Universal Studios, Home Edition: Krusty Burgers and Lard Lad Doughnuts

This weekend we were supposed to be heading up to Universal Studios for their Running Universal Trolls race.  Thatkid and I were signed up for the 5k, while Thatbaby was going to do the kids' race.  Of course, like usual, we were going to make a whole weekend out of it.

But since the race was cancelled, and Universal Studios is closed for the foreseeable future, I decided that we'd do our Universal Studios weekend at home.  This worked especially well given that Universal just released their Trolls World Tour Movie for streaming instead of a theatrical release.

When the boys woke up, I had Trolls shirts and hats ready for them, since they wouldn't get them from the race.  I also had printed out park maps for the two of them to decide what ride or show they wanted to go on/see.

We set up the loveseat facing the television and the kids' chairs in front of it and pulled up some virtual ride-thrus on youtube.

The kids took turns being the "line manager" and asking how many were in our party and directing us to our seats.

And then we rode a bunch of rides.

We took a quick break at lunch to head over to "Springfield USA" which is where we usually eat lunch at the park, since there's something for everyone.  This day, however, everyone was stuck with one option - Krusty Burgers.  However, they were served with fries and Squishees.

I even managed to grab some Duffs for the adults.  (Although in this case it was an energy drink instead of a beer)

And after lunch, there was doughnut.  Just one.  But as big as the kids' heads.  Because that's how they serve them at Universal Studios and because that is Thatbaby's FAVORITE thing to eat there.  Just like at the park, we divided the doughnut into four pieces and split it.

After lunch and nap, there were more rides.

And even a show or two!

And of course, we rounded out the evening with a showing of  Trolls World Tour.

It actually ended up being a really fun way to spend the day.  Of course, riding rides virtually doesn't really compare with riding them in real life, but as Thatboy pointed out, there were also no wait times.

And we did a pretty good job of creating theme-park worthy food.  Our doughnuts might have even been better than the ones you get in the park!

Krusty Burgers

1 lb ground beef

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup shredded cheddar

lettuce, tomato,  red onion

Thousand Island dressing

4 burger buns

4 cornichon

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Divide the meat into 4 portions and shape into patties.  Season with salt and pepper and cook 4-5 minutes per side until desired doneness.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter. 
3. Stir the flour into the butter and cook until a paste forms.
4. Stir in the milk and continue cooking and stirring until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.  Remove from heat.
5. Stir the cheddar into the white sauce.
6. Place each burger patty on a bun and top with some of the cheese sauce.
7. Add lettuce, tomato, onion, and a squirt of thousand island before topping with the other half of the bun.
8. Garnish each with a cornichon and serve.

Lard Lad Doughnut

1 1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup + 1 tsp sugar, divided

1 packet active dry yeast

4 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

6 Tbsp butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract, divided

canola oil

2 cups powdered sugar

pink food coloring

sprinkles

1.  Microwave 1 cup of milk for 40 seconds.
2. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir to dissolve.
3. Sprinkle over yeast and let sit for 8-10 minutes, until frothy and bubbly.
4.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and salt.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together remaining sugar, melted butter, eggs, and 1/2 tsp vanilla.
6. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix to combine.
7. Add in the dry ingredients, stirring until a shaggy dough forms.
8. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until elastic, about 5 minutes (add more flour if necessary during this process)
9.  Form the dough into a tight ball and place in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean dish towel.  Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
10.  Line 2 baking sheets with silpat or parchment.  Punch down the dough and divided in half.
11. Roll out one half on a lightly floured work surface until it is about a 1/2 inch thick round.  Use a doughnut cutter or biscuit cutter to cut the center out of your "doughnut."  Repeat with second half of dough.  You can use the leftover scraps to craft more regular sized doughnuts or even doughnut holes.
12. Place doughnuts on baking sheets and cover with a dish towel.  Let rise again, about another hour.
13. Make the glaze.  In a shallow pie pan, whisk together remaining milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth.  
14. Whisk in as much pink food coloring to the glaze to get your desired color.  
15.  Heat 2 inches of Canola oil in a large, shallow, saucepan - large enough for your doughnut to fit inside - to 350 degrees.  Cook doughnuts, one at a time, until deeply golden on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.
16. While doughnuts are cooking, line the baking sheets they were on with paper towels.  Remove doughnuts from oil and transfer to these baking sheets to drain and cool slightly.
17. Spoon glaze over top of doughnut and place on cooling rack.  Add sprinkles to your heart's content.

Blue Cheese Burgers

My family loves fast food.  Me?  Not so much.  There's just nothing appealing to me about thin, flat burgers which taste more of salt than meat.  This is especially blasphemous in the land of "In N Out," which is proclaimed as heads and tails above all other fast food.  Spoiler alert guys - it all tastes the same to me.

And fast food cheeseburgers?  Thin flat patties topped with a slice of processed cheese-like product?  No thank you.

When I want a hamburger, fast food just doesn't cut it.  I'm more than happy to go to a sit down burger restaurant, or a restaurant with fantastic burgers (funnily enough the best burger in town is at the fancy French restaurant!), or even just make it at home.

And when I make burgers at home, I can make cheeseburgers with a much better meat to cheese ratio. 

How do you get that ratio you ask?  Well I'll tell you - you mix the cheese in with the ground beef!  This means with every bite, you're getting just the right amount of meat and cheese.  For the kids, I like to use a mix of cheddar and mozzarella (sometimes they complain that just cheddar is TOO cheesy - ha!  Like that's a thing.)  But for the grownups?  There's nothing like a good blue cheese burger.

Blue Cheese Burger

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3/4 tsp Franks Red Hot 

1 tsp salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp butter

4 buns, toasted

1.  Combine the ground beef, cheese, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt and garlic in a large bowl.
2.  Form into 4 patties.
3. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Sear the burgers 1 minute on each side until browned.  
4. Lower the heat to medium and cook to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for medium rare.
5. Serve on toasted buns.

Crave Wednesday: Sun-Dried Summer

Here in sunny Southern California the weather just can't seem to make up its mind.  This week it's been unseasonably cold.  Last week it was super warm.  So warm in fact, that we met up with the Pirates at the beach.

It was a beautiful day.  A little chilly, but not too cold.  And while Thatboy wore a wetsuit in the water, Thatkid was just as happy in only a swimsuit.  He and Little Pirate played in the waves and went boogie boarding and dug big holes to play in

We picnicked on the beach, and it was so nice to just hang out with friends.

When Thatkid was a baby, we couldn't stop him from eating sand.  Thatbaby has no such attraction.  In fact, he spent most of the time there complaining about sand in his mouth.  Such a delicate little flower.

But you can understand his distress when usually we eat much more delicious things than sand.  And this burger perfectly encompasses the deliciousness of summer.  In general, I'm not a huge fan of sundried tomatoes, they're too oily for me.  But Trader Joes sells them not packed in oil, but just the dried tomatoes themselves.  Like raisins.  And those I like.  I also like using spinach instead of tasteless iceberg lettuce on my burgers.  And tangy goat cheese is a perennial favorite here.  

This weekend, Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer.  We're ringing it in with lots of friends, and very little cooking from me.  But if that's not the case for you, this is the perfect way to ease into summer.  Dust off your grills and get ready for warmer weather.

Sun-Dried Summer (From Cooking Light)

1 lb lean ground sirloin

  8 Tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1 cup fresh spinach

4 oz goat cheese

4 whole grain hamburger buns

1. Divide sirloin into 4 patties.  Grill the burgers for 3 minutes on each side, or until desired doneness.
2. Place burger on bun and top with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and goat cheese.

Crave Wednesday: Grecian Gourmet

This is my very belated Mother's Day recap.  I'm sure it will surprise exactly none of you that Mother's Day was extremely busy 'round these parts.  Because every day is busy 'round these parts.  It was full of wonderful things, but it made me realize that Mother's Day was definitely planned by a man.  Why else would it be scheduled for a Sunday when that means spending the evening prepping for the rest of the week?

The morning started out with a race, which I'll eventually get around to recapping.  (Consider this your cliffhanger!  Aren't you dying to know what happened?)

After the race, we headed out to breakfast.  Because I didn't even think about making a reservation until the week of Mother's Day (camping trip planning left me completely lacking in all other planning areas) all the restaurants in the area were booked.  But they were still taking walk-ins.  So we found ourselves at The Patio on Lamont. 

It was a beautiful day to wait outside.  Thatkid played a card game with Thatboy, while I corralled Thatbaby who had decided the stairs were his own personal playground.

Eventually we were shown to our seat, in the "baby" section of the restaurant.  I mean, I'm sure it was unintentional that the area we were sat in had a baby at every table.  If I sound annoyed, that's not my intent.  I actually think it's a fabulous idea, because no one is more understanding of eating out with a baby than another family with a baby.  We made quick friends with the table beside us who had a 14 month old and another on the way.  I reassured them that 2 kids wasn't a nightmare, while Thatboy filled their head with fear.  We're a good team.

After my race, and because it was Mother's Day, I decided to indulge in one of The Patio's morning libations - The Short Stack, featuring whiskey, butterscotch, oj, and bacon.

Thatboy and I decided to split the eggs benedict and the chilaquiles.  The chilaquiles were the clear winner of the two dishes.  Even Thatbaby loved them.  The chips, the chicken, and the eggs.

 After breakfast we headed up to Carlsbad to meet Thatmom for her Mother's Day celebration - strawberry picking!

We each picked a basket of red ripe berries, and ate a fair amount too.

After strawberry picking we went with Thatmom to grab some lunch for her.  The rest of us were still full from breakfast.  But not too full for ice cream after!  We went our separate ways and did a little supermarket shopping for the week.  By that time it was dinner time.  My plan had been to make dinner, but Thatboy thought we should go out for Mother's Day.  We were not the only people with this idea, and since it was last minute, the waits were insane.  So home for burgers it was.  Which isn't terrible.  I love a good burger, and I got to go out to breakfast, which was my mother's day request.

Thatkid and I love feta, and this burger uses it in the best way possible.  Paired with spinach, which is pretty much the best way to pair feta, it adds a completely different dimension to a "cheese burger."  The cool, garlicy tzatziki adds enough flavor that you won't even miss your ketchup.

Grecian Gourmet (From Cooking Light)

1 lb lean ground sirloin

4 Tbsp chopped red onion

  8Tbsp crumbled feta

1 cup fresh spinach, tossed with 1 tsp olive oil

4 oz tzatziki sauce

4 whole grain hamburger buns

1. Divide sirloin into 4 patties.  Grill the burgers for 3 minutes on each side, or until desired doneness.
2. Combine onion, feta, and spinach in a small bowl.
3. Place burger on bun and top with tzatziki sauce and spinach mixture.

Crave Wednesday: Avocado-Mango Tango

If you're just checking in, this is my last recap in the series of recaps of our trip to the redwoods of Humboldt County.  You can find Part I here, and Part II here.  This part covers the trip home.

After a rough night (teething isn't fun for anyone and Thatbaby believes that misery loves company) we awoke early, but not so bright and shiny.  While Thatboy started packing up our site, I heated up the last of our foil packet meals.

Breakfast burritos!  These were a hit with everyone.  Even the little guys.

After breakfast there was more packing up, getting dressed, final bathroom stops, and then we were in the car headed home.  We got a later start than on the way up, which meant a very long day in the car for all of us, but the boys were fairly good sports. 

We stopped overnight in San Luis Obispo, but due to the late hour, didn't get to enjoy it as much as we usually do.  And the next morning we were back on the road so we could make it home at a decent hour.  That last car day was the worst during the trip.  I think by that time we were all a little stir crazy. 

We got home in time to run to the supermarket and pick up a couple things for the week, and then it was back home, prepping for work and school the next day.  I wish we had gotten back a little earlier.  Or taken the next day off work.  It's hard to jump right back into the swing of things.  And a week later, I'm still feeling like I'm struggling to catch up.   The house is a mess, nothing is prepped for the next day which means late nights and very little sleep.  Having a regular burger night is a temporary reprieve.  Most nights I try to prep dinner for the following evening.  However burgers cook so quickly that I can make them the same night we eat them, getting me to bed earlier.

As the weather warms up, fruit salsas become ubiquitous.  Chips and salsa are a staple 'round here any time of the year, but in the summer I love a good melon, papaya, or mango salsa.  It just bursts with color and sweetness.  One of my favorite easy summer meals is grilled chicken topped with mango salsa, so this burger felt like a meatier version of that dish.  I tend to chop my avocado up and toss it into my salsa, but avocado slices work just as well.

Avocado-Mango Tango (From Cooking Light)

1 lb lean ground sirloin

1 avocado sliced

  8Tbsp mango salsa

4 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

8 Tbsp shredded Monterey Jack cheese

4 whole grain hamburger buns

1. Divide sirloin into 4 patties.  Grill the burgers for 3 minutes on each side, or until desired doneness.
2.  Sprinkle cheese over burgers during last minute of cooking.
3. Place burger on bun and top with avocado, salsa, and cilantro.

Crave Wednesday: The Poached Egger

I am writing this post from my own living room, where there is electricity and hot running water.  In the room down the hall is a bed.  Now none of this may seem very exciting to you, but I've spent the better part of the past week sleeping inches off the ground in a tent and barely showering.  I still smell of campfire.

That's right.  We're back from our first camping trip as a family of four.  I planned for disaster, because who in their right mind takes a 10 month old and 4 year old camping?  Or on a 2 day roadtrip to get to said campsite?  But luckily, when your expectations are low, they are often exceeded, so the trip ended up being a rousing success.  Since we were gone for such a long time, I'll break up the recap between several posts.  This one is going to cover the trip up.

A photo posted by Kate (@kateamplified) on Apr 28, 2016 at 7:20am PDT

We left at 6am on Thursday morning, which meant we got stuck in morning AND evening rush hour traffic.  Brilliant.  Luckily the boys were very manageable on the trip up.  We stopped just about every 3 hours for a bite to eat or to stretch our legs, and of course, bathroom breaks.

We don't do fast food often, so it's become a "thing" when we're on a roadtrip.  My concession to Thatboy.  I do have one rule, we only can eat at In n Out once and McDonalds once.  Because even I have my limit.  And Thatboy and Thatkid would eat every meal there if they could.  On the way up we stopped at In n Out, because animal style fries are kind of Passover friendly, right?

 

We hit LA rush hour traffic in the morning, and San Francisco rush hour traffic in the evening.  So we ended up stopping for dinner before actually getting in to SF to try and let the traffic lighten up a bit.  It worked!  So after dinner, as the sun was setting, we crossed over the Golden Gate bridge.

Around 9pm at night, 15 hours after we left the house that morning, we reached our home for the evening, a Best Western in Santa Rosa. Thatkid loved the fact that we had our own "front porch" which he took advantage of the next morning.

Since we were only 3 hours from our final destination, we didn't have to hit the road quite as early Friday morning.  And we could make a stop on our way.  A couple hours after leaving Santa Rosa we were in the land of "big trees."

Our planned stop?  The Chandelier Tree. 

Unlike Sia, we weren't going to swing from this chandelier, we were going to drive through it!

So touristy.  But when are you going to get the chance to drive your car right through the middle of a tree?  

There were plenty of other giant trees in the area.  We even managed to fit the entire family inside the trunk of one for more touristy photo ops.

Thatboy finally decided we should hit the road.  We still had to stop for lunch, and he wanted to get to the campsite before it got dark.

We made a stop at the Peg House for some barbecue.  It's the perfect place to stop if you have kids and dogs.  The outdoor eating area is large and boasts special tables and chairs for your littlest travelers.  The potato salad is also out of this world.  And there are super clean bathrooms.   Never don't stop at the Peg House.

After lunch both boys fell fast asleep, so Thatboy and I just took in the trees for the next hour before we arrived at camp.

 

We let the boys keep sleeping while Thatboy set up camp and I got the "kitchen" ready and dinner started.

 

Our campsite was fantastic. The Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon is a HUGE deal, and there aren't a lot of lodging options, so when I booked the site back in November there were only a couple sites left.  A week later, the campsite was full.  Our site seemed really large.  It was at the end of a "cul de sac" so we had a nice paved area for Thatkid to play on his scooter.  It was surrounded by a bunch of giant redwoods and not too far from the bathrooms. It was on the interior of the campground, so we weren't disturbed by the nearby road.

My motto for this trip was KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid, you've got kids with you.  So all our meals were foil packets.  I prepped them before we got there, packed each meal in a ziplock, so all I had to do was throw the packets on the fire.

Since the first night was still Passover, we went with bunless burgers, veggies, and bacon cheese fries.  It was the simplest burger I could think of, not very fancy at all.

Now that we're home, and Passover is over, we can upgrade to fancier burgers.  Burgers with a perfectly runny egg on top.  Dripping with cheese and salsa.  This is not your camping burger.  It's good to be home.

The Poached Egger (From Cooking Light)

1 lb lean ground sirloin

4 poached eggs

4 Tbsp salsa

green leaf lettuce

4 Tbsp queso fresco

4 whole grain hamburger buns

1. Divide sirloin into 4 patties.  Grill the burgers for 3 minutes on each side, or until desired doneness.
2.  Place burger on bun and top with egg, salsa, lettuce, and queso fresco.