Ingredients

Ground Beef/Elk/Bison | 1/3 lb patties

Pineapple Rings | 1 can, or 1 fresh pineapple

Bacon | 1 lb

American Cheese | 12 slices

Pepper jack Cheese | 12 slices

Onion – chopped & griddled | 1 large

Lettuce | 1 head

Tomato | 3 large

Chick Fil A Polynesian Sauce | 1 bottle

Directions

Using your hands, gently mix the ground meat (we used beef & elk) in a medium bowl. Form meat into 1/3lb patties.

Grill pineapple slices until golden grill marks are achieved. Fry bacon in large pan until crisp. Drain bacon fat as desired and add chopped onion to hot pan and cook until perfect.

Cook burgers until desired doneness on a grill of choice: gas, charcoal or even one from George Foreman’s empire all work well. Place a piece of bacon on each and then top with a piece of American cheese & pepper jack cheese to hinge the bacon in place. Top with a grilled pineapple slice and onion and serve on farmhouse rolls spread with Polynesian sauce. Garnish with lettuce and tomato as desired. Serve with an ice cold Cherry Coke, coleslaw and some corn on the cob.

Yield: 12

Prep time: 45 min

Total time: 1 hour

Why this recipe?

Growing up we used to come to LA every summer and attend “Camp Grandma”.
Somewhere around 1999-2001, Aunt Sue made a trip down to the South Bay to be our unofficial camp councilor. She took Kelly and I on some amazing adventures! We went body surfing at Redondo Beach, wandered the Redondo pier for souvenirs to take home (mom still uses the Redondo spoon rest to this day) and ate at every important family spot in the South Bay.

We even got to go to Woody’d Schmorgasburger on PCH, which has since shut down. For anyone who didn’t go to Woody’s, it was the best burger joint you could get a hamburger and then carry it over to a little self-service counter stocked with ketchup, mustard, onions, pickles, salsa, barbecue sauce and more! They also had a self serve ice cream bar, which was amazing before I learned I was allergic to milk!

The most memorable part of our summer with Camp Councilor Aunt Sue was playing the Pulp Fiction soundtrack over and over. Now, Kelly and I were definitely too young to WATCH Pulp fiction, but the soundtrack is an amazing mix of the Ventures playing surf music and classic 60’s jams. Every time The Ventures come on it takes me right back to the South Bay and all the fun we have there!

So this burger is an homage to Wood’s Schmorgasburger and to the Big Kahuna Burger chain seen in Pulp Fiction and other Tarantino movies. With the Polynesian flare of the islands that Sue once inhabited, the Big Kahuna burger is sure to make you smile!

Since that summer, Aunt Sue has always helped and encouraged us to come back to Redondo as often as possible. One year, she couldn’t make it down to visit, so she got me and Kelly a rental car that we took to EVERY place we could think of from Hollywood to Long Beach!

This recipe is a long time family favorite from my great-grandma. She emigrated from Hungary in the early 1900’s with her mother and 8 siblings. With another family with 9 kids, they made the tough journey through Ellis Island to St. Louis to join the fathers who had already come to America to work. It really is quite the story with the 18 children all miraculously being well enough to make it through Ellis Island at the same time. Then on the train trip, the mothers got off the train to get some food for the children and the train left without them. None of them spoke English, but as always told in the family, “panicked mother is a universal language” and they were somehow reunited, and here we are four generations later. Anywho…back to the recipe!

According to my aunt, Great-Grandma always said if you are making this for children; add a little extra sugar to cut the tartness of the vinegar. I never liked traditional potato salad since I am not a huge fan of mayonnaise, but this was something I always looked forward to. I love the crunch the celery and onion added to the soft potatoes. Not to mention, bacon makes everything better! The sweet and sour dressing is a childhood memory that always brings back memories. I remember making it with my grandma and lots of us helping. Always such fun! It is a little time consuming, but worth the effort as it makes a large amount and keeps well. Let us know what you think!

Kelly

“Grandma always used to make this for picnics with fried chicken. I remember when I was too little to like the potato salad, Grandma would leave a few boiled potatoes out for me, and sprinkle them with salt.”

Mary

German Potato Salad

10 Small Potatoes

1 Onion

2 Celery Sticks

2 t. Salt

5 Slices Bacon

1 c. Water

1 c. White Vinegar

4 T. Sugar

2 T. Flour

2 T. Parsley (finely chopped)

Boil potatoes for 45 min. Drain and allow to stand covered for 30 minutes. Chop the bacon, fry until crisp, then drain on paper towels. Pour off half the grease. Add to it water, vinegar, and sugar. Thicken sauce with a slurry of the flour and a couple tablespoons of water. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. It will thin out when mixed with the potatoes. Finely chop the celery and onion.

Slice the slightly cooled potatoes and combine with vegetables and bacon in a LARGE bowl (trust me on this one). Pour the dressing over the potato mixture and mix gently, trying not to break up the potatoes too much. The mixture should be somewhat saucy and will thicken as it cools. Add the chopped parsley. Taste and adjust seasonings. Can be served immediately while warm or made ahead and refrigerated.

Key Lime Pie is the quintessential summer dessert. I’ve read that pastry crust is the original.  Though it seems like graham cracker crust has taken over. At Zest, though, we like gingersnap crust. It’s spicy, fun, a little traditional and a little new.

For the filling, we use the Nellie and Joe’s key lime juice recipe from the back of the bottle. The only thing we do differently is to double it and use as much as you need for your pie plate. There have been too many times that we’ve had to run to the store for another sweetened condensed milk. Has the size of a 9-inch pie plate changed? Not sure, but this is how we compensate.

Gingersnap Crust:

1.5 C gingersnap cookie crumbs

4T butter, melted

2T sugar

1 T Flour

Pinch salt

Mix the dry ingredients together. Pour melted butter over the mixture. It should resemble wet sand. Pat into a 9-inch tart pan or pie pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Do not over back or it gets hard to cut through.

Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Filling (Doubled):

2-14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

6 egg yolks (whites not used)

1cup Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice

Combine milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie crust and bake at 350º for 15 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating. Just before serving, top with freshly whipped cream, or meringue, and garnish with lime slices.

 

We prefer whip cream or whipped coconut cream if you can’t do cream!

Enjoy.

We are almost 8 weeks into this Covid-19 Quarantine and we’re starting to crave some of our favorite foods that we normally dine out for! One of the biggest cravings has been Chinese food. With our favorite take out place closed, I decided to try my hand at Moo Shu. My normal order is Moo Shu Chicken, but this recipe can be done with pork, beef and shrimp too. The great thing about making this dish at home, is using about 1/8 the oil that a normal restaurant would use.  This recipe came out to be about the size of an order of Moo Shu, would feed 4 or 2 for dinner with breakfast leftovers (how we ate it!)

ENJOY!

Moo Shu Filling

Ingredients	Amount
Chicken or pork loin, julienned	1	LB
Sesame oil	1	Tbsp
Soy sauce	1	Tbsp
Corn starch	1	Tbsp
Olive oil	3	Tbsp
Eggs, beat lightly in a small bowl	4
Minced Garlic	2	Tbsp
Minced Ginger	2	Tbsp
Napa or Green Cabbage, shredded	1
Carrot, shredded	4
Shiitake mushrooms, julienned	1	Cup
Scallions, thinly sliced	3
Moo Shu pancake (recipe below)	12	Pieces

1. In a medium bowl combine sesame, soy and corn starch. Add the julienned chicken or pork and marinate 15 minutes.
2. Coat a cast iron or non stick skillet with oil. Over medium-high heat, add the eggs and quickly scramble until they puff up and are cooked through. Set aside
3. Add 2 tablespoons oil to cast iron or non stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken or pork and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat to paper-towel lined plate. Slice cooked meat into strips once cool enough to handle.
4. Add 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, ginger, scallion whites to the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the mushrooms, cabbage, carrots. Cook for 5 minutes until cabbage starts to turn clear. Then add in scrambled eggs, meat and 3 tablespoons of the scallions.
6. To Serve: Place a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Heat the Moo Shu wraps in the dry cast iron pan until they start to get a couple of brown spots. Remove to a plate, top with a spoonful of hoisin sauce, 1-2 teaspoons of fresh scallions and a large spoonful of the moo shu filling. Fold up and enjoy!
7. Hoisin Sauce: 1 tablespoon oil 1 cup hoisin 1/2 lime, juiced Place the oil in a small saucepan. Add hoisin and let simmer 2-3 minutes. Finish with lime juice.

Moo Shu Pancake

Ingredients	Amount
Flour	8	oz
Boiling Water	3/4	cup
Toasted sesame oil	1	tbsp

1. In a bowl, mix the flour and the boiling water with chopsticks or a wooden spoon to combine. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board, gather it into a heap, and knead it until smooth, about 3 min.
2. In a stand mixer, mix the flour and the boiling water with paddle attachment. Once flour and water are combined, changed to dough attachment and knead about 3 min on medium.
3. With dough on a lightly floured board, cover with a towel and let it rest for about 1 hour.
4. Roll the rested dough into a 12-inch log. Cut the log into 12 pieces.
5. With a floured rolling pin, roll each pair into a thin pancake about 7 inches in diameter, flipping the pancake over now and again to roll evenly on both sides. Stack the pancakes as you finish rolling them.
6. In an ungreased cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat, cook the pancakes one at a time. Heat one side until it becomes less opaque and starts to bubble slightly, and just a few brown spots appear, about 1 min. Flip it over and cook it until a few light brown spots appear on the other side, about 30 seconds.

Merry Christmas everyone! For Christmas morning brunch, we were after something savory, that would also help use up some left overs.

For Christmas Eve, our menu included:
Spiral Cut Ham
Rolls from The Silver Spur in Platteville, CO
Oyster Dressing
Oyster Stew
White Castle Dressing
German potato salad
Tamales from Tamales from Heaven in Greeley, CO

One of our Christmas Eve gifts was Tiger Sauce. On our trip to Florida spring of ’18, we had Cuban Sandwiches in Key West and the Tiger Sauce was on every table. Thinking of the best thing to use the new sauce on, I realized we had all the ingredients for an amazing Cuban Sandwich.

A “traditional” Cuban Sandwich includes roast pork, glazed ham, swiss cheese and dill pickles. To substitute the roast pork and swiss cheese, we used bacon, sliced turkey and pepper jack.

Christmas Cuban Sandwich Sliders

Recipe:

Ingredients:
Rolls
Regular yellow mustard
Dill pickles
Spiral Cut ham – chopped
1 lb bacon
Sliced Turkey
Pepper-jack cheese
1-ounce butter

Directions:
Cut Rolls in half. On the topside of the bread spread 1-ounce of mustard, evenly across. Then place 4 pickles on top of the mustard.

We used our own jarred pickles and an electric slicer to get the thin slice. You can also use a mandoline or buy sliced pickles. Place 1 slice of cheese on top of the pickles.

Cook bacon, preferably in cast iron skillet, and warm chopped ham and sliced turkey. Assemble meats, turkey first, ham second, bacon third. Join both halves of the sandwich. You are now ready to grill your Cuban sandwich.

Use a sandwich grill if you have one, a waffle iron or two cast iron pans if not. We used our two cast iron pans, Spread butter or spray on top of the bread evenly. Fill a Cast iron skillet 2/3 with water and bring to boil. At the same time heat a Cast iron griddle to med-high heat.

Place sandwich on griddle and press down sandwiches. Leave sandwich in the grill until bread turns to a golden brown, cheese melts and top is crisp, flipping once. Approximate time is 8 to 10 minutes. After the sandwich is crispy and the cheese has melted, remove the sandwich carefully and enjoy! If cooking several, keep in oven on warm until ready to serve. Pair with leftover stuffing, potato salad and a bloody mary.

We are having a bit of a lazy Sunday evening with another rainstorm moving through Colorado tonight (hooray!!) I was just thinking about this lovely gem I made one day; a purple artichoke. It was so pretty sitting on the shelf that I just couldn’t leave it. I think artichokes are great to begin with. They are a lot of work to eat and present a challenge to get a little reward, but so worth it. Artichokes are one of the few foods that we actually use the microwave to cook (even if it seems like sacrilege.) Let me tell you, it is super easy and you will be enjoying your artichoke in mere minutes. In our experience, this method is more consistent than boiling.

First, wash and clean the artichoke. Trim off the top to remove most of the points at the tips of the leaves. (You can trim the leaves you miss with scissors if you feel like it, though when it is just us we don’t.) Wrap the whole artichoke in plastic wrap and place in the microwave on high for 4-6 minutes or until the leave easily pull away from the artichoke. You can test it after four minutes, but be careful when removing the plastic wrap because that is some hot steam! After the artichoke is done, allow to cool while you melt a couple tablespoons of butter. Add a pinch of salt, fresh cracked black pepper, a bit of thyme, if you like, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to the melted butter for dipping. Serve immediately or cold later, it will be delicious either way!

PS – If you have never cleaned an artichoke, once you have eaten all of the leaves, remove the soft center leaves and you will see the fibrous choke. Take a spoon and carefully remove the spiney part and enjoy the heart.

Watermelon Agua Fresca

On a quick trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, we were greeted at our hotel with a lovely little glass of Watermelon Agua Fresca. What a delightful way to start our vacation! This refreshing drink was also on the menu almost everywhere we went, so I knew that for the hottest summer days, I would have to make my own at home. Spanish for “Fresh Water,” this is the perfect way to quench your thirst on a hot day. This version is non-alcoholic, but you could easily add some vodka to kick things up or even tequila for a margarita version. This is a super easy drink for guests or just to keep in your fridge for yourself. Enjoy!

Watermelon Agua Fresca

3-4 Cups of Fresh Watermelon
2 Sprigs of Mint, leaves removed
1 Cup Water

Combine above ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve over ice, garnished with mint. Top off with a bit of sparkling water to make it more festive.

Optional: add a squeeze of lime or some agave if you feel like it needs some additional sweetener. If you get a good watermelon, you won’t need it! Feel free to make it into a cocktail as well!

Back in 2011, Kelly took a trip to Islamorada, FL for a friends wedding and even posted about it!

This spring, we followed her suggestion and visited a post hurricane Irma Florida Keys for a week of fun in the sun.

We stayed at a rental house on the Islamorada Key, fished for tarpon and amberjack, snorkled with some amazing sea life and drank rum.

Stay tuned for road trip recipes and recommendations from Colorado to the Keys, our fresh caught fish, key lime pie finds and favorite rum in the Keys. Plus a whole post of Hemingway Cats from Key West!