#17 & 18 / 52 Food Adventures: Salmon Shabu Shabu & Tasti D'lite

Salmon Shabu Shabu!

I can't even recall the last time I had Shabu Shabu but I know I've never had salmon, or any kind of fish for that matter.  I'm sure I must've had shabu shabu at some point.

I went to California Shabu Shabu in Costa Mesa (full post on Eating the Orange coming soon)

and this was absolutely heaven.

Some I cooked all the way thru, some cooked just lightly on the outside and then dipped in a garlic ponzu.

So delicious.

I also tried Tasti D'lite!  It's a huge east coast chain that is making it's debut on the west coast.

It's not ice cream because it doesn't have the milk fat and it's not frozen yogurt because it lacks the yogurt cultures.  All natural and completely delicious.  Think ice cream made with skim milk.

What have you tried lately?

#15 & 16 / 52 Food Adventures: Homemade Ranch & Parsnip Muffins

Playing catch up with our food adventures today.

We've done homemade ranch and parsnip muffins... although not together.

Actually I'm convinced that Peanut would eat anything with this dressing on it.

It gets to the point that he just wants the dressing and is sucking it off of his food.

I used THIS dressing by Baked Bree with a few adjustments.  I accidentally used cilantro instead of parsley.  I just grabbed it from our CSA and didn't pay much attention.  

Also, I suggest starting with half of the buttermilk.  I thought it was too thin and ended up adding more of everything else.  I used half the amount of dill and a bit more garlic.

This is all more because I didn't pay attention to my measurements.

So here's the verdict.  This dressing is absolutely fantabulous.  Everyone loved it.

I'll definitely be making it again.

BUT I'm willing to admit that nothing will ever compare to Hidden Valley.

This dressing is phenomenal and probably better than traditional ranch but nothing is really comparable to Hidden Valley.  This dressing is also much healthier than Hidden Valley so I feel much for comfortable drenching my food in it.

This week we tried Parsnip Muffins because it came as a suggestion from our CSA and I found Alton Brown's recipe.

Meh.

They seemed to waver between sweet and savory.  Sort of ambiguous.

I think we need to add either something like raisins or something like bacon.

Apple would be great too.

I think this has really great potential though and I plan on working out the kinks.

What have you tried lately?

#14 / 52 Food Adventures: Lemon & Lime Thyme

Is there anything better than fresh herbs?

The dried versions are not even comparable and I find I'm using more and more herbs in every day cooking.  Peanut loves flavor and we all love thyme.

I found these two different kinds of thyme at a farmers market...

Unfortunately the gorgeous variegated leaves of the lemon thyme did not survive me forgetting to water them for several days.

It's so sad.  I hate to kill plants and I despise wasting food so this really is a crime.

I've been cooking with them regularly but I've hardly taken any pictures lately.

Peanut likes thyme added into his scrambled egg and quiche and all 3 of us devoured this French Onion Chicken dish.  It's one of Peanuts favorite meals and the thyme really sings in it.

How sad is that lemon thyme?

Oh and there is a extremely noticeable difference in the smell of lemon and lime thyme.  The lime smells just like lime and the lemon smells like lemon balm and lemon grass.

The flavor difference in a dish is slight but it's there.

I'm gearing up to try thyme in ice cream and in the crust of my lemon bars.

What did you try this week?

#13 / 52 Food Adventures: Honey

At first you might not think that honey can be considered a food adventure.

Yes, I've had honey.  

In fact, I love honey.

It wasn't until I met this man that I realize I've never really tasted honey before.

The Bennett's Honey Farm has lots of different kinds of honey.

People pay them to bring out their bees and have them pollenate the crops.

The result is honey from a variety of different crops with a variety of different flavors.

They were kind enough to take me through a tasting of the different kinds of honey.

First off, you can see the difference in the honey colors, from the darkness of the Eucalyptus to the light cactus honey that looks as it's been whipped (it hasn't) and all the shades in between.

Tasting them next to each other, with the guidance of the honey expert I was really able to taste the differences in flavors.  The creaminess of avocado honey, the really full-flavored buckwheat, the mild sage honey, the slightly floral flavor of the orange.

I think I'm becoming a bit of a honey snob.

Adding to my love for their honey is the fact that the honey farm is 100% solar powered and all of their honey is raw and unfiltered preserving it's natural goodness.  The less processing the better.

In addition to honey over herbed goat cheese I also made these honey panna cotta's with berries.

Do you have any honey recipes for me?

What did you eat this week?

#12 / 52 Food Adventures: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Bailey's Frosting

For St. Paddy's Day my mom made this super fantastic, totally awesome, delicious cupcakes.

I ate two spoons of just the batter.

It was sooooo thick and delicious and the chocolate stout flavor actually came through on it.

She used THIS recipe but substituted a frosting made of cream cheese, powdered sugar and Bailey's Irish Cream instead of the ganache.

These might have to be a St. Paddy's tradition.  They were full of chocolatey goodness but not too sweet.

My mom sent home a plate of about 10 for us to share with B's work.

Yeah, um, they never made it that far.

What did you try this week?

#11 / 52 Food Adventures: Swordfish Carpaccio

Last week my parents and I went to Canaletto Ristorante in Fashion Island 

and this was my favorite dish of the night.

House-cured Swordfish Carpaccio with sliced fresh artichokes and something crunchy and something green.

Our menu didn't give a full description and I forgot to ask the server.  

Actually, I was avoiding speaking to (or making eye contact with) the server.  He was quite the actor and I couldn't handle the overly animated "Italian" service.  

He was a nice guy, really, I just didn't have the energy. :)

I loved the flavor in this dish, I loved the swordfish and I loved the texture.

What did you try this week?

I believe next week will be dishes with lemon and/or lime thyme... 

that is if I don't kill my plants before then.  Any recipe suggestions?

#10 / 52 Food Adventures: Lobster Roll

This, my friends, was my very first lobster roll.

Although it may not seem such a food adventure for those of you on the East Coast,
I can honestly say that lobster rolls are hard to come by around here.

I was lucky enough to stumble on Wink's Lobster while at the Mission Viejo Farmers Market on Friday.

So.much.lobster.meat.

Apparently there are lots of ways to make a lobster roll but I'd like to declare that this is my absolute favorite.  Yes, I know it's the only one I've had but I can't imagine that it gets better than this.

Buttery toasted roll.  Loads of sweet lobstah meat.  Light seasoning.
Topped with lovely melted butter or mayo or both.
The answer should be both, by the way.

I'm sort of obsessed.
I think I might have to go back Friday.

Also, the owner Mr. Wink we'll call him because I can't remember if it was a first or last name, was super nice.  Originally from Maine he brought this lovely roll to Southern California just to make me happy.

Or something like that.

He just started up in October and I'm positive he'll have a booming business.
Wink's makes it way around OC and LA so check their Facebook page for a schedule or follow him on twitter @WinksLobster.

Also, Wink's gets bonus points for having pamphlets with fun lobster facts because I'm a nerd and I love things like this.  B likes them too because it means I read them to him when he's trying to do other things.

Did you know that lobster has less cholesterol, calories and saturated fat then skinless chicken breast?

Have you had a lobster roll?  How do you like yours made?

What did you try this week?

#9 / 52 Food Adventures: Food from The Playground

This weeks food adventure was all about trying a new twist on things I've already had.

We went to dinner at The Playground for our friend Courtney's birthday.

It is a food lover's playground for sure.

I'll be doing a full post later at Eating the Orange but I couldn't help sharing some of the fun here.

First up we had crispy broccolini with a calabrian chili vinaigrette.  I've never heard of calabrian chili but now that I've seen the name I'm starting to notice it around.  The vinaigrette had the perfect balance of zing, smokiness, spice and salt.

We also had the honey roasted scarlet turnips.  I never knew that turnips could be gobbled up like candy.

I'll be keeping my eye out for more scarlet turnips as a fun way to mix things up a bit.

The best fried chicken I've ever had in my life.

Apparently the chef/owner (who is a mere 25 years old) had this amazing chicken in New Orleans and came back home to re-create it.

It starts with a soak in Thomas Keller's brine, then gets dredged in a mixture of 3 parts Wondra, 1 part black pepper with a dash of cayenne and cinnamon.  Then it's tossed in a mixture of honey, red wine vinegar and Louisiana hot sauce.

It's not like any fried chicken I've ever tried and it's absolutely incredible.

This last dish is so simple.

Sumo tangerines (or any kind of tangerine) with good quality olive oil and sprinkled with maldon sea salt.

I'd never thought to season tangerines or oranges with olive oil and salt.

I'm not sure why as I love salads with citrus on top.

I'll be doing this again.

I can't wait to go back to The Playground for some more food fun.

#8 / 52 Food Adventures: Romanesco Cauliflower

We received Romanesco Cauliflower (or Romanesco Broccoli depending on where you get your info) in our last CSA box and we've never had it before.

It's quite stunning.

It was mostly that gorgeous lime green (the picture is a little light)

 with just a few bits of purple along the base.

We decided just to roast it with evoo, salt and pepper.

Oh my.

Sweet, tender, delicious.

It tastes like a cross between broccoli and cauliflower.

I'm crossing my fingers we get more!

It didn't even make it to the dinner table.

Peanut couldn't get enough of it.

Have you had Romanesco Cauliflower before and how do you prepare it?

What did you try this week?

#7 / 52 Food Adventures: Chocolate Cheddar Cheese

I'm running way behind on this weeks posts but I think you know why :)

I adore cheese.  I adore chocolate.  

I saw this at Trader Joe's and didn't hesitate to try it.

I was curious about the pairing with cheddar, a creamy brie seems more likely, 

but I really liked this.

The cheddar is strong, sharp and slightly creamy and the chocolate is dark and not too sweet.

I think it's a great conversation cheese and I really liked it.

B thought it was good but he'd rather eat a stinky blue cheese.

Peanut liked it.

He's saying cheeeeeese in this picture.

This is after his first day home with daddy.  They are both exhausted.

What is your absolute favorite cheese?

What did you try this week?

#6 / 52 Food Adventures: Creamy Avocado Pasta

 

Picture from Two Peas and their Pod

This wasn't originally what I was going to post today but the computer gods are working against me.

However, I am glad I decided to throw this together at the last minute.

This creamy avocado pasta doesn't have any cream or butter but uses avocado instead for the smooth consistency.

 

I made such a small batch I couldn't get it smooth and didn't bother trying to take a pretty picture but

the flavor was all there.

I did add parmesan cheese because I just looove cheese.

I'm going to play with variations of this for the Peanut.

I love avocado but I think this would work for people who don't love it like I do.

The combination of the avocado with lime and cilantro

make for a really refreshing spin on ordinary pasta.

This picture is just to make up for the ugly pasta picture I took :)

Thank you for the beanie Auntie Christina!

#5 / 52 Food Adventures: Bison

This weeks post will be short and sweet.

We went to True Food Kitchen (which I'll blog about at Eating the Orange on Thursday)

and as soon as I saw bison on the menu I knew I had to try it.

So, yeah, it tastes like beef.  

I thought the burger was tasty and the umami sauce on it was phenomenal but that's a different subject.

Bison has been described as sweeter or richer than beef but a burger is probably not the best way to really compare.  I did a quick internet search and found this info on the nutritional difference:

Ground bison and beef are high in protein (about 22g per serving) and in many vitamins (e.g. niacin, vitamins B-6, B-12 and A, iron, selenium, zinc and phosphorous). Both are also high in cholesterol. Bison burgers are far lower in fat than all but very lean ground beef burgers. Unlike nonorganic beef, bison are not exposed to antibiotics or growth hormones.

So really, although the flavor might not be much different the fact that it's healthier makes me a happy camper.

Peanut had a bite and he like it too.

He was more interested in eating our veggies and the "pish" from our fish tacos.

Have you ever tried bison?

What did you eat this week?

#4 / 52 Food Adventures: Veggie Chips

Although I never intended for this to be a challenge on cooking,

 we just haven't tried anything new at the restaurants we've been to.

We've been focusing on using all the gorgeous fruits and veggies from our CSA.

We've now decided that we're going to try and made everything into chips.

Kale chips, which aren't pictured, are very popular in our house.

Everyone likes them, even the Peanut.

Although, I'm pretty sure Peanut likes them because

 he thinks he's getting away with eating crunchy paper.

May I also say that I had to overcome my fear of the mandolin for this weeks adventure.

My mom broke out her fancy professional one and I concentrated hard on keeping all my fingertips and knuckles because, believe me, I've seen a lot of people lose both on this thing.

I tried beet chips and butternut squash chips and liked them both with a few adjustments.

The beet chips were really tasty.  I think I would just use a oil spray on the cookie sheet and then a light spray over top instead of tossing in oil.

The butternut squash recipe was a little hit and miss but that was mainly because I sliced all of my squash too thin.  I think next time I would do them thicker and maybe lower the temp a bit.

I thought I would try and get a pretty picture of my beet chips.

I took out all my bestest chips and stacked them up,
put a cutting board behind to eliminate all the background "noise"
and right as I picked up my camera it fell on my pretty posed chips.

WHACK!



Then I quickly brushed the crumbs into my hand and shoved them in my mouth.

What did you try this week?

#3 / 52 Food Adventures: Drink Your Greens

We've been getting this gorgeous spinach in our CSA box lately.

It's not like the baby spinach we would get at the store and it has a great sweetness to it.

I knew right away that I wanted to try some of the smoothies I've been seeing all over Pinterest.

I tried 3 different smoothies and although they get an A for flavor, 

the appearance is obviously lacking.

This first one came out a weird color because it's a blend of spinach, banana and strawberries.

Green Berry Blend

1 cup packed spinach

1 cup strawberries

1 banana

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup ice

Blend.

I really liked this and I've decided that you can't really taste the spinach at all.

Luckily Peanut will try anything, regardless of how it looks because my dad said my smoothie looked like something Shrek would drink.

Peanut seemed to like it just fine!

I'll be making this again.

Banana, Avocado, Strawberry Smoothie

2 medium bananas

1 small avocado

1 cup strawberries

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup ice

1 tbs honey or agave (optional)

Blend.

Taste your mixture and add the honey or agave if you need it.  

If your fruit is really sweet you might not.

I loved this one and Daniel seriously couldn't get enough of it.

If only I could get the boys to use a straw, this would all be so much easier.

Green Monster Spinach Smoothie was a fail that was entirely my fault because I lacked ingredients and it wasn't even blended enough resulting in weird chunks and pieces of leaves.

Chewing on your smoothie is weird.

If you try something new or come across some ideas, 

join the 52 Food Adventures Community Board on Pinterest!

Did you try anything new this week?

#2 / 52 Food Adventures: One Ingredient Ice Cream

I've been seeing this ice cream for years now.

Just one ingredient, can you believe it?

It's creamy and delicious and sweet.

It's just frozen bananas!

Of course, I had to try it 3 different ways and I already have a plan for more ways to try this.

~~~~

But first, let's talk Pinterest.

Let's be honest, half of us can't plan a party (or a dinner... or a present....or get through the day) without first consulting Pinterest.

The lovely LeAnna suggested I start a Pinterest Board for inspiration and then we thought- 

Hey!  Let's do a community board!

It's a place we can all pin fun ideas for our 52 Food Adventures and 

comment on recipes or ideas we've tried.  

Check out the 52 Food Adventures Community Board and let me know if you'd like to be a part of it- I'll send you an invite to the board!

By the way, stop by LeAnna's blog and see how her food adventure went this week  ~snicker~

So back to the one ingredient ice cream.

You freeze and then blend a banana.  Tada!

I loved it.  It's like a healthy eaters dream.  Don't even tell people that it's straight frozen banana.

Give it to your husband, your kids and your I'm allergic to everything friend.

For more detailed directions go here.  I found that it blended better in a food processor (I used a mini for just one banana) as the small amount bounced around in my blender.

But I think I'll make this again in a big batch.

It comes out like soft serve

 so if you want it to be more like regular ice cream I suggest freezing it again for another hour.

I've seen this all over Pinterest and so I decided to try adding peanut butter.  

I thought 2 tbs for one banana was way too much.

I also tried a chocolate version by adding cocoa powder.

2 tbs cocoa powder for every banana.

This was a big win for me.

Chocolate and banana.  Yes!

Peanut thought he was getting away with murder when I let him eat some.

I mean, you could sprinkle this with some crushed nuts and you have a deconstructed frozen banana!

As you can see, it was a big hit.

Other variations I've heard of are Nutella (but seriously, an open jar of Nutella around here would just be dangerous), honey or a splash of vanilla.

I've seen other things that would up the calorie content but seriously, 

start by trying the plain banana.  I think you'll be impressed. 

Now, if you'd like to link up, thanks to Alicia I'm trying out this new link tool, so click below and link up!

#1 / 52 Food Adventures: Golden Beets

We're starting off the year with an easy new item.

B and I both love beets and eat them fairly often but Peanut has been a bit beet deprived.

A few months ago I made him roasted beets and he liked them but man, do they make a mess!

Oh and did I mention that with the exception of the beets I made Peanut (once) we usually eat the canned kind?  I know, it's just that it was so much easier... until I found this trick to roasting and peeling the beets.

So I've been keeping an eye out for golden beets that Peanut could pick up with his hands without the fear of a red-stained baby.  

Are you ready for the great trick for peeling the beets?

Don't peel them until after you roast them and the skin slides right off.

For the red beets you can cover your hand with cling wrap or a sandwich bag to keep from staining your fingers.

Roasted Beets

2 medium beets, washed with the tops and tails cut off

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Place your beets in the middle of a sheet of foil and then fold the foil

over the top, folding and folding until it is secured down.

Fold the ends up until they meet the middle as well.

The goal here is to make sure it's airtight so the beets steam in their packets.

Roast for 45 minutes.

Allow the packet to cool a bit and open them carefully.

Cover your hand with a plastic bag, gloves or cling wrap and peel the skin off the beets,

cutting the top and bottom off if necessary.

Now they are ready to eat!

I cut them into chunks for Peanut to eat as a finger food, he ate quite a bit during dinner and I think I'll use it as a snack during the day.

A word about beet greens, eat them.

Prepare them the way you would spinach and you'll find they are tasty and actually much sweeter than spinach.  

Also, remove your greens as soon as possible as they actually suck up the sugars and water from your veggies.  If they sit for too long your beets will end up soft and without the same level of sweetness.

Here's the verdict on golden beets:  sweeter, milder and totally delicious.

Sometimes regular beets can taste a bit earthy, these are different and have an incredible sweetness to them.  We'll be getting more of these!

We can also add Blueberry Vanilla Goat Cheese to this weeks new foods.

I used it on a salad with the beets, romaine lettuce and a vinaigrette.

Although I liked it, the vanilla makes it feel a little out of place on a salad.

I think this would be great on it's own or as the package suggests, with fruit.

A tiny hint of vanilla and lots of dried blueberries and blueberry flavor.

Did you try anything new this week?

I know we're only a few days into the year so you have plenty of time to catch up  :)

Have you had golden beets before?

If you'd like to join the 52 Food Adventures Challenge you can read about it HERE or grab the button from the upper right side of the blog.