BLOGHUNGRY

Feta and Sun-dried Tomato Lentil Salad

I enjoy lentils and feel like they are highly underrated. This lentil salad from Gourmet Magazine has a lot of good flavors happening. I'm a fan.

Feta and Sun-dried Tomato Lentil Salad

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
1/4 cup drained finely chopped sun dried tomatoes packed in oil
1 cup lentils picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese (about 2 ounces)

In a large bowl whisk together oil, vinegar, thyme, tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Add lentils to a large saucepan of salted water and bring water to a boil. Cook lentils at a bare simmer until just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain lentils in a sieve and rinse gently. Toss lentils well with dressing and gently stir in Feta.

Orange Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am a big fan of pairing dark chocolate and orange. Here is a recipe for some reinvented chocolate chip cookies that will surprise and excite you.

Orange Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c butter
1/2 c Crisco
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
zest of one orange
juice of one orange
2 1/4 c self-rising purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream the butter, shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, orange juice, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Stir flour and zest into the creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips lightly and chill for 20 minutes or so. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on lightly-greased baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes until light golden brown and still soft, but set in the middle. Let cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then remove to cooling rack or counter. 3-4 dozen cookies.

BH's Favorite Spinach, Egg, and Bacon Pizza

This is my new favorite pizza. I love salty bacon mixed with spinach, Parmesan, and a runny egg yolk. It really makes all other pizza it's bitch. Forget everything you thought you knew about good homemade pizza and make this recipe.

BH's Favorite Spinach, Egg, and Bacon Pizza

Premade pizza dough for 1 crust
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cups thawed frozen chopped spinach
2 cups grated Parmesan and/or Pecorino Romano
6 slices bacon, cooked until crispy and roughly chopped
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the dough out with a rolling pin or just by using your hands onto  a pizza pan. Top with the sauce, spinach, cheese, and bacon and bake for approximately 15 minutes until crispy. Crack 2 eggs in the center of the pizza and place in the oven for an additional 6 minutes until egg is just cooked. To serve, cut slice and serve while hot and egg is runny.

BH Hearts BK

I have eaten a lot of fast food in my life. Like many kids growing up in the 80's, I was raised to keep special place in my heart for McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's. In the 90's I opened myself up to Checkers, Sonic, and Hardee's. Since moving to California I have tried Carl's Jr., Tommy's, In and Out, Astro Burger, and many more. However, they were all just carnal moments of shame compared to the flame broiled complexity of a Burger King burger and the salty crispness of their fries. After a lot of research, I am now ready to proclaim Burger King the best fast food chain burger and fries in the industry.

Recipe For The New Mariah

I have heard the new Mariah Carey album and figured out the real formula for her new album. Forget "E=MC2", just take Fergie and add a dash of Tyra.

Cereal Rainbow: The Winner

I am finally getting around to posting the results of the cereal rainbow competition. Here is the official CR bracket from the weekend. It took 2 days and 3 types of milk to get down to a final 3 and ultimately revealing Cinnamon Toast Crunch as the judges' overall favorite. Through this process I learned a lot about myself and the composition of cereal. I found that cereal texture, cereal flavor(s), and milk flavor to be the most important factors for judging any cereal. Cinnamon Toast Crunch offered all of these in spades.

Also, after the competition with what little hunger for cereal that I could muster, I began to make cereal combos. After some experimentation I recommend Honey Comb/Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch/Apple Jacks, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch/Golden Grahams. I will also say that the Cocoa Puffs/PB Capn' Crunch combo is not as good as Reese's Puffs.

Blueberry Cupcakes w/ Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

As soon as I heard this song in 2003, a margarine spread commercial started playing in my mind. I pictured Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow sitting and buttering muffins from a tub of butter substitute and singing to each other. In honor of them and buttered muffins everywhere here is another muffin turned dessert recipe by Bloghungry. For the fans of my stellar video scripts, I am posting the outline for the video that I pictured at the time. 

"Pictures" Script Outline fo Sheryl Crow/Kid Rock

Enter on Kid Rock rolling out of bed in a trashed hotel suite. Surrounded by empty bottles, he stumbles out of bed and to a glass door with the drapes closed. He picks up a broken framed picture of Sheryl lying on the floor.

Cut to Sheryl seated on a patio table singing and sipping coffee. She is surrounded by a backdrop of grassy vineyards or wheat fields and is painted in the golden light of a sunrise.

Cut to Kid pulling back the hotel room drapes, opening the sliding glass door, and walking out to a balcony sunrise. He clutches the picture and sits at a table on the balcony.

Cut to Sheryl and pull back to reveal that she has been sitting next to a giant wall of blueberry muffins. She pulls a muffin from the wall and butters it with a knife from her tub of margarine.

Cut to Kid to reveal that he is sitting on the other side of the giant wall of blueberry muffins. He pulls a muffin from the wall opening a hole to reveal that Sheryl is sitting on the other side.

Cut to Sheryl realizing that Kid is present and accessible on the other side of the giant muffin wall. Wide shot to reveal the two feverishly pulling muffins from the wall, buttering, and eating them. With each bite they become more intoxicated with love. The muffin wall collapses and they fall into each other's arms surrounded by muffin carnage.

Blueberry Cupcakes w/ Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

6 premade blueberry muffins
1/4 cup butter @ room temperature
6 oz cream cheese @ room temperature
1/8 cup sour cream
1/2 cup blueberries
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 16oz pkg powdered sugar

Beat the butter, cream cheese, and sour cream together in a large bowl until light. Add the blueberries, vanilla, and sugar, mixing well until fluffy. Spread over premade blueberry muffins and keep refrigerated until serving time.

Cereal Rainbow: The Process

After last Thanksgiving's success with Pie Rainbow, we decided to expand the concept to other foods. Cereal Rainbow was born. This time the process was more involved than cutting slivers of pie to join together for the ultimate piece of pie. Cereal Rainbow is a long process of cereal selections and competitions where only one cereal can rein supreme. This is the journey of Cereal Rainbow.

1. A list of all cereals available was compiled.

2. Cereals were nominated by receiving a 3/4 majority vote from the judges.

3. The nominees were narrowed by allotting each judge 12 votes to disperse in any way to their chosen cereals. Judges were allowed to give 1 vote to 12 chosen cereals or more than one vote to a fewer number of chosen cereals.

4. The cereals receiving the most judges votes were put on the list of elected cereals. Cereals with equal amount of votes continued in a run-off election until a top 12 list was elected with 2 alternates.

5. The elected cereal boxes were lined up in order of the color spectrum and paired off into a bracket of competing cereals.

6. Cereals were judged two at a time and rated on a scale of 1 to 3 by each judge. The cereal with the highest cumulative rating went to the next round.

7. The the bracket of competing cereals continued until one cereal reigned supreme.

Top 12 Cereals

1.Special K w/ Strawberries
2. Post Raisin Bran
3. Cinnamon Toast Crunch
4. Fruity Pebbles
5. Lucky Charms
6. Count Chocula
7. Peanut Butter Capn' Crunch
8. Honey Comb
9. Golden Grahams
10. Frosted Flakes
11. Apple Jacks
12. Cinnamon Life

Alternate Cereals

1. Pops
2. Cocoa Puffs

The results will be posted soon.

4 Minute Banana Cupcakes with Banana Cream Cheese Frosting

Recently in a late night dessert panic, Bloghungry baked and iced a 2 layer chocolate ricotta cake with homemade vanilla buttercream from pantry to plate in about 30 minutes. In honor of the new Madonna/Justin Timberlake song 4 Minutes. I attempted to throw together a banana cupcake with banana cream cheese frosting in just 4 minutes. It took a little longer than 4 minutes, but only because I used a pastry bag.

Also, Bloghungry has a hobby of scripting out music videos for songs while sitting in L.A. traffic. I've done it for years and I fully believe that if Brittney would have just called me for her last few videos, her career and life would be in a better place right now. Here is an outline of my thoughts for the Madonna/J.T. song.

Bloghungry's "4 Minutes" Video Outline:

Enter on Madonna (lip-syncing) being wheeled down a hospital hallway on a gurney as she extends in Top Modelesque poses. A 4 minute digital countdown clock begins in the corner of the screen.

Cut to J.T. (lip-syncing) in GQ doctor fashions walking in a hurried runway walk down a hospital corridor. He busts through some double doors.

Cut to Madonna (lip-syncing) sprawled out on an operating table in heroine chic awkwardness as her clothes are cut off her by sexy mod nurses to reveal bathing suit-like unitard. Sexy mod nurses circle around in a medical dance panic.

Cut to J.T. (lip-syncing) scrubbing his hands, putting on gloves, etc. and bursting into the operating room with Madonna. He rushes to her side and they both lipsync as he is operating on her general midsection in no specific way. Sweat drips from his brow with great intensity as sexy mod nurses dance around and are sprayed with Technicolor blood and medical fluids originating from Madonna's general midsection. The nurses turn into an orgy on the dance floor as the surgery becomes more heated. The clock in the corner of the screen counts down to zero and Madonna's monitor flatlines. J.T. hangs his head as Madonna and the sexy mod nurse orgy lie lifeless.

4 Minute Banana Cupcakes with Banana Cream Cheese Frosting

6 premade banana muffins
1/4 cup butter @ room temperature
6 oz cream cheese @ room temperature
1/8 cup sour cream
1 banana mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tiny dash nutmeg
1 16oz pkg powdered sugar

Beat the butter, cream cheese, and sour cream together in a large bowl until light. Add the banana, vanilla, nutmeg, and sugar, mixing well until fluffy. Spread over premade banana muffins and keep refrigerated until serving time.

It's Coming

In Cereal Rainbow, only one cereal can reign supreme.