THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX

Not one of my specialties! Just being honest…We once were low on bottled water and I said something to my hubby about it. His response? Get it from the sink. OOOOHHHHH YEEEAAAAHHHH…. (doink on the head!) I have always been “book smart” and completely NOT “street smart”. That is what my hubby is around for.

This brings me to the point of: “doing something because you’ve always done it that way”. I read a book once and it had a story in it about a family who always cut the end off of the roast before cooking. Finally someone backtracked through the family chefs to find out why. It was because the roast wouldn’t fit in that particular family member’s oven. I would like to think before I do something that it appears well thought out. But this isn’t always the case! Habits sometimes prevail…

Well, going down memory lane recently with my oldest daughter proved to be somewhat of a trip. What came up? “Remember those pics of Grandma Paulette letting me takes sips of her beer?” EEEKKSSSS!!!! Well, YES, I remembered, but why in the hell would my mother have done that??? She had also let me and my sister do the same when we were younger. I am going to stop right here and add “my dad” to the mix. He was equally as guilty. It’s funny NOW but back when we were 5-6-7 years old, my parents would ask us to get them a beer and when we returned with it, we would ask if we could have a sip. They said “yes”. ???????????????????

To me, as a parent, and now a grandmother, I find this VERY unacceptable. I have a five year old grandson right now and would NEVER allow him to take a sip of any alcoholic drink I was consuming. I NEVER allowed my children to take sips of my drinks when they were growing up either. MAYBE at Christmas or New Year’s someone got to take a drink of champagne, but they were over 16 before they did that, not five!

In any case, that brought me to thinking about our parents’ habits we take with us into our own adult lives. I think the very first one I dropped was my parents’ use of Open Pit BBQ sauce. OMG…gross…I haven’t touched it since. I am not joking…

So here’s a different burger. Not your parents’ burger.

Ingredients:
One pound ground pork

½ t. garlic salt

1 t. salt

½ t. cumin

Pinch of black pepper

1 t. basil

1 t. paprika

1 jalapenos, finely chopped

Mix all ingredients and form into five patties. GRILL!!!!

And, I do use aluminum foil most of the time when I grill because bacon on a wide open grill will get killed.

Top with cheese, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, or whatever you like! I like Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

And the kiddos get milk or juice...no sips of beer!

;-)