Well hey there guys! Yes, I'm still here and still blogging. I've been a little overwhelmed with getting our wedding invitations ready to send on Saturday; I kind of waited too long to print my designs and order my envelopes, and now I'm scrambling to address, stuff, stamp and seal everything. After spending most of my weekend on that project, I think I've finally caught up. Hand-calligraphing 130 invites is no small feat!
But this isn't a wedding post; this is a post about some freaking awesome food I made a couple of weekends ago. I was inspired by something Sydney got for breakfast a while back: breakfast poutine. I've been wanting to tackle a poutine recipe for a LONG time now, and combining it with my favorite meal--breakfast--was just too good to pass up.
I don't like to toot my own horn, but it. was. incredible. This was mostly because I used the best cheese I've ever eaten in my life. Traditional poutine uses cheese curds, but I had this incredible black truffle white cheddar cheese I picked up on my way back from my parents' house in February. Between Columbus and my parents' town, there's this place called Grandpa's Cheesebarn. I've been passing this establishment regularly for the past eight years, and only recently decided to stop in. Those eight years may have been one of the biggest wastes of my life. If you like cheese and are anywhere near Ashland, Ohio, you have to go. No question; it must be done.
Anyway, the dish itself was easy. I used some frozen hash brown potato cube things in lieu of french fries, topped them with the cheese and some brown gravy, then threw an over-medium egg on top of that and served with a side of bacon. I could straight-up eat that dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The truffle cheese is gone, sadly, but I'll be venturing up past Ashland later this month so I'm sure I will stop in again and I may or may not drop a good $40 on cheese. Again.
Have you made any epic meals lately?
You read that correctly. As a little birthday treat to four of my friends (who all have a birthday within one week of each other), I made maple-bacon cupcakes and took them to the joint birthday party. And they. were. phenom.
These are pretty easy, but a little time-consuming, especially if you don't have a griddle to cook all the bacon at once. But boy, are they worth it. This recipe makes 15 to 24 bacon-y bits of goodness, depending on how full you fill the cupcake liners.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
- 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 2/3 cup maple sugar
- 1 pound bacon
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin trays with cupcake liners. Cook the bacon until it's nice and crispy, and set over paper towels to drain. While it's draining, grab a large bowl and whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt until well-combined. Set aside about three or four pieces of bacon; chop the rest into very small pieces.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on a slow setting, stir in the buttermilk and syrup. Then gradually add the dry ingredients, using the mixer to incorporate. About halfway through, I had to switch to a wooden spoon because the batter got too thick for my crappy hand mixer. Finally, mix in the finely chopped bacon pieces.
Carefully spoon the batter into your cupcake liners. I filled mine too full and had fewer cupcakes; I'd recommend filling them 1/2- to 3/4 full for more, smaller cupcakes. Or you know, fill them all the way for fewer, giant cupcakes. Anyway, bake 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick pushed into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
After the cupcakes are done, remove from the pan and set on the counter or a cookie rack to cool. While they're cooling, you can make the icing. The icing I made didn't turn out too well, so I'm not going to include it. (Unless, you know, you guys want that recipe. For what it's worth, I didn't like it...it was just powdered sugar, butter, milk and maple syrup.)
After the cupcakes are fully cooled, top them with frosting. Grab those last three or four whole pieces of bacon and chop them into large pieces, to garnish the top of the frosting. Try not to drool.
(Pro-tip/fat-kid-tip: One of my friends said he ate a few cupcakes for breakfast the next morning because they tasted like pancakes...he toasted them and slathered them in butter. Oh. My. God. Why didn't I think of that?!)
It's been a while since I did a recipe post, mainly because it's been a while since I've actually cooked something delicious and not just fried some chicken to serve with instant mashed potatoes and frozen veggies. Let's face it...summertime is not exactly made for spending in a hot kitchen.
But I had this photo sitting in my "unposted photos" queue, so I figured why not? It may not look very pretty, and in fact it's quite messy to eat, but this burger was deeee-licious!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb ground turkey
- parsley
- garlic powder
- 6 slices bacon (I used applewood smoked)
- 5 eggs
- cheese (I like Colby-Jack, but cheddar is also good)
- 4 English muffins
In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, one egg, and a dash each of parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Don't over-season, you just want to give your burger a little background flavor. (Note: You can see from the photo that I didn't do this next step, but trust me, it's a modification that will make chowing down a bit easier.)
Chop the bacon into small pieces (it helps to stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes first) and add it to the turkey burger mixture. Mix everything together really well, incorporating the egg into all of it so the burgers won't break up.
Shape the meat into 8 mini-patties. You want them to be relatively flat, and slightly larger than the circumference of the English muffins, because the patties will shrink up a bit when you cook them. Cook in a frying pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes on each side to get a good sear on the outside, then reduce heat and cover with a lid, cooking for several minutes more on each side.
While the patties are cooking over low heat, crack the other 4 eggs into another skillet that's been sprayed with cooking spray (or, if you're a fat kid at heart like me, grease up the pan with butter). Break the yolks and fry those babies up! (Again, you'll notice I cooked my egg over-medium, so the yolk was still runny. While this was delicious, it was also really messy and really difficult to eat. I definitely suggest yolk-breakage.)
Just before the burgers are finished, top them with the cheese of your choice. Cover again for about a minute so the cheese will melt. Divide the fried eggs into 8 sections and top each burger with one. Each burger will be relatively small, so this recipe will really only serve four. Two mini-burgers is a great portion size :)
And the best part? These taste great in the morning or for dinner. Yum!
