I love a good veggie burger, and they can be hard to find around Tampa Bay. Too often overcooked, dry and tasteless. But I can always count on J Alexander’s on North Dale Mabry in Tampa to satisfy my craving, especially when it’s accompanied by those sumptuous Beefsteak Tomatoes on the side. I am a happy camper with just that simple meal. But I just couldn’t leave well enough alone, and decided to Google a few copycat recipe web sites to see if I could duplicate that J Alexander’s recipe. It can be done. But boy, quite a few ingredients go into the juicy burger. Take a look and see what I mean. I’m so tempted to try it at home and see just how close it comes to the real thing…but then again, why not take that excuse for lunch out once again and not worry about it? What are some of your favorite restaurant recipes to create at home? Share those with us in Kelly’s Kitchen and I’ll give them a try myself and let you know how they turn out. My favorite copycat recipe so far has to be for the “Starbucks” iced lemon pound cake that they staff here has enjoyed to the tune of four loaves!

  So what’ on the menu in Kelly’s Kitchen for the weekend? My favorite egg white omelet Sunday morning, a nice smoothie Saturday with pineapple, mango and that insanely good Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt, and with luck, narrowing down the choice of paint colors for the house from 25 to just two…or four…I’ll work on it. 

Words of Wisdom from Kelly’s Kitchen

You know most of the food that Americans hold so dear - things like hamburgers and hot dogs - were road food, but even before they were road food, they were peasant food.  - Alton Brown