Donuts and Meat Sticks

Since moving to New Orleans Erik and I have developed a Saturday morning tradition of heading to the Crescent City Farmer's Market. Last week we decided to make a small detour before stocking up on the healthy treats like okra, peppers, and tomatoes.

I'm not sure where we first read about Blue Dot Donuts, but both of us became a bit obsessed with the idea of trying them. I'm not even that huge of a donut fan - I usually prefer a croissant or pastry - but the reviews and promise of 50 donut varieties convinced me that we NEEDED Blue Dot Donuts.

So on Saturday we stopped by to stuff our faces with sugary friend dough before going to buy local vegetables. Blue Dot Donuts is pretty cute on the outside, with a nice welcoming sign. (The Name Blue Dot comes from the fact that it is owned by 3 NOLA cops).

                          

The menu is so extensive we had a hard time choosing which ones to try. I wanted a red velvet donut but sadly they were sold out. We settled on 5 to try. (Yes, we ate 5 donuts between 2 people in a single sitting, WHAT OF IT?)

Behold!

I had the Dulce de Leche and the chocolate glazed with coconut. The donuts themselves were quite good. You could tell they were freshly baked, light, very fluffy. The toppings didn't do it for me however. They were both too sweet (I know, it's a freaking donut), and tasted too much like canned frosting. I was disappointed with myself for not going with my instincts and trying the basic glazed. Next time!

Erik loved his maple glazed with bacon. I think he ate it in 3 bites. I don't even remember him eating the blueberry cake but it got gobbled up at some point - probably when I was sneaking some bites of the peanut butter and jelly.

They also sell donut ice cream sandwiches (why have I not thought of this?!?) which I for sure want to try next time.

Post donuts and market we stopped by the New Orleans Seafood Festival so Erik could get some meat on a stick. I think it was some type of shrimp? I will leave you with the following pictorial representation of how that went.

The garden miracle...

Look at all the amazing produce that my garden presented me! Yet not. As my students say,"Oh Mrs. Longoria, quit clowning me."

I have to admit that only about 1/3 of the tomatoes are mine and pretty much nothing else came from my garden. The rest is from the lovely little German grandmother who lives next door to us. What did I do wrong? Which gardening god did I tick off? What can I do to appease the universe's karma?

It is finally hot enough for tomatoes to start taking off, but wait, it is Sept. which means in 2 weeks the frost date will arrive andgrowing season will be over.

I digress...

In good news, my back to school whoopie pies are delicious. I made a bunch, wrapped them individually and keep them in my freezer to put in my lunch each day (and, of course, I shared with other fellow teachers). I used an official whoopie pie pan, which looks sort of like a shallow muffin pan. However, I have been told by many people that you can scoop out the batter like cookie dough and drop it on a sheet pan for a more free-form pie. The middle (or the whoop of the pie as Daniel likes to call it) is good 'ole fashion marshmallow fluff straight from Beantown.

Here is what I used for my "back to school red velvet whoopie pies":

3 c. flour

1/3 c. cocoa powder

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. crisco

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. regular sugar

3 t. vanilla extract

10 drops red food coloring (more or less if you prefer)

1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease whatever sort of cookie sheet or pan you are using.

Mix together: flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat together in a separate bowl: butter, crisco and both types of sugar. Mix on low until just combined then increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy (4-5 minutes). Next, add one egg at a time while beating the batter. Add food coloring and vanilla. Next, add half of the flour mix and 1/2 c. buttermilk to the batter, after it has incorporated into the batter, and the rest of the flour mix and buttermilk.

Use a cookie scoop and put about 2 tablespoons of batter into each cup of the whoopie pie pan (or see above if you do not have this pan). Bake for 10 minutes. Here is my warning as I over baked about 1/4 of my pies :( Check at 8 minutes and do a toothpick test. As oven is on longer, the latter batches will cook faster. Burnt whoopies=a sad baker.

Fill with marshmallow fluff, jam, or cream cheese.

Enjoy!

Rain, wind, and chard...oh my!

I survived my first tropical storm this weekend. In all honestly it was pretty much a bust. Heavy rain and wind but not much else. The glorious consequence of Tropical Storm Lee is the lovely weather it left in its wake. Today's high was 80 degrees. 80 degrees. Without a doubt the best day I have experienced in New Orleans. I even went for a run in the afternoon. It felt like a nice spring day back in Boston.

My "garden" didn't much like the torrential downpours and lack of sun, but I think everything will survive. Last week I even had my first mini harvest. I planted the chard seeds too closely so I pulled some out in order to thin them a little.

Like I said, the harvest was very mini

As soon as I pulled them out my mind filled with ideas about what to do with my bounty. Make an amuse-bouche salad? Use them to garnish my tacos? Feed the world's smallest rabbit? Friends, when you have half an ounce of baby chard on hand the possibilities are endless. I elected to stay true to my roots (heh) and use them for a green smoothie!

Baby chard, beets, frozen bananas, frozen cherries, yogurt 

I have been exploring our new neighborhood and last week I tried out the local bakery. La Boulangerie is really cute from the outside and I was wowed by the delicious smells emanating from the interior. However the rest of the visit was a disappointment. My experience with the the staff seems typical of the complaints on yelp. Rude people who ignored me for 5 minutes so they could yak to one another (I was the only person in the store at the time.) I picked out an olive loaf and an almond croissant (my favorite pastry treat.) Sometimes you get olive bread and there are 3 tiny pieces in the whole loaf so I was pleased to see several whole large olives throughout the loaf.

Overall the loaf was just ok. A little too rustic for my tastes but not terrible. It made me miss being in Milwaukee and the lovely soft chewy olive bread at Breadsmith's.

The almond croissant was another story. I was MAD I wasted a pastry eating session on that abomination. It was like they took a regular croissant and dunked it it simple syrup. Then they threw a bunch of almonds and powdered sugar on top. Grr.

This will haunt me

But enough with the whining! I will leave you all with a simple recipe (an idea really) that I have been gobbling up lately.

Sweet Potato, Kale, Black Bean, and Goat Cheese Burritos

1. Cook a sweet potato (oven or microwave, boy's choice)
2. Steam some kale in veggie broth for 5 - 7 minutes (I used miso paste instead of broth)
3. Rinse and drain a can of black beans.
4. Mash up the black beans and sweet potato. This will warm the beans at the same time.
5. Add bean/sweet potato mixture to tortillas and top with drained kale and goat cheese.
6. Nom nom nom.

Summer Lessons

Ah summer, it slips away so fast...and yet I am not sure what I did exactly. Unlike Leanne, I didn't travel to Europe and eat Spanish hams (in my dreams), but you can see from Elle's post that we had some good eating adventures in WA across to MT.

In a week when we start school again, students will exchange family vacation horror stories, video game high scores, summer job complaints, and of course, all the

summer romances. In the spirit of this ritual, I thought I would share some of the lessons I learned in the last three months.

1. Modern rules...Mikes drools.

We had a cannoli eat off in the Boston North End on our northeast adventure. We went for the two acclaimed heavyweights: Modern Bakery and Mike's Pastry. Modern won by many points...but don't take my word for it (shout out to LeVar Burton) create your own categories (we chose: presentation, filling, shell, and general taste) and recruit a man who will keep tally for you. We purchased Daniel a black and white cookie, a la' Seinfeld, to keep him happy.

2. Fluff is hard to transport.

We were DETERMINED to bring back fluff from the Northeast, as the Whoopie Pie is the state dessert of Maine. After much searching, Daniel's mom and I found a grocery store stocked with the stuff. We purchases two huge (plastic) containers. One was packed in a suitcase, and one in a carry on. We should have figured that the FAA would confiscate the one in the carry on, which they did. I figured that they went back to the break room and ate fluffernutters for dinner. The one in the suitcase exploded into a giant sticky marshmallow mess. We were very sad. However, the next week Ellen came to WA and packed a jar of fluff for me, it exploded...BUT Ellen remebered to put it in a plastic bag and around 90% was salvaged. Long story short, order fluff from amazon, it is a lot easier.

3. No Heat=No Tomatoes

My garden is horrible this year. It has been a very cool summer, which I appreciate in terms of my air conditioning bill, but so far...I spy a bowl full of tomatoes and no peppers or cantaloupe to speak of. My cukes are a foot high, but there is no way that they are going produce enough to can pickles. Boo.

4. Don't accidentally swallow a plum pit at the farmers market.

'Nuff said.

5. My favorite summer recipe:

D&M Clausen (Iced)

2 shots espresso (we use D&M Hi-Octane)

1-ish cup of H2O

2-ish shots of fat free Half and Half

2 Tablespoons of Carmel syrup (found next to the Hersey's chocolate syrup)

Stir together. Fill the rest of your glass with ice. Drink and feel happy to be drinking such a Delicious nectar. Needless to say that old Zorro has been busy this summer.

As we are heading off into fall, does anyone have any fun and new ideas for my school lunch? I am very very very bored of eating greek yogurt every day.

Ahem. Back in Business.

So this summer has been, well, let's say this summer has been eventful. I finished school. Went to Washington, took a vacation to the great wilderness of Montana, moved out of my apartment in Boston, stayed with my grandmother for two weeks in Milwaukee and about a week ago I moved to New Orleans. Did I tell you guys I was moving to Louisiana? Well I did. Yes, in August. I don't want to talk about the heat.

So I was busy, and without internet, and blah blah blah excuses. I am back and excited to be blogging from my new home, now known as the Southeastern headquarters of LotC.

While I was in Yakima Laura and I went raspberry picking nearby and accidentally picked about 11 pounds. Woops.

Check out the advanced berry carrying apparatus. 

We breakfasted every morning on the porch. I often had english muffins with peanut butter and fresh raspberries smushed on top. Mmmmm. I also got to cash in my gift certificate to the Longoria Coffee Shack. I opted for a the Longoria version of the classen (klassen?) - americano with cream and caramel. Yum. Someone else was interested in breakfast as well. Silly dog, coffees are for humans.

In Montana I acted as our chef for the trip. I made sure to make hearty breakfasts each morning.

Food photography courtesy of my mom.

I am somewhat ashamed to say those were some of the fluffiest, tastiest pancakes I have ever made...and they came from a mix. Sigh, I will have to work on my homemade version.

We needed hearty breakfasts because our days were spent hiking, biking, and watching wildlife.

Moose!

After I got back to Boston I went on a short trip to see Erik in Connecticut and then we spent the night in NYC. We went to our favorite dim sum place in Chinatown and ate way way too much. I had a to take a rest on a bench afterwards.

Just a small part of the food we ordered.

After we had digested with a walk we got pickles

from The Pickle Guys which were as amazing as 

I remembered. We plowed through two or three 

right on the spot. Later that afternoon we relaxed 

at a beer garden. It was a bit cheesy (waiters in

 fake lederhosen) but it was a beautiful afternoon 

and really relaxing. I later stuffed a giant pretzel 

in my gaping mouth hole.

We finished the night with some amazing Mexican 

food and sangria, but it was really dark in the 

restaurant and I didn't get any pictures. We shared the 

chile rellenos with jalapeno corn bread. I wanted to 

have a pickle for dessert when we got back to the 

hotel, but was able to demonstrate some self control.

Looking back at my pictures from that day it is clear
that 90% of the things we do NYC are eating related.
The next morning we had some fresh New York
bagels and coffee and I jumped on the Bolt Bus back
to Boston. Erik got to keep the remaining pickles.

After NYC I went back to Boston, moved out of my apartment (thank you Alex and Katie for taking all of my leftovers!) and went to Milwaukee to kick it grandma style. I had a great time there and my Grandmother stuffed me full like she was thinking of making foie gras out of me. It was fantastic. If you are ever in Milwaukee I highly recommend you get yourself to Kopp's Frozen Custard. You will never want ice cream again after you have had this magical treat.

Finally I made it to New Orleans, my new home. We have been settling in and I haven't done too much cooking. Also there is no way we are turning on our oven until at least October. (Did you guys know it was so hot in Louisiana??) So I started a little garden in the back. Southeast Louisiana's growing season goes all the way to November, so you can plant for a second crop now. I am just starting with basil, chives, mint, and of course CHARD! I have also been going to our local farmer's market and getting some southern treats such as okra. And some even more southern treats like fresh made tamales!

The tamales were jalapeno cheddar. Of course I added some sriracha for good measure. I know tamales take forever to make, but there must be a quick approximation I could learn to whip up. I will look into this. 

Anyway, this is all to say I am sorry I was gone so long and I am back with a vengeance. Expect tales of me boiling peanuts, wrestling alligators, and mastering red beans and rice.

Back from Europe, and hooked on Nutella

Matt and I just got back from 25 days of trekking around Europe. Highlights for me, (see if you can figure out which cities we visited!), were:

• Flamenco
• Tapas
• Gaudí
• Gelato
• Guinness
• Cheese boards, and......
• NUTELLA!!!

With that in mind, here is my current breakfast obsession:

Grilled French bread with Nutella and fruit

Butter that bread!!

There is something about grilling the bread on my flattop grill, rather than toasting it in the toaster. I think it's because the bread gets the chance to pick up some of those yummy "left over" grill flavors :)

Top it, generously, with NUTELLA*, and any fresh fruit you have around! Bananas, raspberries, strawberries.... YUM!
*Yes, you are right... that is not actual Nutella. It is Nutkao. It was on sale at Big Lots! OK??! But guess what? Generic Nutella is just as tasty as actual Nutella. Not only was is cheap (because what's not cheap at Big Lots!??) but we also had a 20% off coupon! Love it!

Potluck schmotluck

While we wait for further installments of The Northeast Vacay I want to share some pictures from a recent vegetarian potluck I attended. A few weeks ago my brilliant friend Katie suggested that we gather at her apartment for snacks and margarita's made with fresh squeezed lime juice (told you she was brilliant.) I did not have to be invited twice. I was a terrible blogger and forgot my camera. Luckily Katie was on top of her game and sent me these pictures she took.

I brought two dishes. A southeast asian inspired salad/slaw with peanut dressing and spinach balls.

It tasted better than this presentation suggests...

The slaw didn't have much of a recipe. I shredded half a cabbage, a few carrots, red and green peppers, and a few small hot peppers. Then I crumbled up a few sheets of nori over the top of everything and sprinkled it with white sesame seeds. The dressing was a slightly modified version of the one offered here.

Hand formed by Erik

The spinach balls were a great snack and I would heartily recommend them as an appetizer for the next amazing dinner party you hold. I followed a recipe by Modern Beet. I divided the recipe by 3 (!) and it still made a heck of a lot of balls. I'll be honest with you all and tell you that the recipe is sort of a pain - with the spinach cooking and squeezing and ball forming - but if you have a sous chef to help you it makes all the difference.

Here is a plate with our first course displayed in all of its glory.

Katie made the green peppers stuffed with chili and Greg made the chickpea crepe and spinach artichoke dip. Nom nom nom.

Food model aka Amanda

Second course was polenta lasagna made by our host, Katie. By this time our belts were busting.

Katie made the polenta from scratch, naturally

 Our last course was dessert. Amanda made poppy seed cupcakes with a fresh blueberry glaze. Delicious, but I don't have a picture sadly. Trust me, they were good. I think Amanda used this recipe from Joy the Baker, only she veganized it because she is so crafty. It was good and the cake was super moist. Just how I like my cake!

This potluck was good warm up for a fourth of July potluck you might attend. Unfortunately I will not be doing any fun potlucking myself. Instead I will be soaring through the air in a metal tube, heading west back to the homeland.

Are you making any special treats for the fourth? Anyone have good airport for recommendations for Atlanta or Salt Lake?