Kingswood — Big Menu Changes!

I have to admit, parts of today’s post is going to make me sound like a hater. But, please note that I will also say some fairly positive things as well.

When one of your favorite restaurants makes some big changes to the menu, you can’t help but be rather hesitant about finding new dishes to replace the old ones you loved so dearly. That’s exactly what I faced when we went to Kingswood for the first time in a few months. I used to pick Kingswood for dinner when I wanted a fun, West Village restaurant scene full of chic fashionistas and hipsters; and we always knew what we were going to order — at least, we knew what our main dishes were going to be. We always ordered their burger and their truffle mac & cheese. But, when I got a glimpse of the new dinner menu, I became distraught and thought that I missed these plates on the menu. Where the hell did they go? When something like this happens I rapidly scan the menu again to make sure I didn’t make a mistake and over look it. There have been times where I didn’t even look at the menu and I told the server, “I know what I want” and then they are the ones that have to break the sad sad sad news to me that my favorite plate is gone. Gone forever. 

With our favorite plates gone, I had to decide on what to order — or we had the option of going next door to get in line for a 3 hour wait (it was already 8 p.m. — that wasn’t going to happen).

Are you ready? Here we go… This is what was ordered:

The first order was of the mussels — a fabulous pick! You know the most important part of ordering mussels is how good the broth is — and the chef at Kingswood hit this one out of the park! Made up of shallots, white wine, parsley and chili, the broth was full of flavor and spice that add the perfect kick to this appetizer.

kingswood mussels

The next appetizer was mac & cheese. Note: this was NOT the original mac & cheese I was talking about. There was no truffle in this dish, and it was not prepared the same way the original Kingswood mac & cheese dish was.

I am a true believer that adding ketchup to food is out of this world disgusting. Eggs, mac & cheese, french fries… it’s so damn gross. The only time I put ketchup on something is when it tastes like crap. Ketchup is a tool to hide nauseating flavor, specifically for foods you don’t have a choice to eat. So, when I saw that this mac & cheese was served with a spicy tomato marmalade, I knew that it was just a fancier way of saying “this mac & cheese is going to suck, which is why we made a fancy homemade ketchup to go with it.” I know, that was kind of mean, but it’s true — this homemade ketchup was a replacement for the truffle and instead of just making normal mac and cheese it was deep fried and came out looking like a brick!

There are only a few times fried mac and cheese is okay — and this wasn’t one of them.

kingswood mac and cheese

What’s up next? I ordered the Maplebrook Burrata thinking that it would be a winner. My fault, it was a major fail. I was expecting a nice portion of creamy, savory cheese seasoned up perfectly all the while swimming in a pool of flavorful olive juice. The olive juice was there, not exactly the olives I would have picked as the perfect pair, but they were there. But, I was shocked that the portion size was so small and the consistency and taste was more like an average mozzarella. (I’m frowning behind my computer as I type this.)

burrata kingswood

Time to throw in some positivity…

I absolutely loved the Mushroom Risotto appetizer — made with yellowfoot chanterelle mushrooms, parmesan and chives, this plate was delish! All of us at the table knew that this might be the best appetizer we would come across, so naturally our forks entered a war…

I would order this dish again in a heart beat and it would be silly for them to take it off of the menu!

mushroom risotto

I did notice that their signature fries were still on the menu, so naturally we ordered them. I used to have these fries on the side of their fabulous burger that is now extinct.

They are super salty, perfectly cooked with enough crisp but still very potato-ey, and they are served with the best truffle dipping sauce. My guess is it’s a mayo sauce — and you can’t go wrong with dipping fries in mayo!

Don’t they look fabulous!?

truffle french fries

Next up was the broccoli rabe topped with homemade ricotta cheese and drizzled with honey. Overall the plate wasn’t lacking flavor but it was very difficult to chew. I had one bite of this plate and decided to pass because it was too much work to eat.

broccoli rabe

For our main plates we ordered the pancetta wrapped chicken breast truffle chicken nuggets, cauliflower puree and baby carrots. You all know I don’t eat pork, but I decided to eat it on this specific evening because it was hard not to. This plate was very good but the size almost categorized it as a large appetizer to me. We also ordered the day boat scallops which were also very tasty.

day boat scallops

kingswood nyc

Overall, the new Kingswood wasn’t horrible… But the reasoning to change the menu to the extent that they did didn’t make sense. Why take off your best selling dishes? Keep them on there and change the rest of the menu!

I did ask a manager about the changes and she said that they are now changing the menu at least twice a week now. Their reasoning behind all of this? I was told that they needed to keep up and evolve to keep people coming back. I find it odd that they feel this way because the restaurant used to be packed without a place to stand near the bar — and on this specific Friday evening there was plenty of space to stand, it felt rather empty in the bar area actually. So, I wonder how business is really doing if that’s the case?

Magazines Galore!

Many of you know how much I love a good magazine! Marie Claire, Redbook, HGTV, Food Network, Real Simple, Every Day With Rachael Ray, Good Housekeeping — these are a few of my favorite magazines… And, YES, I subscribe to each and every one of them! I love opening my mailbox to discover that I am now overwhelmed (in a good way) with plenty of reading material. They don’t always come at once (thank goodness!) but this month — I got 4 all in one day! How lovely!

So, as I dive into some of my favorite reads — I want to hear what everyone else flips through every month!? I must also share with you how amazing a simple magazine subscription is for a gift; my Auntie Anne got me a subscription to Every Day With Rachael Ray for Christmas this year and I am in love with the publication’s recipes!

magazines

S’MAC — Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese

I call them “comfort foods” others might call it a “food trend” — both are correct. It seems to me that comfort foods have been popping up on menus for several years now, but individual restaurants are now putting all of their concentration on one specific comfort food and selling it pretty darn well. When I say “one specific comfort food” I mean they are specializing in a type of food like, grilled cheese, cupcakes, popsicles, and mac & cheese.

S'MAC

This weekend wasn’t the first time I went to S’MAC, although  it was my first time at the Murray Hill location. I headed to this spot with my out-of-town friend, Brittany.

After eying-down the menu for several minutes we couldn’t seem to pick what we wanted — then the guy behind the counter suggested that we do the sampler which would allow us to taste 8 of the mac & cheeses on the menu. We were also told that this was perfect to split between 2 people… SOLD!

We paid, and the guy behind the counter handed us a laminated piece of paper that told us exactly what we would be eating and where it was in the cast iron skillet our mac & cheeses would be served in.

We couldn’t help but study the menu to see what exactly was in each and every one of the 8 samples we would be eating.

S'MAC menu

We were lucky enough to have gone to the restaurant during a slow time of day, because our skillet came out so quickly! After we pierced the surface of each section and let the mac & cheese cool off, we were ready to dive in. We decided to go section by section together so we could sample the same thing at the same time. (Wouldn’t this be such a cute lunch date?)

We started below the handle with the All-American — which I was surprised at how delicious it was. I thought it was going to be the most boring, after all it was made with only cheese… no herbs, no vegetables… I admit it, I poorly judged this basic cheese combo thinking it was going to be the same-ol’ same-ol’ sort of thing. What was even better? The Four-Cheese mac & cheese. Made with cheddar, muenster, gruyere and pecorino — this was probably my favorite out of the 8 samples we tasted.

Another favorite was the cheese burger. I am always impressed when a dish can hold the same flavors a completely different food owns. Like Serendipity’s frozen hot chocolate, or Empanada Mama’s Cheese Steak empanada. Yum!

Over-all, S’MACK has a very casual atmosphere and very tasty mac & cheese. It’s an experience to go to any restaurant that only offers one type of food on the menu in numerous ways. Would I go back? Maybe for lunch with another out of town friend, but most likely not with a local friend who wouldn’t think anything of a restaurant dedicated to mac & cheese.

Easy & Healthy Salad Recipes

You have all heard me say that salads are not considered lunch in my book. I don’t think they are filling, while I have had some tasty salads with chicken/meat in it I still don’t like salads to have any sort of animal meat, and in all honesty I feel like salads are deceiving. When I say “deceiving” I mean they can be so fattening! You hear someone say “I’m eating a salad” (as their meal) many will assume that they are one of those people that are conscious about healthy eating. But that’s such a lie! If I eat a salad every day, while at the same time stuff my face with the same foods I’m already consuming, will that make me shed a few pounds? Hmmm — probably not.

But, I am truly not a salad hater. I think salads can be very healthy and be loaded with flavor. While I won’t eat a salad as an entire meal, I will enjoy one in addition to something else I am gobbling down.

My most recent salad fetishes include what I like to call my “Greece, Meet Capri” salad and my “Wally the Goat”. I’m strange, I know. I make up strange names, but who cares — it’s just me creating these fabulous salads. After you read below how to make these salads of mine, you’ll agree that they are both fairly healthy and they were created off of inspiration of other salads I adore.

My father and I chatting with a local in Anacapri, Italy.

My father and I chatting with a local in Anacapri, Italy.

Greece, Meet Capri

I am totally my father’s daughter — I love olives! So naturally, I’m happy to throw them into my salad. Oh, wait, there’s already a salad that does that!? Actually, the salad I have created is a spin off of a Greek Salad; I love the combination of flavors, the color and of course the healthy ingredients are a plus! But, I am not a fan of thick salad dressing. It makes me feel like I have ruined my salad — turning it from a healthy snack or side dish to a fatty one, and who would want that? I have also come to love cooking & baking with lemons. Lemon juice, lemon zest — you name it, I love it. I was actually inspired by the world of lemons when I went to Capri with my family back in 2010. The citrus flavor can be used in recipes in countless ways — there’s also nothing unhealthy about it!

Close to Capri, in Pompeii, you'll see tons of drink stands that rely on their citrus!

Close to Capri, in Pompeii, you’ll see tons of drink stands that rely on their citrus!

What You Will Need:

  •  Romaine Lettuce
  • Red Onions
  • Kalamata Olives
  • Tomatoes (cherry or vine)
  • Feta Cheese
  • Sweet Peppers (or spicy, if you’d like!)

For the Dressing:

  • Olive Oil
  • Lemon Zest

Directions:

  • Everyone has a different preference as to how much of what ingredients they would like to use, so please feel free to throw in lots of tomatoes if they are your favorite (or lots of olives, I love those!)
  • Chop up the lettuce
  • Slice a few (or a lot) slices of red onion
  • Slice a tomato or multiple cherry tomatoes
  • Throw the ingredients into a bowl including the olives!
  • Crumble the feta cheese over top
  • Combine a cup of olive oil and 1 zested lemon into a bowl or salad dressing shaker if you have one, once shaken add over top of the salad and toss the salad!
My lovely "Greece, Meet Capri" salad!

My lovely “Greece, Meet Capri” salad!

Wally The Goat

I will admit, lots of folks out there may not be a fan of some of the overwhelming flavors of many of the ingredients in the first salad. Which is why I depend on my “Wally The Goat” recipe, which I have been making for years! It’s actually probably the first salad I ever fell in love with eating. Years may have gone by, but I still to this very day love every bite of this salad! A few years ago, I was trying to get a family friend’s child to taste-test this salad; the little girl asked me what the name of the salad was but I didn’t have an answer for her. So, I told her if she tried the salad, she could name it! We settled on “Wally The Goat” because two main ingredients are goat cheese and walnuts. What a smart (and cute) cookie she was!

What You Will Need:

  • Fresh “Spring Mix” of greens (or Spinach if you prefer — I like to take turns with these)
  • Chopped Walnuts
  • Plain Goat Cheese
  • Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
  • Dried Cranberries

Directions:

  • Toss the Spring Mix, chopped walnuts, crumbled goat cheese, and dried cranberries
  • Add the dressing and toss well
  • BOOM! YOU’RE DONE! Stuff your face, and love the salad as much as I do!
A view from the Viceroy in Anguilla!

A view from the Viceroy in Anguilla!

Want to go a little crazy? Try this wicked fabulous salad I had once at The Hearst Tower cafeteria as an intern at Food Network Magazine. I later had it when I traveled to Anguilla for a vacation. Who knows what it’s called, but I guarantee that several people reading this will think it sounds nasty — I promise you, it is not! So, for the sake of naming all of the salads in my life strange names… I’d love to hear from you — WHAT SHOULD I CALL THIS SALAD!? Tell me below in a comment!

 

What You Will Need:

  • Cubed Watermelon
  • Kosher Salt
  • Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
  • Crumbled Goat Cheese
  • Chopped Basil (optional)

Directions:

  • Pour the cubed watermelon on a plate
  • Sprinkle lightly with some Kosher salt
  • Sprinkle with goat cheese
  • Drizzle with Balsamic Vinaigrette (or, for a more intense taste, just drizzle *lightly* some balsamic vinegar. I love this!)
  • Add some chopped basil for some extra flavor — not necessary though!

I hope everyone enjoys some of my favorite salad recipes! I promise, next time I make these, I will take more photos to share them with you!

Pepolino in TriBeCa

Who doesn’t love to venture to a well-known highly rated Zagat Italian restaurant? I hadn’t had a chance to stalk the menu before heading down to TriBeCa — so I had no clue what type of restaurant we were heading to. All I knew was it was Italian… Perfect!

When I walked into the restaurant we were greeted with a friendly “Buonasera” — many of those working at the restaurant seemed Italian. Their accents were perfection and if I closed my eyes, ate the food and listened to the wait staff talk in their native tongue, I would have felt like I was back in Florence.

A preview of what we ate for dinner at Pepolino

A preview of what we ate for dinner at Pepolino

While the ambiance was casual and comfortable — the space tucks in as many tables as they can on multiple floors. But who cares how cramped you are, as long as you have good food, company and conversation!

I am only going to share with you my favorite plates of the night. Off of the antipasta section of the menu I was encouraged to try the Cozze Al Burro which is steamed mussels out of the shell in butter, garlic and parsley with toasted bread. I was hesitant about this dish because it has been a while since I have enjoyed mussels. But, I always will try things again — and I sure am happy I did because this was probably my favorite dish! One scoop of the creamy mussels, butter, garlic and parsley combo placed on top of the crispy toast was to-die-for. I could help but think of my father and his favorite flavors and I know this is something he would enjoy very much! Being full of garlic, it’s hard not to love!

garlic mussels and parsley dip

Another favorite starter was actually off of the specials menu. An Italian-style crepe stuffed with cheese and mushrooms was a great plate to hit the savory spot I was craving so much. The crepe itself you can hardly see — it was truly covered in a hefty portion of stringy mozzarella cheese. Baked to perfection, this plate should be on their permanent menu!

mushroom and cheese crepe

For our pasta dishes, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a different type of gnocchi. My experience with the potato dumplings, if that’s what you want to call them, have always been delicious but they are also very heavy in your stomach. Pepolino makes their gnocchi from spinach and ricotta rather than potato. Because of this change in ingredients, the Malfatti Burro e Salvia dish, was both fluffy and light. The spinach and ricotta gnocchi was covered in a butter and sage sauce — two beautiful ingredients I don’t think I could ever get sick of! What the plate needed though was a solid amount of parmigiano reggiano cheese grated on top … which was exactly what I asked for after taking my first bite! Perfection!

gnocchi made from spinach and ricotta

Okay, now I am going to share with you the biggest curve ball I have ever experienced in a restaurant! The final dish I ordered is called “Spaghetti Chitarra.” The description for this plate reads as:

Homemade square spaghetti with fresh tomato and basil

Okay. So, what would you think that dish is going to look like? Without even discussing it until the plate arrived, I thought it was legit SQUARE pasta, kind of like lasagna noodles except in the shape of a square. I was also expecting a red sauce since we saw the words “tomato” and “basil” in the description.

After further researching, why the heck didn’t I get “square” pasta  I learned a few things:

  1. I am an idiot because it flat out says “spaghetti” in the description so we are going to get some sort of spaghetti noodles
  2. Chitarra is the Italian word for guitar — duhhh, that’s why my spaghetti noodles looked like guitar strings!
  3. And after searching around I couldn’t figure out why we didn’t have a red sauce like we thought we would have. I can’t find any specific sauce that is automatically assumed to be paired with Chitarra spaghetti.

This plate just caused major confusion… but in the end I enjoyed it! The edges of the Chitarra allowed the noodles to hold on to the cheese and butter in the dish — now, that’s my kind of pasta!

Overall I enjoyed Pepolino: the service was great, the restaurant was fun & comfortable and the wine list was perfecto! In all honesty though, Perbacco is still number one in my book!

What’s For Lunch!?

I am not exactly a fan of lunch.

Breakfast — love it! Brunch — gotta have it! Dinner — favorite meal of the day! But, lunch… eh, I’m not exactly pleased with my options.

The only time I have ever loved a sandwich was when I was in Italy (seriously, I’m not kidding), other wise please don’t ever ask me if I want a sandwich! *Blah* *Barf* *Don’t Like It*

To tell you the truth… I munch on snacks like popcorn, crackers, carrot sticks, bananas, apples, and anything else that’s not too messy to have at my desk. Prepping a salad is easy, but not very filling. And, left overs are probably the meanest thing to put your coworkers through — the smell of heating up last night’s dinner smells foul and is considered a gaggable scent in my book.

So I am picky with my lunches — which is why I am thrilled to have discovered a new afternoon snack! Chobani now has a brilliant product that has hit grocery store refrigerators — Flip! Flip is made up of two things: a flavor of Chobani Greek yogurt and a small container made up of ingredients to mix into your Greek yogurt to add extra flavor and texture.

chobani flip

Personally, I’m hooked on the Vanilla Golden Crunch. What could be better than smooth vanilla Greek yogurt with crunchy corn flakes, honey oats and delicious pecans!? It’s the perfect quick and easy addition to my afternoon snacks. Oh, and, it’s not messy and I don’t feel guilty eating it! *YUM*

Empellon Taqueria

My first summer living in the city (this was before I graduated from college) I used to spend every single Saturday and Sunday having brunch with friends. It was also understandable because summer weekends in the city seem to make Manhattan feel pretty much like a ghost town — so a 3+ hour-long brunch is a great way to pass the time. The humidity spikes, thousands flee for the beach, and anyone else who gets in on a great last minute Fire Island beach house deal is considered one of the lucky ones. But I had spent plenty of summers on Fire Island and I was ready to take full advantage of all-you-can-drink mimosas! Forget about the temperature — my girlfriends and I would treat our West Village cafes the same way every Saturday morning: we insisted on sitting outside where we could casually [and appropriately] sunbathe, people watch and drink mimosa after mimosa (or in some situations Bloody Mary after Bloody Mary). It’s normal in a European cafe to park yourself in a petite chair at a busy establishment and not move for hours on end — it’s not exactly like that at Manhattan restaurants. But, for some reason summer brunch sessions tend to break all New York City restaurant etiquette.

My weekends — summer, fall, winter or spring — sure have changed! It’s rare for me to go out for brunch and spend hours gossiping, people watching and getting tipsy by 11 a.m. Sadly, I just don’t have the time to make that happen on a weekly, or even monthly, basis. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t have time to get out for a sober brunch with good friends!

My fabulous friend Stef (who is also officially a chef by the way) scouted out Empellon Taqueria in the West Village. The online menu made us both thrilled to try out this joint for brunch this past weekend.

types of salsa

Naturally, we eyed down the guacamole and massive list of salsas. Even though the restaurant had fantastic main course dishes, in today’s post I am going to tell you all about the salsas because there is just so much to cover!

We ordered the guacamole with the sampling of 7 salsas — these came in several small bowls with little spoons that came in handy when the chips were too large to dunk. When arranged on the table, they were set out from mild to spicy. My first tasting was right in the middle, something medium-spiced and exceptionally smokey. But then I tried Sikil Pak that had a very interesting texture that was also flavored with some interesting ingredients. Made out of pumpkin seeds, tomato, onion, garlic, cinnamon, epazote, sour orange juice and serrano — the Sikil Pak had a consistency similar to hummus that isn’t as creamy as it can be. The texture is what made me wonder if I would even categorize this as a salsa.

My personal favorites were the Smoked Cashew salsa and the Salsa Verde. I feel like it’s a mind game for me when I eat salsa verde — it looks like I am about to eat a chip full of pesto but the flavors are completely different than one another! Fresh and flavorful, this Salsa Verde makes me fall in love with cilantro all over again! The Smoked Cashew did not have an overwhelming nutty flavor and was light in consistency.

guacamole

The guacamole was perfect. Yes, I just said perfect! Freshly made, the guacamole was my savior after sampling some of the spiciest salsas. The creamy cooling sensation of the avocados helped expedite the end to the sincerely spicy Salsa Habanera.

What is it with spicy foods? I hate the feeling of the spice on my tongue, but I love the taste! I have yet to experience a spicy tasting food that I didn’t think was flavorful. The only “spicy” food I hate is wasabi — I think it tastes foul, as if it has mold on it.

Overall the restaurant was a fantastic spot to meet up at for brunch. Upon arriving at noon it was practically empty — a few families occupied some tables but they were heading out. By the time we left around 1:30/2 p.m. the place was packed and nearly every table was full! A major bonus: the restaurant is in such a prime location it is easy to get to by walking or subway.

Raymi — Peruvian Cuisine

Okay, I’ll admit it — I was very nervous to go out to dinner on Friday night. Peruvian food isn’t exactly something I am familiar with; and after menu-stalking I was a bit overwhelmed. After reading over several ingredients I either didn’t know the word/translation or I couldn’t seem to envision what the plate would taste like. I even found myself re-reading over “habanero.” The embarrassing part: I know what a habanero is. I know how to grow the plant in my backyard. I know just a small amount of this pepper will clear out my sinuses. But yet, I was so overwhelmed by the menu I had to look at the word “habanero” multiple times.

Within only a couple of minutes of being at the restaurant, I knew my dinner was in great hands. The servers at Raymi have perfected how to describe every dish, they know how to pair your food with Peruvian-style cocktails, and over-all they are brilliant at making your Peruvian dinner a memorable one.

You can easily get away with eating the entire meal in a tapas-style sort of way. My first dish: Causa of the day. Lobster was the catch of the day and the fish was placed over a cold aji amarillo potato puree. The rich, creamy texture of the lobster and potato puree was outstanding — but to add some extra flavor and crunch to the plate the chef added some roasted dehydrated corn. These little bites of crunchy corn was so delicious! I wish they were sold at the grocery store!

catch of the day

After quickly Yelp’ing a bit, I realized that the restaurant’s Peruvian Corn Cake plate was raved about. It seemed like such a hit, so obviously I put this at the top of the list of plates to order.

The corn cake is topped with a mushroom ragout and watercress leaves. It’s incredible how all of the flavors fuse together so beautifully — especially on this dish. Without the peppery taste of the watercress, the mushrooms and corn cake wouldn’t have that necessary zing. And I’m sure you are thinking about the texture of this “corn cake,” and let me assure you it’s nothing like a corn muffin or corn bread that we typically eat in the U.S. This corn cake doesn’t have the distinctive grainy consistency and is smooth and creamy and makes it easier to pick up the rest of the ingredients on your fork. I would be happy to order this plate and eat it as my lunch or dinner — funny enough, one of the hosts said she did just that the night before! This plate seems to be a hit for those dining at the restaurant and those working there!

peruvian corn cake

And since this restaurant really masters the concept of tapas plates, sharing food and talking about your favorite plates makes a dinner so much more fun. Which is why I loved the Ceviche & Tiraditos Tasting plate. This plate allows you to pick a total of 4 items from the ceviche and tiraditos section of the menu. Our choice (clock-wise from the top left): *I forget what the first one is, fluke, tuna and salmon. The manager recommended we eat these with a spoon — and boy was he right! Eating ceviche with a spoon rather than a fork allows you to scoop up the extra citrus juices at the bottom of the bowl — this gives the fish a refreshing flavor. This tasting plate couldn’t have been more of a hit!

peruvian ceviche

And, a close-up of the tuna:

tuna ceviche

Another brilliant appetizer to share between 2 people was the Hanger Steak — specifically it’s skewered hanger steak seared and served with aji panca glaze, creamy ocopa sauce and rocoto salsa. Wowza — this plate sure was full of flavor! It tasted as if the hanger steak was soaking and marinating in the most complex mixture of seasonings and spices before being cooked. Hands-down this was the most flavorful piece of meat I have tasted in a very long time! In addition to the  Peruvian Corn Cake, this Hanger Steak is a must-order!

peruvian hanger steak

For our “main dish” the two of us shared the Chaufa Completo — which is served with jasmine rice, chicken char siu, shrimp and chinese sausage. I dug in around the sausage but the overall plate was just bursting with exotic flavors. I knew right from the start the jasmine rice was going to add subtle but important flavorings to this plate.

Even though we had just a bit of leftovers, sharing all of these plates together completely satisfied us for dinner.

peruvian dinner

Over course we had to end our evening with dessert. We followed the manager’s suggestion and ordered the Peruvian Crispy Donuts. I know what you’re thinking — donuts are such a big food trend these can’t be anything other than ordinary, blah blah blah. But you’re wrong! Yes, donuts are such a food fad these days but Raymi adds a perfect, sweet, twist to the homemade dessert. Honey is the ingredient that makes these donuts have a natural sweetness — I guarantee that you’ll agree with me that these donuts are anything but ordinary!

homemade donuts

I’m sure you are overwhelmed reading this post — because you can see how much I truly enjoyed my first dinner at a Peruvian restaurant. I’m sure you have also noticed that Peruvian food is highly influenced by the Asian culture and cuisine! Who would have thought that a blend of Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, West African and Italian cuisines would be brought to the country of Peru and all of these cultures have been an influence on the food that is made throughout the country to this very day.  Luckily, for me, I found that Peruvian food seems to have a stronger influence from the Japanese — I’m not a huge fan of Chinese cuisine, but Japanese I love! There’s nothing like beautiful cuts of raw fish tossed in citrus and served fresh!

Finish Your Food, OR ELSE…

I think this is a threat we hear when we are younger from our parents: “Finish your food, young lady, or…” of course it’s followed by something terrifying like “you won’t be able to stay up until 8 p.m” or “you’ll go to bed hungry” or even “you won’t get to watch tv”. As a child, not finishing every grain of rice or every noodle of macaroni on our plates wasn’t that big of a deal. But for some half way around the world, a threat for not finishing their food could cost them some extra cash!

I read this morning on The Huffington Post Small Business page that a restaurant in Japan makes their customers give a donation of money if they don’t finish every grain of rice on a special plate (a large bowl of rice with a massive portion of salmon roe). Why? Well, it all comes down to the salmon on their plate and the fishermen that catch this salmon have such a risky job the restaurant wants to donate money to show their gratitude to those out their catching their dinner.

I’m sure a few sentences ago you were annoyed (like I was when reading The Huffington Post article), but now that you hear that this donation goes to a good cause, it doesn’t sound so bad!

empty plates

After reading the article I started to think: “hmmm… if we had that consequence in America, mayyybeeee….”

Here’s my list of POSITIVE outcomes if we applied this to our sit-down restaurants in the U.S:

  • Finally we’d take after the Europeans and have smaller portions. And don’t forget, smaller portions = self control = less over eating = decline in obesity.
  • Smaller portions means less waste and less waste means a massive saving of money.
  • A saving of money then means, maybe, that people who eat crappy food all the time would be able to afford to eat healthier (that’s just a thought… maybe?)
  • Money could be made through the consequential donation and then used to help feed those that can’t afford healthy food (this would NOT be in the form of food stamps where you can buy nearly whatever you want, it’s for healthy food only).

Obviously I’m not naive — this could never be regulated in the U.S. But it still baffles me why we haven’t had any regulations on portion sizes in restaurants.

I know, I RARELY ever post about a “serious” topic — but I was just so stunned by this article I had to share it with you all. So now what I want to know is what you’re thinking… So tell me either in the comments below or if you don’t want your thoughts published you can click on the Contact Me tab and send me your comment that way!

Homemade Granola

The inspiration behind making my own homemade granola: spotting a $1.99 bag of coconut flakes in Trader Joe’s this weekend. First of all, do you know how delicious coconut flakes are all on their own? The second these were spotted, my friend Stevie told me how they would be perfect in granola. What a brilliant friend I have!
So I bought a bag and was told that Sunny Anderson’s granola was a fantastic recipe to go off of. But, if I’m going to make some homemade granola, I’m going to make it with the ingredients I love most. Inspired by Sunny’s recipe, I took the base of her granola and molded into my own personal Happy Trails granola combo.

homemade granola recipe

Here’s how I made it:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  2. On the stove, heat up 1/4 cup vegetable oil + 1/2 cup maple syrup (the good stuff, folks. no Aunt Jemima crap) + 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Whisk these 3 ingredients together just until they start to bubble. Remove from stove and let cool
  3. In a mixing bowl, stir together 3 cups rolled oats + 1/4 dark brown sugar + a pinch or two of salt +1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  4. Once cooled, pour the vegetable oil/maple syrup/cinnamon combo over top of the mixing bowl ingredients. Be sure to mix these well.
  5. In a small bowl whisk together 2 egg whites and pour over top of the other ingredients. Mix all ingredients well.
  6. Spread the granola out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
  7. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and flip the oats. Repeat this 4 times. This will take a total of 40 minutes.
  8. Remove granola from the oven and let the ingredients cool.
  9. Once cooled, add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries + 1/4 cup coconut flakes to the mixture.

If you want more flavor — here are a few other fabulous ingredient ideas: dried banana chips, dried mango (for a summer-time granola), slivered almonds instead of walnuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and honey. And if you have a massive sweet tooth — throw in some chocolate chunks!

This granola on top of just regular plain yogurt is to-die-for! But of course it tastes fabulous on raspberry yogurt too!