Ain't Nobody Got Time For That

If you wake up in the mornings, and all you can think is:

Source:  memegenerator.net

I found something that even you can manage.

So, making eggy sandwiches in the morning is actually kind of a giant pain in the butt...but it doesn't have to be!  All you need is slice of onion or bell pepper and you can get that sucker under control.  Just cut a relatively thick slice (complete circle--so using a bell pepper means cutting off the top and scooping the seeds out).  Whisk an egg in a bowl--add cream or milk for fluffiness--and pour that inside your "mold" in a hot-hot-hot pan.  Your egg will cook up super quick, then you can flip it and plate it on your favorite piece of bread...Bruno went for the rosemary potato bread.  I already had some diced up bell peppers on hand, so I threw a bit of those in before I flipped the egg/onion over.  It literally took me less than five minutes to make this.  You can eat breakfast.  I believe in you.

I'm on a roll, don't judge me!

Since we're talking about restaurant foods ...I have to also give you the home version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana.

I'm sure you've had it. It's like a simplified Italian wedding soup.  I actually learned how to make this, though I can't find the original recipe we used, back in San Luis Obispo.  You only need a few things!

1)One package of hot Italian sausage (and red chili flakes, if you love things extra spicy like I do)
2)one bunch of kale
3)one yellow onion
4)up to one pint of heavy whipping cream
5) six slices of bacon
Hey, I never said this was a healthy soup.
6) three or four medium-large white potatoes
7)two cans of chicken stock

And garlic! I totally forgot to get new garlic, so I just eyeballed a bit of garlic powder. But, if you have it, three cloves of garlic--minced.

And a large soup pot, of course.

Start out by dumping your sausage and diced up bacon to cook up in the pot. You DO NOT need any oil--sausage and bacon have plenty of fat to keep from sticking. If you want, you can even drain it after cooking before moving on. Around halfway cooked, I like to break the sausage up into very small clumps. Add your diced onion and minced garlic and give that a good stir. While that's blends together, start cutting up your potatoes. Keep in mind more surface area reduces cook time. Since Brun and I were super hungry, I halved the potatoes, diced them (think chip slices), then cut those in thirds. Add the chicken stock and one cup of water when you're half way through cutting the potatoes. Turn up the heat so your pot is heading for a nice boil. Add the potatoes and let those cook. When they look like they're almost done, pour in your cream and tear up the kale into manageable pieces (they'll cook down like spinach, but not so wilt-y). Add some cracked pepper and you are good to go. I've found sourdough or the rosemary-potato bread you can get at the store go really well with this soup.

Eat up!

Tasty Shabushabu

So, here is the other restaurant food I love Love LOVE! The restaurant is called Shabuway, and it's basically Japanese hot pot (Shabushabu). I'm sure this would be fairly easy to do at home, so let me break down what we basically get:

You'll need an electric burner (to keep that broth piping hot!) for your table. Shabu broth is basically water with a bouillon type cube of seaweed. I love it spicy, so there is chili oil and a lot of peppers in ours. You just keep the broth at a low boil and cook everything yourself as you go. This restaurant offers a bunch of different types of meats--mainly beef, but pork, lamb, and others are available--served with a plate of veggies (napa, carrot,I shroom, spinach, and tofu). Get in on the garlic and green onion ponzu-style dipping sauce and this makes for a tasty treat. Since I'm pretty sure you aren't hiding a deli-style meat slicer in your kitchen, be careful cutting thin strips of your selected meats to cook in your broth. Normally, it should only take a few swishes in the broth (the "shabu" swish swish sound it's named for) to cook the meat. Let me know if you try it at home! If I get a chance to do homemade, I'll be sure to post it!

Wannabe Benihana

I'm not going to lie, I am completely addicted to two food things in particular:

1. SHABUWAY (which I will explain tomorrow)
2. Teppan-- Benihana's in particular

I don't know what crazy Asian voodoo magic they used to create their chicken fried rice, but that stuff is like crack.

You'll need: rice, minced garlic, onions, carrots or other veggies you like, soy sauce, butter, eggs, and chicken (I didn't have thawed chicken so I went without)

If you have chicken, dice that up and stir fry it up while your rice cooks. Hopefully you have a rice cooker, but if you don't I will attach some links later to easy rice cooking directions.

You'll need just a dollop of oil heated in a pan to "fry" our eggs. Just whisk them in a bowl like you're making scrambled eggs and pour over the hot pan to cook them, breaking apart into smaller clusters. Add your diced veggies an onions (chicken, too!). Let these cook around with each other for a minute, then scoop your COOKED rice--just eyeball how much you think you'll like--into the pan. Top everything with a tablespoon of butter, a healthy dose of salt and pepper, a spoonful of minced garlic, and two tablespoons of soy sauce.


Fold everything together and let it fry up a little longer in the pan... Voila!!  Dash some sesame seeds on top, if you'd like.  Otherwise, you're ready to go.  I added a couple pot stickers, since I didn't have any chicken to cook in my batch of rice.

Use caution! It's better to use less soy sauce

and then taste after you mix everything

than to over-salt your rice with it!

Enjoy your tasty fried rice =D

Bruno Gets Cooking

Surprise!  Bruno made something a week or two ago, when I was super swamped at work.  How sweet, no?

He basically made some turkey burgers and provided store-bought steak fries and fruit salad on the side.

This one is fairly easy, you'll need:  Ground turkey, salt&pepper, and (I think he said he used) thyme...maybe it was rosemary.  You'll also need some small ciabatta or other similar rolls (think kaiser rolls), olive oil, and burger fixings.

Heat up a pan with some olive oil while you mix the meat and seasonings together.  Your patties can be as large or small as you like...Bruno's were a little bit large (they were like the first knuckle of your thumb in thickness!).  It'd be best to cook these at a med-low temperature to get them cooked all the way through without burning the outer layer.  You can cook two at a time with their corresponding buns toasting on the same pan.  Throw together with your favorite fixings and enjoy!

If my hand feels better, I might make something on Wednesday or so.  Until then, check out Getting Fit for some fun zoo pictures (and a picture of my home-made--thanks Bruno!--cast and the splint given by the doctor) or head to Wedding Spot for a quick look at my first trip dress shopping.