Author Archives: Erik
The Snack Report: Strongbow Honey & Apple Hard Cider
So it looks like we’re in the thick of Fall now. That can mean only one thing; every food and drink gets a seasonal makeover with pumpkin spice and cinnamon variants! Okay, maybe not EVERY one, but it is a time-honored tradition for companies to crank out Autumnal varieties of their products and packaging from September to December. Don’t get me wrong, it’s silly but it’s still pretty tasty in the end. As celebration of the season, I’ll be taking a look at some seasonal exclusives of my favorite drink of all time, hard cider. Specifically, this post focuses on Strongbow Honey & Apple Hard Cider.
Quick Recipe: Sesame Pancakes
Pancake recipes tend to call for some sort of fat in the form of oil or butter, to keep the batter moist as it cooks. This recipe substitutes the regular vegetable/canola oil and uses sesame oil. If you’ve never had it before, it has a dark, rustic flavor and smells absolutely amazing, like pure concentrated sesame cookies. You can generally find it in every Asian market, and even most supermarkets now stock it, though it tends to be fairly expensive in regular stores. If you’re concerned about price, you can easily use oil blends, where its cut with canola oil. It keeps the same delicious smell and flavor, but is just a bit lower in concentration. The pancakes themselves taste like sesame cookies and have a nice enough zing to stand up against syrup.
Food 101: How To Make A Root Beer Float
Soda’s bad for you. That’s a fact of life, and more people need to realize that. It’s one of the biggest culprits behind why America has gotten so fat, considering the average American drinks over 40 frigging gallons per year. Considering each serving is a good 150-200 calories, there’s plenty of evidence for why people shouldn’t be drinking multiple cups of it per day. Hell it reminds me of a friend of mine who even into high school, ate his cereal in Pepsi instead of using milk, since he was vegan. Hooray, no animals were mistreated, you just consumed nearly a pound of sugar! But I digress, this post isn’t meant to be a soda-bashing post. Soda should be considered a treat, like a dessert. Like ice cream. Oh boy, here comes a segue!
Vroooooooooomnope!
Quick Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
Apples are much-splendored Fall crop. They’re tart and sweet and the small ones are perfect for throwing at squirrels and ugly children. We’re lucky enough to have a tree in our yard, but if you’re not among the apple elite you can check out a local orchard to buy some, provided you can beat the yuppie crowds coming in droves from the city in attempts to recall what nature looks like. Either way, fresh apples are a treat every September and October. You can make cider out of them, but that takes all day. You can make a pie with them, but that’s not worth the effort involved. What can you do that doesn’t use too much of your precious, freshly-picked apples, but still puts them on gastronomical display to enjoy? Why not try some apple pancakes?
Pizza Lab #22: Grilled Pineapple Pizza
Well, it’s officially Fall. We’ve been trying to wring out every ounce left of this Summer, for all it had left. The past few weeks have been busy, but Meg A. and I still managed to fit in one last summery Pizza Lab. Of course at this point it’s become a running joke since every time we try to grill a pizza, we tend to misjudge our time and end up grilling in the dark. This time we vowed to avoid that and finally do a barbecue grill pizza during daylight hours!
We were not successful.
However despite our scheduling ineptitude we managed to put together a really tasty, unique pie that certainly was a good way to see off the end of the summertime. Here’s Pizza Lab #22, Grilled Pineapple Pizza!
The Poor Couple's Food Guide 
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