bagels -

by BS

So This Exists: The Stuffing Bagel

This may look like an ordinary everything bagel but it is far from it. B owery Bagels in Portland, Oregon now serves a STUFFING BAGEL, seasoned with traditional herbs and flavors to mimic the classic Thanksgiving dish. Be still my heart! My two favorite ways to consume carbs combined into one glorious Thankgivingkuh monster!

Bowery also, by the way, serves a BEER BAGEL made using Fat Tire Amber Ale, and a savory pumpkin bagel made with real roasted pumpkin. West Coast ES-ers. Please check this out immediately and report back.

by hungry monster

Homemade Bacon and Cheddar Bagels

Three words:

Bacon.

Cheese

Carbs.

If you’re a fan (and who are we kidding, we all are), you need to get in on this bagel making.

These bagels have the lovely exterior firmness of a bagel with an added bonus of a fluffy almost biscuit-like texture inside. Plus they are filled with bacon and cheddar…and then topped with more bacon.

Need I say more?

Bacon & Cheddar Bagels

by BS

Burns My Bacon: Why Only Asiago?

As a born-and-bred New Yorker, I’m predisposed to believe that bagels should be good enough on their own not to need much gussying up. Blueberry bagel? No thank you. Chocolate bagel? Only if you’re in Disneyworld. A good bagel should be fresh, doughy and fluffy enough that all it needs in the way of embellishment is a good schmear.

But I have to admit there is one new-school bagel variety I can get behind: the increasingly omnipresent asiago cheese bagel. Embarrasingly, I believe I first tried this kind 8 years ago at an Einstein Bros. Bagels shop, of all places (I know, I know, but I lived in DC at the time, and ES has already lamented the quality bagel crisis there).

I loved it. That rich, slightly burnt orange-y cheese on top can really take a mediocre bagel and make it great. Since then, I’ve seen asiago bagels all over the country, and I’m not about it. Not mad about it one bit.

But it got me thinking: why is asiago cheese the only kind that seems to ever be baked into a bagel? Why hasn’t this opened up a whole new world of cheesy bagel delights? Where are the parmesan bagels? The brie bagels? The cheddar and havarti bagels?

Is there some physical reason why asiago cheese is the only kind that works baked into a bagel? Does the asiago lobby have the bagel bakers on their payroll? Is their a conspiracy against cheddar? I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth — it’s certainly not asiago bagels’ fault — but what’s the deal here? I want more cheesy bagels! Or at least I want some answers.

(Photo: Orijinal)

in Rants & Raves 5 comments

by BS

Food Bloggers Give Panera’s Menu a Gluten-Free Makeover

Remember the team of activist food bloggers who took our list of America’s Top 10 New Sandwiches and made vegan versions of each sandwich? Well, Namely Marly and her team are at it again. This time, they’re giving one of America’s biggest bakery chains a GF makeover. Namely Marly writes:

I recently met a friend for breakfast at Panera and was surprised, nay shocked, to learn that they didn’t offer any gluten-free items at the bread bar. How could this be? Are they not aware of the growing number of people who are flocking toward gluten-free lifestyles?

The solution? De-gluten-ize the whole place! Namely Marly and her crew came up with gluten-free recipes for nine different items on the Panera menu. But will the bakery chain add any of these creations to their roster? Your move, Panera.

1. Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Recipe: Multiply Delicious

2. Caramel Pecan Rolls

Recipe: Namely Marly

3. Spinach and Artichoke Souffle

Recipe: Clean Green Simple

in Breakfast / Desserts / Recipe / Restaurants / Trends / Veggie 4 comments

by gansie

Cream Cheese Saves the Day

I’m not sure if I ever told you this before, but I used to hate cream cheese. And then one day, when I decided to keep my mouth shut, I tried it for the first time.

I was leaving my then-boyfriend’s mom’s house, heading back to Jersey at 10 in the morning. I never thought she liked me, as any girl thinks about her boyfriend’s mother. On that particular morning, as I stuffed my sleepover clothes into a backpack, she climbed the stairs and brought me a bagel for the road. The bagel was smeared with cream cheese.

On any other morning, leaving from any other household, I would offer my thanks, and ask for a knife and butter to remedy the situation. I hated cream cheese that much. I wouldn’t even fake it.

But on that particular morning, with that particular boyfriend’s mother, I shut up the cream cheese hater inside me and graciously tucked the bagel into my backpack.

in Breakfast / Personal 5 comments

by gansie

Bagels: A Lifelong Journey

I am on a lifelong quest to catalogue all things bagel. I’ve seen a lot in the world of bagels. Actually, it’s been quite a personal journey. I used to only eat plain bagels, then cinnamon raisin, then everything and now pumpernickel bagels. There’s been bagels in Arizona, bagels with seeds in the dough, and get this: I spied one in the shape of a fucking turkey.

Anyway, all of the bagels, regardless of seed or grain, have been the same shape (well, besides the turkey). Until this past weekend. I was introduced to Thomas’ Bagel Thins.

The bagel is more like toast. It has some of the characteristics of a bagel, where there is a dome crust instead of an outer crust, but it’s as thin as toast. It’s interesting from a portion control angle, but I’d still rather have the density of a regular bagel but stop at eating a half. It’d probably be the same carb effect.

God I love talking about bagels.

in Uncategorized 5 comments

by gansie

Is Bobby Flay a Liar?

My boyfriend and I traveled around Arizona for the last few days. We were invited for a wedding (Hi Mrs. Gaul!) in Rio Verde, but decided to take spend extra time in the state, mostly to delay that almost-five-hour flight back. We first ate dinner in Scottsdale (yes to Buffalo Carpaccio at Cowboy Ciao) and then stayed at a hotel/casino in Fort McDowell, which is built on tribal land. We then drove north to Sedona to visit my cousins and then north again and hiked about a mile into the Grand Canyon.

As this is a food blog, I won’t bore you with the beauty of the red rocks in Sedona and the pure fucking insanity that is the Grand Canyon (I think I said “What the fuck?!” every few steps.) I will, however, let you know my limited dining choices. I say choices because the options were not limited. We just chose the same thing over and over again.

in Breakfast / Fish 9 comments