Category: food

Doughnut Fillings, Jelly and Otherwise

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

I mentioned this to Bryan earlier today, but he didn’t seem so keen on it. But, perhaps I’ll get a warmer reception here ;). (if Bryan’s reaction was any guide, I won’t get my hopes up)

I think we can all agree that jelly-filled doughnuts are delicious (well, hopefully, most of us can agree on that much). I’ve often conjectured that better quality fruit fillings (such as real raspberry preserves) would result in an even-better JFD. But, that’s not really what came to mind today…

What about a PB-n-J filled doughnut? Most people like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (myself included), so how about that same experience in the context of a fried dough ring? Yum?

Ben’s Half Yard House

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

On Thursday, we celebrated Never Day at Ben’s Half Yard House (GuideLive review). Bryan organized it, but it was Lyn’s choice (and a great choice it was).

I hadn’t previously thought of Ben’s as a “birthday venue”, but it couldn’t have been better. As always, Ben’s was reasonably lit (not a dark cave like some bars and restaurants) and the music wasn’t so loud as to impede conversation.

The service, too, was better than I would have expected — our server cheerfully arranged for separate checks for each of the dozen-or-so people in our party.

Ben’s has an impressive bar (42 beers on tap!), but the food stood out as well. I’m not normally a fan of cheeseburgers (American cheese? bleh), but I ordered one of their cheeseburgers once I realized that they were available with blue cheese.

Some restaurants sprinkle on the blue cheese, but this burger had a gooey hunk of blue cheese paste that engulfed the top of the patty (and I mean “paste” in a good way). The burger was fairly hot with pleasantly crumbly beef. And, the blue cheese worked so well — they really didn’t skimp on the blue cheese, and its flavor shone through. The bun was above average, though still just a white-flour bun (I keep wondering when rye buns will catch on, HHOS).

Along with the burger, I ordered one of their signature half yards, with Fullers ESB. I was originally going for Fullers Porter (as it’s currently rated #4 among reasonably available beers), but they had run out of that. Still, the ESB was dark and very delicious.

I had good conversation, and a great time. Ben’s is quickly becoming one of my favorite bar-restaurants in the area.

Peanut Butter Oreo Cheesecake Recipe

Ashley Bischoff6 Comments

If you’re looking for a peanut butter cheesecake recipe, I’ve found that this one works quite well:

Oreo® Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg. (15 oz.) Oreo Double Delight Peanut Butter ’n Chocolate Creme Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
  • 3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
  • 3 pkg. (8 oz. each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 container (16 oz.) Sour Cream
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 3 eggs

Preparation

  1. Finely crush 16 of the cookies. Coarsely chop remaining 14 cookies; set aside.
  2. Mix finely crushed cookies and butter. Press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan; set aside.
  3. Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream and peanut butter; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies. Pour over crust.
  4. Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around side of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing side of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

I wouldn’t recommend attempting a low-fat cheesecake, but the recipe can be otherwise made slightly more healthy with few modifications. You could switch from “regular” peanut butter to natural peanut butter, and that eliminates much of the trans fat (except for those intrinsic to the Oreos).

And, you can swap out Splenda for the sugar — with this modification, each 1/12 slice has only 28g carbs, which isn’t bad considering that it’s cake. I’ve tried both approaches (substituting both the peanut butter and the sugar), and the cake still turned out well.

Update 2/5: If you’re going to try making a cheesecake, you may also find these cheesecake tips helpful. Among them, they recommend serving the cheesecake at room temperature, which would take about 30 mins out of the fridge (I didn’t know about that one).

Catalina Tuna

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

As I eat tuna (and apples) for breakfast and lunch every day, I sometimes play around with the recipe a bit. Generally, it’s a can of tuna with a tablespoon of mayo and some fresh ground pepper. Lately, though, I’ve been adding various dressings that I’ve found in the fridge as an extra ingredient.

On my first try, I went with some olive oil vinaigrette as a safe bet. This added a subtle flavor overall, as the dressing is primarily oil and spices. However, it was a good improvement and it gave me the confidence to go on to try other dressing combinations.

Feeling more adventurous, I went for some Caesar dressing the next day. Voila — Caesar Tuna. It tasted better than I thought it would, though I felt like it almost needed a few croutons ;).

And, the old stand-by, I tried blue cheese. This was mega-delicious. It seems like blue cheese works with so many foods, and so well. Ooh, it just came to mind that I could try crumbled blue cheese sometime (as opposed to just dressing). Perhaps with some more income, I’d be tempted to give that a try.

Just yesterday, I tried Catalina dressing. I’m not sure if it was me who bought it in the first place but, sure enough, it looked a little lonely in the fridge. Catalina is an interesting dressing — it’s similar to French, and I’m not quite sure what differentiates the two. In any case, I added a dollop of Catalina after having mixed in the mayo and the pepper (as usual).

Like the other tuna-dressing combos, I was expecing deliciousness the next day. Well, it didn’t quite work out. It was if I had not just tuna, but some kind of bizarro ketchup-tuna. It wasn't bad to the extent that I didn’t eat it, but I don't think I’ll try that one again.