My husband is sound asleep right now, not aware of the fact that I am about to give away one of his biggest secrets.

He makes the MOST amazing hamburgers. That’s not his secret though. Everyone who has had one of his burgers comments on how good they are and usually sneak more than one off the platter.

The secret is what he puts *in* his burgers to make them so amazing. Are you ready? Pen and paper in hand?

The secret to my husbands most amazing hamburgers is…

—> Rib Rub <—

You wouldn’t think that adding a few tablespoons of rib rub to your hamburger meat before making your patties would make all that much difference, but it does. I can’t tell you how great these burgers are… you’ll have to just try them out for yourself!

Occasionally we add condiments to Nick’s burgers, but rarely. With the rib rub included in the patty, there is no additional dressing up this burger needs.

Since 4th of July is around the corner, and everyone else is telling you what you should make for your gatherings, I have to give my suggestion too. Try these burgers, with his secret ingredient! I’m certain it will make you feel all the more patriotic and all that. Enjoy!

You might also enjoy these other great burger recipes from around the web:

• The Juicy Lucy from Food For My Family
• Our Perfect Veggie Burgers from Oh She Glows
• The Best Hamburger Ever from feels Like Home
• Rice Krispies Treat Burgers from Dine & Dish

I grew up in a household where hamburgers, hotdogs and steaks were the only things that were grilled. If we went beyond that to chicken or anything else more exotic, it was a rare day.

Don’t you think the grilling revolution, where everything from salad to desserts are now grilled, has really made more of an appearance in the past 5-10 years or so? I have yet to learn how to actually grill, so now that it has come about that all these goodies can be cooked on the grill, I get to pass on the recipes to my husband and get a night off from cooking. Works for me!

And yes, I do understand that it is kind of pathetic that I haven’t learned how to grill yet. The truth is, our grill knobs melted off the very first time we used it and my husband now goes through some kind of MacGyver moves to get the grill on and it frankly, scares me. Grill shopping is on my to-do list for this summer because I totally want to learn how to grill. If you have grill recommendations, please pass them on. Preferably a grill with knobs or buttons that don’t melt off… that would be nice to have.

We recently tried Grilled Bananas and were blown away at the flavor! Topped with ice cream and some ice cream toppings, we had the best banana splits, ever. Grilled pineapple and grilled peaches are also favories of ours.

If you know how to turn your grill on, ahem, then making grilled fruit is easy as pie (which is something else I seem to be challenged at, so maybe that’s not the best terminology). Either way, try it… you’ll like it! I promise!

Recipe: Grilled Bananas (Adapted from Food Network)

• 2 bananas
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• Caramel sauce for drizzling
• Vanilla ice cream (optional)

1. Preheat your gas grill
2. Slice the bananas, in their skins, half crosswise and then lengthwise so each banana is 4 pieces
3. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and ground cinnamon.
4. Sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon mixture over the cut side of the bananas. Allow to sit 5 minutes for flavors to blend.
5. Place the bananas, cut side down, on the center of grill. Grill for 2 minutes or until grill marks appear. Using a pair of tongs, turn them over and cook for 5 more minutes, or until the skin pulls away from the bananas.
6. Remove the bananas from the grill and serve them immediately, on top of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce.

ICBINB Farmers Market Event – Food, Friends and Fun from Kristen Doyle on Vimeo.

Please excuse my videography skills, or lack thereof. I have a new found respect for those of you who are masters of the video camera and putting these things together! Still, I hope you’ll take a moment to view the short video of our day at the Overland Park Farmers Market.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to invite a few foodie friends on a shopping trip to the Overland Park Farmers market. The wonderful people at I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter gave us a total of $200, some handy shopping totes, a Flip video camera and some great ICBINB product coupons to get us started on our adventure.

Sandie from A Bloggable Life, Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore from Electrified Cooks and I met bright and early in the morning to check out what the market had to offer. I have to admit, I haven’t made it to the farmers market at all this year. We’ve had Door to Door Organics deliver us farm fresh food every other week. It wasn’t until I got to the farmers market and simply remembered how great it feels just to be there, that I realized having veggies delivered to your home is no substitute for a lovely morning at the market.

Surrounded by the freshest of berries, veggies and hand made goods, it didn’t take us long to pick out our food and head home for a day of cooking. Our challenge was to see how we can use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter paired with our market goods. It turns out, the challenge was not a challenge of all. The three ladies I chose to cook with know their stuff and we created one of the yummiest lunches I’ve had in a very long time. We enjoyed:

Grass Fed Beef Kabobs with Farm Fresh Vegetables

Sliced Grilled Vegetables with Rosemary Sheep’s Milk Cheese from Green Dirt Farm

Grilled Rosemary Potatoes with Long Green Beans

Grass Fed Beef and Fresh Veggie Stuffed Q-Balls

Black and Blueberry Crumble

Homemade Bumbleberry Jam Pop Tarts with ICBINB Crust and amazing jam from Treehouse Berry Farm

We had so much great food, but even better was the fun time the four of us had together. I can’t wait to do it again sometime soon!

One of the biggest surprises of the day, for me, was how much I ended up loving the ICBINB pie crust we used for the Homemade Bumbleberry Jam Pop Tarts. I was skeptical, I’ll be honest with you, but this pie crust was seriously one of the tastiest, flakiest, delicious pie crusts I  have ever had. I know you don’t believe me, so you’ll just have to give it a try for yourself!

Thanks for sharing in our ICBINB Farmers Market event. Remember to get out there and support your local farmers and to get some friends together and cook up something delicious. There is nothing like friends, family and good food coming together.

Combine flour, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Cut in I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!® Spread with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is size of fine crumbs. Stir in water until dough forms with wooden spoon. Knead dough just until it forms a ball with floured hands. Shape into flat 6-inch circle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Roll dough from center to edges, forming a 12-inch circle on lightly floured surface with floured rolling pin. Press into 8- or 9-inch pie plate or tart pan and crimp edges. Bake as directed in recipes.

Susan Mallery is the New York Times bestselling author of romance and women’s fiction novels. Her funny, sexy romances explore the idea that we’re all looking for family, a place to belong. Her most recent series, Fool’s Gold romances, has been a big hit with readers around the world. Read free excerpts of the first two Fool’s Gold books at www.foolsgoldca.com. Join the free Members Only area at www.susanmallery.com!

Thank you, Kristen, for having me here today at Dine and Dish! I’m both honored and a little intimidated. Not only do you post fabulous recipes, but you also take incredible pictures of your food. I haven’t mastered that art yet, but I’m working on it! (Glad to have you, Susan… you did a great job! I wanted to make sure people know about your food blog, Susan Mallery Cooks and your very active Facebook Fan page too! )

I’m a writer. I work from home, and many people assume that I have all the time in the world to cook, but the truth is, I’m as busy as many women are. Particularly when I have a book out, as I do right now. (Almost Perfect, the second book of my Fool’s Gold romances series, hit store shelves on June 29.)

Part of the gig of being a novelist is to promote my books when they’re released. I just got back from a book tour to Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. On top of this, I’m writing a book that will come out next year, plotting another 2011 release, and doing revisions on still another. And oh yes, I have a husband and a dog who demand my attention for more than just one minute a day.

Even if you’re not a writer, I’ll bet you can relate. Women today are busier than ever before. Driving kids to dance class or soccer practice, working a full-time job, volunteering for our favorite local charities, caring for our parents, supporting our friends…

Sound familiar?

It would be all too easy to fall back on prepackaged convenience foods from the grocery store. But I fight that temptation for one simple yet profound reason – prepackaged food doesn’t usually taste very good. Certainly not as good as home-cooked, made-from-scratch meals. And why waste the calories on food that isn’t delicious?

The trick is to find recipes that are quick and easy to make. These grilled mushroom quesadillas fit the bill. If your kids turn up their noses, you can skip the mushrooms on theirs.

Recipe: Grilled Mushroom Quesadillas

Ingredients:

8 oz mushrooms, cut into quarters

1 small onion, cut into thick slices

2 cloves garlic, whole

2 T. olive oil

8 oz shredded Monterrey jack cheese (or pepper jack)

8 flour tortillas

Preheat the grill on high. Toss the mushrooms, onion, and garlic in olive oil. Pour into a grill wok and place over direct heat until mushrooms are soft and have little bits of black on them. (Note: If you don’t have a grill wok, just poke holes in the bottom of a disposable aluminum pan. Make the holes about the size of a fingertip, small enough so that the vegetables don’t fall through.)

Remove the vegetables from the grill and chop finely. I like to use a Pampered Chef chopper, pictured here. Great invention.

Place one tortilla on a plate, sprinkle cheese all over it. Add a layer of the mushroom mixture and then top with more cheese and a second tortilla. Continue until you have four quesadillas, then put them all on the grill. Grill for about 2 minutes per side, until cheese is melted.

If desired, top with lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, salsa, and/or avocado. I know this is not the traditional way to eat quesadillas, but it is an easy and delicious way to get in those important servings of fresh vegetables.

Recipe: Black Bean and Corn Salad

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can of sweet corn, drained

½ cup red onion, diced

¼ cup of sweet red bell pepper, diced

½ cup fresh cilantro, minced

1 T red wine vinegar

1 T olive oil

½ t sugar

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

Put the beans through cilantro into a bowl. Mix the vinegar and remaining ingredients, then pour over the bean mixture. Allow flavors to blend for 10-15 minutes or more. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Tastes good as a side dish or poured over the quesadillas.

One of the difficult things about being a food blogger, and when I say difficult I mean that in the loosest of terms, is remembering that not all things you cook have to be new and exciting. It is okay to revisit some old favorites every now and then.

Don’t you find that to be true as you are planning your menus? You want to have something new to blog about, so you fill up your menu with recipes you haven’t tried before in order for you to have some new content for your blog. Pretty soon, some of the recipes you love that you had blogged about before are buried under the pile of new recipes and you soon forget they even existed.

This weekend, I planned my menu for this week but was stumped as to what to have on Sunday night. I sent a shout out into the wonderful world of Twitter for meal ideas when the lovely Melanie, from Southern Comfort in a Northern Life, said she was making a recipe I had on my blog years ago for Grilled Pork Chops with Garlic Lime Sauce. Intrigued, because I honestly forgot about that recipe, I went to check out my very own blog to see what she was referring to. Sure enough. I saw the recipe for Grilled Pork Chops with Garlic Sauce and instantly remembered how much we had loved it!

Take this as a gentle reminder that newer isn’t always better. Don’t ignore your archives. Sometimes, a treasure that you may have forgotten about awaits you!

Pork Chops with Garlic Lime Sauce (Originally from Epicurious.com)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
6 (1/2-inch-thick) boneless pork chops

Whisk together lime juice, garlic, red-pepper flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking well. Whisk in cilantro.

Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-high heat. Pat pork dry and season with salt and pepper. Oil grill rack, then grill pork chops, covered, turning over once, until just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes total. Serve drizzled with some vinaigrette, and with remainder on the side.

Cooks’ note: If you aren’t able to grill outdoors, chops can be cooked in a hot lightly oiled large (2-burner) ridged grill pan over moderately high heat.

Makes 4 servings.

Gourmet
July 2007

Don’t miss your chance to win an apron from The Hip Hostess! Check out the giveaway on my Peanut Butter Pancake post!

Show me a kitchen, and I’m right at home. Take me out to the grill and I freeze up without a clue as to what to do with the thing.

My husband is the “grill master” in our home. Like many homes, the grill is his domain. He can cook up a mean burger, make an awesome pork loin, and can even grill some delicious desserts. Last time I attempted to grill, the thing caught on fire and flames were shooting up into the air. Neighbors were running over because from their angle, it looked like our house was on fire. That, my friends, was a proud moment…not!

My goal this summer is to finally master the grill. I got the spark of inspiration by all the ladies tweeting about grilling during the Girls Night Out sponsored by Lawry’s. So many of you gals have taken the grill away from your husbands and YOU are the grill master extraordinaire in your family. That is impressive!

First step… learn how to turn the darn thing on. Our Brinkmann grill knobs melted off or something soon after we got it, so turning it on is a fine science only my husband seems to understand. (On a side note – I think I’m going to get him a new grill for Father’s Day… would love your suggestions.)

Grilling can mean less mess in the kitchen, lighter and healthier meals, plus the chance to enjoy the weather while manning the flame. I’m looking forward to my adventure in learning how to grill. Who, in your home, is the “Grill Master”?

Grilled Lime Shrimp (From Recipezaar)

This is such an easy recipe to put together and with a delicious end result!

22 min | 15 min prep

SERVES 4

When I met my husband many moons ago, I had quite a bit of baggage that I brought into the relationship with me. I will go into all of that another day, but I was pleasantly surprised when Nick’s family welcomed me in with open arms, not really caring at all about the baggage I had. They welcomed me without giving it a second thought. I can tell you this… they would have totally shunned the relationship if I was one thing, and that is a vegetarian! Being beef farmers, I think having a vegetarian in the family would have been a total deal breaker.

Last week I was contacted to be one of six food blog “ambassadors” for a new weekly challenge that has launched called “Beef – What’s for Dinner Wednesdays“. Each week, the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner Facebook fan page will be updated with a new recipe to make. The challenge is to make the recipe and post your results on the Facebook fan page. Each person who participates will be entered into a drawing to win one of several really cool gift baskets which include The Healthy Beef Cookbook (which I’ve been using for months now and love!), a set of Crate & Barrel Grilling Tools, Sur La Table mini steak thermometers, a reusable shopping bag and other items to help you shop for and cook healthy beef meals. These drawings are happening each week (with several winners chosen each week) so your chances of bringing one of these cool prize packages is great! Check out the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner fan page for more details!

This week’s recipe was a Cajun Beef Southwestern Salad. I made a few changes. First of all, we aren’t big fig fans around here, so I totally omitted that. Plus, I used sunflower salad nuts instead of pistachios, simply because that’s what I had on hand. Oh, and I used Romaine lettuce… again because it was what I had in the fridge. The salad had quite a kick to it and I loved it. The kiddos weren’t big fans, but I think that is because it was too zesty for them. I LOVED this dressing and can envision more salad creations to use it on!

Make sure you check out the Facebook fan page to read all the details about how you can start participating. Next week’s recipe sounds so delicious… East Meets West Burgers. Yum!

When you get a moment, head over to the other ambassador blogs as well!

• Aggie – Aggie’s Kitchen
• Amy – Dinner’s for a Year and Beyond
• Tiffany – Eat at Home
• Andy – Dinner’s On Me
• Kate – Cooking During Stolen Moments
• Heidi – Tried and True Cooking with Heidi

We had our fourth dinner club this past weekend and had such a great time. Each and every time we have dinner club makes me wish that I had the money and resources to have people over every single weekend. I absolutley am in my element when a group of friends are gathered around the dinner table enjoying each others company. I love that our every other month dinner club forces me to entertain on a regular basis because I love it!

Our theme for this month was Farm Fresh. The idea behind this theme was to encourage everyone to use the bounty of fresh ingredients that are available in our area this time of year. We enjoyed a wonderful Mozzarella and Tomato Basil Salad, Sesame Green Beans, Vidalia Onion Bake, Ted’s Special Mini Loaves, Mojo Beef Kabobs and Strawberry Shortcake. We also had two delicious kinds of Sangria, Strawberry Daiquiris and frozen Margaritas. Everything was delicious, the company was wonderful and we had a great time. If you haven’t started a dinner club yet and you love friends and food, do not wait any longer! Get one started today… you will love it!

Before I leave you with a recipe, I have to give a little shout out to Anne of Cooking with Anne. A couple of months ago I won a copy of the The Healthy Beef Cookbook and $100 gift card from her blog. The premise of the giveaway was that once I received the cookbook and gift card, I was to try a recipe out of the cookbook and blog about it.  The Healthy Beef Cookbook is put out by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and is a cookbook that anyone who loves to cook with beef needs. This cookbook is going to be a staple at our house, especially over the summer grilling season.

The first recipe we tried were the Mojo Beef Kabobs and they were fantastic. Ignore the photograph… I’m sure that the Cattlemen are probably cringing at the site of the charred edges of beef on the kabob, but my husband started brushing  the sauce on the kabobs right before he took them off the grill and the edges of them caught on fire!! The kabobs were fabulous, nonetheless, and we will be making them time and time again. Thank you Anne and the Beef Assosiation! Readers, you can plan on seeing a lot more recipes from this cookbook on Dine & Dish in the very near future.

Mojo Beef Kabobs (from The Healthy Beef Cookbook)

1. 1 pound boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick
2. 1 teaspoon coarse grind black pepper
3. 1 large lime, cut into 8 wedges
4. 1 small red onion, cut into 8 thin wedges
5. 1 container grape or cherry tomatoes (about 10 ounces)

Mojo Sauce:
1. 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2. 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3. 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano
4. 3 tablespoons olive oil
5. 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
6. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
7. 1 teaspoon minced garlic
8. 3/4 teaspoon salt

First of all, I have a new post up at the S C Johnson Right@Home website. You don’t want to miss this tasty recipe. It is an adaptation of my sister-in-laws delicious homemade enchiladas. Head over to Right@Home to check it out and while you are there get signed up for the Right@Home newsletter. Every month they send out great coupons and information via email… Lots of great things happening over at Right@Home.

Now, on to something I have been incredibly delinquent about. A few months ago, right at the start of my pregnancy, I was contacted by the folks at Amazing Taste Seasonings to see if I would be willing to try some of their seasoning packets. At that point in time it was still grilling season and I thought their seasonings would be perfect for my grillin’ lovin’ husband to give a try. Well, the packets arrived right when I was knee deep in feeling sick all the time and I didn’t get around to reviewing them.

Months have passed and we have had the chance to try their Pork seasoning, their Chili seasoning and their Fajita seasoning packet. All of these were given the thumbs up by my whole family. The Pork seasoning packet gave just enough of a smoky, grilled flavor to the pork without overpowering the taste of the meat. The Chili seasoning had just enough of a kick to make the chili interesting, but not so spicy that my kids wouldn’t eat it. My favorite, so far, has been the fajita seasoning packet. I used the seasoning with chicken, peppers and onions and my family RAVED about these fajitas. In fact, I will not be deviating from this type of seasoning any time in the near future… it is that good.

I’ll be trying out the other seasoning packets as soon as the weather gets warm enough to grill again and I’ll report back!

Amazing Taste seasonings have no MSG and are a healthful alternative to regular seasoning packets. Plus at a cost of only 99 cents a package, you can’t beat it!

You can buy Amazing Taste Seasoning packets at major stores across the United States. If you aren’t able to find them in your local store, you can shop online for their products as well.

Spending a vacation in a South Texas retirement community brings on some interesting observations from a 34 and younger point of view.

• Just because older people have bigger ears, does not mean they can hear better (keenly observed by my 4 year old).
• For older men, shorts and knee-high socks seems to be the hottest trend of the season. Black socks with white tennis shoes? Even hotter!
• Speeding through the retirement community, on a golf cart, at a careless speed of 15 miles per hour can bring people out of their homes to check out what all the raucous is about.
• It would be a rare occasion that you would find a 20 year old male with a small dog named Pudding, Fifi or Muffin. Apparently, in this retirement community, the smaller the dog and the foofier the name, the better.
• Putting little kids in front of the retirees immediately elicits ohhhh’s and ahhhh’s from their mouths and requires an immediate pat on the head to be given to the little ones. “Enjoy them while they are young… it goes by so fast”, is wistfully mentioned at some point during the conversation.
• These people are so happy. Yes, there are the old biddies who have nothing better to do than complain, but for the most part living surrounded by palm trees and not having to go to work every day seems to bring out the best in people!

We are enjoying our vacation despite hurricane Dolly interfering. We had one great day at the beach… every thing about it was perfect. The rest of our week will most likely be spent indoors and inland as the skies are dark, the wind is high, and the rain is pouring down.

In the meantime, I have a beer can chicken recipe to share with you that has absolutely nothing to do with this post. Enjoy!

Beer Can Chicken

1¾ hours | 5 min prep

SERVES 4

• 1 (4 lb) whole chicken
• 1 (16 ounce) can beer (tall boy)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons dry rub seasonings (your favorite)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil