Turkey bacon, hash brown, egg, and cheese on a bagel

Turkey bacon, hash brown, egg, and cheese on a bagel

Ingredients (serves 1):

1 plain bagel
1 egg
3 slices turkey bacon
1 hash brown (I used the Jewel Osco store brand)
1 slice cheese

1. Toast the bagel.
2. Cook turkey bacon, and hash brown per instructions.
3. Fry egg to your preference.
4. Pile the sandwich together. From the bottom: Bagel half, turkey bacon, hash brown, egg, cheese (I use Sargento Ultra Thin Colby Jack), bagel half.

Clarke's

Clarke's has 5 locations, and before a show at Lincoln Hall, we went to the Lincoln Park location for a last minute meal. I ordered a Turkey Club.



It wasn't very good, and pricey. Service was fine though.

Blue Fin Sushi

Blue Fin Sushi at North and Winchester was our latest experiment to find "our sushi place". It was good, but we still don't have our place. The vibe in the restaurant was cool. The 2 of us used a Groupon. She ordered Miso Soup, and I ordered Vege Tempura. The Miso was fine. The tempura was squash, potato, and onion, so not a lot of variety, but we were served more than 5 pieces, which is what the menu said.

We ordered 3 rolls to split. We got the Delta Force Roll (tempura maki, snow crabmeat, cream cheese, and avocado inside, unagi sauce, masago, and wasabi mayo), Tornado Roll (deep fried maki; crabmeat, spicy tuna, avocado wrapped in mamenori and potato with masago, scallion, spicy sauce, and unagi sauce), and Green Dragon Roll (shrimp tempura, masago and cucumber inside, covered by avocado, wasabi tobiko and spicy mayo). I liked the Tornado Roll best, and she liked the Green Dragon best, which I liked least.

The rolls here can be weirdly triangular instead of round. I don't consider myself to be rookie chopstick holder, but the triangular rolls weren't the easiest to manage.

Favorite Halloween dishes

One of my favorite dishes to make for Halloween is The Screamin' Cheese Man, and it's always a hit. I use cream cheese for the body, crushed cashews for the shirt, chopped parsley for the pants, red bell pepper for the mouth, button mushrooms for the eyes, and broccoli for the hair. Then a mix of cheese cubes for the sky, pimento cheese for the sun (optional), and smoked sausage and pepperoni for the ground. Here are two different versions I've made.




My masterpiece last year was the Melon Brain. I peeled a watermelon with a vegetable peeler until it was white, cut a flat surface on the bottom of the watermelon to steady it, then cut swirls into it.

Slow cooker chicken tortilla soup

This is a favorite in our house, and a great dinner!

Slow cooker chicken tortilla soup

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles, mild
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 yellow onion (diced)
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
Salt
Pepper
Tortilla chips (crushed)
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese (shredded)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)

1. Cut the fat off the chicken, and place in the crock pot.
2. Combine and mix Rotel, garlic cloves, onion, 1 cup chicken broth, and cumin, then pour over the chicken. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5 1/2 to 6 hours. Add more chicken broth if the chicken isn't covered in the pot. Add a dash of salt and pepper.
3. In the midst of cooking or when finished cooking, take out the chicken and shred it with 2 forks. I like to shred chicken when it's already cooking as opposed to when it's cold because the tenderness makes it easier. Just be careful not to burn yourself.
4. Serve soup into bowls, and top with an equal mix of Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese. Then top with crushed tortilla chips, and serve.

Bagel breakfast sandwich with ham, egg and cheese

I ran out of sausage the other day, and decided to make this breakfast sandwich with ham instead of sausage. After the egg cooked, I just threw a few ham slices on the skillet to warm them, then piled it together.

Turkey stuffed peppers

Here's a recipe I love from Skinny Taste. It takes about an hour to make, and it's delicious!

Sausage biscuit and hash brown

McDonald's sausage biscuits and hash browns were always a favorite of mine. On my way to work, I used to stop at the drive through. Nothing against McDonald's because we all know what it is and make our choices to eat there, but the real key to weight loss for me was cooking at home. When you can monitor what you're putting into your body, it's easier to eat the same meals and have them be healthier. While not everything I eat is non-fat or the lowest calorie option, I am sure that weight loss begins in the kitchen, and time spent cooking is well worth the reward. This morning, I made my own sausage biscuit and hash brown. It was 15 grams less fat, and 222 less calories than the same order at McDonald's.

Sausage biscuit and hash brown

Ingredients (serves 1):
1.5 sausage patties (I use Tennessee Mild sausage, which doesn't come pre-cut, so I cut off 1.5 patties worth, then squish it with my hands to form a larger patty)
1 Pillsbury Grands Jr buttermilk biscuit
1 hash brown (I used the Jewel Osco store brand)
Salt

1. Heat the biscuit and the hash brown in the oven according to instructions.
2. Cook sausage patty in a skillet over medium-heat for about 4 minutes, then flip and finish cooking until browned on all sides.
3. Assemble sandwich, and serve with hash brown on the side. Salt hash brown to taste.