NY Jets ITALIAN GARLIC BREAD BURGERS

Ingredients

1½ lbs. ground beef

1 package (11.75 ounces) frozen mozzarella and garlic bread

Salt and pepper

4 tomato slices

12 large fresh basil leaves

Cooking Instructions

Heat bread according to package directions for grilling. Watch that the bread does not burn on bottom.

Meanwhile, lightly shape ground beef into four ¾-inch-thick patties. Place patties on grill and fry over medium ash-covered coals.

Grill uncovered, 13 to 15 minutes, to 160°F doneness, turning occasionally.

Cut bread crosswise into four “buns.” Season burgers with salt and pepper as desired. Place burgers on buns, top with tomato and basil.

If mozzarella and garlic bread is not available, substitute regular garlic bread. Two minutes before burgers are done, top each with a slice of mozzarella cheese.

 

 

Gladys Bettis's Sweet Potato Pie

Gladys Bettis, proud mom of Jerome Bettis, an NBC sports commentator and celebrated former running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, appeases her son's sweet tooth with a serving of her homemade sweet potato pie.

 

Photo Credit iStockphoto

Recipe courtesy of Gladys Bettis

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS

3 medium-size sweet potatoes

3 eggs

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1 cup sugar

3/4 stick butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 pie shell

DIRECTIONS

1. Boil sweet potatoes (either whole or sliced) until tender.

2. Once cooled, peel potatoes and mash through ricer.

3. Place mashed sweet potatoes in a bowl with remaining ingredients.

4. Mix (on medium speed using an electric mixer) until well combined.

5. Pour mixture into an unbaked 9-inch pie shell. Bake 40-45 minutes at 400 degrees F or until golden brown.

 

Janice Staples's Mac 'n Cheese

Janice Staples, mother of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker LaMarr Woodley, adds her own flair to canned condensed Cheddar cheese soup to make this rich and easy macaroni and cheese.

 

Photo Credit Foodcollection/Getty Images

Recipe courtesy of Janice Staples

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

1 small red onion, diced
1 (16-ounce) package small pasta shells
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pinch garlic salt
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 (11-ounce) cans condensed cream of Cheddar cheese soup
2/3 cup shredded Havarti cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the diced onion in a large pot of lightly salted water; bring to a boil. Cook the pasta until close to done, about 8 to 10 minutes; drain. Transfer the onion and pasta to a casserole dish. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

2. Stir the butter and brown sugar into the pasta mixture until the butter melts. Add Cheddar cheese soup, Havarti cheese, Parmesan cheese, and 1/3 cup of Cheddar cheese; stir well. Sprinkle remaining Cheddar cheese over top of the dish.

3. Bake in preheated oven about 45 minutes. Change oven setting to Broil and cook until top is golden brown, about 4 minutes.

 

 

 

new york | battle of batali.

you've been waiting eagerly for the ital food and wine emporium from mario batali and partners lidia and joe bastianich (with company founder oscar farinetti) to open, and now your taste buds will finally be treated to the cornucopia of italian delicacies they have planned at eataly.

the torino version of the mega eatery (pictured) isn't equipped with the caliber of celebrity that batali brings, so the italian ex-pats better be ready for the camera flashes at the 50,000-square-foot food mecca in the flatiron. esca exec chef dave pasternack is running the fish resto—complete with an oyster bar—and batali's pop is handling the salumi station. artist jennifer rubell is acting as vegetable butcher which means she will basically clean and prep any veggie you like while you busy yourself browsing the tastings rooms and restos. there's a cheese shop and wine store, a gelato stand, ital book store and above all, a meat resto overseen by batali himself. the spot will features two kinds of beef: grain fed superbeef engineered at carnevino by BBQ king adam perry lang, and a grass-fed ital piedmontese beef prepped in the raw (think tartare, carpaccio and raw meat salads). pizza comes courtesy of rossopomodoro in naples, italy, and nancy silverton is in charge of fresh bread and focaccias. there's even a pastry department preparing dolci al cucchiaio: tiny, half-size portions of luscious italian deserts. and in case you want to try your hand at making any of this at home? you can buy everything in one of the 20 retail departments. 

all this without having to renew your passport. eataly. 200 fifth avenue. at 23rd. no phone yet. opens august 31st. 

new york | empire of the shack.

contributed by fabiana santana

although it's located on the UES, the fifth installation of danny meyer's shake shack is an ode to brooklyn, literally, from the ground up. 

the tables—constructed from old bowling alley lanes—were designed by a brooklyn woodshop and the benches were made with repurposed wood from the coney island boardwalk. and speaking of coney island, shake shack's famous frozen custard will be available at this location, in daily flavors that range from salted caramel and sweet corn during these summer months to pumpkin and apple strudel come winter. and with this new iteration uptown, shack's signature roadside style burgers haven't changed—seared all natural black angus sits between a fluffy potato bun and come garnished with the shack's special sauce and cheese. still hungry? add a crispy fried portobello stuffed with cheese right on top. 

better get in line. this is gonna be a long one. shake shack. 154 east 86th street. between lexington and 3rd. 646.237.5035 now open. www.shakeshack.com

I met him at the gym – I was working as a membership consultant while in college, and he was a disgruntled exercise junkie whose gym had just closed. He was forced to come into Gold’s, where I was working and sign up.  For some reason, he figured that anyone who works at a gym must be into health food.  While I didn’t mind other people eating it, I preferred not to.  Actually, I  found that a couple of Starburst candies worked just as well as energy drinks when in need of a pre-cardio jolt.  When, of course, I felt the need to actually do card.  His initial confusion at my menu choices was not his fault – after all, I did work in a gym.  And I did exercise once in a while, and sometimes I even enjoyed it.  But that is where it ended for me. Incorporating the occasional weekly workout sessions did not mean that I would cross over into granola land. I always thought, however, that he would secretly wish for me to do so.

Day one in our joint apartment confirmed my anxiety. Dusty, tired and shiny from the sweat of moving, my suggestion for our first dinner was simple. Apple pie a la mode. Nothing says welcome home quite like it.

I wasn’t sure if his look was one of confusion or shock. At that moment, I became conscious of two things: 1. I knew nothing about compromise and 2. I had better learn to like egg whites, and not just in the 7 minute icing form, because I had a feeling these two things were about to change my life. 

The initial merge proved to be difficult on both of us. Grocery shopping took forever with me getting lost in the baking and dessert section and he inevitably wound up waiting up to an hour for me at the counter. I ‘d heard of that whole outer perimeter-shopping concept, but didn’t think anyone actually did it. Why would they when all the good stuff was in the middle?  Take out became a distant memory (too much MSG) and waking up in the middle of the night for a second helping of dinner’s risotto would only live on in my dreams – he couldn’t have leftovers in the fridge for more than 2 hours. Apparently that is how long it takes for bacteria to begin to grow on food. Who knew? As time went on, we began to settle into our situation and accept things, and each other, for what they were. While we could work around some things like the bacteria phobia and the need for an emergency stash of Oreo cookies on hand at all times, we just couldn’t work around others.  Breakfast was one of them. My leisurely morning ritual of sipping cappuccino and nibbling chocolate croissants while flipping through channels would have to suffer if I wanted to spend any time with him before I left work work, So i learned to love his preferred method of eating oatmeal while standing in the kitchen in gym clothes and gulping (gasp!) instant coffee so that he had time to fit in a morning workout.  We realized that avoiding all things food while together was no way to live, and that culinary compromise would be the factor that binds us. 

This would especially prove true on during our first holiday hosting session. See, he wouldn’t even bend the diet rules on special occasions, so Christmas would be a problem. I dreamed of star shaped, chocolate dipped graham cracker cookies with white dot sprinkles (like the ones I had before my kindergarten nap session)  all year long, while  he looked forward to having the gym all to himself on Christmas Eve while the rest of the world finished their last minute shopping.  My holiday menu suggestion was snacky foods like mini cheese quiches, tiny fried spring rolls and pigs in a blanket with a giant dessert buffet decorated with Hostess Snowballs as a finale. No one ever has dessert parties – we would be innovators!  After much deliberation and the occasional “you’re crazy” in both directions, we decided to potluck the dinner so everyone could eat whatever they wanted.  The golden tofu wasn’t that bad, and trying new foods together was fun. Even though he took just one bit of most dishes, and he stayed away from the snowball buffet -  which was a hit with everyone else - it was a treat for both of us to see the other experimenting just a bit.  I never had the guts to tell him that I secretly ate so many snowballs that Christmas (for fear I wouldn't get any) that I can’t even look at them now.  

“You’re crazy” I can’ take, but “I told you so” just doesn’t go down as easy.

Eight years later, we have learned to enjoy each other’s gastronomic quirks. I love that he sneaks baby carrots into the movies and thinks that turkey burgers are a treat. He has  - after all this time - developed a taste for fine chocolate and thinks Scharffenberger ranks the best. He even bought me an ice cream maker for Christmas last year and I bought myself a salad spinner for my birthday!

We often spend weekends together perfecting the perfect fat free, sugar free pistachio and fresh basil ice cream.  Some days all we get is icy soup. Other days it is a cold cream so good we eat nothing else at all.

Hilary Duff loved everything about her wedding

, especially the food.

“I wanted junk food - because I've been so good. I said to my sister Haylie, 'After the wedding is over, I'm going to eat 16,000 calories!,'" she told OK! magazine.

Duff, who admitted she chipped a tooth on her wedding day and had to rush to the dentist in secret, married Mike Comrie in a sunset ceremony in Santa Barbara, California, last Saturday and did all the planning herself, from writing the vows to choosing the menu.

“The food was one of the most exciting parts of planning. The catering company cooked everything for us so we could taste everything they were going to serve. Mike and I have a favorite restaurant, Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, so they modelled this delicious truffled corn ravioli from there. We had pigs in a blanket; these really cute heart-shaped, puffed, fried things; sliders with Wagyu beef and Gruyere cheese; pepper-crusted rib-eye steak; and miso-glazed black cod."

We all know the importance of super foods in our diet. They are the foods that give us the most nutritional bang for our buck. And everyday we are learning more about the benefits of everyday foods that elevate them to superfood status. Eggs, for example. We’ve always known they are a high source of protein, but new research tells us that when eating for breakfast, they actually promote healthy eating all day long. "Studies show if you eat eggs at breakfast, you may eat fewer calories during the day and lose weight without significantly affecting cholesterol levels," says Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD, author of The Pocket Idiot's Guide to the New Food Pyramids.

So, I bet if you ask yourself, “Am I eating enough superfoods?” you will probably say, “You’re damn right I am!” But in reality, you probably are not. Because a few almonds and a sprinkle of olive oil does not a healthy diet make. And that fruit salad for breakfast needs to have way more blueberries to qualify as a superfood meal. Out of curiosity, I took the quiz on Superfoodsrx.com and was actually cringing as I answered the questions. And then I ran to the kitchen to make myself a cup of green tea so I at least got one superfood in today.  

I didn’t know that site existed, and I am sure they want to sell something to someone. But they do offer the quiz and a health focused newsletter for free, so it is worth the visit. Even if all you do is ask yourself, “ what is your superfood count for today so far?” more often.

Apples
Avocado
Beans
Blueberries
Broccoli
Cinnamon
Dark Chocolate
Dried SuperFruits
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic
Honey
Kiwi
Low Fat Yogurt
Oats
Onions
Oranges
Pomegranates 
Pumpkin
Soy
Spinach
Tea
Tomatoes
Turkey
Walnuts
Wild Salmon

new york | rule the pool. contributed by fabiana santana  whether you are interested in spending the night (or just a few hours), the gansevoort park avenue is bound to grab your attention. you may have already noticed the electric blue lights announcing its arrival. (if not, no worries—the south beach-style illumination is a staple here.) inside, find contempo style rooms with juliet balconies and lofty ceilings. and if size matters, you can have your pick of rooms ranging from 475 to 1,560 square feet. like all of its locations, the spa at the gansevoort features exhale's signature core fusion classes and an onsite cutler salon avail for primping. but if it's dinner you're after, check out asellina, the huge resto named after an ancient pompeii tavern. but lest you forget where you are, the hotel wouldn't be complete without a bit of nightlife debauchery thrown in. trek up to the 19th-floor indoor/outdoor rooftop pool that has a collapsible garage door and sundeck that overlooks the empire state building. (plus it's fully equipped with fireplaces to keep you warm come winter.) and while the nightlife scene is pretty much guaranteed to be as great as its MPD sister, the rules of the pool remain the same—it will be open to the public during the week for a hefty fee. �cuz in this part of town, it's more than who you know. the gansevoort park avenue. 420 park avenue south. at 29th. 212.317.2900. soft opening august 2nd. www.gansevoorthotelgroup.com