Food Networkers... My turn!

 Well thoughout the course of this challenge, I first thought everyone was just going to drop out, when it was MY turn, which made me upset, then everyone was just late posting blogs. All was good, I had thrown my tantrum and gotten my way. We did all agree we needed more time than 2 weeks and added an extra week, and then guess what little miss tantrum went and did??? I FORGOT! Totally FORGOT the last 2 recipes I Picked. I forgot to make the apples and I forgot to make the calzone.

 Steena, has since realized she just does not have time at all. Laurie has went on vacation and forgotten pictures, so I guess, gosh darnit, life somehow got in the way for ALL of us! I do however have my 2 recipes done, and I do plan on doing the other 2 this week sometime, and i will post that blog (late) and seperate.

 So here's my take on our recipes

 I wanted to choose things that were not hard to find, that were "normal" and had maybe a new twist. So EVERYONE likes burgers and fries right??? So I came up with

 This Burger Recipe, and Potatao Cakes. Both are by Rachel Ray. I love her, although I wish she'd stick her hands in her pockets or something!!!

 So first the burgers.

 Just like you would make a burger. Nothing new so much. It has taco like seasons it it and RICE and BEANS though. I used Refried beans to disguise them, since my kids do not like beans. Heidi actually gave me a chili recipe that uses refried beans and I tell my kids its "beanless" They believe me. Heh. Anyway

 So I mixed it all together and I was SO impressed with how well this burger formed into patties. EXCITED even over the fact. They looked like wonderful sticking together burger patties!!!

 So I popped them babies on my stove top grill with some oil and started cookin!

 I am not sure if it was because I used the grill... Or maybe I turned the burgers too soon... but I had a bit of a problem, and I ended up with this

After being SO pleased with how well they stayed together, they just fell apart. Totally. So I had another mini tantrum and just mashed it up, and cooked it through that way. Whatever.

The topping was good. Spicy. Some Jalapeno, avocado, sour cream... MMM MMM.

This would be my finished "Burger" Everyone enjoyed them, although with it being "loose meat" they kind of fell apart. We took our flat bread buns and folded them in half and this was almost like a chalupa!

 When I make them again, I will use the flat side of my grill and see if that helps. I wonder if Heidi or Laurie's stayed together??? Well and even though Steena is no longer challenging with us, she still blogs, so you can check on her too!

 The next time I may make them a bit more like a taco as well, adding some black olives for on top, a tomato and some cheese would be nice for sure. Except for falling apart, I enjoyed this recipe.

 Now Along with my "burger" I made the Mashed potato cakes. I had never made potato cakes before and It seemed like it went with a burger fairly well, since its like fries.

 It was easy to make, mashed up some potatoes with some cream cheese onion, lemon zest and an egg.  I for some reason skipped salt and pepper totally. Not sure where my head was while cooking today.

 Once its mashed up you add it to your pan of oil. My first  pan was very soggy. I used WAY to much oil, thinking they needed to almost fry. Nope. They too fell apart on me.

 By the second batch I had lowed the oil and they crisped up much better, they were turnable. Although they still were not crispy like I thought a potato cake would be... So while I made more, I put the done ones into the oven hoping to crisp them a bit more.

 By this point I was a little overwhelmed that my 2 recipes were a big flop. They did taste okay though. The potatoes the kids dipped into ranch which makes almost anything edible for them. I had to put a LOT of salt and pepper on them, because I had forgot to put it inside.

 I might try potato cakes again, but not this recipe. Maybe like a twice baked potato type or something. I think they could have been much better, for sure.