#GoJunkFood is back, this time with

Gourmet BLTs with Sriracha Seafood Salad

See, @elleskitchen and I were thinking that with the gourmet hamburger craze, the bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT) just hasn’t gotten the love it deserves.  So we decided to dedicate this edition of #GoJunkFood to the tastiest, craziest, gourmet-iest BLT sandwiches we could think of.

The inspiration behind my BLT was the need to be a little different.  Last time I did breakfast loaded fries, and that was okay, but not earth shattering.  This time I wanted to do something people would remember.  Thus, the BLT with Sriracha Seafood Salad was born.  It’s a little bit BLT and a little bit lobster roll, but it’s pretty darn good.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bacon Wrapped Tilapia

Tilapia is a favorite around the WellDone household.  For a white fish, it’s tasty, it’s inexpensive, and it’s healthy.

It was that last part, the healthy party, that basically forced me to wrap it in bacon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Blueberry Pancakes

Today’s guest post is from Jen Schall from My Kitchen Addiction.  She was nice enough to let me guest on her blog and then offered to do a guest post for Blog Well Done.  How could I pass up such an offer?  The recipe looks amazing and you’ll never see prettier food photos on my blog!  Enjoy!

I think the advertisers are onto something… Most of us are busy in the mornings and don’t want to take the time to measure out all of the ingredients for pancakes from scratch. Wouldn’t it be helpful if we had a convenient mix that would make the process much easier?

I thought so, too! Don’t worry (or send me hate email)… I’m not proposing that you go out and pick up a package of the boxed pancake mix. You won’t find that stuff in my kitchen. Instead, I have put together a homemade pancake mix that you can mix up when you have some free time and store in your pantry. Then, you’re ready whenever the pancake cravings strike! In fact, these blueberry pancakes can be mixed up using only one mixing bowl. Oh, and did I mention they are healthy, too? The pancake mix is made with white whole wheat flour, but that can be our little secret.

Read the rest of this entry »

Chavrie Blue Berry Salad with Walnuts

At 9:30 PM a few weeks ago, I had a startling realization: I had to bring a dish to church the next day!!  Well, it wasn’t so much a realization as it was an acceptance that I could no longer procrastinate, nor did I have a viable excuse to get out of doing what I promised.

“To the refrigerator!” I cried and I went to the refrigerator.

See, there’s something everyone needs to know about me.  I live in a constant state of preparedness…for the show Door Knock Dinners. Ever since the first New York Battle on Iron Chef, I’ve become obsessed with the idea that any time, Gordon Elliott or an Iron Chef (or you know, me) could walk into my house and prepare a huge gourmet meal with only what I have in my fridge, freezer and big freezer downstairs.

So, it was with the highest level of confidence that I  attacked my pantry on a quest to make something to take the next day.  Let me tell you, I came up with the best idea.  I was going to layer sheets of puff pastry with layers of sweetened goat cheese and fresh, homemade blue berry syrup and then top the whole thing with a nice splash of blueberry balsamic.  Sounds pretty good huh?

Then I realized I was in no mood to cook and made this salad instead.

But you know what?  It rocked!!  It was also my first experience using Chavrie as anything more than a cracker spread.  (Here it comes, FTC disclosure: I was given coupons for free samples, which is why we had some in the house.)

Because it was my first experience using Chavrie, I wish I could have done a little better with it.  I simply did not realize just how soft it was.  Normally when I make this salad, I use feta crumbles.  The Chavrie was far softer than that so when I cut into it, it wanted to spread on me.

Next time, I hope to not be making the salad on the hood of my car so I’ll have time for a little more finesse, but whatever.  (Did I mention I had to buy and breakdown Romaine lettuce in the Target parking lot?  By the way, yes, I still could have made it on Door Knock Dinners, but then it would have been a spinach salad and I wanted Romaine, darn it!)  Still, it was  a good salad.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wonder ingredient powers activate!  Form of:

Crepini Cafe Crepes with Alouette Cheese

So, a couple times now you may have noticed me talking about Crepini Cafe’s crepini, which aren’t quite a crepe and not quite a blini, but they’re filled and they taste good.  (You can check out my reviews for Crepini Cafe Greenwich Spinach and Four Cheese and Basil elsewhere on this fine blog.)  Well, I also asked to try just some of their crepes by themselves since I figure I’ll probably never own my own crepe cooking device.

(This is due in no small part to the fact that I am cheap and my wife hates crepes.)

Also, the good folks at Alouette sent me some coupons to try their cheese spread.  Since I was in an experimentin’ mood this weekend, I thought I would blend them and make a Mexican style crepe using Crepini Cafe crepes instead of tortillas.

How Was It?

REALLY good.  Despite the fact the Crepini Cafe crepes have been in my freezer for a while now, when I baked them for a few minutes in a 350 degree oven, they were still pliable and chewy.  They also tasted great and they went very well with the Alouette, which had great flavor and complemented the vegetarian topping very well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Cupcakes, SugarMamas and Nene Takes The Cake

So, I recently had an article published on FabulousFoods.com.  Here’s an excerpt:

Everyone’s caught cupcake fever. So if you’re looking for new and fun cupcake ideas from the pros for your next delicious cupcake adventure, read on.

Big things come in small packages. Small, individually wrapped packages and topped with delicious frosting, fun shapes, and sometimes even sprinkles.  Yes, right now there is no bigger dessert craze than cupcakes.

Over the past few years they’ve gone from homeroom snack to gourmet staple, with cupcake stores appearing on every street corner, master bakers producing volumes of cupcake recipes and designs, and cupcakes have even found their own show on the Food Network, “Cupcake Wars.”

Read the rest on FabulousFoods.com!

In that article, I talk about two great Kansas City cupcake places: SugarMama’s, which has a storefront in old Overland Park, and Nene Takes The Cake, which features @Ms_Nene delivering amazing cupcakes.

Even cooler, Ms_Nene is working on a project to start a mobile cupcake truck which will drive around the city, delivering sugary goodness to all who desire it.  Click on the link to donate to her Kickstarter project and get free stuff, plus your name on the truck.  (Or else!)

And in general, eat more cupcakes!

(Oh, and if you want to see one of Ms_Nene’s cupcake recipes, check out my Examiner.com article.)

Image duly stolen from FabulousFoods.com.

There’s a new sensation in my house

Grilled Pizza

I know, we came to this one a little late since grilled pizzas are showing up everywhere, but that’s okay.  While I will never be confused as being cutting edge, I do tend to make a mean dish once I finally hop on the culinary bandwagon.

And I have jumped on this bandwagon with both feet.

Grilled Pizza – The Beginning

To begin my initiation, I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some of their regular pizza crust (regular as in note whole grain.)  My wife makes a mean pizza crust, but frankly both of us had had long weeks. Thus we made the not-terribly-difficult decision to pay the $3 and let the fine folks at Whole Foods take care of all our crust needs.  Plus,  Whole Foods pizza crust is pretty darn good.

When I got my crust home, I figured we’d want to have pizza with caramelized onions, so I got them started.  Then, I divided the pizza dough into four smaller balls, rolled them out flat, and let them rest.

But what to do about toppings?

Grilled Pizza and Laughing Cow Cheese

A long, long time ago the good folks at Laughing Cow cheese sent me a coupon for a free sample, which, of course, I accepted.  Because I am kind of a big dummy, I never actually used the darn thing, but that’s okay since my wife keeps a pretty steady supply in the house.  (Sorry for the anecdote, but for FTC purposes, I wanted to say something.  I mean I did receive free product, I just never really used it.  Silly FTC.)  Anway, she loves the stuff and puts it on toast, crackers, tomatoes, etc.  Edit: that never happened.  It was Alouette and Chavrie that sent me coupons.  They’re obviously much better for it.

I wasn’t even thinking about it at first.  As I was trying to figure out how to top my resting crusts, I settled on doing a balsamic/caramelized onion jam and goat cheese pizza.  The problem: no goat cheese!  But, as stated above, we did have Laughing Cow Swiss cheese. 

You know, sometimes it’s okay not to have all the ingredients you wanted…

Read the rest of this entry »

Like Loaded Fries, how about

Steak and Eggs Loaded Fries

So a couple of us from Twitter (myself, @elleskitchen, @RJFlamingo among others) decided to pool our collective talents and write about a topic near and dear (and sometimes in) our heart: loaded French fries.  Check out everyone’s posts and let us know which one you think is best.

For my part, I went with something a little out of the ordinary, not only because it was what I had in my refrigerator, but because I thought it would taste good.  In fact, this could have been my #FridgeFriday post, but that just seemed like cheating.  Anyway, here’s a very Kansas City style version of steak and eggs, using smoked brisket and BBQ sauce.

Read the rest of this entry »

#FridgeFriday Persian Lime Scampi

Hi everyone and welcome to my first #FridgeFriday post!

Now, I know what you’re either wondering what, exactly, is #FridgeFriday??? and/or you’re thinking “Great, he’s gone and done another another of those weird Twitter things.”  Thinkers: you are correct.  I have done another one of those crazy Twitter things.  Wonderers: allow me to explain.

My ridiculously crazily awesomely talented tweep, @sbsbea, has gotten all of us crazy food bloggers to take pictures of their refrigerators every Friday.  We are then instructed to write a post about the meal we made from the contents therein.  Since I love a challenge (and Mrs. WellDone hates wasting food), I couldn’t resist doing it.

However, my first foray did run into one little problem…Mrs. WellDone has both the camera and my iPhone, meaning that I am cameraless.  However, in the spirit of the challenge, I made a meal with only ingredients I had in my house including some frozen shrimp that needed to be eaten, some spinach that needed to be eaten, and some blueberries…that needed to be eaten.  A pic of my less than organized fridge will come later.  Promise.

All I can say is thank goodness for The Tasteful Olive’s balsamic vinegar and Persian lime infused olive oil (of which they so tastefully gave me sample bottles) because even with less than ideal shrimp, spinach, and blueberries, I had a good meal.  (Well, the butter helped, too.)

Oh, and as near as I can tell, this meal was gluten free!  The one sticking point might be the balsamic, but that recipe is another post!

Read the rest of this entry »

Gluten Free Update #3: Troubles, Oh Yeah I Got Them

Okay, so at some point I figured that the wheels would come off this experiment.  Not that I’m quitting, I just realize I need to be smarter about what I eat. 

Suffice it to say, my mistakes are wholly my fault.  I should know better, but if I was really Celiac, I’d be in trouble.

Amongst my gaffes:

1. Soy Sauce.  It’s made with wheat.  I knew it was made with wheat.  I tend to choose tamari because it has a milder flavor due to the fact it’s made with rice.  D’oh.  The bigger issue, though, is soy sauce finds its way into a lot of things I like to eat including unagi sauce on sushi and BBQ pork buns at the Asian market (of which I have had several due to their rice dough.)  Ugh. 
2. Maltodextrin.  I’d like to get more opinions on this.  I’ve heard it can be a problem because it’s made from wheat in some countries.  Generally, though, since I am still learning about gluten free foods, I should have followed the rule if I don’t really know what it is, I probably don’t need to eat it. 
3. The biscuits at the Bristol.  The biscuits are delicious.  Sweet, yet doughy.  And oh yeah, they’re made from gluten.  Because enjoying them is a force of habit, I totally wasn’t even thinking as I was munching away tonight at dinner.   Stupid, stupid, stupid.

My consolation is that I had to write a similiar post after becoming vegan where I realized I was chowing down on a whole lot of animal products I couldn’t see and weren’t in the dish.  Still, I feel bad… so learn from my mistakes in order for me to feel better about life.  K?  Thanks!

In all seriousness, I think part of the gluten free experience is learning what to look for in labels.  It also means thinking before I eat anything.  I’ll get better.

Anyway, enough berating myself for now.  I did want to share one quick recipe.  I realize it’s simple, but it’s so darn tasty.

This was the topping I put on my bunless burgers over the weekend.  It uses Miracle Whip (which according to Celiac.com is okay), but if you don’t want the dairy, swap it out for some veganaise, 1/2 of a lemon’s worth of juice, and a healthy pinch of sugar.  It also uses sriracha, which according to Celiac.com, is cool, too.

Read the rest of this entry »