I have been hearing a lot lately about Smashburger, a new burger joint that will be coming to town soon. In the meantime, there is another location in a nearby town. I finally stopped there to see what the buzz was about. Our group had hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken sandwiches, and no one was disappointed.

What I was especially looking forward to trying, however, was the sweet potato “smash fries.” From what I understand, they are seasoned with olive oil, salt & rosemary, and they will Rock. Your. World. Wow – I ate the entire order and would have eaten more, even though the order had more than enough.

I decided to try to recreate the side dish at home. My first variation was too salty, but the second go-round was scrumptious. It will definitely tide me over until the new location opens! I highly recommend giving it a try. Just slice the sweet potatoes into fry-size slivers and pan-fry in olive oil with kosher salt (I like the coarseness) and rosemary, to taste.

My mouth is watering, just thinking about it. And, for the record, I didn’t receive any perks for blogging about Smashburger … though I wouldn’t turn down a heaping plate of those heavenly taters! 😉

Two girlfriends and I ran away to Austin for a Testosterone-Free Weekend (TFW … like a GNO, only better). I’ve been to the capital city many times, but only passing through or for a specific purpose/destination. It was fun to go with no agenda and just relax.

The hotel was a disappointment — one that shall be reflected in my customer review. But, the a/c was cold (hallelujah!) and the beds were decently comfy, so that’s something. What really made the trip fun was finding new & different places to eat. We were aiming to not repeat places and to try different types of food at each meal. It was absolutely not a low-carb weekend, but we had a ball.

• Friday lunch, as we arrived in town: Vivo, where I had verde chicken enchiladas and a cucumber frozen margarita. It sounds strange, but it was really good!
• Friday dinner: Bacon, where every dish has – you guessed it – bacon! I had a bacon reuben sandwich that was scrumpdillyicious. One of the gals had chicken & waffle with bacon in the waffle batter. Again, it sounds odd, but omg – you have to taste it to believe it!
• 

  Tiramisu at Mandola’s Italian Market in Austin

  Saturday breakfast: slept blissfully late, then coffee & scone 🙂

• Saturday lunch: Opa for late lunch/early happy hour. I had a falafel plate with hummus & pita and a nice glass of Astica Malbec.
• Saturday dinner: Mandola’s Italian Market, where I tried the grilled caprese panini (like a mozzarella grilled cheese sandwich for grown-ups!) and tiramisu for dessert. One of the gals also got a scoop of pistachio gelato, and it was yummy!
• Sunday breakfast before we headed home: Biscuits & Groovy, where the menu items are named after famous musicians. I had the Philly Nelson, which consisted of three biscuits smothered in amazing stuff like cheesesteak, sausage, gravy & chives. I had to box up half of it for a delicious leftover lunch when I got home. They also make a splendid iced coffee for only a buck, so I had two!
  

  “Philly Nelson” breakfast at Biscuits & Groovy in Austin

We actually did do [a little bit] more than just eat & drink all weekend! 😉 We went to the used bookstore (because between the 3 of us, we “only” had about a dozen books … not counting what’s in my e-reader library, LOL) and did a little shopping at an outlet center.

I even logged on to my school system to see the final exam topic for my essay test that is due on Tuesday. Did I work on it? Um, no. But I looked at it, so that should count for something. E for Effort. We also did plenty of gabbing and laughed till we wheezed & cried and lazed around the hotel room in our jammies like luxurious divas.

One of the other gals and I felt adventuresome and went kayaking at Lady Bird Lake on Saturday morning. It was loads of fun, and we didn’t capsize! 😉 We’ve decided to try to make it a tradition for our TFW adventures to do some kind of water-related activity.

So, there you have it … and now, I think I shall go enjoy the rest of my leftover tiramisu before I get back to writing essays!

A recipe that we’ve nicknamed “Taco Cups” that I found on Pinterest was such a big hit with the boys that we’ve had it for dinner twice in the past couple of weeks!

The boys loved the easy-to-pick-up-and-shove-in-their-mouths wonton cups, but I found some awesome stuffable-size mushrooms at the grocery store, so I thought I would try to alter the recipe to make it a little less carby for me to enjoy.

Oh, man, were they scrumptious! It’s the same filling that I used for the taco cups, but I just stuffed mushroom caps, instead.

They are so easy, too! I used ground chicken (which is on sale in my grocer’s freezer for much less than ground beef right now, so I stock up on several pounds at a time!), which I seasoned with cumin, dried minced garlic, chili powder, salt & pepper and a dash each of cayenne pepper and Cholula sauce (aka, the way to win Mom’s heart via her tastebuds). Or, you can just use taco seasoning — as you prefer.

After the meat was almost done browning, I added a can of diced tomatoes (drained) and let the whole brew simmer for a few more minutes. (If I had used ground beef, I would have drained the meat before adding the tomatoes, but the chicken wasn’t too greasy.)

Taco Caps

While the meaty-tomatoey goodness simmered, I washed & cored the mushrooms and set aside the stems in a zip baggie to use in salads or another mushroomy recipe. Then, I filled each cap with a spoonful or two of meaty-tomatoey goodness and arranged them on a cookie sheet. I didn’t have any shredded cheese on hand, so I quartered regular slices of cheese and placed a square atop each mushroom.

(I happen to like mushrooms raw, and I really just wanted to melt the cheese, so I only baked them at 250 for about 4-5 minutes. If you want to cook the mushrooms, then you would need to adjust your cooking temp/time and add the cheese toward the last few minutes of baking, so it doesn’t burn.)

Four of the boys were home the evening I made the mushrooms (for myself! ha!), and they all clamored for some. They were a big hit!

I know there are “healthier” things for kids to eat, but let’s face it: there are certainly worse things for them to eat. Hot Pockets (or the store-brand equivalent) are a staple on our grocery list. The boys especially love the ham & cheese and pepperoni varieties. They make a great after-school snack (and sometimes breakfast) that the guys can fix themselves, and they are a nice break from sandwiches for the younger three who take their lunches to school each day.

I have a system for packing Hot Pockets for school lunches. (The same wrapping system works for corndogs, burritos, etc.) First, I put three Hot Pockets on a microwave-safe plate for six minutes (in their little magical cardboard sleeves, of course). While they are cooking, I layer a paper towel and square of foil, paper towel, square of foil, paper towel, square of foil. I wrap up each cooked Hot Pocket in a foil/paper towel combo to keep them warm and somewhat insulate them from the other items in the lunch bag. It seems to work great, and the Hot Pockets are still warm when lunchtime rolls around.

So, there you have it — one of my work-arounds for a relatively healthy and super easy snack/meal for the kiddos.

We are having flooring work done at home today & tomorrow, and they will be taking up the carpet in the living room. On an unrelated note, No. 3 asked me last night if I would fix decaf coffee for them this morning, and I agreed. (Who knew — they all like coffee!) So, as a special treat (just because we could), we decided to sit in the living room and drink our coffee on the old carpet (a big no-no, normally!). It was quite a hoot, and we felt luxurious sipping our coffee mugs on the floor.

Nos. 1 & 2 had already finished breakfast, and they left for the bus shortly, as usual. The other three got their backpacks ready and went off to a bedroom to play video games before time to go to school. We completely forgot to eat breakfast!! No one reminded me, and I had already eaten with Nos. 1 & 2, so I didn’t think about it.

I can just hear them when they realize later that they are hungry, then tell their teachers that I didn’t feed them this morning. Oh, dear! Haha! Oh, well – I guess the decaf was their breakfast, and they won’t starve before lunch. I know that some people seldom eat breakfast, but I’m not one to skip a meal (the scale can attest to that!), so it’s a foreign idea to me to go without breakfast.

This week, I thought I’d tell you about one of my favorite local websites, WacoFork.com. The guys who run the site are down-to-earth and friendly, and they’ve drawn a following of dedicated foodies who write regular reviews about restaurants around town.

Seaweed salad (don't knock it till you try it!)

I recently wrote a review of a new sushi/Korean place called Wako Roll. (The grammarian in me hates the name, but the food is good enough to make me forgive the spelling.) I don’t eat much in the way of starchy foods anymore, so I’m still trying to figure out a good rice alternative. (I’ve used cauliflower for rice side dishes but haven’t tried a mock-sushi with it yet.)

Anyway, I really liked the bulgogi, and the seaweed salad was scrumptious. It reminded me of liang pi, which is a cold noodle dish that I haven’t been able to find this side of Seattle. There are no noodles, though! I inquired about the ingredients because I wanted to know what the white slivers were, and I was informed that they are a type of radish. Score!

It’s fun to have a web resource where locals give feedback on restaurants they enjoy. I’ve discovered some new places in town that I might not ever have tried if it weren’t for others’ reviews. Plus, I know that other folks out there are trying to cut back on sugar/carbs, so hopefully some people benefit from my reviews of alternative dishes.

As I hope you already know, I’m not a professional food critic, but I try to share things that I enjoy and find healthful. I recently heard about Ezekiel bread and thought I’d try it when I found it on sale at a local specialty foods store.

The company promotes its flour-free baking process, and it apparently has a much lower glycemic index than traditional bread. I decided to try it, and I must admit that I really like it. The bread seems like more than just something to hold the sandwich in place; it is part of the meal. I can’t attest to significant weightloss, but the Ezekiel bread is something I’ve only had a couple of times a week. I don’t think that it has had an adverse effect on my blood sugar, but then again, I don’t check it like a diabetic would. I just know – from learning the hard way – that too many carbs don’t set well with my digestive system.

Ezekiel bread seems like a good alternative, though it is still a “splurge” for me to eat. Considering the alternatives, though, if I’m craving pb&j, then it’s certainly a better alternative (with natural pb and sugar-free jelly) than a normal sandwich. 😉