My Indoor Burger Recipe

While I love to grill things, sometimes the weather just does not cooperate.

I have come up with a really good indoor burger recipe that is very tasty!

If you are on a diet, don't even bother messing with this one.

One thing that I have noticed with ground beef is that if you mix it like you are kneading bread it will become stiff when you cook it, so now I use a fork to separate the hamburger while incorporating the fixings into it.

I am making Mushroom Swiss Burgers here, if you don't like mushrooms or Swiss cheese you can use any kind of cheese in it's place. Cheddar is a wonderful substitute.

After you've forked up your meat, add onion flakes to taste (I like a good heaping Tablespoon per pound of meat), 3/4 package of Au Jus gravy mix, 2 tablespoons of water and one Cup of shredded Swiss cheese. The Cheese is not green, the bowl is!

Fork it up!

Cover and place in fridge.

I like to use fresh mushrooms whenever possible. Slice and saute mushrooms in butter until they scream "Yummy!"  Well, maybe they won't actually scream, but your taste buds may argue a bit.

Sprinkle some onion flakes in.

Mix the rest of the Au Jus gravy packet into 1/2 cup of water and pour over mushrooms. Simmer until reduced and thickened. After the burgers are done you can also add the drippings and simmer that down.

Form your burgers and place on a foil lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.

With 10 minutes left toast your buns. I do this like a grilled cheese sandwich.

When your burgers are done place on buns, add another slice of cheese (if you are a cheese junky like I am) smother with the mushrooms and serve with a napkin. These are deliciously messy!

If you want to wow your family, this could do it.

This last picture was taken before the cheese had a chance to melt.

This is just the kick off to our holiday weekend.

Thank you for stopping by.

If you enjoy this recipe please share it with others.

Dee Dee

Camp Bread Recipe

Before you head out to camp mix the dry ingredients together, fill and label bags. I like to use the gallon sized bags even though this will fit in a quart size bag.

The gallon is big enough to mix the dough and after kneading it you can use the bag for raising the dough in.

My recipe makes a half sized loaf. I am still working on this recipe. I have made some breads, adding powdered eggs, honey (honey in condiment packages is great for this), and have tried a few that I liked with tomato powder and basil flakes. I really wish that I would have written those down. You can basically adapt any recipe to suit your tastes.

1 1/4 Cup Flour (I used All-purpose for this)

2 1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/8 teaspoon dry yeast

2 teaspoons powdered milk

The label on this should read "Bread Dough". For your own good label that

Bring an extra quart sized bag with a few cups of flour in case you should need more during kneading and for other cooking projects.

Once you get to camp start your fire and boil some water. Pour 1/2 Cup of that water into a cup with 2 teaspoons of butter or shortening.

*

Right now I have to tell you that I forgot that step before kneading and had to add in 1 teaspoon of olive oil as I was kneading. Then before I put it into the plastic bag to raise I smothered butter all over it. If you mess up, improvise!

*

Let that cool to just warm and pour right into the bag. I prefer to mix with one hand and hold the bag with the other in case I need a clean hand to grab more flour. Try to get in the habit of mixing and kneaded with your non-dominate hand. There is a very good reason for that.

Once you have a good ball going in there you can take it out and knead it on a clean smooth surface, floured if necessary.

Once the dough is smooth and elastic it is ready to put back in the bag to raise.

It took me a long time to understand what smooth and elastic felt like, because I never really kneaded it long enough to get to that point. 15 minutes of kneading or more may just be what it takes. Kneading the dough does all kinds of magical things to it that you can learn about elsewhere if you desire. If you want to get good at it, close your eyes and feel it.

Dough needs a still and warm place to rest. You won't have much success with it if you put it in your back pack and start hiking. However, if you have to be on the move, you can make a "bun in the oven" pack to hold it in next to your belly. For the guys out there you can call it your "beer belly bag".

When the dough has risen to twice it's size it is ready to bake or slow roast over a campfire as with bread twists. Then there are some of us that also like to deep fry it.

You can use powdered eggs to make an egg wash for it.

Roll it in flour to ash bake it.

Brush melted butter on it.

There really is so much variety that you can do with breads.

If you are low on flour there are many wild plants that can help you stretch your flour supply.

I will do a post on that later.

Being at camp you will not have the ability to watch the temperature while you are baking your bread so you will have to eye and ear it. Golden brown crust and a hollow sound when tapped on and it is done. You can also check with a toothpick as you would a cake.

You can also take your own bread recipes and divide them by 1/4th as most recipes I have come across are for 2 loaves. For recipes with eggs in them, the powdered eggs are much easier to divide.

I have not tried powdered butter with this yet, but that is on the to do list.

I hope I have given you enough ideas to help you be more cozy at camp.

Thank you for stopping by.

Please feel free to comment.

Dee Dee