Comfort Foods and Indulgences

It's time to pull out the grill! The official start of grilling season is this Memorial weekend. The weather is finally warm, making it the perfect occasion for a large celebratory gathering. And what would a backyard barbecue be without the ubiquitous burger? After all burgers are part of the American tradition. They're easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and easily please a crowd of family and friends.

Everyone knows beef burgers, but what about lamb burgers? OK, they're not the most traditional for Memorial Day, but they're really good. And who said we can't try something new? I can't forget the famous lamb burger at The Breslin, April Bloomfield's British-style pub. The burger I had there was perfectly cooked and juicy, thick and full of flavor. This burger is my attempt at recreating it at home.

This recipe has a bit of a Mediterranean feel, almost Greek. The lamb burgers are topped with salty feta and tangy pickled red onions. The feta complements the burgers very well, adding a tangy, salty flavor. The onions cut right through the rich flavor of the lamb. I like to serve all my burgers on toasted brioche buns, which absorbs the meat's juices. This is the way to enjoy a burger, pure and simple.

Every Mardi Gras, I have been wanting to make a King Cake for the kids.  I just never seem to have the extra time.  So when I came across an easy idea to make this happen, I went for it.

The King Cake is a dessert eaten all over the world in different forms and associated with the festivities of Mardi Gras, and it is no where more beloved than New Orleans.

It is normally a sweetened, yeasted bread stuffed with a cinnamon, cream cheese or praline filling and shaped into an oval ring.  It is then topped with white icing and sprinkled with yellow, green and purple sprinkles.  A small, plastic baby is then stuffed inside and whoever finds the trinket is declared the KING!

Anyways, this is the ultimate King Cake cheating recipe.  However, if you find yourself short on time, give this a whirl.  It surely tasted delicious!!

My girlfriend took one bite of these and said, “this tastes like Mac ‘n Cheese”.  Voila, the Mac ‘n Cheese cracker was born.

I had been wanting to make more savory snacks and this was a really great place to start.

What I love most about this recipe is that these can be made in big batches, baked right away or frozen for future use, making last minute entertaining, either in our own home or at others, easy and stress free.

If you make anything new this Fall season, make sure it's this. It would also be an amazing addition to the holiday table because it is so dang fantastic. No one is going to be able to keep their fork out of it.

This dish is so good, my twelve year old requested leftovers for breakfast. Go figure. It's just one of those lingering tastes that leaves you wanting more. It's earthy and decadent and received rave, RAVE reviews from my family.

This recipe came from Food Network's Magazine this month (I love this magazine), but I did change a few things. I used a little more bread, regular butter, bacon instead of pancetta, sage instead of tarragon, white wine instead of sherry and more cheese of course. It was perfect, just perfect.

Cremini mushrooms are also a nice choice for this dish. They are a little firmer than the white mushroom, so they hold up better. And, they have a fuller flavor.

I placed the hot mushroom mixture on top of the dried bread cubes to cool slightly before tossing with the egg mixture.