The Road Not Taken

Ever have the subtle rumble in your stomach a few short hours before heading out to your favorite restaurant? It's a conflicting feeling- which brings you to 'two roads diverged in a yellow wood'*. Do you A.) Eat now- and risk the possibility of being full when your favorite dish finally makes its way on your plate. OR B.) Starve yourself until you could literally eat your arm, and then by the time the food comes, you eat it so fast, you don't even savor the epic flavors that tickle your palette with pure joy.

I know what some of you are thinking- why don't you just eat a snack? HA! Hilarious- like I could actually control myself enough to eat a small portion of ANYTHING!

Here is a solution that works for me. Try having a filling beverage instead to tide you over. This can be a fruit smoothie, frappe or in this case- my sister's DELICIOUS hot cocoa.

 Brenna's Creamy Hot Cocoa
Mix 3 Tablespoons of Cocoa Mix with hot water
Add 1 Tablespoon of salted caramel (or regular caramel) sauce and a splash of cream
Top with the never disappointing-Whipped Cream (also in the cheese and bacon category of being delicious on everything, always)

This hot cocoa is so creamy and just filling enough to tide you over for 1-2 hours. And its a great holiday treat!

Now looking ahead
My favorite thing to do at the beginning of the week is make my restaurant plans for the weekend. I have been trying to get reservations at the hip and happenin' new restaurant COOK in Newton for a few weeks. Reservations are tough to get, unless you like to eat at 5 or 9. I called Monday of this week to get reservations for Saturday, and they had limited offerings. I chose 8:30PM, not my most desirable eating time (more of a 630-8 kind of girl). I have been eyeing the menu all week and cannot contain my excitement. Stand by for my review folks!

*Dear God Robert Frost, you speak to me

Leftover Challenge

Surprisingly, I am not a big fan of leftovers. There's something that skeeves me about food sitting overnight in the fridge and being reheated in the microwave. But for some reason, when a waitress asks me if I want to take home the rest of my meal, I ALWAYS say yes. Maybe it's something about getting my full money's worth- or sticking it to the man...But what I am left with is a fridge full of takeout containers, which ends in a smelly depressing mess.

Now, I am not saying that all leftovers are bad. I know pizza is a fan favorite to eat cold or heat up in the microwave, and chilli is also pretty good the second day..but, what if we could make leftovers into something even more delicious the next day?

So last night I challenged myself to make a dish with leftovers that is better than the original dish the night before. Sounds like a Top Chef 'Quickfire' to me! Now, remember those pulled pork sandwiches I made? I had a good amount of meat left over, so I got to thinking, what could make this dish even better? Well- the answer was simple, what ingredient makes 99% of food better? CHEESE! (also, bacon- but its way too tempting to keep that in the house) So I decided the perfect leftover dish to make was BBQ pulled pork quesadillas.

Pulled Pork Quesadillas

What you need: Leftover BBQ pulled pork, Flour tortillas, 1 bag mexican chesse, cooking oil spray and of course DIPPING SIDES (Guac, Salsa, Sour cream). The dipping sides will turn your quesadilla from Beyonce into Sasha Fierce.

First you want to pop your leftover pulled pork in the microwave for 30 seconds. Likely, it has been sitting in the fridge all night and lost a bit of its tenderness. Next spread the meat on one half of the flour tortilla, and cover with shredded cheese.

Set your frying pan on Medium Heat. Next, fold your Quesadilla in half and spray the top with your cooking spray. Put the Quesadilla top down on the frying pan, and then spray the opposite side that is now on top. Push down on the quesadilla to make sure it is compact and easy for eating. Let this sit on the frying pan for 1 minute or until golden brown. Use your spatula and flip it to the opposite side. Again, wait until this side is golden brown and remove your scrumtious treat for eating- or in Top Chef talk-"Knives, down, hands up!"

Now, as much as I love my homemade pulled pork sandwiches, I have to say- this quesadilla gave them a run for their money. The meat was still tender and tangy from the BBQ sauce, and the cheese brought in the perfect moisture setting to make this a gooey treat- perfectly matched with guac or sour cream.

However- the bad part about writing this post the next day is I'm craving another. I WANT IT NOW!!!! Uh oh- I will try to control my VSS, but I have a feeling you will be see a post for another Mexican treat within 2-3 days. Guys- we know I have issues, let's just embrace them.

And if I don't get the things I am after...

Over the years I have developed several food related conditions that effect my every day life. One of the most severe is something I call Varuca Salt Syndrome. Basically, I get a craving for a food-any food- from one of many ways... a commercial, hearing a friend talk about it, seeing a stranger eat it- or in this case- seeing it on a menu and not ordering it. Guys-I'm talking about the Bar Louie incident on Thursday-THE PULLED PORK INCIDENT. God, I'm so happy you are here to support me through this hard time. Now when I get these cravings, there is a 50% chance of them being an issue. Sometimes I can mask my symptoms, by continuing on with my preplanned meals or distracting myself with any other treats I can find in my cabinets. HOWEVER- OCCASIONALLY- the symptoms of VSS become more severe. They can include complaining, nagging, whining and worst of all, violent outburst of me screaming "I WANT IT NOW!!!" Once we hit this point there is no turning back. I need that golden goose and I need it pronto. This is when my stomach starts talking to my brain. How difficult is it going to be for me to fulfil this need? That is why I came up with my very own Richter scale because, let's be honest- If I don't satisfy my VSS, there WILL be a natural disaster.

CATEGORY 1- I have made/can make a version of this golden goose myself- and it is comparable to the real version

CATEGORY 2- The golden goose can be obtained within less than a 10 mile radius of my residence, and with minor monetary implications

CATEGORY 3- The golden goose can be obtained within greater than a 10 mile radius of my residence, and with moderate monetary implications

Luckily for me, I LOVE my homemade pulled pork... So this was a CATEGORY 1 situation.

This pulled pork is SO EASY and only requires a few things: A Crock Pot, 1 bone-in pork butt, 1 bottle of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, 1 yellow onion and 1 bag of potato sandwich rolls.

First- place the pork butt in the crock pot with half of the yellow onion. Fill the crock pot with water until it completely covers the meat. Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

Pour out all the water, and throw away the onion. Next we need to shred the pork so it is melt in your mouth amazing. First, you want to find the bone, and cut it out of the pork butt. This should leave you with a whole bunch of tender meat to shred. You can shred this a few different ways. You can get two forks and separate the meat by hand, or if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer and have a shredding attachment, you can plop all the meat in there and it should pull apart nicely. Next put all the shredded meat back in the crock pot, and pour in the BBQ sauce. Make sure the sauce is completely mixed through, and let the meat cook for one more hour on low. This allows the meat to absorb the sauce and heat everything at once.

 
Hey guess what? We're done! Grab your potato rolls and scoop out a couple spoon fulls of pork on each. I like Coleslaw on my Pulled Pork, so I always pickup half a lb from the grocery store when I know that I'm making it. The sweet and tangy pork and the cool crunch of the coleslaw is an awesome contrast that really completes the dish. Other topping suggestions include: onion rings, provolone cheese or pickles.

These sandwiches are a huge hit at a tailgate or Sunday night football party. When bringing them to an event, I always suggest making them into small sliders. They are a lot easier for guests to grab and eat with one hand!

Why Paninis are ALWAYS better

I typically bring my lunch to work, but today I had literally nothing left in my cabinets, and was too lazy to try and throw something together. I walked upstairs to our café- and waited in the deli line for a sandwich. Now I am spoiled, because our café has all organic fresh food, and is subsidized by the company so everything is pretty affordable and delicious. As I came to the front of the line, I took a look at the Panini special and had an epiphany. If all those ingredients in that Panini were in a regular sandwich, I wouldn’t order it. There was something about the Panini aspect that made me want to mow it so much more.  While consuming this delicious piece of heaven, I pondered, and pondered some more, and came to the realization that Paninis are ALWAYS better than a regular sandwich.

And here’s why...

There are many factors to a really good sandwich 1.) The BREAD- without soft fresh bread, a sandwich can almost seem like work to eat. I’m sorry French baguette, but I prefer not to spend my lunch hour ripping through you like a TREX. 2.)  The moisture of the ingredients. NO ONE likes a dry sandwich; it’s like eating a mouth full of sand. Moisture can be fixed by a condiment or veggie- but is almost necessary to complete a good sandwich 3.) COMPACT-ability- All of the ingredients need to be arranged so this sandwich is easy to eat from start to finish. As much as I love watching tomato juices sliding down my arm as I go for another bite, it’s not a good look for me. Compact-ability also says a lot for overall taste, as you typically get a piece of each ingredient in every bite.

Now…how many factors go in to making a really good Panini? ONLY ONE- Cheese. If there is cheese on your Panini there is no way you can ever go wrong. Because melted cheese is proof that there is a god, and he loves us very much.  Even if there is ONLY cheese on your Panini, you already have it made…its called Grilled Cheese- ever heard of it? Plus panini’s don’t have to be bothered with any of the factors listed above. 1.) Any type of bread is delicious and easy to eat toasted or warm 2.) Cheese on your Panini will demolish any moisture problem 3.) Paninis could not be more compact and perfect; it is probably their most enduring quality.

I am so glad I got this off my chest, and I hope are you too.

Dining Specials - are they really worth it?

I typically don't dine out on Thursday nights, but it was a special occassion- the Hunger Games Premiere at Patriot Place. The show was at 8, so we decided to grab some food and drinks before heading in for the show. We met at Bar Louie, and while I do frequent Patriot Place for other reasons (coughRedRobbincough), I had never been to Bar Louie- so I was excited for a new dining experience.

Right off the bat, we noticed they had a 1/2 off "special" on flat breads and small plates from 4-7PM. Now these types of specials have their pros and cons. PROS: It allows us cheap folks to enjoy the suprising thrill of a good deal. In Mass- we aren't used to happy hours, or bottomless ANYTHING- so when a restaurant offers anything like it- pure excitement runs through our salivary glands. CONS: Often these "specials" only allow you to choose from a small selection of menu items. These specials start a war between your stomach and your wallet...do you choose what you really want from the menu? Or get the "special" just because its a "special"?


Well- I decided to go the cheap route this time around, and did ultimately regret it. I selected the boneless BBQ wings and Firecracker Flatbread. First off- these choices didn't have much chance, as I am not a huge fan of spicy food- but sometimes I pretend like I am ( a weird flaw in my character.) Now, its not like these dishes were bad- there wasn't anything left on the plate once I was done...but that's a self control issue...

The Firecracker Flatbread was topped with five spice beef, spring onion pork, mozzarella, provolone, szechwan sauce (?), red bell pepper, carrot, cilantro, basil, green onion and sesame seeds. It had the asian flavors comparable to a general tsaos chicken with a mexican kick. If I loved spicy food, I would probably be raving about this right now. Unfortuantley, after watering down my first bite, I accompanied the rest of the dish with some sour cream to shut that spice down.

Looking at the menu after the fact, I realized several selections would have sent my taste bluds flying to the moon. The BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich with onion strings, the Crispy Chicken Melt with sweet chilli mayo..oh- I'm sorry, all of those sound like heaven on a plate. The side options really twisted the knife: mac & cheese, fries, TOTS (now I'm crying) and LOADED TOTS (now I'm bawling).

The moral of the story: just because its part of a discounted special, does not mean you HAVE to get it. Think about what you actually want to eat, and then figure out if you really want sacrifice a happier pallette for a couple extra bucks.

http://www.barlouieamerica.com/

Pizza Casserole

Raise your hand if you love pizza! If you didn't raise your hand-you're lying- and I hate you for it. I was introduced to this dish in cooking class freshman year of high school. It has all the flavors of pizza but somehow doesn't make me feel as guilty after eating it.

This recipe only requires 4 ingredients: Egg Noodles, Pizza Sauce, Sliced Pepperoni and Shredded Mozzarella cheese.

First preheat your oven to 350 degrees and start your boiling water. Cook the egg noodles for 6-8 minutes- i love how egg noodles cook so fast! Drain the pasta and put it back into the pot. Add the entire jar of pasta sauce, half the bag of cheese and almost all of the pepperoni. Mix everything up and then pour into a casserole dish. Top off the casserole with the rest of the cheese and then add some pepperonis to make it look extra fancy.

 

Bake for 25 minutes, and then let cool before eating. This recipe is also really easy to swich up depending on what type of pizza you like- whether its mushroom, peppers and onions or sausage!! This dish can be super addicting- I could literally eat the entire pan.