Kitchen Quick Tips - Homemade Popsicle Idea

Pour milk into an emptied jar of jam that has not been scraped out.  Put the lid on and shake to flavour the milk.  Freeze in popsicle molds for a frozen treat.

A Pit Stop At Checkers

If you have been following this blog you will know my husband and I are not huge fast food fans by any stretch of the imagination.  From time to time we hear about a fast food restaurant that we are familiar with.  Depending on the recommendation we may make it a point to try out the food when we are on a road trip.  So it was with Checkers.

Checkers is a drive-in restaurant only.  There are no on site seating arrangements.  This keeps their overhead low and that definitely is reflected in their food prices.  The Checkers restaurants are rather sleek with a lot of chrome combined with a red, black and white theme.

We stopped at the Checkers on US 98 North.  The chrome sparkled with the bright sunlight creating a nice contrast to the deep blue sky.  The drive-in itself is quite small.  We drove in on the right hand side, placed our order then picked it up on the left hand side.  There was a slight wait for our order.  I don't know if this is the norm or not but we really didn't mind.  Our total meal cost came to $11.21 for two people.

We ordered a small onion rings with our meal rather than fries.  The onion ring portion was more than enough for two people.  The coating was crunchy but on the spicy side something we were not quite expecting.  They would have been nice with a bit of ranch dipping sauce but that wasn't offered.

Without a dipping sauce the spicy coating on the onion rings was a bit over powering.  I'm glad we didn't order a larger portion or a portion each as they would have gone to waste.  The onion rings were simply over seasoned to the point they were just too much by themselves.

My husband ordered the road house special - 2 road house burgers for $4.  The road house burger comes sandwiched between two slices of Texas style bread. The beef patties were topped with onion rings, American sliced cheese and barbeque sauce.  These were good sized burgers with the bun making them a bit on the unique side both in appearance and taste.

My husband really enjoyed these burgers.  He had one for dinner and saved the other for lunch the following day.  It reheated well which is a nice bonus for a left over fast food burger.  He said the burgers were quite good.

I ordered the buford burger at $3.49 which in hind sight with my appetite I should not order anything called a buford!  The burger came with 2 beef patties, American sliced cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and pickles.  Condiments included ketchup, mustard, relish and mayonnaise.  It was huge, way more than I could eat.  The burger was nice and juicy though.  What was interesting is the burger came packaged in the standard cardboard burger box but it was inside a paper cone for easy holding while eating.  I thought this was a rather interesting concept, one a bit more developed than the standard wrap-around-the-serviette method.  At any rate the buford burger is quite tasty, well worth ordering!

Fresh Baked Bread with Dipping Oil

Bread is a fundamental part of most dinner meals.  The best breads are homemade, piping hot from the oven ready to drizzle with butter and savour every morsel!  Few can resist the tantalizing aroma of fresh baked bread.  Restaurants know this which is one reason warm breads are served before the entrée almost as an appetizer then the bread basket is usually filled during the meal.

Dinner breads are traditionally served on a cutting board with a serrated knife to cut as desired.  Dinner rolls are traditionally served in a lined wicker bread basket.  The basket itself allows steam to escape the hot bread from below so the crust does not become soggy.  At the same time the lining which is usually a cloth serviette keeps the bread or rolls warm.

Pictured is the beautiful dinner roll basket we enjoyed at Middle Grounds (more on this restaurant in future posts).  The rolls were a variety of mulit-grains and not shaped in the traditional roll style.  The shape was achieved by rolling out the dough then cutting into rectangles that when baked softened the edges.  They were hearty yet delightful dinner rolls to say the least!

The wonderful dinner rolls were not served with butter but rather a seasoned extra virgin olive oil in which to dip the bread.  This is quite customary where the bread is torn from the loaf then dipped into the oil to be enjoyed and it is a healthier yet just as tasty choice as using butter.

Dipping oil is not difficult to make and in fact you don't even need to add any herbs or seasonings.  The key ingredient is good quality extra virgin olive oil.  Look for cold first pressed olive oil for the best flavour.  If using as is all you need to do is pour the olive oil into a shallow saucer for dipping the bread into.  Pictured is the dipping oil served with the fresh dinner bread.  It was seasoned with fresh basil and garlic.  Oh my, it was simply amazing!  I could have eaten nothing else and still been quite satisfied.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Kitchen Disinfectants

There have been reports out for years regarding bacterial issues with sponges and cutting boards as well as other kitchen surfaces.  As a result manufactures fed into and continue to feed into the fear by developing anti-bacterial kitchen cleaners.  Anti-bacterial agents are now found in dish detergents, kitchen wet wipes, kitchen de-odourizing sprays, kitchen hand soaps and kitchen surface cleaners.  Anti-bacterial agents are also found in some kitchen plastics such as some NSF® (National Sanitation Foundation certified) knife handles and in some plastic cutting boards.  The bottom line is when it comes to controlling bacteria in the kitchen the vast majority of the anti-bacterial products are not necessary.  In fact they have been implicated in the emergence of super bugs (anti-bacterial resistant bacteria) as well as the increased incidence of allergies and asthma.  In addition to these concerns anti-bacterial products are considerably more expensive than the eco-friendly alternatives.  This week's Frugal Kitchens 101 focuses on how to disinfect your kitchen without the use of specialized anti-bacterial products.

The following eco-friendly cleaning solutions will help control bacteria and bacterial contamination in the kitchen:

• soap - Soap as opposed to detergents is either animal (beef fat) or vegetable based.  Soap is eco-friendly because it does not contain phosphates, bleaching or anti-bacterial agents and is biodegradable.  By it's very nature simple soap and water can be quite effective at controlling bacteria on surfaces and hands.   Soap can be homemade or store bought usually in a bar or flake form (eg. Sunlight, Ivory, Fel Naptha) but can also be found in liquid form.
• white vinegar -   White vinegar has anti-bacterial properties while being an effective de-odourizer.  It is inexpensive and can be used on most kitchen surfaces.  It can be warmed in a mug in the microwave oven to clean and de-odourize it.  White vinegar can be added to the rinse water when washing t-towels to kill any bacteria that may be present.  A 1:1 (water:vinegar) solution in a spray bottle can be used to wipe down countertops, appliance surfaces, sinks and taps to not only shine but sanitize.  A cup of vinegar can be used in the dishwasher to remove any water deposit build-up while sanitizing and freshening the inside of the dishwasher.  Straight white vinegar can be used to kill off any mold or mildew on kitchen window sills or in the refrigerator as well as sanitize cutting boards.  A bowl of straight white vinegar can be used in place of anti-bacterial kitchen sprays to effectively eliminate kitchen cooking odours.  Add vinegar to the water used to wash fruits and vegetables to eliminate surface bacteria and residues.
• rubbing alcohol - Straight rubbing alcohol (denatured ethanol or isopropyl) is one of the most effect sanitizers you can use in the kitchen.  It will effectively kill bacteria from most kitchen surfaces without harming them.  Pour rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle for easy application.  Spray onto cutting boards after use and again after washing to kill any remaining bacteria.