Southwest Vegeterian Salad

After taking some time to fast, which entails a lot of prayer and time away from food, I have made a recipe that works for Daniel faster's and vegans alike. No dairy, grains or anything with corn syrup. You bet. I typically don't like salads, but for this post, I decided to get veggie-friendly. Which has made my life more healthy, flavorful and oh so pretty. Look at the color!

I guess we can call it a southwest salad, of sorts.

Let's start with your foliage. Lettuce. I like romaine. It has a lot of nutrients and a good flavor. Iceberg is like drinking water, filling but nothing added. Sometimes, if I'm feeling creative, I'll use some spinach, but today, I use romaine. Cut the whole stock for one salad. After all, this will be your whole meal.


Then you'll want some fixin's. Instead of ranch dressing and calling it good, we'll use avocado, salsa and black beans.


Cut your avocado like a pro. Down the center, pull out the seed, then score it.


If you want to spice it up, add some peppers or some hot sauce. I like medium salsa. For this recipe, I settled for the store-bought kind. Buy the chunky stuff in the refrigerator isle. It's pretty quality. If not, use the recipe below.

Also, any black beans will work. I recommend whatever is the least expensive. This meal will cost you under $10 for three servings. Three bucks a meal? That's awesome.

The recipe:

1 stock romaine lettuce
1/2 avocado, squashed with salt and pepper
1/2 cup salsa (tomato, onion, cilantro, salt, pepper)
1/2 cup black beans

Eat and enjoy.

I fainted at Al's Breakfast

I went in with my mind set on eating some great grub. I even came on the day that Jim mans the griddle. However, while waiting in line behind happy eaters, I felt the beginnings of dizziness. My knees buckled. My body began to sweat. My vision became tunneled. Then, as I took a step toward my seat, I fell.

Yes folks, I fell over just before being served delightful breakfast goodness at my favorite 13 stool diner.

I made my way out of the place, embarrassed. I wasn't hung over, I didn't have that fainting sheep disease. I wasn't sure what happened. And I definitely didn't get any breakfast.

According to the medical staff at Regions Hospital, I experienced syncope. It happens to a lot of people, I guess. The conditions were perfect for my spell. No food, standing for a long time in one place, hot environment. Presto chango. Joy doesn't get Al's because she suffered a fainting spell. Boo.

However, I archived some photos of a previous week's experience. Ha HA! Success.

That time, the time I didn't faint at Al's, I ordered my favorite omelet: The Smokey. It has bacon, sharp cheddar and tomatoes. Deliciousness. All the ingredients are hearty and flavorful. There's no need to put sauces on top, but a little ketchup can be a nice addition.

I sometimes order walnut pancakes, a short stack, with real maple syrup. Hearty and satisfying.

The cooks make all the food from 50-year-old recipes, from scratch, with full fat ingredients. You're never going to find egg whites and skim milk on the menu. However, if you do have a few specifications, they will cater to them, maybe.

I truly love the whole experience of Al's because it reminds me of going to the cabin. The people are truly Minnesotan with a bit of hipster grunge involved. The shelves have world money all over them. Child guests get dinosaur toys for play while waiting, and hot sauce is always an option. There's even a triple berry jam that tastes better than the typical concord grape variety.

Now, if you visit Al's, make sure you don't faint. But enjoy the time waiting and eating. Don't go with more than 3 people or the conversation will be busted up, and you can't save spots in line. I learned this the hard way.

Buster's Cuban Style

I spent the weekend showing off Minneapolis eats to my friend from Pasedena, Melanie. Though I ate like the hungry caterpillar, I wanted to highlight my favorite new meal.

Butster’s on 28th is in a really normal neighborhood in south Minneapolis. Next door: the Baker’s Wife, a bakery worth visiting. On the other side: a biker’s coffee shop, a new concept to this part of town. It’s a seemingly inconspicuous block of businesses. But inside Buster’s, the beer list goes on for two pages, with descriptions, the food is all unique and the wait staff knows what they’re talking about. Though the TVs weren’t the highest caliber for the Lakers vs. Celtics game, the high backed wooden booths are beautiful. Though the locale isn’t huge, the atmosphere is cozy and packed. You might have to wait for lunch or dinner, but its worth it.

I went out on a limb. Instead of ordering the Bison Burger, which is alright, I put my chips on the Elian Gonzalez. You betcha. That little Latino boy made it to Florida on a raft, back to Cuba and onto a menu in Minneapolis. A lot of traveling for this guy.

This Cuban sandwich is made complete pickles, medium mustard, pork and ham. Served on Baker’s Wife focaccia, I was amazed at the flavor. I’d recommend this and the turkey sandwich with guacamole. My sister wanted to know how they made the guac. I told her to ask but rationalized that there is probably avocado in it. She pursed her lips.

For about $15, and a stop at Buster’s on 28th, you’ll be glad to have found a new favorite in Minneapolis.

Goto Moto-i

So I used a Groupon to go to moto-i, which was so enjoyable. My dear friend, Adia, met me for a memorable dinner. I do so love these things: a good deal and good company.

We ate veggie dumplings, lemon and shrimp wontons and ramen noodle soup. I'd say the best part were the wontons. They had a superbly flaky shell that melted in your mouth and flavor of the whole thing was so very light. I could've probably eaten them all night long.

Take some time to enjoy Minneapolis food eats this weekend.

Cheese and Cake

1. Bring a friend. (optional)
2. Drive or bike to Cafe Latte.
3. Order multiple types of cheesecake.
4. Obtain forks.
5. Place cheesecake in the center of the table.
6. Dig in!

I went with a friend to Cafe Latte and ordered a Key Lime Cheesecake and a Plain with Berry Preserve. What kind of berries? No clue, but it was delicious.

I recommend the plain with berry preserve because it was pretentious. It was simple and easy on the palate.



The Key Lime variety was a bit tart at the end of each bite. Definitely overkill with the chocolate shell. But overall, worth the forkfuls.

Easter Remains

After kicking them around the lawn all Easter Sunday, I've found that there's nothing better to do with those left over colored eggs than to chop them up and add a little of this or a little of that for a quick afternoon meal. I make food for one, so an open-faced avocado egg salad sandwich is a quick and easy way to use up those pretty eggs.



Recipe:
2 Hard Boiled eggs, diced up
1 tbsp yellow mustard
2 tbsp olive oil mayo
dash pepper
dash salt
dash dill
dash garlic salt
1/4 Large Avocado, sliced

Served on toasted Multi-Grain bread from Trader Joes. This bread is my favorite because it's naturally sweet, but high in fiber and flavor. Adding just a tab of butter to the toasted naked bread is even delicious.

Keep on the Sunny Side or Have a Good Day?

Hollandaise sauce smothered poached eggs with hearty ham and great potatoes on the side: welcome to the world of Minneapolis Eggs Benedict! Oh the possibilities! This weeks, I wanted to compare a few places that get good ratings from critics, but can be discussed by foodies with equal accuracy. That being said, if you like breakfast, this is the post for you. The great contenders are Sunny Side Up in Uptown, and Good Day Café in Golden Valley.

I ventured over to Sunny Side up a few Saturdays ago with my college peer Mike. He is a brilliant journalist with a particular blog that focuses on Autism in the media. We discussed various topics, and he didn't mind that I was taking photos of my food, since we both do journalism pretty hardcore.

Sunny Side Up

Two words: French Toast. Sunny Side Up has a Cowboy French toast that takes the original bread and egg batter and adds a brown sugar cornflake crust for added crunchiness. If you're there, add this to the side. You will not be disappointed, unless you just had a filling. This time I took a break from my usual favorites, including the biscuits and gravy, which are the best in the Twin Cities hands down, and I ordered up some poached eggs all dressed up.



These are the three things I liked:

1. The Canadian bacon was sweet, which played off the saltiness of the hollandaise sauce very nicely.
2. The thickness of the hollandaise was exactly right. You never want runny eggs and runny hollandaise, it's just wrong.
3. The eggs were poached perfectly. Yolks were just firm, not extremely runny or too hard.

What didn't work?

I would've liked a tad more hollandaise on my potatoes. But overall, exactly what I wanted to eat.

Good Day Café

This is a new place for me. I met my friend Jamie at the restaurant. It seemed that a running colony had heard this was the place to be. I really enjoyed seeing all the athletic garb. It reminded me of the race I'm running next Saturday. 5K, here I come!



Three things I liked:

1. GDC potatoes are EXCELLENTLY seasoned. They can stand alone. This is one of the first time I passed on ketchup for my heap of starchy goodness.
2. The hollandaise sauce was sweet and savory. It had the same thickness as that of Sunny Side Up's.
3. The ham wasn't too much to chew on. It was the right thickness and very flavorful.

What didn't work? The eggs were a bit too runny. It turned out a soppy plate of yellow sauces.

Who wins? Well I feel like I won. For about $12 a meal, I got two Saturdays of hearty breakfasts. I would recommend both places, but Sunny Side Up gets the thumbs up.