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Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger

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Fire up the barbecue and get grilling our Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger for dinner tonight!

Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger
Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger

This month we are joining several other bloggers across North America creating mouthwatering, juicy burgers for what’s become known as Burger Month.

Every day in May there are new burgers being created, posted and showcased on the Girl Carnivore (Burger Month) website offering several epic burger reveals and recipes to keep you grilling all summer long.

Even better is the awesome burger grill giveaway hosted by Kita at GirlCarnivore!

Simply scroll down to learn more.

Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger
Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger

A Burger United

Canadian’s love their beef and their local craft beer so we’ve taken Alberta Beef, mixed in some stout from a local brewery, stirred in a little Canadian mustard and formed our burger patties.

The buns are lightly grilled and slathered with a mixture of mustard and mayonnaise. Toppings include Canadian back bacon, fresh tomatoes and living lettuce from local suppliers, pickles, American pepper jack cheese from Cabot Creamery and a Grillfackelin bacon skewer because bacon!

This burger is essentially a labour of love combining both Canadian and American ingredients, hence a burger united.

Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger
Canadian Back Bacon and Grillfackelin bacon skewers

Whether you are preparing burgers to grill for dinner, a group barbecue or to take camping, these burgers come together quickly.

In our kitchen we tested both an ale (local craft beer) and a stout (local craft beer) to flavour the burgers finding both beers added a slightly different kick. We recommend you sample both beers and choose the beer taste you like best.

Looking for something to serve with your burger, check out our suggestions below.

Burger Sides

What kind of sides do you enjoy with your burger? Our sides are delicious served along side any burger, or on their own.

Greek Pasta Salad
Grain Salad with Edamame
Watermelon, Blueberry, Mint & Feta Salad
Baked Beans

Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger
Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger featuring Cabot Cheese

When we test recipes in our kitchen we learn as we go. Here are a few tips to help build your burger.

Pro Tips

  • Be sure you pick a beer with some flavour but not a hoppy beer.
  • For juicy burgers choose ground beef that is 70 or 80 percent lean and 20 – 30 percent fat.
  • Put a little sizzle (pan saute) on your Canadian Back Bacon slices for added flavour.
  • Burger done-ness is entirely a personal preference so cook it the way you want to eat it. If you like them rare, cook them rare. If you like them well done, then that’s how you cook. We have allowed for our burgers to be more on the done side as that is how we like them.
  • Always season your burgers well and on both sides with salt and pepper just before cooking.
  • Do not over-mix or work your burger mixture. Less mixing is more.
  • Buns matter. We have used both challuh buns and regular white buns in this recipe and the regular white buns were the preferred choice.
  • If you can not find Cabot cheese use Havarti Pepper Jack cheese.

Canadian Rocky Mountain Burger

Now that you have your sides ready to go and all your burger ingredients prepped, let’s make some burgers!

The Ultimate Burger Month Giveaway

Along with all the creative burger recipes you are going to get this month, we are giving away this incredible prize pack! Be sure to enter the contest below for your chance to win.

A huge thanks to the #BurgerMonth sponsors for the Ultimate Burger Grilling Giveaway: Cabot Cheese, Char-Griller Grills, Crow Canyon Home, Porter Road, Melissas Produce, Red Duck, Spiceology, &  Western BBQ.

All opinions, views and recipe development are my own. Unless otherwise stated this contest is open to residents residing in the United States.

 

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Moroccan Steak with Couscous

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Couscous, a North African dish of small steamed balls of semolina is considered to be a pasta. It’s also a grain my mom introduced to me back in the 90’s and one we eat as a side dish regularly. We grew up taught to always have a carb on our plate with our meal. This was either pasta, rice or potatoes. But is it really necessary? Not really, as long as you are eating enough of each food group throughout the day.

Moroccan Beef on Couscous

For dinners I love to cook a protein and have a great side, salad or grain to go with it. We always put fresh veggies of some sort of the table for the kids to munch on before and during our meals ensuring they get lots of veggies in them.

If the thought of meat on the couscous doesn’t appeal to you, try a couscous salad on the side. The first one I ever had was made by my mom and full of artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and more. We made a yogurt drizzle using a little Greek Yogurt mixed with a splash of water, juice of one lemon and a pinch of salt.

 

Beef Stew with Bacon

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Beef Stew with Bacon
Beef Stew with Bacon

A long time ago my mom used to cook the shit out of pork and beef roasts. Truth be known I was in a recent session with Vikram Vij and he also advised his mom would cook the shit out of things to, so I blame him for my potty mouth. The only way I could choke down her roasts was to smother them in HP Sauce – more truths. This continued mistreatment of roasts while I was a child led me to have trust relationships with roast beef. I do enjoy beef, like I really really enjoy steak, satay, stir-fry. We also enjoy roasts on a regular basis as a family, however I still am not a huge fan of roast beef. But I will eat it.

Beef Stew with Bacon
Beef Stew with Bacon

This leads us to stew, another cut I have a strange relationship with. Possibly for the same reasons – it was made regularly and slightly over cooked. My family enjoys stew so it’s made flavourful and moist in this house. Mostly.

Beef Stew with Bacon
Beef Stew with Bacon

In my quest to love stew, I added some sauteed mushrooms, chopped chives and broken chunks of double cream brie. And a few hot pepper flakes. Go big or go home right? Guess what? I LOVED it! We get a flavour punch from adding leftover frozen beef broth from our last Teriyaki Beef Fondue. What you’ve never had a beef broth fondue? You really should. Regular beef broth is also dandy in a handy. Finally some leftover parsnips resembling potatoes went into the stew and nobody was the wiser (winning).

Beef Stew with Bacon
Beef Stew with Bacon

I finished the stew with a few sprinkles of hot pepper flakes cause I like the heat!

Smokey BBQ Beef on a Bun

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BBQ Beef on a Bun makes you think summer doesn’t it?! It really does for us as we serve up this recipe every summer and get the whole neighborhood smelling our smoked, grilled beef.

This is another one of those recipes I’ve been making for over 20 years and never documented. It’s like your mom or grandma makes something and it’s so ingrained in their brain, they make it without even thinking about it. I’ve got so many of those recipes ingrained in my brain, it’s terrifying.

It was 2003 and I started a new job with a company in the South of Calgary. This rather large company would throw an employee and friends Stampede Barbecue every July. I was in charge of organizing this shindig and ensuring there was enough food and beverages to go around for hundreds of people. The company had a commercial BBQ and every year they barbecued these beef roasts after marinating them all night. I watched, I learned, I oversaw the cooking and this is where my inspiration to make my own beef on a bun came from.

Beef Roast on the BBQ
Beef Roast on the BBQ

This roast serves quite a crowd. We recently had our end of Summer BBQ with 33 adults and kids. We cooked up extra hot dogs for the kids and even after several of the men went back for thirds, but we still ended up with close to half of our roast leftover. Which was great for leftover dishes in the days to follow.

If you have less to feed, buy a smaller roast. And plan for some delicious leftover dishes. We we had beef on a bun twice throughout the week, Beef Pot Pie, beef quesadillas and Beef Soup before I was done with the beef and tossed the rest in the freezer until next time.

You need to prepare this bad boy the day before to let it marinate giving you added flavour. Buy the extra large ziplock bags – the ones for your kids sports stuff and make sure you have wood chips and a smoker, or extra heavy duty tin foil. Watch it become a family favourite.

 

Beef ready for the bun
Beef ready for the bun

 

 

Beef & Mushroom Spring Rolls

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One of my favourite things to eat (of many) is well spring rolls. The kids and I enjoy making the fresh salad type rolls but my secret love is for fried spring rolls. Sometimes I visit a local Vietnamese restaurant during lunch and pick up an order of spring rolls all to myself. And eat them in the truck lol. It’s that mom time alone where I don’t have to share with anyone. Even in the truck. I’ll take it.

I’ve made them before, but it’s been awhile. My son has recently started liking them as much as I do, so when we order Vietnamese food we end up fighting over the spring rolls. Note above alone time.

Mushroom-Beef-SR-v1

With a blend and extend challenge upon us thanks to Mushrooms Canada, I’ve been trying to think outside of the box to create a blended appetizer. Spring Rolls came to mind and the flavourings I use in the Thai Salad with Jalapeno & Mint I make. I took inspiration from this recipe and went for it. My son loved them so much he must have eaten four within minutes.

Beef, Mushrooms & Veggies ready for rolling
Beef, Mushrooms & Veggies ready for rolling

Made from ground beef and minced mushrooms, plus a few veggies for good measure, these spring rolls contain minced mushrooms and ground beef. This is how you add another serving of vegetables to the plate.

Here’s the method.

Mushroom-Beef-rolling
2 tablespoons of filling on the wrapper

 

Mushroom-Beef-blend
Little envelope ready for some egg wash

 

 

Grilled Beef Satay

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Beef Satay is the perfect, light summer meal. Use your favourite marinade or try this one the next time you make these. They literally melt in your mouth. Make sure you cut your beef thin and let it marinade for at least an hour or more depending the cut of beef you use.

If you are using a cheaper cut of steak like I did (inside round), ensure you have acid in your marinade to tenderize the steak and let marinate for longer than an hour if you can. With this meal I par-boiled some baby potatoes, let them cool, skewered them and added olive oil, salt and pepper. A few minutes on the grill finished them off.

This is an easy and tasty meal to get your Summer Grilling on!

Grilled Beef Satay
Grilled Beef Satay

 

Baked Ziti

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My mom started buying me cookbooks in the late 80’s, so I blame her for my obsession. I have to blame someone right? It was around the same time she started entering her recipes, my recipes and any family member who was willing to give up a recipe into our local town cookbooks. I’ve got two of these small town family cookbooks with a handful of my recipes in them. Seems so ironic to me with where I ended up in life, as a food blogger and writer with a full time passion for food. Destiny perhaps or, someone knew before I did where my path would go.

Baked Ziti
Baked Ziti

My cookbook obsession runs deep. For years I’ve had cooking magazine subscriptions. In fact I’ve only within the past two years cancelled a few of them because I’m running out of room. I’ve also been lucky enough to receive many cookbooks as gifts from media events, and I take them out from the library from time to time. In fact I’m even thinking about joining a 12 month Instagram Monthly Cookbook Club this month because I love cookbooks so much. It could be worse I think.

Guy On Fire
Guy On Fire

A recent trip to the library with the kids to pick up some books and I ended up coming home with Guy Fieri’s “Guy on Fire Cookbook”. I refrained from bringing home a huge pile, as I have in the past (new goals right) and only brought home one cookbook. See cookbooks inspire me, and I certainly do enjoy this book by Guy.

After choosing no less than 20 recipes to try I had to narrow it down to one. So I choose pasta. My family loved this recipe. Guy uses olive oil, I used canola oil. I also used less red hot pepper flakes and it was still a bit spicy for one of the minions, but it was oh so delicious. And that fresh rosemary on top – a show stopper.

In this cookbook Guy shares 130 recipes for adventures in the outdoors. I noted several of the BBQ’d meat recipes required brining the night before so you will have to allow yourself the time to do this. After pouring through it several times, I can tell you it’s fun and has several recipes I would like to try. I love that he’s dedicated it to his dad and father-in-law. Lucky “guy”.

 

Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce

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Inspired by BC Blueberries, a bottle of bourbon I was recently given, a bottle of Guy Fieri Bourbon/Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce, and a Crosby Molasses contest, I decided to try and create a Blueberry BBQ Sauce. With molasses. I’ve never made a BBQ sauce with molasses before but I know it’s been done. The bourbon was honestly an afterthought but it works. In fact I have received 4 thumbs up from the in-laws on this BBQ Sauce. Yahoo!

If you don’t like bourbon, leave the bourbon out. The first night we had it we slathered it on a pork tenderloin. Next we mixed it into turkey burgers (with blueberries) and used it as a sauce for the top.

 

Blueberry BBQ Sauce
Blueberry BBQ Sauce

 

 

Badlands Pickle Burger

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Like it or not, Fall is around the corner. It’s the perfect time for pickling or canning extra vegetables from the garden. In fact I am wanting to make another batch of these tasty Quick Pickle Cucumbers since there are so many of the smaller cucumbers in the stores and markets. Everyone in our family loves these little bites.

Our Bakers Burger Blast Burger Recipes have been far and few between this year. I’ve created a couple of burgers but haven’t tested them to the point of perfection (in my books). When I came up with this burger recipe I tried a few different kinds of cheese, with the sausage, without the sausage until eventually these flavours really worked well together. Biggest challenge was trying NOT to eat all the pickles before the burgers were done!!

Here in Alberta we have what’s known as the “Wild West” Badlands. They are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been eroded by wind and water leaving behind beautiful statues and scenery. We love to visit the Badlands and this is how the name came to be.

The perfect burger for the pickle lover!

 

Thai Beef in Toast Cups with Mango Salsa

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In my daily activities I come across many contests and challenges out there for food bloggers. What you learn along the way is you have to be picky and choosy with what you take on as recipe testing, buying ingredients, making notes, testing again until you get it right, photographing and the like all takes a tremendous amount of time. Which is why I admittedly do not enter as many as I used to. Although I still love a challenge which is where this Thai Beef in Toast Cups with Mango Salsa recipe comes in.

Weeks ago I caught wind of a contest featuring ground beef and mushrooms encouraging us Food Bloggers to Blend & Extend these two special ingredients to show you can get more vegetables (in this case mushrooms) into your meals without the family knowing. We are fortunate in that our kids love almost all vegetables fresh with mushrooms being one of them. My daughter actually eats them whole and peels them like a banana (there’s one in every crowd)!

Thai Beef in Toast Cups with Mango Salsa
Thai Beef in Toast Cups with Mango Salsa

When I started recipe testing for this challenge I made three separate beef and mushroom dishes over the course of a couple of days. Each recipe had it’s own unique flavour profile and was inspired by recipes I already make. The caveat, they needed to be bite size.

To each recipe I added just over a cup of minced fresh white button mushrooms. I was pleasantly surprised you couldn’t even tell there were mushrooms mixed in with the beef. The kids, not any wiser, enjoyed each recipe for different reasons. As such new recipes have been born and at least one will be entered into the contest.

 

Thai Beef in Toast Cups with Mango Salsa
Thai Beef in Toast Cups with Mango Salsa

 

The inspiration for this recipe comes from two I currently make which are both very popular on the blog. Cesar Salad in Toast Cups and a Pork Thai Salad with Jalapeno & Mint. I took the flavour profile from the Pork Thai Salad and infused it into the beef, mixing in mushrooms, and topping it with a delicious mango salsa. I make varieties of the Salad Toast Cups so using the toast cup itself as the vessel to hold the beef and mushroom mixture worked perfectly. I knew I wanted to top it with something fresh so a minced mango salsa was prepared to top the beef. The flavour combination worked well. Out of six taste testers (young and old) I’d say only 1 gave it a thumbs down.

Here is how I made Thai Beef in Toast Cups with Mango Salsa.

 

Whiskey Marinated Flank Steak

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My man loves his whiskey. But only once in a while. Our liquor cabinet holds quite a few bottles of liquor that rarely gets touched. Especially those little ones. You know how sometimes you buy a bottle of something and it has a little mini me bottle attached, well there are several mini me bottles in the cabinet that are taking up space. So I used one.

And it came down like this….I picked up not one, but two mini bottles of whiskey and set to make a marinade. One I used in the marinade and the other (a Spiced Whiskey Vanilla to be exact) I consumed over ice because it sounded amazing. And it was.

A few more things went into the Ziplock bag followed by the flank steak. We marinated this bad boy for a couple hours and then grilled it up to perfection (rare and tender). The outcome was simple but flavourful. Here’s how I did it.

 

 

Cheese Stuffed Burger

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Who doesn’t love a stuffed burger? This simple Cheese Stuffed Burger is a great way to change up burger night with the family. Or friends.

Tried making a version of a stuffed burger last year, following a luscious and tasty outing to Naina’s Kitchen here in Calgary. My burger was nothing to write home about about but Naina’s stuffed burger was the talk of the town. So much so they won the first ever YYC Burger Week, 2013.

The great thing about making a stuffed burger is, well, you can stuff it with anything. A little sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, pesto, any kind of cheese, sundried tomato and olive tapenade, almost anything goes!

As YYC Burger Week 2014 is fast approaching I was bound and determined to make a stuffed burger, again. This time it worked and it worked well. Don’t you find that happens sometimes. You make a recipe and it’s OK. Make it again another time and it just bedazzles.

In this family of four my girl doesn’t like hot dogs or burgers. I know it’s a sin. But she does like quinoa salad and tabbouleh salad so that’s a fair trade in my books. When I was growing up I was forced to eat the food I didn’t like. Tragic. Fortunately it didn’t affect my love for all kinds of food. Now grown up with kids of my own, we don’t follow those same ridiculous rules I grew up with. But we do make amendments. Our kids are required to try one bite of food at each meal, and this night was no different. So she did. And she liked the burger, or so she said. But still wouldn’t eat it. Fair enough, here’s your bowl of tabbouleh salad kid, save some for me.

We had a day or two last week where the weather was decent enough to fire up the grill and slap on some meat. So we called it Burger Night. Or the return of the Bakers Burger Blast. So many burgers, so little time. These burgers tasted so good I think we will be having them again this weekend. Although the weather forecast is dreadfully cold (-39 with the wind chill), and as such, all grilling will happen indoors, on our grill pan.

Boom Shaka Laka…here’s how you make your very own delicious stuffed burger.

 

Ginger Beef Burger

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We are definitely not fair weather BBQ people. How can you be living in Canada where winter comes 6 months a year! Hubs and I both grew up in small Northern Canadian Towns, and as such you learn early that most winter weather is acceptable to BBQ, unless it’s blizzarding and/or below -10. At this point it becomes challenging to manage the heat as the BBQ starts to get grumpy.

The night I created these burgers we were drinking a ginger beer. I decided to pour some into the burger mixture along with some fresh ginger. I tossed a few other things in from the fridge and a ginger burger was born. We devoured these burgers that evening and to quickly to document or photograph.

Enter round two of ginger beef burger. Started with the same base by adding ginger beer and fresh ginger to the burger, but went a different route and tossed in a few other items I had sitting around. The flavour was even better. I’m sure if I aimed for a round three the burger would be outstanding, but I’m going to stop here because it was pretty darn good and sometimes you just need to quit while you are ahead.

Because I am having a love affair with caramelized onions, I had to top my burger with a slice of cheese, little mayo, some lettuce, my Caramelized Onion with Ginger mixture and some Quick Pickle Cucumbers. I found keeping the condiments simple, allows the subtle flavour of the burger to shine.

And yes in case you are wondering the bun in my burger photo is upside down. Why be ordinary? I wanted to shake it up a bit and help stop the burger from sliding. Don’t laugh, it worked!

 

Moroccan Beef Noodle Skillet

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Consider this a healthy alternative to Hamburger Helper. It’s easy to make and so much better for you then the stuff you get in a box with an ingredients list full of words you don’t understand. Give this a try and you will be hooked on how easy it is to make. Also a great recipe for those activity evenings that have us rushing out the door, or pair it with a beer and you have a quick hearty meal for one. I made this the other day for lunch for the munchkins and they gobbled it up.

I’m doing lots of experimenting this week with my new spice from The Missing Ingredient, a Vancouver based company who offers a monthly food subscription service. I love the box of goodies they’ve bestowed upon me this month. I talk more about them in my last post Ras el hanout Roasted Cauliflower with Chick Peas.

There are a variety of ways to serve this dish. You can stuff a potato, toss into a pita with some veggies, put in a soft or hard shell taco with your favourite fixins, put it in a wrap with cheese, hollow out a small bun and dollop some into it sloppy joe style, or mix it with your favourite noodles or rice. When I made it I cooked up some shell noodles, saved a cup of the pasta water and mixed the pasta with the burger. I added in about half a cup of the cooking water to marry it all together.

Important to remember you can make this dish with any spice. Albeit a packet of taco, fajita or burrito seasoning, chili powder or  really any spice blend you have tucked away in your cabinet. You could also substitute ground lamb, pork, chicken or turkey…even ground round (veggie cuisine). So many options can make this a new dish every week!

This dinner in a hurry is ready in less than 30 minutes.

 

Taco Salad Bowls

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You won’t believe how simple these taco bowls are to make! Might take you a couple times but rest assured you got this!

A custard cup is all you need to shape the flour tortilla wrap. That, a little time in the oven, a little extra taco seasoning (homemade or store bought) and some cooking spray gives you the perfect vessel to hold your taco salad. Whatever taco seasoning is left over, seal in a ziplock or jar with a lid and save for next time.

These bowls can be used for any kind of salad. Being that they are fairly thin I wouldn’t recommend a warm chili or stew as they would collapse from the moisture. You can also make them in advance, store them in ziplock bags and take them camping.

taco-salad-bowls

Have fun with your tacos! Especially when meals are rushed. We’ve make several recipes with tacos including tacos in a bag, tacos wraps, salads, taco nachos, taco pasta and taco pizzas with more experimenting yet to be done! The kids also love making mini taco salads in scoops!

If you love tacos as much as we do, it’s time to channel your inner taco ninja!

 

taco-salad-01

 

 

The Blue Cheese, Pear and Dark Ale Caramelized Onion Burger

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I was recently at a private event here in Calgary for Jelly Modern Doughnuts. It was an interactive evening where we got to decorate doughnuts and as an ice breaker we were asked to create a new doughnut. Sounds easy enough right? Well then we were told to go around and ask other attendees what their doughnut creation was and give them a sticker if you loved their idea. The most stickers won. Sadly my doughnut idea didn’t win but the combination remains a tried and true favourite in many variations; blue cheese, pear, toasted walnuts on top with a honey drizzle. This is what lead to the inspiration for our new burger, The Blue Cheese, Pear and Dark Ale Caramelized Onion Burger. For the sauce I grabbed some chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, mixed it with mayo, and we ended up with a delicious Chipotle Mayo to accompany the burger.

Not every one in my family loves burgers but that doesn’t stop us from trying new creations regularly. This version, surprisingly, was loved by the entire family.

Burgers are also a great meal to have when you are camping. We mix up a batch of fresh burgers in advance, freeze them individually in burger containers/set given to us by friends and transfer them to the trailer freezer when it’s time to go. It’s the perfect camping meal. You make/take as many as your family will eat and won’t have any leftovers. Everyone loves a good burger while sitting around the campfire.

And here is the next addition to our Triple B (Bakers Burger Blast).

 

 

 

Beef Noodle Soup

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Kids activity nights require quick meals.  I had some leftover roast beef (sliced thin) from a recent roast dinner and had been wanting to do a Vietnamese Beef style Pho (or my rendition of it) for awhile.   Of course I decided to make the soup on an activity night and did not have the time or ingredients to make it the way a Pho should be made.  So I went with what I had and came up with this delicious tasting Beef Noodle Soup.

You can use any leftover roast (cut thin), or steak.  The vermicelli noodles can be the rice kind or regular pasta version.  Precooked noodles makes it easy to assemble this dish quickly.   Play around with seasonings if you wish until you find a flavour combination you like.  A squeeze of lime and some bean sprouts would have been equally delicious to add before serving.

 

 

 

 

Alberta Burger

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3 out of 4 of us really enjoy a good burger and I am proud my kids are not uber fussy about all the things we put in the burgers. They save the fussiness for the burger preparation “ketchup, cheese and some mayo please” is all they like on their burgers although they boy is becoming more experimental in his lettuce adventures.  Baby steps.

This burger is flavoured with spices of the Middle East and served up in a pita allowing everyone to choose their toppings. We served it with a minted yogurt sauce that my little girl mixed up (and liked!).

In considering what to name this burger I decided to firstly pay homage to my birth Province and place where my babies were born. Secondly celebrate the diversity in cultures that makes Alberta such an incredible place to live.  It’s not just plain beef & buffalo here anymore!

As always if you are on the Wild Rose D-Tox you can not have the yogurt sauce or pita. Use a lettuce leaf instead and add some fresh salsa.

You could easily substitute ground pork or lamb in this recipe. Yummy goodness all wrapped up in a pita.

 

Double Bacon Burger

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When you hear double bacon burger, what comes to mind?! Double patties, double the bacon? For me it’s usually double the bacon. That’s exactly what we did with this burger. We’ve doubled the bacon by adding cooked bacon on the burger and mincing some bacon while still raw and adding it to the burger before forming.

Don’t fret. We’ve been doing this for over 10 years and never once gotten sick or has the burger/bacon been under cooked. The key is either to grind the bacon or mince it very small. By doing this it melts right into the raw burger adding extra flavour keeping it juicy. Now having said that if you like your burger still mooing, you may not want to try or slightly fry your bacon a little first before adding to the raw meat.

I topped my burger with a little mayonnaise – sometimes flavoured, spinach/arugula mix, slow cooked & caramelized onions, crisped bacon and Gouda or Manchego cheese.

double-bacon-burger-v3

 

 

 

 

Slow Cooker Beef & Barley Stew

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One thing we love to do as a family is fondue. Husband used to fondue as a kid, I was introduced to fondue in the 90’s, and currently own at least 4 or 5 fondue pots. A fondue variety is so much fun, especially when it includes broth, cheese and chocolate all in one night. When we beef broth fondue we add flavour enhancers like ginger and garlic to the broth plus we’ve usually marinated the beef and add those marinating juices as well. As the broth cooks down it intensifies the flavour.

Beef Stew is a comfort food we can’t get enough of. If you do not have leftover fondue broth, beef broth is just as delicious, and you can easily toss some additional garlic, and ginger into the pot as it cooks away.

 

Slow Cooker Beef Chili

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I make a couple different versions of chili. When I was single my favourites were Veggie Chili, and a Four Bean Chili. Enter the meat eater I married, and this is now one of our family favourites since it is slow cooked all day in the crockpot allowing the flavours to marry creating the most delicious tasting beef chili. We also make a mean chicken chili.

In this recipe I only add 2 tbsp of chili powder..any more makes it quite spicy, and I want the kids to eat it! Hubs likes to add more chili powder to his bowl after the fact to give it more heat. While I don’t quite understand this method since the spice would be a little raw for my liking, I don’t question bizarre behavior ha ha!

There are many ways we like to enjoy eating our chili keeping it fun for the kids: in a bread bowl, on nachos with melted cheese, in scoops (taco chips), chili dogs, chili on mac & cheese, chili on a pizza (yes it’s good), chili fries, like a sloppy joe on a bun, with corn muffins or better yet Chili Cheese Corn Muffins, in lasagna, and even on perogies. Don’t be afraid to experiment since a little chili goes a long way!

 

Grilled Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

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Steak has always been one of my favourite things. My dad would grill it up on occasion, but it would always be the same cut of steak and have to much of the same barbecue sauce added every time. This my friends is what food memories are all about – ahhh the good ole days!

These days I do steak a variety of ways. This Grilled Steak with Chimichurri Sauce is simple, yet the sauce packs a punch of flavour. Today I am using a top sirloin steak to go with my chimichurri. Mix together a few spices, some garlic and olive oil. Rub onto the steak and let sit for awhile. Mix up your chimichurri, grill your steak to your liking and Bob’s your uncle.

Chimichurri sauce originates from Argentina & South America and is a green sauce used to accompany any grilled meat or veg. I’ve had green, red and even a white chimichurri and it’s such a delicious flavour boost. Try adding some to roasted potatoes – super yum right?

As a side to the steak we grilled up some mushrooms and asparagus and filled half our plate with veggies.

 

 

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce
Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

 

 

Taco & Pepper Pita Pizza

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Third times a charm?  Good thing I’ve had 5 workouts in 4 days to make myself feel better about these pizza experiments.  This will be the last pizza submission for this week as I am getting pizza’d out.  However having said that I have at least 4 more ideas spinning through my head for pizzas based on leftovers.

Leftover taco meat can be used many ways.  On a pizza for a quick lunch or supper is a quick meal for a busy family.  I love hot peppers and used pickled jalapeno’s in this recipe.  I also used regular peppers (orange, yellow & green) both sliced and diced.

Options are endless.  What I enjoy on a taco or taco salad is what I put on this pizza.  I did not use exact quantities below as some people may prefer more of a topping, others less.  You decide.

 

Beef Carbonnade, Crockpot

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Spring has definitely sprung and today would have been a great night to BBQ. However I had some stew meat to use up so I decided to pull out the good old reliable slow cooker perhaps one last time until the Fall and make a nice hearty beer infused Beef Carbonnade, Crockpot.  It’s a Belgian dish and I choose this time to use a dark beer or more specifically Rickards Dark (an English style porter) because I had it on hand.

I initially found the flavour quite strong so I added in some beef broth to help mellow it a bit.  And take the edge off it did….however the flavour of the dark ale was still present (and yummy by all accounts).  We served it with a cheesy mashed potato.