FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

First Weekender

by

When I was driving down 6th Street one evening last week I spotted the cutest little spot with the cutest little name: Walton’s Fancy & Staple.  Later in the week I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was called, but when I described it to my Austin foodie friend, he knew exactly which place I was talking about.  It’s that cute.

Also last week, my friend Nathan that lives in Dallas asked me if I was ready for my first visitor.  My response was somewhere along the lines of “umm heck yeah!”.  I’ve been dying to dive into the Austin restaurant scene (for all 8 days I’ve been here) and knew that eating my way around town with Nathan all weekend would be the perfect kick-off to this new life of mine.

First stop?  Walton’s!

Nathan started with a carrot cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting and darling little veggie art.

I’m not too fond breakfast sweets, so I stuck with a bite of cupcake and a piping hot cafe au lait.  I typically take my coffee black, but something about this soggy, gray morning called for froth.

Just as the last of the cupcake crumbs disappeared, our meals arrived.  Nathan’s plate was hearty bacon centric.  I mean, look at that stuff!  I hadn’t had bacon in ages, but reached over and broke myself off a piece.  Meat is going to happen for me at restaurants in the foreseeable future because, well, when in Rome?  There are too many amazing restaurants in this town to limit my living.

And for me?  Irish oats.  Although satisfying in the flavor department, both Nathan and I were a little disappointed that the oats were over-cooked.  I look forward to the chewy-ness of Irish oats and that was totally missing.  I pretended they were ordinary oats and kept on keepin’ on til the bottom of the bowl was staring back at me.

Now that we’re full-bellied, it’s time to get our shop on!

Breaking In The Stove

by

So…  If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the pictures of charred pajamas on Saturday.  The movers accidentally set a box and my new stovetop on fire.  Total disaster.  But my spirit refuses to be broken.  And after I cleaned up fire extinguisher dust and finished unpacking boxes, it really didn’t seem that bad.

In fact, it seemed like the perfect time to get back to it in the kitchen.  I decided to put one of the three working burners to use by making a veggieful omelet.

I sauteed asparagus, spinach, crushed red pepper, garlic, and a little butter until the veggies were fully cooked and then set them aside.  I poured two beaten eggs onto a well-greased pan, added the veggies to one side, topped with fresh mozzarella, and waited for the egg to cook all the way through.  When all signs of raw egg were gone, I folded the other half of the egg over the veggies and cheese.

The omelet seemed large enough for two at first, but it turns out it was just large enough for me.  After two weeks of sketchy bottom-of-the-freezer meals and take-out…  I can’t tell you how glorious eating this many greens for breakfast was.  It was also the perfect fuel for a the most errand-filled day ever.

Stuffed Breakfast

by

It’s tough to think about recipes after gorging yourself on Christmas goodies.  I woke up this morning feeling full and fluffy.  Too fluffy for restaurant breakfast and not full enough for a green smoothie.

I cut the crusts off of two pieces of sprouted sourdough bread and hunted around my fridge for stuffing ingredients.

Why hello there, peanut butter and jelly!

While a pan was warming up over medium heat, I dabbed about a tablespoon of each onto each piece of bread, slapped the two together, using a fork to seal the edges for a PB&J ravioli.  I set the little ravioli into an egg/water mixture (I usually use almond milk) until both sides had soaked up most of the mix.  I cooked each side until both were golden brown.

Even though this is a little more caloric than my normal breakfasts, it was definitely better than anything that would have happened had I met up with friends for my first meal of the day.  The warm and gooey peanut butter and jelly inside went so well with the crisp and dense french toast outside that neither butter nor syrup was needed.

Post-Run Breakfast

by

I’ve had this fruity, tofu breakfast idea in the back of my mind since my last trip to Rollin’ Oats where I bought the boat loads of frozen fruit they had on sale.

FoodFash Breakfast Pudding (2 servings)

1 – 12 ounce pack of silken tofu

1 cup frozen strawberries, partially thawed

1 cup frozen raspberries, partially thawed

2 tablespoons maple syrup

optional: 1/4 teaspoon salt

Pulverize all of the above ingredients in a blender and enjoy a 200 calorie, 8 grams of protein, 7 grams of fiber, smooth and fruity breakfast!