Bacon wrapped goat cheese omelet

When I was a little kid we would do everything locally. We would go to our town’s supermarket, we would eat at the local dives, and if one wanted to be fancy, the fishermen’s village was right on our shore, so a quick trip could get you some of the best seafood the Caribbean had to offer. Our “downtown” area had hundreds of stores that lined up our streets, and had everything, and I mean everything, you could possibly need. Then the 90’s and early 2000’s happened. Although they’re still beautiful, those streets are mostly empty, and people relay on the region as a whole to meet their demands.

Although I have been complaining for years that I hated having to drive more than 10 minutes to get anywhere, now that I live in Cleveland I drive (and ride) all over North East Ohio to run errands, to work, and play. I’ve been to so many places for so many reasons, that I dare to say that I know the Greater Cleveland Area better than many locals do. This summer though, I’ve been spending tons of time within the actual city I live in, Cleveland Heights. Between finding a new “favorite barber” and a finding a new “favorite coffee house”, to actually spending time in our parks and eating at our restaurants I’ve stayed in the city quite often. 

In honor of staying local, I present to you my locally sourced breakfast. Now, there is no way I’m claiming that it was made from ingredients farmed in the city, but they come from within a reasonable distance. I made a baked goat cheese omelet made from local eggs, wrapped in Amish (local - I guess) bacon and topped with homegrown thyme.  Finally, I served it with a slice of rye bread from one of our local bakeries. I loved it. It’s relatively effortless to make too. It bakes in 30 minutes, and it stays hot for longer than stove-top made omelets do. I did not pre-cook the bacon because I wanted to keep the eggs wrapped, and because I like bacon this way too. I calculated the calories for this omelet (just 301 calories!!!) eating the whole slice of bacon, but I only ate the meaty parts and left the fatty parts behind. Hopefully you’ll like it.

On the road shortcut

Bacon wrapped goat cheese omelet

301 calories, 1 g carbs, 22 g fat, 24 g protein

4 jumbo eggs

2 ounces goat cheese (soft)

1 tablespoon non-fat plain Greek yogurt

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

2 slices bacon

Fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix the eggs, goat cheese, Greek yogurt, salt, pepper and dried thyme using an electric mixer until combined. You can also mix by hand if you want to.

Use a slice of bacon to grease a ramekin, then use the bacon slice to line it. Repeat the process with the second ramekin. Pour the egg mixture into the ramekin, and bake the omelet for 20- 30 minutes, until it settles.  Garnish with fresh thyme.

Sauteed kale

I’ve been looking forward to the 4th of July for a while now. I wanted (and needed) to get out of town so the BF and I could take a much needed break from all the madness that we’ve dealt with recently. The only thing standing between us and our holiday weekend, was the fact that all that madness – a.k.a. home improvements - came at a hefty price so the cash was limited. Our solution, and by “our” I mean my “budget conscious” – a.k.a. cheap – self’s, was to go on a day trip somewhere close. After all, company, good food and a good drink is all I need to be happy. And so, after a two hour drive and an ironically expensive speeding ticket, we were in Toledo, OH. 

Although I’ve never thought of Toledo as a touristic destination, I was pleasantly surprised with what I found and I had a great time in the area. The very first item in our agenda was to go the beach, so we headed towards Maumee Bay State Park. That beach was awesome; the sand was beautiful, the lake was peaceful, and there was so much space that it wasn’t crowded even though there were tons of people. The beach is basically divided into two areas by a short stretch of lawn and a hill; one goes along a lagoon (it felt like a kiddie pool to me) and it’s where most of the families with kids were. The other area is the real beach along Lake Erie itself, and had mostly grownups.  The park as a whole is a large property (1336 acres) and has trails, lodges and boat rentals. My sole regret is not taking my bike with me to explore it all. 

That evening we had dinner at Rockwell’s Steakhouse.  The restaurant is located in the historic Oliver House - a former Hotel from the 1850’s designed by architect Isaiah Rogers. I had a really scrumptious lamb porterhouse with spinach and mushrooms for dinner and a lovely cheesecake with berry compote for dessert (oh, I was so happy). From the restaurant we saw the first half of the fireworks show, and we saw the other half from their lawn. We then went to the Maumee Bay Brewing Company, still at the Oliver House, but I was way too full to drink anything. At the brewery they had the coolest display of beer memorabilia, museum style, so after the “tour” we got ourselves a little souvenir. We bought a growler of Buckeye Beer, a light yet delicious pilsner that left me craving for more.

We stayed overnight, and after a good night’s rest I was ready to enjoy a bit more before coming home. I woke up early, so I went for a few laps in the hotel’s pool before breakfast. It was so nice to have the pool to myself! After breakfast, we went to The Toledo Museum of Art. This is an amazing museum that has an outstanding collection of European and American art within their Greek revival (style) building. They also had a glass pavilion (actually built from glass) that houses their glass collection. Glass making was the bread and butter of the 20^th century Toledo, and there are some amazing pieces displayed there, as well as demonstrations on glass making. After all that fun, we had really good burgers at “Ye Olde Durty Bird”, a restaurant just behind the Mud Hens’ Stadium (Fifth Third Field). Yumm! Beautiful block too! With that we said goodbye to Toledo, and finished our short 24 hour stay.

I’m glad to say we managed to make it home without getting a second speeding ticket. Now it’s back to our “ushe”. After having such great food during the weekend (plus the undisclosed snacks) it was time to get back to cooking and eating on the healthier side. I jumpstarted the culinary week by making sautéed kale. I used my go-to recipe, a modified version of Bobby Flay’s. It’s delicious, and it always comes out well, hence I want to share it. The best part is – that is after the great flavor, and ease – that it only takes about 10 minutes to make, beginning to end! I served it with a grilled pork chop and had some of my souvenir Buckeye Beer with it. It was a perfect summer dish!

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (serves 4):
178 calories, 16 g carbs, 12 g fat, 8 g protein

1 ½ pounds kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Heat a sauté pan over medium-low heat. When it’s hot, add the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until soft (don’t burn the garlic!) - between 30 seconds and a minute. Carefully add the kale to the pan, and then the chicken broth (in that order to prevent violent splashing). Raise the heat to medium high and cook covered for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and cook uncovered until the liquid has evaporated. Turn the power off. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I like ¼ teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper).

Season with salt and pepper to taste (I like about ¼ teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper), and dress with the vinegar. Serve hot.

Arugula and kohlrabi salad

Back in May, I had dinner at this little restaurant that I anxiously awaited months for it to open. I’m pretty sure you know the kind: small, charming, overpriced – the neighborhood’s “gem”. One day, I drove by and saw it had opened, so I did a U-turn, and went straight in. I wasn’t hungry; I had just finished dinner, but I reasoned that an extra glass of wine wouldn’t hurt anyone. It was my chance to check this place out. I was surprised – and impressed - by the lively atmosphere and their clever décor. So far I loved the place (and the wine), although I wasn’t too impressed after reading the menu. But once again, I had just eaten dinner, so maybe I wasn’t interested because I was so stuffed.
 

When I went back to eat at this restaurant I made the bold decision of ordering a salad for dinner. Frankly, that is very unlike me, but the salads were the only options that seemed substantial to me. Everything else were overpriced tapas, and I hate feeling neglected when I’m eating dinner. I had an arugula, radicchio and frisee salad topped with “turkey breast”. Words cannot describe my disappointment when that plate reached my table. I envisioned eating at least a few cubes of turkey breast, or even some more substantial slices – just like when you have chicken in your salad. Instead, they were thin slices of cold cut deli turkey, which together did not add up to more than an ounce. That’s fine if I were to make my salad at home, but I was really expecting more for the hefty price I paid for it. To make matters worse, my salad was unbelievably bitter. I really hate sending food back to the kitchen, but despite my best attempts, I could not eat it. I singled out the radicchio as the guilty member of the trio, and so I told my waitress. She quickly offered to fix it, but the kitchen’s solution was to send me a completely different salad (topped with more cold turkey –pun intended) because according to them, some people don’t like the bitterness of the frisee. Now I was more offended than dissatisfied. I know that arugula, frisee and radicchio can be somewhat bitter. I know how they taste, and I know I like them. But I knew their radicchio was the problem and I told her so, but they just assumed that I was ignorant and I was not expecting the frisee to be bitter. I will not be stopping there anytime soon.

Last Saturday, I came across beautiful kohlrabi at the farmers market and I had to buy one. Normally I buy at least 2, but this baby was big so I only got one! Before even paying for it, I knew I wanted to use it in a salad. Just a few stands away, I saw this beautiful arugula I just couldn’t leave behind. There it was, I had the base for my salad. This particular arugula was a bit more “bitter” than what I’m used to in my standard “supermarket arugula”, but it still tasted good. Unlike what those restaurant people may have thought of me, I can deal with some bitterness without become bitter myself. The earthy –yet fresh taste of the kohlrabi went well with the arugula, and its crunchiness was pleasant and refreshing. I used tomatoes and red onions to finish my salad, and my dressing was olive oil based. As you can imagine, none of my ingredients were meant to mask the bitterness of the arugula. Instead, I played with it, and brought out additional layers of flavors. This turned out to be a beautiful side salad that went well with our grilled dinner, and it was almost an independence statement from those people at that restaurant (at least in my mind).

Speaking of independence, I wish you all a happy 4^th of July. Have some great food, and enjoy the fireworks in good company. Oh, and stay cool!

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (4 servings)

134 calories, 9 g carbs, 11 g fat, 2 g protein

For the salad

1 cup of arugula

1 kohlrabi, peeled and diced

8 Campari tomatoes (sliced into quarters)

½ large red onion, sliced

For the dressing

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

A pinch of salt

¼ teaspoon dried basil

Combine all the salad components in a salad bowl. In a separate container, add all of the dressing ingredients, and shake well. Pour the dressing onto the salad just before eating, and toss.