Tag Archives: recipes

Best Turkey Burger Recipe Ever!

Vacationing with family is the best. Not only are you making great family memories like these:

You also are privy to how the other half of the family lives. You get new obsessions (thanks Aunt Karen for the non-stop Settlers of Catan marathons!), but you also get great new recipes.

Everyone knows that summer is the perfect time for burgers. We are girls who love a good burger, but we also like to fit into the bathing suits we bought at the beginning of the season by the end of it. Special thanks to Erin’s brother-in-law Dan for cooking up a special turkey burger recipe that is the perfect combination of delicious and good-for-our-“bottom”-lines. It’s easy and inexpensive too.

Ingredients:

One pound lean ground turkey
4-6 white/cremini mushrooms (you can be creative here and use your favorite but you will need about 3 ounces) *diced very very fine
1/2 small white, yellow or red onion *diced very, very fine
2 Tablespoons Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

Steps:

1. Dice the mushrooms very, very fine.

2. Dice the onions very, very fine. You can go so far as to mince the onion but don’t try to mince mushrooms. They get weird and pasty if you do that.

If you haven’t guessed, the dicing is the key to this recipe. You really want to infuse the flavor of the onion and the mushroom without making them take center stage. Their job here is mainly to help moisten the turkey burger AND give it full fat flavor and texture without the full fat of regular beef.

If you are confused about the difference between mincing and dicing, mincing makes less uniform, smaller, more irregularly shaped pieces while dicing produces more uniform little cubes between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Need a visual? Check out the great picture on this site.

3. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl with your hands.

4. Pat into 4 patties. Unlike beef, you don’t need to worry about over-handling because of all of the good stuff you added to the mix. Mix, pat, and you are good to go.

5. Cook over medium high heat, 4-5 minutes per side, until thoroughly cooked through. These are really great fried up in a cast-iron skillet, so if you have one of those, give that cooking method a try.

These are so delicious they are worth every second dicing and mincing. Enjoy!

Tastiest Turkey Burger #recipe Chock full of flavor

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7 Delicious Summer Recipes to Be Excited About

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We’re summer girls, so we are super-excited to say this: Summer is here! Even if our kids are a little confused, we know exactly what this means: food, fun, and lots of free time!

We need good eats to power us through all this fun!

In addition to pulling out the flip-flops and trading in our jam-packed schedules for some lazy-hazy days, we are also psyched to get our summer eats on! These recipes are perfect for any day of the season. So whether we are chilling out after any of our adventures in surf and sand, catching up with old friends, or just enjoying a lovely evening at home, these 7 delicious summer recipes showcase the best of the season and are a surefire hit every time.

1. Caprese Salad-on-a-Stick

This is one of Erin’s favorite summer potluck dishes. She takes it to nearly every party and it gets gobbled up in no time flat. These are super-easy to assemble and deliver big on flavor, but they are best with fresh in-season tomatoes and basil. So pull up a chair, put on your favorite tunes, and get toothpicking.

2. Red Sangria

Ellen dreamed up this lovely cocktail to complement all of the yummy eats she serves at her annual Labor Day party. It is so good you’ll want to make it for special occasions all year long, but this IS summer’s drink with all of the fresh fruit and its reputation as the most perfect chilled cocktail ever. So grab this recipe for your own summer shindig.

3. Watermelon Salsa

This salsa tastes like summer in a bowl which means that when you make it out of season, it tastes like . . . well, a refrigerated truck from Sausalito. Fresh watermelon is one of the keys to this nearly perfect recipe for salsa. So vow to make some this summer. It’s a promise you’ll be glad you kept.

4. Whiskey Sour Slush

Erin’s family keeps a batch in the freezer all summer long. It’s the perfect frozen drink and our friends request big batches for all summer parties. Now we are sharing her dad Ed’s recipe for all the world to see. Just make sure that you thank him next time you see him around. We actually DO make this drink year round, but it just tastes the best on a hot day in the summer. Go figure.

5. Eastern Shore Crab Cakes with a Twist

We’re both Maryland girls, so we grew up eating the blue crabs every summer, but Ellen is a legit Eastern Shore chick. This recipe might cause a minor uproar as she deviates from the traditional much-beloved recipe, but it’s such a delicious variation that we think you’ll agree that she is more than forgiven for taking her liberties.

6. Steamed Crabs

But we like our crabs straight up too. Whether you flavor them with a little Old Bay or a little Kosher Salt and Cayenne Pepper, a crab feast is the epitome of a Maryland summer. . . just make sure they’re steamed. Boiling? ::shudder::

And if you are old enough to hold a crayon, you are going learn how to pick your own crabs. Even if your Mom and Dad moved you to Pittsburgh.

7. Gazpacho

We are just gonna say it out loud: Tomatoes have got one season and this is it. When they have to travel from afar to get to your table, they get all petulant and put out and don’t taste anything like their wonderful, flavorful cousins who ripened on your vine this summer. If your garden is overflowing with these gems, then we can help you spin your gold into something really useful . . . like gazpacho.

Make sure you make some of these before it’s too late!

-Erin and Ellen

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Easy Last Minute Super Bowl Party!

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If you are reading this right now, you, like us have not thought about Sunday’s festivities until this very moment. With homework and travel teams and field trips and snow days and having to clothe and feed people EVERY SINGLE DAY while the Polar Vortex numbs your brain, things like the Super Bowl can be forgotten.

But we love watching football and we love hanging with our families, so the Super Bowl is a perfect time to do both. This menu is a procrastinator’s dream because it is quick, easy, and expandable so you’re set whether you invite the whole neighborhood over or just need to feed your own fun-sized crew.

But this is not just any game, it’s a SUPER game and that calls for something super special. We found this awesome Ballot Sheet that will keep everyone engaged in the pigskin party. With categories like “Numbers of Sacks” snuggled up with “Does Bruno Mars Wear a Fedora?” there is something for everyone. Print them out for the whole gang.

If you’re feeling even more ambitious because you saved so much time using our recipes, you can print out these free Super Bowl Bingo Cards. They really are worth the effort of loading the printer with paper. And if you still haven’t run out of ink (this must mean you DON’T live in Ellen’s house), check out these fun Rate The Commercials Signs.

Okay, time’s ticking away. This an easy Super Bowl party, but it’s not a miracle. Let’s just get to the grub, shall we?

So first the APPETIZERS . . .

Lazy Girl’s Black Bean Cream Cheese Dip

You know what? Be a hero and make a double batch from the start.

This dip has four ingredients: cream cheese, black beans, salsa, and shredded cheese. The most involved step is draining the black beans. We have found it ups the appeal to use gourmet salsa, but really that’s like saying the red convertible made the Homecoming Queen even more popular. This dip is always the first to go. Just make sure you buy enough tortilla chips because people have been known to clean the dish out with a spoon. Or their tongues. And no one wants to see that.

Full printable recipe

Ellen’s Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ellen makes this all of the time, but there is still no picture because it goes too quickly! The secret to the scrumptious-ness of this dip is cooking the chicken in the crock pot the day before or earlier in the day. You MUST cook the chicken this way to get raves; if you just use plain shredded chicken, we can’t be responsible for the yawns you will incite.

And now the recipe is even better. Ellen use to recommend a baking step, but that step has been punted. Now, we do EVERY step in the crock pot. Maybe “lazy” should be in the title of this recipe, too.

Full printable recipe

On to the MAIN COURSE . . .

All right, so everyone is wowed by the appetizers. Time to kick the laziness up a notch.

Erin: How did we go from “easy” to “lazy”?

Ellen: Truth in advertising?

Erin: Let’s call it what it really is–SMART.

Ellen: Whatever. Let’s just get to it.

The Smartest Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Lazy or smart? Poe-tay-toe, Pu-tah-toe.

There will be no printable recipe , because you’re a smartie and we believe in you.

Three ingredients: 5 – 8 pound pork tenderloin, package of dry onion soup mix, and one 16.9 oz bottle of Coke.

Throw it in the crock pot and let cook for at least 7 hours. Shred the meat with a fork.

You can do it!

Ellen: Alright, we may be lazy, but we can’t throw health completely to the wind. Gotta have some veggies.

Erin: See! That’s smart!! Seriously, we should drop the lazy.

Ellen: Easy, lazy, smart . . . once again, whatever. Although this menu is starting to sound more like a conflicted valedictorian.

Crispy Colorful Vinaigrette Coleslaw

Best Cole Slaw EVER!

This coleslaw is the best, because it doesn’t have a drippy, creamy dressing. It perfectly tops the pulled pork on a bun or takes the heat away from the Buffalo Chicken Dip. The recipe calls for some chopping of vegetables, but if you want a ~~lazier~~ smarter version, you can just dump a bag of shredded cabbage, a bag of broccoli slaw, and a bag of shredded carrots in the bowl and call it a day.

Full printable recipe

Some Kind Of Awesome Creamy Chicken Salsa Soup

This is the definition of crowd-pleaser.

Another option play would be this fabulous soup. If you’re already cooking the chicken for the buffalo dip, why not just double it? Even if you don’t want to serve this at the game, you can have dinner ready for Monday because as we mentioned before, the feeding NEVER ends. Now that we think about it, maybe you really should save this soup for the next day because it is SO good people will never leave your house.

Full printable recipe

Can’t forget about DESSERT . . .

Oreo and Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

You can whip these up in minutes to be declared the MVP of all time of all Super Bowl parties. Yes, they are that good. Brownie mix, Oreos, and peanut butter: three ingredients that make your taste buds go boom!

Full printable recipe

May the Odds Ever Be in the Favor of the Team You Want to Win!

(Our teams are out of it so we can be generous like that.)

-Ellen and Erin

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Oops, Ellen Pintershizzed Again: Beverage Edition 2.0

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Pinterest, how we really do love thee! You make us laugh with funny little ecards like this:

Check out our board of funny “Snorts“

You send traffic to our blog from our pins like this:

Read all about it.

And you inspire Ellen to complete projects like this:

A Guide For Procrastinators On How To Complete a Pinterest Worthy Project

Unfortunately, you also dupe Ellen into abusing her friends on New Year’s Eve with swill like this:

What??

Erin: Oh sweet sprinkles, I had hoped I would never see the Kahlua Float Fail again. Champagne and ice cream?! Gack.

Ellen: All I can say is I was wooed by this lovely picture. And it would have at least presented better if you had some darn flutes instead of those tacky plastic cups.

Erin: But I had nothing to do with you using caramel jimmies instead of chocolate. To be fair, that picture looks tempting and you usually are pretty good at picking out recipes.

Ellen: It ‘s kind of a super power of mine . . .

Erin: That, and modesty.

Ellen: ANYWAY, the root beer floats I made for the kids were yummy.

Erin: It’s hard to mess up a root beer float, although I guess you could have used mint ice cream or something . . . you know, if Pinterest told you to.

Ellen: Funny. I do have to admit, I was Pintershizzed. Lucky for you, I wasn’t afraid to splash it all over my friends.

Read the whole Pintershizz series here.

Erin: But you did have a recent tirumph. Those Crockpot Pumpkin Spice Lattes you brought to my Halloween bash were great.

Ellen: They WERE good and doesn’t Mary look adorable serving them up?

Check out the recipe.

Ellen: But didn’t you hear the complaints that I used, gasp, caffeinated coffee? Apparently most of us are so old that we can’t consume caffeine after 2 pm. I have no such problem, but maybe I just cultivate a superior level of exhaustion.

Erin: I’m not sure that is brag-worthy.

Ellen: Well, that is not the Pintershizz anyway. THIS is where I, and I alone, got Pintershizzed.

Gack. Bakind soda and vingar came to the rescue.

Erin: What is THAT?

Ellen: That is the bottom of my crockpot AFTER I had already scrubbed it out twice. And I’m talking the bottom of the cooking unit. The warm and toasty latte that sloshed between the pottery crock and the metal heating part baked to a lacquer-like finish worthy of Chinese cabinetry. Apparently liquid doesn’t transport well in a crockpot.

Erin: That is an understatement.

Ellen: It took multiple cycles of baking soda and vinegar to get that nastiness clean. Hey, maybe I’ll get my revenge on Pinterest by pinning that disgusting picture.

Erin: I think you need to work on your revenge plots. How about we just tell people to follow us on Pinterest because we have a whole board of great libations?

Ellen: Fine. But I’m still pinning it.

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Move Over, Pumpkin! Apple Is The New Star Around Here

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'Tis the season for apple and pumpkin and we have the best recipes for you including the most delicious apple cake you have ever tasted! Apple is the new star around here! Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

We are not indifferent to the allure of the fabulous pumpkin. In fact, we fall under its spell every autumn, mostly because it means we get to whip up these favorites for our family again.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

Click for the full printable recipe.

Mini Pumpkin Sage Balls

Click for the full printable recipe.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Click for the full printable recipe.

Pumpkin Chili

Click for full printable recipe.

These are great recipes one and all. They are so great in fact that they caused us to get a tad emotional about the canned pumpkin that makes all of these recipes not just delicious but ridiculously easy. But last week there was a little parking lot drama that has left us feeling a bit sour on our good buddy pumpkin . . .

Pumpkin Packing Mama Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

You gotta read the story behind this photo! Just click here.

. . . Which means it’s apple’s turn to take center stage! We have the perfect recipe to highlight just how wonderful, moist, and delicious the humble ole apple can be too!

Erin’s mom Peggy has used this recipe longer than she has been parenting Erin, so it has a little over forty years of rave reviews to back up ours. In case you needed another reason to just click the link, this recipe is also so easy that the last time we made it, the six year old assembled it. Yep. That’s the kind of easy we’re talking ’bout. It would be perfect gracing that dessert table at your Thanksgiving table too. Just sayin’.

Check out Peggy’s Most Delicious Apple Cake!

Peggy's Most Delicious Apple Cake - This recipe will become a family favorite! Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Click for the full printable recipe.

And because we told you all about this one, if you were inclined to save us a piece, well, that’s just what good Sisters do.

Happy Baking!

Erin and Ellen

A plethora of pumpkin #recipes and the best apple cake ever!

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Canned Pumpkin Underachievers Unite!

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If you have a stockpile of pumpkins laying around, you COULD rock on with your bad self making your own puree. Organic! Sustainable gardening! Living off the land! We can practically smell your virtue from here.

But don’t break out the old knife and scooper yet. Because, come a little closer, THERE IS A COMPANY THAT DOES ALL OF THE PUREEING WORK FOR YOU. And we swear on a pile of Martha Stewart Living magazines, we can’t tell the difference between fresh pumpkin slop and canned. Don’t you ‘tsk tsk’ at us. We have both traveled the treacherous path of home pureeing and you know what it got us? Not fame and fortune or even rave compliments, that is for sure. It got us slimy and tired and picking seeds out of our hair.

Libby, save us from pumpkin guts!

With The Great Pumpkin as our witness, we will never again raise anything but a can opener to wow our family and friends. From appetizers to dessert, canned pumpkin recipes are not only adequate, they are fabulous!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

A great way to start any day, these cupcakes, er muffins, are nutritious-ish too!

Click for full printable recipe.

Mini Pumpkin Sage Balls

It’s an appetizer! It’s pumpkin! It deserves to be in your belly right now. These savory little yummies are great on their own or dipped in some Honey Dijon dressing. Either way, this is one of those recipes that impresses. Keep it to yourself just how easy they are to make.

Click for full printable recipe.

Pumpkin Chili

How do you follow up pumpkin appetizers? With more pumpkin of course! This chili is hearty, flavorful, and on the mild side. Great for the whole family.

Click for full printable recipe.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

Sure, pumpkin pie is good. We are big fans, but a good crust takes some time and attention. This cake is all the fantastic without any of the fuss. It not only uses canned pumpkin, it uses boxed cake mix, too. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. This cake is so good, Ellen has been known to make it in August and the only reaction she gets is “Hooray!”

Click for the full printable recipe.

Or you could just use your canned pumpkin to make yourself the best loved one in all the land . . .

Erin’s Aunt makes each kid their own pie for Thanksgiving dinner

And we’re not knocking that. At. All.

In fact, we feel like the Wonder Twins: Underachievers Unite! Form of Pumpkin Awesomeness!

The Best AND Easiest Pumpkin #Recipes!!

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See all of our yummy recipes here.

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The Lazy Girl Tailgating Party Plan

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Fall is in the air and you know what that means?

Erin: My tailbone is permanently glued to my carpooling driver’s seat?

Ellen: No! Well yes, but what I was thinking of was FOOTBALL!

Erin: And that makes me think of tailgating.

Ellen: Gone are my college days where that word meant a keg and a bag of donuts.

Erin: I’m sorry to see those days of tight skin gone, but I am happy that we’ve entered the age of more refined parking lot soirees. And pure yumminess. Did the donuts always seem stale to you?

Ellen: I think stale was the best case scenario for those pastries. But let’s not forget, you don’t have to be eating out of the back of a minivan to enjoy this menu.

Erin: These eats are perfect for your living room too . . . even if you’re watching soccer.

Ellen: So whether you’re tailgating, couchgating, or just need dinner, tuck in for some deliciousness.

So first the APPETIZERS . . .