mini twice baked potatoes (vegan and gluten free)

Two nights ago, we were invited over to Chris and Natalie's home for a dinner party. (You can see all the delicious pictures on Natalie's blog.) There were 8 guests in total, 1 who is vegan and another who is gluten-free. Chris and Natalie were up for the challenge and planned an entirely vegan, gluten-free meal. I was charged to bring an appetizer within those parameters.

I thought that it couldn't be thaaaaaat difficult to come up with a dish. So I took to the internet and googled up a storm. Wow, everything vegan out there comes with some form of a carbohydrate and everything gluten-free there is served with cheese.

At this point, I was in a slight panic. It was late, and I needed to get to the grocery store and prep the food because I knew I would have no time the day of the party. But then, after scouring through some of my favorite food blogs, the idea of twice baked potatoes came to me. Why not make them mini and vegan?

So I left for TJs and grabbed a bag of small red potatoes. I stared at the bag and thought, what's the best part of twice baked potatoes? The bacon and the creamy sour cream. Uh-oh, how can I replicate that in a vegan sense? Think, Heather..Think.

Ok, so the bacon part was pretty easy, I grabbed a package of soyrizo. It's meaty, flavorful, and would blend well with the potato. The creamy, tanginess of sour cream? Now that's a bit more difficult. I picked up a container of edamame hummus. (Stay with me here.) The hummus adds the creamy texture and the edamame has a more mellow flavor than sour cream, but it actually complimented the spiciness of the soyrizo perfectly.

The dish ended up being a success. But, seriously, props to all you vegan and gluten-free people out there. It is not an easy feat!

Mini Vegan and Gluten-Free Twice Baked Potatoes

1 bag small red potatoes
1 package edamame hummus
1 package soyrizo

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry potatoes. Lay them on a sheet pan and drizzle in olive oil. Bake for 25-30 minutes until potatoes are easy to pierce with a toothpick. Let potatoes cool so they're easy to handle.

Remove soyrizo from package and casing. Cook on medium heat until some of the moisture has been cooked out (about 5-7 minutes). Mix half the soyrizo with half the edamame hummus (there's no exact science to this).

Cut top of the potato off. Using a mini melon scoop, pepper corer, or spoon, carefully scoop out the insides of the potato, while keeping the potatoes exterior shape in tact. Add potato filling to the soyrizo/hummus mixture. Mash the filling until all the ingredients are blended together.

Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Fill potatoes with the mixture, so that the filling is slightly overflowing. Bake for 10 minutes, or until heated throw. Top with a spoonful of edadmame hummus and serve.

cocktails from nyc's pdt

A couple years ago, Josh and I arrived to Crif's Dogs in New York City. We hopped into the phone booth inside of the restaurant, picked up the phone and confirmed our reservation, and then a sliding door opened and we were whisked into Please Don't Tell (PDT), one of New York's most famous speakeasies.

The drinks were fabulously unique. One of our friends ordered the bacon-infused old fashioned. Stellar.

Funny story. I wrote my mom an email and told her all about our experience at PDT. To which she responded, "This place sounds fabulous. What's its name? And of course, I won't tell anyone." Oh, mom. By "Please Don't Tell," she thought I was telling her not to tell anyone about the speakeasy.

PDT just recently released a cocktail book. I think Josh may have been one of the first to order it. He was that excited. We made 2 cocktails from the book last week and both were wonderful. The Cherry Pop is a blend of citrus and sweet with lemon juice and muddled cherries. Improved Whiskey Cocktail is a bit more potent, made up of rye, maraschino liqueur, bitters, and a rinse of absinthe.

Cherry Pop

2 oz gin
2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
1/2 oz simple syrup
3 pitted cherries

Muddles 2 of the cherries with the simple syrup (we had some Demerara syrup on hand). Add everything else, then shake with ice and strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with reserved cherry.

(We also garnished with a lemon twist, but the recipe didn't call for that).

Improved Whiskey Cocktail

2 oz rye whiskey
1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz simple syrup
2 dashes angostura bitters
Rinse of absinthe (other anise-flavored liqueurs like Pernod work well too)

Rinse chilled cocktail glass with absinthe (add a splash of absinthe, fill with cold water, discard prior to pouring cocktail leaving condensation behind). Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into the cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

an epicurean adventure to chicago

Chicago's food and cocktail culture is kind of amazing. It doesn't surprise me that practically half the chefs on this season of Top Chef are from Chicago. Sadly, we didn't make it to any of their restaurants (I guess they wouldn't be there anyway?). But we definitely maxed out our weekend. Somehow a ton of college and work friends all ended up being in the city at the same time. There were drinks with this couple, lunch with this friend, late night dessert to see someone else. You get the picture. Needless to say I did not leave hungry.

We made a trip up to Evanston to visit our friend Viren for his birthday. There were some epic chicken wings from Bat 17, a chicago style dog and tasty burger from Edzo's, and plenty of beers from Hop Leaf.

Did you know that if you get the last beer from a keg, it's common for the bar to give it to you for free? Yay for free beer! That's the birthday boy with his winnings.

We had sandwiches from Xoco (the cubano and the cochinita pibil, to be exact) and an insanely good banana peanut butter dessert from Hot Chocolate.

We rounded out Saturday with the trifecta of restaurants and cocktail bars. We started out with fancy, molecular gastronomy cocktails at The Aviary (my old fashioned came inside of an ice cube which I then cracked to dispense the drink). We jetted off to dinner at Blackbird (the lamb with mushrooms, grapes, and onion jam was ridiculous). And then somehow found our way into the elusive speakeasy known as The Office, where we managed to score a picture of the menu.

Amidst the food and cocktails, we also made sure to enjoy the autumn scenery. It was beautiful, but chilly for this southern california girl!

meatless monday: potato soup with poached eggs

Chicago was fabulous. We met up with friends, traipsed through Millenium Park, and had an utterly gluttonous weekend. (I'll post pictures tomorrow.)

We returned to quite the rain storm in LA. Josh and I looked at each other on the plane and decided it was going to be a soup sort of evening. A quick stop off at the grocery store and an hour later, we were eating creamy, luxurious potato soup. With a poached egg on top. And garlic bread on the side.

Sigh. Josh finished it all or else I'd be getting up right now for another helping.

You cut into the egg so the yoke spreads over the top of the soup. And then you take some garlic bread and make sure to get a bit of soup and yoke on each bite. And then you're transported to this place of velvety textures and warm, buttery onions and garlic and potatoes.

This is going to be a winter staple.

Potato and Onion Soup with a Poached Egg and Garlic Toast
(serves two dinner sized portions)

3 white bulb green onions
1 medium brown onion
4 garlic cloves
1 shallot
2 T butter
2 T salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 russet potatoes
4 cups vegetable stock
2 T heavy creamy

2 poached eggs (read here for a tutorial)

8 slices of sourdough baguette
4 garlic cloves
Chopped basil and parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice onions, garlic, and shallot and saute in butter for 5 minutes at medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pepper and stir. Continue to saute for 10 minutes.

Rub garlic cloves on the baguette slices and sprinkle with fresh herbs. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until golden brown.

Peel and chop potatoes. I cute mine into about 16 pieces each. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil and add potatoes and onion/shallot/garlic mixture. Cook until potatoes are fork tender. About 10-15 minutes.

Blend the soup until creamy. Add tablespoon of salt and the heavy cream.

Ladle the soup into individual bowls. Place each poached egg on a spoon and gently lay on top of soup. Serve with garlic bread.

chi-town bound!

We're off for a short vacay to Chicago. The purpose is mostly business, but we're making sure to work in some fun dinners, cocktails, and even a birthday celebration. The only issue is - there's so many fantastic places in Chicago, we can't make up our mind where to go.

Here's some of our dilemmas:

(image via the paupered chef)

chicago-style hot dog...but do we go with chubby weiners or murphy's red hots?

sunday brunch...our tried and true staple, tempo cafe, or a new adventure to m. henry, which has crazy good reviews?

(image via joonbug)

cocktails in the city...the violet hour or the drawing room?

chocolate croissants...i wrote a post here about how we're constantly searching for the best chocolate croissant - i wasn't kidding! we'll be checking out either lovely: a bake shop or vanille patisserie

(images via sweet tooth of chicago and unbreaded)

celebrity chef restaurant...hot chocolate for mindy segal's divine desserts or xoco for rick bayless' sandwiches?

You might think we're absolutely insane, but the one thing we didn't include one our list is deep dish pizza. I know, I know. It's practically criminal not to get deep dish pizza in Chicago. I just can't do it. I love thin crust. And you can't say I haven't tried - I've been both to Pizzeria Uno and to Lou Malnati's. It's just not my thing. Give me New York or Neopolitan pizza any day.

a tray debacle

I adore trays. I love how they spruce up a cocktail table or organize a kitchen counter. I've been eyeing the three trays below and debating which one I should get for our place. The West Elm one would look great on our kitchen island holding various bowls of citrus and fruit. The Pretty Smitten lucite tray would be perfect with some cocktail glasses or alcohol bottles sitting on a bar cart shelf. And the WH Hostess melamine tray would be just right for showcasing cocktail napkins, straws, and garnishes at any festive holiday party. Decisions. Decisions.

(west elm wood lacquered tray)

(pretty smitten lucite tray - customizable)

(wh hostess melamine tray)

a halloween potluck

This past Sunday I ran 13.1 miles. For fun. I had no excuse not to, really. The half marathon started and finished 1 block from my apartment. I literally woke up, walked down to the starting line, ran ran ran, and then was back up in my apartment enjoying some eggs benedict (homemade by Josh!) before 10 am. I would call that a productive morning.

(i'm the one fist pumping)

Part of the fun of running a half marathon is getting away with eating and drinking whatever you please for the rest of the day. What better way to enjoy this leisure than inviting your friends over for a Halloween party? And, because you can totally ride the excuse of just having run 13.1 miles, why not make it a potluck so you really only have to focus on decorations and the main course? My thoughts exactly...

I wanted to make a dish that could be prepared well before the party, so I could relax on the couch for a bit. I wanted it to be filling, inexpensive, and something that all my friends could engage in - you know, like a make your own taco bar or something. So I came up with a chili bar. I whipped up two different types - one with beef, pinto beans, and kidney beans and the other with chicken, green chilis, and white beans. (You can find the recipes here and here. Both were fantastic, but the chicken chili was practically licked clean.) There was an assortment of toppings so everyone could make it just the way they like. And my friend Kim was gracious enough to bring the cornbread because it's not truly chili without cornbread.

(I used 2 cans great northern beans instead of dried beans - it turned out great)

A few weeks ago, I headed down to Moskatel's in downtown LA. This place is nuts. I now see why people describe it as "Michael's on crack." They have everything - literally everything - you could dream of for decorating, crafting, or hosting a party. AND they were having a 40% off Halloween items sale. In the beginning of October. Jackpot. 

We don't have much storage in the loft, so I had to control the urge to buy everything. I picked out a few packages of fun paper napkins, black tealights, black glitter bats and skulls, orange candlesticks, cobweb and spider confetti, and a Happy Halloween banner. For like $12. I know, right?! I mixed those items in with some Ikea brown and white wicker balls, mini and large pumpkins from Trader Joe's, and some folded fabric runners (one in orange and white stripes and one in black shimmer). And our loft was just festive enough.

I set up our loft in 3 sections: the dining table was dedicated to the potluck. I preset the table with platters and serving spoons in case my friends needed them. Plus, it just looked more festive when they all arrived. The stove and kitchen counter were dedicated to the chili bar. I made a sign describing the 2 types of chili and the toppings. I set out assorted bowls and spoons and let people grab them when they were hungry. The kitchen island was the cocktail station. Wine, beer, and glasses were ready for those who were thirsty. Based on the empty bottle count, we were plenty thirsty.

The chili bar was a huge success and would work for any occasion. (It kind of screams Super Bowl Sunday, no?).