I have been busy updating my recipe files with the Paprika app for iPad. I have had my Precious for about a year and Paprika is one of the best apps I have bought, turning my already amazing iPad into the most impressive recipe box ever. It 'swipes' recipes from most of the major sites, including photos. Once you have the recipe in Paprika, you can edit it easily, email to a friend or add it to your shopping list--which automatically adds the ingredients to a list, which again you can modify. Amazing. I love it.Four large binders of copies of recipes from magazines? Gone.
Stack of old magazines I hadn't had time to photocopy? Donated to the Library book sale.
Going through all of the recipes was also great because I found some things I wanted to make and ideas for other meals and dishes. Case in point: Pimento Cheese Veggie Burger. What? I mentioned this to my friend John and he said, "Yes, I put pimento cheese on everything." And well he should. I've made sandwiches out of it, filled celery with it, spread it on every manner of cracker and used it in grilled cheese. Why NOT a pimento cheese burger? So when I made some p.c. to take to a friends house on Saturday night, I held a little back for just that very experiment.
Why not a pimento cheese burger before now is really the question, because it is one of the best things I have ever eaten. It goes like this: a little bit of mayo on the bun (I'm really not a mayo on a burger type of guy, but it does go perfectly with the p.c.), some bread and butter pickle slices, a couple of pieces of veggie bacon for smoky crunch, your favorite veggie patty cooked to perfection and smothered with a big dollop of pimento cheese that melts all down the sides of the burger. It. Is. Heaven.
Whether you make the p.c. or buy it, I don't care. Just try this and thank me.
Recipe: Pimento Cheese Spread (redux)Research and experimentation continues, but here is my latest suggestion for pimento cheese spread, perfect as an appetizer or on the pimento cheese burger, as above. (Yes, I purposely shaped the pimento cheese to look like my home state of Oklahoma. Why not?)
1/4 lb. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. jar pimentos, drained with liquid reserved
1/2 cup mayo or Miracle Whip
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. rice vinegar (or other low-acid vinegar)
1-2 tsp. reserved pimento liquid, as needed
Couple of dashes of hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
8 oz. sharp cheddar, grated
8 oz. Monterey Jack, grated
Combine the mayo and cream cheese in a big yellow bowl, using an electric mixer or by hand, mix until well-blended. Add the sugar through salt and pepper, combine until well-mixed. Add the cheeses and mix by hand until well combined. Serve and enjoy!
Mangez!
