Barbecue Macaroni

This recipe is pretty self-explanatory. It's macaroni and beef drowning in barbecue sauce.

Which tastes a lot better than it sounds.
And just MIGHT be healthier than cheese-swimming macaroni. Maybe.

Yield about 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

3/4 lb ground beef

14 oz barbecue sauce (I used mostly Lucille's BBQ, with some of my homemade recipe)

14 oz water

6 oz elbow macaroni (uncooked)

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef in a large skillet.

2. Add barbecue sauce and water, stirring well. Bring to a slow simmer.

3. Stir in macaroni and simmer on low, stirring every 5 minutes or so.

4. Cook until macaroni is tender, about 30 minutes.

(You might have to let it sit for a few minutes before eating because in my case there was a lot of excess water)

Thanks to Kathy Sterling from Food.com for the recipe.

HOMEMADE BBQ Sauce!

I am so excited to share this recipe.

Like really stinkin' excited.

This is one of my first made-up recipes. 

Like how legit chefs do it. 

Like taste it and add more and hope for the best.

But the best always comes out 'cause of my street smarts, brah!

Aw.

Yeah.

How did I get this wondrous feeling, you ask? Well, I needed barbecue sauce for my pasta, of course! (Recipe here) No really. You don't do that? 

But I didn't have enough bottled goodness. So I scoured the internet (okay not scoured, but Google only shows one page of search results, right?) and found some tasty-sounding substitutes. 

But alas, I did not have everything they called for.

But I got the gist of what the flavor they were grasping for, so I began to make an educated guess. 

Or a hypothesis. 

Except unlike elementary school science projects, I guessed at the same time as the experiment.

So yeah. Barbecue sauce.

Ingredients:

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp mustard

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp lemon juice (Yeah, I know. Weird, right? I thought it was done; it tastes alright without it, and then I saw this in the fridge. SO glad I did. It's too sweet without.)

Directions:

1. Place the ketchup in a bowl and work your way down the list, stirring and adding as you go. Mix until well integrated. (No brown sugar clumps or ribbons of mustard. Ew.)

(Somewhat) Spicy Hawaiian Burgers

What's summer without some grillin'?! And these are chicken with whole wheat buns, so they're on the lighter side, right? (yes I know they're 1/3 lb each... shhh...)
Something else I should mention... Oh yes. I have never attempted chicken burgers. I have never worked with ground chicken. I didn't know there was such a thing. And yet, these turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!
Now, I know I labeled these spicy, but they aren't necessarily hot. But I'm not complaining-the barbacoa at Chipotle is enough to get my eyes watering. But for you spice-prone folk, I'm sure you could add more paprika and chili powder to spice it to your liking.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground chicken
1/4 cup less sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced (I accidentally left this out and they turned out great. Either way.)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chili powder

6 slices pepper jack cheese (Another reason it wasn't as spicy- they only had regular jack cheese at the deli)

6 pineapple rings or equivalent slices

6 whole wheat hamburger buns (I admit, I doubted these. But they were oh so good.)

Directions:

1. Combine the ground chicken, soy sauce, seasoning salt, cumin, garlic, 1/2 the paprika, and 1/2 the chili powder. Lightly mix with your hands and divide into 6 even balls. Form patties, making them slightly thinner in the middle and sprinkle with remaining paprika and chili powder.

2. Refrigerate about 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the grill to medium heat. Coat grates lightly with oil.

4. Grill burgers about 6 minutes per side. They should flip easily when they are ready to turn. If they want to stick, give them another minute.

5. Top with cheese for the last minute of cooking time to melt.

6. Grill buns and pineapple until grill marks appear. (Both sides for the pineapple)

7. Assemble burgers and enjoy.

Thanks to Jen from Homemade by Holman for the recipe.