A+B=C

A = Kam mowed the lawn

B = Kam filled the pool

C = Dex had fun

This is who I found when I went out to grill my burgers.

A wet dude that is now stinky and needs a bath.

Tomorrow is Friday, 4th of July weekend is almost upon us! 

Hawaiian Burgers

So I was at the grocery store buying the pineapple, ham and havarti to make my hawaiian burgers that I have been planning for about 2 months now.  The dude at the check stand surveyed my purchase and said..."Pizza?!"  I said nooo, hawaiian burgers.  He was surprised like he had never heard of a hawaiian burger before and jealous at the same time.  He then replied "that sounds amazing."  I said it will be!  And they are!  The soy, honey and ginger make a really good burger as is, then top with a little ham and pineapple....mouth heaven!

What you'll need:
1 pound super lean ground beef or turkey
1 egg
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
deli ham slices (1-2 per burger)
pineapple slices ( I used fresh)
havarti cheese slices
lettuce
buns

In a medium bowl, combine beef, egg, bread crumbs, honey, soy sauce, ginger and garlic.  Mix together and let sit in fridge for a half hour to an hour.

Prep pineapple if using fresh.  Cut off sides, core, and slice as thin as you can.  For the buns, I had made some wheat pizza dough a while back and didn't like how it stretched for pizza.  I took one of the dough balls from the freezer, split it into 4 pieces and flattened them out to bun size.  Then I grilled them just as I would pizza crusts.  I grilled the buns first to give them time to cool.  Remove meat from fridge and form into 4 patties.

Preheat grill to medium high (if you haven't already from grilling buns) place burger patties, pineapple slices and ham slices.  The ham will grill the fastest, once its a little browed on both sides either place on upper rack of bbq or remove from grill.  Pineapple and burgers will take about 5 minutes on each side.  Just before you remove burger patties, lay ham slices on patty and then top with cheese.  Let cheese melt and top with pineapple.  Plate up!

Pineapple art.  duh.

I ate my burger with just these ingredients, nothing else.  Kam added some mustard and mayo to his bun.  You could also add lettuce and tomato.  Maybe a little bbq sauce instead of mustard or mayo would be good too.  I prefer it simple.  Enjoy!

Thai Pizza

Flavor Explosion!  POW!  Between the new and improved crust, the home made peanut sauce, that extra delicious leftover chicken satay and a little fresh mint and cilantro...this may be my new favorite pizza.  However I did fail all of you a little.  I didn't photograph the dough making process.  I just used a basic crust recipe that I dug up, it had a little honey in it.  I have been doing a fair amount of perfect pizza dough research lately, and I found out what I already knew all along.  If you want amazing pizza crust, you gotta knead the dough.  None of that 2 minute kneading stuff...a full 6-8 minutes.  I have to admit, I was being lazy before.  It makes a difference.

What you'll need:
2 leftover chicken satay tenders (or just grilled chicken)
1/2 cup peanut sauce
1 carrot sliced into thin strips
2 green onions chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
2 or 3 mint leaves broke up
1/2 red pepper slightly sautéed
1 cup sliced mozzarella
olive oil

For the curst:
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
cooking spray

Add yeast to the bottom of a large bowl.  Pour in warm water and honey and swirl to dissolve honey.  Let sit 10 minutes until really bubbly.  Add 1 cup flour and salt and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Add second cup flour and combine until dough beings to pull away from sides of the bowl.  Dust a surface with some of the remaining 1/4 cup flour.  Begin to kneed dough adding a little flour at a time until dough is just sticky but no longer clings to your hands.  Keep kneading for 6-8 minutes total.  After about 5 minutes, the dough will begin to feel more stretchy and that the flour has combined.

Wash the large bowl, and spray it with cooking spray.  Place dough into bowl cover with cling wrap and let rise in a warm spot for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size.  You could warm your oven on its lowest stetting for a few minutes, turn off and place dough in there.  Once doubled, punch the center, break in two.  You can wrap the second dough ball in cling wrap and freeze it for later.

Stretch to about 12 inches, brush one side with olive oil.  Have all ingredients for the pizza topping ready at the bbq.  Preheat the bbq to medium high.  Place dough oil side down and grill for about 5 minutes or until golden browned.  Brush top of dough with more olive oil and flip.  Quickly spread peanut sauce and toppings over crust.  Close lid and allow cheese to melt.  Keep checking for bottom of crust to brown.  If curst is done before cheese melts, turn off once side of burners if you can and move pizza away from heat.  Close lid, cheese will finish melting and crust won't burn.  Slice up and eat!

Kam brought me flowers.  Aren't they pretty =0)

If you like delicious food, then this is for you.  And who doesn't like delicious food?  Enjoy!

Dress Love

These are just plain cute.  I think this company is fairly well known, but I just came across them not too long ago.

Garnet Hill

Cute, comfy, just dressy enough....perfect.

Spring Rolls

I love it when you plan to make something that you have eaten in a restaurant 100 times and it comes out just as good, if not better.  I was really skeptical about making these.  I have actually had the wrappers for a few months now and have been putting them off.  But, they weren't that hard and they tasted amazing!  The first couple I rolled weren't perfect, but by the 3rd or 4th I got the hang of it.  The key to making them is keeping the roll damp.  As soon as that little baby beings try dry out even a little, it will split and all the fillings will be popping out.  So about 2 rolls too late, I figured this out.  Make sure you have a large section of wet paper towels that you can lay over the spring rolls as you make them.  Then as you finish one you can just lift the wet paper towel and place the prepared roll under.  If you do this, they will turn out perfect!  And don't forget the peanut sauce.

What you'll need:
1/2 pound shrimp
1 package spring roll wrappers
1 small chunk Chinese BBQ Pork sliced 1/8 inch thick
fresh mint leaves
fresh basil leavs
fresh cilantro
thin sliced carrots
thin sliced cucumber
thin sliced lettuce
1/3 package Rice noodles (cooked according to package)

Remove shells and tails from shrimp.  Bring 2 or 3 cups water to a boil in a pan, add about a teaspoon or more of salt.  Once water boils, drop in shrimp.  They will only take about 2 minutes to cook.  Once they are no longer translucent looking and that orangey color starts to show, they should be done.  Remove from pan and run cold water over them.  Set aside.  You could also just by precooked.

Get all ingredients together, you will have to work fast so you will want access to everything quick.  Read the back of the spring roll package to get an idea or what you're doing.  Basically, put some hot water into a pie plate.  Take one spring roll wrapper and dunk it in the water.  Make sure its totally submerged.  Keep gently moving it around.  In about 20 seconds it will be totally softened and playable.  Take a kitchen towel and get it wet.  Lay it in front of you.  Put the softened wrapper one the towel and spread it out.  By the time you are done laying the fillings down, the other side will be getting sticky for the rolling part.

Place a little of each of the filling into the center of the wrapper.  Put a few rice noodles down first. Use one mint leaf & one basil leaf (if smaller use 2) and a few cilantro leaves.  I used one piece of pork halved and 3 shrimp, a strip of carrot and cucumber, and a little lettuce for each.  Try to leave at least 2 inches of wrapper on each side.  Fold the ends over the filling.  You should have one long strip in front of you.  Take the side thats closest to you and fold over the filling trying to keep it snug.  Tuck it under the roll as you being to roll it over the other side of the wrapper.  Pictures will demonstrate this process.  Store the finished ones under wet paper towel.

I would recommend serving with peanut sauce.  My recipe is here.  You should be able to find the wrappers at most grocery stores.  I have seen them at some stores, but not others, so just keep your eye out in the asian sections.  Thats where you can pick up the rice noodles as well.  Those come in all different sizes.  I had fatter ones, size doesn't really matter.  If you make these, you will feel so accomplished (and satisfied)!  Enjoy!