Buca di Beppo

So Buca di Beppo is definitely my favorite restaurant. They serve family style Italian, which means the small portion feeds about 2-3 people and the large feeds about 4-6. It can get expensive if you have a lot of people, BUT it CAN be cheaper than some fast food places if you know how to order.

Whenever I go with my sister, we like to get strawberry lemonade (Buca's has the best strawberry lemonade on the planet!) and a pasta of some sort. AND they give you free house bread (it's soo fresh)! This would usually cost between $20 and $30, but here's another thing you should know. ALWAYS CHECK THE PAPER BEFORE YOU GO! Buca di Beppo always has a coupon in the paper for $10 off your purchase of $20 or more. The most my sister and I have ever spent was $18 plus the tip!

So here are some things you should try when you go to Buca di Beppo:

(on the left) Spicy Chicken Rigatoni - chicken breast sauteed with garlic and red pepper, tossed with peas, a spicy rosa sauce (don't worry, it's not too spicy) and imported Italian rigatoni pasta. You might think that the peas seem weird but they actually add the perfect texture and flavor to the dish. (I'm going to try and recreate this at home some time. If it turns out good, I'll make a post about it!)

Fettuccine Supremo - chicken breast, broccoli, sweet red bell peppers and imported egg fettuccine in creamy Alfredo sauce. This is amazing! The sauce and the red peppers are delicious!

Pretty much anything you get is going to be amazing! If you have a big group, try some of everything. Order a salad. They're the best I've ever had! Order some bruschetta (on the right...toasted Italian loaf brushed with garlic-infused olive oil, topped with fresh, diced tomatoes, basil and Parmesan cheese). It's amazing too! Get pasta and a pizza! Then get dessert! (On your birthday, they give you a massive cupcake...for free!)

If you haven't had dinner yet, then QUICK! put the kids to bed or send them to the babysitters and get your ass in the car cause you'd be crazy not to want to eat at Buca di Beppo!

Here's their website so you can find the nearest location: http://www.bucadibeppo.com/

To be continued...

Word of the Day: cuisine

Rice dumpling

Today I'd like to introduce another Chinese traditional food which has a history of more than 2300 years, rice dumpling. It is only eaten in a single day every year called Dragon Boat Festival, like moon cake in Mid-autumn Festival. Rice dumpling is handed down in order to memorize the greatest poet in Chinese history, Qu Yuan.

Rice dumpling is made of glutinous rice with meat or some grains. One more important materials is dumpling leaf which contains much amino acids and natural fragrance, and is used to wrap the rice dumpling.

Here is one way to make rice dumpling:

Prepare glutinous rice 1000g, ham 600g, soy 50g, sugar 27g, salt 25g, Chinese liquor 5g;

Boil 10-centimeter-board dumpling leaves for about 3 minutes, and then wash them with water; Chean the glutinous rice. After it has been dried, mix it with 20g sugar, 15g salt and 50g soy;

Cut the ham into small parts, about 20g of each;

Mix the ham with 7g sugar, 10g salt and liquor in a basin and rub them to make the spices infiltrate into the meat;

The following step is the most ifficult part. You have to shape the leaves into tetrahedron with one cover open. (The process is so complicated that I am not sure actually);

Put 100g glutinous rice into the tetrahedron with 3 pieces of cut ham, cover the leaves( no aperture in the dumpling);

Tight the dumpling with a thin line;

Boil the rice dumpling with water for two and a half hours.

After everything is done, you can eat savory rice dumplings.

I have tried once and taste not bad. Compared with boughten ones, the flavor is just the same, differece lies in the appearance.

Go and try it!

Aldi: Why would you shop anywhere else?

Everyone has to go grocery shopping. No one likes to, but it has to be done. I like to get my groceries at Aldi. What is Aldi and why do I shop there? Aldi is a small chain of grocery stores "committed to bringing food to customers at the lowest prices possible" and I shop there for that exact reason. IT'S CHEAP!



Some people think that "Their food can't be any good. I've never heard of any of these brands!" Well just because they don't have name brands doesn't mean that the food isn't good. I've tried tons of stuff from there and I rarely find things that aren't as good as name brand foods. I will say that I don't like their chocolate syrup as good as Hershey's or their chicken dumplings in a can (I don't think that would be good even if it was name brand. Why we bought it in the first place, I'll never know!)

AND If you look at some of the packaging it will even say that is it distributed by a name brand company. The only difference is the packaging. Take their ketchup for example: I don't know what is says on the front, but if you read the back it says something like "Distributed by Heinz".

You can't get everything at Aldi, but you can get a lot. After getting what I can at Aldi, I head over to Walmart and pick up the rest (where I live they're right next to each other anyway). Some say "Why make two stops?" Well I can bet you that even if you have to drive across the street for the rest of your groceries, you'll save more money than if you just went to Walmart or Krogers or where ever you like to shop.

So take my advice and check out Aldi. Here's the website if you want to find one near you: www.aldifoods.com

Aldi Fun Facts: The first Aldi store opened in Southeastern Iowa in 1976. It only carried 500 items. Today there are over 1,000 Aldi stores in 31 states. They carry over 1,400 items.

Aldi Motto: "Honest to goodness savings."

Word of the day: delectable

Cheeseburger Pie

The other night I had dinner with my sister and she made this really good dish and I thought it was good enough to share with everyone. This dish is called Cheeseburger Pie.

This is very very easy to make. It is also a good meal for students because there is not a lot of clean up required. It also saves very well so you can have it for left overs.




Here's a great recipe for Cheeseburger Pie:
1 lb. ground chuck
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 c. cheddar cheese
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. chopped green peppers
2 c. Bisquick
3 eggs

First brown the meat in a skillet and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the chopped onion and green peppers to the meat. Next mix all the bisquick, eggs, milk, salt, and pepper into a mixing bowl. When you are finished with the mixing the meat should be browned add the meat and the bisquick mix into a cake pan. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on the top. Put the cake pan in the oven and bake for an hour or until golden brown. When the hour is up take it out of the oven and let sit for five to ten minutes to cool off. Now the only thing left is to sit down and eat!

The thinnest noodle in the world

The video is really amazing, right? This is the process how Lanzhou Ramen is made. It is not just a mass of noodles, but contains decades of cooking skills and experience. I am so hungry right now when writing this for you!

Ramen is the most characteristic food in Lanzhou and is typical of Chinese noodles. It is beef noodle in origin, afterward coupled with soup that has been boilded with cattle and sheep livers. Handcraft noodle and tasty soup together compose the delicious meal.

The dough is made of tough flour specially selected with gluten, and kneaded with potassium carbonate powder and water. First, it has to be pounded, kneaded and stretched into long and thick dough rod. Then the chef will stretch noodle to different thickness according to the favor of customers. People who like round noodle could choose from five types of thickness; people that favor flat noodle could choose frmo a variety of broadness.

You can eat noodles of all kinds of shapes in Lanzhou Ramen restautant, even as thin as a hair! That is true. Watching Ramen handcrafting is like watching a performance, viewer would be shocked in a few seconds. Li enhai, the most famous Ramen chef, is from my home province. This man has broken the Guinness World Records three times by threading 25 noodles through an eyelet of an embroidery needle! He has also stretched a 10-meter-long noodle from a piece of dough as small as a bean! Li performed in front of President Bush when he visited China, and Bush ate two bowls of Li's Ramen.

Ramen restaurants in my home city are good, but not good enough to compare with the orthodox Lanzhou Ramen. I have been to Lanzhou five years ago, the local noodles are pretty wonderful! The soup is cooked with yak meet, probably mixed with a little bit of sheep and chicken soup, I guess.

I love Lanzhou Ramen so much!

Moon Cake

Mid-autumn Festival, one of the biggest traditional festival in China, has just passed a few days ago. If I hadn't received greetings from my parents, I should almost forget that day because nothing could remind me in a foreign country.

Speaking of Mid-autumn Festival, the most impressive part of the culture is moon cake. Since the Moon on that day is the roundest and brightest of the year, the ancients worshiped it as the emblem of family reunion. Moon cake imitates the shape of the real Moon, stirring people missing their family. When I was in China, I ate moon cake every year with my parents during the festival. There are over ten sorts of moon cakes due to different regional tastes.

My favorite one is Sushi Moon Cake cooked by my grandma. The dough is made of flour, oil, sugar and maltose. In general, there are two types of fillings in Sushi Moon Cake, sweet and salty. The sweet cake is based on baking with walnut, pine nut and sweetened bean paste as fillings. The salty cake is like a kind of pancake made of ham, lard, pork and shrimp etc. The selection of raw materials is fairly strict, even oil is specially chosen to make it not greasy.

The ourter part of Sushi cake is my favorite! It contains dozens of thin flour layers and tastes chrsp and loose. It is like sorbet that will thaw as soon as putting it into mouth. Everyone who tried the first time speaks highly of the unique flour husk. Additionally, natural spice like Sweet Osmanthus Flower adn Rose leaves would help make the flavor more fragrant.

Other sorts of moon cake are also great such as Guangshi and Jingshi. They differ from materials and cooking process.

Moon cake's popularity is temporary each year, practically no one would eat moon cake a few days after Mid-autumn festival. But once it comes again, you can find moon cakes everywhere in China, from big shopping mall to small dinner table, as the wish to reunite the family member in the far distance.

Fun Snacks to Send Your Kid at College

Got any kids in college? Chances are they like it when you send them packages (even if they act like they don't care). What do they like to get? Well snacks of course!...and money...

But what are some good snacks to send? Poptarts, Capri Suns, and Goldfish Crackers are some of my personal favorites. If you're a health freak, send raisins. Whether your kid eats them or not is another story. Note: Stay away from anything that needs to be refrigerated and if it's one of the hotter months, avoid things such as chocolate (but if it's not too hot outside, then by all means, SEND CHOCOLATE!...I like M&M's).

Other things that are tasty include: popcorn (perfect for movie nights) and microwavable macaroni cups. If you're feelin' cliche, you could send your kid ramen noodles, but they're most likely already sick of em. If you're feelin' crazy you could send something homemade. I don't care how much better college dining hall food is compared to high school cafeteria food, nothin' beats home cooked goodies!

Another idea (more for the types of students who like to cook/bake and have access to a kitchen): send measured out ingredients so that they can make cookies or brownies! My boyfriend's mom sent ingredients for a pie and it turned out beautifully! Unfortunately, it was really hot and the door to the kitchenette was hard to open. Needless to say, it fell on the floor...and I cried.

Non-related things that are nice to receive: money (maybe quarters for the laundry room), photos, nice letters, goofy toys, magazine subscriptions (I like Cosmo), money (Dear mom, Please send money. I miss you!)

Tips: Finals week is a really awesome time to receive a package.

If this blog doesn't inspire you to mail your kid a package, then nothing will.

Word of the Day: smorgasbord

Biscuits and Gravy

My favorite breakfast meal I like to make would have to be Biscuits and Gravy. I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I had the chance. My dad taught me how to make the best biscuits and gravy in the world and I plan to pass the secret on to my son when I have one.

This meal is also a good meal to make in a small apartment. I made it a couple days ago. I had a couple friends over and a small batch was enough for four guys. When everyone was done there was only a small amount of dishes to do so I was happy that I didn't have to spend the time doing dishes on my Sunday off. One of my friends was worried that my recipe wasn't going to be as good as his moms. When he finished mine he told me it was a close tie so I got an approval from him.

Here's a quick and easy recipe of some great biscuits and gravy:

Biscuits:
2 1/4 cups of Original Bisquick mix
2/3 cup of milk

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Stir ingredients until soft dough forms. Drop biscuits do not knead dough. Drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

While the biscuits are in the oven brown one pound of bulk sausage. Once the sausage is browned take it out and put it into a bowl to keep it warm. After that pour about a quarter gallon of milk into the pan that you browned the meat in. After adding the milk add about one cup of flour into the milk. Keep stirring the gravy until it gets thick. This will take approximately fifteen minutes. After the gravy is thick add the sausage back to the gravy and stir evenly.

When all this is done the biscuits should be done and ready to eat. When everything is done crumble two biscuits onto a plate and pours gravy on top of the biscuits and enjoy. You might want to add salt and pepper to get more flavors.

Fettuccine Alfredo

My favorite meal that I love to make is Fettuccine Alfredo. I love to make it because it is something that everyone in my family enjoys and most of my friends. It is just plain delicious. When I make Fettuccine Alfredo people come running from all over town so I like to keep it a secret within my family.

What I like to make with this dish is I like to grill either chicken or a nice rib eye steak, steamed broccoli, and garlic bread. The Alfredo sauce itself is great on the steak, chicken, and broccoli.

Here's a quick and easy recipe for the Fettuccine Alfredo sauce that is just amazing.

8oz package of cream cheese
3/4 cup of Parmesan
1/2 cup of margarine
1/2 cup of milk
8oz of cooked and drained fettuccine noodles

First, you out the cream cheese, milk, and margarine in a sauce pan and melt them together until they are evenly melted. After this is done you add the Parmesan cheese in. While you are waiting on the sauce to melt you take a pot of water and heat it to a rapid boil. Once this happens add the fettuccine noodles. Wait about minutes and then strain the noodles. When both the noodles and sauce is ready you are ready to eat.

To make the broccoli you either get fresh or frozen broccoli it doesn't matter, and put it in a dish that is microwave safe. After this you add a small amount of water and place the dish into the microwave for eight minutes, or until the broccoli is nice and soft.

The steak is prepared with a nice steak rub. After this you place it on the grill at a low heat to absorb all the flavors. You want to cook it slow so you don't mess it up. Watch the steak carefully so it doesn't burn. Each side is approximately ten to fifteen minutes, for medium. After you take the steak off the grill you add a little bit more seasoning salt on it.

If you prefer chicken, first marinade it for around half a day. The marinade can be purchased at any grocery store, it doesn't matter. After it is done marinating place the chicken on the grill at low heat. Watch the chicken carefully so it does not burn. The chicken takes approximately twenty-five minutes to fully cook on the grill.

After everything is done sit down and enjoy!

WAFFLES!!!

What is a waffle? Dictionary.com defines a waffle as a crisp raised cake with a pattern of deep indentations on each side, formed by the gridlike design on each of the two hinged parts of the metal appliance (waffle iron) in which the cake is baked.

Today I'm going to talk about waffles. Why? Because I like waffles. In fact, I love waffles! They are probably my favorite food and the world's greatest food invention. I love them soo much that I eat one for brunch every Sunday. I'm not talkin' about those stupid little frozen Eggo waffles. I'm talkin' about REAL HOMEMADE WITH A WAFFLE IRON waffles! The kind that taste so good that you eat them too fast and then wanna puke! They're just so warm and delicious! And the smell! I LOVE IT!!!

Ya know what else I like about waffles?!? You can put all kinds of crap in em and on em! You could make them with blueberries or nuts. You could put peanut butter on them. Or fruit preserves. They even complement fried chicken! Who doesn't love fried chicken? My personal favorite is the chocolate chip waffle (smothered in butter and syrup of course). Which brings me to my next point. Butter.

When preparing your waffle to be eaten, USE REAL BUTTER! Forget about that fake I Can't Believe It's Not Butter crap! Of course it's not butter! Butter tastes soo much better than that! (say that five times fast) If you're gonna eat a waffle, do it right!

So there ya have it, my rant about waffles and why they are the world's greatest food EVER!

I hope I have inspired you to go eat a waffle. And just in case you need a waffle recipe, here's the one that I use:

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted, or vegetable oil (I like to use vegetable oil.)
• 1 and 3/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat waffle iron. Beat eggs with hand beater until fluffy: beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Pour batter from cup or pitcher onto center of hot waffle iron. Bake until steaming stops, about 5 minutes. Remove waffle carefully.

PS - Here is a slightly inappropriate video dedicated to waffles. (You know they must be amazing if they have their own video...)

Waffles

Word of the day: spatula

Something we forgot to do yesterday

Here is a list of some influential blog sites:

Serious Eats

101 Cookbooks

Rambling Spoon

Eating Asia

Simply Recipes

Cook and Eat

The Amateur Gourmet

Sizzle on the Grill

Grilled Recipes

Recipe Lion

About us!

Do you love food as much as we do?!? Creating it, Photographing it, Eating it, Whatever! Then follow us on our blog, The Food Processor!



About our site:

The focus of this blog is to build a community of fellow food worshippers and to create a place online where they can go to find recipes, skim reviews, and just read what we have to say about food! Our blog will unleash and take you to the secrets of food making in various countries and regions around the world. The most delicious delicacies of Eastern and Western food will be revealed and the most hidden secrets of food preparation will be exposed. Along with these things, there will be a number of posts focused on various topics ranging from grilling to traditional Chinese dishes to quick and easy recipes for college students! Similarities and differeces of food will widen the horizon of the readers mind, such as food history, preparation, health benefits and unique cooking styles. With almost daily posts, we hope that you will discover new recipes and tips that will keep you coming back for seconds, thirds, and more! Feel free to give us your feedback and share tips, photos, and recipes of your own! Also, if you have any suggestions to improve our blog site, we would love to hear from you!


About the authors:

We are three friends from different cultural backgrounds who share a love for food! We hope that by being a part of our blog community, you will gain a greater appreciation for what you eat!



Thanks!

The Creators of The Food Processor