the review: burgers, salads, and cake - oh my!

Ok, so we didn’t eat honey-ginger chicken with lime last night. Nor did we eat shrimp and grits on Sunday. Is this a recipe review blog or what? Maybe not. Maybe it will be again, but for now, let’s call it like it is. I am in perpetual catch-up mode. It could be that I’m also in mid-life crisis mode. My youngest children want to trade in our disguised mini-van (a.k.a. Acadia) for a convertible beetle. I’m actually considering it. Why not? Like I said, possible mid-life crisis. More on this later, I’m sure.

So let’s just plan on fewer posts per week at least until we get back to school, which should be right around the corner despite the fact that it feels like it may never happen. Is that ok with everyone? Good. I feel better.

What have we been eating? Well, let’s start with the amazing burgers that we made last Friday. We’ve been making these sausage burgers with grilled peppers for quite some time now and they are always delicious. I make them with a mix of ground meat and ground pork rather than strictly ground pork. This time I used about 2/3 ground meat to 1/3 ground pork, which was fine. While these do take a little extra effort to make, it is worth it in the end, especially if you are craving the kind of excellent gourmet burger that you can only get in a city. Try these and thank me later.

On Saturday night, we did some back to school shopping (two kids down, four to go) so I can’t even tell you what we ate. Sunday night was another story. My husband made a salmon dish with some sort of corn something that he refused to let me take a picture of because it looked so gross. It did taste good, although he said he would have altered the recipe entirely. I’d love to tell you where that came from but have no idea. I did make a pasta that was outstanding and did not go AT ALL with Rob’s fish. I’ll make that pasta again so that I can share it here. I also made a cake. Multiple people asked about the occasion. Since when do we need to have an occasion for cake? I’m happy to make up an occasion if required. How about I’m trying to make every last dessert on my pin board? 

Anyway, the cake was browned butter with chocolate cinnamon frosting. Yum. I had a few fails along the way. Like I didn’t use parchment on the bottom of my pans and I may have over baked the layers but overall, this cake was delicious.

On a roll, now, I made two salads and a few other tasties for the symphony on Monday night. You must try both of these salads. The first salad – chickpea, barley, and feta salad with toasted spice vinaigrette – was nutty and full and delicious. I used farro instead of barley (couldn’t find barley), and made the salad in advance after reading several reviews that the salad was better the next day. I agree that this was true. This salad was better the next day after letting the flavors meld. The kids were not huge fans of this salad, but all of the adults loved it.

The second salad we were scheduled to have on Thursday night, but I just couldn’t wait. Rigatoni with kale pesto was also delicious. I am sorry that I don't have a photo of this. I had planned to take one of the leftovers, but there were none. Do yourself a favor here and make sure to give this a good shake of salt and pepper. Also, I have no earthly idea why this calls for 1 ½ pounds of kale. I weighed my kale just to check and had only ¾ of a pound. I thought about halving the recipe but decided that there was enough kale for the whole batch. Plenty, in fact. I can’t see how 1 ½ pounds of kale would have fit in any blender I’ve ever seen. And P.S.? This is much easier to do in your food processor. Unless you have a fancy blender, then by all means, go for it.

Until next time, when we catch up with Théa in the kitchen. And hey. Thanks for your patience with me.