When Mama cooks she works fast, she works off recipes in her head and makes stuff up as she goes. Getting the recipe for something delicious that you just ate that she made is kind of a challenge at best. This post is dedicated to my sister who asked Mama for the burger recipe.

Mama started with 4 onions only because they were at that point that they had to be pealed right away and used for something.

One onion is for the burgers.

1 pound of beef

 

and one pound of chicken

drop in the eggs.

 

Season with, uh, she’s moving fast here,

pepper, herb salt, garlic and onion powder.

 

toss in chopped parsley and oats.

 

Mix with clean hands. Yes, get your hands right in there it’ll be way faster than using a fork.

 

Looks something like that now, well that’s exactly what it looked like.

Add chopped onions.

 

Chop celery tops and mix with hands again.

cover and refrigerate for a while.

 

Slice some sharp cheddar.

Shape into burgers and freeze what you don’t cook.

Add a slice of cheese during last minute of cooking and what you thought couldn't get better, does!

 

Serve how you like. I like fresh tomatoes and lettuce on my cheese burgers.

 

Scrumptious! or Kwumptis as my niece said when she first repeated the word  at 1 ½.

 

Beef Chicken cheese burgers

• 1lb ground beef
• 1lb ground chicken
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup oats
• handful of chopped parsley and or basil
• handful of chopped celery tops
• season with herb salt, fresh ground pepper, onion and garlic powder to taste.
• sharp cheddar cheese.

 

Combine the ground chicken and beef, basil, parsley, celery, egg, oats, onion, and salt/pepper in a large bowl and mix.

(Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 6 hours. Or layer between waxed paper in airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month; thaw in refrigerator.)

for about 10 minutes or until no longer pink inside.

 

 

Sometimes there’s one bell pepper that just doesn’t get eaten in salads and just sorta gets forgotten, not intentionally but there it is still in the fridge.

 

 

That was the story of this pepper until I spotted the can of garbanzos in the cupboard. I’d been planning to make hummus at some point anyway and today was the day!

 

The instructions said to turn it using tongs -- not thongs.

Though Georgiana told me she actually  thought that they were called thongs for some time. She said people would have this funny look but nobody said anything!

Her husband thinks it’s hysterical and insists on continuing to call them thongs. I wasn’t aware of any of this when I came to dinner.  He said he’d get the thongs to serve the spaghetti.

  I may have forgotten a bit. I was busy looking at recipes wondering if I could make pita bread to go with the hummus. I did not actually make any pita bread but I did imagine myself making some. In the middle of such imagining I did remember to turn it a few times. Actually it was the wonderful slightly smoky red pepper aroma drifting through the house that reminded me I was roasting a pepper! I think I could roast red peppers just for air freshener, what a good smell.

When the pepper looks like it’s died an unnatural death I dropped in into a bowl and let it steam under a lid for a bit. That’s supposed to help the skin come off I guess.

 

And it certainly did.

The skin separated quite easily.

 

red pepper ready and waiting.

 

Next I went out to my backyard garbanzo tree and picked some garbanzos.

Aren’t they called chickpeas before they’re cooked?

While the garbanzos are draining I squeezed the juice of one lemon not two because I only had one lemon.

I also minced the garlic, I only used one clove, I was scared to put too much in.

 

Next I put everything in the blender, garbanzos, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and tahini

The blender was not at all thrilled about blending all of that! I had to keep pushing the stuff back onto the blades. I ended up using every bit of juice from the red pepper and persisting with the blender.

There it is just sitting there waiting to be eaten.

 

Roasted Red Pepper

Roast the pepper at 450 turning every 10 min or so. For 30 min.

Set in a bowl and cover to steam for 10 min. Then slip off skin.

 

The hummus

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 roasted red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil or fresh if you have it

Directions

1. In an electric food processor, combine garlic, garbanzo beans, tahini, and lemon juice. Process until the mixture is smooth. Add roasted peppers and basil; process until the peppers are finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer hummus to small bowl, cover and chill until you are ready to serve.

 

You know It’s zucchini time when you think twice before visiting your neighbors for fear they’ll give you more zucchini.

So, as it so happened I had some zucchini and looked for something different to make, that’s when I came across Closet cooking’s recipe for zucchini herb and feta quiche.

 

Grate the cheese.

 

And toss it into the egg you just beat and didn’t remember to take a picture of.

Mix well enough.

Press it into the pan

 

Scrape the very last out just use your hand ‘cause they’re already sticky and getting a spatula would require stopping and washing your hands just to open the drawer. Then when you’re done wash you hands and put the crust in the oven that’s probably crazy hot by now.

 

Chop green onions. Or grab some onion tops from onions that are trying to grow in the garden.

Grab anything handy from the garden, here I have mint, dill and parsley.

 

toss the zucchini in with the eggs.

 

I didn’t have a whole cup of feta so I used what I had.

 

Then add the herbs and mix.

Note: right about now would be a good time to add a little salt and pepper. I forgot completely and I must say, trying to add it to each slice when serving is just not the same.

 

Pour into crust and bake until the center isn’t runny. I think that’s what they mean when they say “set”.

 

Adapted from

Herbed Zucchini and Feta Quiche with a Brown Rice Crust from Closet Cooking
(makes 6+ servings)

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup cheddar and mozzarella  grated
1 egg
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained)
1/4 cup herbs (such as dill, mint, parsley, chopped)
2 green onions (chopped)
1 cup feta (crumbled)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix the rice, cheese and egg in a bowl.
2. Press the rice mixture into a pie plate, about 1/4 inch thick.
3. Bake in a preheated 450F oven until the edges and bottom just start turning golden brown, about 5-7 minutes.
4. Mix the eggs, milk, zucchini, dill, parsley, mint, green onions, feta, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
5. Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust.
6. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until golden brown and set in the center, about 30-35 minutes.

 

 

Somewhere in the garden there is parsley, lots of parsley.

It’s just a matter of finding it. Nope, that’s basil.

Well once you find the parsley we can make parsley potatoes.

Wash it first, there always seems to be a little dirt on it.

Mince up the garlic too.

Cube potatoes.

Then put potatoes in with water, olive oil, parsley and garlic.

Boil until tender.

 

season with salt and pepper and serve immediately

 

Potatoes with parsley

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 cups cubed red potatoes

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring mixture to a boil Cover and reduce heat to medium-low; cook 20 min or until potatoes are tender when stabbed with a fork. serve immediately.