Brat Burgers- The Best of Both Worlds!

As a vegetarian, I don't cook meat very often at all.  Nick, one of the biggest burger and bacon lovin' people I have ever met, has been a trooper through all my veggie dishes and meat alternatives.  So to show my appreciation, I came up with a recipe that combined two of his favorites- a brat and a burger.

What You Need:
6 Pack of your Favorite Brats or Italian Sausages
1 Green Pepper
1 Small Onion (I used a Red Onion)
Swiss Cheese (4 Slices)
Buns (I used a Cheese Topped Bread I found at the Grocery)

*Makes 4 Burgers

Step 1: On a cutting board use a knife to cute the casing open on the brats.  Remove the meat from the center of the casing and place in a large bowl.  Continue to do this on all 6 brats.

Step 2: Once all the meat is in the bowl, mash it all together with a wooden spoon.

Step 3: Form 4 burgers with the meat and start grillin!

Step 4: As the burgers are grilling, cut up the green pepper and onion into slices.  Place in a small skillet and saute until tender.  These are for on top of burgers.

Step 5: Once the burgers are done, top with the peppers and onions and the swiss cheese and ENJOY!

(Dinner on the back porch on an awesome summer night.  Barley wants to know where his burger is.- haha)

These burgers were perfect with some Potato Salad and Corn on the Cob.  Obviously, I just had the Potato Salad and Corn but Hubby sure appreciated some real meat for a change.

Hope you enjoy these!
Amber

Our Eclectic Lil Picture Collage

One of my favorite decorations in our house is on our living room wall.  Its a collage of some of Nick and I's favorite pictures.  Our decorating style is like rustic/ country/ eclectic style so the many different kinds of frames we included went perfect with the rest of the house.

We decided to put these pictures on this wall to try to cover up our ugly, outdated thermostat.  (Don't worry, Nick left enough room behind one of the pictures so it can still read the temperature.)   There are also a few of our favorite sayings or signs incorporated into the collage as well- such as my FAVORITE "All You Need Is Love...and a Dog" sign.  

I hope you love this idea as much as we do now that its done.  It's a perfect way to tie a bunch of things you love into one adorable decorating idea.  Happy decorating!!

Recipe for Coffee Ice Cream Pie

Good Morning Readers!  Well, its a rainy Sunday morning here in Columbus so its a perfect morning to relax with a hot cup of coffee (or 2) and blog.  It was recently brought to my attention how long its been since I posted (thank you Tara for kicking me into gear) and I got really excited because the Hubby and I have been working like crazy on the house and trying to new recipes so there is PLENTY to post.

Our neighbors invited us over for dinner this past week and we were in charge of dessert.  I've been obsessed with coffee ice cream lately so I decided to try a coffee ice cream pie and it was AMAZING.  So, here's how I did it....

Coffee Ice Cream Pie
What you need:
1 package of Oreos
1 stick of butter
1 quart of Coffee Ice Cream
Fudge Ice Cream Topping
Caramel Ice Cream Topping
Whipped Cream
Non-stick Cooking Spray

Note: You can try this with any kind of ice cream, not just Coffee.  I think I may try it with cookie dough ice cream next time.

Step 1: Take the ice cream out of the freezer so it can soften.

Step 2: (This is the best step if you've had a stressful day) Put the package of Oreos in a large ziplock bag and crush them until they are crumbs.  You can use a rolling pin to get the crumbs fine enough.

If you have a food processor, just dump the cookies into it and let it do the work.  Its SO much easier with the food processor (one of our many awesome wedding gifts).

Step 3: Melt the stick of butter and add to the cookies crumbs.  If you are using a food processor, add the butter to the crumbs while they are still in the container and pulse in the melted butter.  It mixes it together really well.  If you are using a ziplock bag, put the crumbs in a bowl first and then stir in the butter.

Step 4: Spray the dish you will be using with the non-stick cooking spray.  I used a pie pan.  Make sure to get the corners and edges really well.

Step 5: Press the cookie crumb and butter mixture in the pan to make crust.  Once the crust is made, place your pan into the fridge or freezer for a couple of minutes to allow the butter to harden back up.

Step 6:  Scoop the ice cream into your crust.  Use the back of a spoon or spatula to smooth out the top as much as possible.

Step 7: Dip a spoon into the fudge and caramel sauce and drizzle it over the top of the ice cream. Add as much as you like!

Step 8: Garnish with the whipped cream.  I used an icing decorating gun to get the finished look on the whipped cream.  If you don't have one, a dollop every so often on the top will work.

Step 9: Put back in the freezer for an hour or so before serving.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  And I promise, there will be more recipes and projects to come...