Recipe for Burgers with Mozzarella and Spinach-Arugula Pesto

Burgers with Mozzarella and Spinach-Arugula Pesto and Homemade Buns

The weather was beautiful here today. It finally feels like spring with 80 degree weather and the ability to wear shorts without freezing. The smell of BBQ has been all over my neighborhood as well. I absolutely love the smell of BBQ. There are few smells better than walking outside and smelling someone smoking ribs on a big charcoal side smoker. The weather and the rise of grilling inspired me to make burgers this week. There is something about warm weather and burgers that go hand in hand. My husband bought a huge charcoal grill about 5 years ago. However, this year it needs the rust to be sanded from sitting in our basement and my motivation has been lacking. Therefore I settled for making burgers on my indoor grill this week. Today I tried a new recipe for Burgers with Mozzarella and Spinach-Arugula Pesto from Bon Appetit.

Gluten Free Burgers with Mozzarella and Spinach-Arugula Pesto

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First I did two versions, one with homemade hamburger buns and the other with gluten free buns. I had one pound of beef that I had ground with chuck a few months back. I combined the ground beef with 3/4 pound of ground lamb. Since I was short on time I did not wilt the spinach. I often make pesto with spinach and never wilt it, I just puree it in the food processor in batches. For the burgers I ended up with a total of 8 burgers. I like to keep my burgers on the small side, especially since they were blended with ground lamb which can be rich.

For this recipe I used heirloom tomatoes. I love heirloom tomatoes, they are great with burgers. Make sure to salt the pesto and the tomatoes. The salt really helps to bring out the flavor of the tomato and the pesto. Blending the lamb and beef gave the burgers great flavor and my family really enjoyed these burgers. There was also enough pesto leftover to use on turkey burgers later in the week.

For the recipe go to Burgers with Mozzarella and Spinach-Arugula Pesto.

Food and Wine Roasted Cauliflower with Turmeric and Cumin

Growing up almost all of the vegetables that my mom prepared were steamed. She loved her steamer basket and used it frequently. After I got married I followed in my mothers footsteps and prepared most vegetables steamed, occasionally sauteed. When my kids started eating vegetables I quickly discovered that steamed vegetables weren't the most popular dinner table item and I branched out to new cooking techniques. One of the easiest and most flavorful ways to prepare vegetables that I have discovered is roasted. My family loves roasted vegetables and I make them frequently. The March issue of Food and Wine magazine had a recipe for Roasted Cauliflower with Turmeric and Cumin, which looked flavorful and simple.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes an hour and 20 minutes, twenty minutes of which is active and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and I made no ingredient modifications. Instead of toasting the pine nuts in the oven, I used the stove. I find it easier to toast nuts on the stove and it saves time. For the oil I used sunflower oil since I have never been able to find safflower oil at any of my local grocery stores. Make sure to toss the cauliflower during cooking time to prevent burning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Roasted cauliflower is always popular in my house and this recipe was no exception. The crushed red pepper gives the vegetables a nice flavorful undertone, while the cilantro and mint keep the dish from getting overly spicy. I love how vibrant the cauliflower looked on the plate from the turmeric and the fresh herbs provided a great fragrant taste. Overall, another great roasted vegetable recipe that I would definitely use again.

For the recipe go to Roasted Cauliflower with Turmeric and Cumin.

Saveur Pesto Focaccia

Bread is a popular stable in my house. Most weeks I make at least two loaves, sometimes more. Every couple of weeks I try to change up my normal bread routine and try something different such as scones or biscuits. A particular household favorite is focaccia. It takes longer than most breads to prepare and bake, but the end result is well worth the effort. Recently, Saveur magazine had a recipe for Pesto Focaccia using cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives, two foods my family loves.

This recipe has 8 ingredients for the pesto and 12 for the focaccia. It makes 12-14 servings and takes approximately 4 and a half hours to prepare and bake. There are a number of ingredients in this recipe, but I only had problems finding one, durum wheat flour. I looked at every store I could think of in my area to no avail, so I chose to leave it out. Instead of the durum wheat flour I used an additional cup of all-purpose flour, making 5 and a half cups of total flour. I noticed that the top of the focaccia cooked very quickly and I had to tent the top after approximately 10 minutes to prevent burning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Over the last five years I have made a number of focaccia recipes, about one every month. I was intrigued by this recipe since it used mashed potatoes and lager beer in the focaccia dough, a combination I hadn't tried in previous recipes. The combination of the kalamata olives and cherry tomatoes worked well together and went great with the sun dried tomato pesto. Overall, a recipe well worth the time involved and filling enough for a main dish or side.

For the recipe go to Pesto Focaccia.

Better Homes and Gardens Gemelli with Asparagus and Sausage

My family really loves pasta. Growing up the one dish I would always eat that my mother made was pasta. I loved it anyway she prepared it and ate multiple servings. My two boys have inherited my love of all things pasta and ask for it frequently. I make pasta about once a week, so I am always looking for new ways to prepare it. The September issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine had a recipe for Gemelli with Asparagus and Sausage, which looked different than my usual pasta routine and very easy to prepare.

This recipe has 11 ingredients (if you use the optional ingredients). The total time start to finish is approximately 40 minutes. All the ingredients were easy to find at my local grocery store. I did make a few modifications in order to save money. Instead of using asparagus, which can be quite expensive, I used broccoli. Instead of bulk Italian sausage, I bough linked sausage and took it out of the casing. I did use pine nuts, since I already had some in my cupboard from previous recipes. Finally, I used whole milk ricotta instead of the sheep's milk cheese. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two boys liked this recipe. I liked that the prep work was minimal and the dish turned out well. My husband took the leftovers to work the next day and they re-heated great. Substituting the broccoli for the asparagus was a great way to save money and tasted delicious. Overall, an easy pasta dish with vegetables and protein which can easily be made in less than an hour.

For the recipe go to Gemelli with Asparagus and Sausage.

Martha Stewart Living Pesto

Growing up my mother made a lot of pesto. I remember watching her put the ingredients in the food processor and loving the smell of the fresh basil and pine nuts. Over the years I have tried just about every pesto recipe I can find, from the basic to the unusual. However, I have always come back to the basic pesto recipe, which I love for its clean taste and simplicity. Recently, an issue of Martha Stewart Living had a recipe for Pesto, which like all pesto recipes looked simple and delicious.

Making pesto literally takes about five minutes. This recipe has 6 ingredients and all the work is done in the food processor. The recipe that I used is slightly different than the web version, my version only makes about 3/4 of a cup of pesto and uses two cups of fresh basil. I freeze my pesto in ice cube trays and then pop out a cube when I run out of time to make dinner and stir it together with pasta.

Homemade pesto is a delicious, quick way to get dinner on the table. It's also a great way to use extra fresh basil from your garden and works well frozen in ice cube trays for later use. Pesto is always a hit with my family and is a stable in my household, especially during the summer months. This is a great recipe for people that don't cook frequently and want to make more meals from scratch, it goes together quickly and can be used on meat, pizza or pasta.

For the recipe go to Martha Stewart Pesto Recipe.