fastfood@home: Egg McMuffin

Here’s my version of the Egg McMuffin. At least in this one I know what’s in the egg squares and I can substitute American cheese with real cheddar. And it’s simple and fast.

First, lay some foil down on a cookie sheet that has sides, and cook your bacon at 350-degrees until crispy. It seems to bring out the best texture and flavor versus frying it on the stove-top.

Second, split your English muffins and put in the toaster. Lightly butter them once done. Also thinly slice some cheddar so it’ll be ready once the egg is done.

Third scramble an egg and put in a small heated frying pan that is well oiled with cooking spray. Roll the pan around to get the egg even throughout. As the egg begins to set up, flip the egg over. Cook until desired doneness and fold in half, and then fold again. You should have four layers of a neat, egg triangle.

Just add your egg, cheese and bacon to the English muffins and you’re done. Faster than trudging to the drive-thru for sure.

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New Dew for Diet Drinkers

I drink way too much Diet Mtn. Dew. Its fake sweeteners, colors and chemicals have me hooked. But each summer, it seems, only the regular Dew drinkers get crazy new flavors. But finally, we diet drinkers get a new Mtn Dew Flavor you won’t find in regular Dew. And it just launched for a limited time.

“The new beverage, which is a combination of the light citrus flavor of Diet Mountain Dew with mixed berries will be available in stores across the US for 12 weeks beginning August 10, 2009.”

I finally found some at my local Target and the 12-pack cases were on sale. I have to say they’re pretty good. It’s refreshing change from the the Regular Diet Mtn Dew. It’s too bad they’re only for a limited time.

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Fall Vegetable Gardening

I’m going full bore now that I’ve moved in a new place that’s letting me garden in the backyard. It’s harvest time for a lot of vegetables but it’s not too late for a fall garden, however, I’ve never done one before.

Luckily the University of Minnesota extension has great information online for planting veggies and dealing with pests in this area. They listed a few veggies that should be planted by August 1st, and I bought some seeds that I’d like to try to see if they make it.

I planted spinach, white and purple kohlrabi, radishes, lettuce, bright lights swiss chard and even carrots. The carrot packet lists it as a cool season crop, so we’ll see. But after a week everything is already sprouting. My biggest concern is they may not get enough sun.

Around here I try not to let anything go to waste, and I knew these popscicle sticks would come in handy some day. They came with the caramels that I used for the Snickers Fudge recipe. Now they’re garden row labels. :-)

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Composting in the City

I’ve wanted to compost for quite a while, but that doesn’t exactly work when you live in an apartment with no where to put it, or use it. But since that has now changed, I’m saving all my vegetable scraps and yard clippings.

I bought a plastic composter called GeoBin from Home Depot. It’s an open-ended bin that you screw to the size you want, stake it in the yard, and start adding leaves and clippings. I had planned on just getting a small role of fencing to do it, but this looks better. The black color will hopefully help it heat up as well.

I had just bought some corn (one with a worm) from the farmers’ market and couldn’t wait to christen the composter with some husks and cobs. Strange I know.

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Organic Corn With a Surprise

Yep, that’s a worm that didn’t quite escape a pot of boiling water. I didn’t notice it until the corn was done, of course. But I think I’ll take a worm over pesticides.

I bought a dozen ears of corn for six bucks from the St. Paul Farmers’ Market. I first visited the market in June, and now more things are in season. The new arrivals seemed to be cucumbers, carrots, zucchinis, and peppers. I’m looking forward to the melons.

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Raised Garden Beds

I was inspired to do some raised beds after watching this youtube video. If I wasn’t a renter, I’d do something a little more permanent, but this will serve it’s purpose for now.

I used 2x8x10 foot pine lumber to make a 4x4 foot bed and a 4x8 foot bed. I needed the boards cut in half to make 4 foot sections, but I wasn’t going to pay the store a dollar for each cut. The next best thing was to hope they’d fit in the back seat of my car. My backseat windows roll down only half-way. So I used some clothes to cushion the lumber that was now diagonal in my backseat and resting on my window. About three feet of board was sticking out of my window, but the cops I passed didn’t seem to mind. I also bought 3 1/2” deck screws and a small drill bit to pre-drill some holes. 

I measured and cut the boards with a regular hand saw, and then screwed the boards together with the drill. I will say this design is rather rickety, so be careful when moving them to your garden bed. Now if I owned this property, the wood would be cedar and the bed design would be a little more elaborate, but in the end they all work the same way.

Next spring I hope to add another 4x4 foot bed to the left of the 4x8 bed, where that flower bed is now. Then I’ll have three planting areas for veggies, edible flowers and herbs.

Wood chip mulch was on sale at $1.99 a bag. Unfortunately, I had to buy most of my dirt. I found bags of manure/compost at Wal-Mart for $1.34 each, and then found 40-pound bags of topsoil at the hardware store for .99 each. I’d say those are pretty good deals, but nothing is better than free. In the spring, St. Paul has composting sites where you can get compost and dirt for free, but it’s all gone this time of year. So before you buy dirt, check around to see if there’s any free dirt where you live. Or make your own by visiting some local barns. Manure helped my family get 8-foot tomato plants one year.

A few things to know:

Don’t use treated lumber for gardens. They can leach toxins into your soil and into what you’re eating.

You never truly know what’s in city soil. So if you’re unsure about your area, raised beds are a good bet to avoid whatever lies underneath. If you want to be really safe, get your soil tested.

If you can afford it, use cedar to make your raised beds. They’ll last longer and look great for far longer than pine.

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Beet Greens

Well I didn't throw away my beet greens after making some great farmers' market pickled beets. The greens are just as good, and more earthy than spinach and even swiss chard. Just throw a little bacon in and I love them all.

Here's a simple recipe.

 

Ingredients

• 1 pound beet greens
• 1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped (or a tablespoon of bacon fat)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/6 cup of cider vinegar

Method

1 Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and cut away any heavy stems. Cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

2 In a large skillet or 3-qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned on medium heat (or heat 1 Tbs of bacon fat). Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic. Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper. Bring mixture to a boil.

3 Add the beet greens, gently toss in the onion mixture so the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-15 minutes until the greens are tender. Stir in vinegar. (For kale or collard greens continue cooking additional 20 to 25 minutes or until desired tenderness.)

Serves 4.

From http://simplyrecipes.com

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It’s Been a Busy Month

Well, my blog has been neglected for a few weeks, as I was moving. It was time to move closer to the city to avoid 40+ minutes on the road every day. But it was also certainly time move from a dreary apartment that faces North. That means no sun at winter, so the small apartment feels even smaller.

Luckily I found a nice upper unit in an old Victorian in St. Paul. Now it only take me 8 minutes to get to work. It already feels like a home here, and the landlords are letting me garden in the backyard. I’ve already made some raised beds and planted a fall garden, so I’ll post those up soon.

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Wild Berries in the Park

The little forested area and park near my apartment is more productive than one might think. There's wild columbines along the trail, and stinging nettle (edible), and I even found some morels this spring at the edge of a grassy park area.

But my favorite time of year is when the blackcaps ripen, which are also at the edge between grass and forest. They aren't much, but it's just enough for the breakfast bowl in the morning. It seems the bushes are less productive with each passing year, but hopefully they'll rebound on their own.

There's also a raspberry bush mixed in, but I haven't spotted it yet this year.

 

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fastfood@home: Applebee's Maple Butter Blondie

Now this isn't from the restaurant. It's made from scratch!

Applebees may have some mediocre food, but their Maple Butter Blondie is pretty good. It's not a normal blondie, however, it has a cake-like texture, topped with vanilla ice cream and a creamy maple sauce. Chopped walnuts are sprinkled about for good measure.

If you're like me, you wouldn't mind having seconds. So why not make it at home and you'll be on your way to a real sugar coma.

I've tested a few of the other copycat recipes out there, but they didn't seem quite right. Either the blondies were fudgy in texture, or the maple sauce was a brown sugar base. Those traits don't match Applebees' dessert.

So I mixed and matched a few recipes to come up with a cake-like blondie, with a light colored sauce. I’d say the sauce is spot on. But the blondie isn’t exactly like Applebees’ quite yet, but it’s pretty good.

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks butter (12 Tbs.) melted

3/4 c. granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 Tbs. vanilla extract

2 ½ c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

1 c. white chocolate chips

Maple Sauce

1 c. cream

½ c. white chocolate chips

¼ c. granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. maple extract

1 c. sour cream

Scoop of vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. In a mixer, blend butter and sugars until creamy.
2. Add vanilla, then add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
3. Mix in flour, baking powder and baking soda.
4. Fold in white chocolate chips and nuts.
5. Grease a 9 by 13-inch glass pan and smooth top of mixture with a spatula.
6. Bake 350° for 25-30 minutes.

For Sauce

1. Combine cream, chips and sugar in a saucepan and cook, constantly stirring on medium heat right until bubbly and thickened. Be careful not to burn the sugary sauce.
2. Remove from heat and add maple flavoring and sour cream. Sauce will thicken more as it cools. This is about as close as you'll get to the Applebees sauce if I do say so myself. :-)

To Assemble

1. Cut brownies and top with a scoop of ice cream, then top with sauce and sprinkle with more nuts.

Tightly cover any left-over blondies.

 

 

 

 

 

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July Fourth

I hope everyone had a great July Fourth holiday. I had the chance to test out my camera to capture some great fireworks.

This is on a hill overlooking Saint Paul, Minnesota. There was quite a crowd, and one kid near us seemed to enjoy it. He clapped wildly at every little spark in the sky. 

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What Organic Really Means Under Federal Law

As with all food in this great U-S of A, wording is not as clear and you would think, and "Organic" is no different. Here's a good little list of what that organic labeling really means.

I do wonder why organic products cost more...Aren't they saving money by not buying pesticides?

"100 Percent Organic" products must show an ingredient list, the name and address of the handler (bottler, distributor, importer, manufacturer, packer, processor) of the finished product, and the name and seal of the organic certifier. These products should contain no chemicals, additives, synthetics, pesticides or genetically engineered substances.

"USDA Organic" products must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients. The five percent non-organic ingredients could include additives or synthetics if they are on an approved list. The label must contain a list that identifies the organic, as well as the non-organic, ingredients in the product, and the name of the organic certifier.

"Made With Organic" products must contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients. The label must contain a list that identifies the organic, as well as the non-organic, ingredients in the product, along with the name of the organic certifier.

If a product contains less than 70 percent organic ingredients, it cannot use the word "organic" on the packaging or display panel, and the only place an organic claim can be made is on the ingredient label.

from Washington Post

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Pickled Beets

I'm still going through all the great vegetables I got from the farmers' market. If anything, it's forcing me to eat my veggies. There's something great when you know you're eating things that were pulled out of the ground that morning.

So when I spotted beets for $1 who could pass that deal? I love beets. They're really, really earthy with a unique flavor. I wanted to make something light and summery with them, so I decided on pickled beets. Don't forget to save the greens, they're great with some bacon and onion.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch (4 or 5) beets
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 Tbs sugar
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1 Remove greens from beets, save for future use (see beet greens recipe). Cut beets to uniform sizes so they will cook evenly. Steam or boil around 30 minutes or until done. (Alternatively, you can roast them by wrapping them whole in foil and cooking them in a 350°F oven for about an hour.) A fork easily inserted into the beet will tell you if the beets are done or not.

2 Drain the beets, rinsing them in cold water. Use your fingers to slip the peels off of the beets. The peels should come off easily. Discard the peels. Slice the beets.

3 Make the vinaigrette by combining the cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, and dry mustard. Whisk ingredients together with a fork. The dry mustard will help to emulsify the vinaigrette. Adjust to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine beets and vinaigrette in a bowl and allow to marinate for a half hour at room temperature.

Serves four.

from Simply Recipes

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