Kitchen Hint of the Day!

Relax Don't Overwork........


When making perfect hamburger patties, remember: the more you handle the meat, the tougher your burger will be. In a large bowl, pull the meat apart into small chunks, add salt or other seasonings, and toss gently with fingers spread apart until loosely mixed.

Kitchen Hint of the Day!

Thank you to Ginny for passing this hint along............


If you wet your hands with cold water before shaping sausages or hamburger patties, the grease won't stick to your fingers. Grill them burgers!

Kitchen Hint of the Day!

Where's the wax paper......


When freezing hamburgers, chops, or steaks, which tend to stick together when frozen, separate them with pieces of waxed paper or freezer wrap. You will then be able to remove the amount needed without thawing the whole batch.

Ohio Festivals June 9-11, 2017

June 9-10, 2017  Annual Pork Rind Heritage Festival - Harrod, Ohio
The Pork Rind Heritage Festival offers family fun, entertainment, and Rudolph Foods’ famous popped pork rinds. The two day event includes live entertainment, corn hole tournaments, a 5K Run, and much more for the whole family. Second weekend in June.

http://www.porkrindfest.com/about/



June 9-10, 2017  23rd Annual Banana Split Festival - Wilmington, Ohio

Celebrating Wilmington's claim as the birthplace of the Banana Split in 1907. Music, car show, crafts, games, etc.

http://www.bananasplitfestival.com/


June 9-11, 2017
Versailles Poultry Days
Versailles, Ohio
The 66th annual event will have chicken dinners, entertainment, Miss Chick and Little Miss Poultry Days contests, rides and games for all ages, two parades, kiddie tractor pull, 5K Run, arts, crafts, flower, and photography shows, and the greatest Ultimate Frisbee Tournament in the world!   Attendance: 25,000.

http://www.versaillespoultrydays.com/


June 9-11, 2017  53rd Strawberry Festival - Bedford, Ohio
Presented by the Bedford Historical Society, the festival will offer plenty of berries with ice cream, entertainment, and a classic car show.

http://www.bedfordohiohistory.org/


June 10, 2017  Yellow Springs Street Fair - Yellow Springs, Ohio
An all-day festival with entertainment throughout the Village. Over 200 booths.  Two Music Stages, a Beer Garden and Street Performers throughout town.  For children, Primary Languages will have free crafts along with face painting and cookie decorating with donations going to the Dayton International School.

http://www.yellowspringsohio.org/street-fair/

Kitchen Hint of the Day!

Make sure those Burgers are done......

Lots of people like steaks rare (like myself), but don’t do the same for your hamburger. More bacteria is present in ground beef, so cook until it’s well done and no pink is in the middle. If in doubt, grab a meat thermometer and make sure the temperature reaches no less than 160 degrees in the burger’s center.

Ohio Festivals - August 11th - 14th, 2016

August 11-14, 2016  Ohio Valley Antique Machinery Show
Georgetown, Ohio
Antique/craft/flea market, 4 parades, tractors, engines & equipment, Sunday antique car show, camping & RV sites, baby costume contest, entertainment, antique and garden tractor pulls, covered bridge, log cabin livin’, threshing, sawmill, rock crushing, canning, broom making, grist mill, block making, shingle mill, blacksmith, etc.

http://www.ovams.com/


August 12-14, 2016  North Ridgeville Corn Festival
North Ridgeville, Ohio
The annual festival will feature Sweet's corn steamed or roasted. Enjoy musical entertainment, parade, arts and crafts show, amusement rides, games, food, corn eating contest, 5 & 10k run, car show and horseshoe tournament.

http://www.nrcornfest.org/


August 13-14, 2016  National Hamburger Festival - Akron, Ohio
Hamburger Cook-Off, Ohio Hamburger Eating Championships, Bobbing For Burgers, Miss Hamburger Festival, Live Music, Family & Children’s Activities.  Attendance: 30,000+

http://hamburgerfestival.com/

Healthy Tips for Hot Dogs and Hamburgers

From the Diabetic Living Online website its Healthy Tips for Hot Dogs and Hamburgers. Check out the Diabetic Living website for healthy, delicious, and Diabetic Friendly recipes! Eat healthy and enjoy!     http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/


Healthy Tips for Hot Dogs and Hamburgers

Yes, you can eat hot dogs and hamburgers on your diabetic diet. Just follow a few tips and tricks, and start enjoying these barbecue favorites guilt-free.



Social Staples

During the warmer months, your social calendar is likely to be sprinkled with cookouts, visits to street fairs, or pool parties where the grill is a-sizzle. And the main course, of course, is hot dogs, sausages, or hamburgers......


Where's the Beef?

Hamburger meat, by government standards, is fresh or frozen ground beef without anything else added and can contain no more than 30 percent fat by weight. At the supermarket, hamburger meat is labeled with its percentage of lean meat and percentage of fat, such as 80/20 or 93/7. Not so at a friend's barbecue or a ballpark grill. Here are some good rules of thumb......


6 Ways to Lighten Your Hot Dog or Hamburger

Go Topless

Ditch half the bun to cut carbs. Opt for a whole grain bun when you have the choice. If available, use a lettuce-leaf topper to help keep your fingers clean......



* See all the Healthy Tips for Hot Dogs and Hamburgers by clicking the link below.
http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/food-to-eat/nutrition/healthy-tips-hot-dogs-and-hamburgers?page=0

Low-Calorie Summer BBQ Recipes

From the EatingWell website its Low-Calorie Summer BBQ Recipes. Grill, BBQ, and Eat Healthy with these recipes from EatingWell. Recipes including; Grilled Shrimp Skewers over White Bean Salad, Broccoli, Ham & Pasta Salad, and Classic Hamburger. Get them all at the EatingWell website!   http://www.eatingwell.com/

Low-Calorie Summer BBQ Recipes

Healthier burgers, side salads, sandwiches and more low-calorie recipes for your summer BBQ.
Throw a healthier backyard bash this summer featuring our low-calorie summer cookout recipes. Whether you’re hosting the barbecue or bringing a potluck dish to share, our lighter pasta salad recipes, healthy burger recipes, low-calorie dessert recipes and BBQ chicken recipes are crowd pleasers. Try Grilled Shrimp Skewers over White Bean Salad for a seafood dish to share or Broccoli, Ham & Pasta Salad for a side dish you can make ahead.



Grilled Shrimp Skewers over White Bean Salad
Fresh herbs make all the difference in this light, summery bean salad that in turn makes an aromatic bed for the easy grilled shrimp. The shrimp and salad are wonderful together but you could also make them separately. Consider skewering and grilling scallops as another delicious option......


Broccoli, Ham & Pasta Salad
A great make-ahead entree, this lightened-up pasta salad is loaded with broccoli and peppers. Smoky ham and sweet raisins give it plenty of punch. Enjoy the leftovers for a fuss-free lunch. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell......


Classic Hamburger
Slow-cooked onions add moisture and flavor to these lean beef burgers. A quick blend of mayonnaise, ketchup, relish and vinegar makes a perfect tangy, sweet and creamy “special sauce” for this burger. We love the dill relish here, but use sweet relish if you prefer it. Serve with sweet potato fries......



* Click the link below to get all the Low-Calorie Summer BBQ Recipes

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/low_calorie_summer_bbq_recipes

Kitchen Hint of the Day!

When grilling those burgers.....

Poke a hole in the middle of the hamburger patties while shaping them. The burgers will cook faster and the holes will disappear when done.

Kitchen Hint of the Day!

Use a gentle touch when shaping ground beef patties. Over handling will result in a firm, compact texture after cooking. Don't press or flatten with spatula during cooking.

August 17-18, 2013 National Hamburger Festival - Akron, Ohio

August 17-18, 2013  National Hamburger Festival - Akron, Ohio

Hamburger Cook-Off, Ohio Hamburger Eating Championships, Bobbing For Burgers, Miss Hamburger

Festival, Live Music, Family & Children’s Activities.
Attendance: 30,000+.


About Us

The National Hamburger Festival is the brainchild of Drew Cerza President/CEO of the Just Wing It Productions located in New York. As founder of the National Chicken Wing Festival, and the Road to Buffalo Tour, Cerza has a history of successful event management across the country.

This year marks the 7th anniversary of the National Hamburger Festival. Over 120,000 hamburger fans have enjoyed family fun, great entertainment and one of the largest assortments of hamburgers ever assembled in one place. The Food Network filmed the festival for a segment on their hit show “Unwrapped”. Local media, including television, radio and print are always on-site for the annual event. The citizens of Ohio and Akron Mayor Plusquellic embraced the festival with open arms making the event a great success. The festival is held at historic Lock 3 Park in beautiful downtown Akron. The festival raises money each year for one of Akron’s favorite charities, the Akron Children’s Hospital.


http://www.hamburgerfestival.com/

WENDY'S NEW PRETZEL BACON CHEESEBURGER COMES OUT TODAY

A new burger's coming to town with buns blazing.

In a twist of events, fast-food chain Wendy’s launched their long-rumored Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger, a premium burger served on a toasted pretzel bun, today. The $4.69 burger includes cheddar cheese, thick-sliced bacon and smoky honey mustard sauce and is sandwiched between a pretzel bun.

Hailed as “the ultimate mash-up of three American loves: pretzel, bacon and cheeseburger” by Craig Bahner, Wendy’s chief marketing officer, the burger performed very well in recent market tests. The burger should be at all locations within a few weeks, and if successful may become a permanent addition to the menu.


http://www.kitchendaily.com/read/fast-food-wendys-launches-new-pretzel-bacon-cheeseburger

One of America's Favorite - Grilling

Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above or

Hamburgers being grilled

below. It is sometimes referred to as barbecuing but that word can also mean a different cooking technique.
Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat quickly. Food to be grilled is cooked on a grill (an open wire grid such as a gridiron with a heat source above or below), a grill pan (similar to a frying pan, but with raised ridges to mimic the wires of an open grill), or griddle (a flat plate heated from below). Heat transfer to the food when using a grill is primarily via thermal radiation. Heat transfer when using a grill pan or griddle is by direct conduction. In the United States and Canada, when the heat source for grilling comes from above, grilling is termed broiling. In this case, the pan that holds the food is called a broiler pan, and heat transfer is by thermal radiation.
Direct heat grilling can expose food to temperatures often in excess of 260 °C (500 °F). Grilled meat acquires a distinctive roast aroma from a chemical process called the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction only occurs when foods reach temperatures in excess of 155 °C (310 °F).
Studies have shown that cooking beef, pork, poultry, and fish at high temperatures can lead to the formation of heterocyclic amines, benzopyrenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogens. Marination may reduce the formation of these compounds. Grilling is often presented as a healthy alternative to cooking with oil, although the fat and juices lost by grilling can contribute to drier food.



In the United States, the use of the word grill refers to cooking food directly over a source of dry heat, typically with the food sitting on a metal grate that leaves "grill marks." Grilling is usually done outdoors on charcoal grills or gas grills, a recent trend is the concept of infrared grilling[citation needed]. Grilling may also be performed using stove-top "grill pans" which have raised metal ridges for the food to sit on, or using an indoor electric grill.
A skewer or brochette, or a rotisserie may be used to cook small pieces of food. The resulting food product is often called a "kabob" or "kebab" which means "to grill" in Persian, which is short for "shish kebab" (shish = skewer)(similar to a "satay" in Asian cuisine, or "alambre" in Mexican-Yucatán cuisine). Shish kebabs have a Persian origin, but are now commonplace in American cuisine.
Mesquite or hickory wood chips (damp) may be added on top of the coals to allow a smoldering effect that provides additional flavor to the food. Other hardwoods such as pecan, apple, maple and oak may also be used.



Methods


* Gridironing - Gridironing is the cooking of meats or other foods using a grill suspended above a heat

Preparation of Barbecue grill

source. Grilling is often performed outdoors, using charcoal (real wood or preformed briquettes), wood, or propane gas. Food is cooked using direct radiant heat. Some outdoor grills include a cover so they can be used as smokers or for grill-roasting/barbecue. The suspended metal grate is often referred to as a gridiron.
Outdoor grilling on a gridiron may be referred to as "barbecue", though in US usage, the term barbecue refers to the cooking of meat by indirect heat and smoke. Barbecue has several meanings and may also be used to refer to the grilled food itself, to a distinct type of cooked meat called Southern barbecue, to the grilling device used to cook the food (a barbecue grill), or to the social event of cooking and eating such food (which may also be called a cook-out or braai).



Charcoal kettle-grilling
Charcoal kettle-grilling refers to the process of grilling over a charcoal fire in a kettle, to the point that the edges are charred, or charred grill marks are visible. Some restaurants seek to re-create the charcoal-grilled experience via the use of ceramic lava rocks or infrared heat sources, offering meats that are cooked in this manner as "charcoal-cooked" or "charcoal-grilled".



Grill-baking
By using a baking sheet pan placed above the grill surface, as well as a drip pan below the surface, it is possible to combine grilling and roasting to cook meats that are stuffed or coated with breadcrumbs or batter, as well as to bake breads and even casseroles and desserts. When cooking stuffed or coated meats, the foods can be baked first on the sheet pan, and then placed directly on the grilling surface for char marks, effectively cooking twice; the drip pan will be used to capture any crumbs that fall off from the coating or stuffing.



Grill-braising [edit]
It is possible to braise meats and vegetables in a pot on top of a grill. A gas or electric grill would be the best choices for what is known as "barbecue-braising" or "grill-braising", or combining grilling directly on the surface and braising in a pot. To braise on a grill, put a pot on top of the grill, cover it, and let it simmer for a few hours. There are two advantages to barbecue-braising: the first is that this method now allows for browning the meat directly on the grill before the braising, and the second is that it also allows for glazing the meat with sauce and finishing it directly over the fire after the braising, effectively cooking the meat three times, which results in a soft textured product that falls right off the bone. This method of cooking is slower than regular grilling but faster than pit-smoking, starting out fast, slowing down, and then speeding up again to finish; if a pressure cooker is used, the cooking time will be much faster.



Indoor grilling
Many restaurants incorporate an indoor grill as part of their cooking apparatus. These grills resemble outdoor grills, in that they are made up of a grid suspended over a heat source. Indoor grills are more likely to use electric or gas-based heating elements, however. Some manufacturers of residential cooking appliances now offer indoor grills for home use, either incorporated into a stovetop or as standalone electric devices.



Stove-top pan grilling

Stove-top pan grilling is an indoor cooking process that uses a grill pan - a cooking pan similar to a frying

A grill pan

pan but with raised ridges to emulate the function or look of a gridiron. In pan grilling, heat is applied directly to the food by the raised ridges, and also indirectly by heat radiating off the lower pan surface via the stove-top flame. Stove-top grill pans can also be used to put sear marks on meat before it is finished via overhead radiant heat. When cooking leaner meats, oil is often applied to the pan ridges to aid in food release.
Some griddles designed for stove-top use also incorporate raised ridges in addition to a flat cooking area. These are either on half of the cooking surface, or, in the case of reversible two-sided griddles, on one side with the flat surface on the other.

Grilled Bratwurst, Hot Dogs, Burgers w/ Grilled Mustard Potato Salad and Baked Beans

Today's Menu: Grilled Bratwurst, Hot Dogs, Burgers w/ Grilled Mustard Potato Salad and Baked Beans





A sort of cool morning turned into a beautiful Spring Day, about 75 degrees today! Perfect out, perfect for

grilling. For dinner tonight I grilled out for everyone, grilling  Brats, Dogs, Burgers along with Grilled Mustard Potato Salad and Baked Beans.





I used Queen City Deliciously Lean Bratwurst, Ball Park Smoked White Turkey Franks, and made a couple of Burgers Patties out of some Ground Chuck for Mom and Dad. Served the everything on Aunt Millie's Light Buns. I made a side of Mustard Potato Salad (recipe below) and Bush's Baked Beans. For dessert later a Healthy Choice Chocolate Swirl Frozen Yogurt.





Grilled Mustard Potato Salad


INGREDIENTS:
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
3 red potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook potatoes 10 to 15 minutes, until tender but firm. Drain, and transfer to a medium bowl.
3. In a small bowl, mix canola oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, celery salt, and pepper. Toss 1/2 the mixture with the potatoes.
4. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a sheet of foil, and place on the prepared grill. Turning occasionally, cook 7 to 9 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from heat, and cool. Toss with remaining oil mixture to serve.




Bush's Homestyle Baked Beans

Savor the taste of down-home flavor. Our Homestyle Baked Beans combine a tangy sauce, specially cured bacon and brown sugar to make your meal a mouth-watering success.


Homestyle Baked Beans
Serving size: 1/2 cup (130g)
Amount per size:
Calories: 140
Calories from fat: 10
% Daily Value*
2%Total Fat 1g
0%Saturated Fat 0g
 Trans Fat 0g
0%Cholesterol 0mg
23%Sodium 550mg
 Potassium
10%Total Carbs 29g
20%Dietary Fiber 5g
 Sugars 12g
 Protein 6g


http://www.bushbeans.com/en_US/products/details.jsp?upc=3940001592



Queen City Deliciously Lean Bratwurst  
Offered in skinless and cased types, all Queen City Sausage Bratwurst are very mild sausage steam-cooked and expertly adorned with tasty spices, kicky onions, and super fresh parsley.

Plus their only 100 calories, 6 grams of Fat, and 4 carbs.

Craft sausage is made by a second-generation maker, with fresh onions, garlic, and spices that are truly from the earth. A craft sausage-maker uses authentic, time-honored recipes and only the finest ingredients available to bring them to life. A craft sausage is stuffed by sausage specialists who pour their time and artistry into their handiwork, one small batch at a time.

Queen City Sausage delivers only craft sausage. In fact, we take seriously the history of great sausage-making and are dedicated to the art and science that make it so. We are loyal to the recipes – the careful balance of spices and meats and the critical baking times, temperatures, and conditions – that make sausage first-rate. We are thoughtful in our selection of top-notch ingredients. And we are proud to be old-fashioned in our quality-driven devotion.

The result of our single-minded commitment to craft sausage-making is a line of truly superior sausages, lunchmeats, and premium ham and roast beef made by dedicated craftspeople, a collection of edible artistry. The result is delicious. The result is the best-selling craft sausage in the region. The result is Queen City Sausage.


http://www.queencitysausage.com/