California Burgers (The Christening)

Finally,
I am writing my first ever, food recipe. Of course, it is nothing too fancy or too complicated. I wanted to post about something everyone loves, everyone enjoys, something that is easy to make.

Cheeseburgers!!

Please let me recite my love poem
'Oh, Cheeseburger'
Oh Cheeseburger,  I would eat you everyday.
With veggies and condiments and other lovely meats
To dress you up with fancy sauces or dress you down with a simple grilled bun.
 Oh, Cheeseburger, I love you!

Ok, maybe not a poem for the history books, but it is from the heart.
Don't tell my husband there is someone else.

Making the perfect Cheeseburger is not just something to slap together and call it a day.
It is a labor of love, especially with all the add-ons that we have along with the succulent beef patty.

I wanted to make a mountain of a burger with everything that I love and  combine them to make the food of the gods! What better than:
The California Burger!!
Let me give you a quick list of my top favorite food that we will combine into a cornucopia of perfection that will demonstrate the California Burger!

caramelized onions
bacon,
avocados
did I say bacon
pickles
cheese
and beef!
YUM

 This is what you will need

Ok,
So my picture taking abilities are still in the works. Bare with me!

Start with Caramelizing the onions.

Take some nice yellow onions and cut the ends off. Then cut a small slice up the middle to remove the dry shell.
Cut the Onions in half. Then in half again. Continue to cut the onion  in long slices. (confused yet)
 You do not want to chop them up. you just want to make semi-long, thin pieces.
Caramelized onions cook way down. So, if you are cooking for 2, a whole onion should do the trick.

I'm cooking for 15!

It should look something like this. Oh, and the butter. The butter is the key to caramelized happiness. Add the onions and a cube of butter. Set the heat on medium low and well, wait.

You could move on to the rest of the cheeseburger process or take a 40 minute nap (I did the latter). 

I woke up to my husband greeting me with an ice coffee. I knew there was a reason I married him. I Love you sweetie 

He said, "sweetie your onions are burning." I could kill him!

I jumped out of bed like a fish flopping out of water and ran down stairs.

In shock over the thought of losing my onions and having to start from the beginning. I hurriedly open the top of my pan and  found this.

 

Perfection!

Next cook the bacon. Take 1lb. of bacon and cut in half

cook the bacon up and move on to making beef patties.

Since we are making California Burgers you have to use Ranch Dressing in some way. I forgot to get Ranch Dressing mix so the Salad dressing had to do.Take about a half cup of dressing and drizzle it over the beef

Next add the seasoning. I use Pappy's Seasoning. it is the perfect combination of herbs and spices. It goes on everything in my house. a little salt and pepper on top of that. mix it all together and take fist size balls of beef and flatten into patties

I take wax paper and a foil pan and fill the pan with patties then wax patter and then patties so I don't have to make trips back and forth to the grill.

Turn after 4-5 minutes and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Only flip them once or else you will be feeding the fire instead of your bellies with burgers. That happened to my husband on more than 1 occasion. We also, fed my moms herd of puppies trying to transfer the patties to the grill. they were thankful. Add the cheese, 1 minute to 2 minutes before completion. Put the lid back on to melt the cheese.

Make it quick or risk over cooking.

My husband likes his burgers still mooing. So, his only goes on for 3-4 minutes on both sides.

Take the hamburger buns and yes, slather them with more butter.

Is there ever enough butter?

Throw the lathered group onto the grill for one minute and get them off asap or they will burn.

I cut up pickles, avocados, lettuce and tomatoes for sides and don't forget mayo, mustard and ketchup. Oh ketchup, one of my kids main food groups.

and voila!



This is the final product. I would have taken a pic of my burger but it jumped into my belly too quickly.

Thats it for now

-G