With summer just around the corner and the weather finally beginning to warm up, it will soon be time to break out the grill and invite all your friends over for those delicious BBQs. But if you are trying to stand out among all of those 4th of July feasts, you need to change up those boring old recipes.
Cheese Stuffed Burgers
Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Cheese Options:
8 ounces blue cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
8 ounces Pimiento Cheese Spread, recipe follows
8 ounces mozzarella, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 hamburger buns
Serving Options:
Lettuce
Sliced tomatoes
Grilled sweet onions
Sliced pickles
Pimiento Cheese Spread:
Two 7-ounce jars canned, sliced pimientos, drained
Three 10-ounce bricks sharp Cheddar, finely grated
1 cup mayonnaise
White sandwich bread
Directions
Mix the ground beef, salt and pepper in a large bowl and form the mixture into 8 equal-size balls. Press a cube of desired cheese into the center of each ball and cover completely with meat. Form the balls into hamburger patties, about 1/4-inch thick. Grill burgers until desired doneness. Top with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles as desired on a toasted bun.
Pimiento Cheese Spread:
Place the drained pimientos in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Using an electric mixer, combine the pimientos and cheese, beating until smooth. Beat in the mayonnaise. Spread on slices of white sandwich bread while the mixture is room temperature. Trim the bread crusts and cut the sandwiches into triangles.
If you are sick of the plain old burgers, why not try something new and little bit fun? Instead of putting the cheese on top of the burger, mix it up by stuffing the cheese inside. You can experiment with tons of different cheeses and don’t even necessarily have to use the ingredients or recipes listed above. Instead, use your favorite burger recipes and stuff them! You will be amazed at what this one little change will do to your menu.
Cold Sesames Noodles with Summer Vegetables
Ingredients
1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon Sriracha (hot chili sauce)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
8 cups matchstick-size pieces mixed summer vegetables (such as carrots, radishes, cucumbers, and bell peppers; about 1 1/4 pounds)
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
8 ounces buckwheat soba (Japanese-style noodles) or vermicelli noodles
1 cup (loosely packed) cilantro leaves with tender stems
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon black or white sesame seeds
Directions
Whisk first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add vegetables; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente; drain. Run noodles under cold water to cool them; drain well and add to bowl with vegetables. Add cilantro and scallions; season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle sesame seeds over and serve.
Oftentimes the go-to pasta salad at a BBQ comes in some form of macaroni or ziti. Very rarely, though, is the pasta of choice noodles. This recipe is the perfect way to get that light, refreshing pasta salad that everyone craves whiles switching it up a bit. You can even add a little rotisserie chicken if you feel like making your version a bit more carnivorous.
Chocolate Berry Trifle
Ingredients
1 4-serving-size (3.9-ounce) package instant chocolate pudding
1 cup cold water
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 8-ounce containers COOL WHIP, thawed
8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature
2/3 package of Oreo cookies, roughly chopped
1 pint blueberries, blackberries, or a combination of both, washed
1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced
Directions
To prepare the chocolate layer, whisk together the pudding, cold water, and sweetened condensed milk. Refrigerate. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold into the chocolate pudding mixture until well-combined and then refrigerate until ready to use.
To prepare the cream cheese layer, use an electric mixer to whip the cream cheese until it’s light and fluffy. Add the thawed COOL WHIP and whip until light and fluffy and well-combined.
Layer the ingredients in trifle dishes. If using individual dishes, it’s easiest to do a layer of pudding, cookies, strawberries, COOL WHIP/cream cheese, and end with berries. If using one large trifle dish, repeat the layers until you run out of ingredients (or space). Serves 10-12.
As with every meal, the most important part of every BBQ is the dessert. But when it comes to dessert in the summer, you must be careful to not make anything too heavy. This trifle is the perfect mix of chocolate and fruit and the light cool whip makes it perfect for the summer.