Saturday, May 28, 2011

Happy Hour at Happy Dog

As a true hot-dog fan, I've been wanting to go to Happy Dog for a while, so when a group of friends planned a happy hour yesterday, I jumped at the chance. I'll definitely be back.

It's a casual bar atmosphere with a great beer list and a simple, yet surprising menu. Your choices: hot dog, veggie dog, tater tots, fries and - honestly - more toppings than you could ever imagine in your life. Because there are so many to choose from, they do offer a menu of "suggestive wieners" to help you decide.

Choose as many toppings as you want for only $5. Here's what we got:

Veggie dog with tomato, caramelized onions, house made ketchup and marinated portobello mushroom




Hot dog with chorizo chili, tillamook cheddar cheese, warm pineapple-ginger-currant chutney and potato chips
Hot dog with teriyaki onions, red pepper relish, warm pineapple-ginger-currant chutney and French brie cheese

Hot dog with hot pepper relish, Brazilian chimichurri, Caribbean coleslaw and chorizo chili

Then, for just $2.50, you can order fries or tater tots and choose 5 dipping sauces. With 3 orders, we had 15 different sauces on the table, including raspberry crunch mustard, black truffle honey mustard, saffron aioli, creole remoulade, brazillian chimichurri, oaxacan red chile & chocolate mole and so many more!

For such a low price, you can't get much more creative than that.

Check it out: http://www.happydogcleveland.com/


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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day Brunch

Happy Mother's Day...hope everyone is enjoying this time with their families.

Because it's such a busy day and I live out of town, we hosted a brunch with both of our mothers and families, allowing the evening to be available for other visits.

This was the first brunch I hosted, but it really turned out great. Here's what we ate:
Lemon Pepper Panko-crusted Chicken

Zucchini, Tomato and Orzo Frittata

Fruit Salad and Croissants





To prepare the chicken:

Cut chicken breasts into small cutlets.
Beat one egg with a few tablespoons of milk. Mix panko crumbs with the zest of three lemons, salt and black pepper.
Zip each cutlet into the egg mixure, then the bread crumbs, completely coating each piece.
In a large frying pan with olive oil, lightly fry each piece of chicken for about one minute on each side, until a crust forms.
Bake the chicken at 275 degrees for one hour (or, if you're short on time, 30 minutes at 350 works just fine). To keep the chicken moist, place small bits of butter on each piece, or pour a small amount of white wine or chicken broth in the baking dish.

To prepare the frittata:
Cook about 1 cup of orzo pasta according to package directions.
Dice one small onion, zucchini, tomato and three cloves of garlic. Saute all veggies in olive oil until soft. Add orzo pasta and mix well. Add enough olive oil to be sure pan is coated.
Beat 8 to 10 eggs with about 1/4 cup milk. Add salt and pepper to egg mixture and add mixture to pan. Press pasta and veggie mixture to be an even level. Cook in the frying pan until the bottom of the egg mixture is set. Then, place in the oven for about 30 minutes until eggs are fully cooked.
Cut into wedges and serve.