THINKLIA

Showing 71 posts tagged food

I was craving cupcakes. Good thing there’s a great cupcake shop nearby.

Oh, and yes, that IS bacon you see on the first cupcake in the second row of photos. It’s a limited edition Maple Bacon cupcake from The Cup. Yum.

Here’s the full list of cupcakes I bought (with descriptions to make your mouth water):

  • Maple Bacon — maple brown sugar frosting + bacon-topped maple pecan cake + toasted pecans and candied bacon
  • Gold Rush — chocolate buttercream + golden yellow cake + chocolate disc
  • Raspberry Beret — raspberry buttercream + french vanilla cake + raspberry filling
  • Red Velvet — cream cheese frosting + red velvet cake + red velvet crumbles
  • Grasshopper — vanilla mint buttercream + dark chocolate cake + Ande’s® Mint
High-res Dinner at Harry’s I woke up this morning with a craving for Harry’s Delicatessen — a great Jewish/Italian deli in downtown Knoxville that serves amazing dishes made of mostly fresh, local foods. Thankfully it doesn’t take much to convince Brandon to eat at Harry’s with me (because he loves it as much as I do), so that’s where we headed for dinner. Tonight I had the cider braised pork with roasted Brussels sprouts and polenta. Delicious! Last week (yup, I went to Harry’s then, too) I had the sweet potato gnocchi with chicken confit and braised kale. I could eat at Harry’s every day. Local and yummy — can’t be beat.

Dinner at Harry’s

I woke up this morning with a craving for Harry’s Delicatessen — a great Jewish/Italian deli in downtown Knoxville that serves amazing dishes made of mostly fresh, local foods. Thankfully it doesn’t take much to convince Brandon to eat at Harry’s with me (because he loves it as much as I do), so that’s where we headed for dinner.

Tonight I had the cider braised pork with roasted Brussels sprouts and polenta. Delicious! Last week (yup, I went to Harry’s then, too) I had the sweet potato gnocchi with chicken confit and braised kale. I could eat at Harry’s every day. Local and yummy — can’t be beat.

We had another “Secret Ingredient” potluck today, but rather than have an ingredient we had a theme: Famous person’s famous dish. For example, Paula Deen’s famous gingerbread pumpkin trifle. Or Elvis’ famous peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Today, I decided to make Sir Paul and Linda McCartney’s famous mashed potatoes. I came across this video a few years ago, and it still makes me smile. Sir Paul is truly the greatest!

High-res Brussel Sprout Greens Hello to some of my new favorite greens. Brussel sprout leaves taste like a nice blend of cabbage, collards, and broccoli. Tonight I boiled and sauteed them with garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes, and then tossed the mix with pasta and sprinkled fresh parm on top. Light, quick, and easy. Yum.

Brussel Sprout Greens

Hello to some of my new favorite greens. Brussel sprout leaves taste like a nice blend of cabbage, collards, and broccoli. Tonight I boiled and sauteed them with garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes, and then tossed the mix with pasta and sprinkled fresh parm on top. Light, quick, and easy. Yum.

High-res The Last Eggplants I picked the last two eggplants from our raised beds yesterday. The plant seemed to be at the end of its fruitfulness, and with the dropping temperatures, it was time to clear out the bed and get it ready for the winter.  I’m thinking of roasting these two eggplants along with the last of our zucchini squash for dinner this week. Or I could draw faces on them. (Don’t they look like two funny little heads with silly green hair?)

The Last Eggplants

I picked the last two eggplants from our raised beds yesterday. The plant seemed to be at the end of its fruitfulness, and with the dropping temperatures, it was time to clear out the bed and get it ready for the winter. 

I’m thinking of roasting these two eggplants along with the last of our zucchini squash for dinner this week. Or I could draw faces on them. (Don’t they look like two funny little heads with silly green hair?)

Dinner at Dazzo’s

Took another chilly walk downtown and stopped at Dazzo’s for a late dinner. The “famous” garlic rolls are amazing, and I probably could’ve eaten an order of just the rolls. But I’m a pig and got the homemade lasagna and Brandon devoured his ziti alla vodka. I have major garlic breath, but I don’t care. Yum.

Acorn Squash Bowls

I used this recipe from The Kitchn and made these super delicious acorn squash bowls for dinner last night. We got acorn squash in this week’s CSA, and I was intimidated by them because I had never cooked with acorn squash before. But this recipe showed me how easy it could be to prepare them.

I basically halved and de-seeded the squash and microwaved them in a dish with water at the bottom until they softened. (Easy!) And while they were in the microwave, I cooked up the filling — hot Italian sausage, garlic, onion, yellow bell pepper, red pepper flakes, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, spinach, and basil. I made some adjustments to the recipe in order to use up ingredients that we had in the refrigerator and pantry. When the filling was done, I pulled the acorn squash out of the microwave, then stuffed the squash and covered it with breadcrumbs and grated parmesan cheese. Then I broiled it for a minute — just to get the cheese to brown on top — and it was ready to serve.

Talk about an easy weeknight dish with a bunch of flavor! Can’t wait to eat the leftovers.

High-res My “OMG” Burger Tonight I made goat cheese-stuffed turkey burgers. Holy yum. I mixed up ground turkey with bread crumbs, fresh thyme, lemon juice, grated lemon peel and salt and pepper. Then I made a thin patty, loaded it up with goat cheese crumbles, and put another thin patty on top and sealed up the edges. Then Brandon grilled them up (with pretty grill marks, too!). We added bacon, lettuce, tomato, sprouts, pickles, and a couple of dabs of coarse grain mustard and tried to fit all of it in between whole wheat buns. Mmm!

My “OMG” Burger

Tonight I made goat cheese-stuffed turkey burgers. Holy yum.

I mixed up ground turkey with bread crumbs, fresh thyme, lemon juice, grated lemon peel and salt and pepper. Then I made a thin patty, loaded it up with goat cheese crumbles, and put another thin patty on top and sealed up the edges. Then Brandon grilled them up (with pretty grill marks, too!). We added bacon, lettuce, tomato, sprouts, pickles, and a couple of dabs of coarse grain mustard and tried to fit all of it in between whole wheat buns. Mmm!