Who Needs McDonalds?

You may already know that Mom got us a KA mixer for Christmas this year. Chris' company gave him a $50.00 Amex gift card for Christmas. KA mixer + $50.00 =

YAY! We got the food grinder! We have been so excited at the prospect of making our own sausages that its not even funny. We decided to grind up a roast beef that we had in the freezer to make some hamburgers. I have to say, the grinder is quite disgusting. The meat looks really gross coming out and every once in a while it spits meat juice across the kitchen (or in my case, right onto my face). Luckily, I could get over it enough to really enjoy the process. Here is the final ground up meat:

So into the mixer it goes with all of Chris' special burger making stuff (I really don't know what he puts in there or I would tell you)

I know there are sauteed garlic and onions in there.

MMMmmmMMM! That is damn good! We even bought Ore Ida 'fast food fries' that go in the oven. They were pretty good!

Wanna bite?

Holiday Cookies!

(NOTE: BIGGER slideshow on dannyburbol.com)

We're going to a cookie exchange party, so we baked lots of surgar and peanutbutter holiday cookies!

Our Favs are:

• #7: that G-Bread man got hit in the head by a peanut butter cup flining ninja!
  
• #8: just simple and classic
  
• #13: cute star!
  
• #14: Tiff was going for height!
  be sure to check out #19 :)
  
• #15: Yeah Baby!
  
• #19: of course, this one is our top pick :)
  

Stuffed Pork Loin

Mom came over for dinner. Chris decided to make stuffed pork loin. We have made this before and it is so easy and yummy.

First take your pork loin and cut it so that it is flat. You kind of have to go in a reverse spiral.

Next season with salt and pepper and place your fillings on. We used fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and roasted red peppers.

Roll it up and bake in a 350° oven for 45 min to 1 hr. We use our stoneware bread pan because it helps keep the shape without skewers. We served it with butternut squash puree and roasted potatoes.