just as some parents of little ones are required to check for monsters in the closet, my mom was required to check for pickles on my burgers. despite always ordering a very plain cheeseburger, an itsy bitsy pickle occasionally managed to wiggle its way on there and terrify me. like, spider on my face in the middle of the night terrifying. and no, i don't really know why.

i'm happy to say though that i've since embraced the pickle/thrown parties in its honor/etc. (and have now focused my energies on decreasing my recovery time when small green worms crawl out of my salad, which happened last month and i don't wanna talk about it.) this embracing of the pickle is a very good thing because just like steak n shake is the quintessential late night food of my chicago suburb and just like a greasy slice is the quintessential late night food of new york, the fried cheesy pickle appears to be the quintessential late night food of grand forks. it's basically a pickle wrapped in cheese wrapped in an egg roll skin and then fried and served with magic sauce. crack sauce. awesome sauce.

it is all the right textures and saltiness for a night of gin and tonics out on the town with the lovely ladies of grand forks...

but let's say you were inspired by a certain fries on burger situation to straight up put your cheesy pickle on a burger. you'd do it in the name of fried crunchiness, right? correct. so that's what i did, and that's what you should do the next time you step on a treadmill and turn on mean girls and forget to get off of the treadmill until lindsay lohan pukes all over that guy.

cheesy pickle pretzel sliders

makes 8

ingredients

1 lb mix of ground chuck and sirloin

kosher salt and pepper

8 pretzel slider buns

8 slices tomato

8 leaves lettuce

ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.

2 fried cheesy pickles (recipe below),

sliced into discs, plus extra for serving on the side

clues

divide the meat into 8 equal parts and form into patties. salt and pepper both sides. coat the bottom of a pan with oil and heat over medium heat. cook the burgers on each side to desired doneness.

toast your burger buns, if desired, and top with tomato, lettuce, a meat patty, any other condiments, and a slice or two of fried cheesy pickles.

enjoy!

fried cheesy pickles

makes about 13, but amount can easily be adjusted, as all you need is a 1:1:1 ratio of pickles to cheese to egg roll wrappers

ingredients

1 jar farmer's garden by vlasic kosher dill spears

13 slices havarti cheese

13 large (6-7 inch) egg roll wrappers, store-bought or homemade

canola or vegetable oil, for frying

ketchup, mayo (chipotle??), mustard, other sauces for serving

clues

drain your pickles and use a paper towel to pat off any excess moisture. wrap each pickle in a slice of cheese and then wrap each in an egg roll wrapper. seal it well, using a bit of water on the edges if necessary. (refer to the above gif.)

heat 2 inches of oil in a large sauce pan to 360º. fry the pickles on all sides until golden brown and crispy. transfer to a paper towel and let cool. slice (put them on a slider?) and serve!

-yeh!

this post was sponsored by vlasic's tasty new line of pickles, farmer's garden! all opinions are mine mine mine. these pickles come in super cute farmy jars and there are no artificial flavors in them (yay). they're inspired by pickling pioneer joseph vlasic, who started making pickles 70 years ago! aside from kosher dill spears, they make zesty garlic chips, bread and butter chips, kosher dill halves, and dill chips. to see what other fun things are going on it pickle word, you can follow #farmtojar.

also be sure to enter their sweepstakes: farmer’s garden is celebrating the authentic taste of #farmtojar with the savor simplicity sweepstakes running from 5/7/14 – 7/31/14. enter at www.farmersgardenvlasic.com for a chance to win a weekend cooking adventure or summer entertaining package, each worth $1,500. one winner will be chosen each month. a $1 off coupon will also be given to all entrants immediately following entry!