Flatbreads - My Favorite Food

"Flatbreads - Like Pizza But Annoying"   :)

Bacon Cheeseburger Flatbread

That sentence couldn't be any further from the truth for me, but my friends use it to talk about my obsession with flatbreads. It comes from stand up comedian Iliza Shlesinger discussing the way girls share appetizers, use Groupons, and then split the bill twelve ways.

In all honesty, flatbreads are a favorite food of mine. If it's on a menu, I'm most likely going to order it. And then I'm going to try and make it at home. I have tried to replicate a few that I have eaten and have come pretty close. I like flatbreads because they are full of flavor, have excellent crust, and aren't over greasy and messy like pizza. And you can get them so many different ways.

My all-time favorite in downtown Waukesha has to be the Duck Confit flatbread from Bernie's Tap Room. Some of my friends and I tried it on a whim during the Christmas Parade and I have been hooked ever since. It came to our saving grace on St. Patty's Day a few years ago when the bar we were at forgot to put in our order and we left starving and in need of food in a hurry.

I have written about flatbreads a few times on my blog, from restaurants in Waukesha, Milwaukee, and making them myself.  It's a quick easy dinner and customize-able so everyone can get what they like.

I had my friends over for a girls night and planning our annual trip to Door County. I offered to supply the main course and asked everyone to bring a side. When I said I was making flatbreads, a few friends thought I was joking--joke was on them when they arrived.

I cooked up some chicken breasts two ways and supplied many topping choices.

I had BBQ sauce, red onion, tomatoes, cilantro, fresh mozzarella, basil, parsley, shredded cheese, and balsamic reduction. I found small flatbreads and everyone was able to make their own.

It was a huge hit with everyone as were all the yummy homemade sides.

We munched, talked about life, did a little Door County planning, and just enjoyed each other's company.

And just tonight, I made Bacon Cheeseburger Flatbreads for Jake and I for dinner.

We had some ground beef that needed to be cooked up. So I seasoned the meat, fried some bacon until well done, picked some fresh tomatoes from my garden, and covered it all in cheese. The sauce was put on after cooking and was a combo of ketchup and mayo (and mustard for the hubby).

Hubby said I killed it with dinner and he would eat this again and again. #WINNING

Flatbreads have so many options and make a quick and easy dinner for anyone that doesn't want to spend a long time prepping. What topping would you put on yours?

Meli & Waukesha Civic Theatre

The power of social media lead me to a great night out in Waukesha earlier this month. While scrolling through my news feed on Facebook, I saw that a friend posted that her daughter was going to be in Shrek the Musical Jr. at the Waukesha Civic Theatre. It looked to be a really cute show, and the tickets were extremely reasonable, so I bought a pair for my guy and I to check it out.

I also had my heart set on dinner at Meli to check the place out for a meal. Unfortunately, my guy came down with a horrible bought of pneumonia and couldn't attend. But mom came to the rescue and filled in for him. She was on board for my plan of checking out Meli.

We arrived very close to 5 pm and the place was already starting to fill up. We chose a high top table across from the bar and too a look at the menu for a few moments. I had a really hard time deciding what to get because everything sounded so amazing.

Being the person that I am, and my friends will definitely get a laugh out of this, I ordered the Grilled Flanksteak and Hummus Flatbread. My mom too went with a Flatbread - the Mediterranean Grilled Chicken.

 It didn't take long for our food to come out though the restaurant was filling up nicely. The bar was very busy. My mom's flatbread was almost like a chicken gyro with tzaziki sauce and all. A gorgeous side of fruit accompanied the flatbread. She told me it was delicious.

 My flatbread was really good too. The chimichuri sauce added another layer of great flavor to the dish. The hummus was light, the steak was cooked to perfection and so tender. I ended up eating most of it off the pita and then enjoying the pita at the end. I got a side of sweet potato fries and honey mustard dipping sauce with my flatbread. The honey mustard is the best! I won't say that I made the best choice pairing sweet potato fries with the flatbread, but both of these items would be excellent on their own!

 By the time we left at a little after 6, the restaurant was hopping. I think every table was full, the bar was full and outdoor dining too! Friday Night Live draws a nice crowd to downtown and I hope that these people continue to patronize the businesses even after the event is over in Fall.

We had a little time before the play started so we wandered through a few shops in downtown before heading over to the theatre. While waiting for the show to begin, they have a video screen with cute stats about the production.

 I also received a pamphlet in my show program about movies that the Civic Theatre is hosting once a month. In October, it's Hocus Pocus and in December it's Elf. Just $5 to see the film.

Photos were prohibited during Shrek the Musical Jr., but it was really cute. I laughed a lot and had a smile on my face for most of the show. And I will say that my friend's daughter received the most laughs of all when she debuted as Lord Farquaad.

Though this show is done for the year, the Civic Theatre has an excellent line up this season with a little of something for everyone. I even received a voucher in the mail for a buy one, get one on a future show - excellent!  I will make one suggestion if you come to a show--it's a bit chilly in the theatre so dress accordingly. The performers are wearing more layers and have hot lights on them, so I understand why it was cooler, but I was ill prepared and couldn't wait to get outside into the hot summer night after the show!



So thank you to Facebook and my friends because my mom and I had a wonderful night in Waukesha. As for my guy, he is recovering nicely and we hope to be out in downtown soon for a bite to eat!

Healthy Living Week 4

This week was a lot better for me. Though I did have one quite indulgent meal, I really was very well behaved for the rest of the week. I really watched my portion sizes and made sure that I knew exactly what I was putting in my body.

Friday night, my guy and I attempted to check out Tubby's outside of Whitewater. We pulled into the lot and already realized we were going to be waiting. We got inside and it was very crowded and we just decided to go somewhere else as we were starving. 

He suggested the Duck Inn and not being familiar with the area, I agreed. He used to be a bus boy back in the day, so I figured he knew what he was talking about. The place is a really cute old supper club style place with a very warm and inviting atmosphere. I'll do a full review next week, but we did enjoy ourselves.

Relish trays scream supper club in Wisconsin! Veggies with house made buttermilk ranch and two types of cold press cheeses for the cracker and breadstick basket. I sampled but didn't indulge.

Cashew Crusted Duck and T-Bone steak - Both were DEEEEE-lisious. Highly recommend ordering either. Full review to come. I only ate one piece of duck and that was plenty after filling up on the salad.

Saturday was Grill Day for me - I was so excited to get the grill and so thankful for my handy guy to put it together with a little help from the directions interpreter. Seriously Brinkman, I understand you provided multiple languages, but one of them written clearly would have sufficed.

Side note: Make sure the grill is going to fit in the vehicle before purchase. We had to take it out of the box to fit it in his Passat, which I would call an average size car. How to people buy larger things without owning a truck?

Anyways, She (I will have to name my grill soon -suggestions?) lit up just fine and grilled up some awesome bacon wrapped fillets, cheddar brats and pineapple. See the pineapple chunk under the grate - first fail by the operator of the tongs (yep that was me!)

Grilled veggies also accompanied the meal and I tried to fill up on those. They were spectacular. I am so excited to make many more meals on the grill.

Monday, I tried to copycat the Pairdd  meal. The salad turned out fantastic and my guy liked it too - he was skeptical at first but I got him to eat more than I thought he would. The salmon I made on the grill and I overcooked it just a little bit. It was still really tasty, but I think the Pairdd salmon was of higher quality and I will take that into account the next time I cook on the grill.

Do you like my new plate to display food on? That is compliments of my mother and my trip to IKEA on Sunday after my cousin's bridal shower. I think it makes my food stand out much better than my burgundy plates.

And now I'm back on my flat bread kick. This was an asparagus, onion, kale, spinach, pub cheese and mozzarella flat bread. I was trying really hard to get the flavor from the duck confit flat bread at Bernie's. This was my closest attempt yet, but still not quite there. And I didn't get the middle of the crust to crisp, even on "holy aluminum foil" Regardless, the flavors worked really well and I like the combo of kale and spinach a lot.

Yesterday I checked out my neighborhood and bit and found this nice trail to walk to get to Pick N Save.

When I got home, I was starving and realized a flat bread was again in my future after going down the frozen pizza aisle at the store and seeing some yummy DiGiorno crispy thin crust pesto pizzas. I had some pesto in my fridge, so I put a thin, very thin layer of pesto on the crust. Then I loaded it up with tomatoes, onion, spinach, mushrooms, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. I put the flat bread right on the rack this time and guess what....success! A deliciously crispy, crunchy flatbread in just 7 minutes!

So now that I have found the walking path and have found my love for veggies again (I haven't had meat in two days and I don't miss it!) I'm thinking week 5 is going to show some great progress. I just have to not eat the whole flatbread (whoops!). Probably would help if I only cook half the crust at a time.

So cheers to a new month being here already and warmer weather is coming, it just has to right? Let's keep up the good work together and Happy Eating!

Bernie's Tap Room and Downtown Waukesha

I had a date Friday night and I introduced him to Bernie's Tap Room and the Duck Confit and BBQ pizzas/flatbreads. The BBQ pizza was new to me and I think what makes Bernie's pizzas/flatbreads so outstanding is the super crispy and thin crust. I made another fan of the duck pizza and I WILL figure out the white sauce so I can try my darndest to make this at home. We took two slices of the BBQ pizza home to not be glutinous but it was really, really good.

My date was even lucky enough to score me some duck so I can try cooking it myself too! Any suggestions on cooking duck? 

Bernie's was hopping with people and the musician was just sitting down to start his first set. I took a double take and realized it was Mike Mann formerly from ManDown, a Milwaukee acoustic guitar coverband. In the mid-2000s, my cousin and I loved seeing them and we would go to whatever bars they were at because we were sure to have fun. Call us groupies or whatever but those guys knew how to rock it the southern rock way. It was great to see Mike still out playing and still rocking it. I didn't have a chance to say hi, but I'm sure I'll see him around again.

Then I showed my date around downtown and pointed out some of my favorite stops: People's Park, Nice Ash where my friend Kacey seemed to fly out of the bar to say hi to me, Poppin' on Broadway, Jackson's, Bosco's and Steaming Cup.

And then I tripped over the barricade in the road....... :(  

Nope, wasn't drunk, it just was really dark and I didn't see how far it was sticking out. Luckily my date kept me from falling completely over but whew - be careful out there folks. Road construction is the pits! (I will probably change it to the barricade jumped out at me in future retells of this date!)

My date was not from around here, so I'm glad he was able to see that Waukesha isn't a bunch of one-way streets that you can't get around (yep that's what he thought) and it has lots to offer. And he wasn't detered by the minor construction with me as such a great navigator for his first time in downtown. He has only been to downtown Waukesha one other time getting sausages for his dad's birthday surprise from Jimmy's Grotto. He is now a fan of Bernie's and I hope to make him a fan of many other places as well (regardless how the dating stuff works out!)

Eating Las Vegas: Part 1

My company is celebrating 30 years in business in 2013 and back in January at our company Christmas party, my boss surprised us with a trip to Vegas! We were even invited to bring a guest!

I brought my friend Carolyn on the trip and we had a blast eating our way thru Vegas while site-seeing, relaxing and exploring.

Day 1:
We left on a Saturday morning and arrived in Vegas around noon their time, 2 pm our time. We were definitely hungry already!!!!!

We took the long-way to the Red Rock Casino and did a touristy trip down the strip with a great comical shuttle driver that entertained us on the not-so-well known history of Vegas as well as the new things being built. Our room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel, so what else do we do on vacation, but drink some beers and eat some yummy food! First stop - The Yard House.

I had stopped here with my dad on my trip to Vegas three years ago and loved the place. They have well over 100 beers on tap that run from the cooler room through yards of tubing around the restaurant and are poured at the perfect temperature for you to enjoy.

I started myself with a Rogue Hazelnut beer and stuck to just the pint size, though they did have larger (and smaller) options. Vacation was just starting - not time to get wasted!I found the Rogue Hazelnut at Woodman's today and added it to my "must-buy" list.  We decided to split a few appetizers instead of get a real meal. The menu had snacks and appetizers on it, so we chose from those areas as well as suggestions from our server.

Gouda Chicken Flatbread - The gouda was nice and melty and the peppers and chicken were good. I wished there was more cheese, but what Wisconsinite wouldn't?

Crab, Lobster & Artichoke Dip - Can you really go wrong with a dip? I think not - this was perfect on my palette. I preferred it spread on the pita pieces over the chips, but I'm pretty sure we cleaned the plate completely on this.

Ahi Poke - I had just watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that featured this place in Hawaii. The closest I'm going to get to Hawaii for a few years it probably through that show and the Travel Channel, so when I saw this on the menu, I had to try it. It is marinated raw ahi tuna with avocado, carrots, daikon radish, macadamia nuts & crispy wonton to put it on. I am glad I tried it - it was nicely marinated and now I want to try other varieties. Anyone know where there is local Poke in Wisconsin?

 Our favorite was the crab, lobster & artichoke dip by far and all of it was a great start to our trip.

After a few more beers (Tripel Karmeliet, Rose Garden, Abita Purple Haze...and...?) and a few samples, we were full, feeling great and on our way to our room. It was time to get our vacation started! (PS - All of the beers we had were for the first time and I'm glad that I an find them in Wisconsin at Woodman's)

Day 2:
We started the morning with Starbucks (I know - not too exciting) and packed some water and granola bars for our Pink Jeep Tour in the Red Rock Canyon in open-air jeeps. (more on this soon). We were starving when we got back to the hotel at lunchtime and craved large juicy burgers. We were told by my coworkers that we had to check out LBS (pounds) for a good burger and had to have the Buffalo Chicken Dip. 

Of course, drinks were first! I went for a Raspberry Blush wine drink and Carolyn got a jalapeno bloody mary.

The buffalo chicken dip was spectacular. The chips were made in-house and the dip had just enough kick, when I avoided the peppers in it. The blue cheese was barely melted into the dip and cooled down the spicy-ness for me perfectly.

By the time the burgers came, we were pretty full. (scraping the dish completely clean and contemplating licking the plate will do that) . I got the Perfect Burger with Gruyere cheese, smoked bacon, frisee, roasted tomato, onion marmalade, their special sauce and herb mayo. They ask if you want pink or no pink for your meat and I went for pink so it wouldn't border on too dry. The burger was plenty juicy, the herb mayo and special sauce are awesome!
 

Carolyn got the Kansas City BBQ which is a burger topped with BBQ Pork, fire cracker onions, coleslaw and pickles. It was stacked sooooo tall. 

I was getting so full and needed more liquid to wash down the delicious, "hits the spot" burger, so a XXX drink was ordered. Yep - didn't finish my first drink before the second came so I was two-fisting. I ended up eating half of my burger on the bun and the other half, I took the bun away. Carolyn loved her burger as well and we were so glad we found this spot. 

Because we gorged on burgers and had spent a ton of time in the fresh air that morning, we decided to relax by the pool (in the shade because I'm so pale). We got a beer and chillaxed. We also had the evening and large portion of the next day off so some downtime was in order before our venture to The Strip. 

The Strip and the remainder of the trip are "to be continued." Yes we ate and drank more!!!! And I'll tell you now, even though Red Rock is 11 miles off the strip, I highly recommend staying there. The casino had everything that I could have wanted and probably more because I didn't even explore it all in the four days we were there. 

Viva Las Vegas!

#MKEFoodies - Wild Earth Cucina Italiana

Tonight, I had the opportunity to experience a dining venue at Potawatomi Bingo Casino like many won't be able to. Wild Earth Cucina Italiana is not typically open on Mondays, but for the #mkefoodies group, we were treated to a special night of food and drinks in a food station atmosphere.

The restaurant ambiance has a warm, earthy feel to it, with natural stone on the pillars, brown tones and foliage. Large booths were against the walls and tables filled the middle of the dining room.

We were greeted by Paul & Lori of the #mkefoodies group and provided aprons from Wild Earth with a pocket full of swag. The swag included poker chip mints, green apple lip balm, a recipe, info on Potawatomi and menus from the restaurant. Prices were extremely reasonable for what the ambiance portrayed and I couldn't wait to dig in.

The first stop we made was to the "make your own flatbread" line. A counter of toppings was laid out for us to fill our plates with. Then we put our name on a card and chose our sauce and in about 10 minutes our name would be called for our flatbread as they made it fresh in their wood fire grill.

If you have been following along, I am on a flatbread kick lately (see this too, and this)! I chose sausage, tomatoes, marinated red peppers, mushrooms, and artichokes and they added fresh mozzarella to it for cooking.

We stopped at the Italian soda station next and asked what was recommended. Our Barista suggested a sugar free Raspberry soda with lime and Tiffany went for that. I am still on a Mango kick and she suggested getting the soda with cream for a true dreamsicle experience. The whole station took me back to childhood with getting phosphates from Chocolate Factory with my grandma. And before the Carroll University bookstore cafe changed hands, they used to have Italian creme sodas and I would treat myself to those quite often between classes. It was delicious and hit the spot. 

We then went and got carved beef over mashed potatoes. I'm a meat and potatoes kid and the potatoes were buttery, garlicky goodness. The meat was a little too rare for me in the middle, but had great flavor on the outer edge. Tiffany went back for a second piece that was a bit more done later in the night and thought it was spectacular.

Tiffany brought back the Salmon Penne for us to split and it reminded me of a widely-loved special from Gondola Grille (now Jose's Blue Sombrero on Bluemound) with a rich buttery, cream sauce. It was soooo delicious. I always forget how much flavor peas and asparagus can add to a dish. I will definitely be making this at home because they provided us the recipe.

Next our flatbreads came and it looked so much better than I could have imagined. I selected the garlic and oil as that is what I used on mine at home. The veggies did make the middle of the flatbread a little soggy, but the flatbread itself was really good. I couldn't put my finger on it, but the dough or oil that was used had a nutty taste. I didn't mind, but I couldn't figure it out.

Tiffany went wandering for a bit while I captured a few more pictures and found the Caprese salads. The fresh mozzarella was salted and peppered lightly over a ripe juicy tomato and drizzled with oil. A piece of their dinner Ciabatta bread was put on the side and I used it to soak up the olive oil. This was delicious.

And then there was even dessert - pistachio, cherry and chocolate gelato with a vanilla wafer cone and chocolate biscotti. The gelato was nice and creamy and I used the cone to scoop my gelato with for a good crunchy bite. The biscotti tasted like a deliciously fudge brownie edge with a sweetness in the aftertaste that was somewhat fruity. Again, another unexpected, but lovely flavor. 

After the event ended, we went to the Fire Pit Sports Bar & Grill for a nightcap and were greeted by two handsome, young and fun bartenders. Not only was I mistaken by a security guard for being 22 (+10 mister but thanks!), but the bartenders were really fun to chat with and it was a great way to end our evening.

I highly recommend checking out Wild Earth Cucina Italiana and really any of the other restaurants in the Casino. I have eaten at Spit Fires before and I have heard good things about the new buffet, nothing about the Asian place, but it's been there for a while so it must be good.

Consider coming to an #mkefoodies event soon. This even was a $20 charge for all that food, but most events are much less than that. Follow the group on Facebook and Twitter for updates about upcoming events.