MACovember at Stacked!

MACovember at Stacked!

By Erin

Mac ‘n’ Cheese is one of America’s favorite comfort foods, and nobody does it better than Stacked. To help celebrate MACovember, come on in to create your most indulgent or exotic Mac ‘n’ Cheese extravaganza! Don’t miss your chance to take part in MACovember at Stacked: Food Well Built! Although you can Stack your own Mac ’n’ Cheese dish anytime at Stacked, for the month of November they called it MACovember! 

Here are a few of our creations on our most recent trip to Stacked! We also STACKED our own salad this time too, to attempt to have something healthier before indulging in all that cheesy goodness (and of course, BACON!!)

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*No meal is complete without the famous and oh so yummy Candied Bacon! Paired with a refreshing cider, you can’t go wrong with that!*

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In the spirit of stacking our own meal on this trip, we stacked a salad. How’d we do? Steak, avocado, bacon, egg, red peppers, onion strings, olives, corn, and spring greens.

Then it was time to make our choices of what we wanted on our special Mac ‘n’ Cheese creations. We spent quite awhile putting in some serious thought in how we wanted to build our Mac ‘n’ Cheese! Ha!

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I wanted lobster, so I went for the Lobster Mac ‘n’ Cheese and added avocado, bacon, egg, extra cheese, parmesan breadcrumbs, and garlic. Oh man, was it ever good!

MACovember

My friend went with something a bit more spicy. She stacked hers with blackened chicken, Bleu Cheese, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, sundried tomates, jalapenos, and parmesan bread crumbs. Too spicy for my liking, but she loved it!

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Of course we had to end our meal with a little dessert. I tried something different this time, that I had not had before here. We topped our meal off with a Mocha Almond Fudge Shake! So good! Coffee, fudge, toasted almonds, topped with whipped cream! It was he perfect pick me up after our meal and just sweet enough to make my sweet tooth happy.

What would you STACK, your mac with? 🙂 I’d love to see your creations you create at STACKED! <3

 

 

Stacked Celebrates Summer with Basil Inspired August Signature Items

Stacked: Basil Inspired August Signature Items

By Erin

Have you been to Stacked lately? Earlier this year I introduced you to many of the delicious creations at Stacked: Food Well Built. Since then, I’ve gone back quite a few times and just had to go when they invited me to come back to check out their basil inspired signature items for August last week. You WON’T want to miss them, so be sure to check them out for yourself this week or this coming up weekend!

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First on the Basil Inspired August Signature list (there are five Basil inspired items) we have the Strawberry Basil Shake! A hint of fresh basil makes this Strawberry Shake even more refreshing on these very hot and HUMID days. It totally gave off a spice flavor like that of a pumpkin spice latte, but with a strawberry twist. I would love to have this shake again. Nice, light, and refreshing, it doesn’t leave you filling stuffed.

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NOT on the Basil menu, but a must have when heading to Stacked is the Candied Bacon. Thick-cut, cherrywood-smoked bacon, basted with a heavenly maple syrup and brown sugar mix that is slowly baked until carmalized to perfection. It is the ultimate combo of sweet and savory. Bacon lovers, just beware, you may have to put in two orders of this stuff as it is very addicting and hard to just have one (or two) pieces of it! 😉

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Next on the Basil Inspired menu that we ordered was the Strawberry, Basil, and Feta Salad. Perfect for those wanting a lighter and healthy choice, this fresh salad features strawberries, fresh basil, toasted almonds, and feta all on top of a Spring Lettuce mix and tossed with a Cranberry Balsamic Dressing. This is a delicious way to start your meal and perfect for sharing.

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The third item on our Basil Inspired adventure brings us to the Caprese Turkey Burger! Oh. My.Yum! I think this may just be my new favorite burger at Stacked to have! It consists of all of my favorite toppings to have on a burger. Talk about being STACKED with flavor! This baby comes complete with a freshly ground turkey patty with Parmesan Breadcrumbs, Carmalized Onions, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Roma Tomatoes, Avocado, Fresh Basil and Creamy Burrata all served on a Brioche Bun with Roasted Pepper Aioli. I will be going back for sure sometime this week for this one!

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For the Mac ‘n’ Cheese lovers out there, you will LOVE the Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Mac ‘n’ Cheese! This delightful treat combines Tomatoes and fresh Basil with Macaroni Noodles and a Three Cheese Blend topped with Mozzarella Cheese and Parmesan breadcrumbs, creating a fanciful feast for your taste buds. 🙂

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The last stop on our Basil adventure (before dessert anyways, but that does not have basil in it!) is with the Tomato, Grilled Corn and Basil Pizza with Burrata! This specialty is Stacked with fresh pizza dough, and topped with Mozzarella Cheese, Grilled Sweet Corn, Fresh Basil, Grape Tomatoes, Red Pepper Flakes and a rich creamy Burrata. I loved this. I’ve never had all of these toppings on a pizza before, and it seemed much healthier than the typical pepperoni, sausage, and bacon toppings I might otherwise usually get. I liked the change and would get this pizza again.

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That may have been the end of the Basil Inspired August Signature Items, but of course we couldn’t just end with that! We had to get a STACKED dessert to share to end things right! We went for the Peanut Butter Heaven. It was gone in a flash, it was that good.

Stacked-Dessert

I LOVE Basil, so I had to try everything. I’d have to say the shake and the turkey burger were my favorites, but I really loved the Mac ‘n’ Cheese too! What Stacked Basil Inspired August Signature Item is your favorite?

Boudin Bakery Presents: NEW Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! @Boudinbakery #BoudinGrilledCheesePlease

Boudin Bakery Presents: New Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches!

By Erin

*I was invited as a guest to a media tasting for purposes of this review.  All thoughts and opinions remain my own.*

What happens when you take an American Classic comfort food like the Grilled Cheese Sandwich and have the creators of Boudin Bakery spice it up a bit? You get 3 new Gourmet Grilled Cheese favorites! The Great Grilled Cheese (with or without bacon), the new Jalapeno Grilled Cheese, and the Grilled Brie with Apples & Fig Jam!

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 We got to meet with Corporate Chef Alan Skversky who enlightened us about these new creations and Boudin Bakery’s history. Boudin’s sourdough bread uses only 4 ingredients, contains no yeast, it’s started with a wild yeast that’s only found in the air of San Francisco, or “mother” dough that provides the bread with a unique tang. A portion of the original mother dough still starts each and every sourdough loaf that Boudin makes. The types of sandwiches that Boudin has created over the years have evolved into gourmet tastes and flavors to please every palate.

Boudin Bakery

The Great Grilled Cheese

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The Great Grilled Cheese- (vegetarian)includes Havarti & sharp cheddar melted to perfection on Parmesan-crusted sliced sourdough bread. According to Chef  Skversky, Havarti cheese is used because they only wanted to use the best, and most flavorful premium ingredients. Love Bacon? Who doesn’t!? 😉  You can also order this delicious sandwich with bacon or ham. Three strips of applewood smoked bacon on your grilled cheese sandwich? Yes please! That sounds like heaven to me. Chef also told us that the bacon is strategically cut and placed on the sandwich in a way that each bite, from start to finish, is the same from crust to crust. This one was my favorite, and I know I’ll love this one even more with the bacon!

Grilled Brie with Apples & Fig Jam

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The Grilled Brie with Apples & Fig Jam-(vegetarian) This one was a close second favorite for me. Grilled with melted brie, Havarti cheese, sliced Granny Smith apples, and fig jam, all on Parmesan-crusted multigrain bread. This one is on the sweeter side. Think of it as a dessert grilled cheese sandwich. 😉 I loved it!

Jalapeno Grilled Cheese

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The Jalapeno Grilled Cheese-(vegetarian) Melted cheddar on their Jalapeno Sourdough Bread makes up this one. Not overly spicy, the jalapenos are mild, bringing just the right amount of heat. It might be pretty simple, but it packs plenty of flavor. If you don’t like spicy at all, then you might want to stick to the other two options above, but if you don’t mind a little bit of spice, then this ones for you.

Boudin Turtle

Boudin Bakery creates such adorable bread animals like this turtle! Too cute!

Be sure to Download & Print this Coupon for an awesome deal!!

Looking for Fundraiser Ideas?  Attention Teachers, Sports & School Organizers!

One other awesome thing I need to share about is the amazing opportunities Boudin has for communities, sports teams and schools. Coming from a family of educators, I know how important it is to keep students motivated. Boudin has some special awards that teachers can inquire about to reward their students with for achieving their goals. Reward your students with a FREE Kid’s Meal at Boudin Bakery. You can email David Keller at dkeller@boudinbakery.com to inquire about setting up a fundraiser for your school or organization and for copies of the award certificate!

Boudin-Grilled-Cheese-3Now, which grilled cheese sandwich would your taste buds want to try first? 😉