What's Been Happening In Betty's Kitchen

Dear Loyal Cook Club Participants and Readers:
We’ve hit a rough patch in our commitment to this little culinary club, and for that, I 100% blame summer. The heat, parenthood, summer block parties for some, vacation and the lack of structure of the summer months have kept a few of us out of the kitchen. But in an effort to keep this extremely popular and well frequented blog going (we’re probably going to be featured on Rachel Ray soon), here is an update on what culinary masterpieces I created in the kitchen in July. I cite farmer’s markets, and apparently, Southern Living magazine as my inspirations!

First up, I pseudo completed Sue’s challenge, and made these bacon pimento cheeseburgers from Southern Living.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906337
They were just okay for me – the pimiento cheese recipe made A LOT and I ended up tossing most of it after having a pimiento cheese sandwich or two. Not really my thing, but if it’s yours, this is probably a good recipe for your repetoire.

Mr. Focker did get in on the recipe fun and perfected his margarita recipe. These involve a little elbow grease as only fresh lime juice will do, but it’s well worth it. Just don’t throw a fiesta and invite all your friends over for batches of these bad boys – they are too labor intensive for a crowd! For a crowd pleaser, ask me for my Beergarita recipe. You’ll be so happy you did!
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1997552

By far, the two best new recipes I prepared in July focused on fresh, seasonal ingredients. I procured a few Heirloom tomatoes one Saturday morning at the Farmer’s market and made this deliciously-awesome-extremely-mouth-watering-fabulous Southern Tomato Vegetable Pie. Mr. Focker really liked it, too. Seriously, stop what you are doing and make this pie. It’s a little time consuming, but very, very worth it.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906309

Last, but not least, I entertained with this recipe paired with grilled chorizo and shrimp kabobs:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/summer-vegetable-casserole
This was super easy and really, really delicious.

And in case you are wondering, Baby Focker did not allow a single bite of any of these delicious dishes to cross her tiny little lips. Better luck in August? You’ll find out if you promise to share what you’ve been up to in the kitchen – both messes and successes! Maybe I'll be back with photos in August too - you don't know!