SUPER BOWL SNACK THROW DOWN WEEK 8

TACKLING
TEX MEX
BRUSCHETTA

When the ingredient came up as "hamburger" and not just "ground beef" I though I should stick to a recipe in actual hamburger form. I remember catching part of an episode of Sandra Lee's Semi-homemade where she made a Tex Mex burger. This was my chance to make the burger, but with my little twist to it...turn it into a bruschetta type appetizer. Thus, the creation of the Tackling Tex Mex Bruschetta.

Head on over to HIGHLOWAHA to cast your vote for this week's edition of the Super Bowl Snack Throw Down! Once you click the red oval to enter the blog, you'll see our names on the right hand side. All you have to do is click to vote!

On a side note, next week will not have a typical voting day on Friday. Instead, there will be a daily task. I'm not sure what all will be involved, but I'll be sure to email the details every day to my readers. If you are not on my weekly Friday voting reminder email, and want to be, please let me know. Enough yapping...here's the recipe!


Ingredients

1. 1 lb ground beed
2. 1 packet of McCormick's Tex Mex chili mix
3. 1/4 cup beer
4. 2 cups guacamole *
   
5. 3 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
6. 1 lb pepper jack cheese, thinly sliced
7. 1 cup bacon crumbles**
8. 1 loaf of sour dough cocktail bread

* I tried to purchase prepared guacamole from the store, but realized it all contains egg. Due to Brandon's food allergies, I had to make it from scratch. Since when does guacamole have egg in it???? I used Ortega's Guacamole mix and added some sour cream for a better texture. To keep the recipe simple and quick, purchase it prepared!

** You can purchase bacon grumbles in the salad dressing section of the store, but I just cooked up a pound of bacon and threw it in the processor. Once again, purchase the bacon crumbles prepared for a quick and simple recipe!


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix ground beef with 1/2 contents of Tex Mex chili mix and 1/4 cup beer, until combined
3. Fill each cup of a mini muffin pan with the ground beef mixture
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes
5. Allow mini burgers to rest for a few minutes, and then slice in half, lengthwise.
6. Reduce oven temperature to 350
   
7. Place sour dough bread in a single layer on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 2-3 minutes to lightly toast them
8. Now, layer the ingredients. Guacamole, 2 mini burger halves, slice of tomato, cheese, and top with bacon
9. Place back into the oven for about 6 minutes or until cheese is melted

Burgers are done! Take the pan and put it up to your nose.
You can almost TASTE the beer in them by just smelling them.
It's such a delicious flavor profile.

Here's the "assembly line" I set up on my stove top to get these prepared.
The progression of preparing them

I prepared everything, including the burgers, while the boys took their nap. Then, I just put it all in the fridge. I nuked the burgers for 30 seconds before putting the bruschetta together. This is a very "travel worthy" appetizer to take to someone's house and prepare on site. I wanted to try that method out, and it passed with flying colors! You would only need to take the 5 containers and loaf of cocktail bread since most everyone has at least an oven, cookie sheet, and a butter knife.

ENJOY! This was the first time I've ever made this recipe, and it's delicious! The boys ate it with me and my husband for dinner and enjoyed it as well. Brandon, however, LOVED it! He ate 2 whole ones!!!