[Syndicated from Adam's Always Texan blog]

This is a Texas blog.  Texan’s like their hot sauce.  I have easily tried over 100 different types of hot sauces.  Too many Texans think they like any take-your-pick cayenne hot sauce from Louisiana, or wherever.  But we will forgive our brothers and sisters, for they have not been introduced to true quality.  Made only from the freshest ingredients, no preservatives, Firefly Hot Sauces bursts on to the hot sauce scene with amazingly fresh and crazy good flavors!  Passage Creek Farm, a small produce farm in Fort Valley, Virginia, has some of the best I have ever tasted.  Not only are the flavors so intense, but you can taste the purity of the ingredients.  This combination puts all Firefly Hot Sauce flavors at the top of my list.

The Cosmic Curry is mind blowing in flavor.  I ended up having to buy several extra bottles of this one because Stef, my hot wife, decided its not a hot sauce, its actually a salad dressing.  And it does make a darn good salad dressing.

The Original is simply a perfect hot sauce.  A perfect balance of flavor and heat is suitable for most non-yankees.

If you require the heat cranked up a few notches, the Tear Jerker does not disappoint.  I am typically the “hotter the better” type person and put habanero on my Cheerios, shoot, I am a BW3 Blazing Challenge survivor.  This sauce is legit.

The Cayenne reminded me that I DO like cayenne!  I have been so jaded by the watered down vinegary kinds you find at the grocery stores.  This is a sweeter, thicker, version of the typical cayenne, and you won’t find a shortage of things to add this to.

For you Garlic lovers, such as myself, this gives you what you think it would – some heat with garlic flavor.  I haven’t tried this experiment yet, but I am going to make some wings with this one soon!

And the Smokin’ Apple I found is a phenomenal addition to any chicken or pork dish. As the name implies, it offers a sweet apple taste with a kick.

Try them all, its only going to cost you twenty bucks and you will have 6 bottles of mouth joy.

Take advantage of their 3 pack special for $10 – and get extra, you will run out fast!

http://passagecreekfarm.com/

Let me know how you use your sauce! For real.

-Adam

In an attempt to branch out from my typical and easy salad or soup, I’m starting to try some other recipes. Let me tell you – I’ve found a fave!! I was reading some raw cook books..wait…can you call them cook books?, let’s say…RECIPE books! So I was reading these recipe books and glanced over several takes at spaghetti which got me inspired. I typically use recipe books for inspiration only. I don’t think I’ve ever sat in the kitchen line by line and followed a recipe book. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just like to get a good synopsis and take it from there – because it typically makes sense to me, but then I immediately start thinking of some tweaks I would want to make to the recipe to fine tune it for ME. I encourage you to do the same with the recipes I list. If you don’t like a certain veggie, simply swap it with one you do. Generally you can get to something pretty similar. Feel free to comment if you have any specific questions and I’ll be happy to answer.

So to carry on, I had read a few variations and was ready to take my hand at it in the kitchen. I still don’t have a ‘Spiralizer’ – which I was missing when I made raw alfredo, but my fine julienne works just fine for now.

Here’s what I pulled together, I’ll break out the ingredients and how-to by pasta and then by sauce.

“Pasta”

Ingredients: (**this is for 1 – 2 servings**)

• 1 yellow squash
• large handful of shitake mushrooms (or regular mushrooms works) – tip: to clean mushrooms, get a paper towel damp and gently rub the mushrooms. Don’t ever run the mushrooms under water. I remove the stems too.
• Chopped red onion
• 1 shredded carrot
• Sea salt to taste and also to season and break down the veggies
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Tamari
• small handfull of basil

Sauce

Ingredients: (**this is for 1 – 2 servings**)

• 1 tomato
• 3 – 4 sun dried tomatoes
• handful basil
• 2 cloves garlic

 

Cheers,

Stef

Working out, Co-Op, 366 project – OH MY!! Read on….

Hi y’all! Hope you have all been having a lovely year so far. Wow – this year has been so busy so far for me. We started January off with a big move, February…well February just flew by, March, Hannah and I had a fun week in NYC for spring break, and now we’re just settling back into the swing of things.

Now on the food front, I have to say that raw is going pretty good for me. Overall, since the start of the year, I average 75% – 80% raw in my diet. I haven’t branched out into as many new recipes and techniques yet as I would have liked, but that is my goal moving forward. That being said, my raw-ness is pretty straightforward and simple, here is what I eat normally:

• Breakfast: is almost always a mix of whatever fruit is around. Banana, strawberries, grapes, oranges are typical.
• Mid-morning snack: handful of pumpkin seeds or just a mix of raw nuts, coconut that I may have put together from the bulk section.
• Lunch: BIG SALAD here is what i almost always have: LOTS of greens, fresh cilantro, fresh dill, 1 celery stalk, 1/4 cucumber, red onion, tomato, shredded carrots, 1/2 avocado (as the meat). Then its topped w 1/2 a lemon juice, olive oil. I’ll sometimes have made a homemade raw ranch dressing, but that’s only on occasion.
• Snack: fruit or something I shouldn’t have (like a few starbursts, handful of chips that are around the office) this is where I might sometimes ‘indulge’.
• Dinner: I might have another salad, or soup. Or I’ll whip up a raw spaghetti, stir ‘fry’, something a little more advanced. Or if I’m feeling like I need some protein I’ll have a fish filet.

So typically that’s what I do. However, you notice that there is still 25% – 20% of the year that wasn’t raw…those are times when I have a few candies, or small handful of M&M, a bite of Adam’s steak, special crab diner, etc. But in the grand scheme of things I feel like I’m getting a lot of good and wholesome foods.

I feel great and I’ve started working out regularly this month and that feels AMAZING. Running, Bike riding, weights, walks w the family, just lots of activity, cardio, etc. For the first time I’m finally back in the work out swing. Love it – can’t wait for it to be several months down the road.

Also, this month, actually this WEEK – 2 days ago on Tuesday 3/20 I picked up my first share from the Rawfully Organic co-op. I LOVED the fresh organic and local food I brought home. I’ll do a post on everything I got and my experience w that, so stay tuned. Very excited to be a part of this co-op, looking forward to meeting more of the group and volunteering too.

GOALS!!

So – goals moving forward and for the rest of the year:

• More green smoothies and juices
• Experimenting w the dehydrator
• Continued exercise
• Recipes for raw desserts

So that’s what’s going on with me.

Oh yea – one more thing I wanted to share, I am doing a 366 project – where you post a photo for every day of the year (yea its 366 bc its Leap Year!!). If you’re interested in checking out my photos here you go! My 366 project - feel free to friend my on Facebook too. I’m loving this project, I take so many photos its a breeze for me, and its fun to look back on.

Cheers!

Stef

As mentioned, in the first of the year post – while I’m concentrating on healthier eating & raw…I definitely think we need to give ourselves a break to spoil ourselves here and there. So, last week – I indulged and it was oh so worth it!! I’ve seen Dessert Gallery for years now, but I’ve never stopped by until last Thursday. I didn’t know much about the place, other than it obviously served dessert-ish things. I actually even thought it might be a chain. I visited the Kirby location, just blocks from my work (its nestled into the same area as Kata Robata).

The cafe is decorated upscale ‘cute’ and has quite a bit of seating – lots of 2-seater tables — hint, hint – this place would be GREAT for a date guys! Cake displays are front and center and capture your attention immediately. They all look so sweet and scrumptious – I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.

While their specialty seems to be cakes, they do offer a variety of others, cookies, cupcakes, cake balls and for holidays and special events, they will create unique items, like right now they have macaroons and hand dipped strawberries.

I sampled several different flavors, the Luscious Lemon, Raspberry Rhapsody and Carrot Cake. They were all spectacular, I seriously can’t pick a favorite….maybe leaning slightly towards the carrot. I really liked their unique take on the recipe – no raisins, instead, pineapple!! Oh yea, and the cream cheese icing – yumm! So how did they get it taste so good? Well for one, the owner, Sara Brook is an award winning pastry chef, so there’s the start of it. But from there, they hand make EVERYTHING, even down to the cake batter…which I hear is something most bakeries just get from Pillsbury and ‘dress it up’ a little to call it homemade. They only use the highest quality ingredients, even if it means importing a specialty seedless raspberry jam. Its very apparent that the care and intricacies that go into their food results in truly one of a kind, rich, intense flavors.

Side note, I was totally wrong about the chain store thing. Sara started the Dessert Gallery here in Houston in 1995 and there are now 2 locations (Kirby & Galleria), and all the baking takes place at their central bake shop every day and is then distributed to the stores.

I suggest you make a trip to the Dessert Gallery as soon as you can – and what better excuse then VALENTINES!!! They are open until midnight on the weekends (Friday and Saturday) so it’s a perfect date destination. And if you can’t make up your mind among all of the mouthwatering selections, there is always their famous Old Fashioned Diner Cake. Just like it sounds – old fashioned moist yellow cake topped with rich chocolate buttercream (I took a slice home and it was heavenly).

Enjoy your desserts!!!!!!

Stef

[Editors Note:  Shared from Adam's Blog:  http://www.alwaystexan.com]

Not just a great coffee house, Jitterbug cafe is the best restaurant in Fairfield (Cypress, TX).  Too often this establishment is passed by when local residents ponder where to fetch some nourishment forgetting that it serves much more than coffee.

Walking into Jitterbug, you are quickly greeted by inviting smiles and warm welcomes.  The entire staff has been friendly and accommodating.  When you step up to the counter and look at the menu, you will notice something other than just coffee drinks and wholesale pastries – you see their food menu!  This is where it gets good.

Let me preface this by saying I am an expert in culinary critique.  I wouldn’t use the word “foodie”, because I think that is synominous with “pretentious a**hole” too often.  Also, we all know that deep down, there is not a darn thing special about the chain coffee joint with the Snookie mermaid logo.

So, what does this place have to eat?  Let’s start off with breakfast.  Do you remember those old pot-pies with the crust all the way through the bottom and it was pure deliciousness?  Well, Jitterbug has this narcotic called breakfast pies.  I find myself stopping by too often in the morning just for a little sumfin’ sumfin’ to get me by.  These pies are filled with perfectly cooked egg, sausage, spinach and cheese.  Simply amazing.  I also like to enjoy their breakfast croissant with sausage and havarti cheese.  (I dare you to click on the breakfast pie pic to enlarge)

Moving on to lunch… did I tell you about the addicting breakfast pie?  I thought I had it bad until I tried their chicken salad on a croissant – hands down the best chicken salad I have ever had.  Seriously, Jitterbug needs a sign “Best Chicken Salad in Texas!”  Another awesome sandwich to try there is the Asian Roast Beef, mmm with wasabi-ginger sauce – amazing!  The weekday hours are til 6:30 PM, so I can even get something for dinner when needed.

And if it couldn’t get any better, they have live music many of the Friday nights where they attract excellent local talent such as Randy Frisch.  And on other Fridays, it’s ‘Socrates Cafe’ where they host philosophical discussions.

Ohhhh, gelato!  Forget taking the kids out for ice-cream at the over priced mass produced parlors.  Jitterbug’s homemade gelato is far better.

Swing by for a cup of coffee, play a game, read a book, or take advantage of their free Wifi.  I’m tellin’ ya, this place is quality.  When you add the friendly service, quality of food, and convenience together, it sums up to Jitterbug Cafe.

Whether you live in the community, in the Cypress area, or visiting the Houston Premium Outlets, you have tons of mediocre options.  Don’t forget the little gem Fairfield residents have in their own front yard.

Do yourself a favor and try a sandwich from Jitterbug before you settle on blandness from the popular sub station next store.  Eat well!

-Adam

P.S. Jitterbug, thanks for having the raw cane sugar cubes, it makes a world of difference when sweetening coffee.

http://cafejitterbug.com

I discovered an amazingly delicious and simple dessert go-to item this weekend. BANANAS!!! I never thought 1 fruit could make such a scrumptious and decadent dessert. (well I ate BOTH of these for breakfast…but hey!)

Now, when I say simple, I seriously mean it. These both take under 2 minutes flat – no lie. This is raw food at its absolute best, the naturally sweet sugars are wonderful.

Side note, if you don’t know by now, one of my essential kitchen tools is my fabulous Vitamix. You could probably make both of these with a food processor or a blender, but I did both of these with the Vitamix.

Raw Banana Ice Cream Recipe

Probably the most simple of recipes. You can add raw cacao, berries, dried fruits, really anything that sounds good – this is just the simplest version and a good base for other varieties.

• 2 frozen bananas (if I don’t manage to eat all of the bananas I buy I freeze them. Just be sure to PEEL THEM FIRST, bc it’s really hard to freeze, then try to peel)
• 1/4 c to 1/2 c. water
• 1 tbsp. Agave Nectar
• small handfull raw almonds chopped

This is a really decadent treat that is so nutritious and yummy you won’t believe it doesn’t even call for a pinch of sugar.  A true treat, I promise you will love this. It’s almost as easy as the ice cream, but it’s got one extra step with the crumble – so I can’t say its exactly as easy.

• 2 bananas (set a few slices of a banana aside to chop and use for the topping)
• 1/4 c. soaked cashews (minimum 4 hour soak)
• 1/4 c. water

Add all of the ingredients to the vitamix and blend until smooth and a pudding consistency. The cashews help get a really rich and creamy flavor/texture. It is especially important to soak them in this instance – so they become smooth when blended.

Crumble:

• 1/4 c. almonds (I didn’t have soaked almonds and honestly wouldn’t prefer them here. You need them to stay firm for the base of the crumble.)
• 1 medjool date (take the pit out. you can find these in the bulk section of HEB, Whole Foods, etc)
• drizzle of agave nectar

Add all of the ingredients to a mini food processor or chopper. Process until it gets to a nice crumble.

Add the pudding to a pretty glass, top with crumble and the reserved banana pieces. YUMMM

  

  

We moved into a new home and neighborhood on January 7th. I am sure you can all relate to the craziness of moving and adjusting to a new area. On top of that, Adam was heading out of town for Vancouver on Monday, the 9th. The week was pretty much shot as I was trying to juggle work, taking care of the kids, keep up with the unpacking… I was just really too busy to stop and actually prepare a decent meal. This meant we got to grub on some delicious tacos from Taqueria Ruby (see my post on this fabulous little place here), amazing breakfasts and coffee from Jitterbug (post on this gem is to come), and good ‘ol neighborhood pizza from Gambino’s. Not to mention, Drew called me his ‘Step-mom’ for the first time this week, which made it easier for me to give in to his Chick-fil-a requests again….and again.

So needless to say, there was not much Raw in my diet last week. I do still seem to maintain my big raw salad for lunch everyday. For years now, I’ve packed up the whole vegetable tray (it seems) and chop up a big ‘ol salad in the kitchen at work. So at least I got one good meal in most days.

So it’s been a week in the new place and I’m definitely in a much better routine now and ready to re-focus. I started today off with a huge helping of green juice. Adam concocted an amazingly delicious recipe, see below. It’s always much easier for me to re-set on the weekend when I have no distractions. Ok, next week & beyond I will report back with more success and recipes. And, now thinking about it – the excuse of moving and being too busy shouldn’t really fly. If anything, eating raw is the simplest, most easiest way to grab-and-go…I’ve just got to remember that mind set. You’re never to busy to grab some fresh fruit or throw greens in a bowl and top with olive oil and lemon. It’s about being prepared so you don’t get suckered into food convenience. As I mentioned when I started, it’s a journey and I’m definitely not discouraged – I’m going to keep up and strive to eat as much fresh, nutrient-rich food as I can.

Adam’s Delicious VF-8 Juice

A really yummy green juice – you can hardly taste the greens. The sweetness from the carrot, apple and orange really make this juice pop! Its so delicious. I really recommend this if you have a hard time getting veggies down.

4-5 kale stalks
1/2 cucumber
3 carrot
3 celery
1 orange peeled
1 lemon peeled
1 apple
1 tomato

We have started to buy all organic produce, or as much as we have access to and I definitely recommend it. Better flavor and the price isn’t too much more. Worth the pay off.

Cheers,

Stef

Breakfast: 1 pear, 1/2 apple chopped. Topped with agave, lemon and walnuts

Snack: a few sips of Adam’s delicious green juice…which has me really wanting to jump back into juicing asap.

Lunch: Sea Salad – a la “Mock Tuna Salad, Almost Tuna Salad, Save the Tuna Salad” – whatever you wish

I knew that from enough reading, I would be making a nut pate as the base, this should come out pretty similar in texture to a can of tuna. Here is what I did with ingredients I had on hand:

INGREDIENTS & PREPARATIONS:

Sea Salad Ingredients 1 – 2 servings

• 1 c. soaked seeds – I had 1/2 c sunflower and 1/2 c pumpkin on hand, so I used a combo and it still came out fine. Make sure to soak your nuts/seeds, it not only makes it creamy and easier to use in recipes but it neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors found on nuts/seeds and makes it easier for digestion. To learn more on why you should soak – go here. (I simply put my seeds in a mason jar, cover well with water and let sit on counter. If I am pressed for time 1 – 2 hours is good enough.)
• dash of olive oil
• 1/4 bunch of cilantro chopped – I didn’t have parsley, but you could substitute parsley for cilantro. I prefer cilantro so I went with that.
• 1 – 2  stalks celery chopped
• 2 scallions chopped
• sprinkle of dulse (dry seaweed, found in most natural food stores) – Click here to see the kind I use, I got it from Whole Foods
• salt & pepper to taste

Sea Salad Prep

• Combine all of the copped greens into a bowl
• Add your seeds to a food processor or high speed blender with a dash of olive oil. Blend until you have a nice pate.
• Top your greens with the nut pate
• Sprinkle the dulse – this gives the subtle but oh so nice sea flavor

   

In my last post I mentioned the Raw Alfredo I made to curb my cravings when Adam and the kids were having Chicken Alfredo. Now – here’s the recipe.

Sidenote: I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to try to find a Spiralizer, but no luck. I am pretty sure I need to order this online. However, if you don’t have one of these nifty tools, a fine Julienne chop will do just fine. The Spiralizer allows you to create ‘noodle’ out of various vegetables.

Ingredients/Directions:

Pasta:

• 1 small – medium zucchini julienned or spiraled

Toppings:

• 1/4 red bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 tomato chopped
• 5 shiktake mushrooms chopped fine, 2 tbsp yellow onion chopped – put these 2 ingredients into a bowl and cover w 1 tbsp Tamari (wheat free soy sauce, can be found at Whole Foods), 1/2 tbsp olive oil and squeeze of lemon. Put in the fridge for 30 mins or longer.

Sauce:

• 2 – 3 spoon fulls of Tahini (sesame paste)
• 2 tbsp red onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbsp agave
• squeeze of lemon
• 1/2 c. water
• salt to taste

Blend all of these well in a high speed blender – like the Vitamix.

Place the toppings on top of the ‘pasta’, add the sauce and there you are!

Happy New Year everyone!!! If you’ve followed the last few blog posts, you’ll know that for the better part of last year I started researching digestion, nutrition, juicing and raw food. With the new year – I am ready to make a deeper commitment to my health and overall well being. I now feel confident I am fully equipped with the knowledge and tools to eat a high raw diet with enough versatility to keep me interested and full.

Ok – so what’s with the mostly or ‘high’ raw?!

I wold love to commit to a 100% raw diet, but I don’t want to set false expectations. I know that when Adam and the kids make tacos or pizza – I may sometimes have a bite. I also know that there may be days when I feel like being flexible, eating a standard meal, etc. For most people a full raw diet is really hard to strive for – so I want you to know that it doesn’t have to be 100%, just as much as can. My goal is to strive for at least 75% raw or higher. So this means, if I eat 4 times a day and 1 of those times I eat a handful of pretzels – I’m not going to beat myself up. I do know however, that the more and more I eat high raw foods, green juices and nutrient rich foods my body with naturally crave those things and that cravings for meat, fried food and other comfort foods will start to fade.

So far..

For the past 6 mos I’ve had my amazing Vitamix (thanks to my amazing Husband who gave me one for my birthday), that I simply cannot live without. I’ve discovered so many delicious raw soups, salad dressings, sauces, smoothies, puddings and more. Honestly, I think I use it up to 3x a day on the weekends. But for Christmas, I was surprised with another essential tool – a dehydrator. My first batch of ‘crackers’ are out and I can’t wait to try them today with ‘Save the Tuna’ Salad.

Jan 1:

Breakfast: several glasses of lemon water and carrot, apple, celery, cucumber juice

Lunch: Big salad of whatever fresh veggies I had on hand, avocado. Dressing: olive oil & lemon

Snack: few handfuls of popcorn (not raw, see…flexible) =)

Dinner: Adam and the kids were eating Chicken Fettucini Alfredo – (yes I had 1 bite of chicken & a taste of sauce), I made a raw take on this – Zucchini Alfredo. Recipe is here.

Jan 2:

Breakfast: 2 big glasses of water, 1 pear & 1/2 an apple chopped. Topped with agave, lemon and walnuts.

Alright, that’s it so far. This year, look forward to more frequent blog posts (the past few months have been lackluster, I know), info on green juicing, sprouting, window gardening, scrumptious recipes and anything else you want to hear about – let me know!!!

Cheers!

Stef