Toffee Blondies

Just made these Toffee Blondies tonight. It's a super easy recipe.
I just wanted to use my retro camera ;)

They are pretty dense and rich.

Here is the recipe.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 cup toffee candy bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Set pan aside.

2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour and beat just until combined. Fold in toffee bits by hand.

3. Using a rubber spatula, spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven; cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

4. Using foil overhang, lift cake from pan. Peel off foil and discard. With a serrated knife, cut into 16 squares (4 rows by 4 rows).

OK, now, I just copied this word for word from the book I used. You don't have to copy exactly, like any recipe you can adjust a few things. I used Heath toffee candy bits with mild chocolate. I did NOT use an electric mixer because when David and I finally moved and I got my hand mixer out of storage, I turned it on and it made a sound but nothing spun. So that went in the trash. My kitchenaid mixer is too big for my house so it's at my moms. :( I used some good old fashioned man power.

I hope to post more recipes, I'm trying to get back into the swing of baking more regularly again.

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BTTR week Three and four

Early Tues last week I texted my other half asking if we could possibly go to the BTTR later to get a little something to eat. Like maybe one thing (I didn't feel like cooking). Of course he agreed "yea we can pick up something and bring it home."

Well I ended up picking it all up alone because he wasn't feeling well. The place was packed this time. I scoured each truck to see what collection wanted to make. I ended up with smorgasbord of food to bring home. While I was picking up food, I munched on a Taco Playero from Montaco. It was good, a perfect little starter snack. I love salsa verde too.My friend got the taco with the green tortilla. He also got the chicken sandwich from The Rolling Stove. He said it was delicious. Slow Food Truck had the cupcakes.
We ended up getting:
CheeseMe: bowl of chili
Nacho Mama's: Chicken nachos
Slow Food Truck: short rib sandwich
The Rolling Stove: Cap't Crunch crusted chicken tenders
Caza Crepes: sugar crepe.

This past Tues David and I went together and ate...
Nacho Mama's: Taco Fries
MexZican Gourmet: Legacy Taco w/ brisket, chorizo and chicharron. Oh man it was interesting, crunchy chicharrones and delicious.
CheeseMe: short rib again.. always delicious.
Our friend picked up a kibbeh wrap from a new truck that served Mediterranean food as well as some Miami style flair Cuban food.
There isn't a picture of the short rib.

Sorry this is a very uninformative post. I'm doing a million things right now and it took me all day to upload this because blogger droid ap wouldn't load from my phone all day.

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BTTR week 2

Ok I'm going to attempt to do this as I eat. It's going to be hard. My hands are frozen! I'm starting off at Burger Beasts' recommended The Rolling Stove. Just ordered the Stove Burger with grilled onions. The lady who helped me is super nice.
OMG can't do this....so good.


Ok I knew that wouldn't work. Let me recap last night. It was a quick night.

The line up was:
All Points Eatery
Caza Crepes Mobile Team
CheeseMe
Dolci Peccati Gelato
Grill Master Cafe
Miso Hungry
Montaco
Ms Cheezious
Nacho Mama's Mexican Grill
The Rolling Stove
Wing Commander
Jefe's Original Fish Taco and Burger

Last night's BTTR was busy. There were 12 trucks! There was a pretty good turn out, and I think many people were getting foods from various trucks. This time it was seriously COLD too! I wanted to get some of that ginger tea from Miso Hungry, but instead I got some lemonade. It was good, sorta like lemon water, but with a hint of sweetness. I was loving it. Not your typical over sweet powder lemonade.
Since we were in a rush we had enough time to meet up with Burger Beast, get his insider recommendations and then order food and get out of there. Sef was nice enough to let us taste the Capt'n Crunch crusted chicken strips from The Rolling Stove. OMG, they were soo good. But we ordered the burger, as per Burger Beast. That's what I was eating when I first started this. IT was really good, juicy, covered in grilled onions and delicious. I scarfed it down quick, because I had a taco dog waiting for me from Montaco. I don't remember what the actual menu term was called for the hot dog, but it was a hot dog, wrapped in bacon, covered in chopped tomatoes and some crema. It was pretty delicious.

Next we went straight back to CheeseMe for the short rib sandwich, but this time with bacon. Sef, thanks a ton for the recommendation of bacon, it was super crispy and full of flavor. But next time I'm going back to no bacon on the short rib. I like to taste the short rib alone. For my preference the bacon took over the flavor of the sandwich.But it was still really good.

Til next time...

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1st Biscayne Triangle

When Burger Beast let us know that Tues. Night some food trucks were setting up in our neck of the woods, you have to imagine my excitement. We went out, in the bitter cold (haha, how often can I say this in Miami?). The trucks were set up on the perimeter road east of Biscayne Blvd, that runs from Quayside until it connects again with Biscayne Blvd. The sign said E. Dixie Hwy? but its actually NE 15th ave. If you are familiar with North Miami, it's right off Biscayne and 109th, sorta behind the now closed La Paloma restaurant and east of where KB Christmas trees has been setting up their tent for the past, who knows how many years. 7 trucks came out.
Nacho Mama's Mexican Grill
Nacho Bizness
CheeseMe
Jefe's Original fish taco and burger
Miso Hungry
Latin House Grill
Dolci Peccati Gelato

I am going to try and rush through this because it has taken me a week to write it.

We started off at CheeseMe. David and I remembered the short rib this time and OMG it was so good. It was the best thing that night. It was juicy, tender and full of deliciousness.

Next we got Nacho Mama's pork nachos. Those were delicious too. Simple, tasty and satisfying. Nacho Mama's ran out of chicken and a couple other things that night but they still did not disappoint. David also got a pork taco which was really good and pretty big. And what could be better, the guys were super nice and gave out drinks on the house AND they had FREE mini cupcakes. At the end of the night they gave FREE soup: shroom soup. I had it for dinner 2 days later and it was delicious, if you like cream of wild mushroom soup. I will definitely eat there again.

Jefe's was good too. Mind you these are first experiences for me. Your opinions on these trucks are prob very different. I wasn't totally impressed with them but I will still try again. David ordered a fish taco out of principle even though he hates fish. So I ate it. It was ok, but I felt like it needed a little more flavor. It had coleslaw, but it needed something. Not sure what. Maybe next time I will actually try the hot sauce :/. He also ordered a burger, and I can't remember which one, but it was good. He liked it.

Miso Hungry was closed by the time we wanted to order from them, but my friend did get a ginger tea from them that was pretty good. I will have to wait until next time to try them.

Next we went to Latin House Grill. Omg, they have these adorable little mini burgers they call muffin tops. They are a little bigger than a slider, and super thick beef patty. Wow! We did a combo and got 2 muffin tops with fries and a drink. I ordered the Cubano which was a seasoned super duper thick beef patty, melted queso blanco and guava paste. Omg it was delicious. The flavor combination went very well together. I was pretty skeptical at first. David got the American? With cheddar and Bacon. I didn't try it but I know he liked it.

After stuffing our faces with all that food, we felt like we had to go get gelato. That truck wasn't too busy that night considering it was like 50 degrees out. We went by and thy were closed but I asked if we could still order so they said sure. I figured they would let us order. We got mango gelato. I only ate a little because I was so cold, but it was good. I forgot to take a picture of it :/

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Food Truck Finally!

Sorry for my lack of posts, I've been lazy.

I finally got a chance to try a food truck yesterday, wait let me rephrase that I got to try THREE!
Excuse my excitement, I have seen several different trucks parked in various places throughout Miami and never had a chance to stop. So last night I decided to make it a date with food truck heaven, at the Miami Street Food Court on Bird Rd and 65th. It's a little bit of a haul for us but it just had to be done.

I'm going to apologize ahead of time for a few things.
1. I am posting from my phone because once again my laptop has a virus. So the photos will not be in the order I would like.
2. There will be typos.
3. I would like to link Burger Beast and the Street Food Court Facebook but I don't think its going to happen from my phone. I will try my best.

Here it goes, my first Miami food truck indulgence.
Check it out. Http://www.burgerbeast.com/ awe yeeuh
http://www.foodcartusa.com/

David and I head south towards my landmark of Santa's Enchanted Forest, we get off the palmetto and start heading west. Wait we have to go the other way, we make a "we-turn" and head east. We reminisce the days of "Oh the Horror." Funny thing, that used to be the Burger Beast's store. Although I do miss the place, I must say I'm much more fond of his current burger beasting adventures. Yea I like to eat. Ok back to Bird Rd. I tell David I'm not sure what side of the street it's on, and before I could finish my sentence, like an angel in the distance, like a glistening light in the dark, like sunshine on a cloudy day, ahhhhhhh. There it was. Food truck heaven.

The nights lineup: Caza Crepes, Cheese Me, and Nacho Bizness. I love it. I truly was excited like a kid in a candy store or like a pig in shit. Whichever of the two you think would be happier.
We meet up with Burger Beast and chat for a few minutes. He introduces us to the matriarch of Food Cart USA. He also gives us a few insider tips and recommendations for the trucks that stood before my palette. After what seemed like a short lifetime, we head for the first victim, I mean truck. Nacho Bizness.

I ordered a carne asada taco and David got the Burger Beast recommended burger. It's not on the menu. I was surprised David was in an adventurous mood. He got the pineapple coleslaw on the burger! That baby was a thick beef patty, cheese, pineapple coleslaw and then smothered in BBQ sauce. All on a kaiser roll type bun. They were both delicious. He didn't approve of my taco, I guess he wasn't THAT adventurous, plus he hates cilantro. The taco was carne asada, corn, onions, a lot of cilantro, lime, and some cream sauce, all wrapped in two white corn tortillas. It was simple, to the point and good. It hit the little Mexican spot in my stomach.

Next!

On to Cheese Me. David has eaten from them before so he told me I HAD to get a kobe slider. And so I did! I ordered a kobe slider with grilled onions and aged Gruyere. (if You leave here knowing anything about me, it's that I freaking LOVE Gruyere and any other cheese for that matter). Needless to say the slider was wonderful. A little taste of heaven, and it looked like the baby fix-its from *Batteries Not Included. It couldn't get any better!
We also ordered the pulled pork sandwich on Texas toast with cheddar cheese. David couldn't remember what burger beast had recommended. We later found out it was the short rib we were supposed to order. Ohwell. It was still pretty damn good. A little greasy but good.

Lastly, Caza Crepes.
Yes they make crepes. After the two other trucks, we were getting full. We had hopes in ordering a burger beast recommendation of a ground beef galette with an egg. But by he IME we made it to that truck, we were full. We decided to go with a sweet crepe. We went with a pineapple and chocolate crepe with chocolate and caramel on top. It was a good Crepe, but I've never had pineapple in a crepe before so it was new territory for me. David thought it was strange but he still liked it. Needless to say, we didn't finish it and I ate the rest for breakfast this morning. All three trucks were delicious. I would eat at all of them again and hope to.
Now for the food porn.

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