mango spread & chocolate bird's nest

I haven't eaten meat or seafood in three weeks.

Ok, I've had one local exception...

a gorgeous, strip of grass-fed beef

and a few tasting slip-ups with chicken or beef base that are perpetually inevitable with my line of work.

I'm not trying to be a:

new, self-proclaimed vegetarian

shouting from the rooftops

with Food Inc. and King Corn thoughts firing up my fury.

I've simply made a firm decision to become more knowledgeable of what goes into my mouth.

I was raised eating healthily and have always eaten local when possible, purchased organic groceries and cage-free, antibiotic-free options. The list goes on...

Whether I'm eating cow, chicken, scallops or cherries--

I will strive to be

healthy & happy

about the decisions I'm making and continue to

support the people that help me eat this way.

My past slow weekend began perched atop linoleum bar stools-- catching up with an old culinary school friend at Fuzzy's Taco Shop.

Formerly content with the:

garlicky cheese enchiladas & cornflake-crusted tempura fish sandwich

(toss up)

I settled on julienned veggie tacos (squash, carrots, onions, zucchini) delightfully dressed with garlic sauce and guacamole. Brothy black beans and crispy-fried potatoes were swallowed in between icy scooner sips.

I later took part in an indulgent evening at the chic, new Tillman's Roadhouse--

think Billy Reid,

crossed with a fire pit,

pearl snaps

and a gluttonous amount of

goat cheese, coffee, truffle oil and homemade marshmallows.

We opted to lounge on the still-sunny patio and sipped blood orange margaritas (sans simple syrup for me) between warm peanuts with truffled popcorn.

For my entree, I went local with a grass fed New York strip from Grandview, Texas-- charred on the firepit then served medium rare with blistered shishito peppers, black bean and cotija grits and a red jalapeno radish salad.

This rustic dish was earthy, spicy, bitter and just screamed summer.
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A copper bird's nest filled with decadent chocolate-covered almonds consoled us when we received our hefty tab-- clever marketing attempt.

On a later homemade supper affair, I focused on textures galore with my:

Steamed Chicken & Radish Potstickers

with Peanut Brown Rice and Soy Muddled Blackberries

These delicate dumplings are quick steamed then nestled amongst nutty, brown rice and a tart, easy-as-pie blackberry topping.

In addition to this recipe, these quaint packages would be perfect:

poached in a broth-based soup

pan-fried with stir-fried vegetables

or deep-fried with a sweet & spicy dipping potion

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for a cocktail party in a flash!

Peanut Brown Rice:

1 recipe brown rice, prepared and kept warm

3 T unsalted butter

3 T natural peanut butter, crunchy

juice and zest of 1 lime

1/2 t red pepper flakes

Mix ingredients and keep warm to pair with dumplings.

Chicken & Radish Dumplings:

Yields 16 dumplings (4 servings)

1 organic boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 T extra virgin olive oil

4 radishes, minced

3 T fresh cilantro, minced

1 tsp honey

salt and pepper to taste

16 square potsticker skins, defrosted

1 small bowl of water to seal potstickers

Coat chicken in olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes until just cooked and juicy. Set aside to cool. Shred chicken into small pieces then mix with radish, cilantro, honey, salt and pepper. Add approximately one teaspoon of filling to each wonton. Fold into a triangle, sealing edges with water-drenched fingers. Fold corners in together to form "purses" shown in picture.

While folding remaining dumplings, make Soy Muddled Blackberry Sauce and begin boiling water to later steam dumplings. Steam dumplings in a bamboo steamer approximately 5 minutes until dumplings are transparent and hot. Serve immediately atop peanut rice with muddled blackberries.

Soy Muddled Blackberries:

juice of 1/2 lime

zest of 1 lime

1/2 pint fresh blackberries
1 t soy sauce

dash of salt

In a mortar and pestle, carefully muddle together ingredients to develop juices but keep some texture intact. Serve atop potstickers.

For dessert, I added local flare and texture to a traditional jam thumbprint with Mango Bread Spread from Fort Worth's Cherith Valley Gardens and dried apricots:

Mango & Dried Apricot Thumbprints

These crumbling, buttery cookies are sweet, sour and perfect with a glass of steamed milk.

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

2 T lemon zest

2 T lemon juice

1 t pure almond extract

1/4 t salt

2 and 1/2 cups AP flour

Cherith Valley Mango Bread Spread (or any jam of your choice)

Dried apricots, sliced diagonally

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until creamy-- about 5 minutes. Slowly add egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, almond extract and salt until mixed. Finally, slowly add flour until a dough just forms, careful not to overmix.

Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Make a finger indentation into center of each ball. With a teaspoon, drop equal amounts of mango jam into each indentation. Bake cookies approximately 20 minutes until firm and bottoms are golden.

Top each cookie with a slice of dried apricot-- still displaying jam. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.

In anticipation for the Summer issue of Fort Worth Foodie,

I've been developing a recipe for:

a citrusy, avocado treat

sure to please a crowd on the patio-- more delicious details to come!

pot au choux and mutton busting

After surviving the weekend with an unpleasant stomach virus, I was finally able to stomach real food. No more Gatorade and applesauce, thank goodness.

Monday night, friends and I met for an early dinner at Fortuna for some Italian fare. Normally, I would have started with some red wine, but I stuck with an iced tea. To begin, we were brought warm, soft garlicky rolls with an infused olive oil for dipping. Between the table of three, we polished off two baskets.

For dinner, we chose lasagna, chicken parmigiana and tortellini alla rosa with a pink sauce...ok, and a small pepperoni pizza. Can you tell we were starving?

I ordered the traditional lasagna with ground beef. It had good flavor, but was a bit runny. The chicken parm was pretty simple and extremely cheesy. My favorite was the tortellini. The sauce was light, the cheese filling was flavorful and the pasta was so yummy. The pizza was good too, perhaps the best of the bunch. Next time I return I'm going to make it a pizza and vino night.

The next evening was a quick dinner and margs at Uncle Julio's then Bulls Night Out at the stock show. Amongst the too-full table of queso, guacamole and chicken quesadillas we sipped sangria-swirled margaritas and a couple shots of Tres Generaciones. After a few hours of bull riding and some XL Coors lights, we finished the night a Poag Mahones (old Shamrock) on 7th.

This week was hors d'oeuvre and canapé week in my culinary classes. We started the class with a few dozen fresh herbs, dried herbs, seeds and spices that we tasted, smelled and were asked to identify. The only thing that tripped me up were some of the seeds...damn you, caraway.

Next, we went to the kitchen and were asked to prepare an array of hors d'oeuvres- tea sandwiches, salsas, fritters, pot au choux puffs and an individual creation using either phyllo or puff pastry.

Our group put a little twist on the tea sandwiches and they were so fun to make! My favorite two were:

Cucumber ribbons atop rounded white bread with a sour cream, marscapone, dill, lemon juice and salt spread

Cream cheese with orange marmalade atop rounded white bread with crushed cocoa beans

For my individual recipe, I knew I would be on a time crunch so I chose to work with the puff pastry- no time to layer and brush 10 sheets of phyllo with melted butter! My dish was:

Puff pastry rounds stuffed with lemongrass and ginger pulled chicken with avocado, lime and fried scallion

First, I began to simmer coconut milk, whole milk, one stalk of lemongrass and grated ginger over a medium-low heat to infuse the milk. Next, I poached a boneless, skinless chicken in the milk mixture by adding the chicken to the shallow mixture and covering it with buttered parchment paper. After the chicken was cooked, I removed it to cool and raised the temperature of my infused milk to thicken.

Next, I shredded the chicken and added it back into the infused milk to marry the flavors back together. Next, I cut my puff pastry into 2 inch rounds, brushed the tops with an egg wash and baked them in the convection for about 5 minutes. While the pastry baked, I chopped some scallion and flash fried them in hot olive oil for a few seconds and sliced my avocado.

To assemble, I split my puff pastry and filled them with a spoonful of the shredded chicken with lemongrass and ginger. Then, I added a slice of avocado, some fried scallion, sea salt and finished it with lime juice.

The end of my weekend was spent with icy cold Dos Equis scooners and fish tacos at the Fuzzy's opening in Arlington (right by UTA). The place looks awesome- same great food but this locale has more of a hip, sports-bar feel- check it out!