Inspiring Living Lifestyle

Enjoy these wonderful recipes from our travels, our family’s and our favorite cookbooks.

Caprese Burgers & Bacon S'mores with our Squirreltail Cocktail

We came up with these recipes while vacationing in the small town of McMinnville, Oregon. We rented a great house through AirBnB to escape the heat and the COVID-19 for the month of July and it’s been wonderful! Our yard has a 75 year-old Douglas Fir tree, a grape vine, rambunctious squirrels, and a nice fire pit in the center of it all surrounded by Adirondack chairs. So this month’s virtual Instagram Live cooking class will be a “Campfire Edition”, held on Saturday, July 4th at 10am, with everything cooked fireside on the Weber Grill. We hope to “see” you Saturday on our Candelaria Design Instagram.

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Caprese Burger Ingredients

Makes 4 burgers

1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin beef

1—2 tbs Worcestershire

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

7 — 8oz ball fresh mozzarella sliced into eight 1/4-inch-thick slices, patted dry with paper towels

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup pesto

Olive oil for drizzling

4 Focaccia hamburger buns

2 medium tomatoes sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

Fresh Basil leaves

Caprese Burger Preparation

  • For the burgers: Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

  • Combine the beef, Worcestershire, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Form the mixture into four, 4-inch-diameter patties, each about 3/4-inch thick.

  • Grill for 5 minutes. Turn the burgers over and place a slice of mozzarella on top. Cook for about 5 minutes longer until the burgers are cooked through and the cheese is slightly melted.

  • Allow the burgers to rest for 5 minutes.

  • For the pesto mayonnaise, combine the mayonnaise and pesto in a small bowl until smooth.

  • To assemble the burgers: Drizzle the cut side of the bread with olive oil and grill until lightly toasted, 1 to 2 minutes. Spread the pesto mayonnaise over the bottom halves of the grilled bread. Place the burgers on top and add 2 tomato slices and basil leaves. Add the top halves of the bread and serve.

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Bacon S’mores Ingredients

Graham crackers

Marshmallows

Chocolate Bar 

Bacon

Preparation

  • Break graham crackers in half. Break chocolate bar in half and center one square section on each of 2 graham cracker halves.

  • Cook bacon strips on grill 3-5 minutes until desired texture.

  • Roast marshmallow over the grill about 1 minute until desired char.

  • Top each graham cracker half with your roasted marshmallow & 1/2 a bacon strip. Add other graham cracker half and press gently to sandwich.

  • Enjoy!

Squirrel Tail Cocktail

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2 shots Bourbon

1 shot Chambord Liqueur

1/4 shot Frangelico Liqueur

1 shot Club Soda

Few drops of Aromatic Bitters

1 blackberry

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Shake and serve over ice. Garnish with a small Pine branch. Enjoy that Squirreltail!

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