Midnight at the Oasis

This past week my inlaws were in town and we had a chance to take them to some places they'd never been.  We also got to go to a place new to us, the Oasis, which overlooks Lake Travis.  It's really not that far from our house to the Oasis, but we took a scenic route, as I missed the initial turn in spot for parking.  It was cool to see the lake with more water, as the last time we were there it was pretty empty.

Queso

We sat right away and promptly ordered drinks and queso.  I had a delightful mojito, which was almost as good as the ones in the Dominican.  We took some time to browse the menu and got a few shots of the view as the sun was setting.

Drinks

Quesadilla

The menu seemed to have a TexMex twist so that played a roll in the foods we ordered.  I was still pretty full from lunch at Noble Sandwiches, so I went with the quesadilla.  It was a solid choice.  Mike ordered the fish tacos and said they were pretty good.  The inlaws really liked the enchiladas and steak they ordered.  We were too full from dinner to partake in dessert this time.

Fish tacos

Enchiladas

Steak

The View

The food at the Oasis was good, but I've definitely had better.  This would be a good place to grab cocktails and watch the sunset while visiting Lake Travis.  I did enjoy the view and the company, so overall the evening was a success. 

Pin a Day: Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars

It's been a little while since I made these Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars, but they still deserve a post.   I made these bars for my team at work a few weeks ago.  I joked that these were the "clean out the pantry bars," but it wasn't entirely a joke.  I used chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and white chocolate chips that I found in the pantry.  I started out by doubling all my ingredients so I had enough for a 9x13 recipe.  I knew that an 8x8 wouldn't do.  I heated and cooled the butter and mixed it with the eggs, sugar, and vanilla.  Next, I added in the peanut butter.  Mine was low fat, so it was slightly runnier.  Next, I added in the flour and other dry ingredients.  Finally, I mixed in the various chips and dark chocolate M&Ms.  Finally, I poured it all into a pan and baked for about 28 minutes.  It was a big hit at work.  The middle pieces disappeared first, which seems typical.  It was very rich, so I couldn't eat a very big piece and it would have been even better with milk.  This was a great way to clean out the pantry and proved to be a great treat for my friends.

What Does the Fox Say?

Thursday was my birthday and it was a delightfully relaxed day.  At the end of the day, I had to pick a place for dinner and I was at a loss.  Should I go to a fabulous favorite or should I opt for something new?  In the end, I picked a new spot and the results were amazing.  We've driven by the Foxhole Culinary Tavern countless times and I always think that we should try it.  My birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity.  We arrived about 6:30, so we were still able to take part in social hour. 

Upon arrival, we immediately felt at home at Foxhole.  Both the ambiance and the menu reminded us of a place near and dear to our relationship, Wildhorse Grill (RIP 😢).  For social hour, I selected the sangria and Mike had the foxy mule.  I loved my sangria and Mike liked his foxy mule okay, but it wasn't his favorite. 

While sipping our cocktails, we had time to check out the menu.  The menu was obviously seasonal and the restaurant practiced the farm to table approach, so we knew everything would be fresh and artisanal.  We skipped appetizers this time to make sure we had room for dessert. 

Mike had the seabass with forbidden rice and gingery peas.  He really liked the seabass, but said that it was a more fishy, fish, so I didn't try it.  His sides were delicious and I kept sneaking the ginger peas off his plate.  I picked the filet with garlic potatoes and farm vegetables.  The steak was tender and flavorful.  The potatoes were smooth, creamy, and had a punch of garlic.  My farm vegetables included peppers, onions, carrots, and squash.  We cleaned up our plates, but you can't skip dessert on your birthday. 

For dessert, we picked the chocolate cake with caramel and Mexican Vanilla ice cream.  I mentioned that it was my birthday as I was picking dessert and our waiter made sure they plated the dessert appropriately and brought me an extra scoop of the ice cream.  Dessert was delicious and we were stuffed as we left that evening.  We definitely will be back to try more items from this innovative restaurant. 

Pin a Day: Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Blondies

I really outdid myself this time.  I had a can of pumpkin and some white chocolate chips and all I needed was an old recipe I once used.  Unfortunately, my recipe is lost somewhere in the depths of the Internet.  Luckily, I found this recipe for Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Blondies.   I was excited to try out this new recipe and share it at work.  I started by creaming together the butter and sugars and then adding in the pumpkin and vanilla.  I mixed the dry ingredients together and added them in until the were just moistened.  Finally, I added in the white chocolate chips and put it in the pan.  I cooked the Blondies for 25 minutes at 350.

I let them cool overnight and cut them before taking them to work.  They were delicious!  Several people at work had seconds or thirds even.  I even had a request to bring some to a friend at a different store.  This was definitely a great choice and I hope this recipe doesn't disappear any time soon! 

Pin a Day: Kentucky Apple Cake

It was weekend baking for work time and I was feeling fall.  I decided to try this recipe for Kentucky Apple Cake.  I had a short amount of time to bake on Friday afternoon between my nail appointment and heading to work.  I mixed and chopped and got it into the oven as quickly as I could.  The batter smelled amazing so I had very high hopes for the recipe.  It was supposed to cook for 50 minutes to an hour and I knew that would be cutting it close time wise.  I opted to not make the glaze to make things slightly healthier.  The cake was too hot to take to work that night so I let it cool and took it to work Saturday.  It was so yummy!  The best word to describe it would have to be moist.  It was also full of apple and cinnamon flavor.  The only thing to potentially make this cake a little better might be a scoop of ice cream.  This cake definitely takes me back to memories of Apple picking on my birthday, so this is a good way to use up some of those apples you might be picking right now.

Pin a Day: Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki

On Wednesays, I usually take Mike to the office and we get home later so dinner can be a challenge.  I try to use my crock pot on these days to get a great meal with little effort and it always usually makes plenty of leftovers.  Mike opted to stay home this Wednesday, but I still got my crock on with this recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki.   We love Asian dishes so I had no doubt this would be a hit.  Plus I knew I was working Thursday-Sunday, so I wanted plenty of leftovers for Mike.  I started by putting the chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock pot and covered it with the sauce mixture (soy sauce, rice vinegar, onion, garlic, ginger, honey, pepper).  I set it to cook for 4.5 hours on high.  After 4.5 hours, I removed the chicken breasts and added some corn starch to the sauce to thicken it.  I shredded the chicken breasts and added them back to the crockpot along with a bag of frozen broccoli and half a bag of shredded carrots. I love finding ways to modify a recipe to make it even healthier.  We paired our chicken teriyaki with some white rice, but Mike also make it into a taco the next day and said it was delicious.  This was an excellent meal and provided us with plenty of leftovers options.

Pin a Day: Sausage Tortellini Skillet

Any day I'm not working, I try to make a bigger meal so we have some leftovers and last night's meal provided us with plenty of yummy leftovers.  Last night, we tried this Sausage Tortellini Skillet.   It was a team effort, as I had Mike chopping up the onion and zucchini while I took the casing off the sausage and got that started cooking.  We used some Hatch chili sausage that we found at HEB.  It was a great choice and smelled amazing the whole time we cooked.  It's a shame that Hatch chili time only happens for a short time each year.  I cooked the sausage until it started crumbling and then added in the onions, zucchini, and garlic.  I cooked it another 8 minutes.  At that point, I needed to add more ingredients, but I was running out of room in my skillet.  I transferred everything to my large cast iron Dutch oven and added in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, Parmesan cheese, and tortellini.  I mixed it up and put the lid on until it started bubbling.  I let it cook for another 8 minutes and then removed it from heat, added mozzerella cheese, and it was ready to serve. We were both super happy with this delicious, low calorie, filling meal.  It will provided plenty of leftovers for this week and will be a repeat in the future.

Big Cat Country

When a new BBQ place opens by your home, it's cause for celebration.  It's even better when it's open on Labor Day, so you can get your BBQ fix.  Big Cat BBQ opened close to us in Cedar Park at the end of August and we've been wanting to try it out.  I didn't have to go into work until later on Labor Day, so we decided to try it out.  It was the first Monday they were open, so it really wasn't crowded at all.  Since it was our main meal of the day and we were new to the place, we each got the two meal plate so we could sample just about everything.  I picked the turkey, pulled pork, potato salad, and coleslaw.  Mike ordered brisket, jalapeño cheese sausage, green beans, and macaroni.  All of the employees and the owner were incredibly nice as they helped us get our food.  We even spoke to the owner about possibly getting our Thanksgiving turkey from them.  All the food was amazing!  All the meat was cooked to perfection.  The turkey was juicy and was definitely worthy of being our Thanksgiving bird.  The pork was well seasoned and would be great on a sandwich. The sausage was so good with jalapeños and super cheesy.  The brisket had great flavor, but was a littl fattier than we prefer.  All the sides were delightful, but the green beans the best.  They had so much flavor.  I had to sneak several off Mike's plate.  We were stuffed after this meal and were totally happy with our decision.  This will definitely be our go to Cedar Park BBQ stop.

Pin a Day: Ooey Gooey Cake Mix Bars

I love baking and I am so glad I have a new group of work friends to try all my baking experiments.  This recipe for Ooey Gooey Cake Mix Bars was a hit this Labor Day weekend.   For my St. Louis friends, you may better describe this recipe as a gooey butter cake variation.  This version was also based off a Paula Deen recipe, so I figured it would turn out pretty good.  As it turns out, I was right.  This was a great recipe because it was easy to make and I love a bar recipe because it provides plenty to share.  I started by making the crust of a mixture of a yellow cake mix, a stick of melted butter, and an egg.  I mixed those together and pressed the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.  Next, I mixed together 2 beaten eggs, a block of cream cheese (I used low fat to make it slightly healthier), and 2 cups of powdered sugar.  I beat that until it was smooth and creamy, and poured it on top of the crust mixture.  I popped it into the oven for 25-30 minutes.  (27 minutes was the sweet spot for my oven.)  I let them cool off before taking them to work.  The bars were a hit and I enjoyed introducing a St. Louis treat to more friends.  I will be making this again and I might even experiment with using a different flavor crust or adding flavorful to the cream cheese mixture.

Shake it Off!

It's hard to blog about food after a brief bout of stomach troubles, but I needed to blog about this food while it was still fresh in my memories.  Mike and I have been anxiously awaiting the opening of Shake Shack in the Domain.  I was out running wedding errands with my sweet friend, Cassie, and saw that it was finally open.  I picked Mike up from work on Friday and we headed right back to enjoy some burger heaven. 

The location had a classy, casual vibe and was not super crowded for being recently opened.  The menu was not overly complicated with your basic burgers, fries, shakes, and a few other items.  I opted for the Miso Caramel Shake, fries, and a single cheeseburger.  Mike ordered a chocolate shake, cheese fries, and a double cheeseburger.  The food arrived fairly quickly and looked delicious.  It tasted about as wonderful as it looked.  I loved my caramel shake and the salty crinkle cut fries.  The burger was pretty good, too.  Mike declared the cheese fries to be the best he'd ever had. 

After finishing, we were quite stuffed.  We opted for a quick walk around the Domain to burn off some of the excess calories.  Our walk was short lived because I was quickly falling into a deep food coma.  Once we got home, I became glued to the couch until bedtime.  We liked the food at Shake Shack, but next time we visit, we will have to take it a bit easier. 

Pin a Day: Buffalo Chicken Bake

This week in Pinterest cooking has been very successful.  Every dish has been tasty, and this Buffalo Chicken Bake was no exception.   I started by cooking the chopped up chicken breasts in some chicken broth to help retain their juiciness.  Next, boiled my noodles.  Once again, I used the Barilla protein plus rotini.  I put the chicken and noodles in the casserole dish, while I made the sauce.  The sauce included buffalo wing sauce, Greek yogurt, blue cheese, ranch dressing, garlic powder, and cheddar cheese.  I cooked it on low heat until it was combined and smooth.  I poured the sauce on the noodles and chicken and stirred it until well mixed.  Next, I topped it with cheddar cheese and Panko bread crumbs. I baked it for 25 minutes at 375 and then topped with scallions and a drizzle of buffalo sauce.  The results were great.  It had a great flavor, made plenty of leftover, and was relatively healthy.  If you're a fan of all things buffalo, like we are, give this recipe a try!

Pin a Day: Thai Drunken Noodles

After a long weekend at work, it was time to cook some food for Mike.  I found this recipe for Thai Drunken Noodles  that sounded good.  Unfortunately, some Pinterest recipes have an ingredient list, but not the actual directions to cook it.  So, I gathered all my ingredients and a few extras and set off to make a stir fry hybrid.  I had Mike chop peppers and broccoli while I cooked the noodles and browned the ground turkey.  Next, I heated up some oil and cooked the garlic, onions, and ginger.  I cooked that a few minutes and added in the veggies, some teriyaki sauce, red pepper flakes, and some sriracha.  I cooked it until the veggies were tender, yet firm.  I mixed in the ground turkey, a little more teriyaki, and cooked it a bit longer.  Finally, I mixed in the noodles and we were ready to eat.  We really like this dish, as we like most Asian dishes.  I loved that it also made plenty of leftovers for the upcoming busy week. Even without directions, we created a pretty tasty dinner.

Pin a Day: Slow Cooker Chicken Philly Sandwiches

Did you miss me fans?  This week we've made several old favorites, had leftovers, and got treated to a delicious dinner from our sweet friend, so I really haven't had a chance to make anything new.  Last night, we tried Slow Cooker Chicken Philly Sandwiches and were pleased with the results.  This was a tasty, simple meal, that will provide Mike with some leftovers as I work most of the weekend.  In addition, the recipe was fairly healthy and could be made healthier depending on your cheese and bread choices.  I started by adding 2 Tbsp of butter to the crock pot and then covering that with onions, green peppers, and minced garlic.  Next, I sliced up my chicken and rubbed it with Salt Lick dry rub because I didn't have any steak seasoning.  I put the chicken on top of the veggies and cooked it for 5 hours on low.  My chicken was still slightly frozen so I needed the 5 hours, but you could probably cook it shorter with thawed chicken.  After 5 hours, it was ready to serve.  We made our sandwiches on sub rolls from HEB with provolone cheese and served it with tots and watermelon.  It had great flavor and the warm chicken helped melt the cheese right away.  Be careful when trying this one as the chicken mixture gets really hot- I definitely yelled when some of the hot liquid touched my hand.  Overall, this was a great meal and I've been looking for some new crockpot favorites for fall.

Let's do the Conga

On Saturday, we headed to the Domain to return some things, buy some watches, and grab a bite to eat.  We ended up being about 75% successful, as we accomplished everything but a watch for me.  However, today's story is about the food.  On the recommendation of a friend, who visited Austin recently, we decided to try Gloria's Latin Cuisine.  Gloria's has been described as a Salvadorian/Tex-Mex restaurant.  We were lucky in that we got to the Domain pretty early and we were able to be seated right away.  It was a chic restaurant with a neat waterfall type wall at the bar.  Upon sitting, we were served chips, salsa, and black beans.  The chips were the perfect level of crispy and salty.  The salsa was thick, but not chunky, with a bit of a kick to it.  Even the refried black beans were done to perfection.  After serving us our iced tea, our waitress gave us plenty of time to browse the extensive menu.  Mike selected the breakfast burrito with chorizo and I got my old favorite tacos al carbon.  Mike's burrito came with a side of seasonal fruit and he said the burrito was delicious.  My plate had 3 tacos, rice, refried beans, and guacamole.  My tacos were yummy and kept me full for the rest of the day.  Gloria's was a great choice and we will definitely be going back to taste more items from the menu.

Chips, Salsa, and Refried Black Beans

Breakfast Burrito with Chorizo

Tacos Al Carbon

Pin a Day: Healthy Szechuan Chicken

Last night was a lazy night, but I still made something new for dinner.  After mixed results lately, I was excited to try this recipe for Healthy Szechuan Chicken.   I decided to pair this recipe with some brown rice, so I started by getting the rice ready first.  I pulled out my ingredients and had Mike chop up the red pepper and broccoli.  (I forgot to buy onions at the grocery store, unfortunately.) I got the sauce ready and then prepped the chicken.  I heated up the oil and then cooked the ginger for about a minute before adding in the chicken.  I cooked the chicken until it was almost completely browned before adding in the peppers, broccoli, and peanuts.  I cooked everything until the chicken was completely cooked through.  Finally, I added in the sauce and cooked about another 2-3 minutes until the consistency was right.  I served the chicken on a bed of rice, topped with scallions, and added a coffee stout from Red Horn and dinner was ready.  We really loved this recipe!  The chicken was tender and juicy, as were the vegetables.  The flavor was great and it was easy to make.  Best of all it was healthy and there were leftovers for the next few days.  This will be a go to in the future for sure!

Pin a Day: Lemon Garlic Dump Chicken

We've been doing pretty good about eating healthy lately and yesterday was no exception.  I worked a few hours, shopped a bit, and came home to relax before cooking dinner.  The recipe I tried was Lemon Garlic Dump Chicken.   I was hoping to find a great new go to chicken recipe.  Unfortunately, this was not it.  Reading the directions, this would be a possible dump and freeze ahead recipe, but I'm not that much of a planner.  I dumped all my ingredients in a gallon sized zippered bag and let it marinate in the fridge for about 15 minutes.  When it had finished marinating, I put the chicken tenders in a greased 8x8 pan and cooked at 350 for 35 minutes.  After about 30 minutes, I baked my potato in the microwave and steamed some broccoli.  The chicken smelled great so we were pretty excited, but it was just ok.  Maybe it would have been tastier if the chicken had marinated longer, but who knows.  We decided that we still prefer my baked chicken, so this was a one time recipe for us.  I'm confident that I'll find another great recipe soon.

Pin a Day: Skinny Asian Steak Noodle Bowl

After being praised for cooking dinner for my husband daily by a friend (he reminded me that's not true), I came home yesterday to make a new meal for us.  We love Asian food for its great flavor and because it's relatively healthy.  Last night, we made Skinny Asian Steak Noodle Bowl.   I put Mike to work cutting up onions and peppers, while I cut up and started cooking the meat.  After Mike finished cutting the veggies, I popped them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes to soften them.  Once the steak was cooked, I put it on a plate, leaving behind the meat drippings.  I heated up some oil with the drippings and added in the veggies, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  I cooked that about 2 minutes and then added in beef broth, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and frozen corn.  I brought that to a boil and then added in broccoli slaw and ramen noodles.  I cooked that until the noodles were done.  Finally, I added the beef back in and let it cook until the meat warmed back up(I also saved a little steak aside for my favorite fuzzy white guy.).  We really enjoyed this dish.  It had great flavor from the garlic and ginger.  I also loved that it made plenty of leftovers, which will be needed now that I am working again.  This was a perfect meal for us, which will be repeated again in our home.

Pin a Day: Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins

I have a new job and a whole new set of work friends who will get to taste my goodies!  I haven't baked in a while so I was excited to try a new recipe.  I had some chocolate chips in the pantry and some browned bananas in the freezer so I knew I wanted to make banana muffins.  To make things a little healthier, I selected this recipe for Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins.   There is a big difference between baking and cooking.  Baking is a science and for the most part must be precise and orderly, while cooking is an art and can be much more creative.  In general, I try not to make too many changes when it comes to baked goods.  I also got a chance to use my food processor, which has seen a bit more love lately.  I started by pulsing the oatmeal until it was flour like.  Next, I added in low fat vanilla yogurt (substituted for Greek yogurt), honey, eggs, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and bananas.  I omitted the flax seed because it's not something I typically have in my kitchen.  I pulsed it together until it was the perfect consistency.  Finally, I stirred in a cup of mini chocolate chips.  I portioned out my batter into 18 muffins and baked them at 350 for about 22 minutes.  After the muffins baked, the best word to describe them was moist.  They were cooked, but definitely moist.  I had Mike try them out to make sure I would be able to impress my new coworkers.  He tried them and liked them, so I brought them into share.  I am hoping they enjoyed these healthier muffins as much as Mike and I did.  I will definitely make these again and they are great for anyone who is looking to eliminate flour and excess sugars.

Pin a Day: Chicken Parmesan Casserole

We love Chicken Parm.  In fact, it's Mike's Valentine's Day specialty.  I'm always looking for ways to make it quicker, healthier and easier.  I tried this recipe for Chicken Parmesan Casserole with high hopes. It was definitely quick and easy.  It was relatively healthy, but we just didn't love it.  I started by cooking the chicken.  I placed the cubed chicken in the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan.  I then layered pasta sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, and Panko bread crumbs.  I cooked it for about 22 minutes while I made pasta and salad to serve with the casserole.  The casserole definitely needed the addition of the pasta as it was a little bit runny.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't the best dish I've made.  Here's hoping that my next creation is a bigger success.

The Birds and the Bees

Get your mind out of the gutter...this isn't a dirty post.  This Sunday we tried out two new places.  First, for lunch, we headed to Mighty Bird.  We pass Mighty Bird every time I take Mike to work and we finally decided to make it part of our destination.  It was a small chicken place located off the 183 service road.  We walked in and took a few minutes to decide what we should order.  This is where things get a little odd.  As we ordered, the cashier was not very helpful and was texting during the transaction.  As we were waiting for our food, she basically got fired and left in a blaze of glory.  Our food then took a bit, but it seemed like they were now short staffed.

Yardbird and Mightybird tacos

Our wait was worth it!  The chicken was all rotisserie style chicken with added ingredients and was cooked to perfection.  The tortillas were homemade and we got some of the last ones, as they started making more after our order.  Mike opted for the two taco meal with two tacos (duh), rice, and beans.  He opted for the Yardbird- a BBQ style taco with BBQ sauce and red onions and the Mightybird, which had corn, cilantro, and onions.  The Mightybird also had taken the chicken and turned it into a spicy chorizo.  I picked the Buffalo Chicken wrap, which was huge!  The chicken was tasty, the sauce had a bit of a kick, and the blue cheese provided a nice distraction from the sauce.  We loved our food and will definitely be returning. 

Buffalo Chicken Wrap

Buffalo Chicken Wrap

After Mighty Bird, we headed to the Domain because shopping is more fun in the heat.  We walked off our lunch and then some.  We had lots of snack and drink options, but we decided to try Bee Cave Coffee.  It was hot and I was getting tired, so this was the perfect pick me up.  I opted for my signature drink of an iced vanilla latte and Mike got cold brewed coffee.  I didn't pay attention when the handed me the first drink and got quite a shock with my sip of Mike's strong, unsweetened coffee.  My latte was delicious and the ideal treat for a long, hot day.  We liked our treat and will definitely seek out Bee Cave Coffee during our next Domain trek. 

Iced Vanilla Latte