Food Lush

Flavored Hummus: Spinach and Artichoke

By Jessica

Have any of you tried this? I picked it up yesterday at Costco (where else?) and am excited to test it out! I usually purchase the Roasted Pine Nut or Roasted Red Pepper, but when I saw this flavor, I knew I had to give it a shot. I am really looking forward to tossing it into a wrap with some oven roasted veggies, tzatziki and some feta but I'm sure it would be just as good on its own with pita chips.

There are so many varieties to choose from, do you have a favorite? What's your favorite brand of hummus?

{Photo credit: Sabra}

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

by Elsha

My sister is visiting and before she came, she accumulated quite a list of various cookies and treats to try out while she's here. We've tried out a few and folks, we have a winner.

It's these chocolate chip cookie dough truffles. Oh man, are these good. I don't know about you, but I grew up tasting cookie dough before it was baked. Actually, I still do it to check taste and texture before I bake the cookies. Anyway, these have all the deliciousness of raw cookie dough, but there are no eggs in the dough so no salmonella risk! Plus it makes me feel like a kid to eat cookie dough for dessert.

How about you, are you a cookie dough eater?

Slow Cooker Lemonade Chicken

By Ariel

I'm constantly on the hunt for slow cooker recipes. I found this one via recipe hunting on about.com and was really skeptical about some of the ingredients. I am all for interesting mixes, but ... ketchup? In the slow cooker? Eh, I wasn't crazy about the idea, but I'm officially sick of BBQ-based dishes where the crockpot is concerned and I wanted to broaden my chicken horizons.

This was GREAT! Check out the recipe here. I made a few additions to to the recipe: about 1/4 cup honey, a tablespoon of tarragon, and I doubled the vinegar. Rather than different pieces of chicken, I just used breasts and threw them in the crock pot frozen. I also omitted the cornstarch and didn't bother thickening the sauce. I cooked it on low for about 6 hours and it turned out so tender and juicy I was completely blown away. Add this to your recipe rotation, you will not be disappointed.

Festive Peppermintini & Gingerbread Martini: Two Cocktails from Two Writers

By Leslie & A'Dell

Editor's note: We couldn't keep either of these delicious holiday-inspired cocktail recipes from you mere days before Christmas, so you get two posts for the cost of one!

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Festive Peppermintini

By Leslie

This weekend we attended a friend's holiday party and the hostess was making peppermintinis for everyone who walked in the door. I was hestitant at first, because normally these drinks consist of half-and-half cream. If I'm going to drink my calories, they better be worth it, so I usually stear clear of "dessert" martinis. HOWEVER, my friend and oh-so-smart hostess was thinking the same thing. She came up with something delicious, minus the heavy dessert element. I'm not claiming these to be health-food by any means, but definitely a great alternative.  

It's very easy. Almost too easy. Don't say I didn't warn you!

One part of each:

 Vanilla vodka

Godiva white chocolate liqueur

Peppermint Schnapps

 

Pour over ice in a glass, or strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a mini candy cane. Yum!

 

{Image source: www.drinkswap.com}

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Gingerbread Martini

By A'Dell

I test-drove this recipe a few nights ago and it really surprised me with how it was sweet and cocktail-like, but very, very different from what I normally drink. It almost didn't taste like alcohol (all that sugar!). Fair warning: It was very ginger-y. Now, I really like ginger, so this was fine by me, but I could tell that my other taste-testers were less than thrilled. We used ginger beer, as directed in the recipe, but I think using ginger ale might tone down the spice, if you wanted to mute it a bit.

Isn't it pretty?! I'm serving these at a party on Friday and I can't wait to line them all up in a row. If you're still searching for a festive cocktail, this is a pretty good one to try.

Ingredients

• 1 ounce vanilla vodka
• 1 ounce hazelnut-flavored liqueur (recommended: Frangelico)
• 1/2 ounce butterscotch schnapps
• Ice cubes
• 4 ounces ginger beer (recommended: Reed's Ginger Brew)
• Dark rum

Directions

Pour the vanilla vodka, hazelnut liqueur, and butterscotch schnapps into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into high ball glass or any 8-ounce glass filled with ice. Top with ginger beer. Pour a little dark rum over the back of a spoon and float on top of the ginger beer. Garnish with a gingerbread man cookie.

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There you go, Food Lush. Two cocktails! One holiday! Try them both!

Brussels Sprouts on the Stalk

by Katie

At the grocery the other day, we happened upon a display of brussels sprouts still attached to the stalk, looking like some alien dwarf tree. 

So obviously we bought one.

As we were checking out, the cashier said "hey, you know you can just throw this whole thing on a roasting pan with some oil and salt and roast it just like that?

Darned if he wasn't right. I drizzled some oil, sprinkled some salt, roasted at 400 for 30 minutes, and this is what I got.

To be totally honest, I prefer my normal Brussels sprout roasting method, which involves cutting them off the stalk prior to cooking -- they get more delicious brown spots that way, and you don't have to burn your fingers cutting off hot sprouts. 

But this WAS pretty cool looking. Can you imagine pulling this out of the oven and placing in the middle of the table at a big holiday meal? It's like the vegetarian equivalent of the huge roast! So, you know, if you're hosting a vegetarian holiday feast and are looking for your centerpiece item: look no further!

Vegan Holiday Cooking

By Tara

I am not vegan. My brother, however, is. And though he's 23, employed, and self-dependent, our mother continues to ask me to make a vegan dish for every holiday, ensuring my brother will be able to eat something. For Thanksgiving I made Squad Car Squash (with vegan butter and sour cream, and vegan butternut squash soup). But for Christmas, I was completely lost.

Here are the ideas I was either given or found:

Oven-Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Photo from Our Best Bites.

Holiday Soup for the Soul

Photo from Oh She Glows.

Butternut Squash Mac 'n Cheeze

Photo from Oh She Glows.

But, ultimately, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make this:

Butternut Squash and Cranberry Maple Millet

Photo from Daily Garnish.

I already ran it by my brother, and I'm really excited to try it this weekend at our family Christmas dinner! 

What's your favorite vegan dish to make for the holidays?

Chocolate Peppermint Marshmallows

By Erica

Based on your advice, we made chocolate peppermint marshmallows to give as small gifts for Christmas. We made enough to give 35 people three marshmallows a piece. For this amount, I needed three bags of marshmallows, three bags of crushed peppermints, three packages of almond bark and one package of 120 coffee stirrers. (Since I'm not a fan of white chocolate, I went with one package of that and two packages of milk chocolate.)

We gave everyone two milk and one white chocolate marshmallows and I packaged them in a cute little cellophane bag.  

For my kids' preschool teachers, I included some tasty hot chocolate.

Of course, my helper couldn't wait to have her own cup of cocoa with a marshmallow she made all by herself.

I'm definitely putting this project on the list for future Christmases. It was super easy, very fun and cheap(!) to make. And my daughter says it makes the best hot chocolate ever. 

Dining With a Top Chef: Restaurant Review of Private Social

by Slynnro

On Saturday night, I dined at Private Social, former Top Chef contestant Tiffany Derry's new Uptown Dallas restaurant. It was a delicious meal, and reasonably priced (for a high end restaurant). My dinner companion and I had an appetizer, shared a salad, two entrees, one side, one dessert and 4 cocktails, and our final bill was around $125.

The menu is divided into private and social selections (shared plates and individual entrees). This is not a gimmick I really care for, so we just ordered a shared plate as an appetizer and a side.  

We started with the Top Chef Pork Buns:

They were quite delicious, and were my gluten allowance for the day -- I ate the filler of two buns, and allowed myself one bread bun. I love the texture of these buns, and the crispy pork inside was quite tasty. (For those of you wondering, no I do not have Celiac disease, but I have discovered through trial and error that I cannot digest gluten well, and allow myself only the occasional gluten indulgence.)

We then shared Tom Spicer's Greens salad, which had glazed walnuts, bleu cheese and a light balsamic dressing. The salad was perfectly dressed and I am sucker for spiced walnuts and pecans.

For our entrees, he had the Duck Fat Fried Chicken.

Which. Y'ALL. This was amazing! I had a bite of the breast meat and it was incredible -- juicy, flavorful -- the meat had really taken on the spicy flavoring of the skin, and there were fried lemons mixed in and it gave the chicken a real kick. Hands down, the best fried chicken I have ever tasted.

I had the Pan Seared Scallops with parsnip puree.

I did not care for the chantrelle mushrooms (weird texture), but the scallops themselves were deliciously flavorful and cooked just right.

We also shared a plate of pommes frites. And for dessert:

The sock puppet and I shared some chocolate cake. Actually, I only had a bite because I was really overdoing it in the gluten department this night, but it, along with the chai ice cream, was excellent.

Overall, it was a great dining experience and I will return again. I'm also very intrigued by the lunch menu, which is fairly reasonably priced (entrees around $12) given the lavishness of the setting.

Chocolove!

by Elissa

I erecently used a sale at the grocery store as an excuse to stock up on a bunch of chocolate (not surprising if you know me and my history with chocolate). Usually my favorites are milk chocolate featuring nuts or toffee, but I found a dark chocolate bar that I can't get enough of: Chocolove's Chilies and Cherries in Dark Chocolate.

The chocolate is dark (but not too dark), the cherries give some tanginess and chew, and the chili is subtle but makes it totally addictive. Highly recommend! It would be a great gift/stocking stuffer for any chocolate lovers in your life.

Top Chef Texas: Episode 7: Game, Set, Meat your Match

By Sarah

Wasn't Jessica awesome last week? Thanks for filling in for me while I talked Hanukkah shop, Jess! Now, onto this week's episode called "Game On," which could also be called, "The One Where Padma Tries To Bring Back '90s-Style Choker Necklaces." (I mean, what was that, honestly!)

Tim Love is the guest judge this week. He's a well-known chef from Texas and I think I recall seeing him compete on Top Chef Masters once. (A Wiki search confirms this and also tells me he defeated Chef Morimoto in Battle Chile Pepper on Iron Chef America in 2006. Hmm, Tim, I'm not so sure about you. *cough* TEAM MORIMOTO *cough*) 

Moving on! The quickfire this week is to cook with tequila. I have taken many shots of tequila and IN TEXAS, no less, so I feel like I could have been totally qualified to cook in this challenge. Pour a shot of tequila: DONE.

Ty-Lor Umlaut wins the quickfire and now is when I admit that despite his hipster name and general air of creepiness, he's kind of starting to grow on me. Damn you, Ty-Lor Umlaut!

The elimination challenge this week is to cook with game meats (think venison, quail, wild boar, etc.) and the chefs are paired up in twos. The catch is this: An entire team will be sent home, not just one person, so cooking well together is going to be key. OR IS IT?

Beverly and Heather are paired together and cook duck breast; Lindsay and Chris cook wild boar, Nyesha and Dakota take on venison, Ty-Lor Umlaut and Edward are on quail duty, Chris "Flock of Seagulls Hair" Jones and Grayson get elk, and Sarah and Paul cook up some squab.

The winners this week are Ty-Lor and Edward, of the Stitches Ain't Sh*t But A Little Blood And Local Anesthetic Club. Paul and Sarah also really impressed me by cooking not only the squab breast, but also making some squab sausage.

Meanwhile, Dakota seems to have trouble with cooking venison, which is odd, as she says she's cooked it hundreds (or was it thousands? millions?) of times. Nyesha, unfortunately, fails to check Dakota's work and these two end up in the bottom for undercooked venison.

Also in the bottom are (shocking!) Beverly and Heather. I can't really remember what the judges didn't like about their dish, but I know Heather's complaint was that there was no cohesion.

Rounding out the bottom are Grayson and Chris, for their soggy sweet potato, which for the love of god, should never have even been on the plate. Never! These chefs and their need to just put something on the plate! Stop that. If it sucks, don't serve it!

At Judges' Table, there's a lot of back and forth with not only Heather and Beverly, but also Heather and Grayson. People really seem to hate Heather for being a bully and while I certainly don't agree that she's the nicest person, I also sort of love her for being so brazen. She's in it to win it and I appreciate that.

In the end, both Grayson's and Heather's teams are spared, and Nyesha and Dakota are ultimately sent home. I liked Dakota, so I was sad to see her leave.

Until next week, Umlauts!