Seattle – Foodie Heaven, Part II (Saturday & Sunday)

Thanks for coming back to hear about the rest of the good food I got to try in Seattle!

Turkey & Swiss Croissant and Pecan Roll

On Saturday morning, my roommate and I went back to the Specialty Bakery for breakfast. I got a chai tea latte, a turkey and swiss croissant and a pecan cinnamon roll. Both were still warm from baking!  The turkey croissant was so buttery and flaky, and stuffed with turkey! The pecan roll was sweet and delicate, and they made a perfectly filling breakfast.

Seattle Coffee Works Coffee Shop

A little later in the morning, I had a break in my schedule so I joined another one of my roommates and together we ran down to the Pike Place Market. OMG! This market is heaven for foodies like me. My friend knew of a great place to get some baked goods so while she waiting in line to order, I checked out the produce stands and the fish mongers. The produce stands were overflowing with fresh apples, berries, artichokes, oranges, broccoli, etc. It was like the supermarket produce section on steroids. Everything was bright, beautiful, fresh, and local! The produce guys who work there are great too… they're all eager to talk, give out samples, answer questions, and bag anything up for you. The fishmongers were very similar. They all greeted me, answered my questions, gave me some great information about their fish, and didn't mind that I wasn't there to purchase.

Check out those oysters! And so cheap!

Look at that produce!

Mushrooms!

Baked Goods, Fresh and Cheap!

Lucky for me, my friend had been on a walking tour of the market earlier that week, so she got to show me around. Once inside the main market area, she showed me the fishmongers who throw the fish back and forth, the flower stands, the dried fruit stands, cheese shops, and the jam/jelly people. All of the workers in the market were so friendly (nothing like people in Florida) and didn't mind that we were just admiring their goods. They were also very liberal in their samples, many times offering many different things to try without any pressure to buy. It was great. I pretty much ate a second breakfast just from all the samples I was given!

Flower stands... the picture is blurry because I was so excited I was shaking!

All the bouquets were $15 or less!

That afternoon, for lunch, I ran right back to the Pike Market. While there I ate a slice of pizza from DeLaurenti's Italian Market, then stopped and bought some candied coconut almonds and caramel cashews from a nut vendor. Walking around the market a little more, I was given samples of some more jams and fruit.

Monk Fish

A machine that drops in doughnut dough, fries it, flips it, takes it out, and dumps it into sugar

Later, after the conference wrapped up, I again returned to the Market to explore. I checked out the Rocky Mountain Chocolate shop and purchased a chocolate covered jalapeno, a dark chocolate caramel square, and was given a white chocolate and caramel dipped marshmallow. I ate the marshmallow there, saved the rest for later, and then went to check out the rest of the market. There are several levels of the market, with shops selling jewelry, wind-up toys, soaps and lotions, bags and purses, quilting supplies, trinkets from China, etc. As I wandered around and back up to the street level, I had a few more samples of produce and cheese, later trying and buying small bottles of white and black truffle oils, a pickle from Britt's Pickles, tried a $3 charcuterie sampler (with cured ham and salami samples), and picked up two large pot-stickers and some bbq pork on a stick from a Dim Sum bakery. Holy cow was I full! I just kept wandering around with my food, trying everything that was handed to me.

Great selection!

Chicken, duck, and quail eggs

Ostrich and Emu egg shells

Original Sour Pickles from Britt's

BB Butcher sampler platter

About an hour later (yes, I was still full) I met up with some friends and we wandered around to find somewhere for dinner. We ended up at Fisherman's Restaurant which was right off of Alaska on the pier with the ferris wheel. There I got a half dozen raw oysters for dinner (again, I wasn't hungry, but who can pass up inexpensive oysters?).

Yum! Oysters!

After dinner, and after hiking up many flights of stairs to get back to 1^st street, we went to Chocolate and Wine on Pine. Just like it sounds, this place was a chocolate and wine shop, paired with a cupcake and ice cream shop! While there, I got an 8 oz salted caramel hot chocolate (made in store from real chocolate, homemade caramel sauce that they smeared inside the cup, salted caramel homemade marshmallows, fresh whipped cream, caramel drizzle and chocolate shavings). As I said when I took a sip, "swiss miss ain't not nothin' on this". IT WAS SO GOOD! I couldn't believe how rich and creamy the drink was and within a few minutes I was buzzing around the store on a chocolate high. Again, the staff at this place were super friendly, answering questions, explaining all their products, and even let us try some super rare cocoa-butter candy bars flavored with lemon and pepper. These bars, at $6 each for a size smaller than a Hershey bar, were so creamy and didn't really taste like chocolate. I guess they come from the cocoa fats and it's rare for anyone to sell them because most of the cocoa-butters get turned into skin care products (shame!). I also bought a Seattle souvenir chocolate bar and an caramel & chocolate fudge square.

Hot Chocolate Bar with wine tasting in the back!

Choices... hmmm

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

Obama Chocolates

All their chocolates come from local producers

Look at the selection!

On Sunday, I got up early to enjoy my last few hours in Seattle. My friend and I went back to the Market (can you tell how much I liked this place) and bought some pastries for breakfast. I got an almond croissant claw and gobbled that down. Again, we sampled more fruit from the produce guys, ate some dried cherries (bought two packs, one regular, one wine soaked then chocolate dipped), tried and bought some sweetened dried strawberries (then I bought a pound of them to take home) and a jazz apple, sampled some more jam, then headed over to the cheese store. At Beechers Cheeses, I bought a quarter pound of their truffle goat cheese and a quarter pound of their truffle cheddar (each were about $20/lb). We then went across the street, bought a "mini" aka 15 in long French baguette for $.1.25 and ate it with the cheese. SO GOOD. I also bought a small container of the cheese curds to take home with me.

Lunch of cheese and baguette

Then, sadly, I had to return to the hotel, get my things, and fly home. Sigh…

I will also try to post a few pictures from my friends about their food experiences in Seattle as soon as I can compile them!

Street performers

The Pike Piggy Bank

Closed up for the night

What I bought...

Candied nuts, chocolate and caramel fudge, truffle oil, 

chocolate covered jalapeno, dark chocolate caramel square

X-Hot Pepper Jelly

Squid Ink Linguine, Chocolate Pasta, and Seattle Chocolate Bar

Sweet Dried Strawberries

Dried Cherries, and Wine Soaked Chocolate Covered Cherries

Have any of you been to Seattle? What is your favorite food city? Anything I missed (I’m sure there is plenty!)? 

Such Talent!

Fish tossing

Low Carb Food (even desserts!)

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a long time (almost two months?)... its just been very busy around here. First we had Chris' parents visiting us, I had a huge exam at school, then we celebrated our 1 year anniversary in Disney World, and then had a major paper to write. All during this time, Chris and I started a low carb diet.

We aren't being super strict about it, and we aren't reading tons of Atkins books, but I'm just trying to eliminate as much bead, pasta, rice, potatoes, and sweets as I can. I'm not a big bread person, unless you bring me to a place with garlic bread or bread sticks, but I do love my pasta and rice. Especially at dinner, pasta and rice have long been a base for most of the foods I make. Dinner = pasta + sauce + meat + veggie... or rice + veggies + meat + sauce = stir-fry. What could be easier? Its been tricky trying to rework my dinner menu to be low carb, but I've figured out that I don't miss the starches all too much. 

I do however miss my sweets. I love to eat fruit and desserts. For breakfast and lunch, I love to eat fruit. But with this diet, I've tried to stick to lower sugar, high fiber fruits such as berries. But I still really miss my dessert at the end of the day (not every day, but as you know, I love to bake so a rich, special, treat now and then is really what I crave). I have allowed myself two pieces of dark chocolate after lunch (its almost an antidepressant for me) but I still was looking for some low carb baked goods. Thank god for the internet!

So to give you an idea of what we've been eating, I've been taking pictures of my dinners: 

Parmesan Chicken Tenderloins with Cauliflower Mash (with cheese and kale)

Burrito bowl: lettuce, chicken, a little quinoa, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, and cheese

Fried pork chops (yes, I used a little bread crumbs), cheddar brat, and spicy mayo kale salad

Chopped chicken stir-fry with broccoli and peas (this takes less than 15 minutes to make)

Chicken breast with sauteed mushrooms, kielbasa with collard greens, white beans, tomatoes, and spicy chicken broth

Chicken breast coated in cornstarch (less carbs than flour), with a raspberry chipotle glaze, and sauteed green beans and zucchini

Spicy Italian sausage, spicy garlic broccolini, and cloud/oopie bread (made with eggs and cream cheese... seriously)

Corned beef, cabbage and carrots (for St. Patrick's day)

Also, don't forget about my post on the wonders of Spaghetti Squash

Now, for dessert.

Dessert is a little harder to maneuver into a low carb territory due to the high sugar content of most items. But if you don't mind using a little fake sugar (don't mind if I do), its not hard to make a few great desserts.

Greek Yogurt Souffle

From: http://julesfood.blogspot.com/2012/10/greek-yogurt-souffle.html

1 cup plain greek yogurt...I use 0% Fage

3 large egg yolks

3 large egg whites

3 Tbsp AP flour

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean (see I told you I'd give you other uses for the vanilla beans I convinced you to buy!)

1/8 tsp cream of tarter

1/4 cup sugar, or a sugar substitute like baking splenda

butter and "real" sugar for ramekins

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees, non convection.

Butter six 6oz ramekins.  Coat inside ramekin with sugar and knock out excess.  Set on baking sheet.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together yogurt, egg yolks, flour, salt and vanilla.  In a medium bowl or in your stand mixture, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy...then gradually pour in the sugar and whisk until firm, but soft peaks form...just don't whip so hard you break the whites. Add 1/3 of egg white mixture to the yogurt mixture and incorporate well.  Then, gently fold in another 1/3...then the remaining.  you want to keep as much volume as possible, of course. Divide evenly into ramekins, filled to about 3/4 to the top because when they fall you still want to have volume in the ramekin.

Bake on tray for about 15 minutes, until evenly risen and lightly browned around the edges.

DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR TO PEEK.

serve IMMEDIATELY for the full effect.

already falling, but still amazing!

These souffles are very easy to make. They remind me of a warm cheesecake. They do have a distinct 'greek yogurt' smell, but aren't as tart. We only ate two of them that afternoon, but the next day they were still so good. After they fall and cool, they are much more like a whipped cheesecake. I had mine for breakfast with blackberries. 

If you don't want to make them immediately, or you don't want all 6, you can mix them up, put them in the ramekins  and either refrigerate for two days or freeze for several months. Just bake them a few more minutes.

Approx. nutrition info

6 servings: 80 calories, 6.6 carbs, 2.5 fat, 2.3 sugar, 7.4 protein

Coconut Chocolate Mousse

adapted from: http://kojo-designs.com/2013/02/coconut-chocolate-mousse-quite-possibly-the-worlds-best-dessert/

This is another easy low carb dessert idea.

1 can of coconut milk (not lite). Some brands work better than others, but I used the first kind I found at publix (in the asian food section)

5 tablespoons of cocoa powder

2+ tablespoons of powered sugar (to taste, could probably substitute splenda because its so light)

pinch of salt (makes everything taste good, esp chocolate)

splash of vanilla extract

Directions: open the can of coconut milk and let it sit in a bowl overnight. If your can has a lot of runny coconut water on top, drain most of it off. This allows you to let the coconut solids to firm up. 

Combine the rested coconut milk with the cocoa and sugar and whip it with a mixer on a high speed until it gets fluffy (5-10 minutes). 

Time to eat! You can either spoon it into a bowl, eat it from the mixing bowl, or pipe it into fancy glasses rimmed in sugar.

These didn't taste super coconut-y but still very yummy!

Greetings from Disney World!