2014 – Page 3 – Fervent Foodie

Viddlz Alertz {plus a sneak peek of J. Sam’s}

June 7, 2014 1 Comment

I have a few food obsessions. Yes, besides my well-documented love of barbecue, there are some foods I simply cannot go without ordering. Burrata. Scallops. Caramelized onion anything. Housemade bread. Bread pudding. Bread. We all have our trigger foods. How cool would it be to get an automatic alert any time one of the foods you’re craving was offered by a restaurant? Blackberry cobbler, softshell crab, meatloaf. Whatever! That would cut out, like, hours of food research a week. Am I right? That’s why I’m super excited about a new concept in Charlotte called Viddlz Alertz. It’s an online tool that lets you manage your cravings by alerting you when your particular food obession is offered in the area. Plus, the Alertz system displays daily drink and food specials from restaurants and bars you follow (you can also get daily email updates with this info), and the Viddlz app is expected to be rolled out later this month.

Recipes

Kale Caesar Salad with Pan-Seared Shrimp

June 5, 2014 1 Comment

Back in 2010, I made a personal vow to focus on healthy eating (read all about it here). This was a challenge for me, the girl who considers bread, brie, and wine a square meal, so I started with small things, like packing a homemade lunch each day, instead of relying on Lean Cuisines and fast food. Slowly, I established a routine of making healthy choices whenever I was the one in control of the preparation (well, MOST of the time, anyway), which lets me enjoy eating at restaurants without worrying quite so much about all the salt and the butter and delightful carbohydrates I’m consuming.

One of my healthy eating goals for 2014 is to incorporate more kale into my diet, as part of the Kale Up campaign. Kale is a green I’ve shied away from in the past, other than occasionally tossing a few handfuls into a nice bean soup. Kale is a very hearty green — you don’t have to worry about it going limp or getting soggy. I often find kale salads are even better when the kale has a bit of time to “marinate” in the dressing.

Recipes

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Crumbled Goat Cheese and Blistered Tomatoes {recipe}

May 29, 2014 1 Comment

Ohhhh pork. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Barbecue.

Tenderloin.

Barbecue.

Wait. Did I mention barbecue?

Seriously, though. Pork tenderloin is a super simple, oober delicious and versatile cut of meat. My all-time favorite tenderloin recipe is my Sweet Chili Pork Tenderloin. Roasting the pork in the oven is so simple (arguably fool-proof), I decided to use the same approach for this recipe, which utilizes some of those sweet summer tomatoes starting to pop up in the markets.

This is the first of five pork recipes I’ll be creating for the North Carolina Pork Council Blogging Network in 2014. Did you even know there was such a thing? Admittedly, I did not, but when the Pork Council comes a knockin on your inbox, you say YES, PLEASE.

Recipes

Tangy Tomato Bourbon BBQ Sauce {recipe}

May 19, 2014 3 Comments

My passion for barbecue was discovered late in life, at the ripe age of 26, at the very same time and the very same instant I discovered my soulmate of the meat variety. PORK. Thank you Charlotte, for introducing this Ohio girl to your precious piggy bounty, abundant sauces, and deep-rooted opinions on all things ‘cue.

Though it greatly annoys me when a recipes calls for two cups of “your favorite barbecue sauce,” I’ve never attempted to make my own before now. It’s something I’ve left to the professionals (aka Midwood Smokehouse, my favorite barbecue joint in town). I favor BBQ sauces that are heavy on the vinegar (that’s eastern NC style for you BBQ neophytes), but I’m also coming around to the sweeter, ketchup-based sauces. So this recipe, my first ever BBQ sauce, is a mash-up of the two, a combo that’s united with a heavy hand of Four Roses Bourbon. Bourbon and barbecue? Puh-lease.

Restaurants

Flatiron Kitchen & Taphouse–Davidson, NC {restaurant review}

April 9, 2014 No Comments

I think it’s safe to say I dine at restaurants more often than the average eater, that is to say A LOT. I impose mandatory splitsies on my dining companions, which means everyone gets to try everyone’s food, so it’s normal for me to sample several plates during a single meal. This is good for obvious reasons (though my pants may disagree), but trying lots of different things means you’ll inevitably end up with a dish or two that just don’t strike your fancy–something you wouldn’t order again or that you wouldn’t recommend to a friend. Every once in a while, I’ll find myself eating an AMAZING appetizer, and feel my apprehension grow as I worry the remainder of the meal won’t live up to the starter.

This is precisely how I felt when I dined at Flatiron Kitchen & Taphouse for the first time. I started with a glass of Malbec and their fried green Napoleon: salty fried green tomatoes, sautéed spinach, sweet bits of corn, and bacon atop a dollop of warm, creamy goat cheese (a hearty serving for a mere $8).

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