Julie's Baked Bean, Onion Ring, & Fried Egg Burger

Yesterday I said to Mel, "I know this sounds crazy, but what would you think of a burger with homemade onion rings, baked beans, and a fried egg?"  He said, "Sounds good to me."  So today I made this for our lunch.

I have never made onion rings before, but they were easy enough.  Just egg (dipped there first) and bread crumbs mixed with smoked paprika (bath #2).  Then I fried them in olive oil, red wine vinegar, and butter (because I didn't have enough oil left).  Mel says these were the best onion rings he has ever had.  They could have been a little more tender, but, yes, they were yummy!

I cooked the burgers in the oven (store bought, not made myself this time) because they were so thick and I was afraid I would burn them or not cook them enough if pan-fried (unfortunately, no BBQ grill).  They were perfect!  So, it went bread (not even needed), mustard, mayo, ketchup, burger, baked beans, onion ring, and fried egg (Mel topped his with hot sauce, of course).  Yummmmmm!  We both think this is one of the best burgers we have ever had.  Mel gave it a 12, and I give it a 10!  I will be making these again tomorrow (no bread though).

Yesterday's tuna was obviously much healthier, but this was better!!

Julie's Lemon-Dill Crusted Tuna & Orange-Vanilla-Peach Water

Two months ago, I cooked salmon for the first time: http://animalsfaithmiddleearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/julies-super-simple-salmon.html .  Today was the first time I have ever cooked tuna not from a can!  I just made up a recipe off the top of my head an hoped it worked!  I put 3 eggs, juice from 1 lemon, and blood orange balsamic vinegar in one bowl and dipped tuna first in there.  In the next bowl were the bread crumbs, salt, lemon pepper grinder, zest from 1 lemon, dill, and dried onion.  They fish swam there next.  Wrapped it in foil and baked (I never used the olive oil in the picture).  Plated on the multi-grain medley minute rice (best rice ever).  I'm not a huge seafood fan, but I loved this - ) give it a 9!  Mel gave it a huge 10!  Mel added salsa to his, and I added cheese to mine.

I recently read that both lemons and fish are good for asthma, so I think I'll be making this more often.

Boring water again - sorry!  This one was peach, lemon, oranges, and vanilla extract - my creation. Just as good as the mint-lemon-strawberry.

Fast & Easy Breakfast Cups

This was our lunch today (even though it says "breakfast" in the title - ha ha).  This is another huge 10 that is going to become another favorite made often.

I got this recipe from an Albertson's flyer.  It is not "fast" as the title suggests because cooking hash browns is time consuming, but it is easy and it is also very yummy!

I didn't change much.  I sautéed my onions in butter, olive oil, and blood orange balsamic vinegar (yum!!!) and then added the hash browns to them and cooked them all together.  The recipe just called to put the onions in without sautéing first.  Also, instead of just salt and pepper, I used sea salt, garlic pepper grinder, and sage.  I think I followed the rest of the recipe the same expect that I didn't measure the onion (just used it all) or hash browns (used them all too). 

Mel topped his with Taco Bell hot sauce and I topped mine with sour cream.  I will be making these again!!

Layered Chicken Enchiladas

I made this for our lunch today.  Yum yum yum!!!   I can't remember where I even got this recipe, but I think it was off a bag of breaded chicken strips - I can't remember which brand.  That's about the only thing I changed about this recipe: it called for breaded chicken strips, but we both thought grilled chicken strips would be much better.  I also used corn tortillas, instead of flour.   Instead of using a large pan, I used to pie plates so I could make Mel's and mine a little different.  We both had the tortillas, grilled chicken, black beans, diced green chilies, and cheese.  The only difference was that Mel's salsa was a medium and mine was mild and mine had sour cream.  I usually don't plug grocery stores, but they have recently opened an Albertson's in our county and they sell this amazing salsa brand called "Signature Select."  They are a great price and have a large variety of flavors - they are truly the best salsas we have ever had. 

Anyway...  we both give this dish a gigantic 10!!  It is layered like the Mexican Lasagna I have made in the past http://animalsfaithmiddleearth.blogspot.com/2013/02/mels-favorite-foods-mexican-lasagna.html  but so much better!!  We have found a new favorite that will be made often! 

Fruity Marshmallow Treats & Lemon, Strawberry, Mint Water

Instead of Rice Krispie treats, I decided to try these.  I used a generic version of Fruity Pebbles, the mini fruity marshmallows, and butter and vanilla and just followed a typical krispie treat recipe.  I know this seems boring to blog about, but they are so good!  Mel says they are the best marshmallow treats he has ever had!  They are very sweet so that makes it easy to eat them in moderation!

When I worked in dispatch (back in 1999-2001), I used to make rice krispie treats a lot for those of us on night shift.  I used to experiment with the normal recipe by adding things like chopped up: cinnamon bears (everyone's favorite by a mile), caramel squares, gum drops, and even dried fruit.  There is a lot of creative things to do with these including adding peanut butter, and any flavor chip (butterscotch is the best).  So as good as these are, I have had flavors I liked better - probably the cinnamon bear was my favorite as well.

This seems just as boring, but is also so good I have to share it.  This is (so far) the best fruit water I have ever made.  It's supposed to have fresh mint, but they didn't have any at the store and also no mint in the baking aisle (weird!), so I decided to take a chance and try real mint extract.  Yummmmmm!!  This is so good and refreshing - Mel and I can't seem to drink enough of it.  It's 2 large lemons and 1 package of strawberries and about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon mint extract (I didn't measure). 

I am on another fruit water kick, so I'm sure I'll be sharing more ideas soon.

P.S.  Water & treats both get big 10s from Mel and me!

Julie's Sausage-Stuffed Shells

Has it really been a month since I last posted?  Wow! 

I made this today for our lunch.  Super easy, and pretty good, but not great.  The flavors were all good, but I chose the wrong kind of sausage for this dish.  Mel gave this a 9, but I gave it an 8.  Here is what would have made it a 10:  As I said, using a different kind of sausage such as ground instead if links.  The brand is a very yummy brand, but the texture is more like a hotdog, and I'm sure you can see that is the wrong texture for stuffed shells.  I was originally going to use chicken, which also would have been better, but the sausage was a lot cheaper.  I was going to use spinach, but changed my mind at the last minute - that also would have been good.  Also, finely chopped onion and green pepper in either the sauce or the shells would have been yummy too.  Overall, they were not bad, but could use some improvement.  Next time I make these, I'll do better!!