Cleveland Food Review: Melt Bar and Grilled

14718 Detroit Avenue

Lakewood, Ohio

www.meltbarandgrilled.com

mmmm... melty goodness.  what's better than melted cheese on buttery bread with french fries?  the answer:  nothing.  lexy and i both enjoyed our sandwiches from Melt-- lexy ordered the Winter Chicken (grilled 

chicken, creamy chipotle sauce, pepper jack cheese) and I ordered the Mushroom Melt (garlic portabellas, caramel port onion, provolone cheese).  lexy liked her 

sandwich so much that she ignored the pickles on the side and didn't freak out!  hooray!

cleveland cupcake review: White Flower

White Flower Cake Shoppe:  LaPlace Shopping Center, Beachwood, OH

http://www.whiteflowercake.com/

Ambiance:  2 scoops of icing.  While the big pretend wedding cakes were quite impressive, it wasn't the cozy, sit down and lick-frosting-off-your-fingers kind of establishment that a cupcake shoppe should be.  It was very white and almost sterile looking... although the smell was quite yummy.

Customer Services:  2 scoops of icing.  The woman at the desk was nice, but not super-friendly.  She seemed like maybe she could take or leave our business, and also assume that Lexy did not want a cupcake... Lexy is wondering if this means the woman thought she was too fat to eat

 cupcakes... or maybe that she was so skinny that clearly she doesn't eat cupcakes-- either way, assumptions were made, and you know what happens when people make assumptions.

Flavor Variety:  4.5 scoops of icing.  There were quite a few yummy choices-- we had a hard time choosing what we should get...  there were lots of flavors and they all looked delectable.  Both Lexy and myself chose the banana cream cupcakes, which the website describes as 

NEW! Banana Creme Pie:

Banana cake topped with custard and vanilla creme, and sprinkled with graham crumbs.

We both agreed that this was a good choice.

Quality of Cupcake:  3 scoops of icing.  Individually, all the flavors were fantastic-- the custard, the cake, the icing... however, when they all came together, it was a big sloppy mess.  The cake wasn't physically strong enough to hold up that yummy thick icing, so it kind of just became a big goopy mess-- a yummy one-- but, nonetheless, a mess.

Cupcake Size:  4 scoops of icing.  White Flower did well in this department, as they carry large SUPER SIZE cupcakes with big pretty flowers on the top (meaning lots of yummy icing).  One suggestion Lexy had was that they also carry "mini" cupcakes as well, so she could have tried more of the flavors.

Overall Impression:  3ish scoops of icing.  White Flower was an excellent beginning to our cupcake adventures in Ohio and the Banana Cream cupcake was very good-- with just a little tweaking, it could be UNSTOPPABLE!

Fancy Brunch Treat

In honor of mother's day I was making some fancy brunch for my boyfriend's mother. These little treats are super easy to make, and I think will impress those around you (which, I mean, isn't that what we're all about anyway?). Recipe comes from Taste of Home, health cooking.

So... all you have to do is take 10 wonton wrappers (you find these in the produce section at the grocery) and you mush them into cupcake tins (pre-sprayed with non-stick stuff). The recipe says "mini cupcake tin". I don't have a mini one, so I just used the normal one, and it seems to work out just fine. After you push them into the tin, spray the wonton wrappers and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, make the egg filling. Really all you need to do is make some scrabbled eggs. Recipe calls for 2 eggs, so I used the egg beater equivalent. It also called for salt and garlic powder and a little bit of hot sauce. I added some oregano and chopped up green onion. You can make the eggs however you like though...maybe with some sauteed peppers or tomatoes? Cook the eggs in a skillet.

Then, you just spoon the cooked scrambled eggs into the 10 wonton cups. You can decorate with a little bit of chopped tomato, green onion, or bell pepper on top! The recipe says that for 2 it is 110 calories, 4 fat, and 1 fiber. But, they use real eggs in theirs, so this has to be less. As it stands, that's 2 points for 2 (or, for you math geniuses out there... that's 1 point a per egg cup).

****REMEMBER***** On Wednesday night I (Lexy) am flying across the country in order to be with Annie for some more blogging craziness. We already have some cupcake stores scouted out and plan on cooking up some fun food! Also, its her birthday, so people should tell her happy birthday!

Oh oh Cheeri-O!

I never used to be a big cereal person, but I have found a lot of joy from Cheerios recently. There are two types that I currently love. The multi-grain Cheerios and the Banana Nut, and this is why...

You can have a WHOLE CUP of the multi-grain for only ONE POINT! That's pretty amazing. If you eat it with milk, then its two points, but still awesome for a cup of cereal. I like to take a cups worth to work and eat them dry for a great one point snack. The added benefit of this is that there is some sort of childhood joy of eating cheerios with my fingers out of a bag. :D

The banana nut Cheerios are super yummy, but not quite as healthy. You get 2/3 of a cup and if you eat it with milk its 3 points, but the taste is absolutely delicious if you love banana flavored things. Also a magical mid-day treat in order to regress like a child while at work.

EDIT: Kevin is throwing a wee bit of a fit right now because he is not getting any credit for being the person who first purchased the multi grain cheerios. Yes, dear Kevin, it was you who introduced me to the wonders of eating cheerios, and for this I am thankful and forever in your debt. Love you!

Spoiler Alert!!

Just a heads up to all our faithful followers....

Annie and Lexy will be together again in 2 weeks from today!! Yes, that's right, two weeks!!! This time taking Cleveland by storm! Stay tuned for some excessive blogging and gluttony to ensue :)

Quick, Easy, and Super Yummy Dinner!

The other day I couldn't decide what to make for dinner. I spent many an hour scouring the internet (internets?) for something yummy to eat. Then low and behold on allrecipes.com i found a recipe for a yummy spicy/sweet sauce to put on chicken. Now, we all know that Annie is not a friend of the meat, but there are boys in her and my life that are not satisfied unless there is a chunk of dead something on their plate. BUT the cool thing about this recipe is that I think it's really good and easy to make it meat-free, OR perhaps with some soy curls?!?! So, here is what I did (or rather what Kevin and I did...he helped).

SAUCE
mix together:
1 Tablespoon brown sugar (I use splenda brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (about 3ish garlic cloves)
2 Tablespoons hot sauce (taco sauce...)

1) Cut some chicken up into stir fry size pieces
2) Grill chicken on your panini/george forman grill until cooked
3) Put chicken in skillet with sauce and stir around for awhile (about 5 minutes or so on medium heeat)
4) Cook a bag of frozen veggies (I just use a stir fry mix that you microwave for 5 minutes and cooks in the bag)
5) Take chicken out of skillet and put in bowls with some rice (rice is cooking while you are cooking the chicken)
6) Throw bag of veggies in the skillet with the left over sauce and stir around to coat
7) Put veggies in bowl with rice and chicken (if you're eating meat....)

AND THATS IT!! Super easy! This whole meal seriously takes maybe 20 minutes from start to finish. I usually cook about a cup of rice for 2 people. I make my bowl with just a little bit of rice and a ton of veggies. Kevin's has lots of rice, no veggies, and lots of chicken.

I also think that you could take soy curls and rehydrate according to directions and then put them in the skillet and cook just like it were chicken. I have big plans to try that at some point.

ranch dressing!

ranch with 1.5 grams of fat??!  i didn't believe it until i tasted this magical treat from trader joes.  this parmesan ranch dressing tastes like a drip of heaven (not like the typical nasty diet ranch dressing) and rings in at only 30 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per 2 T serving.  INCREDIBLE!  i promptly went back to the store and purchased 3 bottles, which are anxiously awaiting my tummy in the fridge.  you can find this yummy treat in the salad section of trader joes (with the bagged spinach) and it must reside in the fridge, even before it is opened.