Food Truck Phenomenon

What a unique idea my company had.

They decided to celebrate Heritage Day by bringing in a gang of "food trucks" that serve foods of different ethnicity!

How awesome is that?

So I don't know if you seen them, but Food Trucks are the hottest craze.  Ever seen Food Truck Wars on the Food Network Channel?  Well they are actually gourmet food trucks that tour around the city to different locations during the day, and people come and eat!  One of the trucks visiting us was on that show...how exciting!  They also all gather in a certain spot and you can enjoy all of them at once!  So cool!


You can go online and track your favorite food truck around the city if you want...it's such a new craze!


Everyone at work was soooo hyped up about this.  They wanted to try something at every truck!  We had a 2 day food truck binge.  You won't believe what's coming...

Day 1


Here are the Food Trucks:


LudoTruck's Guerrilla Fried Chicken
(Guerrilla Fried Chicken, biscuits and slaw)

The Poutine Truck (Canadian Comfort Dish with French Fries and Gravy)

 more trucks... 

Great Balls on Tires (Meat Balls done every which 

way!)

The Great American Grill Truck

Tapaboy Truck (Filipino Breakfast Truck - meat, fried rice and egg dishes)

Barbie's Q (Rolin BBQ joint e.g., pulled pork 

sandwiches, ribs)

And the Lobsta Truck!  (Everything Lobster)












Look at this crowd....

OMG I forgot about this one....The Sprinkles Cupcake Truck!!! Look at this line...

Now the food...the FOOD!  YUM...excellent...each and every one of them!!! Take a look.

These are the Canadian Poutine Fries with Gravy....My friend bought these and I sneaked a taste...YUM!

Incrediballs....(sure were)

Ciao Balla....excellent! I had these...I want more.....now!

LudoTruck's Guerrilla Fried Chicken
look at that crust!

And for dessert Sprinkles cupcakes!  They actually sold out first and had to turn people away.


Vanilla and Lemon

So that was just day 1....can you believe it!  We were in food truck heaven.  So much so that we all went online and found that most trucks gather on Friday nights on a street in Granada Hills, Chatsworth street.  It's like a food fest every Friday.  If you have a chance and are in the area...you gotta go!

Heaven on wheels!

Happy Friday!

part 2 coming soon...

Cornmeal Biscuits

What's more southern than biscuits?

Cornbread?

I grew up eating both.  Biscuits and gravy for breakfast or with our dinner standing in for the usual dinner roll.  Mom always made cornbread when we had stews, or bean soup, or pork chops.  She usually made them in these cute little corn cob shape molds.  Remeber those?  Such fun. 

So why not combine the two great breads into a Cornmeal Biscuit?

This biscuit is light and fluffly like the usual ones however, you still get a slight cornbread texture from the cornmeal, and just a slight corn taste.  These are so delishhhh! 

I saw the recipe in one of my favorite magazines, Southern Living, and new I had to make them.  These are a biscuit that you probably would want to serve with dinner, but hey, you can be adventurous and have them for breakfast too.  Not to sure about the jelly though!

So here's how you make these little babies.

In a large bowl combine your flour and cornmeal.

Add your butter that you have cut up into pieces.  Using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut in the butter into the flour.  NOTE: It is important that you cut the butter into the flour until the butter is really fine.  You don't want large chunks left or else it will seep out of the dough during the baking process. 

Add your buttermilk and mix just until moistened. (ya don't want tough dough!)

Put the dough onto a floured board and knead two or three times.  Roll out in a disc until about 1/2" thick.  Cut biscuits using a 2" cookie cutter.

Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 14 minutes, or until golden brown.

So nice and hot and fluffy! 

Can't wait to eat another one!

Try one...

Cornmeal Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup butter, cut up
1 cups buttermilk
1/8 cup milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine flour and cornmeal in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Note: Butter should be really finely crumbled.  Add buttermilk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 2 to 3 times.

Pat or roll dough to a 1/2-inch thickness, and cut with a 2-inch round cutter. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Brush the top of the biscuits with milk.

Bake at 425 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Caprese Salad with a Basil Puree

Farmer's Market Day!

Do you have a special farmer's market that you like?  We seem to have several areas around here that setup farmer's markets on a weekly basis.  One of my favorites is the one in Encino, Ca, but I hear that there is a killer one over in Calabasas.  On my to do list of places to go!

We are lucky to have a large variety of vendors from as local as Oxnard, Ca to all the way from Redlands up north.  They bring such wonderful produce.  Organic and not.  I even spied a fresh herb vendor selling a variety of plants you don't normally see.  Chocolate oregano?  YUM!

So today I happened upon some wonderful organic arugula.  I love the spicy, peppery flavor don't you?

At the next booth I found the most gorgeous little cherry tomatoes.  They are almost all gone for the season, but I managed to get some great, sweet ones, and scooped up the last of some heirloom tomatoes while I was at it.  It's been a nice tomato season around here, and I'm gonna miss it.

So I decided to make a wonderful fresh salad with my bounty.

Off for home I go!

This is a Caprese Salad with a Basil Puree.  Simple to make, with a little extra special touch with the basil puree.  The basil puree is basically fresh basil and olive oil pureed together to make a tasty drizzle that you use over the salad to enhance the flavors.  It is a wonderful thing to have on hand.  You can freeze it in ice cube trays, and later add it to soups, sauces, and salad dressings.  You can drizzle it over grilled meat and vegetables for added flavor as well.  How smart is that!

This is definitely a Fast & Fresh recipe!

Caprese Salad must have 3 ingredients...tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.  This salad varies dramatically with the use of the ingredients but I think you will find this a simple but rather tasty take on the traditional version.

So no step by steps needed on this one.  The recipe for the salad and the basil puree are below.  Here are some pics to drool over.

 

I hope you try it!  Make sure to leave me a message and let me know if you like it.

Caprese Salad with a Basil Puree

serves 1

1 1/2 c. arugula, washed
8 whole cherry tomatoes
6  bocconcini - tiny mozzarella balls
2 T basil puree (see recipe below)
3 T balsamic vinaigrette
crostini, optional

Wash and dry your arugula.  Place it on your serving plate.  Place the cherry tomatoes and the mozzarella balls around the salad.  Drizzle the basil puree over the salad.  Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette.  Enjoy with some toasty crostini.

Basil Puree

1 c loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 c olive oil

Process basil leaves and olive oil in a food processor or blender until basil is finely chopped. Use immediately.

To freeze:  spoon mixture into ice-cube trays, and freeze. Store frozen cubes in freezer bags up to 6 months.