So, the other night, I caramelized some onions for some burgers. In my time-honored tradition of always making too much… I had some leftover. I had an idea for English muffins for breakfast topped with the onions & some Swiss cheese, so I tried it, out.
The were absolutely delicious. Just posting this so I can pin it & refer back to it.
When caramelizing the yellow onions in a ridiculous amount of butter, I added some salt, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, ground mustard, & black pepper. I have no idea if this is “correct” but it was delicious. I start them out on medium until they’re translucent, then cook on medium-low for a ridiculously long time.
Fast forward to the next morning, I split some L’Oven Fresh English Muffins, spread butter on them, spread some of the leftover caramelized onions on them, and topped with half a slice of Swiss cheese… and baked in a pre-heated 350° F oven for about 13 minutes. (The onions were cold from the ‘fridge, & I wanted to be sure they were heated up before everything was too toasted.)
It was a great breakfast… but I did miss a beef broth or au jus kind of flavor. Would have been like French Onion English Muffins then. Maybe next time?
What would you call this? Have you done something similar? Would you do it different? Ever try the oven method to caramelize onions, or something other than slow & low on the stovetop? Let me know in the comments!
The algorithm wanted me to try the canned biscuit dough pretzel bites. It kept coming up. I kept clicking. I posted about it on social media asking questions. I looked at recipes online. They all had different methods! Are these people even trying their own recipes? They’re wildly different.
I decided to try some different methods, & bounce it off of AI to get a cooking time/temp. I put the following into Gemini, ChatGPT, & Perplexity:
Hello. I have seen many recipes for pretzel bites made from pre-made canned biscuit dough online. There are so many variations, I was wondering if you could recommend one singular method as to time and temperature. I would like to bake them in the oven. My oven has traditional, convection, and air fry settings. Can you suggest a time, temperature, and setting?
Also, I am having trouble deciding if boiling in baking soda water, or just coating in baking soda water is the way to go. Also, what is the best ratio of water to baking soda?
And, I hear egg wash and just a melted butter wash are good ways to coat them before baking. Would you use the whole egg, or just the whites or yolks? Can you do both?
I am tempted to bake pretzels in 4 quadrants, one quarter each of them in the following combos;
Boiled in baking soda water / Egg wash.
Boiled in baking soda water / Melted butter.
Coated in baking soda water / Egg wash
Coated in baking soda water / Melted butter
Do you think that would solve most of my questions? Can you put together the baking time & temp, and baking soda solution measurements and boiling or coating times?
Here’s what they said:
Gemini’s Answer
GhatGPT’s Answer
Perplexity’s Answer
I’ll try to link to the full answers here too, as I did keep all 3 conversations going for a bit with different queries.
They looked OK for the most part. I had two cans of pre-made biscuit dough, both were Pillsbury Grands Southern Homestyle. One was Butter Tastin’, one was Buttermilk. Butter Tastin’ was tray 1, Buttermilk was tray 2. I tried all the things. Baked at 425° for 8 minutes. The boiled ones puffed up a bit, I only let them go for 15 seconds using Alexa as my timer, as I read that boiling too long in the baking soda can give you a metallic taste. The baking soda bath was in warm water… I only left them in for as long as it took me to boil the other ones. I did forget to put salt on until halfway through cooking. I used the coarse salt grinder.
Pre-Made Biscuit Dough Pretzel Blobs by AiXeLsyD13
I broke each quadrant down & gave it a letter, & a really short summary…
Absolute 🥨 Shenanigans
A | Butter Tastin’ / Boiled in Baking Soda / Egg Wash – Most pretzel-like texture. Needed baked a bit more.
B | Butter Tastin’ / Boiled in Baking Soda / Butter Wash – Seemed like crunchy biscuits.
C | Butter Tastin’ / Baking Soda Bath / Egg Wash – Tasted burnt-ish.
D | Butter Tastin’ / Baking Soda Bath / Butter Wash – Straight up biscuit.
E | Buttermilk / Boiled in Baking Soda / Egg Wash – The outside was very pretzely.
F | Buttermilk / Boiled in Baking Soda / Butter Wash – Close to a pretzel. -ish.
G | Buttermilk / Baking Soda Bath / Egg Wash – Good… but crunchy. Maybe baked less time?
H | Buttermilk / Baking Soda Bath / Butter Wash – Very biscuit-like.
So, that was a thing. Definitely going boiled, & egg wash next time. May seek out some coarse salt or pretzel salt. I may try it at 400° on the convection setting for 8 minutes, or a little longer on the regular setting at 425°. Also, may try cooking on a baking rack & cooling on a cooling rack. I may go got more traditional biscuit dough too, instead of what I had. At the end of the day, these all tasted great dipped in some Herlocher’s. I just wish I had some beer left, but I used my last can of Straub Amber making BBQ pulled pork sandwiches (and rocking out) today. Also, gotta try some with cheese in the middle, right?
Also, I know they’re not perfect yet, but these AI chat bots can REALLY help consolidate / create recipes pulled from so many online sources. It seems like you can search for 5 recipes, & get 7 different cooking times & temperatures at the very least. Then, like my stuff, if there’s no “Jump to Recipe” button, you gotta use Cooked.Wiki, JustTheRecipe.com, or Just The Recipe. As of now, the AI bots are not riddled with advertising and paid ad placement/rankings. They all have their strengths & weaknesses.
Here’s where you hit me up in the comments and/or on social media with your tried-and-true pretzel & pretzel bite methods. I’m not really all that super interested in making dough, so that’s why the canned dough piqued my interest. And, have you used AI prompts for cooking or anything else interesting lately?
I love a good hot sandwich smothered in gravy, be it roast beef, meatloaf, or turkey. I was in the mood for a turkey one like you’d get at a diner, and being a week night after work, wanted to put it together pretty quickly as I hadn’t thought ahead to use the crock pot.
Putting it here, so if I want it again I’ll remember what I did right & want to try it again. I may have to double the recipe when the kids are home. This fed two of us & left enough for me for lunch.
The Turkey:
2 Breast Cutlets
1 can of Yuengling Traditional Lager (Or Straub Amber, or Shiner Bock, or Smithwick’s, or Killian’s Irish Red. Pick a good beer.)
⅔ cup carrot chips. (Yup, cheated & bought those in a bag too.)
1 Spanish Onion, peeled & quartered.
2 tsp. of minced garlic from a jar like a lazy person.
A bunch of your preferred spices. (I used, cracked pepper, poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, Mrs. Dash’s table blend, and a bit of Season All.)
Pre-heat the oven to 350°
Put the turkey cutlets in a roasting pan, & pour the beer over them. Again, get good beer. No one wants you to cook with Coors or Budweiser or Mic Ultra.
Toss in the onion & carrot.
Add all the spices. When you think it’s too much, keep going.
Stick in your meat thermometer probe that reads temperature while cooking.
Pit the lid on, put it in the oven.
I set the timer for 50 minutes, but it was done in a half hour or so. Cook to 165° internal temp & let it rest. I got distracted & took it to 170° and no one died, so don’t worry if it’s not precise.
The Veggies:
Bundle of Broccoli
Carrots from that bag you already opened.
Chicken Bullion Cube.
You still have those spices out, right?
Eyeball some water into the pot, ad the bullion & spices.
Chop that broccoli up and compost the stems or make those little fried things that looks delicious.
Put the broccoli & carrots in the steamer thing that goes on top of the pot.
Boil it for… I dunno. Not long. I like my broccoli bright green & crunchy. Bonus with the carrots being cut like this, they cook quickly too.
The ‘Taters:
They’re from a box. Follow the directions… sort of. I bought the store brand.
Use more butter than they call for.
Put a chicken bullion cube in the water instead of salt.
instead of lowfat milk, use ½ whole milk and ½ buttermilk. Add sour cream if you’re into complete and total anarchy.
The Gravy:
2 jars of turkey gravy
roasting pan drippings
A bit of those carrots & onions.
Heat the gravy on medium-high.
Add pan drippings to taste
Chop up the carrots & onions pretty small, & add them too.
Cook it on medium until it thickens back up.
The Sandwich:
Texas Toast (Why do they call it that? it wasn’t toasted.)
That turkey, sliced after it has rested a bit.
That gravy.
Put the bread on the plate, with some mashed potatoes beside it.
Put the turkey on top.
Add some gravy on top of everything.
Put another piece of bread on the top. (Unless you want an open-faced sandwich.)
Slather more gravy on that.
Drink a shot of gravy.
Don’t forget to eat your vegetables so it’s a healthy meal. This is a quick week night dinner that tastes like it cooked all day.
Things I might try next time…
Toast the Texas Toast, or grill it up like grilled cheese or a patty melt?
Bacon pieces in the gravy.
Bacon on the sandwich.
Have any suggestions, tips, tricks, or secrets?
If you were a lunch lady in the 80’s and know how to make/where to get that greenish-yellow glow-in-the-dark colored school cafeteria gravy, hit me up in the comments! I am super nostalgic for that,
The wife & daughter are under the weather so I offered to make some home made chicken-noodle soup. Not much is more of a classic and traditional comfort than chicken-noodle soup, right? Around here, the stuff like Eat ‘n Park serves is a comfort-food staple. I love those style noodles. I make soups slightly differently every time, but this seemed to come together quickly and it was very flavorful. I’d definitely do it this way again.
I posted photos to Facebook & Instagram, & thought I’d share the recipe here too. I like to have leftover soup. Here’s what I posted on social media, maybe slightly edited;
This was the cheater method, but these frozen noodles are awesome. I made A LOT of soup. Ha ha. This could easily be halved.
I started with grilling chicken tenders on the panini grill, added a pretty good amount of “rotisserie chicken” spices. Two competing name brands happened to be in the spice rack, so that’s what I used.
I sautéed some shredded carrots, half a Spanish onion, and some celery stalks in a few pats of butter on the bottom of the stock pot.
Then I added some minced garlic (yes, the stuff from a jar soaked in olive oil because I am lazy), & some fresh parsley from the garden. I didn’t measure any of it.
I also used poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, white & black pepper, salt, & a shake of cayenne.
I de-glazed a bit with some chicken stock, then added the rest… 2 boxes of chicken stock, 1 box vegetable broth, 1 box low-sodium chicken broth (because vegetable broth usually has a much higher sodium content), 1 box bone broth. I ended up with 3 different name brands… just to get the mix of slightly different liquids.
I have used chicken bullion cubes in the past to save all kinds of money and use beer in my ham soups all the time.
I brought all that to a boil.
I added 2 bags of the frozen Reames egg noodles, the grilled chicken (that I cut up while it was boiling), and brought it back to a boil, simmered for about 20 minutes as per the directions on the noodles.
This almost overflowed my stock pot, but stirring kept it from boil over. Ha ha.
I have used regular dry noodles or Amish noodles, and even home-made noodles… but the Reaves ones really do taste fantastic and require zero work. Ha ha.
I like the taste of the grilled chicken in the soup. I left it just long enough to get grill lines. I have made it from scratch, using rotisserie chicken, made my own broth from a roasted chicken… I’d put this up against any of those methods and it’s super quick.
(Not-even-remotely-a-)Pro tip… For lunch the next day, all the noodles had soaked up all the liquid. Gonna put some chicken bullion cubes in some water in the stock pot, then add the soup to re-heat. It’s honestly good as-is re-heated in a bowl in the microwave.
If you make this, or your own version, tell me what you think in the comments! What are your favorite shortcuts for making tasty chicken noodle soup?
Someday I may try to make this (probably cut in half) in the pressure cooker, if I can get over how it wronged me on chili.
🥣🥣🥣
Stuff you need:
Countertop grill
Stock pot (and a stove, too I guess.)
Tongs
Spatula
Large Spoon
Ingredients:
(2) small packs of chicken breast tenders
Extra Virgil Olive Oil (I keep some it in a spray bottle and use it to coat the grill)
Rotisserie Chicken Seasoning (or your favorite Season-Salt or Mrs. Dash’s or whatever) – I don’t measure, I just shake it on.
(3) pats of butter
(1) cup (ish) shredded carrots
(1) cup (ish) chopped celery
(½) Spanish onion (I think they’re sweeter than sweet onions, but you’re cooking, so use your favorite onion.)
(1) tsp. minced garlic (the lil’ stuff from jar, or be difficult & use fresh)
Fresh parsley – A small unmeasured & finely chopped bit, I pulled mine from the garden.
(2) 24 oz. bags of frozen egg noodles
(2) 32 oz. cartons chicken stock
(1) 32 oz. carton vegetable broth
(1) 32 oz. carton low-sodium chicken broth
(1) 32. oz. carton chicken bone broth
Spices, I don’t measure any of these… I just shake it in:
So, I made some really easy turkey noodle soup yesterday. It turned out to be pretty delicious, and I lucked out because a lot of the ingredients were on sale.
My cell phone takes absolutely terrible photos, but trust me... this was delicious.
In the morning, I popped 2 turkey breast cutlets into the crock pot, piled on top of chopped baby-cut carrots & celery. I added some a cup of water with a chickenbullion cube… and piled on some spices; Poultry Seasoning, Season All, black pepper, garlic, sage, and parsley. I should have probably added an onion, but I forgot.
8 hours later, I boiled some wide noodles in 2 cans of turkey broth, 2 cans of vegetable broth, and 2 cans of low sodium chicken broth. When the noodles were cooked, I chopped up the turkey boobs, and dumped the contents from the crock pot into the boiling pot of noodles for the soup… I added a little more water, another bullion cube, and simmered for a while.
Result? Rather effortless yet delicious soup.
I found myself wondering if the broth & noodles would have cooked well in the crock pot. Will noodles cook well without the boiling & just the saturation? Would they eventually fall apart if over-cooked?
I’ve also done something similar with a rotisserie chicken… I’ll sauté the carrots, celery, & maybe garlic & onion with some butter in the soup pot, then add chicken and/or vegetable broth, boil the noodles, & add chicken.
How do you make chicken or turkey noodle soup?
How do you make your other favorite kinds of soup?
Have any secret ingredients?
I generally put in cayenne or something else hot… but I’ve been told to cool it with the spices for a while thanks to G.E.R.D. lately. Sometimes I add beer to soups… just because I can. I dunno if it’d go well in chicken or turkey noodle though?
I for one was growing tired of the tragic stories. Jared Smyth and his school had an action plan, and it saved his life. This is how all these types of stories should end! Congratulations to all involved! The kid himself, the school nurse, the parents, the administration, the hospital, and the media for covering good news.
Sadly, I can only find one source for the article, while there were a plethora for Ammaria Johnson & Katelyn Carlson. More media outlets need to pick this up & run with it! Get the word out there that having epi-pens in schools is a great thing! Of course, it always helps to educate your child on not taking any food from others… but as evidenced, it’s not always that easy, and accidents do happen.
Heh. McDonald’s wrote back about my brief stop and UrbanSpoon.com review (posted with pictures) the other night.
Here’s the message below, that rides the “impersonally personal response” line quite well.
Someone got rid of the pictures at UrbanSpoon.com… perhaps they were flagged as inappropriate? I can see that. Oh well, no reason I can’t show them here.
Here’s my review…
“Sadly, had the best service there tonight in years…” by ERiC AiXeLsyD (98 reviews)
November 29, 2009 –Doesn’t like it – Small crew tonight, decent night-time crowd, stopped for a late dinner, was served relatively quickly… fries were a perfect golden color and hot… burgers were OK, super-greasy but it IS McDonald’s. We were out at an event earlier, on the way home… had to use the facilities… but they were trashed. Stall #1 had no TP dispenser, the roll was on the back of the commode, and the bowl was chock full of the stuff. Stall #2 had a broken doorknob/lock mechanism. One hand dryer was stuck on, the other didn’t work, and both urinals were full of urine. I know they can’t control flushing… but periodic checks/cleanings and some repairs might be in order. Just when I thought this place had their stuff together for once… My advice? When stopping here, use the facilities somewhere else.
And here’s their response with my message submitted through the McWebform following below…
From: McDonalds.CustomerCare@us.mcd.com To: eric_aixelsyd@yahoo.com Sent: Tue, December 1, 2009 5:14:49 AM Subject: Message from McDonald’s USA
Hello Eric:
Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald’s Customer Service Center to bring your recent experience to our attention.First, I hope you will accept my sincere apology for your disappointment in McDonald’s. I can assure you that we want you to be completely satisfied every time you visit one of our restaurants.Because most McDonald’s restaurants are independently owned and operated, I have forwarded your comments to the franchise owner or local representative for follow up at the restaurant you visited. Please be assured that your comments will be investigated and, if appropriate, corrective action will be taken.
Secondly, although we did not completely meet your expectations, please know that our restaurant employees strive to maintain the highest standards of quality, service, cleanliness and value and it’s certainly nice to know that their efforts are appreciated. We want to recognize your complimentary comments and thank you for your kind words.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald’s and giving us the opportunity to address your concerns. Customer feedback is very important to us as it helps us improve. McDonald’s is number one because of customers like you.
Ashley
McDonald’s Customer Response Center
ref#:6502666
————————————————————————————————————–
Please do not “reply” to this email response. No “replies” can be received through this mailbox. If you wish to contact McDonald’s Customer Response Center again, please visit our website at www.mcdonalds.com
Rarely is this kind of stuff ever followed up by the local chain. I don’t know if that’s indicative of stores nation-wide, or just in our area. Then again… it gets me wondering… I put my address in that webform… and my photo is up at UrbanSpoon.com.
World (and Lunar) Domination 