Oven Hot Dogs

We had these for dinner last night, and they were SO GOOD I could not wait to post the recipe. I only kind of found it through Pinterest.com. Something I had pinned took me to foodgawker.com and that's where I discovered this. Let me tell you, foodgawker.com is a pretty cool website too. I could spend hours and hours looking at pictures of tasty food. It actually makes me sad when I think about how many amazing recipes there are out there that I'll never try. Sigh.

Anyway. Even though I know how awful hot dogs are, I can't stop eating them. I know they're full of nastiness, but it's one of the few foods that I don't care what the ingredients are. Okay, it may actually be the only one. I went through a long phase when I was younger of not eating hot dogs. Then I had a grilled one at a barbecue at one point in college I think it was, and I was reeled back in. Why are hot dogs even more awesome when cooked on a grill? I don't know. When I saw this recipe I thought it looked super tasty and definitely worth a try. She has great step by step pictures on the original blog post, too.

Oven Hot Dogs
Source: In The Wabe blog via foodgawker.com

8 hot dogs
8 hot dog buns
1 can of chili
1/2 an onion, diced
cheddar cheese
mayonnaise
mustard
sweet relish

Line inside of hot dog buns with mayonnaise and sweet relish. Evenly add mustard. Fill with hot dogs and squish into a 13×9″ baking pan.

Top hot dogs with chili, cheese, and diced onion. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Carefully remove from the pan with a spatula.

*****

There were some mixed reactions when my family saw what was for dinner. Boy #1 had soccer practice last night, and the husband is the coach, so they weren't home while I was getting dinner together. The husband was ecstatic when he saw these. Boy #1 was less than enthused to say the least. He said he wasn't going to eat dinner. I told him then he could go to bed. What can I say, sometimes I'm mean mommy like that. He decided he'd just eat the hot dog. When he was done with the hot dog I said he at least needed to try the bread. Wouldn't you know he ended up loving it and eating every bite. Darn kids. So this ended up being an overwhelming hit at our house and definitely something I will be making again. Oh, and since we count calories in our house, in case anyone is curious these worked out to just be 321 each--using whole wheat hot dog buns, turkey hot dogs, turkey chili, and reduced fat cheese. I thought that was a pretty good calorie count for something as decadent as chili dogs!

Now, you'll have to excuse me as I go eat one of the leftover dogs for lunch...

Niman Ranch Burgers

Apparently I'm on some sort of Barefoot Contessa kick lately. My dinner plan for last night failed (more on that in my next post!!), so I quickly had to come up with something new to make at 5:30. I had made hamburger buns to use with my original dinner plan, so I figured I'd just go with some kind of burger. I remembered that my friend Jen B. had made these burgers and raved about them, so I pulled out my Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook to see if I had everything on hand for them. I did! Well, mostly but I'll get to that in a minute.

Niman Ranch Burgers

1-2 pounds ground Niman Ranch beef OR other beef (80 percent lean and 20 percent fat)
1 tablespoon good Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus extra for brushing the grill
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 sandwich-size English muffins, halved OR toasted hamburger buns of your choice
Good mayonnaise, for topping
Caramelized Onions, recipe follows

Directions:
Build a charcoal fire or heat a gas grill.

Place the ground beef in a large bowl and add the mustard, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix gently with a fork to combine, taking care not to compress the ingredients. Shape the meat into 6 (3 1/2-inch) patties of equal size and thickness.

When the grill is medium-hot, brush the grill grate with oil to keep the burgers from sticking. Place the burgers on the grill and cook for 4 minutes. Using a big spatula, turn the burgers and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until medium-rare or more, or cook longer if you prefer hamburgers more well done.

Meanwhile, break apart the English muffins and toast the 6 halves cut side down on the grill. Spread each half with mayonnaise and top with a burger and then with a heaping tablespoon of caramelized onions. Serve hot.

Caramelized Onions

2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds yellow onions, peeled and sliced in half-rounds
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large shallow pot, add the onions and thyme, and toss with the oil. Place the lid on top and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes to sweat the onions. Remove the lid and continue to cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 to 30 minutes, until the onions are caramelized and golden brown. If the onions are cooking too fast, lower the heat. Add the vinegar, salt, and pepper and cook for 2 more minutes, scraping the brown bits from the pan. Season to taste (they should be very highly seasoned).

*****

I had to make a few slight changes. Like, I don't keep Niman Ranch beef on hand. I wish I could...it sounds fantastic! But, at $7/pound it's kind of out of my price range for ground beef. And I don't know where to get it here in Phoenix. I didn't have English muffins, but that was fine because I had made whole wheat hamburger buns with the intention of using them. Sadly I didn't have enough time for the onions to really caramelize, but they were almost there.

The husband had one burger as written in the recipe and one with ketchup, onions, and American cheese. He said the one with cheese was his favorite, but I think if I were to have cheese on it, I'd want something like Swiss or Monterey Jack, but I really liked them as they were--mayo and the onions. These were a really tasty, flavorful, easy burger to throw together! We will be having these again.

Portobello Burgers with Aioli

I never got around to posting yesterday because we had a crazy busy day. In the morning was my Bible study group, then we met my friend Gina for lunch at Z Tejas. I heart Z Tejas. I used to frequent their happy hour quite often because they make a darn good margarita and just a couple will knock you on your butt. I like a lot of bang for my buck when it comes to happy hour. Or liked I guess, since I really have no idea when the last time was I went to a happy hour. Anyway, I had the smoked chicken chile relleno. I'd never had it before and was feeling slightly adventurous. Per the menu on their website, it's a "Grilled poblano pepper stuffed with chicken, pecans, apricots, raisins, a blend of spices and Jack cheese, served over a green chile and picante cream sauce with green chile rice and black beans." Lordy mama, was it ever tasty. I ate every last bite and only left a couple black beans--and the stem of the pepper--on my plate. Yum. I've never been disappointed with anything there.

Anyway, we got home from lunch and I quickly fed the baby because my mom was coming over to watch the kids so I could try and get the boy in a preschool and then go grocery shopping. The boy didn't win the lottery for the preschool, so after I got home I spent the rest of the afternoon looking up preschools to check out for him. There are a few that look good, so I'm hoping I end up liking one of them. I was way too caught up in preschool searching to stop and post my recipe for last night, so I'm doing it this morning.

Truth be told, I was more disappointed that the grocery store I went to only had one pacakge of portobello mushrooms than I was that the boy didn't get in to the preschool. My two grocery choices are Fry's and Safeway, and I like Safeway so much better, but I went to Fry's because they had portobellos on sale--and then didn't even have enough! Grrrr. I made due, though, and bought a package of the baby portobello caps to make up the difference. It worked out okay. This is another recipe from RecipeZaar.com.

Portabella Burgers With Aioli
Recipe #19147
By: Kim Weimer

4 medium portabella mushrooms
1 cup gouda cheese, shredded
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves
4 hamburger buns (We prefer whole wheat)

Aioli:
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dill weed

First make the aioli sauce. Just add all the Aioli ingredients and whisk together. Chill for approximately 20 minutes.

Lightly clean the Portobello mushrooms and remove the stems. Mix the Olive oil and Garlic and brush all over Mushrooms. Broil Mushrooms for 3-5 minutes with rib side down. Turn over and top with cheese. Broil an additional 3 minutes. Place on Hamburger bun and top with aioli or anything you would prefer.

*****

I used my grill pan instead of broiling them, and I used slices of provolone instead of gouda. I still had some of the whole wheat buns I had made leftover, so we had our sandwiches on those. They were super yummy!! The aioli was really tasty and a nice complement to the mushrooms. I love having portobello burgers because they're so easy to put together, and the mushrooms just have so much flavor. Yum!

For side dishes I made butternut squash fries (I'm posting that recipe after this one) and some roasted asparagus. It was quite a vegetarian feast. For the asparagus I just lay it out on a cookie sheet, pour some olive oil over the spears, sprinkle with salt, and throw in the oven. Easy and so tasty.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

So, my friend Jen B. recently made her own hamburger buns and raved about them. I figured they were worth trying since 1) she loved them so much, 2) it's nearly impossible to find hamburger buns in the store that don't have high fructose corn syrup and a bunch of other junk in them, and 3) I had all the ingredients on hand for them. She found the recipe on RecipeZaar.com, which is my new favorite recipe website.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
(Recipe #318534 by Sharon123)
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup corn oil or canola oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup cooked oatmeal
1/4 cup flax seed, ground
1/2 cup honey
6 cups whole wheat flour (you can replace 2 of the cups with white flour if you like)
2 tablespoons active dry yeast

In a large mixing bowl place all ingredients except flour and yeast.
Mix, adding 4 cups whole wheat flour(or 2 cups white flour, 2 cups whole wheat, if desired)and 2 tbls. yeast.

Whip with a wooden spoon 5 minutes. Slowly, add the rest of the flour. Turn out on a floured board and knead till smooth.

Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place dough in it. Put in a warm place to rise, covered with a towel, about 1 hour.

When the dough has doubled in size, divide into 12 pieces. Roll into smooth balls. Flatten with the palm of your hand and place on a baking sheet.

Let rise till doubled, about 45 minutes to an hour. Bake at 350*F. 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved.

****

Wow, were these good. I don't think I'll ever buy hamburger buns again. Okay, that's not true because if we ever had a BBQ I wouldn't want to go to the trouble of it, and the husband a lot of times takes a Boca burger in his lunch, so I'd have to make these pretty often to accomodate that. But, when we need hamburger buns for dinner, I'll definitely make these. Even the dough looked good--so grainy (good grainy) and hearty. The husband said the buns were the best part of dinner. I think we only used three, so I'm excited to still have nine left in the freezer.