My 100th (and last) post!

An announcement for my (two) readers:

I have decided to switch blog formats. You can now follow what I'm eating and drinking and cooking and growing over at: http://thefoodlife-bykaty.tumblr.com/

I know. It's crazy.

What I have been up to...

Beer and brats to kick off Maifest in Amana!

Barbecue chicken stuffed taters. 

The first crop of the season-- some radishes, and baby rainbow chard. (and a reusable target bag... so pretty)

roasted zucchini and summer squash-- timmy's new favorite!

chicken parmesan burgers-- these were amazing!

strawberry rhubarb crumb bars. oh. my. god.

Blackberry Pecan Cream cheese Muffins

Blackberry? Pecan? Cream cheese? Muffin? Any one of those things would be delicious enough on its own, but all together? There are no words. I originally found this recipe for Raspberry cream cheese muffins on Cooking Light's website, and was  excited to have found a way to use up some of the leftover buttermilk that I had from the St. Paddy's day Irish Soda Bread. I was all set to use frozen raspberries, and then the happiest surprise of my life happened  (only a slight exaggeration) when I found FRESH blackberries on sale for $1.50 a pint at the grocery store. Glorious. So-- anyway, I swapped raspberries for blackberries, and walnuts for pecans, and then I ate like five of these beautiful little babies before they even cooled down. Ohhhh man, they were so good. So so so so good. Okay I'm done now. 

Winner Winner Pork Chop Dinner

Sunday at the store, they were having a sale on what I will call  "big daddy" pork chops, and I decided I needed them to make for dinner. However, I planned poorly -- since the chops were so thick, they really should have cooked for a long time at a low temperature to ensure that they were super juicy while still being cooked all the way. Spoiler alert, I cooked them really quickly on the stove top and they were a bit dry. Oh well, it was still a lovely meal.

Pork Chops:
- two "big daddy" chops (they were close to an inch thick)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- salt & pepper
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- oil for cooking
- chicken stock

First, combine the buttermilk and seasonings and then cover the pork chops with it. In theory, the tang of the buttermilk should help to tenderize the meat and ensure a juicy delicious chop.... like I said, in theory. Then, if you want to undo all of the tenderizing you just did, you should cook it in a hot pan on the stove top like me! I heated just a bit of canola oil in a skillet, and seared the chops on both sides, then I poured on some chicken stock and let them "braise" for a few minutes to finish cooking. Had I done this for longer on a lower temp, or had the pork chops been bone-in, this might have actually worked. As it stands, I think the flavors were perfect, but it was definitely a bit dry.

Mashed Potatoes and Carrots with Basil and Feta:
In an attempt to use up as many near expired or overripe items in my fridge and pantry as possible, I created a very colorful and eclectic side dish for this meal. It ended up being kind of fabulous, and I think I'm going to do the potato/carrot mash up again. Not only is it a pretty color, but I think it requires less salt, butter, or cheese than normal mashed potatoes because of the sweetness and depth of flavor that the carrots offer.

- 4 red potatoes (skin on)
- 3 carrots
- salt & pepper
- goats' milk feta (my new favorite thing, oh man)
- 1 TBSP butta
- a handful of fresh basil leaves, rougly chopped, or torn.

Boil potatoes and carrots in salted water until softened. Drain, and put butter in the hot pan, add taters and carrots back in and start smashing adding milk as necessary. Then fold in  feta and basil and.


***this side is vegetarian and gluten free! 


You may recognize my "Go to salad" with shallots, nuts (pecans this time), cheese (gorgonzola), and fruit (fresh blackberries! YES!) in the photo.

Roasted Carrots with Feta and Mint

I hardly did any cooking this week somehow, but on Tuesday evening for vampire night, it was my turn for salad. I went outside the box a bit with my definition of salad, and made Michael Symon's roasted carrots with mint and feta.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, but I allowed the carrots to completely cool and served it as a room temperature salad. Also, I used some all goats' milk feta-- I think it might be one of my new favorite cheeses! The dish was pretty fantastic, and accompanied Mandy's greek chicken gyros perfectly!

The sweetness of the honey, the tang of the vinegar, and the savory cumin really made the carrots pop. They would have been great alone, but with the feta and mint , this dish was fabulous!  The only negative is that while roasting the carrots, my pan got basically destroyed-- no matter how much scrubbing I do, I cannot get the burned cumin honey off. I guess it was worth it? If I did this again, I think I would omit the honey from the initial roasting phase, and actually, I might parboil the carrots and try to finish them on the grill instead of in a hot oven.

Tim is going to be planting a lot of carrots in his deck garden this summer, so I can't wait to try this again with some home grown beauties!

St. Paddy's Day 2012

Timmy and I just realized that this was our FIFTH St. Patrick's Day together. Wow. It was definitely our most laid back holiday, in that I spent a lot of the day working, and I had half a beer total, all day, but it was still pretty great. For the third year in a row, Tim cooked for me, and he really hit his stride this year.

Timmy prepping the carrots

Chef Timmy was in charge of the corned beef that he made in the crock pot with some delicious carrots and cabbage. And, to make something extra special, we also had butter potatoes! Yummm.

The beef, carrots, and cabbage hot out of the pan (hence the dreamy fuzziness from the steam)

 I was in charge of everything else, so I made Kale chips as a snack. I was surprised at how much Tim liked them, and I can't wait to make them again for us. They are possibly the easiest snack in the world to make--- take kale leaves, rip into bite sized pieces, toss with 1 tsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake on a sheet for 20-30 minutes at 300. (I really love them with seasoning blends from Penzey's like Turkish seasoning, or Mural of Flavor as well.)

I also made a Vegan Guinness Cake with a chocolate whiskey glaze. Because we ate so much corned beef, I only ate about three bites of the whole cake, but it was pretty darn tasty! Since the cake was vegan, it was nice to have the little extra something that the Guinness offered.

Also, just like last year, I baked Irish Soda Bread. It was extra delicious piled high with corned beef and cabbage. I also ate it the next morning toasted with butter and honey. I love how the sweetness of the raisins is counteracted by the savory caraway seeds, and this bread is the perfect texture. Plus it is so easy and requires no kneading or rising time, and it is pretty darn gorgeous.

I think my food coma lasted about three days, but it was definitely worth it. Happy St. Paddy's to all!

the whole spread

My adorable "Kiss me I'm Iowish" tee. :)

Weekly Wrap- Up 3/11-3/17

Wednesday 3/14/12: Corn Chowder

One of my favorite restaurants is a place in North Liberty called Red's. They have amazing food (including a burger that my father claims is the "best he has ever had"!), an incredible beer selection, and the most glorious patio. But, the greatest thing about Red's, at least according to Tim and me, is their amazing bacon and corn chowder. It is sweet from the corn, salty from the bacon, creamy (from what I assume to be cream), and has just enough bite in the form of fresh scallions. I have been promising Tim that I would try to recreate the chowder at home, and on Wednesday I decided to give it a shot. I also decided that I would try to make a healthy version (i.e., less bacon, and milk instead of cream). I started by crisping the bacon, and sauteeing garlic, scallion, and a chopped poblano pepper in the rendered fat. Then I added in some yukon gold taters, and covered it with chicken stock and brought to a boil, then reduced to a simmer. Once the taters were soft, I threw in a bag of frozen corn (this would be SO MUCH MORE AMAZING with fresh corn), enough 2% milk to make it creamy, and then I added a few tablespoons of polenta (b/c I don't have any corn meal) to thicken and bump up the corn goodness. I served it with scallions, cheddar cheese, and greek yogurt to garnish. 

At least it looks pretty! 

This would have been pretty good (not as good as Red's, but pretty good), but I was an idiot and walked away from the kitchen for a few minutes and when I came back the chowder was boiling, the milk was scalded, and the bottom of the pot was burned. I was so mad I couldn't even enjoy it... but Tim liked it, so that's good!

*Note, this is gluten free, and if the bacon was omitted entirely, it would be vegetarian and honestly it would still taste good! 

Thursday 3/15/12: Spicy Stir-Fried Tofu with Kale and Red Peppers

Last week for "vampire club" I decided to make a recipe that I had been eyeing on Pinterest for awhile. I followed the recipe pretty closely, except I doubled the "sauce", and I used this amazing marinated tofu that I get at the Coop. Also, I'm not sure what type of kale they used in the original recipe, but I used red kale which is just a bit more delicate than the other varieties, and it is super gorgeous (it should be called "purple" kale, but whatever). I only slightly wilted it, so it still had a ton of texture which is visible in the photo. I served the stir-fry with some rice noodles, but it would be amazing on its own too. 

This recipe was so amazing that I'm actually going to make it again this week, and I think I actually might succeed at getting (tricking) Tim to eat tofu! He is officially not afraid of kale anymore, and he likes red peppers, so I'm hoping if I jut call this "Stir Fry" and put it in front of him that he will be a happy camper. 

* Note,  I used chicken stock, but if I had used veggie this would be completely vegan, also it is gluten free! 

Friday 3/16/12: Fettucini with Shrimp and Bell Pepper

Friday evening, I threw together a quick dinner that turned out pretty great. I had a red bell pepper leftover from the stir fry, and some frozen shrimp leftover from last week's scampi, so I sauteed them up with some garlic and spring onion, and then tossed them with fresh fettucini noodles, some lemon infused olive oil, and fresh parm. It doesn't look that special in this photo, but it was pretty delish.

Weekly wrap-up 3/4/12- 3/10/12

Monday 3/5/12: Whole Wheat Pasta with Anchovy-Walnut Sauce

See, no anchovies in site.

I know a lot of people are utterly afraid of anchovies, and I honestly don't know why. Nothing is tastier than the oily salty yumminess that anchovies offer (though as a kid I had sardines as an afternoon snack, so perhaps I'm biased). Anyway, in this recipe, like most that include the feared fishy, you would never even know it contained something so "yucky" because it just melts down and adds lovely depth of flavor. However, it also adds an insane amount of saltiness, so beware! In fact, I might not even salt the pasta water if I made this again...



Wednesday 3/7/12: Barbecue Turkey Meatloaf

For Wednesday night dinner, I made a barbecue  turkey meatloaf that included homemade barbecue sauce (ketchup + vinegar + dijon + brown sugar + cayenne+ onion + garlic+ cumin) along with some other yummy stuff like parsley and oatmeal (to keep it nice and moist). The end result was pretty yummy but it looks gross. So, I'm not showing a photo. Oh, also I forgot to take a photo, so that is also part of the reason. Tim gobbled this down and claimed dibs on all of the leftovers too, so I guess it was a winner winner turkey meatloaf dinner!


Thursday 3/8/12: Spiced Quinoa

yum yum yummy

This recipe was recommended to me by my good friend Jamie last year when I was collecting heart healthy recipes for my friend Rachel. I was just searching through my pantry the other night and realized I happened to have all of the ingredients (except for pine nuts, darn) on hand, so I decided to try it. It was pretty good -- though if I were to make it again, I would increase the quinoa to chickpea/raisin ratio, and I would also add more spices, and maybe some fresh cilantro. The flavors were good, but I like to be really hit in the face with curry. I ate the leftovers cold as lunch a few days later and they were spectacular. So, next time I make this, I will probably serve it cold as a salad or side as well... It's a nice mix of sweet and savory and spicy, and  has amazing textures too. I bet it would be even more awesome with the pine nuts for some crunch



Saturday 3/10/12: (vegan) Cinnamon Cupcakes with (not vegan) Brown Sugar Butter Cream

cupcake art?

It was my turn for dessert on vampire night, and I decided to make cupcakes. For some reason cupcakes seemed like a big task. Even though they are somewhat plain in flavor, design, etc., the process seeemed so tedious! Plus, I have to follow recipes. What a drag. I much prefer chopping up fruit, throwing it in a crust, and just seeing what happens. Anyway, I was inspired by one of my favorite blogs (love and olive oil) to try out vegan baking. I was pleasantly surprised! The cupcakes had a great light and fluffy texture. They weren't too sweet either, which was nice. I didn't love the flavor of the butter cream, but I think it wasn't anything wrong with the recipe, it just tasted like my butter was old (it wasn't, so that was curious). I sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top to disguise the flavor and it ended up fine.

Weekly wrap up: 2/26 - 3/3

The past several weeks I have been spending what seems like every waking minute working on my prospectus. And while this leaves little time for writing blog entries (despite my New Year's Resolution to increase all types of writing activity), I did take time to cook a few times and snap some quick photos. Here are all the yummies from the last week!

Sunday Brunch for 1: Rum Raisin, Cinnamon Swirled Baked Oatmeal. Sunday morning I was really craving something slightly sweet. Because making pancakes (from scratch) for one is quite difficult, I turned this yummy looking pancake recipe into a baked oatmeal recipe! So, I soaked the raisins in rum, and added them to my standard baked oatmeal (1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup 1% milk, one egg) and then swirled in a mixture of cinnamon, raw sugar, and about a 1/2 teaspoon of water (to make it into a paste). I baked it at 350 for 20 minutes and then devoured it in 20 seconds. Oh-- I poured more milk on it before I ate it too, because I was feeling extra indulgent.

Sunday dinner: (Leftover) Fontina polenta with mushroom saute. For "vampire night" this week, I was on dinner duty. I went to my go-to source for a great meal, the December 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine. This sounds really odd, but this magazine has given me more "winners" of recipes than most cook books I own! For a $2.95 price tag, that is not half bad. This recipe was no exception. It came together really quickly and was absolutely delicious. The leftovers weren't half bad either! I just changed a few things with the recipe-- for one, I used fontina cheese instead of fontal. Also, I used chicken stock instead of veggie, and my mushrooms were a blend of shitake and white button. Finally, I skipped the whole "put the polenta in the broiler" step and just ate it straight from the pot. And you know what? I got no complaints. 

Wednesday dinner: (sideways?) Cauliflower and Kale pasta bake and my go-to spinach salad. Wednesday I tried a recipe that I have on Pinterest. Well, I didn't so much follow the recipe as I did say "oh cauliflower and kale sound good" and made it up as I went along. I don't really know what I did here, but I know it was just okay. The star of the meal was my go-to salad. Some type of green (spinach in this case) + poppyseed dressing + a tangy cheese (gorgonzola) + a bit of bite from an onion (shallot) + some nut or seed (walnut) + dried or fresh fruit (crasin) = instant salad success! Especially when the greens are tossed in the dressing and the toppings are added later. Fool proof! 

Friday dinner for two: Kale Caesar Salad and Shrimp Scampi Rice Pilaf. Last week while working on my prospectus over at Tim's, I caught a recorded episode of Symon's Suppers (yes, my boyfriend DVR's cooking shows for me-- that is why he's wonderful!), and was inspired by the one and only Michael Symon to make a Caesar salad with kale instead of romaine. I didn't follow his recipe, but it was still super delicious. To make the dressing, I combined a grated garlic clove, the zest and juice of one lemon, an anchovy, some black pepper, parmesan cheese, and then slowly whisked in olive oil. I then tossed the kale leaves in the dressing and let it sit for close to an hour (while most salads would be ruined from sitting in dressing, the kale gets better as the acid slowly "cooks" it) and topped it with some thinly sliced shallots and tomatoes. YUM. 

Cooking dinner for Tim and I during lent is always nice because it lets me stretch my seafood legs a bit. Last Friday I made shrimp scampi rice, which is based off of a dish my mom made probably twice a month when I was growing up. It couldn't be easier, and it's sooo delicious. Basically, I melted about two TBSP of butter with another TBSP of olive oil (this was for four servings, so not much in each) and then sauteed some grated garlic, red pepper flakes, and scallions. Meanwhile I cooked up a pot of brown rice (if it was minute rice I would have just made it in the same pot as the yummy butter mixture, but it was the regular old "cook it for 30 minutes" kind instead). Just before the rice was done, I threw the shrimp in to steam up and then tossed in the yummy sauce. Last but not least, I topped it with the zest of a lemon (Tim proceeded to pick out every little piece of lemon, so next time I'll skip that step) and some more fresh scallions and finely minced parsley. So easy and delish! 

Saturday night dinner: Pantry Pasta (aka black squid ink fettucine with artichoke hearts, sundried tomato, spinach, and parmesan). Sometimes I just don't feel like grocery shopping. This is rare, since any food market is basically my heaven. But, Saturday was one of those "I can't bare putting on shoes, let alone real pants" kinds of evenings, so I had to go shopping in my pantry instead! I had half a package of black fettucine left from Valentine's day, so I put on a pot of boiling water, and meanwhile made a quick sauce of chopped canned artichoke hearts, the last couple sundried tomatoes out of a package, and half a bag of spinach (along with garlic, EVOO, red pepper, parm, and that sort of stuff). Tossed it all together and YUM. Not the worst pantry pasta I've ever had. 

So, that's what I cooked last week! I'm hoping for some equally delicious meals this week! Maybe some even inspired by the spring weather we will be having??

Eating my way through San Diego

A few weeks ago, I was at a conference in San Diego. And by "at a conference", I mean, "there was a conference?". San Diego was so incredible that I never wanted to leave. The weather was perfect (75 degrees and sunny), the people were friendly, and the food-- Oh my gosh, the food. We basically had to adapt to a "four meals a day" schedule so we could eat more. The seafood was especially amazing, and it has ruined me as a chef for the last few weeks-- all I want to eat is fresh sushi and seared ahi tuna, and tacos made with fish caught this morning.... Nothing available in February in Iowa can cut it.

So, let's go on my food tour of San Diego! 

Stop 1: Cafe 222

After escaping a particularly awful session at the conference, my friend Abby and I went out in search for lunch. Thanks to my smart phone, we realized that we were only steps from a cute looking cafe called Cafe 222. The second we sat down (on their sunny patio!) and looked at the menu, our plan for lunch switched to a plan for a very late breakfast. 

Orange Pecan Pancakes

Oh. My. Gosh. There really aren't words to describe what this amazing little cafe has to offer. If you are a Food Network junkie like I am, then you have probably seen The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Well, as it turns out, Cafe 222 is home of the best breakfast Bobby Flay ever ate! Do you realize what this means? Bobby Flay ate at the same restaurant I did! <insert nerd dance here>

Bobby's favorite dish was the peanut butter and banana stuffed french toast, which Abby ordered. I opted for the orange pecan pancakes. Both were so amazing that we didn't say much during the meal other than "augh, ithsoooooo goooood" (pardon the lisp, my mouth was full). Abby actually took our other friend Elaine back the next day for more-- that time they ordered the pumpkin waffles, and the oatmeal, and our other friends tried the banana bread french toast (BANANA BREAD FRENCH TOAST??? WHY DIDN'T I ORDER THAT?)  I would go back to San Diego just to eat here again (like, every day), and they also have given me many ideas for a good meal to try at home!

Stop 2: The Hopping Pig 

While exploring a run-in with a homeless woman who claimed to be named Janet Hitler and threatened to kill all of us, a few friends and I decided we needed a drink to celebrate our survival. Luckily,  the Gas Lamp district which is full of fantastic bars and restaurants. We chose which pub to try based on two key features: 1) sunniness of patio and 2) silliness of the name. The Hopping Pig was the big winner (though the Tipsy Crow was a close runner-up, and we are still mad we didn't go back). 

Sadly, we didn't eat at the Pig, even though the menu looked amazing (local, organic vegetables; gourmet burgers; sweet potato fries), but we did have some fantastic beverages.  Their entire beer menu was all local beers from California, most of which aren't available in the Midwest, so we were almost forced to try something new. . Since it felt like summer outside, I was in the mood for something light and fresh, and I began my vacation love affair with pear cider. 

I can't seem to find the pear cider on their menu now, but I know it was California brewed. It was a little on the sweet side, but who doesn't want a little sweet on a beautiful summer January day? 

Stop 3: RA sushi

The great thing about having your mind in Iowa and your body on the west coast, means you are hungry for dinner at about 4 in the afternoon. While that may not sound like a good thing at first, when you consider the fact that 4 pm is happy hour pretty much everywhere, it turns into a great thing. At RA sushi, we found that not only were their drinks (which weren't too tasty as it turns out) on specials, but so were all of their appetizers and sushi rolls. So, we proceeded to eat more sushi than I have ever seen. I'm not kidding. I had to unbutton my pants mid-meal, and was rocking a "sushi baby" for the rest of the night. But let me tell you, it was worth it! 

For an appetizer, I split some veggie tempura with Abby. This included sweet potato, asparagus, Japanese egg plant, and (our favorite!) Japanese pumpkin. 

For the meal, I had the Rainbow Roll (on the left) and the California Roll. The rainbow roll was incredible. The fish and avocado were not only inside the roll but on the top (as you can see in the photo). It was some of the best tasting sushi I have ever had. I am regretting not getting something more adventurous than the California Roll, but I figured I was in Cali, so why not try it out? It was still delicious, but I felt less bad about leaving a few pieces on the plate at the end of the meal. 

Other big winners of the evening were the Pacific Roll which came with a fresh mango salsa on top and the Viva Las Vegas Roll which was DEEP FRIED and piled high with fresh jumbo crab meat. I am kicking myself for not taking a photo of it, because it was truly unlike anything I'd ever seen. 

Stop 4: Yard House

We actually went to Yard House twice across our five day trip.. and while this began as an accident (I was just looking for a place to accommodate 14 of us for an Iowa psych reunion), when I realized the restaurant I was booking was the same place we'd had drinks the night before, I was totally okay with it.  

For one thing, they have more beers on tap than I have EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. It was amazing. Continuing with my "it's summer!" theme, I tried their house honey blonde, and another pear cider, this one made by Wyder's out of England. This cider was amazing. It was almost as clear as water, and had strong, crisp pear flavor without being over sweet. 

This is only one side of the bar-- the taps wrap around. Not kidding.

For another thing, the food was outrageously good. They had enough options on the menu to accommodate all 14 in our party including multiple vegetarians. I had the Ahi Crunchy Salad and I have been day dreaming about it ever since. Basically, it was a bed of greens mixed with a crunchy slaw in a soy vinaigrette, surrounded by perfectly seared rare ahi tuna. While I know I can't get the same quality of tuna here in Iowa, I still want to try to re-create this perfect salad. 

Hello, gorgeous.

Finally-- I cannot say enough about the service at Yard House. Both nights we were there, every aspect of our experience was perfect. Without a reservation, we got a table for 14 people in only 20 minutes, everyone was friendly and accommodating, and our waiter Matt managed to give us all individual checks without a single mistake. I know that Yard House is a chain, so my new goal for the future is to get a job somewhere they have a restaurant-- it looks like they are expanding to a lot of big cities (including Chicagoland and Atlanta...) so worst case, I will just have to stop by when I'm in town.



Stop 5: The San Diego Zoo


Okay, so we didn't actually eat anything at the zoo, but we did see this ADORABLE panda eating some lunch, so I just had to include the photo.

The zoo was incredible- not only did we see pandas, but we saw Elephants getting pedicures. Like for real... apparently preventative foot care is important for them since they weigh so much and spend so much time on their feet. I guess it makes complete sense, but it was just super funny to me when I saw it happen. Other favorites were the meercats, the skinny polar bears, and the red panda (who we also visited right at lunch time!)


Stop 6: Karl Strauss Brewery

After the zoo, we were tired and exhausted and made it to Karl Strauss Brewery just in time for happy hour! (And just in time to avoid an "I'm hungry" meltdown on my part). We each ordered one of their appetizers (half price for happy hour what what), and basically went to town. Everything that was put in front of us was absolutely amazing. I'm angry at myself for only taking photos of a few of the items.

They had two types of sweet potato fries on the menu. I ordered the chili lime fries (pictured at left) which were the perfect mix of sweet and savory and spicy. I thought they were the greatest things I'd ever tasted, until I tried Abby's "stinky" sweet potato fries which were tossed with gorgonzola cheese. Sweet jebus, those things were amazing!




Aaron had luck with some BBQ (the sauce was made with their Red Trolley Ale) chicken wings, and Mandy got the greatest hummus I've ever tasted. The hummus itself was had a spicy kick from some roasted jalapeno, and the fresh taste of cilantro, and there were finely chopped kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, and chopped almonds on the side. Even without the unique and fantastic taste of the jalapeno cilantro hummus, I loved the idea of serving it with these extra little toppings. Each bite was different and special -- I can't wait to try to re-create this at home! Our final appetizer of the day was Elaine's spinach artichoke dip. While almost all spin-dip is amazing, this one was special because of the fresh Cali artichokes and oven roasted tomatoes. I'm kicking myself for not ordering grilled artichokes at some point while in San Diego, because it was on the menu almost everywhere we went. I love making a healthified version of artichoke dip at home, and someday I might get crazy and try it with fresh chokes instead of canned. It really made all the difference in this delicious dip!

You are probably thinking-- wait, you went to a brewery and only ordered food? Don't worry, my friends. I couldn't resist sampling one or two of the amazing beers they offered. My favorite (pictured above) was the Woodie Gold. It was light and smooth and rich in flavor and accompanied our smorgasbord of appetizers perfectly. Others sampled their Red Trolley Ale (which sounded amazing) and their Hefeweissen (which did not sound amazing to me because I think that Hefeweissens taste like ear wax... don't ask). I wish I could have figured out how to bring a growler of their beer on the plane back with me-- I think that would have been the perfect souvenir from my trip! Oh well, I guess I will just have to go back to San Diego for more!



Stop 7: Ocean Beach

The last day we were in San Diego, I realized I hadn't seen the ocean yet, and that was just NOT okay. So, Abby, Mandy, and I hopped in a cab and headed to Ocean Beach (even though the bell hop at the hotel whose passion was surfing told us that Mission Beach would be "funner, dude"). I'm sure glad we ended up where we did because we had a picture perfect afternoon.

 The beach itself was gorgeous. I mean, it's hard to get a bad view of crashing waves, the vast blue of the ocean, and a slowly setting sun, but it was truly gorgeous.

We spent about an hour walking through the sand, occasionally getting too close to the shore and getting surprised by a big (and FREEZING cold) wave.

I would have been content people watching for hours, but we (I) got scared away by a giant flock of seagulls that was chasing a little girl holding a sandwich. It was equal parts hilarious and terrifying. To avoid the birds and get a better view of the couple dozen surfers, we walked out along the long pier (see photo). From there, we realized that there are tide pools on the other side of the pier so now we *have* to go back so we can explore! We also managed to plan our walk along the beach and out on the pier perfectly so we got to watch the gorgeous setting sun over the waves.




No stop in San Diego would be complete without a meal. I think we called this "lunch", but it was at 4 pm, and probably the fourth meal of the day... but with food this good, who is counting?? Honestly, I don't even know the name of the restaurant we stopped at (though I suppose I could spend a little quality time with google maps and figure it out). I just know we couldn't get in to the burger stand that was featured on the food network because the line wrapped around the corner, so when we saw a sign that said "fish tacos" and "margaritas" just across the street, we jumped at the chance!

I made this picture as big as possible so the tacos look life size and I can pretend to eat them again.

I had a mahi mahi taco and a lobster taco, and I feel like all other fish tacos will be ruined for me for the rest of my life. The fish was so fresh and perfectly prepared that it just flaked apart. The pico de gallo was fresh and light and citrus-y, and I could have probably eaten about five more of these babies and still not been satisfied! I was also excited that Mandy-- who does not like fish-- both ate and LOVED a lobster taco. Abby and I definitely felt like we were a positive influence in Mandy's culinary life! I have yet to figure out how to recreate these fish tacos at home, mostly because I don't know how to possibly get fish that fresh and delicious here in the Midwest. 

And that wraps up my culinary tour of San Diego! I'm hungry (well, and full) just thinking about every one of my stops. Now I can't wait to do some cooking of my own to bring back some sunny California feeling to my life! 

2011 wrap up-- Tailgating

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than getting up before dawn and hanging out outside? This football season, Tim and I hosted a tailgate before every Iowa home game. We had plenty of beer, blankets for the cold mornings, and fun with games (bags anyone?) and I always tried to make the menu exciting. Here is a round-up of some of the better offerings. 

on the left-- scrambling eggs for our grilled breakfast wraps (toasting up on the right)

sausage patties! 

Tim and Will discussing strategy

"Ahh, this is the life.... right?" -- Tim

Davey and Zach at their first tailgate! 

Peach and Honey Baked Oatmeal

In an attempt to stop procrastinating and start 2012 fresh (both in blog world, and in the real world), I have decided to just skip writing posts about all of the dishes I made the last several months, and instead just post some year-end roundup photos.... One exception to this fast-track blogging has to be the peach baked oatmeal that I made this fall with the last round of fresh peaches available at the store.

I am fairly obsessed with baked oatmeal. Since discovering it about a year ago, I have made it at least twice a month. My best varieties always include fresh fruit and this peach version was just to die for. It was so good that I'm tempted to see if canned or frozen peaches could even come close to emulating the amazing flavor of summer in this bowl.

Peach Baked Oatmeal: 

- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup (I use 1% milk)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 peach, diced
- sweetener of choice (I used about 1.5 TBSP of honey)
- butter for pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter pan-- I use a mini pie dish, but two smaller ramekins could also work. Whisk together egg and milk and combine with oatmeal. Sprinkle in nutmeg, peaches, and drizzle sweetener over the top. Bake for for 20-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the insides are ooey gooey. Serves 2 (but really 1, because I eat the whole thing every time).