B is for Burgers

No, this is not our family portrait. Our daughter Sara loves to try new recipes and has become quite the cookbook collector. I think it's hereditary because my mom was a HUGE collector of cookbooks also. One of Sara's favorite TV shows is Bob's Burgers, so when son Michael saw this cookbook, he knew it would be a perfect Christmas gift for his sister!

The show is pretty silly, and the names of the burger recipes are even sillier, but man, do they ever taste good! Here's one of our favorites...made with butter and cheese, of course. Hope you enjoy it too.

Poutine On The Ritz

3 tablespoons black pepper, divided

2 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

French fries or Tator tots

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

3 cups beef stock

1 pound ground beef

salt

4 buns

fresh cheese curds

1 sleeve Ritz crackers

Combine 2 tablespoons of the pepper with the paprika and cayenne in a large bowl. Cook the Fries (or Tots) and then toss with the pepper mixture and a pinch of salt while still warm. 

To make the gravy, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Keep whisking until the mix starts to turn a light brown. Add in 2 cups of the beef stock and stir until completely combined. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon of the pepper, and then slowly add the remaining stock.

Make 4 patties, season both sides with salt and pepper, and cook.

Build your burger- bottom bun, a bunch of cheese curds, brown gravy, a gratuitous amount of crumbled Ritz crackers, top bun.

For the potatoes- mix in cheese curds with Fries (or Tots) and pour gravy on top.

Dinner is served!

It's simple, but a bit classier than a plain burger,

and the Tots...Oh my gosh!

It's Better With Butter

Anyone for a game of Jenga? 

Alright, I'm kidding. We use butter for almost everything, but Jenga is carrying it a bit too far, even for us dairy farmers! 

Butter is made from two ingredients- cream and salt. It's just that simple (no ingredients that can't be pronounced). First, the cream is separated from fresh whole milk. The cream is then churned by shaking it vigorously until it thickens. The remaining liquid (buttermilk) is removed. The butter is washed and formed into its solid shape.

Ta-da! Butter is made.

Butter can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 2 months, and in the freezer for up to 9 months. It can be stored longer, but the flavor might be sacrificed a bit. Besides, if your family is like mine, butter doesn't stay around very long anyway. It's always on our grocery list!

Melting on your toast... a sliver on your steamed vegetables...drizzled on your popcorn... you get the picture.

 

And then there's flavored butter...OMG!

 

 

 

Cranberry Orange Butter

Recipe by: Midwest Dairy Association

Brighten up breakfast by serving this flavorful spread at home or giving as a gift to your foodie friends.

Ingredients

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter softened
• 6 tablespoons whole berry cranberry sauce (we used Ocean Spray for testing)
• 4 teaspoons orange marmalade
• 2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Directions

Combine ingredients in a small food processor; process until well blended. Spoon into an airtight container; store in refrigerator.

Recipe Variations: Cranberry Orange Butter is a sweet and flavorful spread for breakfast or tea. Give as a gift in an airtight decorative container with lid along with bagels or freshly baked bread.

A Day Late

I have a potato recipe I want to share with you. I served Roadside Potatoes 

 yesterday as part of our Easter feast with my family.

 (Hey Jan, why didn't you post this before Easter so we could have served them too?)

 

I rarely publish a recipe on my blog that I haven't tried first. Come to think of it, I have only posted one recipe that I didn't make. The weird thing is...I served my Easter guests these potatoes without trying the recipe...but yet I won't share it with my readers without trying it. Hmmm...

Roadside Potatoes

24 ounces frozen hash browns

1 pint whipping cream

1 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Place hash browns in a 9x13 pan. Cover with Parmesan cheese. Melt butter and stir in whipping cream and salt. Pour mixture over cheese and hash browns. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until golden brown on top.

Everything's better with cheese!

photo from Google image search

 

* I also made a pan using cheddar cheese. Yummy!

** This basic recipe would be great with some additions- I'm going to try onions, or bacon bits, or green peppers, or ham pieces. The possibilities are endless! What would you add?

 

B Is For Butter

It's June dairy Month! The barn doors are open, 

so join me on my daily A to Z journey 

to learn more about dairy. 

Today B is for Butter.

 First, the cream is separated from fresh whole milk. The cream is then churned by shaking it vigorously until it thickens. The remaining liquid (buttermilk) is removed. The butter is washed and formed into its solid shape.

Ta-da! Butter is made.

 

Melting on your toast... a sliver on your steamed vegetables...drizzled on your popcorn... you get the picture.

Sage, Rosemary & Thyme Butter

Ingredients

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/4 teaspoon salt 

Preparation

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Stir until well blended. Spoon into an airtight container. Store in refrigerator.

Visit Dairy Makes Sense for another  butter treat, Cranberry Orange Butter

 

Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme Butter

     

Spread the dairy love by serving this savory butter with vegetables or bread, or by giving as a gift to that deserving someone.

Download High-Resolution Image

• Servings: 8
• Prep time: 10 mins
• Total time: 10 mins
• Created by: Midwest Dairy Association

Ingredients

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl; stir until well blended. Spoon into an airtight container; store in refrigerator.
2. Recipe Variations: Use your favorite herbs and/or spices to flavor unsalted butter. Add your own salt to taste. We purchased a combination package of “poultry blend” herbs – sage, rosemary, and thyme – making it super easy to prepare this flavored butter. Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme Butter can be used as a rub to flavor and moisten your holiday turkey. Also, add flavored butter to season any vegetable or serve with hot bread. Give as a gift in an airtight decorative container with lid.

Nutritional Facts Per Serving

• Calories: 100
• Total Fat: 11g
• Saturated fat: 7g
• Cholesterol: 30mg
• Sodium: 0mg
• Carbohydrates: 0g
• Dietary Fiber: 0g
• Protein: 0g
• Calcium: 0% Daily Value

- See more at: http://www.dairymakessense.com/recipe/sage-rosemary-and-thyme-butter/#sthash.6sDYw9L7.dpuf

Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme Butter

     

Spread the dairy love by serving this savory butter with vegetables or bread, or by giving as a gift to that deserving someone.

Download High-Resolution Image

• Servings: 8
• Prep time: 10 mins
• Total time: 10 mins
• Created by: Midwest Dairy Association

Ingredients

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl; stir until well blended. Spoon into an airtight container; store in refrigerator.
2. Recipe Variations: Use your favorite herbs and/or spices to flavor unsalted butter. Add your own salt to taste. We purchased a combination package of “poultry blend” herbs – sage, rosemary, and thyme – making it super easy to prepare this flavored butter. Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme Butter can be used as a rub to flavor and moisten your holiday turkey. Also, add flavored butter to season any vegetable or serve with hot bread. Give as a gift in an airtight decorative container with lid.

Nutritional Facts Per Serving

• Calories: 100
• Total Fat: 11g
• Saturated fat: 7g
• Cholesterol: 30mg
• Sodium: 0mg
• Carbohydrates: 0g
• Dietary Fiber: 0g
• Protein: 0g
• Calcium: 0% Daily Value

- See more at: http://www.dairymakessense.com/recipe/sage-rosemary-and-thyme-butter/#sthash.6sDYw9L7.dpuf

Ingredients

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Combine ingredients in a small bowl; stir until well blended. Spoon into an airtight container; store in refrigerator.
2. Recipe Variations: Use your favorite herbs and/or spices to flavor unsalted butter. Add your own salt to taste. We purchased a combination package of “poultry blend” herbs – sage, rosemary, and thyme – making it super easy to prepare this flavored butter. Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme Butter can be used as a rub to flavor and moisten your holiday turkey. Also, add flavored butter to season any vegetable or serve with hot bread. Give as a gift in an airtight decorative container with lid.

Nutritional Facts Per Serving

• Calories: 100
• Total Fat: 11g
• Saturated fat: 7g
• Cholesterol: 30mg
• Sodium: 0mg
• Carbohydrates: 0g
• Dietary Fiber: 0g
• Protein: 0g
• Calcium: 0% Daily Value

- See more at: http://www.dairymakessense.com/recipe/sage-rosemary-and-thyme-butter/#sthash.6sDYw9L7.dpuf

Butterhead Basics At The Minnesota State Fair

On opening day of the Minnesota State Fair, the newly crowned Princess Kay of the Milky Way has her likeness carved from a 90 pound block of butter. Each day thereafter, a Princess Kay finalist also has her likeness carved. The butter sculpting booth in the Dairy Building is an exhibit sponsored by Midwest Dairy Association, on behalf of Minnesota's nearly 4,000 dairy farmers. Here are some butterhead basics...

Our daughter Sara was a Princess Kay finalist in 2005.

• The tradition of carving butterheads began in 1965.
• 2013 is artist Linda Christensen's 42nd year of butter carving at the Great Minnesota State Fair.
• The temperature inside the rotating butter booth is 40 degrees.
• It takes 21.8 pounds of whole milk to make a pound of butter.

 

Sara seeing eye-to-eye with her butterhead.

• A complete butter sculpture takes about six hours to complete. Sara's took nearly 7 hours (darn glasses).
• Midwest Dairy Association helps to sponsor butter sculpting at several state fairs in its 10 states, but sculpting in front of fair-goers using a live model is unique to Minnesota.

And yes, each girl gets to take their butterhead home.

 See you at the Fair!

Our Resident Foodie

My daughter is our resident foodie. Sara loves watching cooking shows. She knows everything about Iron Chef, Cupcake Wars, Top Chef, and every Diner, Drive-Inn and Dive across America. She subscribes to Food Network magazine, which she reads cover-to-cover. She is one of the few people I know that actually enjoys grocery shopping. One of her favorite places to shop is kitchen stores. So I shouldn't be surprised when she came home last week with a Linzer Cookie Cutter. Linzer cookies are European inspired jam-filled cookies. They are quite time consuming, but full of delicious buttery goodness. Perhaps your resident foodie would like to try this recipe.

Linzer Sandwich Cookies

2 cups flour
2/3 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Confectioners sugar
In small bowl combine flour, almonds, and cinnamon. Set aside. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix only until incorporated. Divide dough into 2 pieces. Press into small discs, about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On floured surface roll out one disc of dough 1/8 inch thick. Keep remaining dough chilled. Cut half the dough using the center cut-out (top cookie) and cut the remaining half with out the center cut-out. This will be the bottom cookie. Bake on parchment paper-lined baking sheets 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely. Spread bottom cookie with about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon jam. Cover with top cookie which has been dusted with confectioners sugar.
(This recipe was printed on the Wilton Linzer Cookie Cutter package.)

Sara used our KitchenAid mixer to make these cookies. What? You don't have a KitchenAid mixer? You could! Check out Real Dairy Holidays Contest sponsored by Midwest Dairy to see how you could win one.

It's National Cookie Day!

Christmas baking has always been a big part of our family holiday traditions. When Sara and Michael were very young, I was asked if I would be interested in selling home-baked Christmas cookies to my sister-in-laws co-workers. Making some extra holiday shopping dollars while doing something I enjoy seemed like a great opportunity. It became a whole-family activity. Sara became the expert at Russian Tea Cakes. Michael rolled the balls for the sugar cookies. John always helped with the date balls. My mom and I spent a day rolling the dough for the gingerbread people! The first year of cookie sales, we sold 79 dozen cookies, enough profit to buy a new front door for our house. Fifteen years later, we topped off our sales at 652 dozen (that's 7,824 cookies)! We no longer have our cookie business, but we will always have the "sweet" memories.

One of our favorite's is M&M Cookies. I use this recipe for many holidays, choosing the appropriate color M&M's to match the holiday. Thanks to Julie, a past co-worker for this recipe.

M&M Cookies

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 cups flour
2 cups M&M's ( reserve 1/2 cup)

Mix all ingredients. Add M&M's last. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet. Top each cookie with M&M. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Makes 8 dozen.

Another favorite Christmas cookie recipe can be found on my June 10, 2012 post. I top them with red and green sugar for Christmas.

Whoooo Goes There?

Milky Way, Milk Duds, Cow Tails, these are some of my favorite candy treats. (Notice the dairy theme here?) Wash them down with a cold glass of milk. Yummy!

Since we live in the country, there are not many Trick-Or-Treaters that haunt our house. But the few that visited were too cute not to share their photos.

You butter believe Sara and Michael love Halloween!

Cooper, the cowardly lion, brought mom and dad.

Alex and Scott, as Boba Fett and Mario, say cheese!

Santa Lives In Our Neighborhood

Santa lives in our neighborhood! He has traded in his sleigh for a Honda 4 wheeler, replaced his red suit with a plaid shirt and jeans, and even shaved off his beard, but I know he is Santa Claus. Just like children, we eagerly await his arrival in August. August? Yes, our Santa is named Bob and he delivers his home-grown sweet corn to family and friends. He grows it "for fun" to share with all of us. After many meals of fresh buttery corn on the cob, the remainder of our gift is frozen to enjoy year round.

12 dozen ready to be made into Buttery Frozen Corn

 Buttery Frozen Corn

10 cups corn (about 20 ears)

1/2 cup butter

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Cut corn from cob. Do not 

blanche. Add butter, salt and sugar. Boil 3 minutes. Cool and package for freezer.




I read a tip in a magazine many years ago. It read to stand the ear of corn in the center cone of an angel food pan to easily cut off the kernels which then fall into the pan. I tweaked it slightly by standing the angel food "cone" in a large bowl, which is large enough to accommodate the 10 cups needed for this recipe. Do you have any kitchen tips to share? Please add them to the comments, for all of us to enjoy.



Sara and I added 15 quarts of corn to the freezer this morning. Guess what Santa Bob brought this afternoon? It's yellow and tasty...