French Cuisine on the East Side: Blue Dahlia

So Blue Dahlia is this little gem of a French restaurant on 11th street. I was first introduced to it when I came to Austin for the first time in March of 2010. Aleza, Justin, Jon and I went there for dinner and dessert on Aleza's birthday. Aleza had raved to me about the place so I knew it would be good. How good was a different question.

I distinctly remember that meal. Of course I enjoyed the company of three of my most favorite people but I think I actually remember what we all ate. Seriously, almost 2 years later. I can almost taste it...

So it is safe to say that this is a major staple for our little group. We have done more birthday dinners here. Aleza and I come here sometimes just to split dessert and have a drink after long days. And  maybe we happen to be on a walk and it's on our way home and you know, maybe need to refuel on creme brulee and chocolate mousse. I'm just saying. And, on Aleza's wedding day we had a bridesmaid bruncheon here before she said I do.

 So last weekend when our dear friend Kathleen, who just moved to Houston from Illinois, requested to eat lunch here when she came to visit, we couldn't refuse.

On Blue Dahlia's menu, you will see many things. They serve breakfast all day and at night (which Aleza loves.) You will see wonderful and filling entrees. And then, there are the tartines. Tartines are French open faced sandwiches usually with some sort of fancy sauce or dressing. And it happens to be what the three of us chose to order.

 The bread used is whole wheat and the sandwiches come with a side of fresh greens and fruit.

Aleza's selection of roast beef and caper dijon creme frache sauce

My selection (and my go-to) of prosciutto, mozzarella, pesto and sun dried tomatoes.

Kathleen's choice of Smoked salmon with herb and garlic cream cheese 

So delicious and I think my new favorite.

Yum, look at those pastries! Chocolate croissant - yes please!

Kathleen and I - our newest Texan! Yay!

So obviously, I'm a big fan of this place. Please check out their website and if you have not eaten there, please do! Don't worry, there will be more posts on this place. Especially since Aleza and I haven't had dessert there recently!

Happy Eating!

Deepika

Leafy Greens

So even though it was a bit ago, I want to share the recipes of the food Andrea and I made for Thanksgiving!
I decided to make pies and Andrea decided to make greens. Delicious greens. For those you wanting a healthy and tasty meal, you should try the following recipes.


Pineapple Collards
(Recipe from Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes By Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Matthew Ruscigno)


Ingredients:
1 teaspoon sesame oil
6 cloves of garlic minced
1 lb collards or other hearty greens, stems removed and leaves chopped
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp salt


Preheat a  large skillet.  Saute the garlic, red pepper flakes and ginger in the sesame oil, being careful not to burn them, for about 2 minutes. Then add collards, pineapple and salt, sauteing with tongs for 10 minutes or until collards are tender. If becoming dry while cooking, add splashes of water to the skillet. Serve immediately.


Kale Salad with Avocado and Almonds
(Recipe from Lucid Food:  Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life By Louisa Shafia, Jennifer Martiné)

Ingredients: 
1 bunch of kale, thick stems removed and coarsely chopped
1 ripe avocado, diced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small garlic clove, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and sliced into thin half moons
1 small, green apple, sliced thin
1 scallion, green part only, thinly sliced
1 large handful of toasted almonds

Place kale in a large bowl with the avocado. Add salt, garlic, and olive oil. Mix very well, rubbing the greens with the avocado for about 3 minutes. Save a  handful of the carrot and apple slices for garnish, then gently fold the rest into the kale mixture with the scallion, pine nuts, and mint. Taste and season with additional sea salt, if necessary.

Also, a shout out to one of my besties, Danielle, for the awesome microphone tongs you see in the bowl above. They totally rock (haha!) and are also useful in many cooking and serving situations!


Happy Eating!

Gobble Gobble Gobble!

Thanksgiving. The holiday which the first thing that comes to mind is food. Not just candy or something but actual real food. A real meal. That's the whole holiday.

In my family,  Thanksgiving wasn't a big holiday. Occasionally an Indian family would decide to provide a meal for the kids but mostly it was just my mom picking up a Thanksgiving plate from the grocery store for me and  a pumpkin pie for the three of us to share. As I got older, friends would invite me to their family's thanksgiving,  which was always fun. But never have I really actively partaken in the cooking and baking for this holiday.

This all changed this year. Aleza,  Justin and Jon decided to host Thanksgiving.  Justin's parents came in town so a little piece of home was here. And a lot of our friends from Austin stayed in town, so it turned into a big extravaganza!

Aleza took pictures for me so I could share with you the preparations for what turned out to be a wonderful holiday.

Cranberries :)

Recipe for Spoon Bread (which I just LOVE)

Recipe for Presna (cheesy and yummy!)

Justin and Aidan working hard

Hi Turkey!

Deep fry baby!

Beautiful

You are about to be HUNGRY as you look below...

A great group of people gathered. Friends from Austin. Friends from Carbondale. Family. Co-workers. Neighbors. Friends of Friends. I think it's when you are able to come together that you realize what you are really thankful for. Friends. Family. And of course, cheese. And having a place to go when you aren't with family...when you are lucky enough to have friends who are your family.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hoping yours was wonderful!

The Steeping Room

So...I love tea. There is so much comfort that comes from drinking a steaming mug of tea. It's pretty much a daily ritual in my house now. 

The Steeping room is a tea house and restaurant located up in Austin in this area called The Domain. The Domain is part of a huge shopping center and I've been in there for a cup of tea and a cupcake but never for an actual meal. Andrea is a huge fan and goes to brunch there often so when she asked me to meet her there for dinner Monday night, I knew I had to give it a try especially since I knew I could get a cup of tea.

Sure enough, we began our meal with hot tea.

How beautiful are these sweet teapots and tea mugs?

It was hard to choose as the Steeping Room has a very thorough tea list. In the end , we both got tea from the Green Tea Japanese Single Leaf family. I choose the Genmaicha, an addictive green tea from Japan with toasted rice and sencha. Andrea had the Houjicha, a roasted tea with calming properties. 

For dinner I couldn't decide, so our waiter ---seriously the best waiter ever--- led me to the Jasmine Gravlax,which was jasmine tea-cured Atlantic salmon with cream cheese and thinly sliced cucumber served on white bread with a side of Cashew Caesar Salad.

I am not the biggest fan of white bread but I really enjoyed the taste of cream cheese and salmon against it. I love Caesar Salad and really liked the twist of the Cashews in the dressing. 

Andrea had the Seasonal Grilled Vegetable sandwich on rice bread which had tofu with butternut squash, caramelized onions, arugula, lentil walnut spread and goat cheese with a green salad.

   

Andrea assured me it was delicious and she did clean her plate.

Even though by the end of the meal we were full, we had decided at the beginning of the meal to split dessert and you know, we are some smart ladies.

I mean, look at this:

Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse 

Amazingly delicious and I loved the added tartness of the raspberries.

The Steeping Room is located in the Domain off of the Mopac Expressway. They pride themselves in fresh and natural ingredients and have something to meet most dietary needs including vegetarian and gluten free options. Visit their website and make your way up there for a hot cup of tea this winter and if you have time, stop in for a meal. You will not regret it.

Happy Eating!

Foodie Friday: What Fall Tastes Like

Now that it is fall and it's cold outside, (yes it's cold here in Texas!) I must share this recipe we found here.
Andrea and I had both been craving soup and the minute it got the slightest bit cold, it was time to make some. Also, I get a little obsessed with anything pumpkin in the fall. I blame Starbucks. 


Spicy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Ingredients
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onions, chopped
1 teaspoons minced garlic
A dash of crushed red pepper
1 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin 
2 1/2 cups of vegetable broth (or chicken broth but my roommate is a veggie)
1 cups of milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream

1) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.
2) Add pumpkin and broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3) Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.
4) With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.

I also happened to have pumpkin pie spice in my cupboard, so we put a dash on top and it was delicious. A dash of pepper would also be good to give it a bit of a kick.

Happy Eating!

Deepika

Foodie Friday: Stuffed Bell Peppers

Before I delve into these delicious stuffed bell peppers (we made these in July and I STILL remember how great they tasted), let me give you a little background on Foodie Friday!

When Andrea and I decided to move in together (we have the sweetest little house), we came up with the idea for Foodie Friday. Neither of us are big fans of going out on Fridays. Dinner is about all I can  muster. So we thought, why not stay in and cook? Or maybe sometimes go try a new restaurant? Add to that a glass of wine and good conversation. Perfect Friday night solution!

Our very first Foodie Friday occurred before we even moved in together. We couldn't wait ... we were pretty excited about the idea!

Stuffed Bell Peppers (based on this recipe I found at this great blog --- We added and subtracted a few things so our version is listed below)

• Ingredients:
• 3 bell peppers halved and seeded 
• 1 bell peppers - diced into small pieces 
• 1 zucchini - diced into small pieces
• 1 onion - diced into small pieces
• 4 cloves garlic - minced 
• 1 c frozen corn 
• 1 small tomato - diced into small pieces
• 1 cup of mushrooms - diced into small pieces
• 2 tbs parsley 
• 3/4 c panko breadcrumbs  - we used garlic and herb flavored
• salt 
• pepper 
• 1 package of light cream cheese (3 oz.)
• 1 tbs essence 
• 3 tbs olive oil 
• 2 tbs butter 
• 1/4 c parmesan (to start - decide if you want more based on taste)  plus more for sprinkling 

I'm not sure how we managed to not eat all of this

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
After heating butter and olive oil in a pan on the stove, saute the onions over med high heat until translucent. 
Add garlic and cook til fragrant.  
Add the mushrooms and saute til soft. 
Add the rest of the vegetables. Saute until tender.
Then add salt, pepper and essence. 
Slowly add cream cheese until entire package is added to the vegetable mixture.
 Add parsley and breadcrumbs. Then add parmesan and take off heat.

Stuff the peppers with the vegetable-cream cheese mixture. Place in a baking dish coated with a little olive oil. Bake until peppers are softened (about 20-25 minutes).
A few minutes before the peppers are done - I recommend at about 5 minutes left - sprinkle parmesan on top of the peppers and finish baking.


Voila! Finished! And let me tell you, the leftovers are great as well. You can stick the peppers back in the oven for about five minutes or, if you are lazy like I am, just nuke them in the microwave for a few minutes!

Happy Eating!
Deepika

Happy Diwali!

Diwali. What my mom calls the indian version of Christmas. I love this holiday partly because my mom was very adamant about celebrating it. We used to light candles every year on our porch and she would often throw huge Diwali parties so I could be exposed to this special Indian holiday. I also grew up in a town with a decent Indian community so every year since I can remember, there would be a huge program that got put on full of music and dance performances.  

To give you the rundown, Diwali is the festival of lights. It covers a lot of different events discussed in Indian folklore. One is the return of Rama from 14 years of exile. Another is the killing of Nakarasura, an evil demon. If interested, Wikipedia has a decent explanation.

Basically, it's an excuse to perform a pooja (our version of a church service) and then get together with all your friends and family, wear fancy new clothes, light candles and set off fireworks, and of course, eat a delicious home cooked meal.

This year I decided to have a little Diwali shindig of my own focusing on the meal. This was the biggest endeavor I've ever attempted as far as food goes. I basically spent 4 or 5 hours in the kitchen, blissfully content as the smell of curry tickled my nose. Add a little Bollywood music and the afternoon equaled perfection.

That evening, about 10 people came over and we ate till our bellies were full.  I must add that Justin brought over DELICIOUS naan (wonderful Indian bread) and our friend Slava brought over some much needed dessert, chocolate cake. Completely rounded out the meal.

I made the following dishes: (to be served with rice or naan)

Dal Makhani: Hands down, one of my most favorite Indian dishes.  It is a black lentil dish with kidney beans, onions, tomatoes and a ton of butter and cream. Delish.

Mutter Paneer: Paneer means cheese and mutter means peas so...it's a dish of cheese and peas in a tomato gravy.

Tandoori Chicken: A very popular chicken dish where chicken is marinated in fragrant spices and yogurt and then baked.


Aloo Gobi: A potato and cauliflower dry curry sauteed in a ginger garlic sauce along with chili powder.

 




I eventually hope to break down these curries for you all so you can try them at home!
Stay tuned...


Happy Eating!
Deepika

P.S. How beautiful do Andrea (my sweet housemate) and Aleza look in their Indian clothes?! 

Just so you know...

For my already loyal and super wonderful followers, I've decided to upload posts of which the material comes from the last couple months. I've been preparing for this blog...it's about time I finally followed through on it! :)

Happy Eating!
Deepika

P.S. Per a certain follower's request, *coughs* Aleza *coughs* I will be making pumpkin cheesecake this week so stay tuned for that blog post!

And so it begins...

I've been debating about starting this blog since I moved to Austin a year ago. Although this blog will discuss a lot of different eateries in Austin it will also delve into my love for cooking and baking.
I look forward to lots of time in the kitchen and trying new places and I welcome you to join me on this journey.


Happy Eating!


Deepika