Wimpy's Place in Lexington, Michigan

We spent the weekend in Lexington, Michigan arriving by boat Friday afternoon.  We were planning returning home Sunday but high winds caused  8 - 9 foot waves on Lake Huron, way to big for our boat to handle so we stayed until Monday.  Lexington is a small village, very much tourist based with most activity weekends and very quiet on weekdays.  There is a range of restaurants including two fast food restaurants catering to the tourists who mainly arrive by boat. 

Wimpy's Place is located on Huron Avenue, the only road directly up the hill from the harbor.  It is about mid-way up on the second block.  We've been there several times in the past for breakfast special that is always quite good.   This trip my husband's breakfast was good but my sunny side up eggs were undercooked with a good portion of the white still raw.  It was easily remedied but this is something to be sure to mention when ordering if you like your eggs sunny side up.

We went to Wimpy's for dinner.  Wimpy's is named after Wimpy on the PopThey have a reputation of having the best burgers in town.  We ordered Wimpy's burgers and onion rings.  The onion rings were quite good!

Wimpy burgers are homemade patties fried on a grill.  The burgers are about mid-way between a Happy Meal burger and a White Castle Burger,, and closer to White Castle style slyder.  They are flattened down while frying so the patties are not perfectly round.  You can order them with fried onions and/or cheese.  They are served with a couple of dill pickle slices.  Ketchup and mustard are on the table. 

My husband liked the burgers.  They are quite similar to White Castle burgers but a bit more on the greasier side.  I wan't impressed with the burgers but in fairness I was dealing with a severe allergic reaction to the medication I was taking for an infection so that affected my stomach.  I'll try them again next trip just to see if not feeling well clouded my judgement. 

These burgers would be extremely easy to duplicate at home on a griddle or even fry pan.  I watched her making the patties.  She rolled the ground beef into about 2 - inch balls then placed the ball on the grill (flat restaurant style) and flatten it with a flipper.  The result is a oddly shaped, thin pattie.  Onions if desired,  fry along with the pattie adding extra flavour.  The pattie is placed on a smallish bun then simply served with the minimum of condiments.

Peeled Garlic Cloves

It is quite surprising what you can find pre-prepped in the produce section.  In most cases these items are more expensive because of their convenience.  Some items like baby carrots (really formed from larger carrots) the nutritional content is lowered somewhat.  Pre-cut fruits like apples have preservative to prevent oxidation that you won't get when using whole apples.  I very seldom use pre-prepared fruits or vegetables at home.  When I do, it is usually baby carrots for the eye appeal. 

There are times that these types of pre-prepared fruits and vegetables can be quite convenient.  The first one that comes to mind is longer road trips with children, especially if crossing from Canada into the US or visa versa where some produce is prohibited from entering.  A quick stop at a grocery store after clearing customs and you can have the cooler filled with healthy snacks for the drive.

Pre-prepared fruits and vegetables can be quite convenient when doing a bulk cooking session or canning.  Normally I would not consider buying peeled garlic.  It is a new product in a couple of the grocery stores here.  I was canning last week on a very tight schedule for packing, trying to do too much while both sick and tired.  That's not a good combination!  Walmart had 250 g bags of peeled garlic flagged as a new product on sale for $1.  I bought a bag to use in my canning sessions for the week.  This saved me a fair amount of time in peeling garlic and the results were the same.  The only thing I wasn't impressed with is the garlic is from China.   I'd rather buy locally if possible and garlic grown in Ontario is available so will be looking for local peeled garlic.  Garlic is planted in the fall so will plant some this year at our new house. 

Frugal Kitchens 101 - The Cookie Jar

At one time a cookie jar filled with homemade cookies graced the counters of most homemakers.  Part of the fun grandchildren enjoyed was getting a delicious treat from Grandma's cookie jar.  The cookie jar was more than a cookie jar; it was a jar of homemade love from the kitchen.  Fast forward to living in the workplace and being brainwashed by the food industry that commercially prepared are superior to home cooked, the cookie jar has almost gone the way of the dinosaur.   This week's Frugal Kitchen's 101 discusses ways to make this old family tradition part of your kitchen.

• cookie jar - A cookies jar need not be fancy or expensive, it just needs to hold cookies.   A limited range of cookie jars can be found in department stores.   Resale stores and yard sales are great sources for cookie jars.  You can get creative and make your own ceramic cookies custom painted to match your kitchen if you have access to a ceramics studio.
• cookies -  The magic of a cookie jar is the cookies.  The great news is many homemade cookies are considerably less expensive than store bought.  Here are a few tips on keeping your cookie jar filled without taking up a lot of valuable time:
• refrigerator cookies -  Refrigerator cookies the homemade version of commercially made cookie dough except less expensive and greater variety.  The simply cookie dough that is rolled into a tube about 2 - inch diameter.  The roll is wrapped in wax paper ready for you to use anytime you want.  The nice thing is you don't have to use the entire tube all at once, just cut into slices the desired amount.
• freezer cookies - Most cookies freeze nicely.  Make a large batch of the desired cookie dough then divide it into what you would use for each pop-in-the-oven fresh baked cookies.  Wrap well then freeze.  Thaw in refrigerator then prepare and bake.
• cookies in a jar - Make up several cookies in a jar for both gift giving and your own use.  The dry ingredients are layered into mason jars.  The wet ingredients are added when you are ready to make the cookies.  Almost any cookie recipe will work for this purpose and the mix is shelf stable to is a great way to stock-up your pantry.
• bulk cookies -  Declare a cookie baking day then do a bulk baking session.  Bulk cooking and baking sessions are a great way to fill the pantry shelves and freezer. 
• family time cookies -  Declare a family cookie morning.  Each member of the family has a part in the cooking making process.  This a great time to bond, share laughter and knowledge in a fun activity. 

Moose Burgers

Friends of ours do not eat any domestic meat.  He is a avid hunter of both small and large game so that is what they eat with respect to meat.  Neither of us hunt although my husband goes to hunt camp each year basically as the comic relief, chief cook and bottle washer.  So our friend brings us in very generous offerings of his catch. 

Moose meat can be used in many dishes that you would use beef in.  My husband made moose burgers with ground moose meat.  As with most meat based burger patties the focus is on enhancing the flavour of the meat.  The reason being is there is no point eating a burger with no flavour.   My husband is the master of tasty burger patties, know for his homemade 100% all beef for his famous burger with attitude. 

Moose meat is considerably leaner than beef.  It needs needs a bit of a binder to make burger patties.  My husband uses egg, a very light sprinkling of bread crumbs and seasoning.  The burgers were topped with lettuce, tomato and caramelized onions.  I served them with a very simple salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing.  They were scrumptious!  We are officially out of moose meat but our friend goes moose hunting shortly so here's hoping they have a successful hunt!