Episode 86: Introducing 100% Fresh Beef Patties and Restaurant Logistics with Preston Pearson of McDonald's [Sponsored Post]

This week, we geek out a bit on restaurant design as we go on location at McDonald's to chat with Preston Pearson, Area Operations Supervisor, as they introduce 100% fresh beef patties to their Quarter Pounder and Signature Crafted burger line-up, and how that has changed their kitchen workflow, installed new equipment, and revamped staff training. Lee also joins us and goes through the process of making a fresh beef burger. Have you had one lately? They're so hot and juicy!

Let's taco 'bout it!

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Lee joins us to help We're just happy to have some fellow bloggers and guests for our segment What did you eat this week? Kathy Dalton of Go Adventure Mom (with a podcast!) told us of Trader Joe's Gnocchi al Gorgonzola and how it's now their emergency go-to meal. Sounds good to me!
• We also chatted with Valerie of Chew and Chat and she loved the new fresh beef burgers from McDonald's (see what she had to say here) that we tried that evening, plus she told us of a chicken vegetable soup that she made from her cookbook Soup's On.
• We also chatted with Stephanie Read of the Salt Project (you can find them here: blog, Facebook, and Instagram), about the McDonald's Quarter Pounder she ate at the event. She's been a fan of the Quarter Pounder for a long time now, but she stated that it was the best one she's eaten!

• Becky of the blog Utah Sweet Savings joined us and told us about what she ate this week: A smoked rib-eye steak with Old Bay Seasoning for 2 hours, then finished off on the grill for a nice sear. Yum! 
• We didn't realize how much McDonald's is committed to making things better for their customers. Their philosophy is "the simpler the better". 
• Warning: We are on-site at McDonald's and the sound quality is quite a bit different and variable! We hope you enjoy a more relaxed, "peek" into our field trip.
• We take a tour with Preston Pearson, McDonald's Operations Supervisor, as he talks us through the changes that needed to be made throughout the restaurant. 

Preston Pearson of McDonald's (picture taken by Kathy Dalton of Go Adventure Mom)

• Grill-side refrigerators have been installed for easy access to the meat, and they're stocked every 2 hours and as needed at the location we visited. 
• The meat is shipped in low oxygen, plastic-sealed bags and staged in the walk-in refrigerators and stored appropriately per food handling procedures. When it's ready to be moved to the grill-side fridge, the bag of fresh patties are put into a blue plastic container. The blue color is to indicate a raw product to alert employees.
• Before an employee handles the raw beef patty, he or she dons blue gloves, once again for raw product only. Once the meat is placed on the grill, the blue gloves are removed and thrown away.
• He talks about the innovative clamshell grills, where both the top and bottom plates of the grill are heated for quick cooking and a nice sear. The grill's temperatures are verified and calibrated upon installation and daily, so that the fresh beef patty can be cooked in under 80 seconds. Eighty seconds! That's quick to get a hot burger even through the drive-through!

The Hungry Squared Podcast with the McDonald's group (picture taken by Kathy Dalton of Go Adventure Mom)

• I found out that the special seasoning combination they put on the burgers consists of 86 grains of salt to 14 flakes of pepper. Who has the patience to figure that out?!
• Once the patty is cooked, it goes through the regular efficient burger assembly, where the employee has donned on clear/white gloves.
• Afterward, we ate our burgers and even tried some secret menu items, like the "10:30 Burger". The 10:30 Burger got it's name because you could it when the breakfast menu was finishing up and the lunch menu was beginning at 10:30 am. The burger is a Quarter Pounder with bacon, a fried egg, and hash browns. It was delicious! Check our Instagram and Facebook to see Lee's reaction!
• You can follow McDonald's on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Run Time: 45 minutes

Sponsors: McDonald's is our awesome and food-loving sponsor for this week's episode. Have you tried a Quarter Pounder or Signature Crafted burger with a 100% beef patty yet? You gotta love it!

Leave a Comment food design, McDonald's, restaurant logistics, sponsored post

Episode 65: Halloween Candy

On this week's episode, we're getting in the mood for Halloween by talking about the history of Halloween, the origin stories of the Tootsie Roll, Candy Corn, and the term Fun Size, and then we learn about why we all get freaked out about tainted Halloween candy. Then we help our Food Fight listener figure out how to deal with all the Halloween candy coming from grandparents.

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Sharon went on a tour at the Waterpocket Distillery, who makes Robber's Roost, a light whiskey, and Oread. You can find them on Instagram here.  Winter and Lee get invited to a lot of little kid activities because of Lucy, so we tried Apple Cider Donuts (yummy!) at the Cross E Ranch, a local pumpkin patch in Utah. Our friends at Donut Kabobs told us how much those donut-making machines cost--it's a lot!
• By the way, here are some of our previous Halloween costumes:

• Halloween has many origin stories: Samhain (a Celtic festival), mumming, All Souls Day, souling, guising, and Guy Fawkes Day (such as seen in V is for Vendetta and these masks).

Guy Fawkes Masks

• The most desired candy over Halloween is the Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. You may want to check this and this out.
• Tootsie Rolls has an official history, but then Winter found a cool article with more research on the story of the Tootsie Roll. Leo Hirschfield also invented Bro-Man-Gel-On too!
• Winter loves Candy Corn (the Halloween version, even though there are many types of candy corn such as here and here). This is how they're made.

By Csavvj - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62634197

• How did the term Fun Size come about? It was the Mars company trying to market their candy for Halloween in 1968! It started out with Snickers, Milky Way, and Three Musketeers. The Curtiss Candy Company, who market Baby Ruth and Butterfinger, started using the term also, and Mars sued them and lost.
• We blame Ann Landers and Dear Abby for perpetuating the fear of tainted candy. 
• Watch this clip that Seinfeld does on Halloween--hilarious!
• We help our Food Fight listener figure out how to navigate all the candy during Halloween, especially coming from the grandparents. 

Run Time: 59 minutes

Sponsors: We have no sponsors for this episode. If you're interested in working with us, please contact us. We'd love to partner with you.

Leave a Comment food design, food history

Episode 44: The Food Processor with Special Guest Nicki Sizemore, author of The Food Processor Family Cookbook

On this week's episode, we get to chat with Nicki Sizemore of From Scratch Fast, all about the food processor. We get into the history of the food processor, the design of the machine, and how we can use it in our home more readily. We learned SO much. Plus, we chatted about all the good food in her cookbook, The Food Processor Family Cookbook, and we're drooling! Head on over to Instagram @hungrysquared for a contest to win one of her cookbooks. Then, we help our Food Fight listener figure out how to vacation with her non-foodie friend.

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Sharon scored several boxes of Bhakti Tea, a sparkling tea, at the Everything Food Conference because we're local! Winter was inspired by the Kokonut Grill's kalua pork to make her own kalua pork using this recipe from Rasa Malaysia. It was her first time using liquid smoke!
• We're so excited to have Nicki Sizemore from the blog From Scratch Fast and her book The Food Processor Family Cookbook to talk all about the food processor.

• Tip: Make your food processor accessible and you'll use it more! It's a helpful kitchen assistant.
• History: Pierre Verdon created the Le Magi-Mix, the home-version of the restaurant version, the Robot Coupe.
• Carl Sondheim then introduced the home version, the Cuisanart food processor, through food influencers such as Julia Childs and James Beard. James Beard even wrote a cookbook for the food processor!
• What is the different between food processors vs blenders: A food processor has a wide base, so you don't need to add liquid to cut things up. Plus, the three main parts--the S-blade, the shredding disk, and the slicing disk--will do the trick.
• It's easy to make a pie crust in your food processor! Remember, don't go too far--when it looks shaggy, then that's when you need to stop mixing. 
• Nicki has a 3-cup and a 14-cup Cuisinart food processors and they can pretty much do everything you need to do in the kitchen.
• Simplicity is the best! Nicki loves her 2-button processor.
• Tip: Tackle washing the food processor right away. Don't let it sit! And use a long-handled scrub brush (not a sponge) to clean off those 
• In the 60s, the food processor was perfect for French food (broccoli mold?). Food habits shifted, and now the food processor is popular in the vegetarian and raw food trend.
• Tip: Place a piece of tape on the front of the bowl and the lid, so it matches up.
• Don't use the mandolin--they're a tool of death! Use your slicing blade/disk. Use it to make a gratin with either potatoes or butternut squash. We're gonna try slicing the Creminelli salami in our food processor. We mentioned a trick to remove the casing that Cristiano Creminelli and you can hear about it in this episode.
• You need to try making baked goods in your food processor, such as this Carrot Cake Muffins. Winter has a Crystalized Ginger Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe and we talk through how to do that.
• We go through each section of the cookbook, and the "Nice" Cream section sounds great. I want to make more soft serve-like banana ice cream! And chocolate sauce!
• Nut butters are tasty in the food processor. Don't fret when the nut butter start to ball up, and it will eventually start looking glossy.
• Thai Ginger Soup, Shrimp Tacos with Pumpkin Seed and Spinach Pesto, Grandma's Banana Bread, and Chicken Kabobs with Coconut Peanut Sauce from her cookbook sound amazing!
• You can find her book The Food Processor Family Cookbook on Amazon and at some Barnes and Noble.
• We are excited for Nicki's upcoming book on power bowls next year too. More to come! Sign up for her newsletter here.
• Go here to enter our Instagram contest to win one of two signed copes of the The Food Processor Family Cookbook.

• We help our Food Fight listener figure out a compromise while on vacation with her friend who isn't into food like she is.
• We've got a listener survey out now and T-shirts coming soon (at the end of the month)!

Run Time: 1 hour 3 minutes

Sponsors: Our sponsor for today's episode is our friends at Zip Schedules, an online employee scheduling software and app, for our small business and restaurant owners out there. It makes making a schedule and communicating with your staff a piece of cake. It's especially ideal for those in the hospitality industry!

Go to zipschedules.com and get 30 days free when you sign up. PLUS, our Hungry Squared listeners can enter the code HUNGRY to receive 20% off your monthly subscription for a whole year.

Thank you, Zip Schedules!

Leave a Comment food design, food history, food processor, Nicki Sizemore

Episode 27: Pantry

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Winter had Seafood Mac & Cheese at Gracies, while Sharon stayed home and made crockpot nachos (weird!).
• Some of Sharon's pantry staples: pasta, tomato paste, molasses, tea, garbanzo beans, coconut milk, and plain yogurt.
• Some of Winter's pantry staples: rice, dried black beans for the Instant Pot, baking supplies, eggs, and plenty of snacks.
• Here's some guidance on how to tackle cleaning out your pantry by Apartment Therapy's January Cure.
• Everything has a "home" ala Marie Kondo's philosophy when organizing your pantry.
• A few things that Winter loves to tackle designing/organizing her pantry: this foldable step stool because she's so short, these clear square containers (singles or a whole set), this shoe organizer for back-of-door real estate, this label maker, this spinning accessory, and "stadium seating" for your spices.
• We both LOVE the Pioneer Woman's sour cream pancakes from her first cookbook. They're just like the ones at Penny Ann's.
• Winter and Lee don't own a traditional waffle iron anymore. It looks more like this.

Run Time: 53 minutes

Sponsors: We are excited to be an affiliate partner with Once a Month Meals, where you can plan your month's freezer meals efficiently. Let's save some time time and get food on the table faster!

Go here (https://secure.onceamonthmeals.com/affiliate/hungrysquared), and they are generously offering our listeners 15% off at checkout when you enter the code HUNGRY15. Offer expires February 15, 2017.

Thanks, Once a Month Meals!

Leave a Comment food design, once a month meals, pantry, sponsor

Episode 25: Hygge

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Sharon had a Parole Violator Sandwich here. Make sure to get a cookie! Winter got some gingerbread (lebkuchen) from one of our awesome listeners. Thanks, Carma, for the tasty treat!
• If you are in Utah, Park City is a nice to place to visit, especially in the winter.
• How to pronounce hygge, koselig, and mysigt.
• Comfort foods vs food that is hygge.
• Get yo'self some candles! Make a fire! Scented oils are a plus!
• Get yo'self some soft blankets (we like these ones), plush rugs (I've been eyeing this one), and fuzzy slippers or socks (Sharon likes these ones).
• Hotpot pots are a necessity for Chinese New Year. Winter doesn't use it often, but it's essential. This is the one we have, but this one is great and less expensive too!
• Winter's goal is to make something in her Instant Pot once a week. Remeber, Kathy Hester's vegan Instant Pot cookbook is coming out this month.
• Sharon gets her spices online here at Penzey's. 
• Have you subscribed to our podcast? Make it one of your 2017 New Year's resolutions! You can subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play Music.

Run Time: 43 minutes

Sponsors: We have no sponsors for this episode. If you're interested in working with us, please contact us. We'd love to partner with you.

1 comment Denmark, food design, hygge

Episode 23: Christmas Food Traditions

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Sharon has success with a one-pot pasta with this Damn Delicious recipe, and Winter had one fail (with pork chops) and one success with beef stroganoff using this Pressure Cooking Today recipe using her new Instant Pot. It compares to the one we have had at the Dodo Restaurant in Utah.
• Fun Christmas facts brought to you by this fun and random book.
• Fruitcakes--there are so many! We couldn't find a Youtube clip of Jay Leno eating this 125-year old fruitcake, sadly! And Winter thinks that the Chinese version of a fruitcake is this cake.
• Winter loves watching gingerbread house challenges. Anybody else? Apparently, these people love a good challenge too!
• These folks love to explain gingerbread houses using science and architecture. We love this type and brand of flour to create good structure in your gingerbread. This article talks about how you can calculate the max height you can build a gingerbread house.

Run Time: 57 minutes

Sponsors: We have no sponsors for this episode. If you're interested in working with us, please contact us. We'd love to partner with you!

2 comments food design, food history, food science, instant pot

Episode 22: Meal Planning & Freezer Meals with Special Guest, Tricia Callahan from Once-a-Month Meals

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Sharon makes a batch of coffee bacon (what?!?), and Winter loves loves loves this new garlic focaccia at one of her fave places.
• Tricia Callahan from Once a Month Meals is our special guest this week to help us talk about meal planning and freezer cooking.
• Freezer meals aren't for just the all-American menu--you can do a diet menu, paleo, Whole30, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian--it's possible to plan ahead!
• Great post: Freezer meals is like a gym membership. 
• Recipes come from other blogs and partnerships, such as 100 Days of Real Food. We also chat about this episode with Kathy Hester and all she does with vegan cooking and the Instant Pot. 
• Tips: Do online grocery shopping to make sure you don't wear yourself out. We like this service! By the way, you can get $5 off $50 Clicklist order this month. Print the coupon here.
• Our audience members get 15% off at Once a Month Meals if you enter the code HUNGRY15 until February 15, 2017. Get started on your new year's resolutions now! Thanks, Tricia!
• By the way, are you following us on Instagram? Follow us on Instagram here!

Run Time: 61 minutes

Sponsors: We have no sponsors for this episode. If you're interested in working with us, please contact us. We'd love to partner with you!

Leave a Comment food design, freezer meals, meal planning, once a month meals, special guest, tricia callahan

Episode 15: Knives with Guest Host, Lee Redd

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Lee from Bee's Knees Waffles and Winter's husband is the guest host this week--yay! He talked about this recipe again from another episode, because it's just that good.  Ew!
• We are talking knives because many of you asked us about them since this episode. 
• Parts of the knife: Tip, point, and cutting edge!
• Lee's Recommendation: Chef's knife. This is what we use and LOVE it! What do you use?
• This is what Winter uses on a daily basis: Either this or this (less expensive option) Santoku knife and this serrated knife. 
• Lee thinks a tourne knife is useless. Here's what you use it for.
• This is a beautiful knife that I bought Lee, but it didn't work for him because it was too light and too sharp. But Lee LOVES this knife I just got him.
• You know what videos what our Food Fight listener is sick and tired of.
• Follow us on our Hungry Squared Instagram!

Run Time: 53 minutes

Sponsors: We have no sponsors for this episode. If you're interested in working with us, please contact us. We'd love to partner with you!

Leave a Comment food design, guest host

Episode 11: Canning

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Where we ate this week and loved: Per Noi Trattoria and Kokonut Island Grill. 
• Winter's tomatoes are getting roasted for this ultimately. The recipe is from this awesome book.
• These are the best Victory Garden propaganda posters. These (here and here I love) are some vintage-inspired, modern-day propaganda-esque posters to help inspire you.
• The Mason jar and what it spawned because the patent expired: This, this, this, and this! Sharon has one of these. What!?! Do you have one?
• Why did this jar become so popular in recent years?
• Glup-a-glop-a-jam or this!

Run Time: 49 minutes

Sponsors: For all our wonderful listeners!

• Creminelli Fine Meats: Enter the code hungrysquared10 to receive 10% off your order at www.creminelli.com.

• Craftsy Online Classes: Go to the website www.craftsy.com/hungrysquared/ to receive 50% off your first class.

Leave a Comment food design, food history

Episode 7: Kitchen Tools

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Peach, basil and tomato salad recipe (but we use goat cheese instead)
• Our old Oxo garlic press and UPDATE: We got the new Oxo garlic press and we LOVE it! Happy face!
• Pampered Chef garlic press that Sharon likes. Here's one that is similar in design.
• Clean out your kitchen tools with a little help from Apartment Therapy
• Winter's love for her Chinese hot pot
• These are good tools we like in our homes: Oster immersion blender, Global Vegetable Cleaver, and Oxo Food Scale

Run Time: 49 minutes

Sponsors: Swag Bag Giveaway! To be entered to win 1 of 10 swag bags full of amazing goodies from our sponsors, leave us an iTunes rating and review by August 31.

Our awesome and food-loving sponsors for this episode: For all our listeners!

• Xlear's Lite and Sweet: Enter the code HUNGRY10 to receive 10% off your order  at www.xlear.com until August 31, 2016.

• Smith's Food and Drug Stores and Kroger: Visit them at www.smithsfoodanddrug.com to see if any new stores are opening up near you.

 

Leave a Comment food design

Episode 2: Condiments

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Ti Amo Wood-Fired Pizza - delicious!
• Whole30 ketchup recipe that Sharon loves
• The original commercial that made waves in the mustard world
• Um actually...oreos aren't technically vegan. Sorry, folks!

Run time: 53 minutes

Sponsors: Swag Bag Giveaway! To be entered to win 1 of 10 swag bags full of amazing goodies from our sponsors, leave us an iTunes rating and review by August 31.

Our awesome and food-loving sponsors for this episode: For all our listeners!

• Blendtec: Enter the code HUNGRY10 to receive 10% off any blender at www.blendtec.com until August 31, 2016.

• Nordic Ware: Enter the code NORDICWARE30 to receive 30% off when you spend $50 on anything at their site www.nordicware.com until August 31, 2016.

Leave a Comment food design, food history