Veggie Fried Rice

I went to the Farmer's Market, picked up what looked really fresh and threw it into a veggie fried rice. I've been a huge blog slacker so I've had these pictures on my camera, but no other record of how I actually cooked it. I looked up a couple of fried rice recipes and just kind of threw them all together. So this is what it is. There's an egg, green beans, bell peppers, onions, rice, and a few asian seasonings/sauces that I have hanging around. I love that I'm feeling comfortable enough in the kitchen to just wing it sometimes.

Spicy Cucumber Salad with Peanuts

I love this salad. And fresh cucumber from the Farmer's Market is perfect for this recipe. The sugar draws out the water from the cucumbers so they are especially crisp. It's the perfect blend of sweet and spicy.

1.5 lbs cucumber peeled and halved lengthwise and sliced thick
1/2 c. rice vinegar
1/2 c. water
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons red onion, minced
1 tablespoon dry roasted peanuts.

Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook until reduced to about 1/3 c. (about 10 minutes). Remove vinegar reductions from heat; cool. Stir in onion.. Combine cucumbers and vinegar reduction in a medium bowl; toss well. Sprinkle with peanuts.

Turkey and Oat Burgers

I found this recipe in my mom's collection...thought I'd try it out. It was good. We liked it.

 

1 c. regular oats

1 c. vidalia onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 large egg white, lightly beaten

1 can tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 1/2 lbs turkey

6 Onion Sandwich buns (you can see I didn't use those...we had other buns leftover)

cheese if you like

sliced tomatoes

lettuce leaves

Combine first 7 ingredients. Divide mixtures into 6 portions, shaping each into a 1/2 inch thick patty. 

Heat a grill or grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium high heat. Add patties; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Place the burgers in the patties with the toppings you would like!

Irma's

My last Houston restaurant review for awhile...promise.

For my dad's birthday, my mom and I accompanied him to an Astros game. In my mind, baseball games = hotdogs. For some reason, after I went to college, my parents and my brother always went to this restaurant before the games.  Maybe because my mom actually started going to games and she didn't want hotdogs. Either way, somehow I had missed out on this place completely until July 23rd. Perfect tex-mex. There is no written menu; the waitress just lets you know what's up for the day. Also, their peach lemonade is 200% worth the calories.

Incredible lentil soup. I practically licked the bowl clean.

Sorry for the very blurry picture.

Steak and Chicken Fajitas...mmmmmmm

Anyways, I now have a new Astros game food tradition...Irma's. All other baseball games, I'll still stick to hotdogs.

Adventures with Dragon Fruit

My mom and I happened upon a dragon fruit while we were in Hawaii. We were intrigued so we purchased one and took it back to our condo. It sat on our counter for a few days while we thought about eating it. We weren't really sure how to cut or eat it so we found a few videos on youtube explaining the process. This is the story.

Our review of dragon fruit: a very mild fruit but tasty. it's even more fun to look at though!

Taste of Texas

When Aaron and I went to the Mousetrap, my parents gave us a giftcard they hadn't used for the Taste of Texas. My only memory of the Taste of Texas was in the 4th grade. In Texas, we have Texas history classes in the 4th grade and 7th grade. As part of the curriculum we went on a field trip to the Taste of Texas. They talk about some Texas history and some of the artifacts on the walls representative of it. As a foodie at the age of 9, the tour guide promised us buffalo tongue. Now that sounds kind of gross, but afterwards they gave us chicken fingers and coke, which i think may be even more gross. So I had bad memories, but I went anyway.

Then, when taking our order, our waiter told us we could pick out our cut of meat. So for about 10 minutes I had visions of a legit meat locker with cows hanging from the ceiling. I was wrong; it was like a deli counter. Oh well; it was still a good experience. We both got a tenderloin and it was tasty!

I will say one thing though...vegetables are not their specialty. Grilled vegetables=boiled with grill marks.

Empire Cafe

My FAVORITE place for dessert in Houston. hands down. My mom and I went here after a long day of shopping for my new and improved internship wardrobe. The food is always fabulous and the dessert is even better.

a tasty pizza...

grilled vegetables...nothing better...

and the fabulous hummingbird cake...

Blueberry Streusel Cake

I was obsessed with blueberries this summer. My mom would buy the big clamshells at Sam's Club while I was in Texas and I was in heaven. We had a plethora of blueberries so I made this blueberry streusel cake. It is such a delicious recipe and the lemon yogurt on top really rounds it all out.

3/4 c. sugar, divided
1/4 c. margarine, softened
1 tsp lemon rind, grated
1 large egg
1/2 c. plain nonfat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
2 c. fresh blueberries
1 tbsp powdered sugar
2 1/2 c. low far lemon yogurt

1. Combine 1/2 sugar, margarine, lemon rind, and egg; beat at medium speed with electric mixer 5 minute or until blended.

2. Combine plain yogurt and vanilla, stirring well. Set aside.

3. Combine 1 1/2 c. flour and 1/2 tsp baking soda; add to egg mixture alternately with yogurt mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.

4. Spread batter evenly over bottom and up sides of a 9 inch round tart pan coated with cooking spray.

5. Combine remaining 1/4 c. sugar, 1 tbsp flour, cinnamon, and allspice; add blueberries, tossing gently to coat. Spoon evenly over batter, leaving a 1/2 inch border.

6. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned; cool in pan on a wire rack 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar; serve with lemon yogurt.