NYC Afternoon Idea

by Liz Heather in , ,

When people come to this city, they usually demand that I tell them the best thing they can experience here. This is an impossible request since, well, we're all individuals who enjoy a variety of things. There are hundreds of great things you can do in this city. If you're looking to have a nice, semi-relaxing afternoon out? Listen up, baby.

Me, liking the Brooklyn Bridge

  1. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (start from the Manhattan side and walk over it to Brooklyn). It's free, it's pretty and bridges are beautiful. This is probably the prettiest one there is in this town.

Marla, understanding that bridges are great

2. Walk from the bridge to Juliana's (and not Grimaldi's) to eat some very fine pizza. 

Marla, having the best pizza

3. Skip dessert at Juliana's and walk to Brooklyn Bridge Park and get an ice cream at The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. (Or if you're a fan of the frozen custards at Shake Shack, that's on the way between Juliana's and the park.)

Me, hanging with water

4. Take your ice cream and walk along the shore of the park. Does this sound boring? Look, I said it's supposed to be a semi-relaxing afternoon and that's exactly what this is.

Marla, being gorgeous

5. At the end of this long walk, you can walk up Joralemon Street and get on a subway that'll take you anywhere.

That's it! That's the afternoon! It happened! 

Asparagus & Cauliflower Soup

by Liz Heather in ,

I've made it quite clear how much I love Chef John and I just tried this soup recipe of his recently that is insanely good and crazy easy to make. You can find the full recipe over here. (I omitted the flower garnish because, well, we don't care for garnish in our household. Also, I feel like you have to make a certain amount of money to be classified as a person who garnishes.)

Peanut Butter, Strawberry & Banana Quesadillas

by Liz Heather in ,

I can't tell you how CRAZY GOOD THESE ARE.

I'm still not sure if this is an acceptable dish to be served at breakfast, but that's what I've been doing so you should, too. (Also, if you want to turn this into a dessert, then I suggest replacing the peanut butter with Nutella. Your mind will implode.)

Photo Credit: Ambitious Kitchen

Photo Credit: Ambitious Kitchen

Ingredients

Cooking spray

Natural creamy peanut butter

2 wholewheat tortillas

1 large ripe banana, sliced

3-4 strawberries, sliced

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat and spray the pan with cooking spray.
  2. Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on one side of each tortilla.
  3. Arrange both the banana and strawberry slices over one tortilla, sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon, and top with the remaining tortilla, peanut butter side down. Press gently to help them stick together.
  4. When the skillet is hot, add the quesadilla, flipping once or twice, until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Cut each quesadilla into quarters with a pizza slicer. Serves 1-2.

I adapted the recipe slightly, but you can find the original one here.  

Royal Burger in Toronto

by Liz Heather in

All right, I know I can sound dramatic sometimes. I need you to forget all those times, though, 'cause I need to tell you about THE BEST POUTINE I'VE EVER HAD IN THE HISTORY OF TIME.

UH HUH.

I can't put into words what this did to my mouth. Every element was perfect if you're into the following:

  • Not skinny fries, but not bigass fries either - PERFECT FRIES
  • The darkest of dark gravy
  • SALTY gravy
  • QUEBECOIS CURDS, MOTHERFUCKER

I'm sorry. That was abrasive. But I'm serious here. This poutine shattered all past memories of every semi-good poutine I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.  

Where can you get this goddess? All right, when you're driving from Mississauga to Toronto on the Gardner, get off on Lakeshore and it's at Royal Burger on the right hand side near the lake. If you see the Pizza Pizza, you've gone too far, sorry. There's a small-ish white and red sign that says "Poutine", but you see the sign after you pass the entrance so the sign should really say, "You Have Already Passed Amazing Poutine. That Sucks."

Place is called Royal Burger. Here's their menu.

Menu

Yeah, it encourages extra gravy and cheese. Do you understand how nice that is? Is $5.99 steep for the best poutine of your life? No. But also, you definitely should share this with someone. It's a lot to eat by yourself, and that's coming from someone who has a real case of BIG-EYE. (Is that a commonly known term: "bigeye"? We use it in my family all the time. It means someone who's eyes are bigger than his/her stomach. I got mad bigeye. Which doesn't make any sense on account of my deadeyes.)

Look how happy she is!

Everyone should experience this poutine. I know the place is called Royal Burger, so maybe it should be about their burgers? I don't fucking know. I took a bite of one and couldn't really remember it so I guess that says something.

Okay, one last photo for the road. GO.

Fuck.

Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cups

by Liz Heather in ,

Remember that time I made really shitty ("good for you") peanut butter cups? Well, those were shit and these ones are CRAZY BETTER. Though, one thought? Make them in a mini-cupcake tin and not a regular cupcake tin. I know I declared that I'm anti-mini-servings, but these are so rich that even the mini version is ridiculous sweet (/amazing).

Photo Credit: Leeves & Berries

Photo Credit: Leeves & Berries

Ingredients

  • Bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
  • Creamy natural peanut butter
  • Sea salt
  • Mini parchment cupcake liners

Instructions

  1. Working with a double boiler, melt your chocolate until smooth. 
  2. Line your mini cupcake tin with the cupcake liners and using a spoon put a layer of chocolate in the bottom of each cup.
  3. Then take a spoon and drop in a small spoonful of peanut butter in the middle of each cup (try to cover the chocolate so you don't see it).
  4. Finally, spoon a layer of chocolate on top of the peanut butter doing your best to cover all the peanut butter with a layer of chocolate. 
  5. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt. 
  6. Allow the peanut butter cups to set in the freezer for 15-30 minutes before serving. Keep chilled. 

Warning: these get melty as hell if you don't eat them right out of the freezer. And man, they're good. Decadent, but good.

The recipe above is slightly adapted from the original one I found on Leeves & Berries.

Mini Rum-Raisin Bread Puddings

by Liz Heather in ,

Almost all of the words in this recipe title sound bad... no wait, they actually all sound terrible (who the hell wants a mini-anything - give me the full size, please). The reason that I wanted to make this recipe, however, was because of two factors.

  1. I don't own an oven in my home, so when I'm visiting my parents I like to bake as much as I can so I can get it out of my system for awhile.
  2. My dad loves rum-raisin anything.

As it turns out, I ate three of these BECAUSE THEY WERE DELICIOUS. I don't know if it's because I've become a less picky eater or if it's just because I'm constantly hungry, but lately there's nothing I wouldn't try, food-wise.

What it's supposed to look like

What it actually looked like (minus the pecans, I forgot to put them on)

Does my version look gross? Maybe in comparison to the sexy one beside her, but I swear to God it tasted amazing. If you have anyone in your life who likes rum-raisin, they'll love this to pieces. I swear. I'm not even a fan of bread pudding and I'm still standing by this dish because it was delicious. (I really wish bread pudding had a better name. It's really the worst name for a dessert in the history of food.)

You can find the recipe here. I implore you to try it out. 

Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

by Liz Heather in ,

Apparently even bad cooks know how to make stir fry - or at least that's what I've been told. I started making them for the first time this summer and I think I get why people say that now. They're RIDICULOUSLY EASY TO MAKE and almost impossible to screw up. Did everyone already know that fact but me?

Here's an adapted recipe that I can't stop making.

Photo Credit: what2cook.net

Photo Credit: what2cook.net

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated or chopped ginger (it's easier to keep ginger in the freezer (thank you, Marla!) and then you can grate it frozen whenever a recipe calls for it)
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups broccoli flowerets - or a whole bunch, I never measure out broccoli because I'm not a serial killer
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Instructions

Spray a 12-inch nonstick skillet (ie. a deep-ass pan) with cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken, garlic and ginger. Fry until chicken is brown. 
Add 3/4 cup of the broth, the soy sauce and sugar. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring twice.
Add broccoli. Cover and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch with remaining 1/4 cup broth, then stir that into chicken and broccoli. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is thickened. Serve over rice.

Can't tell you how good this tastes. You can find the original recipe here, but I prefer the adapted one above. 

The Burger's Priest In Mississauga & Guelph

by Liz Heather in

This is newsworthy because the suburbs of Toronto usually get jack SHIT when it comes to good, somewhat-independently run restaurants that have already been established downtown. 

But also, have you had this burger? F-ing have it. Reminds me of a poor man's Shake Shack burger, which is a huge compliment. 

The Pope

That burger above is just one of the burgers on the menu. Obviously there are others that look a little more reasonable, but I took a bite of this one once and it melted my face a bit. Really good burgers. To see more options, go on over here. 

New Locations:

1599 Queensway
Etobicoke, Ontario

129 Lakeshore Road East
Mississauga, Ontario

Guelph (opening soon)
435 Stone Road,
Guelph, Ontario

All are closed on Sundays.