Knock, Knock... Who's There?

So I started composting food last year and I've had good days and weeks that went by
where I've neglected to recycle/compost.
I bought this metal tin container with a lid from Ikea for $12.
I simply started the compost with dirt
from 3 small plants that had died from neglect from my balcony.
I would add coffee grinds, vegetable peels, fruit skins and cores, egg shells,
OMGoodness there are probably over 300 egg shells in there.
(roughly guessing of course) Every once in a while I would take my little garden shovel
or a plastic fork and mix the soil around.  In the summer I have it sitting on my balcony...
and once the Fall season rolled around- I brought it inside and have it in the corner
of the kitchen. It doesn't smell and because there is a lid- it doesn't attract bugs
which is great of course!  Now, who wants to see what it looks like inside?

Knock, Knock........................................  who's there?

Notice how you can't even tell that there were regular size carrots peels,
full cracked egg shells, banana peels, orange peels, peanut shells,
hmmm what else was thrown in there.... onions skins, leaves from other dead
plant leaves and much more...
The picture doesn't really do it justice... The soil IS really dark and healthy,
ridiculous with nutrients for when I grow my indoor, window side-
herbs and veggies! There is nothing better than fresh basil, thyme and rosemary!

RAINBOW cake it up!

So, I've had the great opportunity of making this crazy yet awesome cake 5 times now in the
past 3 months. It's called Rainbow Cake for the simple reason of being a 6 layered cake with
colors of the rainbow. I'm not too much of a baker but there are a few cakes I really enjoy
to make but more importantly...EAT!
Flourless Decaf Espresso Chocolate Cake being one and the second new favorite is the Pumpple.

Making this cake takes a teeny bit longer than the normal cake but it's SO worth it. After your white/vanilla cake batter is ready... (2 boxes) you want to split your batter into 6 even amounts.

Here is one, and then here are 4.... (you want a total of 6)

Then you add drops of food coloring for each color of the rainbow.  (ROYGBIV)
You want to start with the bottom layer first. Purple being the bottom layer of the cake.

For some reason- purple always looks grayish before it is baked.
Then you want to follow with the blue- followed by green, yellow, orange and then- lastly, red.

Then you take your cake pan (the pans with the sides that get unleashed work best)

I cook 2 at a time- simply because I own 2 pans.
If you have more than 2 pans- try it all at once... be a rebel!
Once each layer is baked (you can stick a toothpick in the center and see if it comes out clean)
I take the sides of the pan out and throw each layer in the refrigerator.
As I start the 2nd batch of the next 2 colors- and clear the counter area a little bit-
it's already time to take the first ones out from the refrigerator.
(as they are chilled it becomes way more convenient to take off the bottom of the pan.
I start with carefully centering the purple layer on the middle of the plate.
Then I add a little icing followed by the blue layer, than more icing etc... for all 6 layers.

It's always a "wow", "oooo" "let me take a pic" moment when you cut into this cake!
I think I might try to alternate red and green for the next one....

Elevation Burger

Elevation Burger. Check 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!

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.

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