Soda Pop! and Delicious Restaurants

I love finding new treats, sweets and things with variety. This post is about a few "finds" in the soda world along with a few restaurants at the end. The great thing about these Soda's: none of them have high fructose corn syrup and they all use fresh fruit ingredients.

This is Fresh Ginger Ale,it looks wonderful and I want it in my tummy! With the fresh ginger in it, you shake it a little before opening...no warnings about it exploding because of this process :) They also have a ginger ale with pomegranate and hibiscus added. Delicious!


Next us is a selection of Dry Soda from the Dry Soda Company. I love their unique varieties in flavor: Lavender, Lemon Grass, Blood Orange, Rhubarb, Juniper Berry, Vanilla Bean and Cucumber.






Then, there is Hot Lips Soda! They are a fresh fruit soda company and it makes my heart throb a bit dreaming about what they might taste like. Their flavors include: Apple, Black Raspberry, Blackberry, Boysenberry, Cranberry, Cherry, Pear, Raspberry and Strawberry. Someday, I think I'm just going to work for them so I can sneak berries into my mouth as I cook them up to make this sweet stuff! I'll have stained hot lips all the time from eating so many fresh berries every day :)


And, lucky for me, Hot Lips is sold in Utah...and not just anywhere, but right here in Bountiful!!!! It's a place called Moxi Bistro and they will be seeing my face very soon...they may even be making my upcoming birthday dinner so I can drink this berry juice till I'm plastered with it...not that that's possible, since it's pop...but I am looking forward to trying their Lamb-loin medallions with a cucumber-mint bombe and grilled yams with Panna Cotta for dessert.

If that didn't make your mouth water, then head a little farther south to a place called Trio. If you plan on dying and going to heaven for your next meal, I'm sure this is where you will be eating. When I get hungry I crave their Trio Flatbread served with olive tapenade, white bean puree, and basil pesto. When I die, I plan on eating massive amounts of olive tapenade...because I'll be able to...won't it? I'm pretty sure that's how it will work. If you think just their appetizer alone sounds great, then imagine trying their Chopped Salad (includes blood orange, pistachios, currants, beets, mixed greens, cucumber, feta and a vinaigrette dressing), Chianti Braised Short Ribs (served with creamy polenta which I would be willing frost a cake with, its just that good, root vegetables, braising jus, and horseradish gremolata), and top it of with their Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding...that's what just finished me off and made me a lifetime lover of all things on their menu. Before my death, I will eat here daily for a month...I'm certain I'll be able to afford it by then too :) since I plan on living for a long time...I can start saving up now.

Last of all, I need to mention a hidden gem here: Thyme and Seasons located in North Salt Lake. I thought it was just a tiny little store that sold spices, but boy was I wrong. I didn't expect my short stop in to turn into an exciting adventure. I tried to hurry out with my friend while finding out as much as possible and it was just about closing time. Before I knew it, we were talking to the head chef who ended up locking us into the store to spend an hour sharing his passion for food with us. We sampled gluten free chocolate cupcakes (three ingredients only), sticky rice, and tales about his love of simple cooking. By simple, it means there are very few ingredients that have very rich flavors. His spaghetti sauce alone is heated for hours...I think he said 11? It sounds crazy, but divine and beautiful. He gave us a tour of the entire open kitchen, , his herb garden, his store, his restaurant and explained his cooking classes. Each Saturday he holds cooking classes at amazing rates. They are by reservation only and he's book out well in advance. But he has one rule, before you can even think about registering for a class, you must eat at his restaurant. The way he explained it, it only makes sense to see if the food he cooks is good before wanting to learn how to make his food. His menu changes each week according to what is in season. I definitely recommend checking it out!

Tuna Patties

Why, you say, would you want to make tuna patties? They sound gross, don't they. That's what I thought. So why did I make them? Go back to december. I went to a christmas party and was asked to bring a white elephant present. I love playing the white elephant game, I always get so excited, wondering what crazy item I will get from it in return for the crazy gift I brought. I don't remember what I brought, but I do remember that I returned home with a very large family size can of tuna. I realized if I opened it I would have to get a little more creative than making my standard tuna fish sandwich...cause that's a lot of sandwiches. So I gave the tuna patties a try and sort of fell in love. If you are willing to give them a try, I think you will enjoy them too :)

Tuna Patties
7 oz Tuna, drained
3 cups Bread Crumbs
2 Eggs
4 tsp Onion, chopped
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Mix everything together. Form patties. Fry in 3 Tbsp olive oil. Brown on both sides for 4 minutes.

Baked Apple Custard

Inspiration often comes to me from and about some of the strangest things. Things that i'm inspired by are usually silly little things that either seem too unimportant by most people or too time consuming to be taken on by most people. Today I was inspired by my dear friend Diane Plaizier, she was telling me about the hustle and bustle of her life and her latest project: collecting egg shells with her daughter to plant seeds of grass in a month before easter, so they have pretty little budding egg shells to have for the easter baskets and decorations. Once she told me that, I spent the rest of the day thinking about how thats all I wanted to do the rest of that day. And, of course, I did it. Went to the store, got two huge cartons of eggs and started making this Baked Apple Custard as a way to use up my aging apples and my suddenly new need for egg consumption. Here's the recipe and a picture of the project:

Baked Apple Custard:

1 1/2 half cups unsweetened apple sauce

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup half and half

1/4 cup thawed frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Additional half and half (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Blend all ingredients together except for the nutmeg. Pour into a pie pan. Place pie pan in a baking pan and fill with water till it's cover the bottom inch of the pie pan. Sprinkle the nutmeg on top. Bake 45 minutes or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack. Chill. Serve with additional half and half if desired.

Meringue Kisses

I've always been confused by the difference between granulated sugar, superfine sugar, ultrafine sugar and powdered sugar. I finally learned the difference. Ordinary table sugar is granulated. Powdered sugar, when pulverized collects moisture, so to prevent this, the manufacturers add about 3 percent of cornstarch, which can lead to problems in certain recipes. For example, a bad idea would be to sweeten your lemonaid with powdered sugar, because with the cornstarch, it would turn into gummy lumps (not including the fact that it would be super sweet). But, you could have used the superfine or ultrafine sugar - they are tinier crystals than granulated sugar and so it disolved quickly in cold drinks (sometimes it's even called bakers sugar) because it blends and melts faster than regular, granulated sugar. So, to clarify, superfine and ultrafine sugar is not a powdered sugar, just smaller granules of sugar. Got it? GOOD! Here is a great recipe using superfine sugar:

Meringue Kisses

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar12 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small, deep bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar using a hand-held or electric mixer until they hold a shape. Gradually beat in 9 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until the mixture is smooth and stiff peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Beat in the vanilla. Using a spatula, fold in the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar. Put 1/2 teaspoon of the meringue mixture under each of the four corners of the parchment paper to keep it from skidding. Drop teaspoonfuls of the meringue mixture onto the paper-covered cookie sheets. If you want to be fancy, put the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe out the kisses. Bake for 60 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow the meringues to remain in the cooling oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes, and store in airtight containers, where the meringues will stay crisp almost indefinitely.

Tyson's Dang Tasty Soup

This is a recipe shared by my brother-in-law Tyson! He spend two years living in Mexico and while there fell in love....with Cilantro! This is a very easy recipe, if you are the nervous type in the kitchen, it will help you to know that your years of mastering how to open a can will have paid off, leaving you confidently capable of making this soup. If you are looking for a cilantro style soup that provides a little more adventure than opening cans, I'd recommend giving this recipe a whirl...and then inviting me over to share a bowl so I can try it :).



Tyson's Dang Tasty Soup

2 Cans (13 oz each) chicken, not drained (or 2 whole chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
4 minced garlic cloves
1 to 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 (14.5 cans each) Chicken Broth
2 (14.5 Cans each) Diced Tomatoes (preferably with cilantro and lime)
1 Cup Salsa
1 Bunch chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp Cumin
1/2 an onion (optional)

In a large pot, saute the garlic and onions in olive oil until semi-clear. Add the remaining ingredients. Heat through. That's it! So simple.

Can garnish with lime juice, avocados, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, or better yet queso fresco!

Enjoy!

As a side note, this recipe was a bit of an experiment for me in the mysterious world of Yoders canned meats...I've heard from different sources they even have fried bacon that's been canned...I'm not sure how my tummy feels about that. But if you are looking for a preservative free line of canned meats, Yoders is who you should contact! My next experiment will be with this can of already cooked hamburger meat in my Borscht Soup (my valentines tradition)...I'm hoping it is as surprisingly great as the chicken I used in this soup.