Fancy Hamburgers

The fourth of July is just around the corner.  I actually have the day off so I am going to cook up a special 4th of July menu for myself and a few friends.  I decided on burgers, a pasta salad and an apple pie for dessert.  Nothing too fancy.

I found the burger recipe in a 1973 Good Housekeeping Cooking for Two cookbook.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beef

2 TBS sour cream

1 TBS bread crumbs

6- 8 fresh mushrooms, trimmed and chopped

1 green onion, finely sliced

1 TBS fresh chopped parsley

1/2 tsp salt

fresh ground pepper

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients; mix well.  Shape into 2 large patties.  Heat a medium frying pan over high heat; reduce heat to medium.  Cook on first side, for about 8 minutes.  Flip the patties and cook for 8 more minutes or until your desired degree of doneness. 

Sour Cream Raisin Pie

Today was an epic day at work. Epic in a good way. On Saturday I was told we were getting a new cake decorator. I was very excited because I have needed help for a very long time. There is another cake decorator but she kind of does what she wants when she wants and leaves me with everything else. It often leaves me overwhelmed and very, very frustrated because I just can’t keep up. Anyway, I met the new cake decorator today. The more I talked to the new lady, the more I realized she really wants to work with me in setting up a good system for the bakery.

Then my boss brought me something I thought I wouldn’t get before I was too old to decorate cakes anymore. He brought my new edible image computer, scanner and printer. He also ordered a bunch of licensed images just because I told him they would be cool to have. All he asked was that when the disks come in I decorate him a Scooby Doo cake. I so can do that. After my boss got everything set up, I spent the rest of the afternoon getting my cake decorating geek on playing with my new computer. I foresee many joyful hours learning to use all the bells and whistles on that thing.

To celebrate the end of an epic day, I decided to make a sour cream raisin pie.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
Crust:
6 TBS all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 TBS canola oil
2 tsp milk

Filling:
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp all purpose flour
3 TBS lightly beaten egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine all the crust ingredients with a fork, until a soft dough forms. Place the dough in the bottom of a 6 inch pie pan sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Use you fingers to press the crust in the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake 10 minutes; set aside. In a small sauce pan add the raisins and the water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Drain and set aside to cool. When cool, add sugar, sour cream and flour, mix well. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the beaten egg a little at a time, stirring briskly so you don’t cook the egg. Cook until the filling thickens then pour into the baked pie crust.