Homegrown Tomatoes

The calendar says it's almost fall. The first day of autumn is next week. But our garden thinks it's still summer. That suits us just fine. Here in the South, people celebrate the very first tomato sandwich of the year. But well into tomato season, we are just as excited to have another good BLT. 

I know not everyone is lucky enough to walk out the back door and pick tomatoes for lunch. Maybe you can find local tomatoes at a farmers market. But if you've only had them from the grocery store, you are missing a treat. Sometimes you will get a flavorful tomato at the store, but they are never as juicy. A really good tomato sandwich should have juice that dribbles down your chin.

Several years ago we had a neighbor plant several acres in tomatoes. Specifically a variety of tomatoes that were ideal for shipping. When they had finished picking and packing and shipping them for the season, the neighbors were welcome to come pick whatever was left. Well, those tomatoes were not like our garden tomatoes. They were much harder. And that makes sense. Our super juicy tomatoes would not survive being packed on top of each other. They would be a squished mess.

So we thank our lucky stars for living where we can grow our own. Just so you know...the best tomato sandwiches are made with Duke's mayonnaise. You'll never convince me otherwise.

And a good tomato sandwich always me think of this classic Guy Clark song. It might replay in your head all day. Or, you might find you're humming the tune for a week.  You're welcome.

 

Sloppy. Simple. Supper.

A week with the grandchildren means a week of meals that are kid friendly. Recipes that were once my kitchen staples but recipes that have now dropped way down in my rotation. This sloppy joe recipe made me famous at church for many years. It was my standard for church suppers for youth groups.

Even the kids who didn't like sloppy joes (aka Manwich) LOVED this recipe. That might be because it doesn't taste like Manwich. (Personally, I never thought Manwich was that bad.) The seasonings here are so simple that there is not much to dislike. The overall flavor has a hint of sweetness. Kids like that. I like that.

I made this earlier this week while Mommy had the girls at ballet lessons. I've made this so many times I don't need to look up the recipe. Even all these years later. Just remember, besides the meat, it's a cup of ketchup and one tablespoon of four other things—sweet/sour/savory/tangy. That's easy to remember.

SLOPPY JOES

1-1/2 lbs lean ground beef or turkey (I've made it with a 1 lb pk, too.)
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard

Brown meat and drain. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes. Spoon over toasted hamburger buns.

If I use ground turkey, which comes in one-pound packages,  I will add some chopped onion when I brown the meat to help bulk it up. It also helps flavor the milder turkey.

If you are making this for a crowd, it's easy to increase the proportions. And it freezes well, too, so you might make extra for the freezer for a super quick supper on one of "those" nights.

One friend of Mommy's, who got this recipe from us, told me this was her standard "take supper to the new Mommy" meal. She takes the sloppy joe mix, buns, chips, and maybe slaw or baked beans and a pack of paper plates. Easy for the one taking it to make. Easy for the one receiving supper to get on the table. If there are toddler or preschool siblings in the house, this is a meal they will like.

Honest disclosure here...I have had kids tell me they don't like this, won't eat this, have no intention of trying this. But if I can get them to taste one bite, I've never had one who didn't change their mind. Maybe it's the name they don't like. Call it something else if you wish.

Baby Girl gobbled her supper up the night I made the Sloppy Joes. She polished off the leftovers the next day at lunch. And begged to have it again that night for supper (there wasn't any more left) when we were having cabbage with smoked sausage and tomatoes. I can totally understand that. But to her credit, she did eat the cabbage and the "little porks."

Easy Supper - Sloppy Joes

While we had the little girls for the weekend, I tried to cook things that I knew they liked. Sloppy Joes are a favorite and it's also easy to make. I got this ready early on Friday morning before they arrived. This recipe has been a family favorite for many years.

If you have a Manwich phobia, this doesn't take like that. Try it. Make it to feed your family, to feed the church youth group, to fill the freezer. One friend of Mommy's told me that this was her favorite meal to take to a new mother. She got the recipe from Mommy a few years ago. She takes the Sloppy Joe mixture, buns, chips, slaw or baked beans and a simple dessert. And she said that nearly every new mom had called to ask her for the recipe.

I've made it so many times that I never need to look up the recipe any more. It's so simple that you probably can remember it, too. It's just ground meat, ketchup and the four seasonings—a tablespoon of each.

To make this more fun for the little girls, I served this on slider rolls this time. Little food for little hands. And we were happy to have leftovers for our supper the day after they left. That's how I made these pictures. Needless to say, there were no food photos happening while they were here!

SLOPPY JOES

1-1/2 lbs ground beef or turkey (I've made it with a 1 lb pk, too.)
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard

Brown meat and drain. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes. Spoon over toasted hamburger buns.

Sandwiches For Supper

I needed an easy supper for a busy day last week. Daddy-O was in the hay field until dark, while I was still at work at the piano. (My days as pianist are done. At least for now.) I dug deep into my own recipe index here—yes, sometimes I forget to use what is at my fingertips—to find something I could pop into the slow cooker in the morning and have ready in the evening. Pepperoncini Beef sounded good.

BUT before I got started, I remembered watching Pioneer Woman make a similar recipe while I was babysitting a few weeks ago. The little grandchildren love watching Pioneer Woman.  And now Trisha Yearwood's cooking show is a new favorite. "What's Trisha cooking today, Mom?" asks five -year-old Little Sister many days. (Their television viewing is very limited, so these cooking shows are a real treat.)

My original plan was to make Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches that I posted here ages ago. But I changed my plan when I found the recipe from the Pioneer Woman TV show. Oh, the powers of Google! 

I made a variation of Pioneer Woman's Drip Beef, which is a cousin to my own recipe. The changes I made to her recipe were simply to use what I had in my pantry. It was too far to run to the store for a jar of whole pepperoncini when I could make do with sliced ones. It's that kind of recipe. Pioneer Woman's Drip Beef was a variation of someone else's recipe. So feel free to tweak it if you need to. I'm not even sure I'll make it exactly the same way next time either.

DRIP BEEF SANDWICHES

1 (3-lb) chuck roast, trimmed of fat

1 (10-oz) can beef consomme

1/2 (16-oz) jar whole pepperoncini, with the juice (I only had sliced)

3 tablespoons Italian seasoning

salt & pepper to taste

crusty sandwich rolls (I used sandwich thins)
Provolone cheese slices

Cook in slow cooker on LOW for 8-10 hours, or until fork tender. Use two forks to shred the beef. Serve on toasted buns. Top with cheese, if you want. And you can dip out some of the juice and serve in little bowls on the side to make this "French Dip" style. 


Here is my original recipe, just like I've made it several times. It's good, too. This one is a little spicier because it uses the whole jar of pepperoncinis. They are both good. And check out Pioneer Woman's post for another no-pepper version. I'll try that one, too. It looked tasty in a different kind of way.

PEPPERONCINI BEEF SANDWICHES

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 lb beef roast, trimmed of excess fat

4-5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 16-oz. jar sliced pepperoncinis, undrained

crusty sandwich rolls

sliced Provolone cheese

Heat oil in a pot or high-sided skillet over high heat. While the oil is heating, combine the salt and pepper and rub it into the meat. Add more if necessary.


When the oil is hot, sear the roast on all sides so the outsides of it is browned and a little crispy.


Transfer the roast to a slow cooker and add the minced garlic and the entire jar of pepperoncinis (along with juice.)

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or until the beef is 

fork tender.
 Drain and shred. Keep the peppers!

Toast buns. Pile drained, shredded meat on bottom bun and top with cheese. Put back under broiler just long enough to melt the cheese. 

Now...let me advise you. If you don't like "hot" you might want to use less pepperoncini in BOTH recipes. Or, make something else entirely. Daddy-O thought the Drip Beef was a little on the spicy side. I liked it just like it was. I am convinced that the hotness of pepperoncinis vary from jar to jar. Wikipedia says "its hotness depends on the maturity of the pepper, with the most ripe being sweeter than younger ones." So, you use the amount that suits you. Also, if you use the whole peppers, it's easy to leave them off the sandwiches if that suits you better.

And because there are only two of us here, I put two ziploc bags of drip beef in the freezer for other busy days. There will be a day coming soon when I'll be so glad I did this.

 

Grab 'n Go Sandwiches

I have made this recipe for years and years, usually around Christmas when we need party food. But when I came across slider rolls at the store, I thought I would make this recipe again using these slightly larger rolls. And this time I'm wrapping them in pairs before freezing.

That way, when Daddy-O needs a quick lunch while he is busy outside working, or wants to pack a cooler to take with him in the tractor during hay season, he can grab a pack or two. Of course, they are meant to be heated before eating, but there is nothing that must be hot to be safe.

If he ends up with a cold sandwich, the worst thing would be the cheese not being melted. He could live with that. But if he takes a break while still in the field, he could lay those foil-wrapped sandwiches on the hot tractor engine for a few minutes. Use it like a toaster oven. Tractor hack!

It will be great to take some of these to the lake, too, where the kitchen is the size of a postage stamp. We could even heat these wrapped sandwiches on the grill if we wanted to. There is really no cooking—they just need to be heated.

 

Don't know what your summer schedule is, but these sandwiches might be a handy addition to your freezer stash. A grab-and-go kind of meal.

HAM DELIGHT SLIDERS

1/2 lb. butter, softened (that's 2 sticks)

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

3 tablespoons French's mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 small onion, minced

1-1/2 lb. ham from deli, shaved (I have used smoked turkey)

2 packs ultra thin Swiss cheese slices (18 per pack--you won't need quite all)

2 packages slider rolls (12 per pack)

Mix butter, poppy seeds, mustard, Worcestershire, and onion, blending well. 

Spread top and bottom of rolls with butter mixture. On bottom half, place ham and cheese. Replace top half of rolls. Wrap in heavy duty foil. Bake at 400 degrees and bake for 10 minutes.

These can be frozen and heated straight out of the freezer. Just allow extra oven time if you do it that way.

I also heated a couple of them in the microwave for Daddy-O's lunch when, on the day I made them, he came in late from hauling hay and needed a quick lunch. Microwave heating means NO FOIL, remember? Those two sliders were not frozen, but ones I had saved out from my freezer stashing.

Here's how I packaged them for the freezer... I wrapped two sliders in foil, using pre-cut foil sheets and then slid them into a freezer ziplock bag. Two sliders is the right size for Daddy-O's lunch. This foil, like regular aluminum foil, is NOT a freezer wrap. If you want to wrap and freeze them without the plastic bag, you need to use heavy-duty foil.

If you have made the original recipe, you'll notice that the amounts here are slightly different. I discovered that 1 lb. of shaved ham wasn't enough to make 24 sliders. I got 18 sliders from my single pound of meat.

How Did She Do It?

One day there is going to be an argument in my family. And it will be about my chicken salad. "I KNOW she put pecans in it." (Yes, I did.)  "No. She made it with apples." (Yes. That's correct.) "Well, I'm pretty sure it didn't have nuts or apples. It had pickles." (Yes. You're right.)

I always made it with toasted pecans years ago. Until Big Sister couldn't eat nuts anymore, so I switched to diced apples. I made buckets of it that way last year when I stayed with them in Arkansas so long. Then this summer, I just forgot about using apples all of those times. I still couldn't use pecans, because now Daddy-O doesn't eat nuts. I made it with salad cubes (diced pickles) instead.

When Jessica asked if I'd make more for Boyfriend's birthday, she told me, "Oh...and he doesn't eat pickles." So I went back to nuts for him. By now Mommy has reminded me, "But you always make it with apples!" 

All of the other ingredients always remain the same. It always has celery. It always has cheese. It's that third add-in that I change around. This week, I'm back to the apple version.

To be truthful, I don't measure anything. But then, I've made lots and lots and lots of chicken salad. Just know that you don't have to be precise. And it probably takes more mayonnaise than you think. Just so you know, I like all of these variations.

CHICKEN SALAD

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 - 1 teaspoon Lawry's seasoning salt (I just give it a good shake)
1 large rib celery, diced fine
1 medium red apple, unpeeled & diced (or toasted pecans or salad cubes)
1/2—3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
sprinkle of salt
a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice
enough Duke's mayonnaise (or other good quality mayo) to make it spreadable

Cook chicken in water with seasoning salt added, until tender, about 40-45 minutes. Let cool in broth, until cool enough to handle. Chop chicken medium-fine. In a large bowl, add in celery, apple and cheese. Add in enough mayonnaise to make it spreadable. I start with 3 or 4 big tablespoons full and stir and then add more, one spoonful at a time, until I get the right amount. (Because chicken breasts and celery and apples are different sizes, it's hard to be precise with a mayo measurement.) Stir until well blended and spreadable.


Tonight I'm eating the very last of this week's chicken salad. Mommy, Big Sister, Little Sister and Baby Girl have been here for a few days while they were on fall break. I made a big batch of chicken salad for sandwiches because everyone likes it. We had fun with them here. The noisy, messy kind of fun that you have with very little people. And today they headed home. So tonight the toys are picked up. The sippy cups are put away. The kitchen is clean. Daddy-O is at a dinner meeting. It's just me and my sandwich and a cup of Zen tea. It's quiet here. It's a little too quiet.

It does feel good to sit still and prop my feet up. But I'll miss reading bedtime stories tonight. I'll miss the early morning snuggles tomorrow. Hope it won't be long until we see them again.

Almost Not Cooking

I told Daddy-O that I have lost all interest in cooking. He instantly fired back, "Well, you'd better get over it. I haven't lost interest in eating." And he is completely right.

I headed to some favorite blogs, ones with recipes I trust and that we usually like. The writer of Southern Plate is a southerner like us, and her recipes are easy and good. Many are ones I grew up with. A cousin called me once to ask if I had the lemon pie recipe that both our mothers made—and neither mother wrote down. I didn't have it, but soon after that conversation, the lemon pie recipe popped up on the Southern Plate blog. I remembered enough about how Mother made it to know that was the one.

So I was happy to find this sandwich recipe on her blog. A sandwich isn't exactly cooking, is it? That meets my needs. But a sandwich can make a good hearty supper, which met Daddy-O's need.

For once, I made a recipe exactly like it was written, except I cut it in half. And I used a little less butter. (Well, I guess I didn't follow it exactly, did I?) I'm only feeding two of us. I even found the Dale's marinade at the store. The verdict? Daddy-O said, "This is good." Took another bite, "This is REALLY good." I thought it was good, too. But for my taste it was a little salty. I used the larger amount in the recipe. So I might back off the marinade a bit another time. But rest assured, there will be another time.

'BAMA STEAK SANDWICH

1 lb. deli roast beef, sliced for sandwiches
1 to 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 stick butter (I used less)
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 to 4 tablespoons Dale's Sauce (or soy sauce or a little Worcestershire)
soft deli rolls

Cut roast beef into pieces. (I cut the stack of slices into squares.) Melt butter. Add 1-2 tablespoons sauce, according to taste. Add onions and peppers and saute until tender. Add roast beef and additional sauce. Continue cooking until roast beef is heated through. Remove from heat and sprinkle cheese over the top. Let sit until melted. (I put a lid on at this point to help it melt.) Serve on sandwich rolls.

Makes about 5 sandwiches


If you've never heard of Dale's Sauce (I hadn't) the ingredients on listed on the label say it contains mostly soy sauce with some corn syrup and onion, garlic, ginger and paprika, along some other ingredients. So the main flavor is the soy sauce. I don't think you need to worry if you can't find it. Use one of the substitutes listed—soy sauce or Worcestershire. You'll be fine.

Eye On The Sky

Morning, just before the sun came up.

Afternoon.

Evening, minutes before sunset.

There are days when cooking takes a backseat. There are more important things to do, like watching the sky. Our house is situated so that I can keep an eye on the sky as I'm doing other things. Today I was glad to be at home most of the day to see all the changes. For a gray day, there was quite a show.

Yep, no cooking happened today. We had sandwiches for supper—but when I wrapped them up instead of just using bread, Daddy-O thought I had made him something special. Reminds me of a day years ago when the girls were little and had a friend over. I made them peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Because I didn't have any chips, I sliced apples and then arranged it all nicely on their plates. The little friend said so seriously, "I wish my mom cooked like this at my house." Making it look nice, even if it's on a paper plate, does make everything taste better. It really does.

TONIGHT'S SANDWICH WRAPS 

Flatout Wraps, sun-dried tomato flavor (they are whole wheat, too)

ranch dressing

romaine leaves (thick stem cut out so it will roll)

thinly sliced deli turkey

fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced

Assemble sandwich ingredients in order listed. Carefully roll up sandwiches, tucking in ingredients as necessary. Slice in half on diagonal. Secure each half with a toothpick.

(If I had planned better, I would have made some kind of pie today. So I could have titled this blog "Pie In The Sky.")

Make And Take

I've made this so many times over the years that I don't have to go look up the recipe. It's as easy to remember as it is to make. A pound or so of lean ground beef and a tablespoon of four other things—a tablespoon of sweet (sugar), a tablespoon of sour (vinegar), and two tablespoons of savory (Worcestershire & mustard), and a cup of ketchup.

I've made huge amounts to feed kids at church. I've made a single recipe and put half in the freezer for the two of us. But I don't think I've ever made it to take to someone.  When I ran into a friend of Mommy's a few weeks ago in a doctors office, she ran to give me a hug and said, "I was thinking about you a few days ago while I was cooking. I've made your Sloppy Joe recipe so many times since you gave me the recipe." 

She went on to tell me that it was her favorite thing to make when she needed to take a meal to a family. These young moms are all good about taking dinner to a family when a new baby arrives. She said the sloppy joe meal was the best, especially when there were some older children in the family because they all liked it. Mommy's friend had just had a call from a dinner recipient saying, "My husband ate FOUR of these sandwiches last night! It was so good. It was such a help to get your good dinner." 

So make a batch (or double batch) and pack it up with buns, chips, maybe baked beans and slaw or veggies and dip and some cookies and you're ready to deliver an easy, delicious dinner to someone who needs a little help.

SLOPPY JOES

1 to 1-1/2 pound of lean ground beef

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 cup ketchup

Brown the meat. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve on toasted buns.

PS  Mommy makes this with ground turkey and calls it Sloppy Jims.

PPS  If you've tried Manwich and didn't like it, this is a totally different flavor. My recipe is usually liked by non-sloppy joe lovers. 

Count Your Blessings

I'm thinking of some of my favorite Christmas things today (and counting my blessings, too.) Here are a few in no particular order, other than the order of the photos on my camera...

I love music. I especially love Christmas music. We watched White Christmas last night, one of my favorite holiday movies. And Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep is my favorite song in it. I've had the sheet music for this song for over 50 years (yikes! I'm old) and it is well tattered from much use.

When Mommy was just a baby, I pushed her stroller into a Christmas shop at the beach while on summer vacation. I saw these beautiful Nativity sets and could not stop looking at them. I finally decided to splurge big time (which I now think was an investment) and purchase the entire set. It was meant to be a collected a few pieces at a time but I was worried that before I got all of it, it would be discontinued. Well, you can still buy this Fontanini set, but then I didn't know that it would be around this long. It was one of the best purchases I've ever made. These unbreakable pieces have survived years and years of little hands "helping" when it was time to set it up. For 29 years it has reminded us of how Christmas began. 

It also makes me smile every year when I put it out. When Mommy was just three, I turned around to see her adding the white fence sections from her Fisher Price farm set to the scene. Slightly aggravated that she was messing up my beautiful display, I asked her what on earth she was doing. She explained that she was "fixing it so the cows wouldn't get out." She--the child of a cattleman--understood all too well, even that young age, that it is not a good thing when the cows get loose! We left the fence up that year.

For the last several years we have attended an outdoor Nativity scene held in a field beside a local country church. We love going because it is so simple and real. I love the glorious wonderfully rehearsed productions that other churches do—sound systems and elegant costumes and trained musicians. But this one, when we sit in cold metal folding chairs outside and listen to the Christmas story being told by their pastor, seems maybe closer to how it happened. A couple of years ago, the shepherds' bonfire caught the grass on fire. A little extra drama that year.

Last night when we came home from the outdoor Nativity, chilled to the bone from sitting outside on those cold metal chairs, I had supper waiting. This new recipe that turned out to be a winner. Daddy-O ate three sandwiches. (Not quite as bad as it sounds—I bought the small buns.) It was a little spicy but when the meat is combined with the bun and cheese in a sandwich, it was just right.

PEPPERONCINI BEEF SANDWICHES

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 lb beef roast, trimmed of excess fat

4-5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 16-oz. jar sliced pepperoncinis, undrained

crusty sandwich rolls

sliced Provolone cheese

Heat oil in a pot or high-sided skillet over high heat. While the oil is heating, combine the salt and pepper and rub it into the meat. Add more if necessary.


When the oil is hot, sear the roast on all sides so the outsides of it is browned and a little crispy.


Transfer the roast to a slow cooker and add the minced garlic and the entire jar of pepperoncinis (along with juice.)

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or until the beef is 

fork tender.
 Drain and shred. Keep the peppers!

Toast buns. Pile drained, shredded meat on bottom bun and top with cheese. Put back under broiler just long enough to melt the cheese. 

I used a chuck roast yesterday. No trimming was needed on the outside of the roast but I did use a very sharp knife and cut out as much of the "inside fat" as I could to keep the finished dish from being too greasy. You could also use a round roast.

Make These...Soon

Jessica made these burgers the night before she headed home and posted this recipe on her blog. I couldn't resist reposting because they were the best burgers I've ever eaten. We ate leftover burgers last night and they were as good as the fresh off the grill ones.

The recipe is in the new Cooking Light magazine (June 2012.) A healthy burger! You can click on the link for the nutritional stats. 

I'm not sure I would have made these because the list of ingredients looks long. But about half the ingredients are things I had on hand so the shopping was quick. And they were not hard to make. Jessica decided you could make the onion-mushroom mixture and the mayo-blue cheese sauce ahead of time. Then at supper time, it would be quick to make the burger. She only used 2 cups of red onion. No other changes. (We did toast the buns.) Make them. You'll be glad.

Cabernet-Balsamic Burgers with Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions

• 5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 4 cups thinly sliced red onion (we used 2 cups)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 cup cabernet sauvignon or other dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms
• 1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 ounce blue cheese, crumbled (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 (1 1/2-ounce) whole-wheat hamburger buns
• 1 1/2 cups baby arugula

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and thyme; cook 17 minutes or until golden and very tender, stirring occasionally. Increase the heat to medium-high; add wine, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook for 6 minutes or until the liquid almost evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove onion mixture from pan.
2. Wipe pan clean with paper towels. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 3 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add mushrooms and 1/4 teaspoon salt; sauté for 8 minutes or until mushrooms brown and liquid mostly evaporates.
3. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
4. Coarsely chop 1 cup onion mixture, and stir chopped onion mixture into beef. Divide the beef mixture into 6 equal portions, gently shaping each into a 1-inch-thick patty. Press a nickel-sized indentation in center of each patty. Sprinkle the patties with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill for 4 minutes on each side or until done.
5. Combine mayonnaise, blue cheese, and garlic in a bowl, and mash well with a fork. Spread the top halves of buns evenly with mayonnaise mixture. Arrange 1/4 cup arugula on bottom half of each bun; top each bottom half of bun with 1 patty, about 2 tablespoons remaining onion mixture, about 1/4 cup mushrooms, and top half of bun.