Couples Night - Staci Morgan, Marlee Magee

Gourmet Burgers and Fries

For the record, we used elk meat on the night of the dinner….I also cheated on the cheese sauce and used Velveeta!

Tex-Mex bacon cheese burgers

Ingredients

• 12 slices good-quality smoky bacon, 4 slices finely chopped and 8 left whole
• 1 1/4 pounds 80% lean ground beef
• 3-4 tablespoons onion, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
• 2 tablespoons pureed chipotle in adobo sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (14 ounces), well drained
• 4 soft burger rolls, split
• Crisp yellow corn chips
• Toppings: Chopped onion, tomatoes, cilantro and pickled jalapeño

Preparation

Arrange the eight whole bacon slices on a broiler pan and bake at 375°F until crisp, 10-12 minutes.

Meanwhile, pre-heat a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Combine the beef, chopped bacon, grated onion, garlic, chipotle puree and Worcestershire sauce; season with salt and pepper. Form into four patties (thinner at the center); drizzle with oil. Grill the burgers for 5 minutes on each side for medium doneness.

Make the queso sauce: In a medium size saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour for 1 minute, then whisk in the milk. Stir in the cheese to melt. Stir in the tomatoes.

Place the burgers on the bun bottoms and top with the queso sauce, criss-crossed bacon strips, corn chips, remaining toppings and bun tops. Serve with extra sauce on the side.

Fry Sauces

 Root Beer BBQ Sauce:

Combine a 12-ounce can of root beer, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup each lemon juice and orange juice, 2 tablespoons each barbecue sauce, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon molasses and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger in a saucepan. Simmer until thick, stirring, 45 minutes

Chili Sauce:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

We ended up using a different avocado sauce at the dinner, but this is a really yummy one too…

Avocado-Chile Spread:

 Puree 1 avocado, 1/2 cup sour cream or crema, 1/4 cup canned chopped green chiles, the juice of 1 lime and 1/2 clove garlic until smooth. Season with salt.

Marlee & Michelle Thurber's Couples Night

Cajun Night

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

Ingredients

• 20 whole Fresh Jalapenos, 2-3 Inches In Size
• 2 cubes Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 pound Thin(regular) Bacon, Sliced Into Thirds

Preparation Instructions

If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep… Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT). Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/3 slice). Secure by sticking toothpick through the middle.

Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.

Serve immediately, or they’re also great at room temperature.

You’ll love these so much, you’re gonna come out of your skin. Or something like that.

Shrimp Boil

Shrimp Boil Shopping list:

serves 10-12

2 Zatarain’s Crab “n” Shrimp Boil in Bags (I found these at Smiths and Walmart in the spice section, also in Smith's specialty section by the mustard)

1/2 bottle Zatarain’s Crab “n” Shrimp Boil oil (I just barely found this at Walmart! I didn't have it for dinner group.)

1 Cup salt

3-4 large onions (peeled and quartered)

2 lemons cut in half

6-10 whole ears of corn cut in half or 12-24 frozen small corn n the cob

3 lbs Kielbasa cut into 2 inch pieces

3 pounds large raw shrimp in shells (about 25 per lb)

2 whole bulbs garlic, unpeeled with top sliced o

18-24 small red potatoes

Freezer paper

Squeezable butter, spicy mustard and cocktail sauce

2 baguettes sliced into 1 inch slices

1 34 quart turkey fryer with strainer basket that goes almost to the top of the pot

Instructions:

Bring water to a boil in a covered pot with large strainer basket (-ll pot 2/3 full)

Add garlic, Zatarain’s spice bags, Zatarain’s oil and salt - boil for 15 minutes

Add potatoes - boil for 7 - 8 minutes

Add corn - boil for 5 minutes (if corn is frozen you may need to turn up heat to get the water boiling again)

Add kielbasa - boil 8 minutes

Squeeze lemons into pot and then throw them in along with the onions - boil 3 - 4 minutes

Add Shrimp - boil for about 5 minutes or just until shrimp turns pink --don’t over cook.

If you don’t want to eat right away, turn o heat, pour a bag of ice into pot and let sit 15 minutes,

drain and pour onto table.

OR

Turn o heat lift basket out of pot, allow to drain and then immediately pour onto your table covered

with freezer paper (shiny side up).

Sprinkle sliced baguette down the table. Serve with squeezable butter, mustard and cocktail sauce--

squeezed directly on the table. Encourage guests to squeeze cloves of garlic onto corn and potatoes.

Backyard Baby Back Ribs

2 full racks/slabs (about 4 1/2 pounds) baby back pork ribs

Kosher salt

6 TBSP Rub Number Nine, recipe follows

1/2 cup orange juice (not fresh squeezed)

1/2 cup margarita mix

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup ketchup

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp espresso powder or instant coffee powder

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Place each rib rack on a sheet of extra-wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil. (The foil should be 4 inches longer than the ribs on either end.) Season racks liberally with kosher salt and sprinkle each rack with 3 tablespoons of the rub. Turn the ribs, meat side down, and tightly seal each foil pouch. Place on a half sheet pan and refrigerate overnight. The next day, heat the oven to 250 degrees F. Combine the orange juice and margarita mix in a liquid measuring cup. Open 1 end of each pouch and evenly divide the liquid between the 2 pouches. Reseal the pouches and place the sheet pan in the oven for 2 hours. Remove the ribs from the oven, carefully open 1 end of each pouch and pour the braising liquid into a heatproof measuring cup. Reseal the pouches and place them and the measuring cup of liquid into the refrigerator for up to 8 hours. The fat in the braising liquid will have solidified on the top and can be removed at this time. Transfer the liquid to a small saucepanand add the honey, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, espresso powder and cayenne pepper. Whisk to combine. Set over medium high heat and reduce to a glaze, approximately 10 minutes. Set a gas grill to medium-high and allow to heat for 10 minutes. Cut each slab in half and place them on the grill, flesh side down, close the lid and decrease the heat to medium. Leave alone for 3 minutes. Flipand cook for another 3 minutes. Flip and cook for 3 minutes on each side 1 more time or until each rib has a nice char. Remove the ribs from the grill to a cutting board. and cut into 2 rib portions, using kitchen shears. Add the ribs and half the glaze to a large serving bowl and toss to thoroughly coat. Serve the remaining glaze on the side.

Rub Number Nine:

1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar

3/4 cup chili powder

1/4 cup garlic powder

2 TBSP ground thyme

1 TBSP cayenne pepper

1 TBSP allspice

Place all of the ingredients in an airtight container and shake to combine. Store for up to 3 months.

Mint Ice Cream Sandwiches

I just used a box mix of brownies (ghiradelli is my favorite) baked with foil underneath, so it is easy to get out of the pan. THe secret is to freeze the brownie first. Then take both sheets of brownie, fill with store bought mint ice-cream and wrap in plastic wrap, then foil. Cut into squares before serving.

Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 recipe chocolate cookies, just until the cookies cool (below)

Nutella

1/2 gallon ice cream (I used Dreyers dark chocolate silk 1/2 cal)

toasted hazelnuts, chopped (1 cup)

spread half of the cookies with Nutella. freeze until hard, approx. 15 minutes. meanwhile, let ice cream soften just a little. remove cookies from freezer. scoop 1 reg. scoop of ice cream onto each hazelnut spread cookie and top with other half of cookies. freeze for another 15 min. then remove and roll sides into the nuts. freeze until ready to use.

Chocolate Cookies

2 1/2 cups (15 ounces) milk chocolate chips

4 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter*

3 TBSP confectioners' sugar

Use the peanut butter filling between your favorite chocolate chip or sugar cookies.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium, microwavable bowl, melt together 2 cups chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons butter on medium power until almost melted, about 1 1/2 minutes; stir just until smooth.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Using an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla at high speed until thickened and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in the melted chocolate at medium speed; whisk in the flour mixture. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Refrigerate the dough until firm enough to scoop, but still soft, 10 to 15 minutes.

Onto each prepared pan, drop 12 rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart. Bake, switching and rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cookies appear bubbly and still soft, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely. In a medium bowl, beat together the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the peanut butter. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; beat until fluffy. On the flat side of each of 8 cookies, spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the peanut butter mixture; sandwich with the remaining cookies.

* Can omit the peanut butter if desired.

* Do not make cookies into the peanut butter sandwiches if using for the ice cream sandwich recipe.

Couples Night - Amy McReynolds and Marlee Magee

Breakfast

Eggs Benedict

Layer a toasted English muffin, warm Canadian bacon, either scrambled or poached eggs, then top with Hollandaise Sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce:

3 egg yolks

¼ tsp Dijon

¼ tsp salt

1 Tbsp Lemon juice

Dash of cayenne pepper

Dash of paprika

Blend all ingredients for about 5 seconds in a blender

Melt ½ C. butter in a glass measuring cup in the microwave (watch that it melts all the way but doesn’t explode). Turn blender on high and slowly pour in the butter (just a very small and steady stream). The butter still needs to be very hot when you add it so as to slightly cook the egg. Serve immediately. To keep it warm you can place the container of Hollandaise in a pot with hot water in it. Unfortunately Hollandaise sauce cannot be saved and reheated, it separates.

Homemade Carmel Syrup

1 C Buttermilk

2 Cubes Butter

2 Cups Sugar

1 tsp. Soda

2 Tbsp. Karo Syrup

Boil this for 5 min stirring occasionally. This will expand so use a very large soup or stock pot.

Then add-

2 tsp vanilla

I keep this in a jar in the fridge. It hardens, but you just pop it in the microwave for a minute or two (stir in between if needed).

Wheat Waffles

Just use the directions on the Bisquick box, but only do 1C. of Bisquick (instead of 2 as called for) and use about 3/4 C. ground wheat to replace the other C. of Bisquick. It’ll make your waffles healthier and make your Bisquick go further!