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The Final Stop on the Food Tour-Bettie's Cakes

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The Cupcakery

Bettie’s Cakes was the final stop on the Saratoga Food Tour.  There we were greeted by a colorful store front and friendly staff.  Bettie’s Cakes come in a variety of flavors and colors.
Can’t decide try an “A” cupcake for $1.50, small enough for you to try several. 

We gathered around to hear a little bit about how the business started by Lorraine, a photographer and her husband.  It all started with a double-decker bus, thinking that they would sell cupcakes from a local bakery from it.  They soon found out that they couldn’t find the flavors and quality they could get from baking their own so they opened their “cupcakery” in Saratoga.  CeeCee, their mobile cupcake stand can be found from Saratoga to Albany, offering some of the most unusual and delicious cupcakes around.  But they don’t just sell cupcakes from their bus but also from two locations, one in Colonie Center and one here in Saratoga Springs, on Broadway.
The Cupcakes
The storefront on Broadway has a retro feel to it, decorated in pink and turquoise.  We were offered samples of the size “a” cupcake, two per person, in a variety of flavors: peanut butter, red velvet, chocolate….  I chose for my first, a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese icing – a classic and for my second, a chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate pudding topped with chocolate butter cream—in a word — EVIL and I mean that in the nicest way.
The red velvet cupcake was moist and the cream cheese frosting was it’s crowning glory. The chocolate cupcake was delicious and decadent with that surprise of creamy chocolate pudding and then finishing with the creamy, buttery, chocolaty frosting.  That one I would try again and again.  It is a true chocoholics dream.  

If you’re having a Bettie’s Cakes craving, you can order online and they will deliver, (with an option of having it delivered by a regular truck, a singing Bettie or a singing cupcake) or you can visit them at one of their locations:
The Café on Broadway in Saratoga
Colonie Center Cupcake Stand
DeeDee: The traveling double decker bus
CeeCee: The smaller delivery bus that holds 1,000 cupcakes and 20 cakes.
Hoffman’s Playland in Latham
Bettie’s Cakes is a not to be missed treat if you’re visiting Saratoga, live in Saratoga, have a special occasion coming up or just want to treat yourself, someone else or for just no good reason at all! 
For more information about Bettie’s Cakes you can visit their website:

www.bettiescakes.com

Straight Up Mac and Cheese

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There are a lot of recipes these days for all different variations of Mac and cheese.  Mac and cheese with lobster in it, with bacon, with ham, with all different kinds of cheeses.  I thought I would share with you what I call Straight Up Mac and Cheese – elbow macaroni, butter (or margarine), milk, flour and cheddar cheese.  Straight Up Mac and Cheese is basic.  Once you master this you can then start to create your own variation.  It can be a side dish or you can make it a complete main course.
The Pasta



The first thing is the pasta. Traditionally Mac and Cheese is made with elbow macaroni and that is what I’m using in this recipe.  You can use any brand that you like.  Start a pot of boiling water large enough to boil the pasta in.  When the water is at a rolling boil add salt to the water, enough salt so that the water is salty.  Then pour the pasta into the water, stir it. You will want to stir it occasionally to keep it from sticking.  Once the pasta is cooked al dente if you plan on baking it, (more on that later) and cooked until soft if you’re not baking it.  Drain it well.
The Sauce

The basic white sauce that makes up Mac and Cheese (before the cheese) is called a béchamel. It’s made up of equal parts of fat (butter or margarine usually) and flour.  They are cooked together to make a thickening agent that will thicken the milk.
When the margarine is melted then add the flour.  Stir to combine on medium heat.  Cook the flour in the butter for a minute to cook out the raw flour taste.  Don’t cook the flour too long or it will brown.  For a white sauce you just need to cook it long enough to cook out the raw flour taste.  The flour and butter together is called roux.  Once the roux is cooked you can add the milk (1 ¾ cups), stirring constantly to work out the lumps.   Once you add milk, the heat can be raised to medium high heat.  Once the roux and milk come to a boil (just starting to boil, not a rolling boil) it will thicken.  
<TIP>   Be sure to keep the heat to medium high, if the milk boils over you will have a HUGE mess to clean up.  
Now you can season the sauce with salt and pepper.  Be sure to stir it constantly.  Once the béchamel is thick and cooked then you can add the cheese.  I use 4 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese, shredded.  Using a whisk stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.  Now you can add the macaroni to the sauce and combine.


Straight Up Mac and Cheese, Baked

Baked Mac and Cheese usually has a topping of bread crumbs.  To make the topping take 1 cup store bought plain bread crumbs and add 2 tablespoons of melted butter (or margarine) and combine.  Turn the mac and cheese into a buttered casserole dish and top with bread crumbs Bake the casserole at 375 degrees until the top is brown and crispy. 
<TIP> Remember everything is cooked, you’re just browning the bread crumbs on top.
I usually serve it right out of the pan without baking.  When I serve it I like to have either a vegetable or a salad and sometimes I add grilled chicken or even hot dogs. 
That’s it, straight up Mac and Cheese.  Make it this way a few times until you’ve got it down then you can experiment.
Recipe

If you’d like to try this basic version of Mac and Cheese, here’s what you’ll need:
A pot large enough to boil the pasta and combine the sauce and pasta together in.
A buttered baking dish – if you plan on baking it
 4 Tablespoons Butter or margarine plus more to butter your baking dish with
1 ¾ cups Milk
4 Tablespoons Flour
4 ounces Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 lb. Elbow macaroni
Salt and pepper to taste
Melt the butter in a large pot on medium heat.  Add all of the flour and cook together until smooth.  Add milk and stir to combine.  Raise heat to medium high until mixture begins to boil.  Turn down heat and season with salt and pepper.  Add shredded cheese.  Stir to combine.  Add cooked, drained  macaroni and stir to combine.  ENJOY!

A Stop on the Saratoga Food Tour

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Saratoga Olive Oil Company

Outside the Saratoga Olive Oil Company.  You can’t tell me it
doesn’t look like a fine wine shop.

There is a new shop in town (has been open for 4 months) that is one of the most unique (and gorgeous) I’ve ever seen.  If you’re a foodie like I am then you’ll appreciate the unusual flavors of olive oils and balsamic vinegars that the Saratoga Olive Oil Company carries in their store.  We were able to spend some time in the shop as one of the stops on the Saratoga Food Tour.
The shop run by Clint and Barb, a husband and wife team are made from the freshest olive crushes from all over the world in order to give you the best quality product.  The shop is set up so that you can taste any of the selections so that you can make an informed choice before you purchase.  Some of the olive oil is from Europe, the standard Italian and Spanish but there are also other more exotic oils from Australia and Greece, among other places.  Take some time and leisurely taste some of the oils.  My favorite would have to be the Italian but I also liked the Australian which was very similar in taste and density.  Let your mind race as mine did, creating new recipes as you taste each of the different oils.
Olive Oil tasting tables.  Take a sample and try it on a piece of
bread baked at a local bakery

From there, take some time to try the flavored oils – garlic, basil, tarragon and many others.  These make a great substitute for everyday extra virgin olive oil in salad dressings, but don’t stop there. I’m sure with some imagination you can find unlimited uses for these flavored oils.  
Then there’s the balsamic vinegars — white ones which are aged up to 12 years and dark ones that are aged up to 18 years.  My favorite is the blood orange dark balsamic that has an orange flavor that isn’t too overpowering or sweet and is almost flowery.   I have a recipe in mind to try combining the tarragon oil and the blood orange balsamic.  I don’t want to give it away but it has something to do with tomatoes.
The Saratoga Olive Oil Company although not in business for very long offers the best olive oil and balsamics you can find leaving a foodie with a head-full of ideas and if you experiment and are successful at creating an amazing recipe using one of their products be sure to share with them.  They would love to get recipes for each product to put on cards to inspire others that come into the shop.
Hopefully they’ll like the tomato recipe….
Saratoga Olive Oil Company also offers a selection of soaps
and lotions made from olive oil

Cruets are made by a local potter and are also for sale at the shop.

All photographs were taken by Mark Bernard of Mark Bernard Photography.
More of Mark’s work can be seen on his website http://www.wix.com/markbernard/mark-bernard-photography

Mark also has a blog at saratoga.com/saratogasnapshots
Take a look and if you see something that interests you he’d be happy to sell you anything you like.


A Cooking from the Garden Recipe- Vegetable Egg Foo Young

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 This time of year there are lots and lots of fresh veggies available.  Here is a recipe that uses almost any of them in a delicious way.  I first learned how to make Egg Foo Young by watching a You Tube video (yep, everything is on You Tube), where the young woman made it in one patty then divided it up.  Instead I used a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup to scoop out the patties.  Although, you could do it either way.
My family loves Chinese food, so when we don’t have any extra money or don’t feel like ordering in, I whip this up in no time at all.

 Served with plain steamed rice and topped with gravy it’s makes a satisfying meal.  The patties will be thin which means the cook quickly in just a little canola oil in a non stick pan.  If you have leftovers, throw those in, vegetables, meat, even seafood.  Anything goes.

The following recipe is for veggie Egg Foo Young just because that’s what I had on hand.  Like I said, you can use just about anything.

To make Egg Foo Young:
Remember you can add whatever veggies you like or meat or seafood. This is really a method more than a recipe.
For 4 adults
2 eggs per person
1 1/2 cup cooked (cooled) veggies such as carrots, cabbage, broccoli, caulilflower/ meat or seafood or a combination

Gravy
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 rounded tablespoon cornstarch


For the patties:
In a large bowl whip up eggs lightly.  Add cooked and cooled veggies and meat.  Mix well.
In a preheated skillet (or electric skillet) using a 1/4 cup dry measure scoop out the mixture into patties.  Cook until egg is set, then flip and cook on the other side.
You can pour the entire mixture into the skillet and then cut up and flip.


For the gravy:
In a measuring cup, measure 1 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup soy sauce.  To this add the cornstarch.  Mix well.  Add to the same pan you cooked the egg foo young in until thickened.
Serve with steamed rice and top with gravy.

Have a favorite chinese recipes you’d like to share?

A Rescue My Recipe – A Healthy Twist on a Traditional Breakfast

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Bacon and Home Fries
I’m a sucker for a hearty breakfast, a good old fashioned one with lots of fried meats and greasy piles of fried potatoes, biscuits smothered in gravy and coffee, lots and lots of coffee. I know this isn’t the healthiest way to start the day, but it does taste awfully good.  I enjoy a breakfast like this once in awhile but in order to have it a little more often I’ve come up with a healthier version.  Notice I said “healthier” not healthy.  Although I think a version like this makes a great alternative to a pile of greasy (yet tasty) breakfast favorites.

 It’s Fakin’!



My first change to a traditional breakfast is to use turkey bacon.  Back in the late 80’s my father had a heart attack and couldn’t have full fat bacon anymore.  My mom switched to turkey bacon or as she called it “play bacon”.  Since then I think turkey bacon has come a long way.  Its gets crispy, it’s lean and yeah… it tastes good! With a little olive oil in the pan (just a couple of teaspoons is all you need) and by cooking it on medium high heat you’ll get a crispy, tasty bacon — trust me- it’s good!

Home Fries
That’s right I said home fries, and they can be made healthier and lot quicker too.  I take however many potatoes I want to fry and I microwave them first, 4 minutes per potato.  Then they are fully cooked and just need to be crisped up in the skillet you fried the bacon in, of course after you cook some chopped onions in there first.

I chop a couple tablespoons of onion and saute it in the same skillet I cooked the bacon in, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Once the onion is soft then add the pre-cooked potatoes and cook them until crisp, seasoning the potatoes with salt and pepper as they cook.  Remember potatoes can take a lot of salt so be liberal with it.

That’s it!  Simplier and healthier.  Low in animal fat, but still very tasty.  If you’d like to try this healthier traditional breakfast this is what you’ll need:

Turkey bacon, whatever brand you prefer.
1 medium sized potato
olive oil
chopped onion
skillet
microwave
and of course salt and pepper

Nutrition Info (via sparkpeople.com)

 Total Calories:
359
Total Carbs:
34
Total Fat:
21
Total Protein
11

Cooking from the Garden Recipe-Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad

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Time for another cooking from the garden recipe!

Our lettuce is growing like crazy, unlike our other veggies in our garden.  So I thought that I would post a way to use up a lot of lettuce and combine it with everyone’s favorite — grilled chicken!
This salad is so simple and can really all be done outside next to the grill.
First of all you need to have your grill ready (don’t worry this can be made inside too).  To make it easy I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts seasoned with a little salt and pepper.  While the chicken is grilling throw some bacon on next to it.  I used turkey bacon because that’s what I’ve been eating lately and it’s so much better than it used to be.
TIP: Make sure that you cook the bacon fairly crispy that way it won’t be greasy in your salad and will be easier to break up.
Once your chicken is cooked through and the bacon is crispy, then set aside for it to cool a bit.
Gather your lettuce and give it a good wash.
TIP: Make sure it’s  completely dry so that the dressing will cling to the lettuce.
Now it’s time to assemble the salad.
In a large bowl add lettuce, top with chopped grilled chicken and crumbled bacon.

I used a bottle ranch dressing but I’m sure you can make your own.  That’s a recipe for another post.
Drizzle the salad with dressing and Enjoy!

If you’d like to make Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad here’s what you’ll need:

4 ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast per person
2-3 pieces of bacon per person (turkey or pork, low sodium works best)
lettuce (leaf lettuce, the fresher the better, can’t get much fresher than right from the garden)
ranch dressing (homemade or bottled, it’s your choice)

Delicious as light lunch or dinner.
Do you have a way to use the produce from your ever growing garden?
Tried the salad and have a comment?  Let me know!

Quebec

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Quebec


Quebec, a set on Flickr.

Three years ago we took a trip to celebrate our anniversary. Here is Quebec in photos. Remember all these photos are available for purchase.
We put one on canvas and it turned out incredible!

Not an Extreme Couponer? It's Okay

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I recently read a blog post on Living Rich with Coupons urging those new to couponing not to compare themselves to the shoppers that have been featured on The TLC show “Extreme Couponing.”  I know everyone would like to save 95%-100% on their groceries, but who wants a pantry full of mustard and cereal?  How can you make meals and feed your family well by buying enormous amounts of things that more than likely you won’t use?  And how can you feed your family well by buying boxed, canned and frozen food full of sodium and other not so good for you things?
Don’t get me wrong… I use coupons, every week and I do save… at least 50% on my groceries and more on my health and beauty items but I don’t spend hours and hours cutting and sorting coupons, or hours and hours matching sales with the coupons for multiple stores.  This IS what I do:

Buy Multiple Newspapers
That’s right I said buy, not steal.  I get my papers at a local convenience store on Saturday because then I have time to plan for the next week’s shopping trip.  I buy at least 3 of the same paper since most stores won’t let you use more than 4 coupons for the same item.  Taking papers from neighbors’ or from houses that may or may not be unoccupied or even dumpster diving is wrong and more than likely illegal.

Use a coupon website 
By this I mean a site like www.couponmom.com that will have a list of stores (CVS, Rite Aid, Target, Dollar General, Family Dollar etc.) that will have the coupons and deals matched for you.  All you need to do (after registering) is select the store, read through the deals, and check off which ones you want.  Then select and print.  It makes it so simple and cuts down on the time you spend cross matching your coupons and sales, even though I look through my ads just in case to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  This particular site doesn’t include my local grocery store so there is a little bit of work matching up their deals.  Another site that I use is www.livingrichwithcoupons.com  I follow her on twitter and liked her on facebook.  She has lots of great information and “heads up” on deals from all over the internet.  There are also websites that offer coupons and sometimes they offer really good ones and sometimes not so much.  By the time you figure in your ink and paper I’m not sure it’s really worth it, plus different sites will offer the same coupons.

Use a Simple System
When I get my inserts the first thing I do is to put all the like ones together out of the different papers: smart source, red plum etc.
Then I clear off my table.  I take the first insert and lay it out page by page.  Then I take the next (like) insert and lay those on the first ones and so on and so on.  Then when it’s time to cut you can cut them all at the same time.  I pile them up by category then put them in envelopes in an accordion folder, sorted by the aisles in the store.  When it’s time to make the list I can go through the coupons which are in order of the way the store is laid out.  For example first is produce, then seafood, then meat and so on, then I write the list the same way.  When it’s time to go to the store I get out each category and match it to the store and put in a store envelope with the list.  It’s a simple system but so far it works and will continue to evolve as I come across other ways to do it.  But I can’t stress enough how keeping it simple will make it so much more pleasant and less stressful.

Don’t Do More Than Two Transactions
Nothing gives couponers a bad name faster than someone in line with 3 or 4 carts wanting to check them out separately to use coupons or to get a special deal.  My daughter works at our local grocery store and says that checkers get very irritated with people who clog up the line with multiple transactions.  I know I’ve had someone behind me that has gotten irritated at Rite Aid and slammed down their 2 deodorants only to be told that the next line was open.  And I’ve also had someone behind me at Walmart that was pleased when she saw the stack of coupons I handed the cashier.  “The only way to shop”, she said.
Just to make everything simpler and less stressful for me and other shoppers I’ll do a max of two transactions, which will usually be for a special deal or coupon in the store flyer.  More than likely whatever the deal is (usually soda or something similar) whatever I get in the two transactions will be enough to last until the next sale.

Stock Up When Possible
When I say “stock up” it doesn’t mean clear the shelves or buy enough in case of a nuclear holocaust (I’ll never forget one of the husband’s on Extreme Couponing who said if there was ever a disaster they would be in the basement eating cake mix.  Now that sounds YUMMY!) but what I mean is taking advantage of the sale within the coupon policy of the store.  If you have more than the limit of coupons (usually 4) use the 4 and then go back later in the week.  I just don’t see the sense in 70 bottles of mustard but I can see the practicality of having multiple packs of T.P and paper towels, they don’t expire and nothing is worse than running out of something essential like that.

 I coupon to feed my family and to save money.  I coupon to stock up on things that we will use or that I can donate to my local food bank.  These are the strategies that work for me.  When I can cut my food bill in half or more then I think I’m doing something right.
Want to share a money saving strategy using coupons or not?


A Cinder Block Garden

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Our garden is finally coming in — lettuce, broccoli, basil, tomatoes, zucchini, cauliflower and peppers and hopefully more to follow.  We’ve already enjoyed several salads from the leaf lettuce — nothing better or fresher than lettuce out of your garden.  Now I’m hoping to put in a berry patch — already started with some blueberries.

When you live in a rural area and use a septic (which we had to have put in brand new) instead of a public sewer system where you can put your garden in can be limited.  Your garden needs to be far enough from the leach field so it doesn’t contaminate your vegetables.  The leach field is the most expensive part of the whole septic system so you don’t want to plant anything near it that might have deep roots like trees or shrubs.  We just moved into this house in February (yes moving in winter in Upstate NY – not the best idea) so this garden is an experiment for us.


The Easiest Way to Start
In order for us to get a garden in right away we used cinder blocks that we found on the property and filled them with top soil.  We bought seeds and started them ourselves using Jiffy pots we bought at Lowes (see blog post Seed Starting Experiment  3/30 for a review Jiffy seed starting kit) such as herbs and bought plants for lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and zucchini.  Bought lettuce plants because they don’t transplant well from seed (could sow them directly into the garden) and since we have such a short season we bought the other plants to give them a head start.

I’m not sure if other gardeners are like me, but I tend to over buy, I buy too many plants and too many seeds (just started some heirloom tomatoes that are suppose to do well in my area) so when it comes time to plant I have to keep expanding my garden.  By using cinder blocks this is easy to do and economical (we had them around the property) and can be bought at a home improvement center for about $1 a piece, just remember they can get heavy if you buy a lot of them at one time.  If you would like an easy way to weed or harvest, stack the blocks as high as you need, just remember the higher you go the more soil you’ll need.  Using cinder block will make short work of getting your garden started:

FIRST
Decide where the best place for your garden will be, by seeing where it fits into your landscape (taking obstacles like a septic into consideration), where it will get the right kind of sun and how you easily get water to it.  Another consideration for me: how far is it from the house.  If it’s a long trek to the garden I’m not as likely to give it the attention it deserves.

SECOND
Lay the cinder blocks out in the configuration that works best for you.  Remember you can always add on so make sure your configuration allows you to do so.  Also make sure you leave enough room between beds to walk through.  Nothing hurts worse than scraping your bare skin on a concrete cinder block.  Once your formation is established then fill them with soil and plant.

Mark filling another bed.  Notice the muck boots.

Square Foot My Way
The cinder blocks we used have a large opening in the middle, which was good for larger plants like tomatoes or broccoli and smaller holes around the outside of the block that’s good for herbs and lettuces, giving us a choice on how we want to plant.

Broccoli

Basil

San Marzano tomato

I guess you could say this is a version of square foot gardening. We can get a lot of plants into a small space making it “intensive: and it seems to be working so far.  There is minimal need for weeding and it makes it a little less appealing to squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits –my motto: plant 2 for me and 1 for the critters.

It might not be the prettiest garden but it works and we’ll probably do it the same way again next year, but we’ll take our time and set them in an interesting arrangement and add fencing and other doodads to decorate it with.  Right now I’m happy with fresh lettuce for salads and herbs for cooking and look with anticipation to the tomatoes and other fresh veggies.  There’s nothing better than cooking from the garden and as things come in (Some time in August I’ll be overrun) I’ll be sharing recipes using my garden ingredients.

Have a unique garden?
Want to share a cooking from the garden recipe?