Starkist's Tuna Tacos

     In an attempt to work more fish into our diets we came across a recipe on the back of the packet of lemon pepper tuna that I had a coupon for. Fish tacos are nothing new but I never thought to use canned tuna to make them. This is an extremely fast recipe that requires no cooking. So if you can’t cook you can’t use that reason to not try and make this easy dish.

2 Pouches (4.5 oz) StarKist Tuna Creations Zesty Lemon pepper

4 6" flour or corn tortillas

1/2 cup Coleslaw mix

1 tablespoon Lemon juice

1 Tomato, chopped

Shredded cheddar cheese

Cilantro

1. Mix tuna, lemon juice, and coleslaw in small bowl.
2. Divide the mixture over one half of each tortilla & top with tomatoes. Add cheddar cheese & chopped cilantro.

     I doubled the recipe because two small tacos weren't going to be enough for the two of us especially when one of us is pregnant. I forgot to buy a tomato and omitted the cilantro. These needed more than a tomato and cilantro to make them better. Despite being flavored with lemon pepper seasoning, they tasted under seasoned. Christine said they would have been better with a tomato but they still needed something else like a tropical salsa with mango and pineapple. I think a chipotle sauce would have done the trick as well. I would also increase the amount of coleslaw mix because these were soft through and through. The lack of texture made me bored of these quickly which lead me to not finish them.
Rating: Edible - These need help

Fried Dough

     This is going to be a short post but I thought I’d share one of my favorite breakfasts that could be used as a snack. Of course, I only make this once a year or so because it’s so bad for you. Fried dough is exactly what it sounds like. You take pizza dough that has risen, cut off small pieces, and then fry them in oil until crispy and browned all over. If you've ever been to a state fair or field days then you've probably had some variety of this.

1 package pizza dough

Oil for frying

Sugar (Optional)

1. Allow pizza dough to rise. I open the bag and place it in a bowl covered with a paper towel overnight.
2. Heat up about an inch of oil in a pan
3. Cut off pieces of the dough and stretch out until almost transparent.
4. Carefully place dough into the oil and fry, flipping once until browned.
5. Sprinkle with sugar

     We had this with pieces of banana bread that I made the day before. Talk about a carb attack, but hey, at least there was bananas in the bread… :-)

Rating: Yummy – Unhealthy but tasty. It’s fried so eat it in moderation.

Bridgeway Family Restaurant - Breakfast Sandwich

     After having to wait in the waiting room at LabCorp for three hours while Christine had her glucose test done, we were starving. I could have eaten something before we went but because she couldn't have anything to eat I didn't think it was fair. In order to keep us from buying out the entire grocery store, we decided to grab some breakfast before shopping. The Bridgeway Family Restaurant is a diner in Smyrna that we pass everyday on the way to the school, a place we've been a handful of time. We like it for a variety of reasons, the food is decent, the portions are huge, and the prices are great. We've often escaped with a bill under $20. As you probably know by now, I’m a sucker for sandwiches especially breakfast sandwiches. Seeing as I hadn't tried theirs’ yet I figured this would be a great opportunity for a review. For $6.25 you get a big sandwich and half of a plate of crispy home fries.

     We both ordered the exact same sandwich. Our options for bread were white, wheat, or rye. We both went with rye but you can also get it on an English muffin, hard roll, or bagel for an additional charge. For cheese we got American and as our meat we chose bacon. Sausage or scrapple are also available. We both agreed that these were some of the best breakfast sandwiches we've ever had. My only issue was the bread could have been toasted a bit longer. But that didn't detract from the deliciousness of this sandwich. The bacon was thick and crispy and not too greasy. Instead of one fried egg there were two which really “beefed” up the sandwich. A couple slices of melted American cheese kept everything together after each bite. The fact that it didn't need any seasoning was a huge plus. It probably wasn't the healthiest thing to order but it sure was great. The home fries are wonderful as well. Thinly slices potatoes are cooked on a flat top grill until crispy. A lot of times when ordering these at diners or other breakfast places the potatoes are soft or uncooked. If you look close, you can see their crispy outsides in the picture.

Rating: Delectable – Great. Just Great.

Creamy Dill Cucumber Toasties

     For the second consecutive year, we watched the Superbowl by ourselves. We miss throwing the big party like in years past. But with everyone getting older, married, and having kids it makes it hard to get together. Since we weren't having anyone over, I wasn't about to make a ton of food but I thought it would be nice to make an afternoon snack/appetizer. At some point over the years, I saved a recipe to my recipe box on Allrecipes.com for Creamy Dill Cucumber Toasties. Instead of cutting up a whole baguette for the two of us, we opted to put the spread on sea salt flavored Melba snack crackers. The crackers look and taste like toasted bread. The recipe says to put slices of cucumber on top of the spread but I decided to use my vegetable peeler to make ribbons of cucumber for a nicer presentation.

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 French baguette, cut into 1/2 inch thick circles

1 cucumber, sliced

2 teaspoons dried dill weed

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, dressing mix and mayonnaise.
2. Spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture on a slice of bread, and top with a slice of cucumber. Sprinkle with dill. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

     The simple combination of cream cheese, mayo, and dry Italian dressing mix makes a really good spread that can be used in a variety of ways. You could use it on a sandwich or as a vegetable dip. The crackers added a great texture that wouldn't have been achieved by using baguette slices. However, with a few tweaks to the recipe, it would make great cucumber tea sandwiches. The spread combined with the crunchy crackers and the crisp cucumber with dill on top are a light and tasty treat that I kept coming back to for more. I like the way they look and think they would be great to bring to a party.

Rating: Delectable – Simple but wonderful

Banana Bread Muffins

     Earlier in the week at work, I was a part of the Healthy Weight Collaborative Conference for the state of Delaware. Because it was a conference regarding obesity and healthy living, the breakfast and lunch spread had lots of fruit. Due to bad weather less people than expected showed up which left us with, among other things, twenty bananas. I took about eight of them with the thoughts of making banana bread. The key to good banana bread is really ripe bananas. I prefer to let them to get completely brown on the outside. When you peel them they should be mostly soft and darkened. Unfortunately, even as I write this, the bananas are not quite to that state but I decided to go ahead make banana bread muffins Saturday night to eat for breakfast the next morning. The recipe is actually mother’s recipe, which I won't be giving out, and the only one I’ll use.

     While these were really good, I wish I had eaten one Saturday night because I, like most people, like the hardened top of the muffin. By the next morning the tops had become soft but it wasn't a huge deal. My only problem with them was they were a tad on the dry side, something that never happens when I make a full loaf. A light spread of butter took care of the dryness and added a creamy texture in the process. Thankfully, I have six more bananas getting darker as the days go by. By the middle of the week I’ll be making a couple full loaves.

Rating: Yummy – Muffins were good but loaves are better

Meatball Subs

     While grocery shopping this weekend we came across some very appetizing sub rolls with cheese baked in and on top of them. Christine said they looked perfect for meatball subs, I agreed. Once we got home I looked up a recipe for meatballs. I have a pretty good recipe that I normally use but for the sake of the blog, I wanted to try something new. I found this meatball  recipe on Allrecipes.com, one of my favorite websites for finding new things to try.

     I followed the recipe exactly as listed even though I prefer to caramelize the onions before adding them to the meatball mixture. After putting the meatballs in the oven, I warmed up some left over pizza sauce because I didn't have any homemade sauce in the freezer. Once the meatballs were done cooking, I cut open the rolls and put them under the broiler for a few minutes to toast them a bit to prevent the sauce from making them soggy. Next, I spread some sauce on each roll, put three meatballs on each one, topped with more sauce and some Italian blend cheese. You could start eating them at this point but I put them back under the broiled until the cheese bubbled and browned a little.

1 pound extra lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 small onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 dash hot pepper sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup skim milk

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place the beef into a mixing bowl, and season with salt, onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, red pepper flakes, hot pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well. Add the milk, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. Mix until evenly blended, then form into 1 1/2-inch meatballs, and place onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes

     These came out really good but I think the meatballs need a little work. For one, there was way too much onion. If the amount of onion was cut in half or if they were cooked down, I think they would have been better. I put the leftover meatballs in the freezer for later use. The left over pizza sauce I used was good but homemade sauce would have taken these to the next level. The star of the show was definitely the roll. I’ve never come across a loaf of bread or a roll that has cheese baked into it that wasn’t good. The ones we bought came four to a package and we liked them so much that we ate the other two toasted with butter and garlic salt.

Rating: Yummy – Meatballs need work but a decent recipe

SportZone - Crabby Fries and Beef on Weck

     The first out to eat meal I’m reviewing for this blog will be formatted differently than I did them on Syracuse Sandwich. Instead of giving you the who, what, where, and other information I’m only going to list the name of the place and a link to their menu. 

     After picking Christine up for school, we were on the way home when I asked her what she wanted for dinner. “It’s your day to pick,” she responded. Yes, we've split up the days to decide what’s for dinner, but that’s another story for another time. I've been craving crab fries for a few weeks and the best ones we've had are from SportZone, a sports bar near our house. SportZone reminds me a lot of Tully's from back home. They don’t have delicious Tully's tenders, but they've got a decent menu full of sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, and a few regular entrees. Their appetizer menu is rather large and the best thing we've had off of it are the Crabby Fries.

     A mixture of blue crab meat and J.R.’s queso cheese dip is poured over a plate of Zone fries. Zone fries are their double fried seasoned French fries. As you can see from the picture there is a ton of crab meat topping the fries. I really appreciate that you can actually see the crab, something that isn't always possible when you order crab dips. Old bay seasoning finds its way into the mix which compliments the crab. Between the seasoned fries, the Old Bay, and the salty cheese sauce, there’s no lack of flavor. The blue crab meat is rich and sweet, its sweetness helps balance the saltiness of the fries and cheese sauce. It is the perfect sized appetizer, not so big that’ll you’ll be full before finishing your entree but not so small that you’re left wanting more.

     For my dinner I order the Beef on Weck, which is listed as an Upstate NY Favorite on the menu. If you read my Syracuse Sandwich blog, you’d know that this is one of, if not my favorite sandwich. Hafner's in North Syracuse makes a wonderful version of this sandwich that they call Beef on a Wick. Both sandwiches are the same; the only difference is the spelling of the roll. A Kimmelweck roll is a white roll topped with coarse grain salt and caraway seeds. Inside this tasty roll is roast beef that has been soaked au jus. On the side they serve horseradish and more au jus for dipping. Because we already had the Crabby Fries, I opted for the homemade Zone chips that come standard with all of their sandwiches. They make their own potato chips which I think is a nice touch. For a little extra you can order Zone fries or sweet potato fries. The roast beef was cooked to medium well which was good but I prefer my meat to be cooked to more of a medium rare to medium for more flavor. Between the salt and caraway topped roll and the au jus I was dunking it in, this is a very salty sandwich. I slathered horseradish on it to give it some kick, and also to cut the salty flavor. It’s a simple sandwich with great flavor but I’d have to give the nod to Hafner's if I was comparing the two. Not to take anything away from SportZone, because this is the third time I've ordered it there.

Ratings: Crabby Fries – Delectable         Beef on Weck - Yummy

Country Breakfast Pizza

     

     After going back and reading all of my old posts, I've decided to format them a little differently. Unlike before I’ll list out both the ingredients and the steps instead of just including all of them in paragraph form. I’ll still provide a link to a recipe if applicable.

     The first post back from the two and a half year hiatus is for Country Breakfast Pizzas. Christine and I are always looking for new recipes to try and if they’re quick to make, all the better. She stumbled upon Pillsbury’s website and found a slew of recipes that we’ll be trying over the next couple months. One that I found interesting was ham and egg breakfast pizzas made with flaky biscuits as a base. After reading a few reviews someone suggested instead of making the mayo and mustard sauce, use country gravy. And instead of the ham, use sausage. I know, how healthy. We both decided they sounded better with the gravy and sausage. Because we radically changed the recipe, I’ll link you to it but please follow the instructions that I used because they’re a bit different. Instead of buying regular sausage and frying it up, I bought Jimmy Dean’s Turkey sausage crumbles because they’re somewhat healthier than the former option. Instead of making the gravy from scratch, to save time I opted to buy a packet of McCormick’s sausage gravy mix.

4 Eggs

1 Package Refrigerated Flaky Biscuits

1 Packet McCormick Sausage or Country Gravy

½ Package of Jimmy Dean’s Turkey Sausage Crumbles

4 oz Italian blend shredded cheese

4 oz Sharp cheddar shredded cheese

Pinches of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic salt

1. While preheating the oven to 425 degrees, flatten biscuits to a ¼ or ½ inch thickness. Once preheated place the biscuits on a greased baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.
2. Crack all four eggs into a small bowl, season with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic salt. Beat and then pour the eggs into a skillet over medium heat. Stir them lightly until they start to firm up but leave them slightly runny. Add the sausage crumbles and continue stirring lightly for 2 – 3 minutes until eggs are cooked thoroughly.
3. Make gravy according to directions on the packet, set aside. (I used the creamier version listed)
4. Take the biscuits out of the oven and check for doneness. Spread the gravy over each biscuit like you would pizza sauce on dough. Top with egg and sausage mixture and then with both cheeses.
5. Put under the broiler on high until the cheeses melt and then serve immediately.

     I don’t know if I didn't flatten the biscuits enough but they did start to rise considerably. So before topping them with the gravy and such, I made sure they were cooked through and then flattened them with a spatula. When I make these again I might use a rolling pin and get them really thin and just adjust the baking time. I think they turned out really well, but they are filling. The package of biscuits we bought had 8 in it so we ended up with 8 small pizzas. We both had three but couldn't eat the last two. The possibilities of these are endless because, after all, they are pizza. So let your imagination run wild and see what you can come up with. I’d love to hear what you've tried.

Rating: Yummy - Can't wait to try out different versions of these.

Coming Back!

     Good News Everyone! After about a two and a half years since the last post on this blog, Dan in the Kitchen will be active once more. But here is a recap of what's gone on over that time: Christine and I sold our house in NY to move to Delaware where she got a job teaching high school English, I worked in a bakery for a year, we bought a three story townhouse near Christine's school, I just started a job with the state, I started writing a non-food related novel, and most importantly we are expecting our first child in April. 2013 is going to be a year of changes, both big and small, for the Isom household.
     If you read this blog in the past you probably noticed the redesign and you might remember my other blog Syracuse Sandwich, where I reviewed sandwiches that I had in and around Syracuse. While I still order sandwiches when I'm out the majority of the time, I also wanted to review the other dishes when ordering out. So, I've decided to sort of combine them both into this one. What you'll find on this blog is a collection of reviews of the recipes I try and of the meals that I order. Along with the reviews, I'll post food related material that I may come across on one of the sites or blogs that I frequent. Please check back soon for the first of many new posts.

God bless and happy eating.