Warp Burger

Said to have been born on July 4 th, 1891 in Tulsa, OK the hamburger its one of most popular dishes in America and ranks right up with the hotdog as a July 4th must. In fact did you know that Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers comprise 71% of the beef servings in commercial restaurants in the United States and that the average American consumes about 30 pounds of hamburgers a year? In Azeroth we have a few burgers that our characters can devour, like the Warp Burger, though I doubt they ever eat 30 pounds worth a year of it. When I went to think of a nice juicy burgers that was unique and could live up to a name like the Warp Burger I immediately thought of one of my favorite three burger recipes; The Stuffed Burger.

 

Stuffed Burger

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (recommended: Frank’s Red Hot) Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 strips bacon, diced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar
• 4 burger buns
• Lettuce, tomato, pickles for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat grill to medium.
2. In a bowl combine beef, garlic, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste, being careful not to over mix.
3. Warm a skillet over medium heat and fry bacon until crispy. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
4. Keep heat on skillet and fry a pinch of the beef in the bacon fat to test seasoning.
5. Adjust seasoning, if needed, then form 8 even thin patties, about 1/2-inch thick and set aside. Saute onions in bacon fat in skillet until tender, 5 minutes.
6. Place onions and bacon in a bowl with cheese.
7. Form a spoonful of bacon-cheese mixture into a ball, then place in the center of 4 patties. Top each with another patty and seal the edges.
8. Grill burgers over medium-high heat, flipping once until desired doneness is reached, approximately 4 minutes each side for medium.
9. Serve in buns with garnishes.

Elderberry Pie

Elderberry Pie at first glance sounds like something we should be feeding to Malfurion Stormrage or even better the Titans. This is the fourth and final food related item that players can get from a vendor and eat during Midsummer Festival and will wrap up my themed recipes of the event. To be honest it took me some time to come up with this one as I debated whether to use an actual Elderberry Pie recipe or a different pie recipe. The reason for this is that the real world Elderberry is a small berry and traditionally is used to make syrups for pancakes or for alcoholic drinks. Plus it would be hard for a majority of people to find Elderberries in their local grocery store and they would need to live in one of their native regions and pick it up from a farmers market. Thus I decided to present what I felt would be a popular dish and one of the best tasting pies I know, a Blueberry pie. Hope you enjoy!

Perfect Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:

Crust

• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2-2/3 cup salad oil
• 3 -4 tablespoons milk

Pie Filling

• 1 quart fresh blueberries, washed
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 dash ground cinnamon
• 1 dash freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons butter, unsalted

Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins Total Time: 1 1/4 hr

1. Crust:.
2. Into a 9-inch pie plate, sift together the flour, sugar, and the salt.
3. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together 1/2 cup salad oil and 3 tablespoons milk with a fork. Pour that over the flour mixture in pie plate and mix with a fork until all flour is evenly dampened. If it is still too dry to work with your hands, mix a little more oil with a little milk and add to flour mixture.
4. With your hands press the dough evenly against the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan, allowing the excess to fall on the counter. (This will be the top crumble crust and is about 1/3 of the total crust mixture.) Sweep it into your hand and reserve in a small bowl.
5. Crimp the edges of the bottom crust or use a fork dipped in milk to flatten the crust along the rim.
6. Berry pie filling:.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
8. To the washed berries add cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, and freshly grated nutmeg. Stir gently.
9. Place the berry mixture in the bottom crust and sprinkle lemon juice over it. Then with an ordinary teaspoon, place little 1/2 teaspoons soft butter evenly over the top of the berry filling.
10. Crumble the reserved crust on top of the pie.
11. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes. If crust is getting golden but pie filling is not quite congealed, tent the pie with aluminum foil to keep crust from getting too brown.
12.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Midsummer Sausage

Mmm nothing says Summer like a nice delicious piece of sausage off the grill. There’s so many ways it can be done and in World of Warcraft they give us Midsummer Sausage as one delicious option for our toons. Since I don’t need to eat a hot dog that gives me a speed boost for real life instead I’m going to give us a nice summertime sausage dog that adds a little sweet heat to your day. It’s a great twist on such an iconic summertime dish and will give your mouth a kick of amazing flavors too.

Sweet Heat Dog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1 green onion, minced
• 2 tablespoons Asian sriracha hot chili sauce
• 8 hot dogs
• 8 hot dog buns, toasted
• 1 cup chopped sweet-hot pickles
• 2 cups shredded red cabbage

Preparation

• 1. Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat.
• 2. Combine first 3 ingredients and 1 Tbsp. chili sauce in a small bowl. Brush hot dogs with remaining 1 Tbsp. chili sauce.
• 3. Grill hot dogs, covered with grill lid, 4 to 6 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Place hot dogs in buns, and top with mayonnaise mixture. Sprinkle with chopped pickles and shredded cabbage. Enjoy!

Fiery Festival Brew

Keeping up with the theme of Midsummers Festival right now I want to touch base on a drink you can end the week with. In game we have the Fiery Festival Brew though in the real world I won’t be making you breath fire after drinking. So I imagine a fiery drink getting its name for having a little slice to it, and that’s what I’ve got for you.

Drink responsibly and enjoy this great drink to kick start your weekend.

Captains Silver Sunrise

Ingredients
1 shot Captain Morgan® Silver spiced rum
1 1/2 shot Captain Morgan® Parrot Bay coconut rum
1 splash orange juice
1 splash cranberry juice

Instructions

Pour ingredients over ice: Capt. Morgan Silver -Parrot Bay -orange juice -cranberry juice. Enjoy!

Smorcs

With the  Midsummer Fire Festival  kicking into full swing throughout Azeroth I though it was only fitting to start off my first recipe with one of the items found from the festival itself. Smorcs happen to be a great treat that friends gather around bon fires in game for and traditionally we like to eat them around a campfire ourselves in real life.  Just in case your a little stuck on the game and can’t make it camping or just don’t want to realize all those childhood summer camp memories check out my recipe for some awesome smores you can make straight from the oven!

 

 Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs until well coated. Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with the chocolate chips, then the marshmallows. Sprinkle the remaining graham cracker mixture over the marshmallows and press down with a spatula.
3. Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes, until marshmallows are melted. Cool completely before cutting into squares.