November 21, 2011

Elevation Burger

Elevation BurgerCheck out their website to find a location near you!

Elevation Burger is all about organic ingredients.



Their menu is pretty simple and straight forward. We ordered the Cheeseburger 
and the Veggie Burger #1 along with some fries of course.  (I love fries)


 Elevation burgers vision is to have organic ingredients such as grass fed cows,
100% free range and even fresh cut fries cooked in healthy olive oil.
They are all about a better you, a healthier you and a better environment.


The burgers really did taste a little different. They were very light, even the beef burger 
was not greasy and I didn't have that heavy bloated feeling that you can sometimes get 
after heavy burgers.  The fries were really good also.  I would recommend Elevation Burger. 




Peanut Butter & BACON!

I heard this 89 year old woman say...
"What's that McDonalds like.. I've never been there before."
I was like....  what!!?! You've lived in the USA all of your life  and
have never been to a McDonalds at least once in your life?
All I could say was wow. Now, don't get me wrong I don't love
Micky D's but an occasional Egg McMuffin....come on.

Just like the McDonalds ....who hasn't had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
especially as a child or even now as an adult right?
Well, have you ever had a peanut butter bacon sandwich?
Yup, good ole peanut butter with that salty bacon in between 2 slices of bread.
Pretty good!  It can't get much easier to make as well. Take some cooked bacon,


 and some bread. (I decided to use plain old white bread for this one.


I spread the peanut butter on the bread and with a little butter- toasted the bread in
the pan as if I was going to make grilled cheese.


 Then, cut the bacon in half and lightly fried/toasted both sides of the bread.


 Yeah, It's a no brainer. You should try it.  It has bacon in it, come on. BACON!


November 10, 2011

Hand Drawn Noodles in Chinatown, Philly

Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House is located on
927 Race Street in the heart of Chinatown in Philly.


 It is a very small place with pretty much no flair.... BUT the noodles are hand drawn
on the spot and the food is very tasty. These noodles have just a simple peanut sauce
topped with scallions for a garnish but the fact that the noodles were hand pulled
gives the noodles that slightly chewy and elasticity that you can't get with
machine made noodles.  It's a very simple dish but  pretty good and you can't beat $3.00



This dish was the Sliced Beef Noodle dish. The broth was exceptional.
The sliced beef was quite tender and it only had a little bit of fat .
The greens were cilantro and baby spinach. It also had a handful of picked cabbage
which really brought out the acid to the dish and was yummy.
I would totally recommend Nan Zhou for the tasty food and very cheap prices
but it can be a little weird not because the dining area is so small but it's hit
or miss who you will be sitting with. They will literally seat you at the same table with
complete strangers due to limited seating as you slurp your tasty, noodles that
were just pulled from scratch. It's totally worth sitting next to complete strangers
for fresh hand pulled noodles.

November 4, 2011

CLASSICO Creamy Alfredo Sauce

I was lucky enough to be chosen to participate in the Foodbuzz  Tastemaker program
and to cook with Classico Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce.
It all started off by receiving a jar in the mail.


I decided to make some garlic butter sauteed shrimp with linguine in the Alfredo Sauce.
After I cleaned my fresh shrimp, I added a little butter into the pan and sauteed my shrimp
and sprinkled on some garlic salt. As the shrimp was cooking, I took some chives
and chopped them.


 

I added a sprinkle of salt and boiled my linguine in water. Once the linguine
was cooked, I strained the water (I didn't rinse the pasta with any water)
By not rinsing the pasta- it helps my sauce stick and cling on better to the pasta.
They pretty much become BFF. (best friends forever)
Lastly, I added the linguine, the creamy alfredo sauce and added the chives last.
I tossed everything together in the pan so the sauce would heat up and cook
and give the pasta pretty much no personal space anymore.

    



I added some garlic croutons as a garnish and to have instead of bread to cut back on carbs
that night. Although the sauce is "Light" it is sooo creamy and tasty.  It is obviously already
made for you to simply use- so I would highly recommend this Classico Sauce!

For more detailed info on the sauce please check out Classico Creamy Alfredo Sauce.

OO as in Oatmeal Overload

Who's selling oatmeal and what's the price?


McDonald's Oatmeal for $1.99.  Fries are good, but the oatmeal- hmmmm


Chick-Fil-A's Oatmeal for $2.49  Chick-Fil-A... good all around.



Jamba Juice's oatmeal for $3.25   smoothies are good too!


Starbucks' Oatmeal for $2.45  Pretty good with a Tall, Grande or Venti!


Cosi's Oatmeal for $2.99   oatmeal for breakfast, smores for dessert


Au Bon Pain's Oatmeal for $3.00  stop in before you catch your next flight

Breakfast Progression

Have you noticed breakfast is starting be served everywhere... almost everywhere.
The usual places that many of us are familiar with such as McDonalds,
Burger King (I like to refer to it as The BK Lounge) & Dunkin Donuts along with Wawa
and 7-11 are still serving our favorite breakfast sandwiches.

Did you know that Sonic, Chick-fil-A, Wendy's,  Arby's, Subway, Quiznos
and KFC all sell breakfast items now also?  Not only are most fast food chains selling
breakfast but many restaurants are serving breakfast all day. Eggs and hash browns
are making their way into more and more lunch menus as well. Hispanic type of foods are also
making their way into our breakfasts with burritos and even breakfast tacos.

There is even a 24 hour Dominos in Ohio that serves breakfast pizza. WHAT!
They don't deliver that early though. Could you imagine, the pizza delivery guy
delivering a breakfast pizza as the kids are grabbing their homework and stuffing
it into their back-packs. Kellogg's is even launching Fruit Pizza soon.

As far as drinks, in an effort to save some money, more and more adults are brewing
their own coffee at home but, more and more kids are drinking energy drinks during
breakfast time. I guess it's hard to win with everything.