Raising Cane's for the Fourth!

If you are in the Las Vegas area, Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers on Flamingo is doing something very special for the Fourth of July.  They are giving 100% of what they make today to support the troops, so go on in and order!  It's the patriotic thing to do.

The Family of Food had a great lunch of chicken fingers with Raising Cane's special sauce, crinkle fries, and texas toast.  They do catering too, so you can pick up a tailgate box for your Fourth of July picnics.

http://www.raisingcanes.com/

Raising Cane's 
Las Vegas, NV
1120 E. Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas, NV, 89119

Cat peaking Out of the Bushes (Sounds better than "Cat Box")

Today's feline inspired bento "Cat peaking out of the Bushes" is composed of :
broccoli to create a background and to hold everything in place,
celery and dip,
Laughing Cow cheese wedges for the ears,
hummus in a nice round sealed pack,
crackers, both as the face of the cat and underneath the cheese and broccoli as a base,
tomato slices for the mouth,
shelled edemame for the nose and eyes,
and carrot slivers for the whiskers.
 It's just something joyful for my little kittens.

Sweet Corn Muffin Recipe

Looking through the pantry I saw this recipe on the corn meal box and I set out to make it, but my store of butter was low and I have been trying to lighten up my recipes, so I made a few substitutions and here is the result, sweet corn bread with a little less fat.

These muffins are more cake like than the regular recipe and as you can see from the picture, they are also more melted together, like monkey bread.

Here is the new recipe:
1 1/2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
2/3 Cup of Sugar
1/2 Cup of Corn Meal
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Skim Milk
1/3 Cup Plain Lowfat Yogurt
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

Preheat the oven to 350°
Spray muffin cups with spray oil
Mix Flour, Sugar, Corn Meal, Baking Powder, and Salt in a large bowl or mixer.
In another bowl, beat Eggs lightly, add Milk, Yogurt, and Oil.  Mix well.
Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir until just blended.
Pour into muffin Cups.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The Big Girls Small Kitchen Book Signing

To continue with the previous post topic, our little part of the Family of Food went to the Big Girl Small Kitchen book signing at Vroman's Bookstore. 

Husband of Food and I picked up the twins from a long day of outdoor play and headed to Pasadena.

A culinary good omen... The Nom Nom truck was in the Vroman's parking lot on the way in.  We had never before tried Bahn Mi, a Vietnamese Sandwich, so we figured we would stop by.  The girls were excited to get food from a vehicle.  We ordered a Pork Bahn Mi and a Lemongrass Chicken Taco to share.  Both were quite good and we agreed that the best part was the sweet marinated carrot and daikon radish topping to the sandwich.  If I see the Nom Nom truck again, I'd like to explore the menu further. http://nomnomtruck.com/

I was excited to get to the reading, so I popped upstairs while the family finished off the Nom Nom.  To review; in case you haven't been following every FOF post, Big Girls Small Kitchen is a food blog for young people who are interested in cooking. Daughter of Food (me) is distantly related to one of the Big Girls.  The Big Girls, Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine, shared stories from the book such as how their Magazine club started a regular dinner party and spawned many recipies found in the book.  They answered questions about how they took their blog to book form (something Family of Food was interested in) and what kind of equipment they use - a good chef's knife was one piece they treasured, but no specific brand was recommended. Then the authors passed around homemade chocolate chip cookies and signed copies of their cookbook.

After the reading, I introduced myself to my cousin Phoebe and we chatted a bit about our family and their obsessions with food and cooking.  My kids who had been shopping the bookstore with their Dad came over and tried some of the cookies.

I am looking forward to making some of the recipes out of my new signed copy of the cookbook.  I almost made "resignation brownies" for this post, but then Mother in Law of Food brought brownie bites over. Ah well, another chance to cook a BGSK recipe will present itself soon.

It's good to have family and even better to have a Family of Food.

Big Girls Small Kitchen Visit LA!

Cousin #3 with a Cookbook?  Did we mention that our family loves food?
I don't know if this 3rd (?) cousin remembers me, but I am going to try and stop by Vroman's Bookstore next Wednesday to check out the Big Girls, Small Kitchen book signing to say hello to Phoebe and get some great cooking tips.
Here are the particulars if you are interested in going, too.

Cara Eisenpress & Phoebe Lapine present and sign In the Small Kitchen

Start: 06/01/2011 7:00 pm

Location: 

Vroman's Bookstore

695 E. Colorado Blvd

Pasadena,

California

91101

United States

http://www.vromansbookstore.com/eisenpress-lapine

USA Bento

USA!  USA!  Are you in the mood for the 4th of July yet, how about Memorial Day? You could pack a few of these boxes on your weekend camping trip, or your all day beach outing.  I made it for lunch.
If you're worried about the twins, don't worry, I made two of these, I just didn't like the picture of the second flag sandwich that much.

So... We have watermelon, blueberries, with a flag shaped almond butter and strawberry jelly sandwich, on a bed of string cheese and tomato stripes.

Two Butterflies

This week's bento was made with much input from one of my twins.  She asked for a butterfly with almond butter and jelly sandwiches cut into hearts for wings  and a string cheese for the body.  I added a carrot top for the head and antennae, a cherry cut in half for sub-wings, and a bed of spinach with a cucumber border to set the stage.  The wee one's idea was super.  Can you tell that I am proud of my little butterfly? 

The Dog Haus

"The best of the würst."  I love a place like this: classic comfort food with a modern twist, funky atmosphere, friendly staff...  It's all good at "The Dog Haus" in Pasadena.  Specializing in hot dogs, sausages, and sliders, this restaurant is sure to please the nearby college crowd.

We ordered a Cowboy dog pictured at the top and an Italian Chicken "würst" with grilled onions and cheddar cheese with added BBQ sauce from the condiment bar.  Both were served on their signature Hawaiian roll buns.  My biggest complaint was that these buns make for a messy lunch.  One knife and fork later and my problems were over.

Thumbs up to this one.

Open 11am-10pm daily
t: 626 577 4287 | f: 626 577 4289
Find it on the Family of Food Map
105 N Hill St., Pasadena 91106