Oprah's Favorite Grilled Cheese

All I can say about this simple sandwich is, "HOLY F***!"  Why did my mother never make this for me when I was growing up?  (I still love you mom, don't you worry about this.  However, you HAVE TO make this for the grandkids.)

The inspiration for this came from work last night.  I work graveyard shift at a resort in Las Vegas and the Employee Dining Room is very underwhelming from 10pm - 5am (here forth shall be called the Dreaded Hours) when they start to serve breakfast.  During the Dreaded hours the food provided is straight from the buffet after they close.  So, we get fed leftover, rejected food from a buffet that isn't known for being good.  It isn't even known that we have a buffet, it is that good....

Anyway, for an hour or so we are lucky enough to have a chef making personal orders just shy of the Dreaded Hours.  It's all free and they can make eggs to order, burgers, chicken breast, quesadillas, sandwiches or wraps and they are not too bad.  Last night I was lucky to catch my favorite chef just before he closed down the grill and left us to suffer fight over the buffet food.  Not being too hungry I just wanted something that wouldn't take long to cook, so I asked for a grilled cheese sandwich.

There was definitely nothing special about this grilled cheese.  It was typical American on wheat and he even threw on a few fries (that went unconsumed), but he takes pride in his work so I smiled, thanked him and sat down for my quick bite.  The first bite happened and I noticed that the cheese wasn't even melted.  He had managed to toast the outside of the bread on the griddle, but the cheese was still as cold as it was when he took it from the prep line.  I took a few more bites and then decided that this was probably for the best as I wasn't all that hungry to begin with.

That brings me to today...  With the heat being in the low 100's I often don't have an appetite, but I know I must consume something.  I wanted to make something quick while I was working on another recipe and decided a grilled cheese would be great because I have everything for it and need to use the ingredients.  Also, I have a basil plant that is struggling to survive in this desert heat so I knew I wanted to use that.  Heading over to Google I typed in "grilled cheese basil" into the search bar and after a few web pages ironically enough ended up at ohsweetbasil.com.  What caught my attention was a recipe for Oprah's Favorite Grilled Cheese.  Now I'm not one to typically follow what Oprah likes, but it was so simple that I had to try it - and you should too.


The Recipe

Oprah's Favorite Grilled Cheese

Five simple ingredients to Oprah's Favorite Grilled Cheese (honey not pictured)

Ingredients

• 2 slices of good quality wheat bread
• 2 slices of Havarti cheese
• 2-4 slices vine ripe tomato
• honey
• fresh basil, 2-3 leaves chiffonade

One side of the sandwich prepped and ready to cook

Instructions

1. Spread a thin layer of honey on each slide of bread.  Top with cheese, tomato, basil and another slice of cheese.
2. You can butter the bread or use a little olive oil in the pan.
3. Grill on a skillet or pan over low-medium heat, or very low flame for gas stove users, until golden brown on both sides.  
4. Remove from heat and enjoy.  You can thank me later.

Oprah's Favorite Grilled Cheese (and soon to be yours too)

For this recipe I made sure to buy some decent Havarti and slice it myself at home.  Also, I prefer to cook the sandwich open faced where both buttered sides of the sandwich cook at the same time.  Each one has cheese on it, a slice of tomato and fresh basil.  I chose to add the honey just before I put the two cook sides together, but this doesn't affect the taste.  For me it is just to make less mess in my pans during cooking.  

Either way, this is an amazing and simple grilled cheese that must be tried by all.  If you can get ingredients from your local farmers market you will enjoy this even more!  Oprah made a good choice with this and I hope you do yourself a favor and take full advantage of this combination.  You will forget all about your nasty American "Cheese" sandwich you grew up with and hopefully never turn back. 

Until next time,

Happy Snacking!

Luke

Lilly's Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant Review

Lilly's Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant

Last night a few friends and I went to Super Summer Theatre's production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  It's an outdoor theatre set within Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.  Tickets are a reasonable price and all you have to do is bring yourself, a blanket to sit on and maybe some food and beverage to enhance your experience that much more.

Being the classy people that my we are, my friends and I grabbed a 12 pack of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, picked up a pizza from CostCo and headed out to the ranch for an evening of fun.  Though I don't drink much at all, I began to have the biggest craving for Thai food as the night drew on.  It was sudden and out of place, but then again my partner and I have been getting our fair share of Thai food as of late.  My latest addiction: Pad See Ew.

Being that I live on the west side of Las Vegas I decided that I need to start trying new places in my area.  Just across from my favorite falafel house in Las Vegas I have noticed a few restaurants come and go, but nothing really stays.  Could it be bad location or just bad food?  I don't know, but what I did notice on my way past the area this morning is that there was a Thai restaurant that I have never been to.  And where there is a Thai café, there is Pad See Ew.

I decided to stop in at Lilly's Thai and Vietnamese Restaurant on West Sahara to give it a go.  My first impressions where mostly faded by the fact that I just wanted this noodle dish...NOW!  I placed my order for beef Pad See Ew (there is a $1 up charge for beef) and sat down to wait for my dish.  As I had a few things to get done this morning, I ordered it to go but the wait staff still poured me a glass of water as I waited which was quite unexpected but very welcomed.

Sitting down I began to take in my surroundings, and to be quite frank, there wasn't much to take in.  The tables were very plain and each one had a large sticker on it's edge to indicate the table number.  The front desk was made up of what looked like an ill fitted computer desk set to the side of another desk that could have easily been left behind by the previous tenants of this rental space.  The decorations were few, but I just kept reminding myself that I am here for the food and not the atmosphere.  Besides, I was taking my food to go.  What did I care?

My order only took about 5 minutes to make and when it was ready the host bagged it up, walked it over to me and politely thanked me and invited me back.  For me, the drive home is usually the worst part about take out as the smell of the food taunts me until I have reached my destination.  However, in this instance I got nothing.  It wasn't until I opened the bag fully and opened the To-Go box that I got a whiff of what was to come, and what I got was a short scent of the dish and then...nothing.  I enjoy food that lingers in the air and taunts everyone around that's eating something else to the point of jealousy and begging for a bite.

Upon further inspection of the opened box I noticed the beef.  It had been cooked to an eerie gray to it that made it seem like low quality factory meat that was cut into a uniform thickness.  Looking past that I was excited to see a spring roll that came with this lunch special as it meant that I would enjoy at least one thing.  How can you mess up a spring roll, am I right?

I began to plate my lunch, but was quickly losing my appetite (it's hot here and I don't have a big appetite during the hot Vegas summer's to begin with).  I took my first apprehensive bite and was underwhelmed.  There was so much anticipation that was leading up to this moment that perhaps I was the reason that it wasn't appealing to me.  I took another bite and again wasn't excited, but the food was forgettable.  After my fifth bite I decided to just take the spring roll and enjoy the little bit that I could.

After my meal I looked up Lilly's on Yelp to see if it was just me, but they have gotten some mixed reviews.  The photos make the food look amazing, but good photos don't make up for a lack of flavor which seems to be a common complaint.  Though I didn't get a Thai tea or dessert like I would have wanted to give this place an overall review, I can't say that I will never be back.  

Overall, this dish was not good.  It had little to no flavor, the protein was gray, but the egg roll and dipping sauce were not half bad.  The desserts look delicious and the wait staff is very attentive, but as far as this dish goes there are far too many other Thai restaurants around Las Vegas that make a better Pad See Ew to go to.  I will probably come back to get the curry, Thai tea and coconut ice cream as recommended by others on Yelp.

Thanks for checking out my first review and be sure to come back as I make this dish at home later this week.

Until next time....

Happy Snacking!

Luke

Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowl

This year Christmas was spent away from my family and in the big city. For my friend, Oriana, and myself it was our first year alone on Christmas in Chicago. Naturally we spent it together. There was the traditional gift exchange, and movies. And just like every other time that we hung out together there was hookah, board games, and of course, food!

As we are both vegetarians it was puzzling us on how we were going to pull off a Christmas dinner. The friends that we had invited to share this dinner with us all found their ways back home, so cooking without having to have them in mind made the planning a lot easier. For me, I was all about the desserts - Raw Key Lime Pie and a Vegan Pecan Pie. (Will post those later in the week)

Oriana, on the other hand, had ideas left and right and after a trip to the grocery store, where everything seemed to be on sale, we had our ingredients. But what were we going to do with them. It wasn't until Oriana found the recipe for Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowls that we knew that Christmas dinner was going to be Japanese inspired.

I didn't have anything to do with this recipe, but I needed to share it because it was so delicious.

The Recipe

Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowl (in the bowl) and Sweet Potato Falafel (on the plate) 

Mushroom Shichimi Rice Bowl

Ingredients 

• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
• Fine-grain sea salt
• 12 ounces / 340 g mushrooms of your choice (I used shiitake, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 8 ounces / 225 g firm tofu, cut into tiny cubes
• 1 small bunch kale / 3 oz / 85 g, well chopped
• Shichimi Togarashi or red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over high heat. 
2. Add the mushrooms in a single layer, stir well, and cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, and then brown, about 5 minutes more. Stir a few times along the way, but don't overdo it; you want the mushrooms to be deeply browned on both sides. 
3. Stir in the garlic roughly 20 seconds before the mushrooms finish cooking. If you need to cook the mushrooms in two batches, do so. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate, set aside.
4. Using the same large skillet, no need to clean it out, cook the tofu along with a couple pinches of salt over medium-high heat until heated through, and until it starts to brown a bit. Roughly one minute before the tofu is finished cooking, stir in the kale. It should collapse and cook down over the next 60 seconds.
5. Season all the components generously with Shichimi Togarashi and salt to taste. For each serving, dish up a heaping spoonful of brown rice along with some of the tofu/kale mixture and a some of the mushrooms.

Serves 3-4.


This recipe was so delicious that I have made it three times in the last week. Not only that, but it includes two of my favorite super foods: Mushrooms (Shiitake, in our recipe) and Kale. When we made this recipe we didn't use tofu as I am limiting my soy based products that I am eating. It still turned out amazing and it is probably better because it didn't have the tofu. We also topped the entire bowl off with soy sauce to taste.

I can guarantee you that if you make this you and are not a vegetarian that you will not miss any meat in this meal. It is simply seasoned, but with a bit of soy sauce the flavors will be bursting in your mouth. Be careful not to over salt the kale as I did the first time that I tried to recreate this dish. Honestly, I would say not to salt the kale as it is just going to get some soy sauce before you eat it anyway.

Cost for this meal is around $5 for the rice, the kale and the Shiitake mushrooms. I only suggest shiitake, but that is my own personal preference for this recipe. I hope you enjoy this one!

Please comment if you have tried this and tell me how you like it.

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Thank you to Heidi from 101cookbooks.com for sharing this recipe.
Recipe can be found here.

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Until next time...

Happy Snacking!

First Recipe - Vegan Seitan Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Welcome to my blog!

I am so excited to share this first recipe with everyone. My diet has recently changed to slightly vegan/vegetarian, whole foods, plant-based diet. Growing up in WI means that I LOVE dairy. It has been really hard to take out all dairy, but I have finally been able to do it fairly easily, however, I do find that on occasion I have some cheese in a meal or use butter to cook. Make it known that I am not doing this diet because I am against an animal losing it's life for my consumption, but more to see how this diet works for me.

Anyway, so before I started this diet I had come to know the amazing food known as the Gyro. Being in Chicago means that I can get one on any corner, almost literally. Each one has it's ups and downs and I have come to know where to get a gyro around Chicago and where to avoid. Since I am eating vegan/vegetarian meals I can't eat gyros. Lately I have been craving them, but have not wanted to give in to eating meat, so naturally the next option is to find a vegan gyro recipe.

My default website to find vegan recipes is VegWeb.com and after a short search, I came across an amazing Vegan Gyro recipe with Tzatziki Sauce. Having eaten a real gyro before (and I have had a large variety of them in just about every city I have visited) I was worried that this would taste nothing like a real gyro. Obviously a vegan gyro will not taste like a real gyro, but the last recipe I found was created by someone who has never had a lamb gyro and admitted that it tasted nothing like them. This is not the case for this recipe. The seasoning is very on and topped with the amazing Tzatziki Sauce I almost forgot that it was vegan.

Having never made seitan before, I was a little worried that this wasn't going to turn out well. The recipe called for it to be steamed, but since I have such a small kitchen and limited supplies, I just used my rice cooker and steamed the seitan in the steaming tray. After it was done steaming I cut the loaf into slices to be cooked and then eaten!

It looks so good, right?

The way that I like to load up my pita is with a mix of salad greens, red onion, sliced tomatoes and tzatziki sauce. I got most of my ingredients from Whole Foods, but you should be able to get the ingredients from any health food store as well. Here is the recipe.

Seitan Gyros

Ingredients

Gyro spice mix:

• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon curry spice powder (I use McCormick mild)
• 1 tablespoon garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Seitan:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons gyro spice mix (recipe above)
• 1 cup cold water
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Gyros:

• 4-6 vegan pitas
• 1 onion, finely sliced, optional
• 1 tomato, finely sliced, optional
• cucumber sauce, to serve, optional

Directions:

1. To make spice mix, combine all spices. This makes enough spice for several batches of gyros. Store in a tight lidded container between uses. For seitan, place all dry ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with a fork until well mixed.

2. Add in cold water. Stir with fork until well blended. Knead dough about 23-30 squeezes by hand to make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Let dough rest 10 minutes or so, and knead dough again for another 2-3 minutes to build up elasticity. Prepare steamer or steamer basket.

3. Form dough into loaf type shape, keeping the loaf about 1" thick (will rise while steaming). Tear off tin foil sheet about 12" long. Spray shiny side of foil with cooking spray. Lay seitan loaf in center of foil. Fold tinfoil up around seitan loaf making an envelope type shape (be sure to leave room around loaf to allow dough to expand while steaming).

4. Fold and pinch outside edges of foil together to make a tight seam (middle seam should be overlapping, it is ok if it is not pinched). Steam dough in foil envelope for about 50 minutes. Remove from steamer, and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Unwrap finished seitan loaf, and slice into strips 1/8-1/4" thick. Squeeze lemon juice over seitan slices, and allow to sink in while oil heats in pan.

5. Heat oil in a large pan. Add seitan slices, and fry until slightly browned on all sides, about 3-5 minutes each side. Remove from pan, but keep warm. Heat pitas, one at a time, in hot pan. Place on a plate and spoon gyro "meat" mixture into each pita. If desired, top with favorite cucumber sauce recipe, onions, and tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Makes: 4-6 gyros, Preparation time: 20 min, Cooking time: 1 hr +/-

Recipe can be found here.



And let's not forget the Tzatziki Sauce!

Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients 

• 1/2 (8-ounce) container vegan sour cream
• 1/2 lemon, squeezed
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup cucumber, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients. Mix well.

Recipe can be found here.


For this recipe I like to use Cilantro instead of parsley, but that is my personal taste. I usually just do dill in the normal Tzatziki Sauce that I make, but wanted to share this version.



Mad props to Jamie Monster on VegWeb.com for this gyro recipe and veganmiss for the Tzatziki recipe!

Finished Seitan Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce

For this meal I paid about $15 for all of the ingredients. Most recipes that I have I won't include the cost of everything because I usually have those things stocked (such as seasonings, herbs, etc.). Here is the list of everything that I purchased:

• Sanabel Bakery Fresh Whole Wheat Pita Bread (local) - $2.99 for a pack of 8 large pitas.
• Earthbound Farm Organic Mixed Baby Greens (4oz bag) - $2.49
• Tofutti Milkfree Sour Cream (12oz container) - $2.39
• Small Organic, Fair Trade Cucumber - 48¢
• One Bundle of Cilantro - Free because is wasn't ringing up right at the register
• One Organic Lemon - 93¢
• One Cup Vital Wheat Gluten (.36 lbs @ $3.99/lb) - $1.44
• One Bundle of Dill - 69¢

Total - $11.41 for 4-6 gyros

(I didn't include the cost of the seasonings, garlic, tomato, onion or olive oil because those are things that I always have in my kitchen.)

Price of a Gryo at a local restaurant: $4.95 for one sandwich.

Until next time...
Happy Snacking!