Sunshine Award

Wow! My first blog award. This award was given to me by Lizzy from http://lizzygoesdutch.blogspot.com/ Thank you Lizzy. It made my day!
P.S> Lizzy, I love your blog and I am so glad we linked up!

Award Rules:

1. Put the logo within your post
2. Pass on to at least 12 bloggers
3. Link the nominees within your post
4. Let the nominees know they have received the award
5. Share the love and link to the person form whom you have received the award

So here is my list:
Pioneer Woman Everyone in the recipe blogging world knows Ree well. If you don't, you really should check out her blog and tasty kitchen as well.
Big City Cooking Mmmm The Taste of Chicago!
Cooking Ventures This guy is great and he posts often! Printable recipes make me envious.
Patio Daddio If you like using the grill, then this is the place for you.
My Italian Grandmother I love Italian food and can't ever pass up and Italian recipe blog.
Italian Food Forever Did I mention I love Italian food. I am Italian and so I am kind of picky about Italian recipes. These two are great!

I know it isn't 12, but these are my faves and hey, I'm picky!

Chipotle Chicken Burgers With Avocado Sauce

This chicken burger is actually a twist on a Rachael Ray Chipotle Chicken Roll. I wanted to make it into a burger and use my own avocado sauce. I love chipotle peppers and the combination of the chipotle and the avocado is amazing!

Burgers
1 Pound Ground Chicken
1 Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce
1 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 t Minced Garlic
4 Hamburger Buns
Salt and Pepper to taste

Avocado Sauce
2 Avocados peeled and pits removed
1/2 T Garlic Powder
1 15 Ounce Can Rotel
8 Ounce Sour Cream
1. Chop chipotle peppers...carefully.
2. Add cheese, peppers and garlic to the ground beef. Salt and pepper as desired.
3. Score and roll into 4 patties and fry in a skillet with 1 T olive oil. Cook about 5 minutes on both sides.
4. Place all avocado sauce ingredients into a food processor. Process until creamy. Serve over chicken burgers. Enjoy!

Sun Dried Tomato and Portabella Pockets

These sandwiches were inspired by a local restaurant here in Texas. The original sandwich has eggplant, portabella, sun dried tomato and mozzarella. I wanted to change it up a bit and add a creamier cheese with more flavor. I also wanted to have the mushrooms be the main ingredient and skipped the eggplant all together. I think they turned out great. They could also be served on smaller pitas or paninis as an appetizer.
Ingredients:
2 Large Portabella Mushrooms
3 T Olive Oil
1 t, 1/2 T Basil Divided
1 T, 5 Pieces Sun Dried Tomatoes Divided
1 Brick of Cream Cheese
4 Pita Shells

* I warm the pitas in the oven at 350 and butter the insides of each one. This step can be omitted if desired.

1. Wipe off each mushroom cap with a moist paper towel. Pull of the stem and discard.
2. Put caps into a large bowl and pour in olive oil and 1 t basil. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

3. Cook on grill over direct medium heat for 5 minutes on each side.

4. In a sauce pan over low heat, add 1 T chopped sun dried tomatoes and 1/2 T basil leaves along with one brick of cream cheese. Combine until warmed and creamy. Leave on low heat until needed. 5. Take out about 5 or so of the tomatoes and slice each in half. Cut enough for each sandwich to have 2 or 3 pieces.

6. Slice the portabella mushrooms into strips.

7. Warm Pitas in oven or toast. Once warm, fill each pita with 1/4 of cheese mixture. Evenly line the inside of each pita. Add 1/4 of the sliced mushrooms to each pita and 2-4 pieces of sun dried tomato.
Enjoy!

Cowboy Pizza

This is a great Friday meal that big and little cowboys will look forward to!

Ingredients:

1 LB Ground Beef

Refrigerated Pizza Dough

6 Pieces of Peppered Bacon

1 T Liquid Smoke

3/4 C and 1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce divided

1/2 C Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder to taste

1. Fry the bacon. I love using peppered bacon, but regular will work just fine.

2. Brown the meat, drain fat and add liquid smoke and 3/4 C bbq sauce.
**These are the brands that I use. If you have never tried Head Country BBQ sauce you MUST. I was shopping for BBQ sauce at the grocery store one day and a man handed me Head Country. He said that it didn't have a fancy label and that it didn't have fancy name, but that I would love it. Gotta love friendly Texans! He was right and I am so glad he shared this amazing sauce with me.

3. Put a lid on it and simmer until bacon and crust are ready (about 15 minutes).

4. Roll dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Put in the oven at 400 for 5-6 minutes. This will make it puff up and prevent a soggy pizza.

5. When bacon is done crumble (or cut with scissors) and mix with the meat. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

6. Spread 1/2 C of BBQ sauce on the dough(as much or as little as you like).

7. Top with meat mixture evenly.

8. Top with cheese and put into the oven at 400 until cheese is melted. About 6 additional minutes.

And serve to your hungry cowboys! My cowboy likes his with hot peppers.

Easy Taco Dip

Ever had friends stop by and you just don't have time to get to the store? This dip is an easy appetizer that everyone will love.

The best part is that you probably already have the ingredients on hand. Chips, Taco Seasoning, Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese(optional, Monterrey Jack or Cheddar work well).

I wouldn't call this a recipe, but more of a true housewives ability to think in a pinch.

Enjoy!

Avocados: How Do I know When They are Ripe?

Have you ever attempted to make something with a rock-hard avocado? Have you ever tried to make something with a mushy brown avocado? Well I have done both. Living in Texas, we eat lots and lots of avocados, so I have gotten pretty good and picking them out.

So what does a perfect avocado feel like? It feels like an orange in it's peel. It is not rock hard and it is not mushy. It has a little give to it. If you find one that seems squishy inside, I promise you it will be brown on the inside.

I was once at the grocery story squeezing avocados and a man started squeezing some too. After a few minutes he asked, "What are we feeling for?" Poor guy, he had no idea what a good avocado should feel like. So remember it should be as firm as the outside of a juicy orange.

*If you are making a dip with it, go with a squishy one if the choice is between rock-hard and squishy. Trust me! Squishy is the lesser of two evils.

Pizza Burger

These are sooooo good. I was surprised at how moist they were. I think the key here is to get them good and browned and not be afraid that they are going to be overdone. I cooked them until I could no longer see any pink on the top and bottom. Then I turned them like wheels in the pan to brown the edges.

Ingredients:

1 Pound Ground Beef

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 Package of Mini Pepperoni(optional)

1 Can sliced Black Olives(optional)

1 C, 1/4 C Divided Mozzarella Cheese Shredded

1 T Butter

1/2 t garlic salt or powder

1/4 t Red Pepper Flakes

1 T Romano Cheese

1 16 Ounce Can Pizza Sauce

4 Buns

1. Put ground beef and 1 Cup of mozzarella cheese in a large bowl.

2. Saute diced green peppers in a skillet with dry seasonings and butter, including Romano Cheese.

3. Add green pepper mixture to mixing bowl.

4. Combine by hand and make into 4 hamburger patties.

5. Start sauce in a small sauce pan. Add 1/4 C of Mozzarella Cheese.

6. Fry burgers in the same pan used to saute the green peppers. They will appear very dark on the outside and this is great! It won't taste burned, don't worry. It is very similar to frying a meatball. Cook both sides evenly until burger is done to your liking.

7. I like my buns a certain way. You could certainly serve these over buns without doing anything extra. I like to butter them and sprinkle them with garlic powder and a bit of mozzarella cheese. I pop them in the oven at 350 just until the cheese is melted.

This is what my burgers look like when they are just right. They are crispy on the outside, but moist and juicy on the inside.

Top with sauce and serve!

Optional Ideas,

You could add the pepperoni and black olive to either the sauce or the meat.