Author: Morgan Jankovic

The Great Get Away :: Austin ::

It was time for a trip. When life gets repetitive, there’s a huge need for a foodie adventure! Austin is only a few hours away so it’s not a bad ride. Our trip was kind of last minute but before going, I posted on facebook asking friends for food suggestions. We hit some of the top spots and to my surprise, Austin has become so hip and trendy that there are almost 2 hour waits at restaurants. Wait, what?! I wish we planned a bit better but the lesson was learned!  We missed out on places like Midnight Cowboy.

Austin

The first stop was Elizabeth Street Cafe. I’m not usually one to try trendy asian food as I love hole in the walls. I absolutely loved the decor and style of this place. They had the cutest uniforms and their logo can’t be beat. I hate to say it but I liked the way this place looked better than how the food tasted.  It was just missing that authentic flair. I did like one thing… a delicious spicy and tangy drink, Year of the Dragon. It’s made with beet sake, orange sherry, ginger brew, fresnos, falernum, and lime.

Year of the Dragon

The next day we set out on our adventure to have a fulfilling breakfast but light enough to do some hiking. We ended up at the highly recommended,  Bouldin Creek Cafe. I had been there previously but I went out on a limb this time to try some vegetarian/ vegan fare. Everything on the menu seems to have a healthy vibe to which I love! I ended up getting the Renedicit. The small print says “available before 1pm while it lasts.” If a menu item has info like that, I must try this dish. It comes with… grilled ciabatta served open faced and topped with baby spinach, 2 over-medium cage-free eggs, local tomatoes, tofu ‘bacon’, and homemade vegan Hollandaise. So. Freaking. Delicious. I could eat this meal every day. Who knew vegan fare was this amazing?

Bouldin Creek Cafe

After an easy hike around McKinney Falls and a relaxing hour of canoeing on Lady Bird Lake, we had to fill our tummies with yet another delicious meal. This time we chose Noble Pig. It was, like my friend had said, a tad bit far from the hip area but so worth the trip. I took the advice and was blown away. Everything on the menu looked amazing. In the cold case, they had freshly made pate, bacon fat,  house made pickled veggies (holy moly), and more. I settled on the special, house made shrimp sausage wrapped in bacon, pickled veggies, crispy bacon on a challah bun. Holy heck! This was maybe one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. The combinations of flavors and textures all together made my tastebuds dance like crazy.

Shrimp Sausage

            nom nom nom

Shrimp Sausage

Our tummies were full and extremely happy. {nap time}

As the evening came, we started the night off with a drink at Weather Up. Ok, ok, I know I keep saying each meal is the best i’ve had. Seriously though, this was the best cocktail. In Houston, we have wonderful cocktail bars like Anvil, which is still one of my favorites. But Weather up, wow. Just on another level of cocktail bars than I’ve experienced. Apparently they don’t buy bags of ice. Instead, they have a huge  block that they chip off of. Each drink requires a different “cut” of the ice. Talk about time consuming work.. Anyway, the entire menu was unique but the waitress helped me find my drink of the night, Peach Blow Fizz. No, this drink didn’t have any peach in it, kind of misleading…

Weather Up

Ok so let me tell you why this drink is so amazing. The absolutely perfectly whipped egg white. Having a pastry background, one can appreciate perfectly whipped whites. It tasted like a boozy strawberry shake without the milk and not overly boozy! It was light and fluffy which was the perfect texture for this flavor combination. I was in heaven.

Peach Blow Fizz

Next stop, Foreign & Domestic. This place was made for the adventurous foodie, one who eat pork jowls and such. The menu was tiny and so was the restaurant.  It’s a good thing though, it gives the chefs a chance to hone in on their skills, use quality ingredients and make each dish amazing. I got the short ribs and the bf got the monsterous kobe burger. Both set us in food comas. ’nuff said.

Short Ribs

 

Kobe Burger

 

All in all, it was a successfull (pun & misspelling intended) foodie adventure to Austin. Lessons learned: plan 2 weeks ahead and make reservations.

Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever

One day I was searching for the best cinnamon roll recipe. I could have easily bought the pillsbury stuff but that’s too easy. Homemade dough is always better. I searched through pinterest and found this great recipe that had a secret ingredient. This ingredient was the key  to the moist, fluffy, delicious texture and flavor. They were a hit at the brunch I went to. So if you want to wow your friends, I suggest you make these.


 
Print Recipe
 Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever
Servings
4
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Icing
Servings
4
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Icing
Instructions
  1. Preheat over to 350.
  2. In a small bowl, combine water and yeast. Stir until dissolved, about 5 minutes.
  3. After, mix pudding according to the packaged instructions with milk.
  4. Then add sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, egg, and salt. Mix well.
  5. Gradually add flour and mix with dough hook. After, knead by hand into a ball.
  6. Place the dough into a large greased bowl. Then cover and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size.
  7. Punch down and let rise again for a second time.
  8. Roll dough on a very large floured surface.
  9. Dough should roll out to a long rectangle, about 34 x 21"
  10. Take 1 cup of melted butter and spread over entire dough surface using a pastry brush.
  11. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins.
  12. Sprinkle mixture over top of buttered dough. Roll dough up like a jelly roll.
  13. Measure dough every 2 inches and cut with a knife.
  14. Place each roll in a buttered baking pan and allow to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes.
  15. Bake in a preheated oven and bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
  16. Once out of the oven, slather the cream cheese mixture on top.
Recipe Notes
Enjoy these warm 🙂

:: Donut Breakfast Sandwich ::

Happy New Year! I know, I know, everyone starts their diets in the beginning of the new year. It’s the time to say bye-bye to sweets and treats.  Do you really keep to this? I like to trick myself and eat more greens yet still have treats! I mean, come on, it’s not fun cutting out scrumptious desserts. It’s so hard to resist delicious sweets, especially a donut egg sandwich. Besides, you’re only eating one donut and one isn’t that bad, right?

I came up with this idea when the donut burger was all the hype. I thought it would be a grand idea to cook some canadian bacon, onions, and garlic then add a fried egg to it. It’s the perfect balance, you get the sweet from the crunchy yet soft glazed donut, the saltiness from the garlicy fried egg, and the creaminess from the avocado and Boursin cheese.  Watch the video to see how it’s made. I’m positive that it will blow your socks off.

Print Recipe
 Donut Breakfast Sandwich
Servings
1
Ingredients
Servings
1
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat pan and add butter.
  2. While the butter is melting, cut the donut in half and spread boursin cheese on one side and jam on the other.
  3. Spread sliced avocado and tomato on top of the cheese.
  4. Add the onion and shallot to the pan and cook until translucent. Then add the canadian bacon.
  5. Once the the bacon is slightly crisp, add an egg and fry topping with salt and pepper.
  6. When the egg is flipped and cooked to medium.
  7. Place egg on top of tomato, put the other half donut on top- ta da!
Recipe Notes

If you're feeling funky, try making it with a specialty { blueberry cake, apple fritter } donut. Let me know how that is!

:: Pretzel Balls & Bacon Jam ::

The theme lately, with me, seems to be salty and sweet (last post).  Salty, fluffy, crispy, and chewy pretzel balls paired with sweet, savory, chewy and flavorful bacon jam. What more could you ask for? Your tastebuds will be dancing once you eat these nuggets dipped in heaven.  This will be a hit at your holiday party, superbowl party, or even just lounging on a lazy Sunday.

I made these recipes for the first time a year ago and it was a hit at our friends superbowl party. I made the jam the day before because it takes almost 4 hours to cook in the crock pot. Our apartment smelled of warm, sweet bacon which kept us salivating for days. The balls are time consuming as well so get ready to wait for the prize!

 May I present you with…

Here’s how I made the Bacon Jam

Here’s how I made the Pretzel Balls

1 hour later

:: The finished product ::

Print Recipe
 :: Pretzel Balls & Bacon Jam ::
Pretzel Balls Adapated from Paula Deen and Bacon Jam adapted from Martha Stewart
Servings
Ingredients
Bacon Jam
Pretzel Balls
Servings
Ingredients
Bacon Jam
Pretzel Balls
Instructions
Bacon Jam
  1. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet (reserve for another use); add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 7 minutes. Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.
  2. Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks.
Pretzel Balls
  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water and yeast. When the yeast dissolves/activates, add half of the flour, the butter, salt, and sugar and mix for about 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is no longer sticky. Let the dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until it doubles in size, about 45 to 50 minutes. Punch down the dough and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into 18-inch long ropes. On a greased cookie sheet, shape each rope into a pretzel shape. Let rise again until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
  2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
  3. In a large non-aluminum dutch oven over high heat, bring 4 cups of water and baking soda to a boil. Using a large spoon, gently lower pretzels into water a few at a time and boil until they float. Return the pretzels the sheet pan and brush with an egg wash then sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake until browned, about 12 minutes.

Fleur de Sel Caramels

//Perfect for Holiday Gifts //

Chewy caramel is a nostalgic flavor for me ever since I tasted a milk dud.  I have many memories of my dad and myself devouring an entire box while watching movies. You can’t help but remember all of the clusters of sugar that get stuck in your teeth. It’s so worth it because they are just that delicious. This is by far the best caramel recipe I have tried. It’s definitely the perfect balance between salty and sweet. I have won many tastebuds over and you can too. Here’s a peak on how I made them.

Thanks for the guest photog, Amy Blose.


      

Say Hello to our new look!

// Welcome to our new look // Our much anticipated new design is finally up! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do! I want to give a special thanks to Rion Dooley deardooley for creating this extremely usable site. Thank you Daniel Good Pop for helping create the name and font of the logo, and Zach Cut To Create for making all of the awesome videos and being the official taste tester!

{ Happy Thanksgiving! }

Today happens to be one of the most glutenous days to be thankful for, Thanksgiving.  I’m sure everyone has lovely dreams of gorging themselves with traditional foods like sweet potato casserole, turkey, green beans, and pecan pie. I really enjoy this holiday surrounded by family and friends but hate feeling sleepy and immobile.  Unfortunately (maybe not), I have 2 turkey meals today. Those of you who are as lucky as me, I hope you have a good plan of action. As for me, I plan on the first meal being a taste of everything while the second is a plate full!

I’ve cooked a whole slew of things from pies to green beans. My favorite is of course the desserts. My partner in crime from Cut To Create and I made yet another video ** Pie Pops ** Enjoy!

The Foodie Chef Makes Pie Pops | Cut To Create from Cut to Create on Vimeo.

Cookie Monster Birthday Cupcakes!

The inspiration of these adorable cupcakes came from nothing but several google images. My sister called me one day trying to plan her precious child’s birthday. She wanted sesame street themed cupcakes so we quickly agreed on cookie monster! I did use a few tricks that helped with both the timing and look of them. Read on for pointers to help make these delicious coooookie monster cupcakes in your own kitchen 🙂

I started with (so embarrassed to say)a box of yellow cake mix, eek! The purist in me completely frowns upon this but it really does cut the time in half! It tastes just as good too. After baking, I used a pairing knife to cut a “v” shape to hold the cookie.

Then, I used a wilton #233 piping tip to pipe the delicious blue colored cream cheese icing.

For the eyes, I used white chocolate disks.  Then, I colored a bit of the icing black and piped on the eyes.  My sister made the adorable visors for party favors, such a great idea!

The birthday girl 🙂

Don’t you just want to dig into one?

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Moroccan Cooking with Grandma Lalouf

I had such a pleasure learning the Moroccan way of rustic cooking with my best friend Lindsey and her grandmother.  After a year of asking Lindsey to invite me over to her grandmothers, I was finally granted my wish!  I was invited over to her grandparents lovely home for a very filling lunch with the family and then a cooking lesson.
It was really interesting to hear stories of life in Algeria and Morocco when times were rough.  The style of cooking directly mirrored this. The way grandma cut the eggplant without a cutting board was very minimalistic and interesting to me.  All of the dishes had bold strong flavors from garlic to turmeric. They were all delicious and unique in their own way.  She taught me how to make the eggplant dip which is very similar to babaganoush. The recipe is to follow…

Needless to say, I had a wonderful time and hope to get an invitation back for yet another lesson 🙂










 

Print Recipe
 Grandma Lalouf's Eggplant Dip Recipe
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Cook eggplant in oil for 10 minutes then remove. Cook tomato for about 10 minutes. Add eggplant, garlic, chili oil and salt to cooked tomato. Simmer for 1 hour uncovered.
  2. This dip not only can be served with pita chips, vegetable cridite, but even spread on bread for a different sandwich!
  3. Cooking option 2: leave out the tomato and add lemon juice (to taste) and cumin (1 tsp)
  4. Enjoy!

Good Ole San Francisco

My boyfriend and I went on a little trip this past weekend to San Francisco. While there, he made this super cute video of our adventures. Foodie pics to come and an awesome tasting menu at Keiko a Nob Hill.








The following is the tasting menu at Keiko a Nob Hill. It was so incredibly delicious that I had to unbutton my pants, eek!  The cannelle was the best I have ever had.  Keiko nailed it!







NYC Food 2012

Salivate. Enjoy 🙂