Finally I can get this post up! I’ve been wanting to post about these gorgeous burgers ever since I made them a few weeks ago.  They turned out fab and I’ve been dreaming about them ever since.  Of course, true to Columbus’s personality, the weather turned cold again and grill time has not happened.

I love chicken burgers!  And turkey burgers! And also burgers made from veggies and beans.  I just really like burgers and while I can dig on a beef burger, my heart belongs to poultry or veggies.  I had been wanting to make chicken burgers for a while and had an idea running through my head about adding wine to the burgers.

There was the rub.

Ground chicken is already really moist and not “dry” like a ground beef.  Ground chicken breast is a little bit “dryer” but not by much and I personally like a mix of…

Scott and I love seafood.  Like LOVE it, in what probably results in something verging on ridiculous.  I try to make sure that we have seafood at least twice a week since that is our preferred “animal” protein source.  Tuesdays we have fish so that leaves another day free for whatever.

And while I don’t eat a lot of meat, one thing I love is sausage.  My love for it would be just a few levels down from seafood.  Seafood I would eat everyday if you gave it to me, sausage I have to be in the mood for.  I swear I’m not trying to make a joke with that statement.

Sometimes those two wants just happen to collide with each other.

I will tell you that because I love food so much, I am constantly thinking about it.  I would guess this is the way most foodies behave.  Wondering…

It’s November gang and that means that Thanksgiving is just around the corner!  Last year, OHC brought you Thanksgiving related Tuesday Tips all the way up till the week of Thanksgiving.  It was so fun that I think we should do it again!  Last year we discussed the benefits of brining your bird and if you are still not on the brining bandwagon, what are you waiting for?!  Get it!

Today’s tip is also about brining because there’s always more to learn!

The basic base for a brine is water right?  But brining liquid doesn’t have to be just water based, oh no friends, you can use anything.  A list of things I’ve used in brining include:

• Wine
• Beer (hellz yeah!)
• Apple Cider
• Unsweetened cranberry juice

All that sounds pretty tasty right?  And it totally is!  A brine consists of:

• Liquid
• Salt
• Sugar
• Seasonings and miscellaneous veggies

Some people don’t use sugar when they brine but that’s not a practice I subscribe to, so for the purposes of this post, we will…

I have seen people use cocoa powder before in savory recipes and it always interested me.  However, I’ve never been inspired enough nor had that spark of creativity to come up with a use for it till now.  I was watching some Food TV one Sunday morning and at the same time thinking about what I can make for dinner that evening.  I like to create sort of traditional Sunday Suppers for us and when the warm weather arrives, both of us love when Sunday Supper includes grilling.

I started going through the inventory sheet in my mind of things I had on hand that I could use with cocoa powder.  One of my favorite combinations is dark chocolate and dried cranberries.  Normally I’m not much of a fruit + chocolate person but there is just something about the slight bitterness of dark chocolate paired with the sweet tartness of cranberry that makes me sigh with delight.

I decided to work with…

I have been intrigued by the beer can chicken technique ever since I first saw it done.  At first I thought it seemed a little silly and then I realized that perhaps those folks were on to something.  Just maybe this would be an awesome idea.  However, when I saw it done it typically involved a smoker or using a grill for hours on end.

Those things did not appeal to me.  I just sort of stored the concept in the back of my mind.  Time had passed and if this were a video blog I would insert some sort of musical montage at this point but since it’s not a video blog, you’ll have to imagine one.  Be sure to include jazz hands, headbands, and 80s music.

Trust me it’s fitting because the person who brought the beer can chicken concept back to the forefront of my mind was Guy Fieri.  Bling, bling!  I saw him make beer can…

When I was in middle school it was the 80s.  Hair bands and mall teen pop queens were in their prime.  And the thing to do back then was hit up the skating rink on Friday night.  Especially when you lived in a super small town and there was nothing else for you to do at that age.  The skating rink was a happening place and I taught myself how to skate.  And backwards skate.  And skate going around the corners with my feet turned out, heels touching.  My favorite thing to do was skate backwards and stop with my stoppers coming to a sliding halt.  My skates were white with blue wheels and a blue stopper.  And Velcro because when you are at the skating rink, it is all about the skating and not about wasting time lacing up your skates.  Oh and secretly crushing on the boys who preferred video games until the couples skate was announced.  Eventually…

Alright the first recipe of 2009!  Woo!  I would have had this up sooner but there were technical difficulties to be dealt with but everything is peachy now.

How are we all doing post-holiday?  We’re doing pretty darn good over here at the HQ.  Snackies were indulged in but not embarrassingly so.  Or at least I think so, it was the holidays and wine was involved which means it’s possible I’m forgetting something.  My big question is, do we have room for more snacks?

Yes!

Excellent my friends.  Here’s the deal, because my site was still new around the holidays my theme related stuff was just not happening.  One of my 2009 goals is to be more on the ball and make sure that doesn’t happen again.  Yes the holidays are over but there is still one more big thing that people usually get together for so they can party, eat, drink, and yell obscenities.  It’s just like Christmas really.

Naturally I’m referring to…

I came up with this idea for a marinade based off of a dipping sauce I make that has much of the same elements. While we were having the dipping sauce one day (Don’t worry, I’m sure it will be something that will eventually make it’s way here) I realized that if I beefed up the sauce a bit, I could turn it into a marinade. I played around and came up with a marinade that ended up being one of our favorite ways to have chicken.

In this recipe I use chicken thighs because it takes to the marinade well and we like the juiciness of that cut of meat. But you could do this with any of the other cuts as well. In fact, I think using it on wings would make an awesome little snack for a get-together or game nite gathering (hrm, I’m going to file that idea away for future use myself!).

Andrea’s…