Yogurteria!

In reference to my first blog entry, I have finally found a natural frozen yogurt shop that is comparable to Orange Cup. It's called Yogurteria(http://www.yogurteriaus.com/3.html). With locations in Flower Mound, Bedford, and Hurst it is much more accessible than Orange Cup and the yogurt is truly excellent! In addition to their Original flavor (which I tried), Yogurteria also regularly offers Chocolate and Green Tea flavors. Like Berry Berry, and Bliss Frozen Yogurt, Yogurteria alternates a fourth flavor every week. I tried this week's flavor, Strawberry and was delighted with the incredible natural taste. What I most enjoyed about Yogurteria, however was the texture of their yogurt: smooth, yet not too milky or creamy and perfectly tart- what I fell in love with when I tasted Orange Cup.

Yogurteria refers to it's yogurt as "Italian Frozen Yogurt" which led me to believe it was another gelato (Gelato= Italian ice cream made with 2% milk instead of cream. Nothing like the tart frozen yogurt of Orange Cup) place...I was wrong. I still don't know where they got "Italian" from considering the yogurt they serve is modeled after a Japanese concept...hmmm. Also, Yogurteria doesn't just serve yogurt, they also serve shave ice and espresso. Yes, lots of choices await you at Yogurteria...it's must try....just in case you can't make it to Orange Cup. :)

About the toast...

I don't think I'll be making another Alton Brown recipe any time soon.

My first bad experience was with his French Onion Soup recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/french-onion-soup-recipe/index.html). Now, I've used the same recipe for French Onion Soup for a couple years and after watching an episode of Good Eats, I was inspired to try something new. His recipe sounded delicious and unique; he used white wine and a splash of Cognac....I had to try it! 5 sweet Vidalia onions and 10 oz of unfiltered Apple Cider are other components I found interesting. (Now that I'm writing out the ingrediants I'm amazed I couldn't see it coming.) Let's see what we have here: SWEET ONIONS, SWEET APPLE CIDER, and SWEET WHITE WINE (I used a chardonnay). What does that equal, kids? That's right, SWEET! Yes this soup was MUCH too sweet and close to unedible. A complete disaster.

Now, about the French Toast. If you read my last post you saw that I was trying a new recipe, also by Alton Brown for French Toast. Unfortunately, this recipe was far from what I would call good eats. Before I started cooking, I studied the recipe to be sure I didn't forget anything and I realized something extremely irregular: this french toast didn't call for any cinnamon or nutmeg! I was floored. I've never heard of French Toast without even a pinch of cinnamon in it! Needless to say, I immediately modified the recipe to include the two irreplaceable ingrediants.

When my guest arrived, he unexpectally brought a friend along. It's a tad embarrasing for me to serve a recipe that I've never tried to people other than my close friends and family, but I also don't want to be rude so I offered him a plate. As you may have already guessed, Alton Brown's French Toast wasn't that great. Not terrible, mind you, but not great. I'm sure Alton Brown knows what he's doing in the kitchen...maybe we just have different taste...very different taste.

Good Morning, Amanda!

One of my favorite recepie finds of all time is one for French Toast Casserole by the great Paula Deen (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-french-toast-casserole-with-maple-syrup-recipe2/index.html). You must try this recipe! The praline topping is what makes this dish a success. The brown sugar in the topping caramelizes on top and forms a sweet, buttery, delightfully crisp layer of deliciousness. The toast itslef is not overwhelmingly sweet, yet spiced perfectly with cinnamon and nutmeg (always use freshly ground nutmeg-it's a must!). The casserole is to be served with maple syrup (only the real thing, please!) and makes a great dish for special occasions. Honestly, if you ate this rich of a breakfast every morning I can promise you would end up looking like Kirstie Alley pre Jenny Craig. My family usually eats this dish on Christmas and Thanksgiving morning.
Tomorrow morning I'm cooking breakfast for someone special and have decided not to prepare the usual casserole but to surprize him with something new....hmmm. While researching the Food Network website I decided I wanted to make a basic French Toast Recipe so I'm trying one by Alton Brown (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/french-toast-recipe/index.html). Now I've had one VERY BAD experience with an Alton Brown recipe...but that's a different entry and I don't believe he can completely botch something as simple as French Toast! I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

Orange Cup

I'm so excited that for my first post I get to inform my readers about the most refreshing treat you will put in your mouth this summer.

OrangeCup (http://www.myorangecup.com) is the latest and truly the greatest of the frozen yogurt fad that has been sweeping the nation. Well, "sweeping the nation" is a bit of a stretch but just wait a while and I'm sure you'll get caught up in the low-fat, all natural frozen yogurt phenom. From what I can tell, OrangeCup got it's inspiration from a yogurt shop known as Pinkberry (http://pinkberry.com), which has locations in New York and California... you may have heard of it...it seems to be kind of a big deal there. Pinkberry describes their yogurt as "frozen yogurt reinvented" and that is exactly what came to mind that glorious day I sampled the cool, yet not-too-creamy texture of OrangeCup's Acaiberry essential (essential=flavor in OrangeCup speak) complimented by fresh, not frozen kiwi fruit, lush strawberries, and blackberries. If those three fruits don't tickle your taste buds don't fret, OrangeCup has over 16 different extras (or toppings for those not yet aquainted with OrangeCup lingo) including coconut, fruity pebbles, and for the summer, fresh peaches! Yum!

Along with Louis Vuitton, Sham Wow, and popular Bath and Body Works fragrances, OrangeCup also has imitators. I've had the displeasure of tasting yogurt from two imitators in the Dallas area: Bliss Frozen Yogurt and BerryBerry. Don't even go near BerryBerry in Addison...not worth the money. The texture of their YoGo flavor (compared to OrangeCup's Natural essential) was much too creamy, and a touch too sour for my liking. The Mango I chose to top my yogurt was tasteless, and completely underripe.

One drawback about OrangeCup is that for the moment, it only has one location: Northpark Mall upstairs next to Neiman Marcus. According to their website they will be opening a location in Frisco in Stonebriar Mall shortly.