Wet Burritos

I’m not sure what it is but I’ve had little desire to cook this week. Maybe it’s because my girls are at camp and I have been at baseball every night with my son. Last night I was home but my son was out and my wife spent the evening getting her hair done. Still nothing. Father’s Day was spent on the road dropping the kids off at camp so we just picked up some ribs from the local market. I threw them on the grill with a salad. That is the most cooking I’ve done all week.

If you are lucky enough to send your kids to a good summer camp, it is well worth it. Our kids have attended Springhill christian camps for years. They have a location in Seymour, IN and Evart, MI. It is your typical summer camp with horseback riding, lake activities, and zip lines. My summer camps never had zip lines! They have a blast, in a very loving environment. They get back in a couple of days so maybe I will get my enthusiasm back for cooking. We miss them very much, but happy they can have this time away to grow and learn.

A few weeks back I made one of my kids favorites. Wet Burritos. If you have never had wet burritos you and your family are in for a treat. I cooked this for the blog and made a double batch to freeze the second batch. They freeze great.. Since I am not cooking this week, I grabbed the second batch from the freezer for dinner. Always great to have extra meals frozen and ready to go..

Charlotte Royale

Last month I introduced you to The Daring Kitchen and the Daring Baker challenge which I participated in. Last month the challenge was to make Lamingtons which is a kind of snack cake from Australia. So if you are still wondering what the heck is The Daring Kitchen/Bakers here is a little synopsis?

The Daring Kitchen is the home of The Daring Bakers and The Daring Cooks. The premise of both groups is to create one recipe each month, given to us by a monthly host. We all create the same exact recipe and then post about it on our personal blogs on a designated date.

This months challenge was to make a Charlotte. The challenge comes from Rebecca at BakeNQuilt.com.  She has been a member of the Daring Bakers since 2011. She introduced all of Daring Bakers how to make a classic Charlotte Royale and Charlotte Russe! Here is how Rebecca describes the Charlotte.

Baked Spanish Rice

There are many ways to cook rice. Steam, boil, saute or fry. In fact, WikiHow has a great article on 12 ways to cook rice. But one of my favorite ways to cook rice is to bake it. This might be a new technique to you, but it is a very simple way to cook rice with consistent results.

Mini Blueberry Mascarpone Muffins

Do you need a recipe the kids can make dad for Father’s Day? This is an easy homemade blueberry muffin recipe that uses mascarpone cheese for extra creaminess. I also had mascarpone in the fridge and needed to use it; so why not make muffins. If you do not have mascarpone, you can also use cream cheese. (See below)

I first made these muffins for my daughters soccer team, a few weeks back.

On tournament weekends we usually bring breakfast for the kids and the parents. The girls took second place in the tournament. Maybe my mini muffins slowed them down.

Dad will love these muffins for his Fathers Day breakfast and kids will love the chance to show off their cooking skills.

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Burgers

Fathers Day is coming up this weekend and I wanted to get this awesome burger recipe posted so you can make them for your father or husband. It’s a great twist on two favorites; Philly Cheese Steaks and Burgers.

My father passed away two years ago after battling heart disease, for over 30 years. He lived a long time with a disease that killed most of his brothers at a much earlier age. My dad was a good christian man, who would help anyone and was always there for my mother, who is blind. I think he lived as long as he did because he felt the need to take care of her.

I’m also lucky enough to have a great father-n-law, John. John has always been very supportive and a great help on projects around the house. As I was once a builder and re-modeler, we usually make a pretty good team with projects my wife wants us to complete.

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John has a gift for building furniture, which I do not possess. He has made many of the pieces in our home. For Christmas, this year, he made us a built-in entertainment center for our great room. Last week

Cherry Habanero BBQ Sauce

I’m sure everyone has had one of those weeks. I’ve had one of those weeks, maybe too. Can’t seem to get anything accomplished and cooking sounds like work. Not good when you are a food blogger. Then our refrigerator goes out on Tuesday. In truth, it has been dying a slow death since February. I am just to cheap to buy a new one until it is completely broke. Well there was no doubt that it flat-lined on Tuesday. “Hey (No Name Company) should a compressor die after 8 years?”  When you open up the freezer at 6:00 am and the ice cream is soft and when you touch the fridge, it is hot: you have a problem. I don’t make big decision easily, so trying to find the best appliances and price became a full-time job the past few days. But of course the new toys can’t be delivered until next Tuesday. Lucky I have a second fridge in the garage and a full size freezer in the basement.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Fire Sticks with Cherry Habanero BBQ Sauce

This is the fantastic recipe to go along with my  Cherry Habanero BBQ Sauce. I was a little long-winded with that post so I will keep this one more focused on the food, instead of my rants. Check it out, it’s a good read and you will learn how to make an awesome sauce. This would be a great dish to make next weekend for Father Day..

I am very lucky this week to be co-hosting Fiesta Friday #72 with Naina @ Spice in the City. She has a great blog with an international flavor.  I’ll be bringing this to Fiesta Friday number 72; Fiesta Friday is an ongoing blogging party put on by Angie of The Novice Gardener. Stop by today and bring your virtual dish. 

If you’re a blogger and you haven’t yet joined in the Fiesta Friday fun, what are you waiting for? It’s a good way to share recipes with a great group of bloggers and show off your great creations. It’s easy and here’s The Guidelines – just make sure to link properly on your blog and Fiesta Friday’s so we can find you. And if you’re not a blogger, I know you’ll enjoy seeing all the posts and maybe you could be featured. Happy FF!!

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Ingredients:

Bacon and Egg Bake with Sausage Gravy

Okay so the kids have been out of school for over a week now. I am trying to figure out a schedule that works for me and them because it usually takes me a few weeks to get used to a new routine. Of course they are already bored and letting me know there is nothing to eat in the house or all the food is the “same old same old”. I was tired of hearing them complaining the other morning, so I came up with this quick breakfast bake using ingredients I had on hand. There are many versions of this recipe on the web, but none topped with sausage gravy. Yum!!

The great part about this recipe is you can add any ingredients your kids like. They could even make this themselves. Quick and easy and maybe the kids will not complain for a couple of days.

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Bacon Mushroom Mini Pies

A few weeks ago I posted my recipe for Mini Strawberry Pies. It has been my most succesful post since I started dadwhats4dinner.com. In the post I mentioned my inspiration, for the pie shells, was a technique I used to make Bacon Mushroom Mini Pies for our monthly gourmet dinner group. Our theme for the past year has been celebrity chefs. This month was Anne Burrell from The Food Network.  In her recipe she used mini muffin tins. I could not get this to work and used regular sized muffin tins with great results.

This is a fairly simple recipe and could be made ahead of time. Make the crusts and filling and assemble just before ready to serve. Reheat for a few minutes in a 350°F just before serving if desired.

I will be starting a monthly series on how to host your own monthly gourmet dinner group soon.

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Prep Time: 20 min.    Cook Time: 40 min.      Total Time: 1 hr.

Servings: 16-18

Smoked Meatloaf

I use my Weber grill all year-long but really crank up the usage in the summertime. I am always experimenting with adapting recipes for the grill that I usually make in the oven. This meatloaf is a great example. I know, I know, you are saying, meatloaf on the grill, Quinn’s gone nuts. Well that might be true (the kids are out of school for the summer after-all) but wait it gets even better. Not only is the meatloaf cooked on the grill, but I also smoke it. The meatloaf turns out very moist, with a nice char on the top and a suitable smokey flavor.

If you do not have a smoker box, just grill as directed. Basically I am using my grill as an oven by cooking the meatloaf, at a low temperature, with indirect heat. It is also important to leave the grill lid closed as much as possible while cooking. To grill the meatloaf I used two disposable aluminium loaf pans. (TIP: Poke a few holes in the bottom of the loaf pans to allow grease to drain off)

I served the meatloaf with my Roasted Veggie Hash; click here for recipe.

Be on the look out for my new weekly feature “Summertime Cooking with the Kids”.

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Enjoy!

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Total Time: 2hrs 20 min      Prep Time: 20 min       Cook Time: 2 hrs

Servings: around 12