Cooper Cooks Cowboy

A couple of Sundays ago, Roy's second cousin Cooper came over to cook with me. As number five in a household of seven kids, Cooper is no stranger to pitching in and helping out. His dad is a great cook and it turns out that Cooper has an affinity for it as well.  He and I have cooked together before, and we make a pretty good team. Once he saved the day when I had a mess of salmon to cook for a bunch of people, but forgot to buy a spice rub to put on the fish.  He suggested a combination of various ingredients and instinctively knew what would work well together. I was impressed! The jury is still out on what Cooper 'wants to be when he grows up". Sometimes he says he wants to be a plastic surgeon, but I think he'd be a great chef.  Below are the recipes from our cooking session.  Honestly, we used barbecue sauce from a bottle, but I included two different recipes for a homemade option.  I did notice that the store bought sauce had high fructose corn syrup as one of the first ingredients, so homemade would be a healthier way to go.

Cowboy Burgers - makes four burgers

1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup BBQ sauce, bottled or one of recipes below
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 slices of American cheese
8 slices of cooked bacon
4 really good buns, such as onion

Gently mix all ingredients except the cheese and the bacon together and form into four patties. Grill over medium low heat or fry on the stove. Try to turn only once, cooking about five minutes per side. Top each burger with a slice of cheese. Place on a bun and put two slices of cooked bacon on each patty. Serve with extra BBQ sauce or ketchup.

The Neely's BBQ Sauce Recipe from The Food Network 

2 cups ketchup

1 cup water

1/2 apple cider vinegar

5 tablespoons brown sugar

5 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons pepper

2 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

2 1/2 teaspoons ground mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer until slightly reduced, about 15 minutes.

South Beach BBQ Sauce from the South Beach Diet Cookbook

2 cup tomato sauce
4 tablespoons white vinegar
4 teaspoons parsley
2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Whisk ingredients together 

Cowboy BBQ Baked Beans

 (28 oz.) can pork and beans
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Heaping 1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together. Place in a baking dish and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until warm and bubbly. Or, microwave five minutes.

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Cowboy "Caviar" Salsa

3 to 4 good sized tomatoes, diced

1 (15 oz.) can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup diced celery

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

1/4 cup diced green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons diced red onion

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Place the tomatoes, beans, celery, red pepper, green pepper, cilantro, red onion, and jalapeno in a serving bowl .  Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Pour the dressing over the vegetables and gently combine.  Serve with tortilla chips.