Omelet Burger, also known as a Ramly

Last week, SeriousEats’ A Hamburger a Day had a post on Ramly Burgers, which is essentially an egg-wrapped hamburger from Malaysia (as the post’s byline describes). While I knew nothing about Ramly burgers or Malaysian street food before seeing the post, after reading it I was intrigued by the idea of a burger wrapped omelet, and knew someone that would love to try it.

My fiancé had his first egg and burger experience in London a few years ago, and can rarely pass it up if he sees it on the menu while we’re out. I myself have never had an egg on a burger, and actually until recently thought it was just plain weird. Knowing that he’d love the idea of an egg burger, I was able to rope him into doing most of the work – all part of my master plan! I figured we’d make our usual burgers, and then when it came time to omelet it, I would just wing it.

Considering I had no master plan and our skillet really isn’t big enough to get a large, thin omelet (see notes below if you find yourself in a similar predicament), this turned out quite well! Served alongside a grilled ear of corn and some simple salad, this was the perfect way to enjoy yet another beautiful day. Oh, and eating outside with a beer in hand didn’t hurt either.

Omlete aka Ramly Burger
– makes 2 burgers –

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 Tbsp water
1/4 lb. beef chuck (I used a 90:20 ratio)
1 jalapeno, diced
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 cup shredded cheese
2 hamburger buns

Directions:
1. Heat grill to medium-high heat
2. While grill is warming up, using your hands combine hamburger meat, diced jalapenos, and seasoning. Once well combined, form two even patties
3. Cook patties on either side 5-6 minutes, cooking to your likeness (this left them about medium)
4. Meanwhile, whisk four eggs and a water together. Grease a large skillet and warm over medium-high heat. Pour half of the egg mixture into the skillet, making sure to move the pan so as to not have the egg stick to the pan.
5. Once it’s been heated for about 3-4 minutes, add the burger to the middle, and gently fold the sides over the burger.* Cook 2 minutes. Flip, and cook additional 2 minutes.
6. Repeat with remaining egg mixture and second patty.

*My skillet wasn’t large enough, so I wasn’t able to fully fold the egg over the hamburger. Don’t fret if you can’t either, it’s still delicious. But if you can, more power to you!

Chips for dinner

There are times when it’s okay to throw the rules out the window. Allowing yourself to let go of the idea that chips are not a suitable dinner is a prime example of that type of time. This is now the second time I’ve used chips in a dish aside from regular nachos, and the result has been pretty delicious.

While sifting through the pile of cookbooks I received for Christmas trying to meal plan, I remembered a tiny book I hadn’t yet given much attention – Eat Tweet, by @cookbook (aka Maureen Evans). The title alone is accurate for my own life… I eat and tweet (among other, less important things). I’m not going to lie that it’s a little difficult here and there to decipher the abbreviated language within some of the reicpes. But, the recipes are all pretty straight forward considering they’re 140 characters or less. I like the idea of a dish that can fit into a tweet.

This is by no means healthy, and I don’t even know how I got away with serving it as “dinner.” It’s definitely moreso a party snack to be eaten sparingly. However, my fiancé and I totally ate this for dinner, alongside a giant salad. And let me tell you, it was delicious. I’m thinking I should start cooking with chips more often…

I went ahead and decoded the recipe for you, to make it easeir to read… I figured a 140 character abbreviated recipe has it’s place on Twitter, but not neccessarily my blog. I can’t wait to decode more of these.

Frito Pie via Eat Tweet
– Serves 4 –

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of chili, any variety you like (I used Amy’s black bean)
1 cup chopped yellow onion
3 cups Fritos (I used the lightly salted version, as I find their regular is super salty)
2 cups of shredded cheese
*shredded lettuce, sour cream, and salsa for garnish

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In greased pie dish, layer 2 cups of Fritos, followed by 1/2 cup diced onion, 1 cup of cheese, and the 2 1/2 cups of chili.
3. Layer remaining cup of fritos, followed by remaining onions and cheese.
4. Bake for 15 minutes until chips and cheese are golden brown.

Planning for spice

When planning out our meals for the week, I ususally consult three sources; the internet, my pile of cookbooks, and the scariest of them all, my brain. Once I get my creative dinner juices flowing, I then have to consult our ever important calendar to see what we’ve got going on throughout the week. A lot of times, this then requires me to go back to the drawing board, since I tend to dream up elaborate dinners that just won’t be done before 9pm, causing me to probably gnaw off my arm before then.

It might seem a bit silly to plan my meals in advance, especially when it’s just myself and my fiancé. However, I’m obsessed with planning, which would explain why I have an extremely detailed Google Calendar, personal planner, and am always looking to schedule things in advance and confirm them. My meals seem to be no different; I like to know ahead of time what I’m going to be making when based on my schedule, and more importantly, pick up the necessary ingredients while at the grocery store. I think one of the worst feelings in the world is getting home after having your heart set on a certain food/meal, only to find out you don’t have some of the ingredients. For me, that’s close to heartbreak. So I try to avoid it at all costs by planning!

I snagged a copy of Vegan Fire & Spice by Robin Robertson a few months ago, and just got around to actually making something from the book. While I’m not a vegan, the simple words fire and spice grabbed my attention. This particular book not only offers recipes with varying levels of heat (marked as one to three chiles), but they’re recipes from all over the world! I love that within one cookbook alone I can find a recipe from Thailand, Mexico, Africa, Morocco, and more, and they’re all spicy!

I had paged through the book marking off things I was interested to try first, so I decided to make the Red Hot White Bean Chili as my first dish. It was easy, spicy, and filling – what more could a girl ask for? Of course I went and completely de-veganized it by throwing regular cheese on top, but other than that and omitting carrots (I didn’t have any) I stayed true to the recipe. I’m really looking forward to making other things from the book – I like fire in my belly!

Red Hot White Bean Chili via Vegan Fire & Spice
– Serves 4-6 –

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 fresh jalapeno or serrano chiles, seeded and minced (I used a jalapeno and habanero)
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
4 1/2 cups cooked or 3 (15.5oz) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 scallions, minced
optional – vegan cheese for garnish

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, bell pepper, garlic, and chiles. Cover and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Blend in the chili powder, salt, cumin, oregano, cayenne, and pepper, and stir for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and water and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to low, stir in the beans, cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, 45 to 50 minutes. Garnish with minced scallions.

Cookie Cupcakes

As with every occasion I’m a part of, some type of baked good (usually in the form of cupcakes) are made. My fiancé’s birthday on Friday was no exception to the rule. I had planned to make these amazing looking rootbeer cupcakes from the always delicious How Sweet It Is blog. Unfortunately, the recipe called for rootbeer extract, and I just couldn’t find any; I wound up going to four different grocery stores on Monday afternoon, and after finally feeling defeated resolved myself to needing to figure out something different.

After spending some time thinking about what my fiancé likes and doesn’t like, and looking at a few different recipes, I settled on Cookies & Cream Cupcakes. I hadn’t decided if I wanted to do a whipped cream or buttercream frosting, but I figured I could make that decision last minute. We thankfully had the necessary ingredients for either frosting, so I didn’t have to make any extra trips.

My fiancé’s birthday and party was on Friday, but because Friday night parties are always so hectic with it being a workday, I made the cupcakes on Thursday night and stored them at room temperature in my cupcake carrier until I was ready to frost on Friday. Aside from the smashing of the cookies, they were easy to make. I cheated a little and just used a regular boxed white cake mix, as my inspiration for the recipe came from How to Eat a Cupcake’s post. I usually find that any cookies or candy pieces that I put into a cake tend to sink to the bottom. These cookies pieces stayed exactly in place, I think thanks to the use of sour cream. They were perfectly dense, but not too heavy, and definitely would work with either a whipped cream or buttercream frosting.

I had originally decided to make whipped cream frosting, but the cream never whipped; I have a feeling I was just impatient as the time before the party was slowly ticking. So instead, I decided to use a typical vanilla buttercream frosting and I threw some extra crushed Oreo pieces on top of the finished cupcakes, instead of mixed into the frosting itself. Thankfully they were still delicious and everyone was a fan!

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
– makes 18 cupcakes –

Cake:
Ingredients:
30 Oreo cookies
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake baking sheet with paper liners. Set the pans aside.
2. Count out 8 Oreos and separate the top and bottom wafers. Make sure each has some of the icing on it. Place one wafer, icing side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Set them aside. Place the remaining Oreos in a large, closed zipper-lock bag and crush them by rolling over them with a rolling pin. Set these crumbs aside.
3. Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend together. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the crushed Oreos and fold these into the batter until well incorporated. Set aside the remaining crushed Oreos for the frosting. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. Place the pans in the oven.
4. Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Frosting:
Ingredients:
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup buter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp whipping/heavy cream

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl using either a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
2. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

I Almost Did It Again

Sunday’s race was a prime example of just how crazy us runners are.

On Saturday, the greater tri-state area experienced monsoon-like weather, with extremely high winds, rain pouring down all day in buckets, and the occasional thunderstorm. By the time the rain stopped (in the wee-hours of Sunday morning), the wind was still around, and there was A LOT of flooding. Anyone familiar with the general New Brunswick area knows that almost all of the parks, especially Johnson Park, flood almost every time it rains.

So, when we were on our way to the Unite Half Marathon on Sunday morning that starts over on Rutger’s Busch campus, it was no surprise that we saw flooding in the parks. We also, however, saw quite a few paths and roads that had dried up. Once we arrived at the start, and were waiting for a port-o-potty while listening to announcements, we heard what at first I thought was a joke – due to flooding, the 13.1 mile race was pushed back to be only 10 miles. I definitely heard groans throughout the crowd. I giggled to myself that we were all disappointed to not be running an extra 3.1 miles!

For me, I wasn’t too disappointed; because of all my injuries, I didn’t think it would have mattered for me either way if I ran those extra 3.1 miles as I knew this race wasn’t going to be a PR. However, I did feel badly for everyone there going for a PR, or for anyone that was running their first half marathon. While I understand it’s impossible to control the weather, I don’t understand why there wasn’t a plan B. Like I mentioned, everyone that is familiar with the New Brunswick area knows the parks, specifically Johnson Park, flood A LOT when it rains. I was baffled that they couldn’t have had us do an extra lap here or there, or re-route the course a bit to make up the difference in miles. So instead of heading to the park after 8 miles, we continued across a narrow (3 person-wide) footbridge to make our way to the finish line.

There isn’t much to say about the race – it kind of just happened! It was super windy though, which at points was pushing me to the left and right, and I felt like I was battling through a brick wall. Aside from the heavy winds, it was a great day for a race. The morning started a bit cloudy, and then the sun came out (I think I actually got a little color!). I started off right behind the 9 minute/mile pacers, but quickly put myself in front of them, and stuck with it. I didn’t have any expectations going into the race, but after knowing it was only 10 miles, I felt like I could push it a little. Here I was thinking the race was 10 miles, and it turns out it was only 9.65! That actually annoyed me; not that they cut it short in the first place (I was over that), but that they said it was 10 miles, but was really 9.65. That extra .35 makes a difference – I thought I ran 10 miles on Sunday! My overall pace for the 9.65 miles was 8:54 min/mile, having me finish at 1:23:49.

Looking at that timing, even if I had slowed down a bit, I probably would have PR’d. Crazy to think! The fiancé also ran, finishing in 1:11:53, average pace of 7:28. Considering his own injuries, I couldn’t be prouder!

Since I didn’t run the 13.1 that was planned today, I think the fiancé and I are going to sign up for the Superhero Half on May 15th in Morristown, NJ. Maybe I’ll PR there! And even if I don’t, at least I’ll get to run the full 13.1 miles.

Birthdays and Giveaways (winner)!

I first just have to wish my wonderful fiancé a very happy birthday! He’s going to be totally embarrassed, but it’s okay, he deserves a little extra blog love today.

Not only does he always find a way to make me laugh…

He’s always there to take pictures of my foodie creations…

He makes sure I’m running when I say I will, and resting when I need to…

He’s a big kid at heart just like me…

And most importantly, he’s my best friend!

And now on to the giveaway! Thanks so much for all the entries, it was fun to read why/how you like your tea! Courtesy of Random.org, the winner is Lisa of Cow Spots and Tales!

If you can e-mail me your address [ foodosaurusrex @ gmail . com ] I’ll have your goodies on their way!

Muffin Love

Desserts are one of my favorite things. During the week, though, I rarely have time to make anything dessert related. So, while I was making dinner on Tuesday night, I had a great idea – oatmeal muffins! Conveniently, the oven was already pre-heated to the temperature I needed to cook them since I was roasting veggies. It was as though the baking stars had aligned, and I just had to bring my dreams of coconut chocolate chip oatmeal muffins to life.

I haven’t had oatmeal in awhile, and we have giant container of oats in our pantry. So while at work, I was trying to think of ways to put them to good use aside from a typical oatmeal cookie or overnight oats. I’ve never made muffins before, but since I’m a huge cupcake fanatic I thought it might be a nice change of pace. Plus, I’m obsessed with coconut and chocolate, and when they’re combined, it’s like kryptonite.

You really only need about 20 minutes start to finish to whip up a batch of these badboys. This was some nice prep work for the cupcakes I’m planning to make for the fiance’s birthday! I have visions of slathering these with almond butter for breakfast, or with a spoonfull of vanilla ice cream for dessert…

Coconut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins
– makes 12 muffins –

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal (not instant)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 egg
2/3 cup of shredded coconut
1 cup of chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl (including coconut)
3. Heat butter, and stir in milk and the egg. Add that mixture into the dry mixture, to combine, finally adding in the chocolate chips.
4. Spoon mixture into greased cupcake/muffin tin, and bake for 15 minutes.

Tortellini Twist

As I’ve mentioned before, my fiancé and I have tortellini once a week, almost every week. We originally started the tradition because of the Wednesday night radio show that he did, which required a quick dinner. There’s no more show these days, so we have some more free time in the kitchen, but there are plenty of times we just want something quick and easy. Sometimes if we have leftovers (like this yummy pumpkin turkey chili), I’ll throw it on top instead of sauce just to snazz it up.

After using up most of the Philadelphia Creme, I still had a little bit left. So, I decided to make our usual tortellini with a southwestern/santa fe twist. When I realized I still had enough left to make another meal with it, it immediately made me think of the story of Strega Nona and her magical pasta pot that was never ending. This was one of my favorite books in elementary school, and I remember making my parents read it to me all the time – my dad was always so animated when reading it, too. It was a Caldecott Honor book!

At any rate, it was a nice twist on something different. Even though our meals are planned a week in advance (so I can grocery shop accordingly), and I was planning on pairing the tortellini (or as we call it on our house, torts) with regular tomato sauce, there’s always a little wiggle room with the menu. Plus, since my 10 mile run on Sunday was successful(ish), I’m all about the carbo-loading this week for the half marathon this coming Sunday! I have a feeling I’m going to wind up clocking about the same time, give or take, for this half as well. Which, considering the lack of training I’ve been afforded, I can’t complain! I’m just hoping I’ll eventually be back to feeling 100% so I can actually get a new PR!

Santa Fe Tortellini
– Serves 2 –

Ingredients:
3 cups of uncooked tortellini (I used Barilla’s ricotta & spinach style)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
1 medium green pepper, sliced
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup chunky salsa
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1/4 cup Santa Fe style Philadelphia Cooking Creme

Directions:
1. Cook tortellini according to package (bring water to a rolling boil, cook for 11 minutes until tenter)
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in skillet, and add onion and pepper, sautéing for about 5 minutes over medium heat until it begins to soften.
4. Add chili powder and salsa, cooking an additional 2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, and add in cooking creme and shredded cheese, making sure to combine well. Top with additional shredded cheese.

Tea for Two – Giveaway!

Both my fiancé and I are tea fans. Though we don’t drink it regularly, as we’re coffee guzzlers by design, we often enjoy a cup of tea with dessert after dinner, or randomly throughout the day. So, when I was offered yet another Celestial Seasonings Tea Giveaway, I couldn’t resist! [Head down to the bottom of this post for entry info]

Growing up, I didn’t really drink coffee or tea. I remember my parents had an adorable Boston bear mini-mug for me, and whenever they would have tea, they’d make me some too. However, it was always too hot when I tried to drink it, and I’d wind up waiting too long, and it would either be lukewarm or down right cold, leaving it less than desirable to drink. I felt like Goldilocks when it came to my tea as a child; it was either too hot or too cold, and I couldn’t get it just right.

After abandoning tea for a few years and switching to coffee by my junior year of high school (7:30am start time is just cruel for teenagers), I finally decided to give tea a second shot in college. It came in handy during my junior and senior years when living off-campus our house was usually cold and I couldn’t wear enough layers to stay warm. Now that I can afford to pay my heat bill, I’m still enjoying tea.

As I began to drink tea more and more, I discovered there’s so much more out there aside from your typical black, Earl Gray, English, breakfast, and green teas! I was given two boxes of Celestial Seasoning’s Gen Mai Cha tea to try. I was psyched since I’ve never even heard of that type of tea, let alone tried it. It has just a slight hint of rice flavor combined with the green tea flavor. It’s interesting, and really enjoyable. Though I’m no tea connoisseur, I recommend trying it. Since I ususally gravitate towards sweet and dessert or coffee flavored teas (i.e. your peach, vanilla, etc.), it was a nice change of pace to have a more savory flavored tea. Since I’m always up to try new flavors and styles of tea, I thought you might be also. Enter the giveaway…

One lucky reader will receive the following from Celestial Seasonings:
– Decaf Sleepytime Lemon Jasmine Green Tea
– Tin Tea Caddy
– Magnet
– Lip balm
– Honey sticks

How to enter – do any or all of the following, and leave a comment for each:
1. Simply leave me a comment about anything, or about tea
2. Follow me on Twitter, and/or tweet about the giveaway

You have until Thursday 4/14 at 9pm EDT to enter!

Veggieful Enchiladas

Since I didn’t use all of the Philadelphia Creme when I made the Baked Southwestern Pasta Skillet, I needed to figure out what to do with it. I decided to make enchiladas, since we hadn’t had them in awhile. I’ve made them with eggplant, poblano peppers, and some with your typical veggies (onions and peppers). So, this time I decided to combine it all! Since the creme takes the place of enchilada sauce, it’s super quick and easy.

After reading up on tons of wedding blogs, I’ve realized that I should try and tone my arms so they look fab in my wedding dress. Since I used to swim, I have pretty defined arm muscles as it is, without doing any extra work; it’s leftover residual muscle definition. But, I realized I want to make sure I don’t look bulky (something easily accomplished through swimming), and I’ve been noticing that my arms are looking nice and toned simply from yoga. So, in addition to some yoga, I decided to add in some free-weight exercises also. Conveniently, FitSugar recently posted “How to Tone Your Arms Picture-Perfect For the Big Day,” which offered up tons of exercise suggestions I can add to my repertoire. So, that was on my to-do list before getting to work on dinner.

After getting my arms nice and tired, I threw together these veggie packed enchiladas. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the rest of the eggplant and green pepper I have from this recipe!

Veggieful Enchiladas
– Serves 4 –

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp Adobo
1/2 eggplant, peeled and diced
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
1/2 large green pepper, sliced
1 hot pepper, diced (optional – I used a habanero)
1/4 cup Santa Fe styled Philadelphia Creme + 1/4 cup
1/4 cup shredded cheese + 1/4 cup
6 burrito-sized tortillas

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat oil in skillet, and add onions and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes. Add eggplant, and spices, and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until onions, peppers, and eggplant are soft.
3. Stir in 1/4 cup of cooking creme, cooking until headed through, about 3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of cheese, and remove from heat.
4. Evenly fill tortillas with filling, and place in a greased 8 x 11 baking dish.
5. Top with remaining cooking creme and cheese, and bake for 15 minutes.