I truly love food, eating, cooking, growing and harvesting. 
Realistically, everything with food.

Today I am kicking off My Weekly Food Fun series.
I will share my favorite meals I have cooked up for the week, or a fun recipe I found and want to try.
If there is a day for a restaurant I will share the experience.
Enjoy!

This week was sort of a lazy food week.  Here are some of my favorites from the week.

Ham Steak is always good. 

Number One – it is already cooked, a heat and serve dish, although with a few additions it makes a full easy meal. The ham steak can be heated on the stove, oven, grilled, or crock pot.  Since it was a relaxing day and I had some carrots to cook I opted for the crock pot.  In the morning I sliced the carrots, added some water, 1 can of pineapple with the juice, powdered ginger, allspice, clove powder, garlic, pepper, sliced onions and brown sugar. I would have loved a little molasses for a deep flavor addition but sadly I was out of it.    I put the crock pot on low for 3-4 hours.  Then I added the ham steak, made sure it was all covered and continued to cook on low for about an hour or so.  At this point all you want is to heat the steak and get some of the liquid and seasoning flavors in it.  Once heated take some of the liquid out of the crock pot and thicken on the stove.  You can either use corn starch & water (tip- mix 1 tablespoon corn starch / 1 tablespoon water mix in bowl then put into liquid and stir…you will avoid the lumps in the gravy this way), a flour and butter rue is another option, instead of milk, use the liquid from the crock pot.   If you try to avoid cornstarch and flour ingredients,  the seasoned liquid is perfectly fine as is. My favorite way to serve is over rice, the sweet pineapple juice will coat the rice and create cozy comfort food.  If you are looking for a lighter version,  pouring over a bed of zucchini noodles is also a good choice.

Caprese Salad a must for summer. My recipe here.

For me, summer has so many wonderful food options due to local gardens full of fresh goodness.  My favorite is tomatoes.  The summer menu is not complete without Caprese Salad.  If you know me, you already know I can never stick to one recipe.  If you are new to my writing, you will learn quickly.  My cooking is a jigsaw puzzle of recipes and I love it. What I have mixed together this year includes the basic Caprese Salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil with olive oil) and this recipe from Taste of Home, along with my own fun additions. My new discovery this year is a balsamic reduction.   It adds a slight sweetness to the salad, making another layer of flavor.  You can make your own, or buy a bottle from your local grocery store.

My Food Finale for the Week:   Half and Half Plus

A fantastic burger!  I realize it doesn’t look like I had any control when adding ingredient after ingredient.  I argue that I did have control, I didn’t add a fried egg, so, I consider that control, as little as it may be.  I knew in the morning this was what was going to be dinner.   I am usually good with ingredient control, except when it comes to this hamburger.  I am thinking about it all day, and as the day goes on I keep thinking of more and more I can add, hence the plus…

As with any burger recipe cook it how you like, add whatever toppings you like and that is it.

The key to a half and half, is burger patty, ham slices (I like to saute in a skillet to warm and bring out the flavor) and green olive and mayo sauce. Growing up in Michigan, there was a restaurant that served these.  I was to young to recall if they had anything else on the burger, so I have just used those three things as my base.

The sauce:    Chopped green olives, mayo plus add a little bit of the olive juice for an extra little bit of flavor.

I enhance this because I love garlic.  So, I use the garlic stuffed green olives, add additional garlic, and just because I had them in the refrigerator I used some feta stuffed olives.

Mix all ingredients and set in the refrigerator for the afternoon so all of the flavors merge nicely.

My treats for the burger this week were fresh oyster mushrooms and goat cheese thanks to my mom.  She purchased them from Red Acre Farm.  They have a farmstand and sell the mushrooms and goat cheese which are both from local farms.

I roasted the mushrooms on the grill, then topped with some goat cheese.  Toast the bun a little, layer what you want.  I started with lettuce, fresh tomato, burger, ham, olive mayo sauce, and then the mushroom goat cheese.   My wonderful food finale, I completely enjoyed.

Enjoy the fun of food!