.

If you are buying bottled BBQ sauce, this is so much better! There is no high fructose corn syrup. If you look at the ingredients for store-bought BBQ sauce, nearly every one of them has corn syrup as the first ingredient. There is more of that than tomato-based ingredients. That is just wrong. I think homemade BBQ sauce is a million times better, and its easy to throw together while the meat is cooking on the grill.

Step out of your comfort and convenience zone and put some effort into making the homemade sauce.

I'm salivating just thinking about this dinner. It was so delicious. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.