10/24/2012 - I like to talk about food at work a lot. Well, anywhere to be honest. I was about to go home on my break and asked some of the trainers behind the desk what would be a good idea for a burger. Kody started brainstorming things with me then came to the idea of using quesadillas as a bun for a burger. GENIUS! I went home and did just that. It has been a while since I used my quesadilla maker, and I honestly don’t know why. I mixed the burger with cheese, and made two quesadillas stuffed with bacon, cheese and mushrooms and put them together for an awesome burger. This might just be a weekly thing…
Tracks
10/17/2012 - Hungry, yet again. I was having food writer’s block, and could not come up with a new idea for the life of me. I decided to back track and think of things I have done and just make them even more delicious. While at the Amelia’s (greatest grocery outlet ever), I decided to revisit the Vortex. This time, however, I would be stuffing the burger with cheese and cooked bacon, and adding bacon to the grilled cheeses. Also in place of an egg, I bought a Reese’s creme pie and put a slice on the side. So what I had stacked at the end was a burger that was mixed with cheese and bacon , hollowed out then stuffed with cheese and bacon, with two grilled cheeses with bacon as the bun. I could feel the grease flowing through my viens as I was eating it. It was a wrong that just felt so right. I calmed my blood down with the pie, then headed back to work in a great mood, with just a hint of sluggishness.
10/13/2012 - I’ve been hanging out with some new friends from work lately, and suggested a while back to go to Shady Maple for breakfast. We picked a date to go and we went. Some haven’t been there ever (which blew my mind) while others have and remember the goodness. I got there first with a couple others and it was jam packed. I haven’t been to Shady on a weekend in a long time so I wasn’t used to waiting in the long lines. Also it was a couple bucks more expensive. I made a mental note to not come back here on a Saturday. As what seemed like a lifetime (but probably was only about 20 minutes) of waiting for a table, we finally got seated and I went to town. I had 5 plates of food, 2 desserts (one being mint chocolate chip ice cream with BACON) and a fruit plate. I could say I had a great day then and there, and it wasn’t even noon yet! Everyone that came were pretty stuffed by the time we finished and looked to be in some serious food coma’s as we were leaving. It seems that no matter what group of friends I bring to Shady, they always leave stuffed and happy. It’s such a magical place… for gluttony.
10/11/2012 - Empanadas: easy, delicious, NUTRITIOUS. Just kidding on that last one. Anyway, Chris suggested making empanadas because they are easy to make and would be relatively cheap. Perfect idea. We had ground beef, chicken and chorizo for fillers, and also some cheese. They are really easy to make, you just flatten out the dough, put the toppings in, fold it over and seal it using a fork. We made 20 empanadas and ate 14. I filled one special one with burnt bacon, because I accidentally left the bacon in the oven too long. I was hoping to get Chris to eat it but he was too full by the time I was trying to trick him into it. Our friend Greg came over later and ended up biting into it. I was so jealous of him.
10/7/2012 - On another Giant run, I was gathering the usual cheese and bacon ingredients when I ran into my friend John. We got to talking about how we needed to do a food adventure and he told me about how him and his wife just recently had cream cheese and jalapeno stuffed burgers. Sounded like a great idea and that’s what I would be doing. I wasn’t going to give up on my original bacon burger idea either though, so it was going to be a double burger day. I ran next door to Subway to get a couple cheddar herb rolls and went home. I stuffed the one burger with cream cheese and jalapenos and the other with shredded 3 cheese cheddar and mixed the burger with bacon. What a great idea that was, shout out to John and Robin for the idea!
10/5/2012 - I had a 4 hour break from work, so what do I do? I go to Chris’ house to make food, of course. I walked in the door and told him we needed to make food. We agreed that burgers were out, at least for this day, and decided on a pizza. At Giant, as we are gathering the ingredients, we pass by a display of candy. Chris starts laughing and I ask him what was he thinking. He says “why not instead of a regular pizza… we make a DESSERT PIZZA?”. Instantly in agreement, I go to put back all the meat and cheese ingredients. As I’m taking back the pack of bacon he stops me and says we are still using bacon. Remember the maple glazed bacon I made for that one burger? Yea, you know where this is going. We got back to the house, unloaded all the ingredients and starting making this masterpiece of an idea. We spread peanut butter all over the pizza crust, then layered it with both milk and white chocolate chips. We shoved that in the oven then maple glazed bacon. When we pulled the pizza out, we put the bacon in. After the bacon was done cooking, we sprayed whipped cream all over edge and center of the pizza and layered on the bacon. The finished touch was putting Reese’s cups all over the pizza. Candied bacon pizza was born, then eaten. It was so delicious and rich, and very easy to make. 10/10 idea, would eat again.
10/3/2012 - Another day, another food. I decided to let my roommate Tommy dictate what I’d be doing by asking him to give me an idea I could run on. After thinking about it a little he said guacamole. I then jetted to Giant, picked up some guacamole and a flat bread pack, then headed over to my food host house (the Abud’s) to get started. In what probably was the ugliest mess I’ve ever made, I smashed together a ton of guacamole, Italian cheese, left over bacon and ground beef together. The burger was huge, and did not stay together too well in the George Foreman grill. I topped the chili seasoned flat bread with spicy Gouda cheese, Cheddar/Mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni. It was surprisingly quite good. A perfect example of don’t judge a book by its cover. Will I make this again? Probably not, but I don’t regret it in any way.
10/2/2012 - It was late at night and my stomach started growling. I made the usual decision to go to Giant and try to figure out what I wanted to do. As I’m driving there (less then a minute drive) I kept thinking about having a burger made purely out of bacon. I’ve done burgers with bacon mixed in, but never one that was 100 percent bacon. As I got in the store, I picked up a pack of bacon and kept trying to figure out how I was going to ground it up without a meat grinder. I talked to two separate employees how I would go about doing it, and the verdict was to just slice it up and mash it all together. I picked up a ciabatta roll, spicy Gouda cheese, Italian cheese, sliced pepperoni, a cutting board to cut the bacon on and went home to get to work. Chopping the bacon up was messy, but surprisingly came together pretty fast. I was amazed the whole pound stayed together after I mashed it up. It was a beautiful monstrosity, and I decided the best way to cook it was in the oven. I got the bun ready by assembling all the toppings and then waited for a very long time. The smell of the bacon cooking was overwhelming and made the wait that much longer. The burger started getting pretty crispy, so I took it out and made the sandwich. From the very first bite I could feel the grease overtake my body, I literally tasted death. I only made it 1/4 the way through the burger before quitting, not because of being full, but because I wanted to live. I noticed the middle of the bacon didn’t cook as well as the outside, so I through the rest in the pan to cook to a crisp and saved it for the next day. I know this would have been different and better had I found a way to ground the burger, but at least I got a taste of what a 100 percent bacon burger would be like.
10/1/2012 - The only good about failing the Pizza Hut Big Box was having left overs. As I was about to just eat the pizza, I had an idea: RECREATE PIZZA BURGER. I took two slices, put shredded cheese on them, cooked up a burger and some bacon, put them all together (along with some cheddar and mozzarella slices) and BAM!… Pizza Burger was had once more. Seriously, If you haven’t had a burger using Pizza Hut Pizzas as the bun, stop depriving yourself of happiness and give it a try.
9/30/2012 - As I wallowed in my defeat of the Pizza Hut Big Box, I decided I needed some dessert to make me feel better. I went to Giant, and on the fly picked up some cookies and cream ice cream, a raspberry and dark chocolate bar, and mini Oreos. Nothing fancy, just put them all together and ate it. Sometimes that’s all you need.
