Avocado Chocolate Pudding (with recipe)

This was an easy recipe and I'm happy to report that Thing #5 loved it!

Ingredients:

2 Large Organic Avocados
1/2 Cup Organic Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Organic Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (or coconut milk, sweetened if you prefer)
3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
Pinch Ground Cinnamon

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in the food processor (or blender if it's all you've got) and blend!

A few notes on what I discovered making this:

• Make sure your avocados are ripe and soft, but not brown and bitter inside - you'll taste it if they are!
• You may have to process/blend longer than you'd imagine and take breaks to scrape down the sides to make sure no little person gets their tongue on a chunk of avocado!  Whoah to you you if you let this happen! hahahaha
• This tastes very much like dark chocolate pudding .... adjust sugar/maple syrup as desired
• It's very rich!  Have a glass of sweetened almond or coconut milk at the ready!
• I would make these batches fresh if possible.  I chilled some in the refrigerator overnight and in the morning it was still good after some stirring but ... I wouldn't push it too far.

Little Wuesten German Foods - Albany, OR (Review)

We've visited Little Wuesten a couple times now and I am just in love.The atmosphere of this little space is so homey and fun!  The radio plays 40s music, the owner is cheerful and sweet and I can tell she just loves her restaurant!  She comes out from behind the counter to visit with customers, will give you recommendations and is just the most adorable lady I've ever seen!

The first time we visited, we wanted to try the pastries and coffee.  We had heard that they focus on locally sourced, non-GMO ingredients; right up our alley!  The coffee they serve is from Longbottom Coffee & Tea right here in Oregon and it's so rich and flavorful. I ordered the lavender honey latte and Brownie had the mexican mocha (had a little kick to it - very nice!).

All of their pastries are beautiful and fresh, we just want to go back again and again so we can try them all! Brownie had a Salted Walnut Caramel Sticky Bun, I had a Marionberry Almond Roll - both were warmed up for us and were the perfect compliment to our coffee while we ate; I was tapping my toes and swaying to the music on the radio.

On our second visit, we wanted to try some of their warmer breakfast options, but we arrived just as lunch was beginning, so we sampled those options instead!

We did get one Spinat Küchlein, a savory spinach and feta tart that we enjoyed very much.  This made our experience technically
brunch instead of lunch ;-)

Brownie ordered the German Sausage Plate; your choice of German sausage (frankfurter, wiener, bockwurst or chicken) with mustard, roll, and sauerkraut.  It had good flavor, the mustard was sweet with little zing to it and the sauerkraut might have been his favorite part of it all.



I ordered the Beef on Kümmelweck; thinly sliced roasted beef on a house-made, toasted caraway rye roll with a horseradish/sour cream sauce.  The beef was tender and juicy and the flavors worked well together.  I don't think it would have been the same without that caraway rye!  And I just love horseradish so...there's that.  It also came with the most delicious cheesy spaetzle.  I had to take a picture of the real cheese this pasta was swimming in!  It was beyond delectable!  We just kept saying how much our kids would love it.

This little place has only been open for a few months and it's taking off!  The first visit, it was quiet and sweet, but our second visit was bustling and busy and a line at the counter came and went!  And that fabulous music coming from the radio ... did I mention that I love this!?

Still some glitches to work out service-wise when it's overwhelmingly busy but nothing out of the ordinary or that wasn't corrected immediately.  This is a unique little gem in downtown and I hope it becomes a permanent part of Albany!

We gave Little Wuesten 4 stars on our Brownifer Scale - this will be a regular haunt for Brownifer and once you try it, it will be one of yours as well!

Mushroom Bourguignon (with recipe)

This recipe is so delicious; you'll almost forget it's vegetarian!  The flavors work so well together and of
course, whatever wine you choose to cook with, a glass of that same wine will pair perfectly with your meal!

I know when you're weighing your mushrooms in the produce section that it will seem like a lot - but trust us:  it's right.

We've tweaked the recipe a bit and it turned out amazing.  Depending on the amount of mushrooms you end up with, you may need to add a little extra broth or wine.  Don't be afraid to play with it!

Make a list and head to the store to make this for dinner tonight!  You won't be sorry!

 Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 pounds portobello, shiitake or crimini mushrooms, sliced
4 Medium/Large Leeks, trimmed and thickly sliced
1 large carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

1 heaping teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 1teaspoon dried
sea salt & cracked pepper, to taste
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup full-bodied red wine
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoons flour (you can use arrowroot powder to keep it gluten-free if you prefer)
Mashed potatoes - made as you like them

Directions:

• Cut potatoes - get started on the stove for mashed potatoes
• Slice Mushrooms and leeks, add to soup pot with olive oil
• Chop onion and carrot, set aside
• Sear mushrooms and leeks until they begin to take on a little coloring, about 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove from pot and set aside.
• Reduce heat to medium, add one tablespoon of oil. Add the carrots, onions, thyme, salt and pepper, saute for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are lightly browned. Toss in the garlic and cook for another minute.
• Slowly add the wine to the pot and scrap any bits that are stuck to the bottom or sides. Turn heat to high and reduce wine by half.
• Stir in tomato paste and broth, mix. Add in mushrooms and leeks, including any juices that have collected, back to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are very tender. Let simmer, covered or cover askewed, stirring occasionally and enjoy the wonderful aroma.
• In a small bowl, mix together the remaining tablespoon oil, or water, with flour to make a paste, stir into the stew. Simmer for 10 minutes. If the sauce is too thin, boil it down to the right consistency. Season to taste.
• Serve spooned over mashed potatoes (or cooked grain/pasta of your choice), sprinkled with a pinch of fresh thyme.

We used Swallow Pinot Noir to make this - it's inexpensive and it was really good!  I suggest buying 2 bottles of whatever you choose - some to drink while cooking, some to cook with and more to enjoy your food with!  

The original recipe we tweaked a bit can be seen here:
http://www.simple-veganista.com/2012/11/mushroom-bourguignon_10.html

Novak's Hungarian Restaurant - Albany, OR (A Tribute)

This is our 100th blog post!  It's been an evolving adventure for us!  We cooked so much food, grew so many of our own delicious ingredients, canned our recipes and visited so many restaurants; we only wish we'd shared more about all of them here!  Our goal moving forward is to do just that.  Those restaurants we've written about so far:  Sweet Red Bistro, House of Noodle, Brick & Mortar Cafe, Aomatsu Sushi & Grill, Saprona Sushi, Le Pigeon, Cheese Bar, Sybaris, Cheesy Stuffed Burgers and Burger Queen.  You'll hear more from us in the future!

We've decided that our milestone blogs will be tributes (as opposed to reviews) of some well-established restaurants in the area that we all know and love.

We chose do do our first tribute to Novak's Hungarian Restaurant in Albany.  This family-owned business has been part of Albany since 1984!  Originally located on Santiam Hwy, many of us remember eating here with our parents as children.  Brownie himself grew up just down the street from this restaurant.

Novak's also spent some time in a space tucked away near what is now Marshall's across the street from Heritage Mall and has made their new home downtown on 2nd street between the stained glass store and The Still.  This new space seems like a perfect fit for them!

The idea for doing this blog came when we had a less-than-satisfying dining experience and just wanted some good coffee and dessert.  I remembered that I used to go to Novak's with my daughter when we wanted just the same thing and how delicious their desserts were.  While we looked at the menu we thought:  why didn't we come here for dinner!?  So we decided to do just that!

Now Novak's doesn't need a good review, they don't even need to get their name out there - everyone knows how amazing this restaurant is.  But for those of you who may have forgotten about them with their new move or are new to town and have never been - here is your refresher course!

DINNER

Karen's Exquisite Pate

Langos

We were so excited to have dinner here after feeling like we've ignored such a wonderful restaurant for too long.  We started with Karen's Exquisite Pate served with crackers and garlic toast.  This is a chicken liver pate made in-house and is incredibly delicious!  We highly recommend it!  We also had to order the Langos - a fried bread that is so soft and light that it nearly melts in your mouth.  When we were at the restaurant having dessert the night before, a table of sweet regulars to the restaurant offered to share theirs with us.  We declined, but made sure it was on our list to order when we came for dinner!  It comes with raw garlic (we cut the garlic into small pieces and ate it with bites of bread) or apricot and strawberry preserves to give you a sweet flavor - any way you eat this bread will be amazing!  Pace yourself, however, it's very filling!

For our main courses, we tried two different platters.  It was the best way to try as many  different things as possible!  Brownie ordered the Hunter's Platter that included Szekely Toltott Kaposzta (cabbage roll), Becsi Szelet (breaded beef cutlet), Parizsi Szeleet (batter dipped pork tenderloin) and papa's Kolbasz (spicy sausage) with a side of veggies.

Hunter's Platter

I chose the Shepherd's Platter with Chicken paprikas, Beef Porkolt (both of these are served over homemade spaetzle), Szekely Toltott Kaposzta and papa's Kolbasz; mine also came with a side of veggies.

Shepherd's Platter

Need I tell you that everything we tried was perfection?  No, because you know.  This family is straight from Hungary and they know their stuff!  If you're a die-hard foodie, they have a cookbook of some of their most requested recipes for sale as well!  Only $5!

We came away with a ton of leftover food, obviously.  No complaints here!  We enjoyed the dining room atmosphere before leaving, everyone bustling and chatting away.  This restaurant is always busy when we go in, we suggest making a reservation if you don't like to wait - but if you decide to drop in and there's a long wait at the door, grin and bare it - you won't be sorry!

DESSERT

Creme Brulee

We also wanted to share our small dessert experience with you!  So this is a second part of our Tribute Trifecta dedicated to the many desserts you can enjoy here.  We only had two - Maybe we'll bring our littles here some time and let them review some desserts for you :-)

Dobos Torta

Brownie chose the Creme Brulee (no description needed) which he said was really good; it's a favorite of his.  I decided on the Dobos Torta - Cookie style pastry layers alternated with milk chocolate cream filling, topped with a unique caramelized sugar wedge.  Twelve luscious layers in all!  And it was luscious! The cookie was soft and the cream filling wasn't too sweet - the crunch of the sugar wedge was just a fun little extra!  I enjoyed it emensely!

















BREAKFAST

Cafe Budapest

The Trifecta Finale!  Now, we know there are amazing breakfast options at Novak's, after seeing the dinners we had, you can just imagine - but we were desperate to try the Beignets!  I've been to New Orleans and trying to find a good Beignet around here is not easy.  I guess you could say we opted for the light breakfast after a heavy dinner :-)

We sipped our Cafe Budapest, Novak's signature coffee, while we waited for our food (layered coffee with espresso, steamed milk, European chocolate & cinnamon syrups, topped with whipped cream and dusted  cinnamon.)  A definite MUST when having dessert or breakfast!

Beignets (bacon making an
appearance in the background)

For those of you not familiar with Beignets - these are a french-style doughnut fried to order and sprinkled with powdered sugar.  They are soft and doughy to perfection and melt in your mouth!  We ordered six and took two home for later - they also can be ordered here in a baker's dozen!  The waitress suggested a side of meat with our doughnuts to counter-act the sweetness.  This was a fabulous idea!  Brownie decided on a side of bacon - which incidentally goes really well with a bite of Beignet!







So concludes our tribute to an Albany Restaurant Icon!  If you haven't visited in a while - it's time!  If you've never been - you absolutely MUST try this place and find out what you've been missing!

Happy 100th Blog and long live Novak's!

Burger Queen - Albany, OR (Review)

This restaurant has been sitting empty for so long that when a new establishment opened - it was quite a buzz. Enter Burger Queen!

We are always happy to try new restaurants in our little town, it's exciting to watch the food culture explode here! So we decided to explore this new burger joint and see what they are offering we Albany-ites.

To say the menu is very simple is an overstatement. If I had to choose one word to describe the menu it would be: minimal. I don't even need to say more than: hamburger, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, fries. Because those are literally your only options. You can order extra patties, extra bacon, etc. But those are your main choices. In a basket with a drink or a lone burger.  We pondered whether or not this was what they were striving for but we couldn't actually tell what this restaurant is trying to be.  Maybe they're just at a jumping off point?  Hard to know.

Brownie ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger and I had just a plain cheeseburger. We got the basket for the full experience and just filled our cups with water. Not soda fans.

Our food was served in tin baskets with a generous side of fries; there were very few condiments available.  We grabbed handfuls of mustard and ketchup packets and started in on our burgers.

The veggies were fresh, but they seemed to take up more room in my  bun than the actual burger did.  Size-wise the buns were comparable to our recent visit to Cheesy Stuffed Burgers but there was considerably less meat in the patty with much less flavor.  Brownie was disheartened with the thin bacon ring on his burger, I was less than thrilled with what looked to be a Kraft Single slice on our burgers instead of real cheese.

When we had finished our burgers with a shrug and a 'Meh..' we started emptying condiment packets into our basket to devour our fries.  The fries looked as if they were real cut potatoes, as Burger

Queen boasts.  They felt cold, however and were a bit soggy and chewy as if they'd been sitting out for quite a while.

When we finished our meal, I can honestly say we were sustained and no longer really hungry.  Satisfied?  Physically, yes.  Impressed? No. Better than McDonald's?  Yes.  I can't publish the word that Brownie uses to describe what we ate this evening, but suffice to say it's not a positive one.

The best I  can hope for is that this restaurant will expand its menu and branch out a bit more, but it doesn't seem likely.  They would be wise to ditch the burgers and buy a bank of blenders, selling smoothies to the local high school kids.  They were honestly hoping for a Jamba Juice anyway.

If you're stuck on the street corner in West Albany and can't get past Elm street, this will fill you up.  Otherwise, keep driving.

We gave Burger Queen 2 1/2 stars on our Brownifer scale; it was clean and the staff was polite.  But it wasn't hard to figure out why it was so slow on a weekday evening.  It pains us to give a bad review, we really want to like the places we visit.  Unfortunately, this just didn't do it for us.

Creamy Butternut Squash Linguine

Jen was in the kitchen again last night!  This is a recipe I found online, this is the second time I've made it and we just love it.  Disclaimer:  I hate squash.  And I love this pasta!

This can be made vegetarian or vegan, totally up to you.  I made one plate vegan with no cheese and ate a little more with cheese .... I prefer vegetarian honestly :-)

So here ya go!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter if you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
• 2 pound butternut or kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small ½-inch pieces (about 3 cups) - I use 1/2 of a large butternut squash - freeze the other half to make another batch later!
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped
• ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes (up to ¼ teaspoon for spicier pasta sauce)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 12 ounces whole grain linguine or fettucine
• Optional additional garnishes: shaved Parmesan or Pecorino and/or smoked salt

Directions:

1. Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the sage and toss to coat. Let the sage get crispy before transferring it to a small bowl. Sprinkle it lightly with salt and set the bowl aside.
2. Add the squash, onion, garlic and red pepper flakes to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the squash is soft and the liquid is reduced by half, about 15 to 20 minutes.
3. In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions, stirring occasionally. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining. (I've never actually had to use the extra water - but you never know)
4. Once the squash mixture is done cooking, remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender, but keep the skillet handy. Purée the mixture until smooth (beware of hot steam escaping from the top of the blender), then season with salt and pepper until the flavors sing. I add a pinch of cumin during this stage - always makes the flavor pop!
5. In the reserved skillet, combine the pasta, squash purée and ¼ cup cooking liquid. Cook over medium heat, tossing and adding more pasta cooking water as needed, until the sauce coats the pasta, about 2 minutes. Season with more salt and pepper if necessary.
6. Serve the pasta in individual bowls topped with fried sage, more black pepper and shaved Parmesan/Pecorino and/or smoked salt, if desired.

Thing #2 is adventurous with food, he tried this and loved it!  It's probably a bit spicy for the younger littles, but we could always leave the pepper flakes out and see if they would eat it!?  Maybe they would believe it was cheese....hmmm......

I found this recipe online, so I want to share the link here to give credit where credit is due!

http://cookieandkate.com/2014/creamy-vegan-butternut-squash-linguine-with-fried-sage/

Jerk Chicken Ramen

Last summer when we were camping, we came up with our Camping Ramen but we've wondered ever since....how would we make it if we were at home?  Not to mention, how could we make it healthier?  I'm the soup lady in our house so last night, I did it!

It turned out great!  Anxious to have it for lunch today and see how those flavors transformed overnight.  My one hiccup was that we were out of Jerk Seasoning for our chicken.  Oops!  So much for relying on memory!  But I powered through and we made our own, just click the link above if you're interested in doing the same or can't find a Jerk seasoning where you shop.  We always use a wet rub when we marinate our jerk meat.

Keep in mind that my spice measurements are just your jumping-off point!  You'll want to add or subtract depending on the flavors you prefer and how you like your soups to taste!

Enough blabbering, here is what I did:

Ingredients:

• 6 packets Ramen Noodles(throw those evil spice packets OUT) or Six bunches of the noodles shown here (found them at Costco)
• Two containers of broth (I use vegetable because ..MSG)
• 2 Zucchini
• 3 Large Carrots
• 4-5 medium Mushrooms (I used Cremini)
• 1 Large Onion (we used a yellow onion)
• Olive Oil (or preferred cooking oil)
• 1 Tablespoon dried basil (dried or fresh - your choice)
• 2 teaspoons Poultry Seasoning
• Salt to taste
• Black Pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon Garlic Powder (use fresh minced if you prefer)
• 1/2 teaspoon Smoked Paprika (if you have it)
• Jerk Chicken, cooked

Directions:

• Chop onion and carrots, put in a soup pot with cooking oil to coat, add basil, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder and smoked paprika, stir to combine.  Cook on medium heat until onions are soft.
• Add broth and add about 6-8 cups of water, depending on the size of your pot (if you don't have a soup pot and are making this in a standard 5-quart stock pot that comes with cookware sets - I would suggest cutting this recipe by 1/2)
• Bring to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes
• While water is simmering, chop your zucchini and mushrooms
• Taste broth and adjust your seasonings so that the flavor is right where you want it (I may have added a pinch of jalepeno salt, a dash of truffle oil, put in more salt, a pinch of cumin for flavor ... just kept going until it was where I liked it.  Keep in mind when you throw in the Jerk Chicken - a lot of flavor will come in at that point, so don't over due the spice factor!)
• Add zucchini and mushrooms to the pot and stir, bringing to a boil again
• When water boils, add your noodles and stir.
• When noodles are nearly finished, turn the heat down to low and chop your jerk chicken, adding to the pot.
• When everything is well combined and hot - scoop and serve!

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