Ian Knows How to Treat a Lady

And by that I mean me. Unless all the other ladies out there love messy BBQ, in which case, Ian has got you covered. This all stems from my awesome wedding present for Ian, an Oklahoma Joe Smoker and Grill. Not only does Ian get to play with fire, but I don't have to cook for one night.

So a few days ago, before this incredible cold snap hit, Ian decided to make my favorite - Dullum burgers on the grill. He's been picking up tips form my dad and has now got his own spin on it:

1 lb beef
.5 lb chorizo
1/4 onion (I insisted)
2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
salt and chili powder to "taste"

You just mush it all together in a bowl, the separate it out into burger-sized lumps, then fire up the grill. Apparently, we fired the grill too hot and got up to 500, so the burgers were a fast cook and the "toasted" buns were even faster.  It wasn't the most beautiful presentation I've seen, but it was tasty.

4.5 out of 5 on the Yum Scale

While Ian played with fire, I got to "not cook" by making the sides. I decided to keep the TX BBQ theme going by making jalapeno poppers. The first thing I did was to make a cream some cheese filling:   4 oz cream cheese, some parmesan cheese, cumin, cayenne pepper, and I think parsley to top it off. I wish I could remember all that I put into it because it was yummers. Whatever the combo, it was good AND to top it off the last few steps were in messy assembly line style!

Jalapenos, assemble!

You know the drill by now - egg it, breadcrumb it, then fry it up! It didn't work out too well the first time, I think it had something to do with the smoothness of the jalapeno, so these ended up being TWICE fried jalapenos.

3.5 out of 5 on Yum scale

As you can tell, it didn't work that great the second time either, but it still tasted pretty good. I think I over de-seeded them [technical term] because there wasn't as much heat as I wanted. I'm definitely in for round 2 of trying to make them work, though.

The last component was my take on potato salad - garlic mashed potatoes. Ok, it was really nothing like potato salad other than it consisted of potatoes, but it was delicious. I blogged about how amazing this dish is before so I won't bore you with the details - other than it has SEVENTEEN cloves of garlic. SEVENTEEN.

5 out of 5 on the Yum scale
I love every single clove that is in here.

It was a great meal and the leftover chorizo (you can only buy it in full pounds) made for a Texas-y leftover nacho dinner later that week:

3.5 out of 5 on Yum Scale

I may not be a Southern lady anymore, but with Ian around I can still eat like one - with BBQ sauce and cheese all over my hands and face.