Name: Southern Pimento Cheese
Prep time: PTH30M
Cook time: PTH20M
Yield: About 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients: 1 red pepper; 4 ounces cream cheese, softened; 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce; ¼-½ cup mayonnaise; salt and pepper, to taste; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Southern Pimento Cheese

April 9, 2018

Southern pimento cheese is a classic staple of wedding showers, baby showers, and Southern lunches in general. This is my creamy, from-scratch version!

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Are You a Pimento Cheese Lover?

There was a huge pimento cheese boom a few years back, and you could barely set food in a restaurant – at least here in the South – without seeing a pimento cheese sandwich and perhaps a pimento cheese burger on the menu. I think that the trend has died down a little bit, but Southern pimento cheese is just one of those foods that is good enough to be on restaurant menus that range from fancy to totally casual.

The fact of the matter is, when pimento cheese is in the house I have a hard time controlling myself. Whether it’s this Southern pimento cheese that I make myself or a tub of smoked Gouda pimento cheese from The Chef and His Wife, I can’t resist dipping crackers or pretzels or whatever other crunchy, salty snacks I have in the house into it. I actually rarely make a pimento cheese sandwich in the house but I am known to order it whenever it sounds particularly tempting on a restaurant menu.

Flavor Bombs = GOOD

I’m not too concerned about it. I’m a good Southern girl and that means that I have to love good Southern pimento cheese, right? I’ve also upped the flavor quotient a little bit with a couple of additional ingredients. Feel free to add some cooked, cooled, and crumbled bacon if you want (and really, why wouldn’t you?).

Cream Cheese or No Cream Cheese?

Some people would tell you that my addition of cream cheese makes this pimento cheese inauthentic, and I suppose they might be right. I find, though, that using a little cream cheese in place of some of the mayo (always Dukes in my house – always) makes the pimento cheese less greasy. Actually, in the The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook , Matt and Ted Lee suggest that if you are going to use your pimento cheese in grilled cheese sandwiches or for melting on a burger that you omit the mayonnaise and mold the cheese into a block that you can cut slices from in order to eliminate the grease factor. Makes sense to me.

What’s your favorite way to eat pimento cheese?

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Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

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Mary

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

Southern Pimento Cheese

PTH30MPrep Time:

PTH20MCook Time:

50 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 red pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼-½ cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper, to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Instructions

Set a rack on the top level of the oven and turn the broiler on high. Slice the “cheeks” or the sides off of the red pepper, leaving the seeds and stem behind. Place the pieces of pepper skin side up on the broiler pan or a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil until completely charred. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic for 15 minutes.
Scrape the charred skin from the roasted red pepper. Cut the pepper into strips then finely dice.
Place the cream cheese in a medium bowl and use a spatula to “cream” the cream cheese until it is a spreadable consistency. Add the red pepper, cheddar, the mustard, the Worcestershire sauce, and the cayenne, if using. Add mayonnaise until you reach the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.

Nutrition

https://chattavore.com/southern-pimento-cheese/

BBQ Bacon Smashed Burgers

September 29, 2017

In my opinion, these smashed burgers are the PERFECT burgers! BBQ sauce, bacon, and caramelized onions make them even better!

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Homemade Burgers: Better or Worse?

There was a time in my life where I was convinced that I would never be able to make a burger that was as good as the burgers that I ate in restaurants. There was also a time in my life – a LONG time – where I was deceived into thinking that the quickest way to ruin a burger was to (gasp) smash it.

Turns out that neither of these things are true. While I still love a great restaurant burger, there is no home cooked dinner that excites me more to come home and cook than one of these burgers. That’s for two reasons: 1) they might be even better than a great restaurant burger; and (2) this dinner takes 15 minutes from start to finish, assuming that I made the caramelized onions ahead of time.

Smashed Burger Perfection!

Upscale fast food chains like Shake Shack, Smash Burger, and the grande dame, In-N-Out, have, pardon the pun, smashed the notion that you shouldn’t smash your burgers. All you need for a perfect smashed burger are: some good 80/20 ground beef, salt and pepper, a hot skillet (preferably cast iron), and a whole lotta pressure. Bonus points for a squishy potato roll (Martin’s is my preferred brand) and a fantastic burger sauce. Other toppings are optional, and I always err on the side of simplicity with my toppings.

This BBQ bacon smashed burger is quick, simple, and delicious, and you will need two napkins to eat it. That, my friends, is the sign of a great burger.

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Plate!

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Mary

Yield: 4 burgers

BBQ Bacon Smashed Burgers

5 minPrep Time:

5 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 pound 80/20 ground beef, divided into 8 portions (I use a kitchen scale to weigh out 2 ounce portions)
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 potato rolls (I get the smaller ones, not the big Mamma Jammas with sesame seeds on top)
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (store-bought or use my recipe below)
4 slices American cheese (I like the kind that isn't wrapped in plastic, like Land O'Lakes)
4 slices bacon
caramelized onions

For the BBQ sauce

1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

If you are making your own BBQ sauce, whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Roll the ground beef into balls and salt and pepper both sides of each ball.
Place a 10-12 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat and melt one tablespoon of butter. Brown the cut sides of two of the potato rolls. Remove to a place and repeat with the remaining butter and potato rolls.
Place each potato roll on a plate and spread both cut sides with BBQ sauce.
Increase the heat on the skillet to medium-high. Place 4 of the balls of ground beef in the hot skillet and smash with a flat spatula or even a clean trowel, using another spatula to increase the pressure, until the patties are as thin as you can get them. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until browned and slightly crispy. Flip the burgers and cook for another minute or two.
Top two of the burger patties with cheese and place the other patties on top. Allow the cheese to melt and remove to two of the prepped buns. Repeat the cooking process with the remaining ground beef.
Top the burgers with bacon and caramelized onions and serve immediately.

Notes

Prepping the buns before you begin cooking the burgers allows you to get the burgers from the pan to the table as quickly as possible!

Nutrition

https://chattavore.com/bbq-bacon-smashed-burgers/

517 Subs (Signal Mountain, Tennessee)

July 12, 2017

517 Subs is a popular sandwich shop on Signal Mountain that has been around for years and serves basic but delicious sandwiches.

What is it about a great sandwich that is so sublime? Sandwiches are just simple lunchbox fare, after all. How many sandwiches have we eaten in our lives and not given a second thought to? In a world of PB&Js and ham sandwiches on squishy white bread, a sandwich might not sound like something that you would drive to the ends of the earth (or up the mountain) for.

Truth is, I don’t really love sandwiches. I mean, I like sandwiches, and when they’re served to me I’m happy to eat them. The instances of me taking a plain old sandwich of lunch meat on sliced bread this school year though? Zero. Zip. Zilch. There may have been a few turkey croissants but that’s pretty much the extent of my sandwich-packing.

We’ve been meaning to try out 517 Subs for a pretty long time now. I hadn’t really heard much about it until some friends who are fairly new Signal Mountain residents tried it out and told us that it was worth the drive to try it out. A recent rainy Saturday turned out to be “the day” and we headed up Taft Highway to give them a try.

The place was pretty empty when we arrived…a couple of employees doing cleaning and restocking tasks, one taking a break, and one behind the counter, plus another diner at a table. The decor is simple…not much beyond the tables and chairs and some retro board games framed on the wall. We got a laugh out of looking at the Disney’s Robin Hood game and the Beatles board game, among others.

I am decidedly a hot sub person. A BLT sub always sounds good, and it’s hard to pass up a meatball sub…but my sub order is almost always a steak and cheese (I may have declared my love for them at least once on here). I ordered a 6-inch steak and cheese on wheat bread ($4.25 plus $2.10 for chips and a drink) with onions and peppers. They ran out of onions, but I did get a couple of shreds of onions before she heated my sandwich. I dressed my sandwich basically, with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and salt and pepper. The steak and cheese here was very reminiscent of the steak and cheese subs that I used to order at Blimpie, back when it was a frequent haunt of mine…when they still existed in Chattanooga (I thought until a few months ago that there was still one in St. Elmo, when I discovered that it was gone when I tried to eat lunch there🤦🏻‍♀️). Their steak and cheese was always more like a pot roast sandwich than a Philly cheesesteak, and I always loved it. Thus, this steak and cheese was a throwback to my college years and I did indeed love it.

Unlike me, Philip is a cold sandwich lover, and he decided on the Italian – his standard sub shop order anytime it’s available (he’ll even order the Italian sub at Chuck E. Cheese’s, despite knowing from his years working in the CEC kitchen that the kitchen guys hate making sandwiches more than anything else). The Italian ($4.10 pre-combo) is made on your choice of bread (white, wheat, or rye, all baked fresh daily in the shop) with ham, salami, capicola (a cold cut made with cured pork shoulder), and provolone. Philip likes his Italian sub pretty heavily dressed and got his with lots of “stuff” on it. He said that it was a great Italian sub and commented on how good the bread was.

It wasn’t actually raining when we arrived, but by the time that we finished eating it was pouring rain and we had to hang out inside for a while since we had not brought our umbrella indoors. By that time there were quite a few other people in there – since it was getting closer to closing time, I assume that people were trying to get in before they closed. We hung out until the rain slacked off a bit then headed over to Pruett’s to check out what they had in the store.

If you’re looking for a good, basic but tasty sub, 517 Subs has you covered. The prices are definitely reasonable; the two of us had sandwiches, chips, and drinks for about $13.50. The staff was friendly, particularly the lady who made our sandwiches. There’s definitely something to be said for a great sandwich, and if you (like me) have been missing Blimpie, I’d recommend that you go here.

517 Subs is located at 1238 Taft Highway, Signal Mountain, Tennessee (in the Signal Plaza Shopping Center near Pruett’s). They are open Monday – Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can call 517 Subs at 423-517-7827 (that is, 517-SUBS). They do not have a website, but you can “like” 517 Subs on Facebook.

Grilled Teriyaki Burger

May 22, 2017

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and Kikkoman®. All opinions are mine alone. #KickinItWithKikkoman #CollectiveBias

Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Chattavore running!

This grilled teriyaki burger with pineapple and white sauce is a delicious way to celebrate Memorial Day weekend!

Did you know that May is burger month? I mean, in my world, every month is burger month…but May is like official, capital letter Burger Month. I’m not really sure why, but maybe it’s because May is the month that sort of takes us into (unofficial) summer with Memorial Day weekend?

I’m going to let you guys in on a little secret. Okay, not so secret, but whatever. This is my last week of work for a while! School is out on Friday and I get to be a full-time blogger for two months🙌🏼. What better way to celebrate than a holiday weekend? Memorial Day grilling doubles as start-of-summer-vacay grilling for me.

And I know that I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago that learning to grill was one of my goals for the summer. I think before now I have used my grill exactly once, and that was pretty much Philip getting everything started and me just going out and turning the chicken (or whatever it was). After this summer, Imma be a grilling pro!

What better way to start than this grilled teriyaki burger? Kikkoman®Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce kicks up the flavor in my teriyaki burger to eleven (where are my Spinal Tap fans???) and a slice of pineapple on top rounds out the sweet and savory flavor of the burgers perfectly. Oh, oh…and my white sauce, with Kikkoman®Traditionally Brewed Soy Sauce, is the perfect way to sauce up this teriyaki burger. I have to admit, I’ve been a soy sauce addict most of my life – my dad has been dousing everything from steak and chicken to vegetables and casseroles with Kikkoman®Traditionally Brewed Soy Sauce since I was a kid, so I’ve never been short on ways to include soy sauce in my cooking, and not just my Asian-style cooking. KikkomanUSA.com has lots more great recipe ideas using their awesome products! And if you’re like me and need more summer grilling inspiration, click here!

Like I mentioned last week, the Walmart Neighborhood Market near my house has become one of my go-to stops for groceries (I love their grocery pick-up option during weeks that shopping for groceries makes my busy brain hurt). I stopped by there to pick up my Kikkoman®Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce and my Kikkoman®Traditionally Brewed Soy Sauce (I love that fun little bottle like you always see at your favorite Chinese restaurants). For a coupon for Kikkoman®Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce and Kikkoman®Traditionally Brewed Soy Sauce, click here!

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite and The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook!

Mary

Yield: 6 burgers

Grilled Teriyaki Burger

10 minPrep Time:

8 minCook Time:

18 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Kikkoman®Teriyaki Marinade & Glaze
6 rings fresh pineapple
6 sandwich slices of your choice of cheese (I used Havarti)
6 soft hamburger buns
6 tablespoons white sauce

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef with the Kikkoman®Teriyaki Marinade & Glaze, taking care to not overwork the meat. Divide the meat into 6 portions and gently form each portion into a patty, pressing a deep indention into the center of each patty.
Heat one side of the grill to high and one side to low (if using a charcoal grill, arrange the coals to create a high heat zone and a low heat zone). Place the burgers on the high heat zone and grill for two minutes, then move to the low heat zone and grill for 3 minutes (for medium-rare burgers) to 5 minutes (for well-done burgers). During the last minute of cooking, place the pineapple slices on the cool area of the grill and top the burgers with the cheese slices.
Spread each bun bottom and top with half a tablespoon of white sauce. Place a burger and a pineapple slice on each bun bottom. Top with bun tops and serve immediately.

Notes

If you don't have a grill, you can cook these burgers on your stovetop. A cast iron skillet is ideal for this. Preheat over high heat. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side, adding the cheese in the last minute of cooking. Remove the burgers from the pan and cook the pineapple slices for about one minute each. Sauce and serve the burgers as directed in the recipe.

Nutrition

https://chattavore.com/grilled-teriyaki-burger/

This grilled teriyaki burger with pineapple and white sauce is a delicious way to celebrate Memorial Day weekend! #KickinItWithKikkoman #CollectiveBias #Ad | Recipe from Chattavore.com

Sweet and Spicy Ham and Cheese Panini

March 24, 2017

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #CollectiveBias #SandwichWithTheBest

As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Chattavore running!

This sweet and spicy ham and cheese panini is a tasty, quick, and easy dinner that only takes five ingredients. It’s great for weeknights!

Sometimes I feel like life is just a whirlwind and I am caught in the middle of it. Do you ever feel like that? I am sure that you do. One of the things that I have been working on in earnest this year (not a resolution – I don’t make resolutions – but a goal) is to be a little more mindful. I don’t want to turn 40 next year (!) and wonder where the last 20 years of my life went, and I certainly don’t want to be asking that question when I’m 50, or 60, or so on.

That’s a little bit easier said than done. We tend to live a “more is better” kind of life here in the States, right? More stuff, more activities, more jobs (ahem, that finger is pointing right back at me). I am learning that it’s okay to let go of some things. I’ve cleaned a lot of stuff out of my house (just trying to have some empty surfaces can be a challenge at times) and , as I’ve added a few things to my plate (who’s interested in a cooking class???), I’ve taken a few things off (like paying my sister to do Pinterest for me…might I mention that she’s way better at it than me?).

Another thing that I’ve let go of is the need to make fancy and intricate meals. With Philip’s job we’re often eating dinner at 9 p.m. and I do not need the stress of a dinner that takes about 35 steps and every pan in my kitchen. We ate sandwiches for dinner three nights last week, but my sandwiches have to be special sandwiches. This sweet and spicy ham and cheese panini fits the bill. With Pepperidge Farm®, Hillshire Farm® Thin Sliced Honey Ham, and Hellman’s® Real Mayonnaise, it’s pretty easy to throw together a sandwich that’s a little (well, a lot) more special than your standard lunchbox fare.

I picked up my ingredients for my ham and cheese panini at the Walmart Neighborhood Market near our house (I’ve been regularly getting my groceries through their grocery pickup, which is 💯🙌🏼 by the way). Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse™ Hearty White has been my go-to sandwich bread ever since I heard America’s Test Kitchen talk about how awesome it is, and this bread, crafted from small-batch ingredients, tastes every bit as good as what I bake at home – and it’s sturdy enough to build a great sandwich but still soft and fresh. Hillshire Farm® Thin-sliced Honey Ham is slow roasted so it always tastes great, and it has no artificial flavors or by-products. And, of course, Hellman’s® Real Mayonnaise is just the best…who doesn’t love it (hush, you mayo-haters). The squeeze bottle makes it simple and mess-free.

Now, I used my new panini press (I bought it to use for my classes) to throw this together, but it would be just as easy to make using two cast iron skillets. I piled my Hillshire Farm® Thin Sliced Honey Ham on to the Pepperidge Farm® bread with some sliced Gouda cheese, then instead of brushing my bread with olive oil or melted butter, I spread some Hellman’s® Real Mayonnaise on it to make it crispy and brown. After pressing the sandwich, I spread on some Jezebel sauce (which if you guys will recall, I baked on some Brie last week) to add that sweet and spicy flair (if you don’t have Jezebel sauce, just whisk some prepared horseradish or brown or Dijon mustard with some apple jelly or pineapple preserves). It was so good!

I could eat this sweet and spicy ham and cheese panini at least once a week! I hope you’ll try it out!

Check out Sandwich with the Best for more great sandwich ideas using these products!

Mary

Yield: Serves 4 moderately hungry or 2 very hungry people

Sweet and Spicy Ham and Cheese Panini

10 minPrep Time:

8 minCook Time:

18 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

4 slices Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse™ Hearty White sandwich bread
8 slices Hillshire Farm® Thin-Sliced Honey Ham
4 slices (or 4 ounces grated) Gouda cheese
2 tablespoons Hellman's® Real Mayonnaise
1/4 cup Jezebel sauce

Instructions

If using a panini press, preheat the press to 350 degrees. If using cast iron skillets, heat and 8-inch and 10-inch or two 10-inch skillets over medium-high heat.
Divide half of the cheese between two slices of bread. Follow by dividing the ham between the two slices of bread, and top with the remaining cheese. Top with the remaining slices of bread.
Spread the top of each sandwich with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the mayonnaise, then flip and spread the remaining mayonnaise on the other side.
Press the sandwich on the panini press for 7-8 minutes or until light golden brown, or reduce the heat under the 10-inch skillet to medium-low then place the sandwiches in the skillet and top with the other skillet, pressing down using an oven mitt, and grill for 5-8 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove the sandwiches from the heat. Remove the top slice of bread and spread 2 tablespoons of Jezebel sauce on each sandwich. Replace the tops and cut the sandwiches. Serve immediately.

Notes

If you do not have Jezebel sauce, whisk 3 1/2 tablespoons of apple jelly or pineapple preserves with 1 1/2 teaspoons of prepared horseradish or Dijon or spicy mustard.

Nutrition

https://chattavore.com/sweet-spicy-ham-and-cheese-panini/