Food Lush

Mac and Cheese with Diced Jalapeno

By A'Dell

I frequent a small cafe in my little suburb and one of the side dishes that is ALWAYS sold out by 1 PM is the Mac and Cheese. They make it from scratch and toss in one or several toppings of your choice right before it's served. The few times I've been able to get some before it sells out? DELICIOUS. Oh, there's nothing like freshly made Mac and Cheese to soothe my soul.

My favorite mix-in is diced, raw, jalapenos. It might sound too spicy but it's not, I promise! Fresh jalapenos (not pickled) are crunchy and crisp and provide just the right amount of ZING! if you make certain to slice out the membrane and seeds (where most of the heat is.) 

I made some of my own last night with a simple cheese sauce (butter, flour, salt, pepper, milk, cheese), that took me about ten minutes to make, and some spiral pasta I found in the back of the pantry. It was AMAZING. (Way better than the blue box, and it took the same amount of time and stirring.) I added cheese on top of my cheese sauce, and this is why I'm not sharing the cheese sauce recipe I used; not cheesey enough. (Though adding cheese on top did make it juuuuuust right.)

The jalapenos were the perfect complement to sharp cheddar and I ate it all again for lunch today. FABULOUS. I think this would make a super fun thing for a party: get the pasta boiled and cheese sauce ready, then toss with custom extras for each guest. 

Who else is a Mac and Cheese connoisseur? Any other macaroni mix-ins that might change my life?

(Photo from: me)

Toddler Favorite: Apple Chips

by Tara

I have tried several dried fruit recipes I've found on Pinterest, but none of them have worked until now (and Jess has had similar results). I've posted before about feeding my picky toddler. It's a struggle to get her to try things these days, especially fruits and veggies. So I've taken to tricking her into eating them by hiding them in foods. But these? She adores.

Apple Chips

(Photo from Vittles and Bits)

I sprinkled brown sugar on top, and that's it. They also took a bit longer than the recipe indicated to cook, about 20 minutes longer in my oven. Four days after I made them they were still crisp.

Easy, delicious, and my daughter will eat them: kid-approved is my favorite kind of recipe!

Virtue Red Streak Cider

by Katie

We all know that craft beer has been a booming business for years. A few weeks ago, having lunch at our favorite local pub, I caught my first glimpse of what I hope will be a continuing trend: craft cider.

(Photo from: Virtue Cider)

Virtue Cider is a Chicago-based cider company that makes its first cider, RedStreak, using local apples from family farms. Virtue is the brainchild of Gregory Hall, who was brewmaster at local-turned-national craft beer giant Goose Island for 20 years. After leaving Goose Island, he studied cider intensively, including an internship at a cider producer in Normandy.

I had one (okay, a couple) with my lunch that day and it was crisp, flavorful, dry and not too sweet. Red Streak can currently be found on tap at bars and restaurants around Chicago (I saw it being used in cocktails at Tiny Lounge the other night!) And Virtue has two more varieties coming up in the fall and winter.

Here's hoping this is the start of a new craft brew movement!

Allergy Elimination Diet Anyone?

by Slynnro

I've been struggling a lot lately with my diet.  

No, I haven't been gaining weight.

I haven't been losing weight.

My struggle relates to what I publically, and Food Lush-ally, refer to as my "gluten intolerance." While gluten is the primary culprit in my digestive troubles, it goes a whole lot deeper than that. Years of incorrect diagnoses to my problem left me with a damaged digestive system, and a myriad of other tummy troubles. As a result, there are many other foods beyond those containing gluten that set off my stomach. Full-fat dairy (sayonara, ice cream), too much sugar, too many carbs, too many vegetables (yes, my body flips out if I eat too many veggies in one day), and, well, a whole lot else.  

Sometimes it's pretty defeating, and I really just want to give up and live on white rice, but I'm betting my body would even find a way to be mad about that.

Which is why I need to clean out my system, and attempt to do some kind of food allergen elimination diet. The task is daunting, and I'm hoping you all can provide some tips, or some commiseration at the least sensitive tummy friends. Have any of you ever tried an elimination diet? I've done some internet research, but I'm thinking to do this properly I probably need to seek the advice of a nutritionist as well.  Anyone with any experience in that arena?

What say you Food Lush Friends? What foods give you trouble? Anyone else with any major food allergies? Any nutritionists reading? Slynnro needs you!

My New Favorite Gadget: Tortilla Press

By Jessica

Ever since I stumbled across this recipe for flour tortillas thanks to Elizabeth, there has been no turning back. I love a hot, fresh, flour tortilla and these take me straight back to my childhood where my babysitter would make stacks of them every day and we'd eat them straight from the griddle. My favorite treat, in fact, was a freshly made tortilla with butter and a little bit of cinnamon and sugar, even better if I was washing it down with a glass of homemade horchata. YUM!

The only downside is the time it takes to roll them all out by hand. 

But that is a downside, no longer, as I went and bought myself a proper cast iron tortilla press. I cover it with a ziploc bag that I slit down both sides, which keeps the tortilla from sticking to the press and then just work my way right through all the dough!

I typically eat one just off the skillet (cast iron) and then use the rest to make some tasty tacos like so:

(Photos from: Bed, Bath & Beyond, me)

How to Salvage a Cookie Disaster

By Erica H.

Here's a handy guide for what to do when you find yourself with overly wet cookie dough and you're hosting a playdate in the morning and your husband has been out of town for four days and STARTING OVER IS NOT AN OPTION.

 Ahem.

Option 1: Actually follow the recipe carefully. Do not "guesstimate" the amount of shredded carrot. Do not use old-fashioned oatmeal when it calls for instant. (RECOMMENDED.)

Option 2: When you see that the dough is clearly too liquid, add a bit more flour a little at a time until it seems cookie-appropriate.

Option 3: Let your toddler throw a wooden spoon into the spinning mixer in the hopes that the extra wood pulp will help thicken things up. (NOT RECOMMENDED.)

Option 4: Roll your baked flat cookie-puddles into balls. Put them back in the oven until they firm up. Pretend they were meant to be balls in the first place.

Top Chef Alum Report: Washington, DC

by Elissa

As a Top Chef fan and DC resident, I like to keep up with what local alums have been up to. While I haven't yet made the trek out to Frederick, Maryland to see what Bryan Voltaggio is up to, I can report on the recent endeavors of Mike Isabella, Spike Mendelsohn, and Carla Hall.

Mike Isabella has been in the local news A LOT lately--he opened his first restaurant, Graffiato, a year ago, and recently opened Bandolero, his second DC restaurant; he's also working on a cookbook and maybe another restaurant? My husband and I decided to go to Graffiato to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary a few weeks ago. I'm happy to report that all the hype does not appear to have adversely affected the food.

{photo credit: graffiato.com}

As you can see, the restaurant does not feel super-fancy. The menu is made up of small plates and pizza; since it was a special occasion for us we opted for the $55/person tasting menu. Both of us came away feeling like the tasting menu was a tremendous value. We got to enjoy 16 different dishes over the course of the evening, and just about everything was excellent.

{photo credit: graffiato.com}

Highlights included roasted cauliflower with pecorino and mint, beet green ravioli, and the above-pictured pizza, which featured black truffles, fontina cheese, and a soft cooked egg. We left full of good food with some leftovers to bring home--I'd definitely be happy to go back. I'm also eager to try Bandolero once the crowds and buzz die down a little bit.

Spike Mendelsohn opened Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill in 2008. It's a casual place serving burgers, fries, and milkshakes. He subsequently opened a pizza place next door (We the Pizza), and recently opened a second Good Stuff location in Virginia.

{photo credit: goodstuffeatery.com}

While I always found Spike kind of annoying on the show, I am a fan of Good Stuff. The burgers are quite good (I'm partial to the Blazin' Barn, which features Sriracha mayo and Vietnamese-style pickles and herbs), and because it's an order-at-the-counter place it's a good place to go with kids. But the thing that keeps me coming back is the milkshakes. The toasted marshmallow milkshake is their signature shake, and it is worth a special trip on its own. It is rich and creamy with a burnt-sugar edge from the toasted marshmallows (here's a recipe if you want to give it a try at home).

Finally, I recently tried some cookies and nuts from Carla Hall's Alchemy line of products.

{photo credit: alchemybycarlahall.com}

The Black Forest Crinkle is little chocolate cherry cookies; the first box that I bought from a local market was delicious and totally addictive: rich chocolate, tart cherries, and a wonderful chewy texture. I bought another box a few weeks later, though, and they were too sweet and crumbly. So while there's great potential there, based on my experience there may be some issues with consistency.

{photo credit: alchemybycarlahall.com}

I also tried a box of Alchemy's spiced nuts--these were delicious and would make a fabulous hostess gift. 

So there you have it--my take on three of the DC-area Top Chef alums. Have you had experience (either good or bad) with these or other Top Chef participants? 

Ninja Blenders: I’m Ready to Pulverize Everything

By Julie

Once upon a time, I got a blender as a wedding gift. Just your standard issue blending apparatus. It served us somewhat adequately over the years, but never spectacularly. It took a lot of jiggering and jostling to get it to blend continuously without forming an air bubble beneath the blades, and over time, I could tell the motor was slowly grinding away at the housing, just by the sound it made. Consequently, I didn’t really use it all that much.

I’ve heard a lot of blender talk lately, and it stayed on my mind when I’d go shopping, so I started to check out new machines. Costco was holding demonstrations on the Vitamix, which certainly looked like the industrial king of blenders, but that price tag was just a smidge out of my reach. What did I really need with a new blender after all, when I had something serviceable at home?

Fast forward to last week, when I saw the Ninja line. My favorite thing was the multi-blade system that runs the entire shaft, instead of just at the bottom. They were on super sale and I had a coupon, and a quick look online yielded a fantastically high amount of positive reviews. That beautiful combination resulted in a crazy deal that I simply could not pass up. It was delivered yesterday. Behold, my beauty:

So far, I made roasted tomato sauce in 5 seconds flat. I love that this particular version came with 3 bowls/pitchers, so if I’m making a complicated dish, I can just switch among them without having to stop and wash up. I have high hopes for smoothies without giant ice chips stabbing my tongue. And, of course, margaritas.  I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Now, please, ever so kindly, tell me what you’d make with your fancy new blender?

(Photo from: Amazon.com)

Baked Brie, You Complete Me

By Nora    

So, I have a feeling that most people reading this post are going to give me a big fat DUH, and say Nora, we're smart enough to read Food Lush so OF COURSE we know about baked brie, but i'm going to write this anyway in the event that there's even one person who doesn't know about baked brie and whose life I can possibly change by informing them of the simplicity and deliciousness of this crowd pleasing appetizer---or, if you're like me and enjoy eating cheese for dinner---Entree.

The reason I thought of writing about baked brie in the first place is because I rediscovered it this weekend when I had my friend over for a girls night and we decided to have an appetizers-only dinner (which is the best dinner in the whole world besides breakfast for dinner, IMO). I had an extra sheet of puff pastry in the freezer, and the light bulb went off in my head. I went right to the store and bought a small wheel of brie and some sour cherry preserves. (When it comes time for you to make it, please don't feel like you need to stick to the fruit preserves on top. This would be good with a salsa or a savory chutney as well, it's that versatile.)

I defrosted the puff pastry so it was pliable, and spread it out on a cookie sheet with a Silpat on it (parchment paper will also suffice). Then I plopped the brie wheel down on the puff pastry, spread a generous amount of the preserves on top of the brie, and then bunched up the pastry around the brie until it looked like a puff pastry pouch. You can even cut out shapes from any left over pastry and make it all decorative and fancy. I brushed the pastry with egg wash too, which gave it a nice shine. But the egg wash isn't necessary and doesn't make a difference to the taste.

Bake it at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. And don't wait too long before cutting into it because you want it to look like this when you serve it:

Could you just die? Search the web for "baked brie in puff pastry" and you won't believe the variations on this recipe. This photo came from a website called Nesting Newbies and the recipe includes pecan pieces, white truffle oil, and honey. Yeah. I know.

My Five Favorite Kitchen Tricks

by Jen L.

A good kitchen trick is worth its weight in gold.  Some of my favorites are things I've picked up from friends or family members, others are stuff I've pinned onto my "Stuff I Wish I'd Thought Of" board on Pinterest.  Regardless of where they came from, here are my five favorite time-and-sanity-savers for the kitchen.

1.  Ice Cream Scoop For Batter.  I think everyone pretty much knows about this one, but in case you don't, a traditional ice cream scoop holds the perfect amount of cake batter to fill a standard-size muffin cup 2/3 of the way full.  Your muffins and cupcakes will all be uniform in size and shape and you won't have those pesky batter drippings all over your counter.

2.  Muffin Tin As Taco Shell Holder.  How brilliant is this?

If you use heat-and-serve taco shells, you can just toss them in the oven like this.  If you fry your own like we do at our house, you can slip them into the overturned muffin tin for easy transporting to the table! Also works great for re-heating them in the oven.

3.  Melon Baller as Cake Pop Scoop.  Y'all.  SO much easier than wadding up crumbled cake mixed with frosting by hand.  Mix your cake pop base like you usually would, then scoop it out with a melon baller. I go ahead and spear mine onto the stick, then dunk it in the chocolate. Much less messy, much more uniform shape.

4.  Wooden Spoon Over Boiling Pot.  Does your pasta pot boil over every single time?  Mine does.  Know what will keep it from doing that?  Put a wooden spoon across the top like this:

Works like a charm.

5.  Toothbrush Holder as Straw Holder.  So this really doesn't happen in the kitchen, but I use a travel toothbrush holder to carry bendable straws for my preschooler.  It keeps them clean in my bag and keeps him from stabbing himself up the nose with a regular straw when we're out and about.

What are your favorite kitchen tricks?  Tell me so I can use them!

(Photos from:  Organize With Sandy, A Small Snippet, Chica And Jo)