FEBRUARY 17th – FEBRUARY 26th

It’s that time of year when Chicago’s best restaurants feature their prix fixe menus starting at $22 for lunch and $33/$44 for dinner! Check out the site and see what restaurants are participating in your area! For those visiting Chicago, you definitely came at a great time to check out what this great city has to offer.

Below are a couple of restaurants that caught my eye!

• Roy’s Restaurant - Asian, Hawaiian, Fusion: Enough said.  Choices from Coconut Crusted Tiger Shrimp, Toasted Garlic, Lima Bean Puree, Corn, Cilantro & Mizuna Salad, to Lilikoi Sorbet & Raspberry Couli. um, YUM!
  [view Roy's Restaurant prix fixe menu]

• Coco Pazzo - Italian: Who doesn’t love Italian food? Choices from Creamy Palenta + Wild Boar Ragu, Roasted beets, crispy duck, watercress + gorgonzola, to Vanilla Bean Custard, pineapple + caramel. Molto molto bene!
  [view Coco Pazzo prix fixe menu]

• The Drawing Room - American Fusion Lounge: This place just looks like it’ll be good. Great reviews on #yelp! Tempura Avocado, Beef Tartare, Spice rubbed pork loin, Cheddar Whipped Palenta, Black Dog Gelato. (must try this dessert) [view The Drawing Room prix fixe menu]

• Carnivale - Latin Fusion: This place has been a fave of mine for years! Why not go back when given the opportunity?  Spanish seafood stew, Caribbean Lechon Asado, Sticky Buns (did someone say buns?! )
  [view Carnivale's prix fixe menu]
  

Your standard pasta dish for your foodies out there! (with that healthy twist)

What you’ll need:

• Whole Wheat Pasta (I used rotini here)
• 1 cup of fresh cut up broccoli (rinsed & cut)
• 1 large chicken breast cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 cup or so of grated parmesan cheese

Rotini with Chicken & Broccoli

I’m not much of a baker, but I came across these and though “Holy crap, THIS I have to try!” Not going to lie, I hate measuring too–with cooking it’s so much easier for me to “add a little bit of this, add a little bit of that” as opposed to “1 cup of flour, 2/3 cup of powder sugar, 1/2 tablespoon of salt.”

It all started when a couple of my crazy co-workers said “Hey, bring in a dessert or pastry that’s got alcohol in it.” Well, enough said. So, I did my research, made a test batch, then doubled it–and SUCCESS! Wow, you’ll have to definitely try this recipe. The batter came out perfect–rich and moist (on the 2nd batch obviously) and the frosting was DELISH. (and infused with Kahlua) Need I say more?

Cupcake batter

What you’ll need for the batter:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 large egg and 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/8 cup Vodka
• 1/4 cup Kahlua, divided

Thank you Baked Perfection for this awesome recipe!

Every Monday night at 7PM CST, Steve Green (@SteveGoGreen via Twitter) hosts a #foodiechat on Twitter that’s taking over all of Chicago and Miami!

This upcoming Monday, he’ll be hosting the #foodiechat LIVE at Sushi Samba Rio – come join the fun at the Sushi Samba (Hour) Foodie Chat!

“The Revolution of Foodie Chat (#Foodiechat) began on Monday, May 9, 2011. On May 9th I asked a Foodie Question on Twitter and like ten people answered. I asked another question and 20 people answered, and it kept growing from there.I asked questions until 2am with an overwhelming amount of participation from my Twitter followers. It was a blast! That evening, we became the trending topic on Twitter in Chicago & Miami!

Food…ie Chat is hosted on Twitter using the hashtag #Foodiechat every Monday night at 7pm CST. I (@SteveGOGreen) ask ten questions until 8:30pm CST and everyone joins in and answers. The night is about talking Foodie and more importantly it’s about making friends and new connections.”

For more details on this awesome event, click here to also RSVP! So sad I can’t make it to this awesome event–however, I will be there participating in spirit & tweet! Please be sure to mention me @designcomplex!:)

Eat well & Be Merry!

So, last night I had decided to skip a workout and continue on making truffles from scratch. Epic FAIL. The most difficult part here is making the ganache. I think i overheat it too much that it comes out a little too chunky gunky. (well, that just sounds gross now, doesn’t it?)

It’s going to take much trial and error to get these as perfect as possible. Looks like I’m going to have to purchase more chocolate tonight!

I’m hoping to get a good batch for my co-workers tomorrow! We’ve got stuff going on and Thursday’s a good day to share some delicious sweets!

One day, my truffles will look  like this! (and taste as delicious too, of course)

Ingredients:

1. Heavy Cream
2. Semi Sweet Chocolate (or white chocolate)
3. Mint Extract

Okay – so it has been a couple months since I’ve updated. But, in the summer time–i find myself going out a lot more than staying in and cooking. However, I do have some photos to share. So please–enjoy! (and keep yourself from salivating!)

Cheers!

Steak & Scallion Yakitori at Tokio Pub from Tokio Pub

Caribbean Jerk Skewers

Homeade Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Grilled burger topped w/ mixed greens + honey dijon & homemade chips

Gnocchi

"Dulce de Gigi" - Vanilla Yogurt with bananas + berries topped with Oreo crumbs

I got a glimpse of the menu and am TOTALLY excited to check out the new spot! Drinks and cocktails look awesome. There’s a cocktail called the “Pomegranate Flip” which sounds interesting because it’s your typical pomegranate martini plus..dun dun, egg white.  So, does that make it healthy?

Tokio Pub just opened this weekend and is located in Schaumburg right in Streets of Woodfield next to Shaw’s Crabhouse. We’ll be making the trip from Woodstock, so I’m hoping that it’s well worth it!

I’m always talking about The Lucky Monk! Why? This place is AWESOME! Margherita pizzas,  fried pickles, warm pretzel trio, and their home brews (Trittica Wheat!) – just to name a couple of my favorites. Not to mention their regular Live Music shows! Every Thursday Night on the Patio, they have Live acoustic music playing. Great food and great music–who wouldn’t want to come?

This week starts their American Craft Beer Week (May 16 – May 27) – I highly recommend participating and checking it out if you haven’t tried the monk yet.

Yay to salmon! The one fish I can actually eat. Believe it or not, I am allergic to all fish but this one! I’m not sure as to why..if you know, please fill me in

I’ve always wanted to cook salmon at home, but was unsure how. So, for now I started with the basics:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine fresh minced garlic, melted butter, extra virgin olive oil, thyme, parsley + salt & pepper to taste.
3. Coat salmon fillet with mixture
4. Cover with foil and bake in oven for 30 min. (or til fillet is flakey)

However, my Mom puts cut up crab (mixed with low-fat mayo) on top of the fillet. (It was delicious!) Another option is to add some honey-dijon mustard with the mixture to get more of a “sweet” salmon fillet.

What can I say? Chocolate + Mint = every woman’s dream! (well, sorta. nah, that’s about right) I got the opportunity (well a 1 hour window) to make these delicious, rich mint truffles. Very time consuming & tedious – but SO worth it! For those of you who have the time, definitely give these a try and give them out as gifts. I brought these to work and my co-worker was sooo excited when I told her how easy (yet tedious) it was to make. She decided to try it out and give these to her mother for Mother’s Day! How sweet is that?

I loved making these. I suggest changing it up once you start getting the hang of it – using white chocolate, dark chocolate, or even some special Lindt flavored chocolate. (Hm, although I’m uncertain as to they have flavored melting chocolate..) *drool. I think I might want to start my own truffle & wine co. Now, how AWESOME would that be? Who’s with me?!