Scared Panda |

November 7, 2011

Hotdish? You Betcha!

On one of our first cold nights in New York a couple of weeks ago, just before we received our Minnesota Burrito shirt, we decided to put my mom’s tator tot hotdish recipe to the test. I’ve always loved hotdish – it reminds me of cozy winter nights with my family – wearing sweats, watching movies and, of course, eating. Some people (cough, Clint, cough) are skeptics so I set out on a mission to change his mind.

I less than one hour, this delicious meal that you see above was ready to be devoured. And devoured we did – sure it’s not super healthy and maybe it doesn’t use the best, most fresh ingredients, but MAN is it good comfort food on a cold night. It brought back a flood of memories and I think I may have turned Clint into a believer, too. Maybe.

Want to try it out yourself? Here’s the recipe – let us know what you think!

1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 large (19 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (32 oz) package frozen tator tots

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9×13″ glass baking dish with cooking spray. In a large pan, sauté beef and onion until beef is browned. Drain and layer in the prepared pan. Layer frozen veggies on the beef mixture and cover with the soup, carefully spreading with a spatula. Layer tator tots on top. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until casserole is hot and bubbling.

Serve with a piece of bread ‘n butter and enjoy!

September 6, 2011

Chicago The Great: Lakeview

Although we don’t live in Chicago anymore, it’s still a place that is fresh in our minds and close to our hearts. A lot of friends have been taking trips there lately so we compiled a list of our favorite places, by neighborhood, to grab a bite (or drink) for them to check out. And now, we want to share it with you. To kick things off lets start with the ‘hood that we called home, Lakeview. Enjoy!

Finley Dunne’s – Awesome neighborhood bar. Fantastic place to hang out and the staff is top notch.
DMK Burger Bar - Organic grass fed burgers, incredible fries and good craft beers. Get the bison burger with blueberry compote and an order of truffle parmesan fries. Every burger is amazing and they have awesome seasonal specials.
Murphy’s Red Hots – Chicago style hot dogs.
Cafe El Tapatio – Great Mexican food. Sit on the patio
Southport Grocery – Brunch. Amazing.
Kanela Breakfast Club – Great brunch. Nice patio.
Jake’s Pub – My favorite neighborhood bar in Chicago. Awesome beer list.
Duke of Perth – Scottish. Whiskey. Good Beer. All you can eat fish and chips on Fridays and Wednesdays. No TVs
Tony’s Tex Mex – Little taco joint that serves some of the best late night tacos around. Kate loves the vegetarian fajita burrito.
Pick-me-up Café: Amazing sandwiches, pancakes, everything. BEST hot chocolate. Open 24 hours on the weekends
Twist – Great tapas. Not exactly Spanish style, but delicious.
Uncommon Ground: Great cocktails with local and healthy food. Good for brunch or dinner.
Sheffields – Good beer and BBQ. Avoid it on the weekends.
Paulina’s Market – Local butcher, weird hours. Great meat.
The Globe Pub – The best place to watch soccer in Chicago.

This doesn’t come close to covering everything that we loved so much in Lakeview, but if it’s a pretty solid start.

August 9, 2011

Recipes From my Mom’s Midwest Kitchen: Potato Salad

Growing up, the telltale sign of summer’s arrival was my mom’s potato salad. On the first warm day of the year my parents would fire up the charcoal grill (so much better than gas!) throw on a few steaks and my mom would make her famous potato salad.

As soon as she was done making it, while the potatoes were still warm, she’d call out for someone to taste test the starchy goodness. Without fail, my dad and I would appear in the kitchen, forks in hand, ready to give her our verdict. For as long as I can remember, this is how it always played out: my dad would take a bite and declare there was too much mustard. I would then follow suit, take a bite and say there wasn’t enough mustard.

Of course it came out perfect every single time, but we play this game every time she makes the dish. She knows that it’s delicious every single time and I think we did this to keep her ego in check.

Years ago, when both of my grandpas were alive, it was always a bit of a competition between them to see who got the first potato salad of the season. My grandpas were rarely in the company of one another, but somehow they’d always find out who got the first batch.

Whenever I eat this dish, it makes me smile. It brings back such fun, playful memories from my childhood and I’m excited to carry on this tradition with my parents, friends and future family.

Potato Salad
Disclaimer: this recipe only lives in my head so these measurements aren’t exact. The list below will serve two or three.

Two Idaho potatoes
1/4 yellow onion – chopped
Three stalks celery – chopped
Three radishes – sliced
One or two hard-boiled eggs
Mayonnaise
Miracle Whip
Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes and chop into bit size pieces. Mix in onion, celery, radishes and sliced eggs. For dressing, mix 3/4 park mayonnaise and 1/4 part Miracle Whip and 1 T. mustard. Combine with potato mixture, add salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate until cold.

July 30, 2010

H-O-T-D-O-G – Hot Dog Hot Dog, Hot Dog Hot Dog

I found this video homage to the Chicago style hot dog this morning. The video is a montage of various hot dog related photos of all the ways the hot dog has been introduced into our society, set to one hell of a soundtrack. There is one thing that is for certain here, this guy loves hot dogs.

July 28, 2010

Cupcakes on the Move

It’s no secret that I love food, but what people might be surprised to know is that not so long ago I didn’t like cupcakes, or any cake really. A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to write a review of More cupcakes before their opened their doors and after I left, I was officially on the cupcake train.

I recently had a chance to catch up with the owner of More, Patty Rothman, and she told me about the More Mobile that will be launching mid-August. You may be familiar with Flirty Cupcakes – the idea is similar, but I think it will outshine Chicago’s first cupcake truck. Part of the reason is because More sells a better cupcake and secondly, they have some really great ideas for the truck itself that will make it stand out.

For more information about this highly anticipated truck, check out the post I recently wrote for Gapers Block.

June 28, 2010

Get Your Pizza On

When you’re in a city famous for a particular food or cuisine, it can be overwhelming when trying to decide where to get the BEST of that specialty food. Luckily for you, there are a few companies in Chicago who will take you around to some of the best pizza places in the city.

Chicago Pizza Tours stuck out to me because they take you to different neighborhoods and allow you to sample a variety of pizzas (they even stop at Italian Fiesta – a favorite of the Obamas). On this tour, you’ll get your deep-dish craving satisfied and you’ll get to experience some of the best non-deep dish joints in the city, including one of my favorites, Coal Fire.

For those of you partial to Chicago-style deep dish pizza, check out Slice of Chicago Pizza Tours. This company takes you to some of the most famous deep dish joints in town and, it’s a walking tour so you won’t fall into a pizza coma when you’re done with your journey.

Don’t forget to wear your Pizza Fight t-shirt as you explore Chicago’s pizza scene.

- Kate

June 22, 2010

Happy Summer!

Yesterday was the first day of summer and we celebrated by going to Yogen Fruz. I suppose it’s more accurate to say we half-celebrated, half-sought relief at Yogen Fruz. On a 15 minute walk home we managed to get incredibly hot and uncomfortable and needed SOMETHING to cool down. Yogen Fruz is one of my favorite places in the city and, for me, it was a pretty easy decision to stop in and grab a cool treat. We were greeted by a long line of hot, happy Chicagoans enjoying the first night of summer. Something about it made my heart smile. Maybe it’s because I know that in a few weeks people will be grumbling about the heat and the lines. But, for now, everyone seems to be taking their time and enjoying all that summer has to offer (including the sweat). Where is your favorite place to cool down in the summer months?

June 14, 2010

How To: Unboxing A Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

A quick lesson on how to unbox a Chicago deep dish pizza. Pizza courtesy of The Art of Pizza – the best deep dish in Chicago – IMHO.

Step 1: Buy pizza

Step 2: Open pizza box

Step 3: Open tin foil

Step 4: Analyze

Step 5: Tear away from siblings & consume

Enjoy!

June 8, 2010

Food Trailers + Cupcakes

A couple of weekends ago, Scared Panda and friends headed south to Austin, Texas. One of our favorite things about traveling is, of course, the food. If you can’t tell from the three food-themed shirts we’ve produced, we love to eat. And searching out local food is such a great way to learn about a particular culture and social scene. During our time in Austin, we discovered, and fell in love with, food trailers. If you haven’t experienced this yet, please make it a point to do so. The best food we ate during our four days in the city was produced in a food trailer – tacos, crepes, snow cones, cupcakes and more. Here is a short video of Clint destroying a strawberry cupcake from Hey Cupcake! Enjoy.

- Kate

June 6, 2010

The Original Rainbow Cone

Last week we stopped by The Original Rainbow Cone at it’s new Loop location, kindly tucked into the corner of the Halsted Street Deli at State & Lake.

Original Rainbow Cone has been an ice cream favorite in Chicago for 84 years. This vintage ice cream shop, housed in its distinctive historic pink building on the Southside of Chicago, has been pleasing the palettes of three generations.

The layers of the cone are Sherbert, Pistachio, Palmer House(Venetian Vanilla with cherries and walnuts), Strawberry and Chocolate.