Celebrate Beef Month with Cream Cheese Burgers: Vote by May 7
Val and Ian Plagge with their son Klayton.
Farmers are known for wearing many caps, and Val Plagge is no exception. She’s a farmer, a farm wife, mother, as well as an independent leadership development and event planner.
Val met her husband, Ian, when they were students in the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University. Upon graduating from ISU, they got married and moved near Ian’s home farm in Latimer, Iowa. They began farming in 2005; today they raise corn, soybeans and finish hogs.
Active in their community, both Val and Ian serve on the Franklin County Farm Bureau board and are members of the Farm Bureau Young Member Committee. Ian is a member of the Franklin County Extension Council, and Val is the Franklin County 4-H Communications Project leader. Val is also a volunteer and vice chairman of the North Iowa Make a Wish Foundation. Together Val and Ian serve as youth sponsors for the Senior High youth group at their church, as well. Plus, Val teaches high school Sunday School.
When she has free time, Val enjoys experimenting with new recipes. It’s no wonder that her most recent charity project combines many of her interests. She developed a recipe for Cy’s Cook Off. Here’s how Val describes the contest in her Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids blog spot:
I produced my “Cardinal & Gold Cream Cheese Burgers” by modifying and coupling other burger recipes together. I created the burger for a Pinterest contest for Iowa State Athletics. There contest is called Cy’s Cook Off, and whoever receives the most repins and likes wins a $100 gift card to Cy’s Locker Room and an autographed Coach Rhoades mini helmet. I’m planning on giving the helmet to Make A Wish North Iowa for the Wish Upon A Par auction on June 27, and I’m planning on decking out the family in new ISU gear for football if I win.
Val does a fantastic job of showing each of the burger-making process in her blog post. The color photography makes me wish I could sink my teeth right into one of those burgers right now! From reading her post, I learned to place a thumbprint in the center of each patty to help them cook evenly. Who knew? You can bet I’ll give it a try now!
You can try your hand at making Cardinal & Gold Cream Cheese Burgers, too. In honor of May Beef Month, today we’re featuring Val’s recipe on TheFieldPosition.com. Remember to also either “like” or “repin” this recipe by May 7 on Iowa State Athletics Pinterest page.
UPDATE: Congratulations to Val Plagge on her WIN for ISU’s “Cy’s Cook Off Challenge”
Cardinal & Gold Cream Cheese Burgers
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds ground hamburger
- 1 packet (1 ounce) onion soup mix
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 T seasoning salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1 red chili pepper
- 8 oz Neufchatel cheese (substitute: 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
- 1/4 medium onion, grated
- 2 large cloves garlic, grated
- 1 t seasoning salt
- 1/2 t cumin
- 6 slices cheddar cheese
- 6 buns
Instructions
Directions:
- Mix hamburger, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, 1 T seasoning salt and 1 egg in large bowl.
- Form into 6 round patties; make thumb print in middle of each patty so cooks evenly.
- Place on pre-heated grill.
- Grill each side 3 to 4 minutes.
- When place burgers on grill, also put cleaned (pith and seeds taken out) yellow, red and chili peppers.
- Once peppers are cooked, after a few minutes, take peppers off grill to dice.
- To diced grilled peppers, add 8 oz cream cheese, onion, garlic, 1 t seasoning salt and cumin.
- Mix with spoon in medium bowl till evenly combined.
- Once hamburgers are almost done (couple minutes remaining) place large spoonful of cream cheese mixture on top of each burger.
- Add slice of cheddar cheese on top of cream cheese mixture.
- Serve on hamburger buns when done being cooked and cheese is melted.
Click Here, to see the recipe done step-by-step with pictures.
