since there has been a post earlier today to this 3 year old thread I will add my two cents. I make hot chili oil by adding oil to a sriracha bottle. I get the heat I like when the bottle still has about a 1/4 bottle of sriracha. I keep it in the fridge afterwards and the flavor keeps intensifying.

There are some farm to table restaurants in the Lehigh Valley but they are on the higher end and may not meet your needs depending on the ages of your children. If you are looking for a casual family friendly place that buys as much locally and/or organic then I would suggest the Brew Works in Bethlehem or Allentown. http://www.thebrewworks.com/about-us/...
If you were just looking for breakfast or lunch I would recommend Jumbar's in Bethlehem. If you come up Route 611 into Easton, along the Delaware River, It is a beautiful drive in the Fall and you could always do the Crayola factory

That is sad to hear because it was great the couple times we have been there in the past. Although, lately we have been going to Cosmopolitan in Allentown. Not quite as inventive cuisine or as casual and cozy as Bolete but we have had some great meals. We also like the Glasbern Inn and the Savory Grille which are great farm to table and a little more reasonably priced. There is also a new French Bistro, Maxim's 22, in Easton we are looking to try.

pancetta or canadian bacon cut up with onion, sweet peppers, garlic sauteed add some canned tomatoes, a little basil and oregano and bake (poach) the eggs in the piperade right in the skillet on the stovetop.

I have also cooked eggs in leftover polenta and bolognese. Create a well in the polenta topped with the bolognese and drop the eggs in. DW thinks it is gross but the contrast of the flavors is heavenly

I start mine with a few strips of chopped bacon and sweat the leeks in the bacon grease and a little butter. I add a cup of half and half (fat free is fine) with the stock and after everything has simmered for about 45 mins I use a stick blender to puree and finish with the bacon bits.

If you are looking for "inventive" in the Allentown area I would recommend
Cosmopolitan
less "inventive" but excellent cuisine and presentation
Grille 3501
Glasbern Inn
In Bethlehem, Bolete, is one of the most inventive in the area

I have made a ganache filing using Irish whiskey for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes that use Guinness Stout in the cupcake and Bailey's Irish Cream icing. My own preference would be to not waste the bourbon in the cupcake but rather use it to flavor the ganache or the icing. If I was going that route I would look for a stout aged in a bourbon barrel for the cupcake with bourbon ganache filing and the icing of your choice.

I apologize I had visions of you making your own sausage or an ethnic dish like haggis. Since it is a budget issue then ignore all of my previous suggestions because they are all custom butchers and unfortunately not cheap. If you are looking to stay within budget check the online weekly ads for Bottom Dollar or Aldi. They usually have some meat on an incredible sale to get you into the store to buy the things not on sale. Like chicken thighs for 0.67/lb this week or ground chuck for $1.78.

I have never been there but I have heard good things about Saylor's Meat Market in Hellertown.

You can also try Dietrich's Meats in Krumsville (just west of Allentown off 78)

http://www.mrstickys.net/index.html

Yes Williamsport is their original brick and mortar store.

try Trio Country Butcher/Provisions
http://trioprovisions.com/

Pearly Bakers has a kids menu. Sans kids I would recommend Sette Luna, River Grille, Ocean, Valenca or SoGo

Mr. Sticky's for sticky buns. Other than the people watching it is the highlight of my trips to the Bloomsburg Fair. They are usually on a corner to the left of the the main walkway not far from the hot tub vendors.

I totally agree any beef, (other than hamburg which calls for a beer), you need to have wine. For me either a cabernet or zinfandel but the other night a nice malbec worked with a wood grilled pepper crusted tenderloin.

Having pasta with red sauce and not having a glass of red wine is sacrilige in our house but in reality several of my non-red sauce pasta's call for wine and once it is open the chardonnay or sauvignon blanc is finished with dinner.

Of course, any dish I cook, or deglaze, with wine (lemon chicken with Sauv Blanc - cog au vin with cotes du rhone) we "must" finish the remaining wine with the meal.

about 2 miles from the Rt 309 South/Center Valley exit of 78 is the Promenade Shoppes which has many restaurant options from casual to upscale.

222 South Exit off 78 there is a great Chinese restaurant (not a buffet), Hunan Springs. From the Exit stay in the right lane and take the exit about 1/4 mile down for Brookside road. The restaurant will be on your right before you get to the light at Hamilton Blvd and Brookside Rd.

Rt 100 exit - South I would recommend the Starlite Diner - service is typical diner but the food is good and the prices reasonable. One of my favorite breakfast spots for eggs benedict.
Rt 100 exit North I would recommend the Fogelsville Hotel - local place not far from exit and the wings and burgers are good.

Between Route 100 & Harrisburg I don't know of much other than what the others have recommended.

This cake is a favorite of friends and family. I am not sure how it is a Cooking Light recipe
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/lemon...

My mother was a fantastic baker but fair cook on a good day. One of her favorite stories was when she got married she had gone to the butcher and asked for a roast and he said what kind and she said the kind you cook on Sunday. There were two spices in our house until I was a teenager. Salt and Pepper. Meat was well done or burnt. The upside though is my 3 siblings and myself all learned to cook at an early age and the 4 of us are better than average cooks and two of us are pretty decent bakers. She learned, we learned better. Now we just have to get our children to think we are lousy cooks so they can be better cooks and surpass us.

The boiling water steeping method doesn't really cook the lobster it just seems to allow the meat to release from the shell easier. If you do partially steam it I would recommend cooking it right away (15minutes would not be a problem) but I would not refrigerate it partially cooked. Same as I would not partially cook chicken and refrigerate. I am sure there are others that will tell you it is fine but I would not.

There is an alternative to "dispatching" the lobsters which is less psychologically traumatic to the dispatcher and anyone else around. I have used it the last couple of times I have butter poached lobster. You need two large pots. One that will hold your lobster(s) and has a tight fitting lid and another pot that you boil 4-6 quarts of water and 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Pour the boiling water/vinegar mix over the lobster to cover. Put a lid on and steep for 2-3 minutes. Remove carefully from the hot water and tear off the claws and put back in the pot to steep for another 5 minutes. Tear the tail off and remove from the shell while you are waiting for the claws to steep. The lobster is barely cooked but is just done enough to remove more easily from the shell. You then finish cooking the lobster however you want.

Coney Island would not be a place for a business lunch. Sambuca is not open for lunch. At Cooper's you can ask for a table/booth out of the way or you can do the same at Farley's Restaurant.

that is what they call a hot dog that is grilled and put on a soft bun that has been warmed in the steam table with deli mustard onions and a beanless chili. Not sure where the term originated from.

http://www.centralmarketlancaster.com...

But if you are looking for great heirloom tomatoes I would go to Meadow View Farm in Bowers on the other side of the Reading area.

For me Scranton is about comfort food. My lunch recommendation would be the original Coney Island (on Cedar Ave not Lackawanna) for Texas Weiners or Texas Hamburgs and fries with gravy or fries with chili. Or Abe's Deli (I worked in the original Abe's 40 years ago this summer). Both are very diner like with diner service.

Recently we had a great dinner at Sambucca Grill in the downtown area. There is a seafood restaurant a few blocks from downtown called Cooper's. The food is good and at times can be very good and the service is good but the hallway between the dining rooms and bar area has 100's of pictures of Scranton in its heyday and a few presidential candidates. Great beer list on draft and bottle.

I agree with cwdonald about Bolete. Another place to consider in the historic district is Apollo Grill. On the south side I recommend Molinari's

My apologies. I did not intend to offend you. The recipes are similar but I thought my version was sufficiently different to warrant posting. Arborio not Basmati rice, golden not dark raisins that are cooked in it so they plump up and it is finished with heavy cream and spiced rum not half and half. The original recipe I adapted it from was in Lee Bailey's Country Desserts. He credits Ina Garten for giving him the recipe. The original called for using vanilla bean and less extract and finishing with dark rum.

I watched the one about Asheville NC last night. Having been to Asheville maybe I was expecting too much. A fair amount of the segment was him at a great butcher shop and driving in his truck from place to place being a tad obnoxious.

brush some sriracha sauce on before you sprinkle with brown sugar and bake and you have a wonderful spicy sweet salty appetizer. First time I tried it my youngest daughter and I almost ate a pound by ourselves.

This probably doesn't fit your "nothing too exotic" but it is shear decadence. It is an adaptation of a Barefoot Contessa recipe that was in a dessert cookbook.
Rice Pudding

1 cup Arborio rice
½ cup sugar
5 cups Half & Half
2 tsp’s vanilla
½ cup golden raisins

1 egg beaten

1 cup Heavy Cream
¼ cup Captain Morgan Rum

Combine the first 5 ingredients over low heat stirring regularly until it simmers and then almost constantly until the rice is tender. About 45 minutes or more if you double the batch. Add some of the hot mixture to the egg and mix to temper the egg. Stir rapidly while you add the egg mixture to the rice. Continue cooking for about 2 minutes to thicken. Off the heat stir in the Heavy Cream and Captain Morgan Rum. Before you serve it you will have to stir it and often have to add milk or cream or half & half to thin it because it is too thick.

I regularly do wraps with leftover grilled or roasted vegetables. I use a little hummus on the wrap and add feta or goat cheese

But a few weeks ago I chopped them smaller, gave them a quick reheat and used them as the base (in place of english muffin) for eggs benedict. The combination of the runny poached egg and hollandaise over the roasted vegetables was fantastic. I used a small shallow ramekin to form the vegetables for presentation.