DFW AIrport Updates

The DFW airport is revamping Terminal A starting this fall. Here's what is opening over the next 2 years. I am most excited about Teavana (always looking for good tea when I travel), Salt Lick BBQ, Twisted Root, L'Occitane & Kiehl's....plus lots of new places that I look forward to trying.



http://www.dfwairport.com/redefine/newconcessions/index.php

Food Truck Party

Having lived in Dallas for most of my life, I don't have much experience with food trucks.  I did frequent a food truck on the UT Austin campus.  They had the best egg rolls I've ever had; they were huge, filled with lots of delicious meat & veggies, and could be considered a small lunch.  I later heard a rumor that the owners of the food cart were doing shady things, and supposedly the truck no longer exists.

The Dallas food trucks have hit the Dallas scene hard over the past year.  At the end of 2010, Greenhouse Truck paved the way for other food trucks by fighting with the city on various restrictions and finally made its debut as the first Dallas Food Truck (http://www.greenhousetruck.com/).  D Magazine/SideDish is now tracking 23 food trucks!

Picture courtesy of D Magazine/SideDish.

Since I work off Greenville Avenue, I noticed Nammi and Ssahm BBQ parking their trucks on Wednesdays in Sigel's parking lot and then I saw advertisements for a Food Truck gathering the last Friday for all of December at the new Park Lane development.  Now, I just had to round up a few adventurous coworkers to try something new for lunch.

Jack's ChowHound Menu (subject to change)

We knew we'd be getting cupcakes from Trailercakes...but first we had to decide on our lunch.  We walked up & down and perused the various menus.  We had made our decision: 2 of us headed to Jack's ChowHound to try the Pulled Pork Grilled Cheese served on TX Toast with BBQ sauce & smoked Gouda cheese (how could you even screw this up?).  It tasted as great as it sounds.  The meat was tender and the cheese was rich and gooey.  However, we were a bit disappointed with their french fries.

The Tourist - Trailercakes

My remaining coworker headed over to Ruthie's to try a traditional Grilled Cheese.  Ruthie's offers a selection of different Artisan Breads (i.e. SF Style Sourdough or Jalapeno Cheese), Fine Cheese, Meats and Toppings (i.e. caramelized onions or grilled tomatoes) to create your custom grilled cheese sandwich.  She enjoyed her sandwich as well.  

The cupcakes from Trailercakes were delicious as well.  I ordered The Tourist which was a Vanilla Cupcake with Nutella Buttercream frosting.

Fall is here!

Well, it has been a year since my last post.  You could say that I've been slacking as it pertains to blogging.  We welcomed our baby girl, Madison Taylor Blanchard, into the world on January 20, 2011; she is now 8 months old.

Toward the end of my pregnancy, I just didn't have the energy to cook a lot and trying new recipes was more exhausting then fun.

Once Madison arrived, we would just eat whatever was fast & easy (or whatever food friends/family brought over).  It took a few months, but we are back in our groove and enjoying cooking, trying new restaurants, reading food blogs & experimenting with new recipes.

Additionally, my hubby & I found out about 5 months ago that he has high cholesterol.  Since we are both young, we typically just ate whatever sounded good.  We weren't necessarily unhealthy eaters as we both like fruits & veggies, but we both agreed it was time to make some changes.

We cut red meat out of our diet (except for special occasions or a family get together), switched from white breads & rices to whole grains and upped our fruits & veggies.  We also replaced processed turkey meat & 100 calorie chips for lunch with carrots & hummus, veggie sandwiches or extra fruit.

My husband had a new blood test a little over a week ago.  With our new diet & his dedication to exercising, he lowered his cholesterol 100 points into the "ideal" range.  As an added bonus, he has lost nearly 30 pounds!  We have 1-2 splurge meals on the weekends, but 90% of the time, we are watching what we eat.

Looking forward to blogging again about healthy cooking and of course some delicious splurges & recipes.

My blog

Just wanted to invite my friends & family to view my blog!

Baking is HARD!

I am not a baker; that has been proven! But the idea of baking sure sounds nice. The house smelling of fresh bread & sweet treats. Always having freshly baked cookies or a piece of pie if your mother-in-law or next-door neighbor stops by (see cute snowmen picture!). Martha Stewart makes it look so easy! Her cookie lady is a cookie gangster (*more on the cookie gangster to come...)!

I tried to make a Pecan tart at Thanksgiving, and the crust had little holes in it, so the filling went through the crust....filling was everywhere. It tasted ok, but was not pretty!

I made sugar cookies from scratch this Christmas holiday...the dough alone takes forever! Chill the disks for 2 years (typo, but I'm choosing to leave it)...roll out, chill another hour, cut shapes, chill 30 minutes, preheat oven, bake! Geez!! I tried doing this on a Saturday when we had people coming over so I had to stop- midway through, and needless to say it took me two days just to get the two batches of dough completely cut out & baked into sugar cookie trees & snowmen! And don't even think about those intricate cookie cutter shapes- Rudolph will lose all of his antelers, legs & tail by the time I am done with him.

Then for the icing... I read online about how to make royal icing from scratch. I bought the piping tips, the meringue egg whites and the sprinkles, and for some reason my cookies are still sitting in tupperware unfrosted. Part of this can be blamed on the fact that I have been sick, and don't want to get others sick by icing cookies while I am ill, or it could also be the fact that it's a huge pain in the butt!

*Cookie gangster: Martha's cookie b*tch made these snow globe cookies and thinks we can too. She's crazy!

A few weeks ago, I did make a banana bread loaf with some leftover bananas that I didn't completely F up!

It didn't have to chill for 3 hours, didn't involve pie crust or cookie cutters, and we ate every last bite. You can basically just dump all the ingredients into a kitchenaid mixer, hit the magic button & throw it in a loaf pan. 45 minutes later- banana bread!

Just so I know that I'm not the only "BakeTard" in the world, here are some pics from CakeWrecks' blog, which makes me

laugh!

Reindeer poop cake anyone?

Or maybe a Christmas elf to take home for the kiddos?

New Breakfast Ideas

I have pushed the bagels & english muffins aside, and have found 2 quick, grab on-the-go breakfast ideas that I take to work & eat at my desk. I love them because they are full of protein, low in fat & calories, and keep my full. Also, for the laziness factor, I don't have to toast a bagel, or do anything but grab a spoon!

I have always loved yogurt for breakfast as well as cottage cheese. Here are my two finds that are so delicious:

1. Greek Yogurt, specifically Voskos


Greek yogurt is thick & creamy and certain varieties contain up to 24g of protein! That is like eating a chicken breast for breakfast...lol. Really, no stirring required here.

The wild strawberry (5.3 oz serving) contains 120 calories, 13g protein, 13g sugar (some of yoplaits contain up to 27g of sugar). Gluten free, etc.

Yoplait light yogurt (6 oz serving) contains 100 calories, 5g protein, & I believe sucralose (fake sugar, which gives me headaches).

All of the ingredients on the Voskos label are pretty self-explanatory. Although the calorie count is a bit higher (20 calories), I don't really care!

Other Voskos flavors include: greek honey, wild blueberry, honey vanilla bean, & exotic fig.

Another good brand of Greek Yogurt is Fage (pronounced Fa-Yeh). However, this yogurt is super thick! I buy this yogurt in the non-fat or low-fat version in the larger container, and use it in anything, that I'd use sour cream in (i.e. black bean soup), or make a quick salad dressing with it. Just google, "Ways to use Greek Yogurt," and you'll be surprised what comes up!

2. Rachel's Cottage Cheese, Cucumber Dill flavor (but they have lots of fun flavors)



This cottage cheese is creamy which was a surprise to me - the good stuff is at the bottom, so you will need to stir. The cumumber & dill is light & pretty addicting. The nutritional value for cottage cheese (1 prepackage container) is awesome- 110 calories, 2g fat, 5g sugar, 14g protein, 20% calcium. I read that cottage cheese is actually a very good bedtime snack too - due to the casein protein that is slowly absorbed into the blood stream (takes about 7 hours)! Good for building muscles too.

Other flavors of Rachel's include: Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Roasted Red Pepper, Pear Mangosteen, Pomegrante Orange Cranberry, & Lemon Verbena Berry.

Super Foods

Working on eating healthier- bought the book "Eat This, Not That" by David Zinczenko, and it is a pretty great book. Has very useful information.

Working on eating some of the Super Foods or Power 12:

1. Almonds & Other nuts
Super Powers: Builds muscle, curbs cravings, Protein, vitamins, fiber, etc

2. Beans & Other Legumes
Super Powers: Builds muscle, burns fat, aids digestion, high fiber & protein, fights against disease

3. Spinach & Other green veggies
Super Powers: Neutralizing free radicals (molecules that increase the aging process), vitamins, fibers



4. Low-fat Dairy
Super Powers: Building strong bones, firing up weight loss, vitamins & minerals

5. Instant Oatmeal (unsweetened/unflavored)
Super Powers: Boosting energy & sex drive, reducing cholesterol, maintaining blood sugar levels, fiber

6.Eggs
Super Powers: Building muscle, burning fat, protein, vitamins

7. Turkey & other lean meats
Super Powers: Building muscle, improving immune system, protein & vitamins

8. Peanut Butter (all-natural sugar free)
Super Powers: Building muscle, burning fat, protein & vitamins

9. Olive Oil
Super Powers: Lowers cholesterol, boosts immune system, vitamin E

10. Whole Grain Breads & Cereal
Super Powers: Prevents your body from storing fat, fiber, vitamins & minerals

11. Extra-Protein Whey Powder
Super Powers: Building muscle, burning fat, protein

12. Raspberries and other berries
Super Powers: Protecting your heart, enhancing eyesight, improving memory, preventing cravings, antioxidants, fiber, vitamin C



Most of these are easy for me to fit in...the only ones that I haven't gotten around to: Sugar Free PB & Extra-Protein Whey Powder (only had it at smoothie king, haven't bought it at home). I actually love the rest of this stuff.

Pretty easy to incorporate most of this stuff for daily snacks or meals.