Burger Bonanza: A Cooking Club with some Heat

Steam rose from the grill as the smells of sizzling burgers mixed with tangy vegetables and and sweet pineapple wafted through the air. Ericlee and Chris Johnson perched near the grill - ready with tools for flipping burgers and turning peppers, pineapple and zucchini. Meanwhile, the kitchen was abuzz with ladies gabbing and getting the rest of the meal ready, including two homemade salsas and a variety of "buns" for the burgers. The Burger Bonanza menu? Teriyaki Burgers on Whole Wheat Buns, Parmesan turkey burgers on pita bread, All-Beef mushroom burgers on buns, chips and homemade salsa, grilled peppers and zucchini and a surprise seasonal dessert.

This Saturday we hosted our Cooking Club. This collection of our friends, mostly married couples, gathers together monthly to cook and eat together. Each month we have a different theme, such as Spanish, Thai, Italian, Brunch, Super Bowl Bites, I Scream for Ice Cream or Crazy Casseroles. This time we focused on burgers and grilled sides.

Part of the fun of Cooking Club is all being in the same place at the same time. The girls especially loving catching up while we cook. This month the theme of conversation was babies. Susan Holman brought her new little one, Niana, to show off to the crowd. Marcy Pusey brought Corban who is just a few weeks old now. Stacie and Forest gave the special announcement that they are in the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia. And the real surprise came from Mary and Antonio who announced they were pregnant. Yes, married 10 weeks, and 6 weeks pregnant!

New Daddy Jeremy (who belongs to Corban and Marcy) chatted in Spanish with Daddy-to-be Antonio. Meilani went swimming and checked out the two babies. She even cooked up a special smoothie in her own kid kitchen with Auntie Danna who made the drive all the way from San Jose for the Bonanza.
We swatted flies and downed a ferocious meal for carnivores (sorry to Forest who is on a vegan diet). The winner of the burger contest was the teriyaki burger (recipe at right) and we LOVED Mary & Antonio's spicy salsas. We rounded out the meal with roasted peaches topped with a pistachio cookie crumble. Bon Appetit!