Jack O’Lantern Cheeseburger Pie

I’m not sure why I’m blogging about cheeseburger pie when I really should be doing the massive amount of work I have to do for school, but it’s probably got something to do with the fact that I just don’t want to do school work.

My apartment complex gives us a cute little newsletter every month with fun facts about the holidays in that month, community info and news, and a random recipe. This month’s was jack o’lantern cheeseburger pie. Of course I had to make that one.

It was helpful that hubby and I were invited over to my brother and SIL’s place on Halloween. It would have felt weird to make this for just us. They have a kid. Granted, she’s only a toddler and had no idea what was going on, but it seemed to make more sense to do something so whimsical if there’s a kid involved.

I started off with some chopped onion, minced garlic, sat, and pepper.

And ground beef.

Just kept stirring it to let it all cook.

When it was almost done, I measured out some ketchup.

And after draining the beef, I added the ketchup to it.

All mixed it, it looked almost exactly like it had before. I really didn’t think this was enough ketchup, but after a little taste, I decided to leave it alone.

Set the beef aside to let it cool.

Next step: prepare the pie shell! I cheated and used store-bough pie crust, though I was better about letting it warm up at room temperature before trying to unroll it.

Then I took some mustard…

And smeared it around the bottom of the pie crust. I told you this was weird!

Take a massive, ridiculous, crazy amount of Monterey jack cheese and put it in the pan with the beef.

As I mixed it in, I had second thoughts about the quantity of cheese and picked some back out. That’s not necessary

Once it’s all combined, press the mixture into the pie shell.

Then unroll the other pie crust so you can play with it!

Basically, I put it on a cutting board and cut out a silly jack o’lantern face with a knife.

The smile was lopsided, but ah well. It still looked cute, right?

I picked the whole thing up (carefully!) and placed it on top of the pie. Then I rolled the edges and used the cutout dough to make a little stem.

Just before cooking, I brushed the pie with a mixture of egg, water, and red and yellow food coloring. I also painted the stem green! Then I giggled at how silly it looked and announced that I would be very sorry if this turned out to be a complete flop.

After baking it for about 20 minutes, I took it back out to baste again. At this point, I filled in the holes with a bit of leftover Monterey jack cheese. I thought about making a foil shield to protect my crust from getting burned, but then I decided that I didn’t care.

The recipe said to bake another 10 minutes, but I think I gave it closer to 5. And then it was done!

I liked that there was a bowl of apples on their table. It make it look more festive.

Luckily, it was really easy to serve. I had greased the pie plate, which helped, and the food stuck together better than I expected. Thanks, cheese! I served it with some potato salad and that was that.

Verdict: Yes, it was reminiscent of a cheeseburger. The ketchup and mustard were both there, but subdued. I’m not a mustard fan, so I appreciated this. I noticed the cheese less from the flavor and more from the texture, which was actually pretty creamy. It was a heavy meal, so one piece was pretty much okay for one person, but it was pleasing enough that some went back for more. The leftovers were just as good, I thought.

Definitely a fun, easy meal. Easily modified for different holidays (or no holiday at all, I suppose, but where’s the fun in that?). Maybe a new family favorite!

Juicy Jalapeno Burgers

This dish is a rarity on this blog – something original! A few years ago, hubby and I didn’t have plans for Independence Day beyond going to see some fireworks at the community college down the road, so we decided to grill some burgers. Even better, we decided to make our own instead of buying frozen patties. I reviewed a bunch of different recipes online, talked over the differences with hubby, and together we ended up with these juicy jalapeno burgers.

First, start off with some fresh jalapeno peppers.

Remove the stems, seeds, and membranes, and then dice them. I wasn’t too careful about removing every speck of membrane and seed because I wanted the burgers to have some heat, so it didn’t take me too long.

Also dice an onion.

I’ve never been a fan of raw onion or pepper chunks in anything, and neither has hubby, so we sauté these before doing anything with them.

Next, it’s time to make the meat mixture. We use ground beef, an egg, bread crumbs, milk, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and minced garlic.

And, of course, the sautéed pepper and onion. Dig in with both hands, mixing everything together.

I subdivided this ball in half, then subdivided each half again, and then subdivided each piece again until I had 8 equal pieces. I mushed them together as best as I could, then formed them into patties. I left them thick so they could be squished on the grill.

Then I sent my daddy outside to grill them.

I mixed up a batch of my Chickpea Salad with Red Onion and Tomato to go with the burgers. This time I actually used fresh parsley. It was a good change!

Here we are: fat, juicy, burgers with a hint of heat. Topped with colby jack cheese, fresh tomato, and lettuce, they were perfect for a Memorial Day meal.

And certainly better than frozen patties.