The night diner food changed my life

Diner food is just different than food at another restaurant.  When you go to a diner it is because you expect and want diner food.  This is exactly what I was thinking when my girlfriends claimed they were taking me to the best diner in the entire state of New Jersey last night.

Although it wasn't in the best of areas, Tops Diner in Newark N.J. was immediately a friendly and fun environment.  I couldn't get over how cute of a place it was and how huge it was inside!  Anyway, I was totally not expecting anything more than the typical, greasy, delicious diner food that I get at my usual place in Somerville.  Boy was I wrong!

When the waitress sat us and put the menus down I was blown away!  So many options, so much more than you would generally get and they were all creative and fantastic sounding. I had no idea what to get and eventually settled on a chocolate milkshake (my friends all raved about them) and red velvet pancakes.  Yes I ate like crap last night, sorry diet.  

First of all, the milkshake was delicious and the red velvet pancakes were sinful.  The food was nothing like typical diner food and I think my mind was blown.  Seriously, Tops Diner will forever set the bar way too high for any other diners I eat at...sorry in advance.  

The true test will be to take Tim and see if he loves it.  

In other news, I am now a yogurt snob?!  I bought yogurt that was on super sale over the weekend and it isn't as expensive as the yogurt I usually buy, but hey I wanted a good deal.  Well....I totally hate it.  Which is stupid, but I do. 

Perfect spring frittata!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Tim and I cooked  brunch for my family the Saturday before Easter. I put up a few of the recipe's from brunch but totally forgot to put up this amazing ham, broccoli and cheese frittata!

Ingredients:

• 8 large eggs
• One package of steamed broccoli
• 1/2 pound of deli ham
• 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Heat oil in at least a 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat
• Add broccoli and ham to the the skillet
• In a large bowl, whisk eggs, cheese, salt and pepper together and pour into skillet.  Make sure that everything is covered.  You want to cook this until edges are slightly set (about 1-2 minutes).
• Transfer to the oven and bake until center is set, check at 20 minutes.  Do not put your skillet into the oven if it has a plastic handle.  I transferred mine, after the edges were set, to a quiche dish which ended up working perfectly!

Enjoy!

A little trip to Hoboken

Last Friday, Tim and I headed to Hoboken with my brother, his girlfriend, my parents and some family friends to watch Ryan's future baseball team play at Steven's University.  Afterwards we got wind of a really awesome pizza place where the slices are basically the size of your head...I'm not even joking.

Anyway, the place is called Benny Tudino's and it's obviously owned by Benny Tudino who is a nice, old Italian man that I somehow ended up meeting at the end of the night.  It was one of those places I feel like you see in Goodfellas.  Full of Italian's itching to grab a seat with Benny at the front booth.  That man must stay there all night.

At first, I wasn't feeling pizza because I'm weird and only sometimes lactose intolerant.  So at first Tim and I ordered eggplant parm sandwiches which just weren't good.  I'm not saying they were bad, I'm just saying it wasn't for me.  It was very traditional and wasn't served breaded so I felt like I was just tasting eggplant.  Not a fan.  By the end of the night, after not really touching my food, I ordered a slice of thin crust plain pizza and I was a happy girl.

Seriously, go to this place for pizza and wings and nothing else....except maybe the fried calamari.

Cinnamon bun casserole

This cinnamon bun casserole was among many of the dishes that Tim and I cooked for my family Saturday morning.  This one seemed to be the fan favorite!

Ingredients:

• Baking spray for your 11x7 pan
• 2 cans of cinnamon rolls with icing
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• Maple syrup (if you want, it's delicious without it)

Directions:

• Heat your oven to 375 degrees and spray your pan
• Open both cans of rolls and begin pulling the rolls apart to make smaller pieces, place in dish
• In a bowl, mix together eggs, cream, cinnamon and vanilla
• Gently pour this mixture over the pieces so that they are almost covered
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.  I took mine out just at the 20 because I found that it cooked very quick, so keep an eye on them so that they do not burn
• Heat the icing in a microwavable bowl for 20 seconds and pour over casserole when you are ready to serve!

Enjoy! 

The easiest buffalo chicken dip you'll ever make

When Tim and I started dating I remember asking him what his favorite foods were, just so I'd know and I'll never forget what he said.  Tim's favorite foods are buffalo chicken wings and cinnamon buns.  I thought it was the funniest thing but I never forgot it.  Over the last year I have made him countless dishes but he and I had always talked about finding the perfect buffalo chicken dip to make as a snack. We like to cook together but we also like when it's easy to do so we looked and looked and finally found something worth making!  We got the base of the recipe from my Aunt Rachel and have since just modified it for ourselves since we have made it a million times!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz of low fat cream cheese, soft
• 1/2 cup of blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing (I use low fat or fat free as well)
• 2 cans of canned chicken, drained
• 2 oz of cheese (any kind, I use mozzarella, part skim)
• 1/2-1 cup of hot sauce (start with a half and do this to taste)

You can always play around with how much of each ingredient you put into the dish.  Every dip we make tastes different.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a medium sized dish that can be heated in the oven, add the cream cheese and stir until smooth
• Mix in dressing, hot sauce and cheese
• Mix in the canned chicken
• Top with extra cheese
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling