Gamer Bites

Not much of a chef? Finding yourself constantly going out to grab some fast food? Just bored and want to try something new? The staff here at FG understands and have dug up some recipes for you to try. Whether you are ready to dig into dinner or just craving a snack, you can find (or become inspired by) some of the following recipes. Welcome to the first installment of Gamer Bites.

Gamer Bites will be an ongoing project bringing you recipes that FG staffers have come up with, or favorite ones they have found and want to share. Meals, snacks, drinks; you name it, we're going to bring them to you. You might even get a creative spark from seeing some of these and come up with your own recipes. Also, we will add little ideas and suggestions here and there to aid you in your culinary adventures. Eat up and have fun!

Meatball Burger
I saw this on the Food Network recently but didn't know what it was called. The ingredients for it remind me of those for meatballs (because it has breadcrumbs), so that is what I'll call this. Some of the gals were talking about how they like burgers with a lot of flavor, so I had to put this in for them.

This can be made with ground beef (extra lean if you are trying to eat healthier) or chuck beef that can be minced up in a food processor. Chop up a red onion and saute it with some olive oil, then add it to the burger. Next, add a little bit of ground cumin (half a teaspoon should do), an egg, and some bread crumbs. If you're using a pound of ground beef/chuck, use about two ounces of bread crumbs. Add some grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and mix everything together. Shape the mix into your burger patties and sprinkle them with bread crumbs. Let them sit in the fridge a bit so they hold together.

The burgers were cooked in an oiled skillet on TV, but I think grilling burgers is much better, plus it cuts down on fat. If you got a grill, pull that sucker out and cook the patties on that. This should take around ten minutes. If you got a couple of extra minutes, toast the burger buns.

Pineapple Chicken
Depending on how much you want to eat (or if you have company), you can add more chicken to this recipe. This one is enough for four because usually you can buy four chicken breasts in one package. Make sure you get boneless and skinless chicken breasts.

You want a to get a can of pineapple (it can be crushed or cut, doesn't matter) and drain the juice. Take the juice and a few tablespoons of soy sauce and boil them in a saucepan or skillet. Stick the chicken into the skillet and cook for 10-15 minutes. Take the drained pineapple, a teaspoon of honey, a tiny bit of grounded ginger, and put these into another skillet. Cook these for a TINY bit to make them hot, not charred. This will go over your chicken when it's done.

Fruit Salads
Anyone can cut up some fruit and stick them in a bowl, but a lot can be done to fruit salads to make them even better. Try pouring yogurt over your salad to serve as a dressing. You can also try fruit vinegar (most grocery stores have this), honey, lemon/lime juice, etc. If you want to add some crunch to your salad, try toasted nuts. Try almonds with orange slices or blueberries, walnuts with raspberries, etc. If you want even more flavor, sprinkle nuts with cinnamon and/or sugar and toast them for 5-10 minutes.

French Toast/Dessert Waffles/Crepes
If you don't know how to make French toast, here's a quick run of it. You mix up a couple of eggs and milk, coat a couple of slices of bread in the mixture, and cook them in the saucepan. When they're done, add syrup and butter. You can add a lot more to this though for a more filling treat. You can use any kind of preserves (or jelly if you don't want the fruit chunks) you like, mix this up with some honey, and spread this over one piece of toast. Add some whipped cream to this too! Top it all off with the other piece of toast and use a knife and fork to cut up and eat (less messy). You can also try this with pancakes, crepes, and waffles.

Going along with waffles and such, you can make a great dessert with them. Get some of your favorite ice cream, fresh strawberries (or whatever fruit you want to use), and top off with some chocolate sauce and Cool Whip. You can either put all this on one waffle, or use two waffles to make a super ice cream sundae sandwich! You can also do this with crepes. Because crepes are thin and light, you can wrap them around whatever you want to put in them. You can easily whip up a fruit spread (some fresh fruit with some honey or jelly), and add some cream cheese in there if you want. If you want something simpler, just spread your favorite yogurt on the crepes.

Making crepes is fairly simple. You can make your own batter, or use a premade pancake batter. A basic crepe recipe requires you to mix up the following ingredients: a cup of flour, half a cup of milk, half a cup of water, two eggs, a tablespoon of vegetable/canola oil, and a pinch of salt. This will make about a dozen crepes, and you can use this recipe to make blintzes as well. The trick to cooking crepes is spreading out the batter as much as you can when you put it in the pan. Instead of just pouring a puddle onto the pan, you're going to try and COAT the pan. Make sure you have the pan lightly greased so the crepes won't stick.

Tomato Sandwiches
These are some quick and easy sandwiches I make all the time. Tomato with cream cheese on wheat bread is really good, especially if you add a few drops of olive oil and salt and pepper on the cream cheese. Slice up your tomato as thin or thick as you want. You can add a couple of bacon slices for more flavor if you want. Slicing up some tomato and avocado and adding a couple of veggies in pita bread makes another good sandwich. Avocado, tomato, and cucumber go really well together. Add some shredded cheese to the pita and/or a favorite dressing. You can also add turkey if you want some meat. A personal favorite: toast up some thick slices of bread and slice up tomato, ham, and cheese (I like mild cheddar with this). You can add salt and pepper to this if you want. Tomatoes are awesome; you can try a lot of different things with them.

Smoothies
Smoothies are very easy to make, and you can put whatever you want into them. You can make simple ones out of ice cream and milk, or ice cream and fruit, or just fruit. You can also add some coconut milk, honey, or frozen orange juice concentrate. For your ice cream smoothies, add a little bit of caramel or chocolate sauce. Can think of any combos on the spot? Try raspberry/strawberry, mango/passion fruit, or coconut/vanilla ice cream.

Also check out:
Food Network
All Recipes
International Recipes Online
Nutrition Cafe

Got any recipes, suggestions, or ideas? Head over to Digital Flare and share!