Tino's Greek Cafe

This place is incredible. The food was absolutely delicious!

I had the build you own lunch plate with a combination of gyro meat and chicken. You can choose either a soup or salad and then three sides. I chose the salad, it was quite small but Greek style and delicious. They give you a pretty sizable portion of meat and then a piece of pita bread. There are several sides to choose from. I chose hummus, tabbouleh and spanakopita. Everything was incredible. The meats were well seasoned and juicy. The pita bread was soft and thick and flavorful. The tabbouleh was delicious, the hummus was nice and creamy, the spanakopita were all flaky and baked to perfection. The olives on the Greek salad had pits! That's so rare now a days!

I would recommend it to anyone any day. Take note that it is a lot of food, I ate my whole plate but I probably should have taken some home with me, it left me quite full. Over all I would love to go back here anyday. Next time though I think I'll try either just the chicken wrap or the Greek salad with chicken, or maybe split a lunch plate with someone? Yum!

Pancakes: Yum yum!

Today as I made my pancakes I wanted to try something a little new... but I didn't have much to work with, but this is what I ended up doing, and they were delicious!

2 cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancake mix
1/3 cup sweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soymilk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 packet instant oatmeal
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

According to the recipe analyzer on Calorie Count each pancake (this made 11 pancakes for me) has 112 calories... that seems low, I think. But maybe not. Either way, they have 6 g of protein each and 2 g of fiber! They were delicious. That Hodgson Mill pancake mix is the best I've ever found. No added sugar, whole wheat, light and fluffy but super healthy and hearty. I've tried their buckwheat pancake mix also which I really liked but some people I made them for thought they were too heavy.

Is this really what people eat?

A can of classic coke
Goldfish
A sandwich on white bread with mayonnaise (about a tablespoon of it), a few leaves of iceberg lettuce and two pieces of processed ham (with most of the lettuce picked out and the crust not eaten!)

Really? Is it because it's cheaper? Easier? Or because things like whole grain bread and fruit are... boring? Unfamiliar? Strange flavors?

And she's stick thin... how?

Recommendation for Vietnamese vs. Greek

Tam Deli & Cafe vs. Tino's Greek Cafe

We're going to go to one of them for lunch on Saturday, we'll see what we're craving.

They were both recommended to me by people I work with. I've never really eaten Vietnamese food but I have had really good Greek food so I'm curious to try both!

Dinner, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner-- a lot of eating out

Dinner 2/13
The Woodland on South Congress

• The place has a really nice vibe, it does have a full bar and the side with the bar on it is extremely loud, which is where we got seated. When we left we saw there was seating on the other side of the restaurant which was probably much quieter. The menu isn't too extensive, it's your classic American with a modern twist kind of food. They served warm rolls with butter before out food came. I ordered the Woodland salad with chicken added (for $6). It was small for a dinner salad. It had cooked beets, ricotta salata, mixed greens, sunflower sprouts and seeds. All over it was nothing special. The chicken was just plain grilled with no flavor of it's own. I wouldn't go back there for the food, maybe for the bar and atmosphere. Amy had the reuben, it was better than the one from 34th Street Cafe and even gave the one from New World Deli a run for its money but I didn't like the bread, had a licorice flavor to it which I think is due to... fennel seed? Not 100% sure but if it weren't for the bread it would've been amazing. Amy loved it. It came with a side of really delicious potato salad. She also ordered a drink call the Eudora. It tasted very strongly of bourbon which I don't like so just the smell of it made me cringe. The cocktail menu is very different with flavors like cucumber, elderflower and grapefruit. But like I said they have a full bar so I'm sure they can make any drink upon request.
  

Big Top Candy Shop on South Congress

• This place seems like a dream come true. An old fashioned candy and soda shop. I tried my first piece of salt water taffy, nothing special. Amy had a piece of chocolate covered bacon which she loved, I thought it was okay. But what I HAVE to hate on are the truffles. We were really excited to have a small truffle. I got the Black Forest and she got a Dark Chocoalte Macadamia Nut truffle. They were TERRIBLE! The Black Forest wreaked of artificial cherry flavoring and it was SO sweet it was nauseating. Amy's also tasted artificial and ridiculously sweet. It was so disappointing and just downright inedible, and that's say a lot for chocolate! Why is it so hard to find people who use real ingredients instead of just artificially flavored extracts? Who don't make everything sickeningly sweet?
  

Breakfast 2/14
Austin Bakehouse on Manchaca and Stassney

• This place is a little gem of a restaurant which I found on austin.citysearch.com when looking for breakfast places. We took forever to order because we couldn't decide on what to get! We finally ended up sharing the eggs benedict, one pancake, a slice of french toast and a side of refried beans and home fries. It sounds like a lot, and it was a lot of variation, but each part wasn't overly sized. This was my first taste of eggs benedict so I had nothing to compare it to, I thought it was okay. My egg was cooked perfectly and the canadian bacon was delicious but there was hardly any hollandaise on it and that was disappointing. Amy was disappointed by it and said she wouldn't order it again. The french toast wasn't very good either, we thought it needed some cinnamon or some other seasoning. The bread is made in house which is nice but the french toast itself didn't taste like much of anything. The refried beans were delcious, clearly seasoned or cooked with bacon or bacon fat, you can taste it, which makes it even more delicious. Definitely worth ordering again. The home fries had sauteed onions mixed in which added so much flavor and with an extra sprinkling of salt they were perfect. But the piece de resistance of the meal was the pancake. We got the apple cinnamon pecan pancake and, hold your breath, it was better than Kerbey Lane's pancakes! There were literally real pieces of apples and pecans in the pancake. You could tast the cinnamon and they are made with half whole wheat flour. They were flavorful and light and absolutely perfect. Over all it's a really cute place where it's obvious that most of the customers are regulars familiar with the waiters. It's a really chill, relaxed environment. And pretty cheap too, all that food came to about $12 each with tip (and we had some french toast left over)! For pancakes, I'll definitely be going back!
  

Lunch 2/14
FoodHeads on 34th Street

• Wow. I ordered the half Chicken and Eggplant sandwich with half Greek salad. And wow. Firstly, the greek salad was the best I've ever had. Greens, cucumber, olives, crutons, feta cheese, tomatoes, red onion, delicious dressing, not too tangy, not too much -- just perfect. It was incredible. The sandwich though was the best part. Grilled chicken, eggplant, basil pesto, blackberry balsamic vinaigrette and goat cheese (enough to put me into goat cheese heaven!) all on multigrain bread. It was absolutely incredible. Not only was the food amazing but the place is SO adorable. They brew Republic of Tea, they have fresh flowers all over the place, it's so homey and cosy and adorable. I also shared an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (my favorite kind!), the flavor was delicious but it was crunchy instead of chewy, I prefer them chewy. They're baked fresh from scratch with all real ingredients - butter, sugar, eggs - yum! All their other ingredients are fresh also. No frozen meat, no frozen egg patties. Real eggs used all around. Their bread is delivered fresh daily from Mandolo's (at the Triangle on 45th and Guadalupe). In sum, go here, try it, it's delicious! Adorable and all real, natural food. Ditch the food chains and go to Food Heads!
  

Dinner 2/14
Bess on West 6th

• Wow. This place was incredible! West 6th street, super swanky. The place has a great upscale but down to earth vibe. My friends and I went there Valentine's night and all the tables were booked but we walked in hoping for luck and, what do you know, we sat immediately at the bar and got served! Even better than sitting at a table! Our bartender/waitress Summer was awesome. Knowledgeable, super sweet. Amy and I began by sharing the cheese plate which came with wine soaked goat cheese, two types of blue cheese, manchego, and brie, crackers, grapes and prosciutto wrapped almond stuffed dates (oh my god!). It was an incredible beginning to the evening. Superseded only by our main entree: Steak Frites. I hadn't had steak frites in a long time (essentially a tenderloin and fries). And this one brought back all the right memories. The tenderloin was cooked medium, it was absolute perfection. The fries were thin cut, not greasy at all. It all came with a demi-glace which we poured over the fries... we were basically licking the plate. I cannot even put into words here how incredible everything was. The service, the ambiance, the food, the quality. The food was absolutely incredible. Flavorful... just perfection. I would without a doubt recommend this place and go back here in a heartbeat to try their other dishes. Yes, it is Sandra Bullock's restaurant and, yes, she was sitting in the corner eating dinner. She is there regularly, down to earth, just minding her own business. It was awesome. What an incredible evening!
• Cocktails: Made with real fruit? What an idea! (I didn't drink all these myself!)
  
• Vespa - Kind of sweet and mellow, really nice. Made with pear vodka, gin, peach juice...
  
• Lagniappe - Needed to add a bit more raspberry puree to it because it was too strong for my tastes, but then it was delicious. At the bottom of my glass were all my crushed raspberries! Yum yum! Made with raspberries, lime, basil... vodka? or gin I think?
  
• Rockstar Martini
  
• Redlight Martini - Think this was the one which was just pomegranate juice and vodka, it was surprisingly delicious, the best cocktail of the night!
  
• Something with mango? Literally had mango puree coming up the straw, which was awesome, but it was made with bourbon, which I don't like.
  

Smoothie yum-yum!

So I've been reading/hearing about how grapefruit and grapefruit juice when eaten/drunk before a meal can speed up your metabolism and aid in weight loss? I'm not sure if that's true, but hey, it can't hurt, right? And I love grapefruit already so I don't even have to go out of my way! Yesterday at the grocery store, to use in my smoothies, I bought Simply Grapefruit juice. Interestingly, it has 90 calories per serving and 19g of sugar versus the other shelf stable types which have about 130 calories and 29-32g of sugar per serving. Both claim to have 100% fruit juice so I'm not sure where that difference comes from...

Anyway, this morning I made a surprisingly delicious smoothie (I was scared the grapefruit juice would be very harsh and sour):

2/3 cup grapefruit juice
1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk
4 large frozen unsweetened strawberries
1/2 medium banana frozen
2 teaspoons vanilla whey protein powder

Blend it all in the blender, the longer you blend the more air it will incorporate and the greater it will be in volume. Gives the illusion of more juice and makes you fuller! Some books I have recommend that you blend for 10 minutes. I think that's a bit much, maybe if I walked away from it I could do it but I'd probably push the sound out of my head and forget about it! Today I blended it for about 3 minutes. It was already substantially thickened and greater in volume.

About 200 calories!

Egg bake lunch

So last night to eat along with cod I made a vegetable medley just by cooking on the stove top

1 onion sliced
1 red bell pepper sliced
A little less than 8 oz mushrooms sliced
2 zucchini sliced

Some salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar until everything was nice and soft (add the zucchini last to make sure it doesn't over cook!)

Anyway, there was plenty left over so today for lunch I decided to use it in a nice egg bake type of thing. I'd say this is about 4 good sized servings

6 eggs
about 1 cup of the mix above
about 1/2 cup loosely packed spinach, roughly chopped
2 roma tomatoes diced
about 2 ounces deli turkey (or any kind of meat/bean you want to add) roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
2% reduced fat shredded cheese

Whisk the eggs and then mix in the rest of the ingredients. Pour it all into a casserole dish and put it in the over at 350F for about 45 minutes. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup cheese on top and leave it in the oven just until melted and slightly browned.

We ate it with refried pinto beans, sliced avocado and half a slice of rosemary sourdough bread from Whole Foods.

For the refried pinto beans just drain and rinse 2 cans of pinto beans to reduce the sodium. Add about 2 cups fresh water and the beans into the food processor and pulse just until the beans have broken up. Add to a pot on the stove top over high heat and when it comes to a boil reduce to low heat and let simmer, stirring, until thickened substantially, about 20-30 minutes. You don't need to constantly stir, just stir every once in a while to ensure the bottom is not sticking. If you'd like, to add more flavor, you can saute some onion and garlic before adding the bean mixture to the pan.