Since I usually post pictures of my cake pops, I figure I might as well post these:

Devil’s Food Cake with white chocolate on the outside and sparkly silver crystal sugar (Courtesy of Duff, a.k.a Ace of Cakes). I made them Friday night for Kat & Jeff’s wedding shower on Saturday.

I’m especially proud of the little tags, actually. I thought they were a nice touch.

Thanks to Sarah and Leah for their help (mostly with tying those adorable little bows!).

Finally, a quick public service announcement: When it’s hot outside, cake pops melt. That is all.

This isn’t the kind of thing I would normally review, because it’s not the kind of thing I would normally buy. I’m not that into sweet drinks, and I’m not a big fan of drinking your calories. But I’m recovering from multiple root canals and a wisdom tooth extraction, which has put half of my mouth out of commission. It’s also had me eating a lot of soft things, like oatmeal, yogurt, pudding, applesauce, and, well, smoothies.

I had the Strawberry Banana flavor, and I have to admit that the taste was surprisingly good. It tasted like “real fruit,” as advertised. Mostly strawberry, but with a touch of banana. This created a good balance of tart and sweet. There were strawberry seeds in the mix, and tiny bits of fruit, so it seems as though there’s some actual fruit in there somewhere. Not something I’m going to order all of the time, but I was surprised at how much I liked it.

The nutritional information wasn’t THAT bad, either. For the small size, the smoothie is 210 calories, only half a gram of fat, and 2 grams of fiber, (or 4 Points, for those counting). That’s a little on the high side for a snack, and a disaster if you buy a burger and fries to go with it, but if you were craving something cold and creamy like a milkshake, this is a pretty reasonable substitute. Just to compare, the same size Triple Thick Strawberry Shake will cost you 420 calories, and 10 grams of fat (9 Points) and a Strawberry McCafe Shake is even worse at 570 calories, 17 grams of fat, or 13 Points. In comparison, the smoothie seems downright angelic.

So do I recommend it? If you’re there, and looking for a cold treat, this is a pretty good option. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to get to McDonald’s for one of these smoothies, but I’m not a big smoothie fan in the first place. The small costs $2.29 here which seemed pretty reasonable, but again, I’m not a regular at Jamba Juice or other smoothie places, so I don’t know how that compares. I liked the Strawberry Banana, but I’ve heard that the Wild Berry is a lot sweeter, which certainly wouldn’t be to my tastes.

As you’ve probably noticed if you’ve been following the blog at all, if I have a favorite celebrity chef, it’s got to be Stephanie Izard. She won season 4 of Bravo’s Top Chef to become the first (and so far only!) female Top Chef. She’s from Chicago. And ever since she won “$100,000 to help make her culinary dreams a reality, furnished by the Glad family of products,” I’ve been waiting impatiently for her restaurant to open.

If you remember, we got the chance to meet Stephanie at a little get together at her house, thanks to a contest in the RedEye. And you may or may not know that David and I traipsed all over the city trying to get our hands on tiny little goat buttons, hoping to win tickets to a premiere party for the new restaurant. The whole goat button thing didn’t really work out for us, but David was kind enough to make us reservations after the restaurant opened a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s my rundown:

The decor

The restaurant has high ceilings, and a kind of rustic decor. The kitchen is open, and you can see Stephanie hard at work with the whole kitchen staff. We sat in the center of the floor, so had a good view of the kitchen and the bar. The kitchen is dominated by huge wood-burning ovens–the better to wood-fire some pizzas, my dear. Overall, the restaurant has a comfortable feel. The servers were dressed in jeans and sneakers, which is fine by me, but the patrons were fairly over-dressed for the decor, on the whole. Probably because of the whole new-and-trendy aspect.

The linens were minimal, and in keeping with the rustic feel of the space. Water is served in re-purposed wine bottles, which looked cool, but didn’t exactly keep the water cold.

P.S. We had a decent view of the kitchen, but the restaurant layout has two two-seater tables actually IN the kitchen, so if you want to spend your date that close to the fire, try to reserve one of those spots! I tried not to geek out about seeing Stephanie at work in the kitchen, but we saw that at least one women went up and got her menu autographed, so I guess she’s used to the attention by now.

The drinks

I really should let David tell you about this, since he was the one to order a drink. The bar menu was loaded with great wine selections, by the bottle or the glass, something like 30 different craft beer options, and some very meticulously designed mixed drinks. David ordered something called a “Smoking Jacket,” which featured smoked bourbon or something of the sort. I didn’t taste any, but he enjoyed it. His only “objection” is that it was probably the first pink-colored drink he’s ever ordered in public. We didn’t expect it to come out pink!

The food

This, of course, is what we came for.

Everything is served as small plates, and they recommend two to three plates per person. The menu is sorted into Veggie, Fish, and Meat sections, though as our server warned us, those aren’t strict categories. He offered to make accommodations if we were vegetarians, but as a couple of carnivores, we weren’t too worried. We skipped the oyster selections (we felt brave, but not that brave) and started instead with the “veggie” version of the bread, which was a fresh-baked loaf served with chimichurri and sweet onion butter. All delicious.

From the Veggie plates section, we chose a salad made with fresh mozzarella, yellow cherry tomatoes, and yellow plums. These were served over greens with a vinaigrette and a cilantro-herb paste. Very tasty. And our server told us that that particular dish made the menu that day because Stephanie had been inspired by the cheese and tomatoes at the Green City Market that morning, which was a nice touch.

From the Fish section, I ordered seared scallops, served with braised veal and caponata over marcona almond butter. It was awesome. David’s not a seafood fan, so I didn’t even have to share, but I did get him to try a bite. Even he agreed it was kind of tasty. The scallops were seared perfectly, with an awesome crust on each side. Nestled between the scallops was a very flavorful tender veal. I would order the veal on it’s own any day. The saltiness of the veal, the creaminess of the almond butter, and the subtle sweetness of the scallop melded together perfectly. Can we go back yet? I want this dish again! (If you’re not familiar, caponata is a kind of vegetable salad. Don’t worry, I had to look it up, too. I’m not sure exactly what was in Stephanie’s, but it was very tasty, and definitely added to the dish texturally).

From the Meat section, we ordered two plates: ham frites, with swiss cheese dipping sauce and a sun-dried tomato aioli for dipping, and a skirt steak with pickles, beets, carrots, and cilantro over a salted goat’s milk caramel sauce. The ham frites were basically bacon french fries, and they were as delicious as that sounds. Yes, they were glorified cheese fries, and yes, every bite was delicious. The skirt steak was cooked perfectly (for David–I’m one to over-cook my meat, but I know he was pleased). I enjoyed the pickles so much more than I expected, and the carrots were crunchy and sweet, but my favorite part was the caramel sauce. It was an unexpected sweetness, but a great contrast to all of the other flavors.

Then came dessert. On the one hand, we were stuffed. On the other hand, we were intrigued by most of the selections on the menu. We ended up ordering something called a fudgecicle. It was aptly name, as the foundation of the dessert was frozen chocolate mousse that tasted like a fudgecicle, but with so much more depth. The fudge mousse was topped with a sweet wafer, which was in turn topped with…Olive Oil Gelato. A couple of spoonfuls of a warm sauce made of Dragon’s Milk stout and other goodies softened the frozen bits around the edges and brought all of the flavors together perfectly. And I’m not a beer fan, by any stretch.

P.S. About that gelato: David and I were amazed by the flavor. I can’t describe it to you except to say that it tastes exactly like it sounds, really, but also, so much better than it sounds. Sweet, creamy, with a clean, clear taste of olive oil. I might not have predicted beforehand that I’d like such a thing, but I can tell you now that it was delicious. I’d absolutely order the dessert again.

The conclusion

Can you tell I was pleased? We both were. I don’t think we were disappointed by anything we tried, and we saw a lot of tasty-looking dishes being served to our neighbors as well. Much of what was on the menu was outside of our comfort zone, but in the end, I think that’s what made it fun. I feel like I expanded my culinary horizons, and had an excellent meal. Our server was knowledgeable and attentive. The atmosphere was welcoming. The food, obviously, was excellent. And we were pleasantly surprised at the tab—-after a drink, a starter, two plates each, and a shared dessert, we managed to spend less than $100, including tip. That’s more than we spend on most Wednesday nights, sure, but well worth it. Considering I’ve been psyched for this meal for about 6 months now, as I followed Stephanie on Twitter and waited for the restaurant to open, I’d say our meal was definitely a success. I had high hopes, and I wasn’t disappointed.

And even though I would order any of these dishes again the next time we go back, I’m excited to know that the menu will change often, and that the next trip could be a completely different meal. That’ll be worth the wait, too.

The details

Girl and the Goat; 809 W Randolph St, Chicago IL; Cost: Varies, menu is small plates, two to three plates per person are recommended, and range in price from $6-$17/plate.

David, Leah, and I went to the Taste of Chicago yesterday and had a great time. For awhile, we were going every year, but we never made it out last year, so I was excited to go again. We picked up most of our tickets in advance at Dominick’s, which saves you $2 or $3 per strip. Doing that, and sticking primarily with the taste portions, we usually manage to get through the day without spending TOO much money.

The weather was beautiful yesterday, and the crowds weren’t too bad either. But of course, this being a food blog, I’m here to talk about the food.

We had plenty of our old standbys, including ice cream from Original Rainbow Cone, Eli’s Cheescake (Frozen, on a stick!), Baklava from Pegasus, and Ricobene’s Breaded Steak Sandwich.

We try to focus on things we can’t really get anywhere else or don’t get to eat that often. So no burgers, corn on the cob, or potato chips. We can get that anywhere.

Some of the more interesting tastes:

• A surprise hit to all of us: Upside Down Caramel Cupcake from Abundance Bakery. Ridiculously good!
• A fun fusion of two classics: Irish egg roll from Abbey Pub (corned beef, cheese, cabbage, and mashed potatoes in an egg roll. I wouldn’t normally eat corned beef and cabbage, but inside an egg roll is one of the very few ways I will eat cabbage, so it worked surprisingly well).
• Coconut Rice and Sauteed goat from Iyanze. As Leah commented, goat is much more tender than I would have expected.
• Leah had Mango Rice Pudding with Dried Cranberries from The Grill on the Alley. I’m not a fan of rice pudding, but even I had to admit, it was very tasty.
• The Fire-Grilled Steak Taco from Carbon made us wish we had actually gotten around to eating there when we lived further south. We ate nearby at Ricobene’s pretty often, and they would’ve delivered to us when we were in the South Loop. Based on what we tried yesterday, we missed out!
• The good news is, based on the Cheese Empanada from Adobo Grill, we still have good Mexican food close by. We’ve often considered eating there when we were at The Second City, but have never made the time. Now that we’re closer, we should.

Other solid choices:

• Grilled Shredded Tandoori Turkey from Vermillion. Very moist, tender turkey with a delicious sauce on some kind of crispy flatbread. It sounds heavy, but was surprisingly refreshing thanks to the cool, green sauce.
• Toasted Cheese Ravioli from Tuscany
• Tempura Veggie Platter from Summer Noodles & Rice. Carrot, Asparagus, Eggplant, and Green Beans given the tempura treatment. The veggies were good, nothing special, but the spicy peanut sauce was awesome.
• Key Lime Shortbread from Shokolad Pastry and Cafe
• Cheese Perogi from Polka Sausage & Deli
• Watermelon Italian Ice from Franco’s

Not everything was great though, here are our biggest disappointments:

• Sweet Potato Hashbrowns from Hashbrowns. What happened here? They tasted like greasy, steamed, sweet potatoes. Maybe it was the heat or the outside service or whatever, but there was nothing even remotely crispy about these hashbrowns, and I think that’s the key to good hashbrowns. You’d think a place called Hashbrowns would know that. We threw it away after one bite.
• Macaroni & Cheese from Manny’s. I hate to say anything bad about Manny’s, because we actually like it a lot. So much so that we looked at the taste menu and said “No, we’re going to just take you there soon, Leah, because we can’t do it justice here.” We tried the taste portion of mac & cheese anyway, and we should’ve passed. It was mushy and bland. Barely any cheese flavor. I’d rather have Easy Mac. No kidding. (We did like the picture of Obama eating at Manny’s though).

Biggest rip offs:

• Still the potato chips from Harry Caray’s. We’ve never been to HC’s, and the chips are good, but I hear they don’t even charge for them in the restaurant. If that’s true,  the $4-5 price tag on these chips at the Taste is even more criminal. We skipped them.
• Also, any drinks. It’ll run you 8 tickets for even a bottle of water or soda, and a lot more than that for a beer or mixed drink. Bring your own water bottles, hit up the water fountains as needed, and save your tickets for food, I say.

Anyway, if you’ve never been to the Taste, I think it’s worth going. Be sure you dress appropriately (it gets hot out there!), wear/bring plenty of sunblock, stick to the taste portions (unless it’s something really special), take a group, and share the food, otherwise there’s just way too much. And try to avoid the 4th of July weekend. The crowds are INSANE then.

I’m going to put aside my grilling recipes to plug one of my favorite treats these days: Greek Yogurt.

If you like yogurt at all, you HAVE to give Greek yogurt a try. It’s so much richer, creamier, and more substantial than the watery old yogurt you’re used to. I’ve tried Fage, Trader Joe’s, Stoneybrook Farms, and Dannon’s greek yogurts, and they’re all good, but my favorite is Chobani’s fruit flavored varieties.

I’ve tried the Raspberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Strawberry-Banana, and Peach flavors, and they’re all delicious. They’re fruit on the bottom, which I never used to be a fan of, but the fruit actually resembles fruit, unlike the blended yogurts I’d gotten used to. Most of them avoid artificial sweeteners, but also manage to not be loaded with sugar. Have you checked the label on your current yogurt lately? If you aren’t buying fat free or light yogurts, there’s sometimes upwards of 40 grams of sugar in that tiny little carton. There’s only 28 g of sugar in a Snickers bar, by comparison. Just something to think about.

Not to get all “nutrition nutrition nutrition” on you all, but there’s also way more protein in Greek yogurt than regular yogurt–twice as much.

Like I said at the beginning, if you like yogurt–you’ve got to try Greek yogurt. It’s popping up all over the place, and it’s worth the extra few cents.

P.S. I don’t think this needs to be said, but in case you’re wondering, no one is paying me or asking me to talk about any of the brands or products I write about here. I just write about things I love.

Well, we’re in the new place. Most everything is set up, except for the dining room. I’m really happy with the way everything lays out. Even the kitchen.

For my birthday, David bought me a grill. This one! It’s beautiful. Works wonderfully. And we’ve been grilling ever since.

Saturday, we had a little housewarming/birthday get together with some of my friends, and so of course, we fired up the new grill. We picked up a pork loin, cut it into cubes, and skewered it for kebabs. I used Alton Brown’s pork brine, with a handful of Alton Brown’s rib rub, and they turned out great. Tender and juicy, with just enough seasoning to highlight the pork.

I also grilled some chicken marinated in Italian dressing with garlic and herbs de provence. Kebab style as well.

We grilled up some of the first sweet corn of the season, and made a variation of my parmesan pasta salad, but with salami and tortelloni. Still very tasty. Finished it off with grilled pineapple. Yum!

After all of that, you’d think I’d be tired of grilling, but so far, so good. Sunday night, we grilled some chicken with the Rub with Love Chicken spice rub and finished it off with some barbecue sauce. Monday night we had burgers made with garlic and fresh thyme. Tonight, we grilled a pork tenderloin with a Hoisin-Bourbon glaze. If the weather cooperates, we plan to grill chicken sausages tomorrow, and follow it up with grilled pizza on Thursday.

Maybe next week we’ll move the cooking back inside, but for now, I’m thoroughly enjoying my birthday present. Happy grilling, everybody!

I’m pretty happy, actually, with the finale. I enjoyed it, and I thought they wrapped things up pretty well.

My friend Cara (who has her own fashion blog, if you’re so inclined) came over to celebrate The End. We undertook the massive re-watch together last summer and have made watching Lost a weekly event pretty much ever since, so it was only fitting that we finish it together.

She did an awesome job with the Dharma-tizing of our snacks. You can check out her handiwork below.

that's Dharma wine, beers, and sodas, Dharma Initiative tortilla chips with Dharma salsa, guacamole dip, and salsa con queso dip.

She also printed us boarding passes for Oceanic 815, along with all those awesome poster-prints. We couldn’t resist playing the numbers in the lottery. But more about the food.

I contributed some Dharma Initiative-iced cookies, the “Fish Biscuit” goldfish crackers, and “Black & White Rocks” (i.e. chocolate/yogurt covered raisins). And of course, John Locke orange-slice-smile props.

You’d think that was more than enough food for two people, even though it’s mostly snacks, but no. I also made Donkey Wheel Pasta Salad, which is pretty much just this Pepperoni Parmesan Pasta Salad, which you’ve seen before. I used mini wagon wheel noodles to give it that extra Lost-y touch, but otherwise, it was the same.

Then, in honor of Mr. Smoke Monster himself, I made Lil’ Smokey’s in a blanket, with Smokey cheddar cheese. Yum! (Super-Quick Recipe: Cut crescent roll dough pieces into quarters. Wrap each sliver around a Lil’ Smokey and a small slice of cheese. Bake according to the crescent roll package directions. Enjoy!)

So that was our Lost menu. We had a blast celebrating the series, but I’m not going to lie: I’m going to miss it. What in the world am I going to watch all summer?

As I’ve mentioned before, we make a point of planning our meals out a week in advance. I thought it might be fun to share what our meals are going to be for the week. I also wanted an excuse to post today so I could say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LEAH! (known around here as Test Subject #2)

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, here’s what we have planned for this week:

• (Meatless) Monday: Quesadillas with Fajita Veggies (Made with Chihuahua cheese, which makes the best quesadillas!)
• Tuesday: Beef Posole Stew, from the Weight Watchers “Slow Cook-It!” Cookbook, over Alton Brown’s Baked Brown Rice
• Wednesday: Apricot-Glazed Chicken, from the Weight Watchers “Now & Later” Cookbook, with Toasted Pine Nut Couscous
• Thursday: Chicken Cubano Panini, from the Weight Watchers “Now & Later” Cookbook, with a side of Roasted Potatoes. I’m also trying a new healthy carrot cake recipe for Leah’s birthday!
• Friday: Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Casserole, seen here. I kind of can’t wait for this one–I’ve only made it the one time, but it was very good.

Don’t mind me, I’m just going to geek out for a bit about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a new theme park opening in June at Universal Studios, Orlando. I’m a potter fan, and have been keeping an eye on some of the plans for the park. I’ve often been underwhelmed by the news reports–what was being touted as a whole theme park is really just a world in the existing Islands of Adventure park, and they opted to build Hogwarts over an existing medieval castle ride. It seems like most of the Harry Potter themed attractions are just re-brandings of the existing rides in the area.

That being said, I’ve started to get a bit more excited about the shops and restaurants the more I hear. Universal really does seem to be offering the chance to immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter, and I think that could be really fun. Especially for kids. I thought it might be kind of fun to take a look at what kinds of foods Universal plans to offer. From the official website:

Three Broomsticks in a rustic tavern where visitors to Hogsmeade can come to share a pint of Butterbeer or pumpkin juice and dine on hearty fare. In this restaurant you can choose from such entries as the “Great Feast Platter,” fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, Cornish pasty, turkey legs & fresh vegetables. Children’s menu items include chicken, macaroni & cheese, fish and chips, and chicken fingers, each served with grapes and applesauce. Dessert choices include apple pie, strawberry and peanut butter ice cream, and chocolate trifle. At the rear of the Three Broomsticks tavern is the Hog’s Head pub. Here the family can enjoy Butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and other beverages while adults sample the pub’s selection of domestic and imported beers, specialty drinks, wine, spirits, and mixed drinks.

Recently, one of my favorite Harry Potter news sites, The Leaky Cauldron, posted a review of the food that’s going to be available at the Harry Potter themed restaurant. You can read the full review here, if you’re interested. I was excited to hear about a few things being done right.

1. The Butterbeer recipes were tested by J.K. Rowling herself, and she chose the version that will be sold at the parks.
2. Everything seems crazy-faithful to the books. The strawberry and peanut butter ice cream is taken from a tiny cameo appearance in book 2. That’s how much thought they’ve put into it. From the reviews at The Leaky Cauldron, it sounds like everything is lifted straight from the books, which is awesome.
3. Pumpkin juice will be bottled and sold (not Butterbeer, though. Boo!).
4. The food’s at the THREE BROOMSTICKS, duh. That’s cool.
5. So is the Hog’s Head pub in the back.

It sounds like Universal is putting a lot of care into recreating the Harry Potter world. And honestly, I think they can handle the job, having been to Universal Studies and having seen things like the crazy flora surrounding the Jurassic Park area. Wikipedia says the attraction covers six acres of land and contains 353 palm trees of eleven species, 300 bamboo plants of six varieties, and 7,441 shrubs, plants, and flowers of seventy six species. I don’t know about all those plants, but I know that it FEELS like you’ve just been dumped into Jurassic Park. The food is just one small piece of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but if they put this much care into just the concessions, I think it really bodes well for the whole area.

And as Melissa of the Leaky Cauldron pointed out: “Just think…we haven’t even been to Honeydukes yet.”

P.S. Melissa Anelli of the Leaky Cauldron wrote an awesome book about Harry Potter fans called “Harry: A History.” If you’re interested in Harry Potter, or even just the story of how the crazed fan-base grew online, you should check it out. If you like Harry Potter AND are a part of some online HP community, you pretty much don’t have a choice. Get the book.

We are not vegetarians around here. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I don’t even like most vegetables that much.

Despite that, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of including a day of meatless meals in our weekly menu. Even a slight reduction int he amount of meat you eat is supposed to make a difference in the average American’s health, and will make a positive impact on the environment as well. There’s a whole “Meatless Monday,” movement going on (you can read more at www.meatlessmonday.com).

In his book In Defense of Food, Michael Pollen advised America to  “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” He has since cited Meatless Monday as a way to reach this goal. In April 2009 Pollan expressed the need for Americans to reduce meat consumption during an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show: “even one meatless day a week—a Meatless Monday, which is what we do in our household—if everybody in America did that, that would be the equivalent of taking 20 million mid-size sedans off the road.”

That’s all well and good, but I grew up in America, and for me (and my husband) a dinner plate has a piece of meat, a side dish, and [hopefully] a vegetable. We’ve been eating healthier for about 6 months now, and have been doing well at it, but our menus do tend to follow that format. We’re on board with the Meatless Monday concept, for sure, but I’m having trouble coming up with meatless meals for picky eaters.

Here’s why:

1) We don’t like meat substitutes. No tofu, no boca burgers. They’re not good, and may not be good for you.

2) We’re not huge vegetable eaters, and the veggies we do like don’t tend to be liked by both of us. I like mushrooms, but not David. He’ll eat peppers all day long, but I pick around them. Etc.

3) We’re still trying to eat healthy here! I’m following Weight Watchers, and most of the satisfying meatless things I can think of are swimming in butter, cheese, and cream. Fettuccine Alfredo, anyone?

So I feel a little stuck. Anyone have ideas for substantial, tasty meatless menus? A couple of carnivores could use your help.