Super Bowl Recipe Ideas

 

Happy Groundhog’s Day/Super Bowl Sunday! For those of you who are coming to Jersey City for the big game, there’s still time to check out the guide Jeremy and I put together to watch the game here in town.

Since I’m actually not a huge football fan, my favorite part about the Super Bowl is the excuse to eat yummy party food and enjoy a few drinks with friends.  Here are some of my Super Bowl party-friendly recipes:

• White Bean Hummus
• Herbed Garlic Toasts
• Veggie Tacos
• Chili, my way (a quick and easy chili that takes less than 30 minutes to cook!)
• Spicy Chicken Enchilada Chili (a slow cooker recipe, so it needs some planning ahead time, but it’s one of my recipes on this blog!)
• Tortilla Soup (another slow cooker recipe that needs some planning ahead)
• Almond Butter Ice Cream Bread – a great dessert that requires few ingredients, you can substitute in your favorite flavor of ice cream

And here are some fun Super Bowl party recipes from around the web:

• Crispy Buffalo Cauliflower from Just Prepare It Deliciously
• Cheesy Jalapeno Pull Bread from Simply Recipes (I’ve brought this to Super Bowl parties several times and it’s always a hit!)
• Edamame Black Bean Salad from Peanut Butter Fingers - this looks like a tasty healthy alternative to dip
• Healthier Seven Layer Dip from fANNEtastic food

No matter which team you are rooting for tonight, I hope you all have a happy and safe Super Bowl Sunday!

A Super Bowl-Goer’s Real Guide To Downtown Jersey City (And Beyond)

Jeremy (or J. as I have called him on this blog until now) and I are proud to announce that we co-authored a guest post on our friend Kevin's blog, Inside Jersey City. Super Bowl XLVIII coming to New York has been all the buzz lately, but of course, the Seahawks and Broncos will actually be playing for the coveted ring in East Rutherford, New Jersey.  And what many people don't know is that the players are staying in hotels in Jersey City.  So Jeremy and I put together a Super Bowl-goers guide on our favorite places to eat, drink, and hang out in the beloved town we call home.

So go on over to Inside Jersey City to check it out! While you're there, check out all the tips, helpful information on local businesses, and other useful resources about Jersey City on Kevin's blog!

Special thanks to Kevin for hosting our guest post!

Fuji Apple and Gorgonzola Salad

 

A few weeks ago, I had a lovely lunch with the even lovelier book club ladies, at the Iron Monkey, a cool bar/restaurant in Jersey City.  Since I wanted to keep the meal nice and light, I ordered the Fuji Apple and Endive Salad.  This salad is so simple, yet oh so tasty – the crisp sweetness of the apple was complemented nicely by the sweet and salty candied pecans and the creamy tang of the gorgonzola.  I enjoyed this salad so much I knew I had to try to recreate at home.  I made a few variations with what I had on hand at home – I may be biased, I actually think my version is better.

Fuji  Apple and Gorgonzola Salad

Ingredients:

For the salad:

• 2-3 cups Mixed salad greens
• 1 Fuji apple, sliced
• 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• 1/4 mixed nuts chopped

For for the apple cider vinaigrette:

• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• pinch of salt and pepper

Layer salad ingredients into a bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk together dressing ingredients.  Drizzle dressing lightly over salad. Serves 2.

The Best Birthday Gift Ever

"I love almond butter,"  I said to J. as I am licking a heaping spoonful of the stuff in our kitchen.  

"Really? I hadn't noticed," he responded sarcastically,  referring to the fact that I have been eating spoonfuls of it nearly on a daily basis.  

"You know what would be really awesome?  If they could make almond butter ice cream.  I bet it would be delicious."  

Fast-forward to this week, my birthday. 

I got home from work, and ran up the two flights of stairs to our apartment in anticipation of the birthday presents J. has for me.  I was a little out of breath when I got to the top (ask any of our guests, our stairs are steep!), but I was excited for what ever surprise J. had in store for me.  

I opened the door and find a single birthday card on the table. I ripped it out of the envelope and found...

 

At this point, I was getting skeptical about my gift! But then this message caught my eye...

I opened the freezer, and saw this!

A giant tub of almond butter ice cream!

It turns out J. went to Torico's Ice Cream, a local ice cream shop in Jersey City that is near and dear to our hearts since we personally know the family that owns the business, the Berrios family.  Torico's is well-known in Jersey City for their creamy homemade ice cream, and their unique variety of flavors.  So J. asked the Berrios's if they could make a special order of almond butter ice cream for my birthday.  He paid them for the ingredients and their efforts, of course.  

But it turns out that in order to make it with their commercial equipment, they had to make  A LOT of ice cream.  In fact, we have not just one, but two of these huge tubs of ice cream.  Here it is in our freezer to give you an idea of how big they are!

Totally worth it though, this stuff is SO GOOD! It tastes just like almond butter, only icy cold and creamier!  Plus, there are sliced almonds in their for texture.  

So instead of ordering dessert at the Lighthorse Tavern, where we went to dinner to celebrate, we came home and I made myself an almond butter banana split!

Not a bad way to celebrate! Special Thanks to J. for this awesome gift and to Torico's for making this special order.  If you are in the Jersey City area, I highly recommend stopping by for their ice cream! Unfortunately, they won't be serving almond butter ice cream, but they have a great selection of other flavors! (Suvarna took a picture of their menu in her guest post here.)  My favorites are the Banana Peanut Butter swirl and the Blueberry Cheesecake!  

(P.S. For those of you wondering, this was not the only gift J. got me for my birthday. I also got much needed gift cards to Macy's,  Another Man's Treasure, and E. Tittlemouse and Co. The last two stores are very cool vintage stores in J.C.  Time to go shopping!)

4th Street Arts Annual Chili Cook-Off

[Image Source]

Today, we are taking a brief interlude from the "Healthy Living Series" on Food Judicata to talk about more important things -- Chili!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to enjoy some sunshine and spicy chili at the Fourth Street Arts Annual Chili Cook-Off in Jersey City.  And the timing was quite fortuitous, not only was it Cinco de Mayo, but the weather was sunny and perfect to be outside for a chili cook-off!

For $5 per person, we each got a bracelet to  get to sample over 20 different types of chili prepared by individuals and local restaurants.  The cook-off was judged by local "celebrity" judges.  The spectators also got to vote for their picks for for Best Restaurant Chili and Best Individual.  

Here were my picks:

Best Restaurant - LITM - Spicy Lamb Sausage Chili

One thing I noticed about my own chili preferences is I prefer chilis that have different meats in them other than just ground beef.   I like that the different cuts of meat provide a different, more complex texture to the chili. As you can see here, there was a big ball of lamb sausage in this chili. Here's another look at the chili with the ingredient list.

 Best Individual - Jim's Chili

This one was so popular that they ran out before I could take a picture! Here's the ingredient list:

Once again, I preferred the chili that didn't use plain old ground beef as the featured meat.  What I liked about this chili was that they used beef short ribs, which had smoky chunks of tender beef as opposed to crumbs of ground beef. Not that I have anything against ground beef, but I found that other meats stood out in my memory better.  Which is important when you are tasting 20 different types of chili!

PJ Ryan's a local pub in Jersey City, also had an intriguing chili entry.  When I first saw their table, I saw they had the longest line of people! I thought, "Wow, they must have the best chili!"  Which is odd, when you think about it, because I don't think of an Irish pub when I think of great chili.  But as I got closer to the front of the line, I saw why the line was so long!

They were giving out shots of Jameson as a "palate cleanser"! No wonder they were so popular.  Here's a shot of J. getting his chili and whiskey shot.

If PJ Ryan's was trying to curry favor to the judges and tasters, it certainly worked! PJ Ryan's won both the Judge's Choice and tied with LITM for "People's Choice."  (Though, I still think they had a bit of an edge in the competition!)

Overall, I had a great time tasting different chilis at the Chili Cook-Off and can't wait until next year!

Related links:
The winners of the Chili Cook-Off on the Fourth Street Arts Facebook page
Article featuring the Chili Cook-Off winners on The Star Ledger
Fourth Street Arts

Guest Post: Lighter Mac and Cheese with Suvarna!

Please welcome my friend and law school classmate, Suvarna, who is also a lover of food and the law.  You may remember Suvarna from our earlier cooking adventure in 2009, when we made a delectable, but very rich baked mac and cheese. Here, we take on a lighter and healthier version. Enjoy!

As the readers on this site already know, Cheryl’s blog is called “Food Judicata – Food that has been judged.”  I’ve been and fan and avid reader of Cheryl’s blog since we graduated from law school because I too love food and civil procedure.  I think Cheryl has been so courageous in sharing her recent journey to a healthier lifestyle. She has inspired me and shared countless tips about calorie counters on phones, steaming vegetables, and portion control.  Accordingly, when planning my visit to Cheryl’s I challenged the both of us to come up with a recipe that would incorporate the ice cream from a local Jersey City ice cream shop, Torico.  Cheryl came up with the idea of making these delicious banana-split mini bites  and our cooking plans and my visit to Jersey City were set.

Right before our Jersey City day of cooking, I emailed Cheryl to check if she needed any ingredients.  Not surprisingly, she had everything we needed!  However, she did top my healthy ice cream recipe challenge with a healthy macaroni and cheese challenge!  Cheryl was kind enough to let me guest cook with her back in 2009, where we made a baked macaroni and cheese using this beautiful blue Le Creuset pot that I purchased with my Westlaw points. She thought on our second time cooking together, and in the spirit of healthy eating, we should revise or previous macaroni and cheese recipe with a new healthier one.  So we chose this one from Skinny Taste.  On a side note, Cheryl is a mac n’ cheese expert, having also made and written about the much loved dish in 2011. Then on the train ride up to Jersey City, I received a text from Cheryl asking if I liked asparagus.  I wrote back of course I do and that I loved the fact that it was a “spring” vegetable.  Thus, we added asparagus to our ambitious day of healthy cooking.

Upon arriving in Jersey City, I immediately realized what a fun place it is to live.  There was a huge sign at the train station announcing an upcoming Indian Holi celebration, food vendors, and so many cute shops and corner grocery stores.  Since Cheryl had all the ingredients for the recipes, and I just could not go to celebrate a new apartment empty handed, I stopped at a flower store to pick up some spring tulips.  I love flowers and since my mother is a tireless gardener flowers fill our home all year long.  Incidentally, Cheryl’s family is in the floral business and she has random knowledge about flowers – like the fact that tulips open during the day and shut at night!  Anyway I know I digress, I was so excited about seeing not just an ordinary ice cream shop, but instead “Torico Homemade Ice Cream Parlor.”  They have so many cool flavors like avocado, lychee, and ginger, in addition to the traditional flavors. 

After getting a grand tour of the apartment (what a gorgeous kitchen) and catching up (I think I hadn’t seen Cheryl in over year!), we got down to work.  The author of the recipe touted it as being kid-friendly and it did not disappoint!  We added spinach and used home-made bread crumbs.  Cheryl also added a secret ingredient – cayenne pepper – amazing.  The difference between the 2013 and 2009 recipe is visible – our new version looks not as greasy as the first and it tasted delicious. We may have made enough macaroni and cheese to last Cheryl and J. for the entire spring – but I suppose you can never have too much of a good thing! 

The cheese mixture with our "secret" ingredient

Ready for the oven!

The finished product

The recipe for the new and improved macaroni and cheese can be found here. 

As for the asparagus, we steamed it, tossed it in olive oil, added some chopped raw almonds, and some salt and pepper (in Cheryl’s cool new pepper grinder).  Cheryl taught me a new trick where you run the asparagus under cold water so that it stops the cooking process and the vegetables remain crunchy.  

Asparagus after a cold shower

Unfortunately, after a busy morning of cooking, we did not have time to make dessert!  J. is one of the founding members of Jersey City Ties, “a new group for young professionals that focuses on fun social events, networking, and helping out the Jersey City community.”  The group was hosting a NCAA March Madness Event and so we ended our day of cooking a little early to go enjoy some basketball and meet up with new and old friends.  This is a really great group of people and anyone in the Jersey City area should check out an event if they have the chance.  I’m not too worried about the banana split mini bites, I’ll just have to make another trip to Jersey City in the summer – apparently the ice cream parlor is the place to be in the warmer months!!

On a final note, “Grazie Mille,” to Cheryl for being so gracious to let me guest blog once again, write my first ever blog entry, show me around Jersey City, and introduce me to a new great group of people.  Special thanks to J. for helping eat all that mac n’ cheese and raid his kitchen too!

First JC Food Co-op Book Club

[Image source]

Yesterday, I attended the first meeting of the JC Food Co-op Book Club at Tachair Bookshoppe.  This month's book was Mark Bittman's Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating.  I had downloaded the book on to my kindle a few months ago, so it was a happy coincidence when I found out that it was the first book for discussion.

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about meeting and talking about a topic as sensitive as personal eating habits with strangers (though I do recognize the irony in that statement since I blog about my eating habits all the time!). But it actually turned out to be worthwhile experience.  It was refreshing to meet and speak with people who are as interested in food as I am.  I also learned more about the Jersey City food community and the food co-op, who organized the event.  And all while sipping Good Earth "Sweet and Spicy" tea, which they serve at the book shop, and has now become my new favorite tea!

As for the book itself, Bittman advocates "sane eating," that is a diet of that focuses on mostly plants, but with some meats as an accent or flavor, and minimizing processed foods.  This is similar to the diet I have already been following since I began to lose weight last year, so it hasn't changed the way I eat.  But one thing I did learn from the book was how political the way we are taught to eat is.  For example, take the "4 Basic Food Groups" that many of us learned as children, which later evolved to the "Food Pyramid" and now to "Choose My Plate." Perhaps it was my own naivete, but I was somehow under the impression that some learned health professionals or dietitians were developing these models as the way we are supposed to eat.  But rather, as Bittman highlights, these models were largely driven by the agricultural industries.  Learning about this aspect of food education has made me question what we know about food and nutrition and how many common misconceptions there are about food.

Question: 

Have you read Food Matters?  Is there something from the book that changed how you thought about food?

Special thanks to the Jersey City Food Co-op and Tachair Bookshoppe for making the book club meeting possible! I highly recommend anyone in the Jersey City area to check them out!

Note:  I have not been compensated to make this review of any of the products or businesses discussed here. I just really like them.