Food Travels, Spring 2015 Edition (Austin and Palm Springs)

I traveled a little bit back in the spring and snapped some photos of my favorite foods along the way.  Consider this your quick guide to eating your way through Austin and Palm Springs!

Austin, TX
I've posted about food in Austin before, but I tried a new place this time that I can' wait to try again the next time I'm down there!  I was in the south part of town and found a place called Jack Allen's Kitchen, which I hear was founded by the guy of Z Tejas fame.  All I know is that it was DELICIOUS!

Each entree comes with housemade crisps and pimento cheese:

I ordered the crispy salmon.  It's not deep fried like the name would suggest; rather, it is seared so well that the inside remains flaky and perfect while the outside takes on a nice, crispy texture.

As good as the fish was (as well as the accompanying tomatillo sauce!) the real star of the show was the crab/microgreen/tomato salad.  They say they're a locally sourced restaurant and you could tell.  The tomatoes were so fresh, the crab was plentiful, and whatever sauce they used to bind it all together was heavenly.  (I've been told it was a Russian dressing but I'm only familiar with the red kind so I haven't figured this one out yet.)


Palm Springs
There's really only one name you need to know:  Sherman's.  This little deli is located along one of the main streets of town and is ALWAYS packed.

You can't go wrong with pastrami or corned beef, but I definitely recommend you split it with a friend.  Look at the size of my half!

Their dessert case is unreal.  I got a slice of the chocolate bombe and I finished about half of my slice before giving in.  I sincerely regret forgetting the rest of it was in the hotel fridge because I would have had it for breakfast the next day!  It was incredible!

Thanks for joining me as I remembered my favorite on-the-road foods and treats.  If you'll excuse me, I need to go find some chocolate cake!

Adi

My Top 10 Pinterest Food Faves

I wanted to share some of my favorite Pinterest food finds.  These are ones I've tested and love!  You can click on the name of each recipe and it will take you to the link.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Peppermint Whipped Cream



Easy Pad Thai



Homemade Cheez-Its



Lemon Chicken Romano



Spicy Sriracha Ramern Soup



Tomato Basil Soup



Sour Patch Grapes



Summer Vegetable Tian



Berry Clafouti



Cherry'O Cream Pie (Maw-Maw's recipe!)



Go make something yummy this weekend (and share your favorite Pinterest recipe links in the comments)!

Adi

Berry Clafouti

Berry Clafouti.  Sounds super fancy, right? 

The name is the fanciest part.  This thing should translate to "delicious."  (Instead, it translates to "a tart made with fruit, especially cherries, baked in a thick, sweet batter."  Or delicious, I'm not really sure which one was correct.)  It turns out that it's a custard-like dessert that's famous in the south west of France.  I needed to make a dessert and I had pinned this because wow, that picture looked tasty.  It helped that I also had all of the ingredients so the choice became clear. 

The recipe called for frozen blueberries, and I had some that I'd frozen after our sister blueberry picking adventure last summer. 

I also had some quartered strawberries I'd just frozen the day before so between the two of them I figured I was pretty close to the 3 cups the recipe called for.  Those go into the greased pie plate first.

Then, in a separate bowl, mix together all of the remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the flour.

Whisk them together and THEN add the flour.

Whisk flour and the wet mix and then pour it over the fruit.

Pop it into the oven and bake it for 45 minutes. 

Check it with a cake tester or knife and if it's clean at that point then remove it from the oven.

The next step?  Admire your creation, let it cool a little, and then eat!  (You can top it with some homemade whipped cream...or vanilla ice cream!  I went the whipped cream route.)


Here's the recipe:

Berry Clafouti
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of frozen (or fresh) berries
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled (*cooling is important--don't scramble the eggs!)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup flour (all purpose or wheat)

Spray pie plate with nonstick spray.  Pour the fruit onto the plate and arrange it so that there's an even layer.  Whisk together all remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the flour.  Whisk the flour into the wet mix--lumps are okay.  (Even if you scrambled the eggs a little it's okay...trust me...)  Put the dish into the oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until a knife/tester comes out clean.*  This dessert can be served warm or at room temperature. 

It will be dense and just sweet enough.  The tartness from the berries is a nice complement to the sweetness of the thick custard.  It's also very good with whipped cream!

*45 minutes was the perfect amount for my oven but all ovens are different.

Enjoy!

Adi

A Major Promotion

My sweet husband is now a Major!  While we'll miss the Captain America jokes we can now move on to the Major Pain ones.

He wanted a cookies and milk reception after the promotion so guess what I did for the three days prior to the ceremony?

That would be 87 sugar cookies and 14 dozen Guard cookies.  Ohhhh, the sugar!

The display at the ceremony was a mix of theirs and ours when it comes to decorations.  We were going with blue and gold (blue and yellow are the official AF colors, who knew?) but they had some red so we went with it.

The cookie table:

Milk table:

The sugar cookies--they're in the shape of the oak leaf cluster, the official symbol of Majors and Lieutenant Colonels (Majors are gold, Lieutenant Colonels are silver).  I hope to be using this cookie cutter again someday...

The famous Guard cookies:

The ceremony was sweet and the dessert reception even sweeter (haha, literally!).  After the business was over we all went to celebrate the Major at Dave and Buster's.  That place was a blast.  I rule at Skeeball.  The end. 

Adi

Easy cake decorating idea: sprinkle cake!

The tip for today is a quick one:  use sprinkles to spell out your message!

I made this cake for a coworker's promotion.  She loves yellow so that, of course, needed to be the base color.  I had a hard time picking another color to go with it (I was making it the night before and didn't want any other icing colors to bleed into the yellow).  I looked through my sprinkle collection and found a big jar of stars, but this could work with any kind of sprinkle, or even small candies!

It took me some trial and error to get the spacing right on the message but it came together nicely.  I wrote out the message and went back in to fill in any gaps on the letters, since the lighter colors like yellow and orange were harder to see and made the letters look a little shaky.  It need more flair than just the word so I added some stars (made of stars, haha!) and then a border. 

Quick, cute, and a simple way to spell out your message!

Adi

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

It is definitely bread pudding season.

Making a big batch of bread pudding for a group event means you get to have your fill while giving the rest to your friends.  A little bit of indulgence is a lot better than a pan full of indulgence!

I love this bread pudding recipe from Giada De Laurentiis.  She likes to use Panettone, which you see around Christmas.  It looks like this:

I usually use it because I love the slightly sweet bread and the chocolate chips.  This year, I just ran down to Albertson's and bought some of that fresh-baked bread that they guarantee to be hot on your way home from work.  I grabbed a couple since this was my first time going that route but it turns out one is plenty. 

Start cutting the bread into roughly 1 inch cubes.  You'll also want to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

Add in a handful of chocolate chips and repeat the bread and chips for a second layer. 

 

Your casserole dish should be slightly overflowing, which is okay because you're about to smush it down!

To make the custard you'll need:
-8 eggs
-1 1/2 cups whipping cream (*I used half and half.)
-2 1/2 cups whole milk (*I used skim milk.  Don't tell Giada!)
-1 1/4 cups sugar

Whisk those ingredients together:

and pour the mixture all over the bread cubes.  Spilling part of it down your cabinets and onto the floor is an optional step that I would not recommend, not that I did that or anything...

Use both of your (clean, jewelry-free) hands and press down the bread cubes.  You want each cube to have the chance to be submerged in the custard mixture.  They won't stay under but they will remain wet.  Let the wet bread cubes sit for at least 30 minutes or cover it and pop it into the fridge for a couple of hours.  (I made mine at 1:30 and put it into the oven at 4:00 for an event at 5.) 

When it's time to bake it you'll bake it--uncovered--for 45 minutes.  You're looking for the top to bounce back a little when you press it.  The recipe describes it as "the pudding puffs and is set in the center."  Let it cool just enough so it doesn't burn your mouth.  It's best served warm!

It's also best served with:

Cinnamon syrup!

I make this while the dish is baking.  I think it's best when you put it into a little measuring cup with a spout and let people drizzle it onto their own piece of bread pudding. 

Here's what you'll need:
-1 cup of water
-1 cup of brown sugar, packed
-2 tablespoons of whipping cream (*I subbed mocha flavored coffee creamer left over from the holiday festivities because I was NOT going back to the store!)
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cook the water and sugar over high heat on the stove, stirring so the sugar will dissolve. 

Once it gets to boiling cook it for 10 minutes, then remove it from the heat.  Whisk in the cream(er) and cinnamon and let it cool.  You'll want to heat it up a little before you serve it with the pudding. 

Sooooo good!

Adi