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.

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.

Sliders Three Ways

     For our weekly meal with Matt, I decided to make sliders and salt potatoes. On the way home I decided I wouldn’t pick up salt potatoes and that we had a ton of chips to eat instead. But while at work I decided to make sliders three different ways. So the meal turned into sliders three ways and a variety of chips. I came up with cheddar/bacon and American/pickle for the sliders quickly but the third style took a bit of thinking. The problem with sliders is they can’t hold much because of their size to whatever you do choose to top them with, needs to be small or cut down to fit on top. Ultimately I decided to go with mozzarella/pizza sauce. I wanted to add pepperoni as well but I didn’t have any at home. I ended up with three sliders of each variety for a total of nine. Here are the ingredients if you want to try making any of these:

Slider buns

1 pound 80/20 ground beef

Salt and pepper

½ cup cheddar cheese

2 strips bacon, crumbles

½ cup mozzarella cheese

¼ cup pizza sauce

1 ½ slices American cheese

3 pickle slices

     Cook the bacon in a pan first and crumble it up, set this aside. While the bacon cooks, toast the insides of the top and bottom buns in a pan or on a griddle until golden brown. Place them open on each plate to make transferring the burgers to the buns easier. Take the ground beef and roll it into golf ball sized balls and then press them to about 1 inch in thickness. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the tops of the burgers and then add them top side down into the pan and then sprinkle more salt and pepper on the other side. Let them cook on a medium high heat for about 2 minutes and then flip them over. Immediately start topping these with the cheeses, dividing the amount listed over the three sliders. I add an ice cube to the pan and cover it with a large bowl, this helps melt the cheese quickly. Cook it this way for another two minute and they will be in between medium well and well. Obviously cook them for less time if you want them a little less done. Move them burgers to the buns and top with the other ingredient. I got them ready on the counter beforehand so I could finish them up quickly.

     It was nice to have a variety of smaller burgers because I normally get bored with the same taste throughout a larger burger. We all liked each burger but there was some discussion on which was the favorite. Christine liked the American cheese with pickle on top while Matt and I were both taken with the mozzarella and pizza sauce burger. The cheddar bacon burger was good but we’ve all had it before, so the sauce topped one was the star of the night. If it had just been tomato sauce I don’t think the burger would have been as good. But because I used left over pizza sauce from the pizza we had the night before, I think that made a huge difference. If you read my post about the pizza you might remember me saying I’d eat that sauce with a spoon, so I think the sauce is just that good to make the burger be great. I don’t know if I could eat a whole burger with those toppings but there is only one way to find out.

Rating: Yummy - Three burgers were three times the fun.

Sausage, Mushroom, & Pepper Pizza

     I like making pizza at home because you can do anything you want and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg for tons of topping. I have used raw pizza dough in the past but when loading up a pizza with a lot of toppings it is hard to cook the dough all the way through without burning the toppings. We decided to use a Baboli pizza crust which he hadn’t tried before but the fact that it was somewhat cooked already peaked out interest. We bought fresh meat and produce to make one of out favorite pizzas; peppers, onions, and sausage. Here is the recipe we came up with:

1 Baboli pizza crust

½ jar pizza sauce

1 8oz bag Mozzarella cheese

¾ pound sweet sausage, crumbled

1 green pepper, sliced thin

1 8oz package mushrooms, chopped

½ teaspoon garlic

Olive oil for sautéing

     Start off by browning the sausage in a pan until it is fully cooked through and crumbled. Put the sausage in a small bowl, leaving some of the fat in the pan. Add a little bit of olive oil and the garlic into the pan and let it cook for about a minute or so. At this point, turn the oven on to 450 degrees. I don’t like raw vegetables on my pizza so this next step works if you like them soft. Put both the peppers and the mushrooms into the pan and mix them until everything is coated with the oil. Once everything has softened up, pour everything into a strainer and let it drain for a minute or two just to get most of the oil and fat off. The last steps are to put the sauce, cheese, and toppings on before throwing it all in the oven. There is no set way of putting them on so just spread everything out evenly. This should cook for about 12 – 15 minutes but watch for the cheese to be fully melted and you’ll know it is done.

     There is no way the weight from the toppings would let raw dough cook all the way through so it was good that we used a precooked crust. I would have liked a more bready crust but the amount of toppings made up for that. Because the toppings layer was so thick, I used a knife and fork to eat most of mine. The sausage was from Spera’s and had a ton of flavor from the spices that they add when they grind it. Sautéing the peppers and mushrooms added another dimension that I don’t normally get from pizza shop pizza. The garlic and olive oil gave them a sweet taste that went well with they semi-spicy sausage. My favorite part of it all I think was the sauce which is just Wegmans brand pizza sauce. I’m not sure what it is about the sauce but I could eat it with a spoon, it is that good. Overall not a bad attempt at pizza but the crust needs some work.

Rating: Yummy – Who doesn’t like homemade pizza?

Fried Rice and Cheese Wontons

     After weeks of procrastination over making fried rice each week for dinner, I finally made it and a ton of it because I was feeding three guests. As a side dish I made cheese wontons for the first time. I made the rice the night before because it stops the rice from becoming mushy when cooked a second time. I use jasmine rice which is long grain Thai rice but basmati rice is also a good rice to use when making fried rice. So to make this dish, the first step is to cook the rice as directed on the package the night before. Once it is done cooking, allow it to cool in a large bowl and then put it in the refrigerator, covered. I use the recipe on the back of the Kikkoman fried rice seasoning packet. Since I made two batches of rice, I double everything in the recipe including a second packet of seasoning. Here is what you need for a single batch:

3 cups cold cooked rice

1 egg

2 strips thick cut bacon (Substitute other meats if you choose)

3 scallions (green onion) chopped

1 packet Kikkoman fried rice seasoning

2 tablespoons water

Soy sauce for seasoning

     Since the directions are on the back of one of the ingredients, I’m not going to go into how to make the rice but I will tell you how it came out later in this post. Now to the cheese wontons, usually there is crab meat mixed into these but I omitted it. Here is what you will need for my recipe for cheese wontons:

8oz softened cream cheese

3 scallions (green onion) chopped

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

1 package wonton wrappers

Egg whites from one large egg

Oil for frying (Don’t Use Vegetable)

Sweet and sour sauce for dipping

     Before you do anything, put the oil in a deep pan or pot and turn the heat on. You are looking to get the oil to about 350 to 400 degrees. Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and place it in the center of a wonton wrapper. Take two fingers, dip them in the egg white, and spread them along the edges of the wrapper. Fold over one corner across the top of the mixture top the opposite corner. Pull the other two corners up to meet the already combined corners and then you’ll have one done. Repeat this process until the cream cheese mixture is gone. I place the wontons on a paper towel until I’m done. Christine’s cousin, sister, and sister’s boyfriend came over during the tedious process of making these homemade cheese wontons so they had to wait a little while before we ate. Once the oil is up to temperature, begin placing these in the oil a few at a time until golden brown. Let them drain on some paper towels and serve them with sweet and sour sauce to dip in.

     The rice was good but not the best that I have made. I chalk it up to making a double batch all at once. The stars of the meal, at least in my eyes, were the cheese wontons. They cooked pretty evenly for not being able to use my new deep fryer. They were crunchy and didn’t taste greasy like they sometimes do when ordered out. Christine commented that they were cream cheesier than from an actual Chinese restaurant which she enjoyed. For a first try, they came out well and I will definitely be making them again. Overall a good meal that I mill make in the future.

Rating: Yummy - I can't wait to perfect these dishes.

Delaware

Normally this blog is for food I make but I decided to share what others made for us while we were on vacation. The sandwiches are reviewed on the Syracuse Sandwich blog. So here are some pictures of the food we enjoyed in Delaware:

Grilled Ham Cheese and Tomato at Robin Hood's

Seafood Scampi at Irish Eyes

Shepherd's Pie at Irish Eyes

Doughnuts at The Fractured Prune

Onion Rings at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Asparagus Peppers and Chicken Pizza at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats

Vegetable Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Eastern Omelet at Sunrise Restaurant

Pretzel Sticks at The Greene Turtle

Chick N Ranch at The Greene Turtle

The Chesapeake Chicken at The Greene Turtle

Taco Salad at Dos Locos

Spicy Pork Burrito at Dos Locos

French Toast at The Penguin Diner

Breakfast Burrito at The Penguin Diner

Oreo Truffles

     There was suppose to be a BBQ for Christine and I thrown by my coworkers on Sunday but the weather did not cooperate. We decided to postpone until after we get back from the honeymoon. Unfortunately for people who planned on coming, they weren’t going to be able to have the Oreo truffles that I made Saturday. I made these truffles once before a few years ago but thought they would be a nice dessert. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and didn't have to change a thing when I attempted them for the first time. Here’s the recipe:

1 18oz package Oreo cookies

1 8oz package cream cheese

2 8oz packages Baker’s semi-sweet baking chocolate

     Start off by opening the cream cheese and leaving it out on the counter to soften a little bit. Next, take about 1/10th of the Oreos and put them in a food processor. Blend them down into a fine crumb and place in a small bowl. Set this bowl aside until the coating stage. Then take the other 9/10ths of Oreos and blend them until they turn into a fine crumb and pour in a large mixing bowl. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may have to do two groups on that step. Add the cream cheese to the large bowl of cookie crumb and mix with a spatula until there are no loose crumbs in the bowl and no pockets of cream cheese. It usually takes me about 5 minutes to accomplish this. Once you have done that, begin rolling the “dough” into 1 inch sized balls and place them on a plate covered with wax paper. I get about 24 out of a batch but mine are a little on the large side. Place the plate in the freezer to harden them up a bit or they will come apart during the coating step.

     As soon as you put the balls in the freezer, put the contents of both boxes of semi-sweet chocolate in a small sauce pan. Turn the heat on low to melt the chocolate and stir so it doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan. By the time the chocolate is all melted, the balls will be hard enough to handle without falling apart. Take the balls one at a time and coat them with chocolate using two spoons to “pass” the ball back and forth to get the excess chocolate off. Place these chocolate covered balls on a pan lined with wax paper. Sprinkle the crumbs from the small bowl of Oreo crumb on each ball as you place them on the tray. Put the tray in the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least 2 hours once they have all been coated and topped. I leave mine in overnight so I know the chocolate on the outside has hardened.

     If you make the balls small, you could have two or three as a dessert but if you make them as big as I do, one is more than sufficient. The center will be moist and soft while the outside will be hard and crunchy. I store mine in a Tupperware container in the fridge and take them as I want them. I was surprised that just three ingredients could make such a rich and filling dessert.

Rating: Delectable – Try adding other ingredients like Butterfingers or white chocolate to change up the recipe

Breaded Ravioli

     Friday was one of the cooler days last week which in turn allowed me to use my oven without sweating to death. I’ve made these breaded ravioli a few times and thought they would be nice to serve to the guests we had coming over. I had about 20 minutes before Christine’s sister and boyfriend would be over which gave me enough time to bread the ravioli, get them in the oven, and clean up the mess I made breading them. Since I was short on time and I had to make a double batch, I didn’t bread these individually like I normally do, I used the shake and bake method. Here’s the recipe before I go any further:

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 egg

3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 25 ounce package frozen cheese or beef ravioli

1 16 ounce jar spaghetti sauce

     If you double this recipe it will yield about 40 ravioli or so. Start by combining the salt, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs on a plate and set aside. I put this in a freezer bag so I could shake the ravioli in it to save time. Beat the egg and milk in a deep bowl and begin to coat the ravioli with this mixture. Coat about half of the ravioli(a quarter if you double the recipe) and put them in the bag with the dry ingredients. Seal the bag shut and shake until sufficiently covered. As you take them out of the bag, brush off excess coating. Place the ravioli on a large cooking sheet sprayed with butter flavored non stick spray. Continue coating and breading until all of the ravioli are done. Once arrange on the cooking sheet, lightly spray the ravioli with the butter spray; only spray enough to dampen the breading. Place the sheet into the oven at 400 degrees. Allow the ravioli to cook for about 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through. You’ll know they are done when they have a golden brown crust to them.

     You can serve them with the sauce directly over the ravioli or on the side. I chose to pour a quarter of the jar of sauce in each of the bowls and then pile the ravioli on one side. This allowed us to use as much or as little sauce as we liked. I used Wegmans Italian Classics Puttanesca Sauce which contained Kalamata olives, portabella mushrooms, artichoke hearts and capers which went well with beef ravioli. The ravioli should have a buttery crunch to them as if they were fried. The recipe originally called for oil to fry them but that can become messy and isn’t nearly as healthy for you. This is one of my go to quick meals when I want pasta but don’t want just sauce and noodles.

Rating: Yummy – A quick recipe that always turns out great.

Cheddar Bacon Burgers

     High temperatures cause me to cook out of the grill because there is no way I’m using my oven. I will use the stove top but don’t really like doing that either. Matt was headed over for his weekly meal with us and he chose burgers from the list I gave him. I’ve found quite a few burger recipes online that I want to try and this one is one of them. Bacon cheddar burgers that incorporate horseradish and a few spices caught my eye a few months ago but decided to wait until it was grilling weather to try them out. Here is the recipe for those of you out there who enjoy a good burger:

1 pound ground beef (I use 80/20)

½ cup real bacon pieces

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

½ teaspoon garlic powder

4 hamburger buns

     I made only two changes to the recipe: 1) I only used ¼ cup bacon pieces because that is all I had and 2) I made 3 burgers instead of 4 because there was just the three of us. To prepare the burgers, add all the ingredients except the buns into a mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients until thoroughly combined; I use my hands to ensure this happens. Shape into patties and place the patties on a plate to go out to the grill. You might notice that the patties are barely being held together once you’d shaped them. Once they begin to cook, they should bind together enough to keep from falling apart. Spray the grill with some nonstick spray and cook the burgers for five minutes or so on each side, or until cooked to your preference.

     To go with the burgers, I boiled up some salt potatoes and served them with butter. I garnished my burger with a pickle slice, lettuce, and a squeeze of mustard and ketchup. After the first bite I knew this was the best burger I’ve made thus far. The burgers made up of beef tenderloin that I made a few weeks ago were very juicy but I like my burgers with tons of different flavors. These burgers definitely had that and none of the ingredients stole the show. The bacon, cheddar, and horseradish melded well together and gave the burger a smoky taste. Matt said there was the perfect amount of bacon and he liked the horseradish despite not normally liking the taste of it. Christine and Matt both finished theirs and I ate about ¾ of mine before stopping. I get tired of thick burgers about half way through even though I loved the taste of this specific one. I will definitely be making these again and next time maybe I’ll step up the bacon to see how that works out.

Rating: Delectable - Best burgers yet.

Portobello Mushrooms & Garlic Rolls

     Friday is a toss up when it comes to what I’m going to cook or if I’m even going to cook. Since we went out a few times last week I thought it would be best to stay in and cook. I made up two recipes, Marinated Portobello mushroom caps and buttery-garlic rolls, and served some French fries on the side. Portobello mushroom caps are very meaty and are often a substitute when making burgers. Normally I would make the mushrooms caps into sandwiches but they tend to make the bread mushy with all of their juices so I took a different approach while still including a roll. Before I get too far, here are the recipes for both:

Buttery-garlic Rolls

2 rolls, split

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ teaspoon garlic salt

Marinated Portobello Mushroom Caps

2 Portobello Mushroom Caps

½ Bottle Italian Dressing

¼ cup mozzarella cheese

     I marinated the mushrooms for about 10 hours in the Italian dressing. Using Italian dressing for a marinade is convenient because we always have it in the house for salads. Using a fork, I pierced the mushroom in the center because the outsides are too soft from the marinade and will rip if you try. Using my indoor grill, I cooked the mushrooms on high until they shrank about a half in size. While the mushrooms cooked, the fries were near completion so I could get the rolls ready. Once I split the rolls, insides facing up, I brushed the mixture of butter, olive oil, and garlic salt liberally on each one. I put these on a pan along with the mushroom caps. As soon as the fries were done, I turned the oven off and turned the broiler onto high. Just before putting the pan under the broiler, I split the ¼ cup of mozzarella between each mushroom cap. When using a broiler, you should turn the oven light on and keep an eye on whatever you have in there so it doesn’t burn. The second the cheese started to bubble and brown, I pulled the pan out. The rolls got a little dark because of this but they didn’t burn.

     I won’t comment on the fries because they came frozen and I didn’t do anything to them. The mushroom caps were very juicy and tender. The tanginess of the dressing and the creaminess of the melted cheese contrasted nicely against one another. The mushrooms shrank during the cooking process and I wished I had bought two more of them but we ended up making more rolls so maybe next time. Christine and I really liked the rolls so I went back into the kitchen when we had finished eating what we had on our plates to make two more. They kind of tasted like garlic bread but had a more buttery taste. I think next time I will use more garlic salt and perhaps parsley for some color.

Rating: Yummy – Not bad for two easy recipes I just made up.

Taco Soup

     I love, love, love, making soup or anything for that matter in my crock pot. There isn’t much more satisfying than coming home to a home cooked meal that is hot and ready to eat after a long day. Soup is a great meal to make because you can throw virtually anything in the pot and it will come out well. I had a recipe for taco soup that Christine got from a customer of hers. There were no directions on the paper, just ingredients, so I decided dumping them all in the crock would work. ANYONE, can make this soup because it is primarily canned vegetables and requires little prep work. Here is the recipe for those of you who want an easy soup to make:

1½ cups water

1 pound lean ground beef

1 large onion - chopped

1 12oz can crushed tomatoes

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 4.5oz green chilies

1 14oz can whole kernel corn

1 packet ranch dressing

1 packet taco seasoning

     I didn’t have lean ground beef because I primarily buy 80/20, so I browned the beef in a pan until most of the fat had cooked out. But didn’t cook the beef completely through, because it would continue to cook while in the crock pot. Once the fat was drained I added the beef, water, and onion into the crock pot. There isn’t much water in the recipe because there will be a lot more coming from all of the cans. Next, I poured in the contents of both of the cans of tomatoes and the green chilies. I drained most of the water out of the canned corn because there is a lot in there and I didn’t want the soup to be too watery. Finally, I poured both of the packets’ contents on top of everything and mixed until combined. Large crock pots tend to cook hot so I set mine on low even though I would be home after a few hours since I did all of this on my lunch.

     When I got home the kitchen smelled wonderful with a spicy-tomato aroma in the air. All the vegetables had broken down and had become soft. The beef, while normally tough if cooked too long, was very moist. I topped each bowl with some cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Instead of crackers, I served tortilla chips on the side which provided a salty crunch to the meal. Christine and I both mixed the cheese and sour cream around in the soup which thickened it up a little bit but not too much. It is hard to describe the taste other than liquid taco filling but that is how it tasted. It didn’t turn out spicy like I had expected with the taco seasoning and chilies mixed in. That wasn’t a bad thing because it made the soup very light tasting despite its thickness. I will definitely be making this easy soup again, especially during the cold winter nights.

Rating: Delectable - One of the best soups I've made thus far.