Been in Dallas the last 4 months... 

My next few POSTS are some of the food I enjoyed, cooked, inhaled;

:: drool ::

As well as whatever else was interesting.

         

 R+D Kitchen, Dallas 

(left) banana cream pie with chocolate chip and graham cracker crust.

topped with caramel sauce, butter toffee sprinkles and whipped cream! (right) fresh and tasty white sashimi with crsip kale salad YUM

 

 Hillstone, Dallas 

the cheese burger. awesome! 

Crispy romaine, juicy tomatoes, pickles, gooey cheddar, cooked medium and served with the best shoestring french fries ever!

I made it:
Oven roasted tomatoes 

(left) cooked

(right uncooked)

grape tomatoes, fresh slivered garlic, Italian herbs, lemon slices, evoo

Served this over grilled wahoo
and corn on the cob

 

Uncle Uber's, Deep Ellum

(above) Shaved rib eye hoagie with provo instead of blue cheese, lettuce, and tomato, served with habanero ranch and seasoned, hand cut french fries. YUMMY

  I made it:
Tex-Mex goulash 

(right) 

extra lean ground turkey, seasoned with a delicious blend of Mex spices, roasted poblanos, corn, tomatoes, and onion served over brown rice. -- dairyfree - lowfat -

  Local Buzz, Aloft Hotel bar 

(left) Four Corners' Local Buzz honey-rye golden ale. Brewed in Dallas, TX

  2-door Rols Royce,  Nick & Sams, Dallas  This sweet 'thang pulled in behind us - 2014 Rolls-Royce Wraith. sick!

 

  Monkey King Noodle Co, Deep Ellum  Spicy beef noodle soup with hand-pulled noodles, cilantro, slow-braised beef chunks and a perfectly spiced beef broth. byob. 

   I made it:
Tex-Mex goulash Scramble 

(right) left over Tex Mex goulash, 2 scrambled eggs, avocado, salsa. Yum. -- dairyfree - lowfat -

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POSTS

COMING

Workout & Healthy Eating

Today's post is all about eating well and staying active. 

Something that I, myself need to remember! I've noticed I have a way more productive day if I get up and do some form of physical activity in the morning before I begin my day - the checklists get checked, I'm more motivated to chop up all those veggies for a quality stir fry or salad, and, overall I feel accomplished and more positive.
Some examples include: a morning walk, bike ride, jog, walk the dog, kayak, swim, weights, yoga or pilates class, etc.

So, remember, next time you find yourself feeling unmotivated and/or down in the dumps, set that alarm, get out, n' get active! Here are a few recipes for my favorite go-to smoothies and salads...

My basic recipe for Morning or Post Workout Protein SMOOTHIES -

• Blend 1 scoop of your fav protein powder with 1 frozen banana, 2 Tb flax seeds, a small handful of spinach, and about 3/4 cup almond milk, add your choice of fruit:

Tropical Blast- about 10 blueberries, 3 chunks of pineapple, a slice of green apple

or

Strawberry Sunrise- 4 frozen sliced peaches, about 3/4 cup frozen strawberries, splash of OJ.

Or your favorite combo - just make sure it fits in the blender! 

Blend everything until smooth and drink it before it gets warm!

SALADS: 

I love a quality, chopped, veggie-filled salad. And when you're motivated, its fun to throw in all of your favorite veggies (or those you have on hand) into a big bowl with some yummy (low cal) dressing. 

• I start with a combination of butter lettuce, red leaf lettuce and/or spinach, chopped bite-size. 
• Next comes the veggies, which usually include all or some of the following: grape tomatoes, yellow onion, feta cheese, cucumbers, hearts of palm, red bell peppers, raddichio, carrots, mushrooms, deli turkey or grilled chicken, kalamata olives (these act as my salt component), broccoli or cauliflower, etc.
• As for the dressing, be sure you read the nutrition label to see the serving size as well as how many calories, sodium and fat are in each serving before u pile it on.
• Top with loads of fresh, black pepper and voila! Yum!

In conclusion,

If you can manage to get a little activity 2-4 times a week and indulge in your favorite veggies and fruits, you should notice your mood and confidence levels perk right up!

Enjoy!

To Do in Key West

Cuban coffee: Coffee con Leche - a stronger flavored coffee bean brewed and served with milk. This is super yummy, much better than your usual latte. Found the best one at Cuban Coffee Queen.

Cuban/ Caribbean fare: had some delicious Shrimp in Red Sauce with Black Beans & Rice - tender shrimp cooked in a tomato based sauce with capers, garlic and cilantro, served over a bed of basmati rice with vegan black beans and a salad of pickled beets, lettuce and purple cabbage. This delicious meal was at Paseo Restaurant - a quirky order out place with only a few tables and chairs. Soo good! Only open till 7pm.

Old Skool breakfast, lunch & dinner from Key West's oldest restaurant. Don't be fooled by the exterior of this place that looks like a white shed with fenced area next to it; inside, is great food and a lot of history along with a super cute outside patio. Breakfast: Crab Cake over Eggs and Spinach with roasted potatoes special. Also tried their coconut bread and potato cakes, also on special. Pepe's Cafe circa 1907 - they also make their own bottled hot sauce.

Great public beach hangout with sectioned off swim area, beverages and delicious food! We had the Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos with Mango Pico de Gallo. Delicious and fresh; toes in the sand; downing it all with a local Florida Keys Lager. I didn't get the name of this place, but it's located at the end of Simonton st, near the Hyatt - faces sunset island. 

Happy Hour at the Hyatt. Sliders with plantain chips and tangy slaw - Half price appetizers; you don't have to be staying there to eat there! Generally, from 4-6pm most places have a happy hour which boasts 1/2 price drinks and eats; check them all out!

Two Friends Restaurant and Bar - Special: Key Lime Pie (Filling) Smeared Strawberry French Toast!

Pressed Cuban with the freshest, tastiest squeezed juice - I had a mix of half OJ/ half grapefruit at Panini Panini off Duval. LOVED this juice!!

Old Fort turned Garden - free with optional donation. Beautiful, on the water, history and foliage all in one, West Mortello Fort is near Higgs Beach.

Hard to tell, but this is a pic of a giant, wild iguana munching on leaves. Found this guy off a wetland/mangrove nature trail - right off the bike path.

Got to witness this rehabilitated sea turtle being returned to the ocean after it almost died from eating plastic. At Higg's Beach.

Great locals hangout/ kind of a treck from downtown- on Stock Island is a bar called Hoggfish Grill. Great happy hour specials, great locally caught Hoggfish, and other fresh/local seafood.

Other great finds include: The hot sauce place where you can test various hot sauces, bbq sauce and marinades before purchasing (20 tastes later and some heartburn n I got these 2 delicious sauces).

There are great museums featuring buried treasures, aquariums, a history of sea turtles and butterflies. 

Pick up an art gallery guide and check out some talented local flare or do some shopping- there are a ton of cute island-wear shops from fancy to cover ups as well as island-styled furniture and home goods.

Also, the Key Lime shop that let's you sample some really tasty Key lime flavored treats - my favs were the mints, taffy and cookies - or you can get it frozen, dipped in chocolate, on a stick!

And of course, not to be missed, the SUNSETS!

In conclusion: there is more to do in Key West than visit Duval Street and booze it up. Get on a bike and explore to find your own hidden gems! 

The Week in Pictures

The hotline (at work):

My freshly-made fish cakes:

A mixture of salmon, tilapia and cod with my secret blend of spices and coated in Panko bread crumbs! Always a hit.

(3 Hour) Braised Oxtails.

Yes, it's exactly what is sounds like; but trust me, the meat just falls off the bone & is super moist and tasty.

My quick n' easy Grilled Chicken Picatta with artichokes and lemon-caper sauce. It's always a favorite, fast to prepare and healthy!

To welcome my lovah home, I made some of my homemade Tex-Mex Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas! I fill each enchilada with shredded chicken, cheese, onion and a couple of black beans then coat everything in a slowly simmered chili sauce! Next step is bake until gooey and eat! Yum!!

Stay tuned for recipes from these pictures to NewAmericanFoods.com

- Lauren

I'm back!

Sorry for the long absence - wow, last post in November 2012! Ya, life is a little hectic sometimes, there's not always time to write on the blog when it doesn't pay the bills! lol. Even though I haven't been posting, I've still been cooking, adventuring and seeing live music! Let me get you caught up to speed:

New job as a hot line cook is proving to be a great opportunity to showcase my twists on recipes as well as the ability to see how they sell! Bonus! 

Also, been trying out many more awesome food establishments, which will eventually find a place on my website reviews page...

 

Here are a few photos from my adventures on the hot line as well: 

First photo shows a braised chicken thigh picatta with mushrooms and fresh lemons. The middle (Veggie pizza) was my very first experience ever tossing fresh pizza dough, and baking it off in a wood-burning oven, turned out pretty good I think! And the last photo is of smoked brisket with a homemade spicy TX-style barbecue sauce that I made from scratch. 

Stay tuned for more pictures from my adventures in food! 

These recipes and more to be updated on my website soon @NewAmericanFoods.com 

Feels like FALL

Fall is finally here in Florida - crisp winds and perfectly warm days with cool, chilly nights make you want to grab a big bowl of hot, savory soup and curl up with a good book or movie.

That's what I was feeling when I purchased the ol' fall favorite: butternut squash and had a plan to make some super comforting soup. Usually I go with a twist of either apple sauce or roasted pears, a pinch of cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg, but this time I decided to do something a little different ... why not add everyone's favorite pork: BACON?!
And along with my usual pinch of cumin, I decided to kick up the flavor profile a bit and add some Indian spices such as coriander, curry powder and tumeric! Oh, the savory goodness that resulted was amazing!!

You can check out the full recipe for my Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup here - and follow the step-by-step picture instructions from de-seeding and roasting the butternut squash, to perfectly incorporating those tasty Indian spices, to topping the creamy, rich soup with more bacon!

Since my last post, we also took part in another typical fall pastime, Pumpkin Carving! I had a hard time choosing between a fat, round pumpkin and tall, skinny pumpkin, so I ended up with both! I ended up choosing the fatter pumpkin to carve and saved the tall one with the awesome stem as added Halloween "decoration" for the yard.

Of course, I couldn't let all those pumpkin seeds go to waste, I scooped and rinsed them of their sliminess and planned to bake them. I read somewhere that it is better to boil them first; that way they become totally crisp without the burnt flavor - since my last few batches had ended up super tasty, however a little chewy, I decided to try this new method out.

Salty-Sweet Pumpkin Seeds:

1. Rinse the seeds of all their gunk - try using a colander. Boil some water and place the clean seeds in and let boil for 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry. 
2.  Place all seeds evenly on a baking sheet and toss in olive oil until just coated.
3. Season: Sprinkle equal amounts of sugar, cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, garlic, onion powder and curry powder. Toss until evenly coated.
4. Place in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes, tossing half way through baking. 
5. Once done, pull out and let cool completely. Store in zip-tight baggies.

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather - until next time! ;)

Updates

I have added new photos to the photo page (click here to view) or click on the Photos tab above.

I have also added a link to my restaurant reviews (click here to view) or click on the Restaurant Reviews tab above - this link is connected to my actual website - but since I have been updating those - or at least my plan since October 18 (last review) was to start updating those, I decided to add it to the list of tabs on my blog!

Other than that, a disability that started from the previously posted stingray wound incident, has caused me to have to take off from work because I cannot stand for more than 30 minutes without major pain streaking up my leg from the now, open wound site!  The only upside I've found to basically being house-ridden is that I now have more time to actually cook dinners at home. I've managed to make it work by limiting how long I stand and doing a lot of the work via a barstool next to the stove... Now if only I could get a barstool for my pantry station at work we'd be in business! ha.

Anyways, on with the home-cooking adventure:

My friend works as a charter fisherman, so every so often we are lucky enough to take home some extra pieces of fish. About a week ago, he brought home some beautiful Blackfin Tuna. He had already eaten about half of the fish as sashimi on the boat, so what I was left with was a fat steak. I decided to coat it in salt, pepper and sesame seeds and pan-sear it on a hot skillet. The result was DELICIOUS! Just like something you would order in a restaurant! I served it with some leftover rice that I quickly sauteed with soy sauce, frozen vegetables and a little egg to make a quick fried rice and a side of extra soy sauce mixed with wasabi paste for dipping.

A few nights later, another great fishing trip left us with some Scamp (a white fish in the Grouper family, without even a hint of "fishy" flavor). We did this one 2 ways - one using the standard breading procedure: eggs, flour, panko bread crumbs and the other simply sauteed with salt and pepper. The end result were some amazing Fish Tacos!

I had bought some sour cream earlier that week which I mixed with leftover wasabi paste and chopped fresh jalapenos to make a spicy crema sauce for the tacos. The addition of the chopped jalapenos, was due to the fact that even after adding about 2 Tb of wasabi paste, the mixture was a great pale green color but there wasn't any spicy punch.

I also made a "homemade" salsa - like the kind they serve in restaurants. This is sooo easy to do - just take a can of your favorite Rotel tomatoes (I like the one that has cilantro and lime), place the entire can into a food processor and pulse until desired chunky consistency! Now, I add a little extra zing to mine by adding fresh, diced yellow onion, fresh minced garlic, fresh cilantro, chili powder and cayenne powder, but that is all up to your personal taste!

The last element in this meal was some Cilantro Brown Rice. Kinda like what they serve at Chipolte. I took a boil-in-bag brown rice (because its healthier than white, and when mixed with other flavors, I cant tell the difference) and cooked it according the package directions (10 minutes, drained). I then emptied the contents into a bowl that I had already chopped fresh cilantro leaves, a tablespoon of butter and some salt. So when the hot rice hit this mixture, you could instantly smell the flavors melding. Stir and that's ready to serve.

The final elements of this amazing meal was a bag of store-bought shredded lettuce, 1 tomato chopped, corn and flour tortillas (heated in a 200 degree oven), and fresh cilantro for extra punch in each taco.

Now with all that scamp we cooked and only two of us eating this extravagant meal, we definitely had some leftovers. I made sure to try and stuff the final bites of the battered fish into my mouth before getting full as I knew they would be harder to save.

I wrapped the plain salt and pepper, sauteed scamp in a piece of tin foil and placed it in the fridge until the next night, when I was craving PASTA.

It had been a while since I'd had a picatta sauce, and since I had everything on hand for one, I decided to turn that leftover sauteed scamp into a Scamp Picatta over Linguini. I had had something similar at one of my favorite seafood places, downtown and thought I could definitely mimic it using the leftover scamp. So I started out by boiling some water for my linguini and at the same time dissolved two chicken boullion cubes in the water. I added the pasta and set my timer for 2 minutes under the recommended "al dente" time. Meanwhile, I heated a deep-bottomed saute pan over medium high heat, added about a 1/4 cup dry white wine, 1/2 cup of the chicken broth from the noodles, 2 Tb lemon juice, 2 Tb capers, 1 tsp diced kalamata olives, 1 minced garlic clove and let the whole thing reduce by half. I then added a splash of half and half to cream up the mixture and added my leftover scamp once that was incorporated, just to heat it through. I then added the drained pasta into my saute pan with all the other ingredients and tossed to coat. Once the noodles were perfectly al dente i spooned the contents into a big glass bowl and went at it. It was so delicious and I was super excited I had gotten away without having to let that delicious scamp go to waste.

I will be adding these recipes to my recipe page once I get a chance. Right now, I'm working on deciding which direction to go with my roasted butternut squash - definitely a soup but not sure which flavors to add. The next post will be about that adventure as well as some pumpkin carving!

Until next time! Thanks for stopping by.

Last week highlights

This is a list of highlights and pictures from my last week on the job as pantry cook and also a great place to sneak inspiration for your next dinner or house party.

I find the more I have to come up with different amuse bouche ideas, the more I've realized, it's just a matter of taking flavors you already enjoy together and minimizing them into a single bite that is as beautiful to look at as it is to eat, while always remembering that eye appeal, crunch factor, savory and sweet should all be among the included components.

This week's Amuse Bouches included:
<-- My Pear, quince paste and manchego cheese Napoleon.  Each piece was cut out using the same small leaf cookie cutter, layered together, topped with a candied walnut then garnished with a micro green at the top. A nice whimsical play on upcoming fall!



Picture to the right --> is a Peach & Prosciutto Roulade: I took a slice of juicy Florida peach and coupled it with arugula tossed in olive oil and black pepper then rolled the two in a thin sheet of prosciutto. Although a drizzle of balsamic glaze or something would have maybe made the plate a little prettier, I decided that the peach was juicy enough and the flavors strong enough to hold their own without a sauce; and anyone that tried one agreed.

Next night was a
<-- Smoked Salmon with Mediterranean Salsa on a bed of Feta Mousse: I first, blended together chunks of feta, cream cheese, chives & black pepper and spread it on the bottom of the plate. Then, using my fingers as a guide, wrapped a thin slice of smoked salmon into a hollow roll shape and placed it upright onto the mousse. Next, I made a Mediterranean salsa which consisted of a combination of small diced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onion, a dash of minced garlic, parsley, and lemon juice. I filled each salmon roll with the salsa, making sure that a little piece of cucumber, red onion and tomato showed at the top and then finished the plate off with a splash of green from some micro greens.

Made a special request --> caprese salad for a customer but didnt have any mozzarella, so I made it using thick chunks of feta cheese, between slices of heirloom tomatoes and basil leaves. Topped with a lightly dressed artisan greens salad and olive oil.

There were two salad specials, since the specials change out every 3 days. The first one I came up with the night before I had 2 days off, so I was only able to prep the ingredients for it and never actually plated it - therefore, sorry, no picture.  It was Red Apple and Blue Cheese over Mixed Greens with Caramelized Shallot Vinaigrette. I took ultra thin slices of McIntosh red apples and tossed them with mixed artisan greens in a vinaigrette made from caramelized shallots, sherry wine vinegar and olive oil. Then sprinkled chunks of Asher blue cheese over it and topped with some crushed candied pecans. My ode to the beginning of fall with some classic autumn flavors. I was told they sold a lot of it the two nights I was off, but unfortunately, the next day I was in was very slow and so I never got to make one!

The next salad special was a test run of salad that is replacing another from the summer menu and consisted of <-- heirloom tomatoes, red leaf lettuce and frisée tossed in a berry balsamic vinaigrette and topped with crumbled goat cheese.



Other tasks of the week included the regular restocking of my pantry items (I have to make everything from scratch at least every 3-4 days to keep it fresh and tasty), the reorganizing of the walk-in fridge, and I also got to take a peak on the hot line side of things and see how they grill the ultra thick burgers, and plate some of the entrees. The picture to the right is of fried basil leaves which are used as a garnish on one of our appetizers -->.

And so concludes this weeks' pictures as a pantry cook. I am also currently working (on my day off) to update some new photos and pages of Florida restaurant reviews on my website - ever since I started the blog and my job, I have unfortunately neglected updating my actual website, so today's the day!

Stay tuned until next week's update!
And as always, please refrain from use of these photos, as they are copyrighted by me, without at least mentioning my website: NewAmericanFoods.com

Thanks!
-L