Smokey Burgers and Party Desserts

My youngest son was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and this morning, so we stayed home from church and watched the online worship service. Isn't technology great? We didn't have to miss the awesome message, and we didn't spread any germs. If you would like to check out my cool church, just click this link.

Usually, we dine out after church, most often at the all you can eat salad bar at Mazzio's. But, since Christian is not 100%, John offered to grill hamburgers outside. Love it--especially in December. With a brisk south wind, our house now smells a little smokey, but lunch was good. In fact, one time Christian emerged from his room to make sure we weren't burning the house down! After all, the cable company did catch our yard on fire last December.

I made a quick batch of hamburger buns to complete the lunch. This batch uses the soy master mix. Today, I added minced onion to make an onion bun. Pretty darn good. Because hubby was moving so fast on those burgers, I opted to make larger than average buns, taking the chance that I could split them in half with my bread knife. Before, I had always baked 12 individual buns, using one each for the top and the bottom. This time I only baked 6 in my muffin top pan. They were easy to split. The only problem is that the top part is bigger around than the bottom section. Not too big a deal, though. I thought they would take longer to bake, and almost burned them, so if you plan on doing that, watch them closely. They do bake up quickly, and light and fluffy too.

John still had some wood chips left over from smoking our turkey at Thanksgiving, so he threw a few wood chips on the grill. You definitely can taste the difference, and they look a little black even though they are not really burned.

I loaded up all the fixins--sliced onion, low cab ketchup, mustard, lettuce and a pickle spear. You can add whatever suits your fancy. I love barbecue burgers when I can find the KC Masterpiece Classic blend. Right now, I am out. This definitely ended up a two handed burger. While we often eat the burger patties without buns, sometimes it is just better to have finger food!

Speaking of finger food, we were fairly well behaved at the party last night. There were sausages and meatballs, cheeses, dips and veggie trays. My dessert of cheesecake puddings served in shots was well received. I used the small bathroom plastic cups, and added a Christmas sticker to make them pretty. I made one batch of Toffee Cheesecake Pudding and one batch of Chocolate Kahlua Cream. Yum. I am pretty sure that kept us out of the chocolate cake and brownies. Have to confess to a few tortilla chips though. Never saw hubby cheat, although I am betting the barbecue sauce had some carbs. Shouldn't hurt him too much, but he hasn't checked his blood sugar today to let me know.
Chocolate Kahlua Cream in Espresso cups

Now I am off to do my prep cooking for the day. Hope you are enjoying the season as much as I am!