Nomadic Foodie » Colorado

Review | Snackle Mouth All-Natural Granola Nut Clusters

doniree — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:26 +0000

I’m a sucker for sweet and salty snacks. Chocolate-covered pretzels have lonnnnng been one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Anytime you can pair cream cheese with jam, I’m sold. Sweet and salty. Sweet and savory. Get in my face.

I recently had the chance to taste a new Boulder-based snack that fits into this “snackable perfection” category like nothing I’ve ever tasted. I was sent three glorious boxes of Snackle Mouth All-Natural Granola Nut Clusters: Almond Berry, Almond Maple Pecan, and Peanut Cranberry. Now, typically I prefer Almonds over Peanuts, but the peanut-buttery awesome taste in the Peanut Cranberry ones… I think I ate the whole box in one sitting.

And here’s why I didn’t feel bad about that. Snackle Mouth is made awesomely, with awesome ingredients, AND:

Combine All Natural and Organic Ingredients
Mix in the Best Nuts We Could Find
NO Refined Sugar, NO Trans-Fats, Low Glycemic
Cool new name, Snackle Mouth®
Most Fun Package Design on the Planet
End Result, Great Tasting Granola Nut Clusters

More on Snacklemouth (directly from their website):

Based in the heart of Colorado, Snacklemouth is a granola nut clusters snack you can feel good about giving to your children that they will actually eat. Using simple ingredients such as Organic Blue Agave as sweetener, low glycemic index Brown Rice Syrup, nuts and whole grains, we strive to be the modern-day, healthier alternative to Cracker Jacks. All of our products are low sodium and have no additional sugar added. Our current flavors are Peanut Cranberry, Pecan Maple and Almond Berry.

Oh! Oh! Oh! And they’re sponsors of Bloggers in Sin City. Which means all the attendees will be receiving a box in their gift bags. Which is awesome, trust me. You’re going to want a snack that doesn’t make you feel like crap (and instead makes you feel like awesome) in between all the amazing things we’re going to be doing.

Disclosure: All opinions are my own and I was provided with samples of each of the three above flavors.

doniree

Doniree Walker is the Nomadic Foodie. She loves the exploration and community of food, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves the region's focus on local and seasonal food, daily farmers' markets and food carts at seemingly every turn. She's on twitter as @doniree and @nomadicfoodie, and blogs her adventures and life in general at doniree.com.

Outrageous Baking: Gluten-Free Applesauce Cake Review + Giveaway

doniree — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:07:20 +0000

Winner announced! Congrats, Manda – entry #8!

I have this belief that the preference for either cooking or baking over the other one is an indication of personality. For instance, the best bakers I know are typically Type A, Control Freak types who looooooove doing things with perfection and precision. I envy their attention to detail and focus while I’m running around my kitchen instead throwing dashes and splashes of herbs and oils into whatever I threw together in the skillet.

I typically prefer the experimental mixing and matching of flavors — a dash of this, a pinch of that — over exact measurements, the variation of which could drastically change (or damage) the end result. I find that very, very scary.

Am I afraid of failure? Do I lack patience? Maybe. Maybe I’m just soooo creative that I need a no-measurements allowed, do what feels good, free-love kind of kitchen.

Either way, I put my Big Girl Apron on and put all of that aside this week as I baked myself a Gluten-Free Applesauce Cake. And liked it. The process AND the cake.

I KNOW, RIGHT?

Outrageous Baking, based in my one-time-for-a-year hometown of Boulder, Colorado, offers the perfect solution for folks, who like me, want to add a few quality baked goods to their I-can-cook-that repertoire. BONUS: all of their products are gluten-free, and many of the recipes on their website are low-sugar and/or high protein.

Get your cupcake on, indeed.

For folks like me, there’s a handful of recipes on their website that are super simple. For folks like the rest of you who bake more than I do, you can substitute in this gluten-free flour for regular flour when you bake, making your favorite cookies, cakes, and breads gluten-free.

Don’t bake at all? Don’t sweat it. For you, the work is already done. Outrageous Baking also offers pre-baked goodies like Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Lemon Poppysead Bread, Pumpkin Bread and Coffee Cake. I frequently picked up the zucchini bread at various Boulder-area coffee shops when I lived there, and devoured the loaves they recently sent me to sample. They’re so good. Crumbly, moist, perfect. You can find all of those here.

Don’t believe me? Try it yourself!

Outrageous Baking is giving away a prize pack to one lucky Nomadic Foodie reader. In said prize pack, the winner will receive:

Three 2-lb. loaves of their choice
One 5-lb bag of gluten free flour mix to test out in your own recipes

You have three chances to enter. To do so, leave a comment below for each of the three entries you complete.

Mandatory entry: Like Outrageous Baking on Facebook and follow @obgfbaking on Twitter. Leave a comment below letting me know you did so.
Bonus entry #1: Answer me this: do you prefer cooking or baking? Why? What’s your favorite thing to cook or bake?
Bonus entry #2: Follow @doniree on Twitter and like NomadicFoodie on Facebook.

Chomp, chomp.

Contest rules/disclaimers: Contest ends Thursday night, March 29. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday, March 30. Must be a US resident to win. Giveaway value $61.00. I was not compensated for this review/giveaway, but enjoyed some tasty samples courtesy of the company.

doniree

Centro Latin Kitchen and Refreshment Palace

doniree — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Centro Latin Kitchen was always one of my favorite places for small plates and happy hours when I lived in Boulder in 2010. Naturally, I went back for drinks and dinner (and was joined by Grace Boyle of Grace(full) Plate and Small Hands, Big Ideas) when I was there last month and dare I say… Centro Latin Kitchen and Refreshment Palace is even better than ever.

Sip

The drink menu offers a spicy twist on some old favorites like sangrias, margaritas, and caipirinhas – with a separate menu for rum and tequila. Most interesting, they also offer a Passport Cocktail Menu, featuring traditional and flavorful drinks from different Latin countries.

I typically prefer wine over cocktails, and opted for a white wine sangria. Grace tried the Mojito and we also got to sample The Muse, a tasty imbibe of basil hayden bourbon, tart cherry liqueur, maple balsamic reduction, and angostura bitters. If you like bourbon (hell, maybe even if you don’t), this is a treat.

Sample

To start, we opted for an old favorite — Avocado Salsa and Tortilla Chips — as well as one of the nightly special — Masa-fried Okra. I’ve yet to meet an okra I didn’t like, and this spicy, cornmeal twist on an old Southern favorite was incredible.

The avocado salsa is amazing also. I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t that just a funny way of saying guacamole? No. No, actually it’s not. Guacamole would be all smashed and creamy and more of a dip. This beautifully chopped up, chunky salsa just happens to have giant pieces of fresh avocado mixed in with fresh tomatoes — perfect for scooping up on to a tortilla chip and shoving the whole thing in your mouth.

Not that I did that.

Ok, so I probably did that.

Savor

Moving on! Though dirtily tempted by the nightly special that featured a seared ahi tuna, I opted instead for the highly recommended Goat Cheese Masa Cakes.

These not-so-little corn cakes were topped with black beans, more avocado, crunchy watercress, and fresh tomato. Oh, and of course — goat cheese. Party. In. My. Mouth.

Sweet Tooth

If you have room for dessert (we did!), make the coconut-fried bananas a priority. Served alongside rum and coke ice cream, this is a fresh, fruity and sweet indulgence that’s the perfect way to end a meal.

And hey, it’s fruit so that’s good right?

Details

Centro Latin Kitchen and Refreshment Palace is located on the west end of Pearl Street, at 9th Street, just beyond the Daily Camera.

All-day Happy Hour on Mondays.

950 West Pearl
Boulder, Colorado 80302
303.442.7771

doniree

Taste & Travel Tuesday: Hotel Boulderado | Boulder, Colorado

doniree — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Opening on New Year’s Eve in 1909, the Hotel Boulderado is one of the oldest business in Boulder, Colorado and was the first luxury hotel in the area.

Today, it boasts 160 rooms, each creatively adorned with a different wallpaper from the next, meaning every time you come here your room can be a completely different experience.

The hotel is almost a living, breathing collection of antiques and Victorian-era and decor, right down to the decor in each room. It’s gorgeous.

The hallways are full of pieces of a time past, and my favorite part of the hotel was the third floor, which basically doubles as an antique museum. We saw antique fire extinguishers, an old piano, armoires, photos of an older Boulder, an ice box, trunks (because back in the day, families traveled for weeks or months at a time!), and fans.

Technology in the hotel has grown and changed just like the hotel itself. Entertainment back in the early days was an orchestra in the lobby. No, not a full orchestra, but think back to the movie Titanic with that string trio (or quartet) that played right up until the last minute? That kind of orchestra. The orchestra was eventually replaced by a Victor Victrola, then a television, until eventually there were TVs in every room. Today, each room has a flat screen TV and a wi-fi connection.

The fans were my favorite:

Some History

Spruce Street downtown was the first street in Boulder to be paved because it was the street that led to the Hotel Boulderado. The hotel’s famous guests include (but are sooooo not limited to): Duke Ellington, Robert Frost, Louis Armstrong, Helen Keller (and Anne Sullivan), Goldie Hawn, and BB King.

Additionally, the Boulderado has three adjacent bars, restaurants, and eateries: The Corner Bar, Catacombs and Q’s (you can read more about the menu at Q’s and see gorgeous photos of tasty food here).

I had the pleasure of touring the historic Hotel Boulderado in downtown Boulder last month, and it was easily one of the highlights of my trip. And yes, I’m determined to make the Hotel Boulderado a part of my next Boulder visit.

doniree

Q’s Restaurant | Hotel Boulderado | Boulder, Colorado

doniree — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:45:28 +0000

While in Boulder last week, I had the lovely experience of a private tour of the Hotel Boulderado (more on that soon!) that culminated in the most delicious lunch I’ve had in a long time. Q’s Restaurant in Boulder offers a lunch time Tasting Menu that’s comprised of fresh, seasonal ingredients and a half-glass of wine that were not only perfectly pairing but the perfect lunch-sized portions — both the dishes and the wine.

Q’s Restaurant | Boulder, Colorado

The Boulderado dining room is the oldest continually opened restaurant in Boulder, having only closed for a brief time during WW2. As it’s known It was named for Dave Query, though it’s seen a number of incarnations in its history between opening day and today including a coffee shop, Chinese restaurant, steakhouse, French restaurant, and seafood grille.

Today it’s owned by John Platt (after Dave Query moved over to the Big Red F group in 1998), and tasting menus are offered for both lunch and dinner, year-round.

As I mentioned, lunch is $15 for a 3-course tasting, and dinner is $55 for five courses. The best part about the five-course dinner tasting is that if a table for two each orders a dinner tasting menu, the chef will actually create two menus so that each guest can sample ten dishes. Add this to my list of next-time-I’m-in-Boulder dinner places!

Lunch at Q’s | The Tasting Menu

It should first be noted that for breakfast-lovers like myself, breakfast is available — even on weekdays! — until 2PM, and you can get your Benedict on, enjoy bagels and smoked salmon, or just have a good ol’ traditional breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast.

Tempting as Eggs Benedict can be, I opted for the summer Tasting Menu for the day, because I knew it would allow me the best chance to taste as much as I could in one meal. The tasting menu included a soup, entree, a dessert, and a suggested wine pairing. In this case, Louis Jadot’s Macon Village, a white burgundy I’ve sipped and loved before.

With the wine choice, you’re offered either a full or a half glass. I chose the half glass, which was perfect, light, and just the right amount for lunch. The best part about this lunch (ok aside from how delicious it is) is the price tag: this whole meal was $15 (about the same as other lunch entrées offered). The half-glass of wine was $5.

As for the food? Let’s just say that I ate every single bite of every single course, and we’ll let these pictures do the rest of the talking.

First Course (Appetizer) | Grilled Chicken Soup

Seared summer veggies, sun-dried tomato pesto, Parmigiano Reggiano. All I know is? This little bowl wasn’t enough. I didn’t want it to end!

Second Course (Entrée) | Pan-Seared Sea Scallops

Seared green beans, grape tomatoes, orzo, salsa verde. The pan-searing of the sea scallops could not have been more perfect. They were just slightly crusted on the outside, but tender and juicy on the inside. Amazing with the flavors that jumped right out of the veggies and did a little salsa verde on my taste buds (see what I did there?).

Third Course (Dessert) | Carrot Cake

Oh, no. This wasn’t just any carrot cake. This was carrot cake with a sour cream frosting, carrot ginger coulis, Noosa frozen yogurt (a loved Colorado company), on a plate adorned with beautiful golden raisins. This was carrot cake on a whole new level. Carrot cake that lacked the super-sugary bites of a traditional cake, with traditional cream cheese frosting (not that I dislike those, not even a little). But this was a fresher carrot cake with a certain lightness from the coulis and the yogurt. It was delicious.

Whether you’re a guest at the Hotel Boulderado, a Boulder resident, or a visitor to that fine little almost-mountain town, get thee to Q’s!

Disclaimer: Huge thanks to Q’s at the Hotel Boulderado for treating us to lunch!

doniree

SALT the Bistro | Boulder, Colorado

doniree — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:00:39 +0000

While it’s fun to vary your food choices each time you visit a restaurant, there are some places you just can’t help but have a favorite dish you always go back to. For me, that place is SALT the Bistro, in Boulder, Colorado. The catch with this dish, though? Every time I order it, it’s completely different.

I’m talking about SALT’s Seasonal Vegetable Tasting. It’s an entree-sized portion of Colorado’s peak seasonal vegetables, prepared in creative, savory, and lick-your-plate-clean kind of ways.

Chelsea and I spent three hours at SALT earlier this week in Boulder, leisurely sipping and chatting our way through a bottle of red wine, catching up, dissecting life, and sharing food.

We split the Local Summer Vegetable Tasting ($14), which at the moment consists of, “local shiitake mushroom & fava bean gratin, local black quinoa & chickpea fritter, broccoli, green & yellow bean salad, roasted cauliflower bread crumbs & golden raisins.”

Are you drooling yet? We also shared the Housemade Fettuccine ($14):

local basil pesto, organic green beans, cherry tomato, corn, parmigiano

I love the vegetable tasting the most, because it’s different every single time (and I think it’s safe to say that I’ve tried it during every season).

Who says eating vegetarian has to be boring? Not this girl!

doniree

Friday Food and Travel Round-Up

doniree — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:00:16 +0000

See our great selection of food & wine magazines at MagsDirect.com today.

There’s been a lot of tasty and wanderlusty goodness on the web lately! I thought I’d take a moment and pause from my gratuitous food photo-posting to share some things I’ve found around the web lately.

My friend and fellow freelance writer, Jayme Lamm wrote an awesome review of her experience at Travaasa Austin. I want to go to there.
I’m getting really, really into iced coffee. I’ve stalked recipes from both The Pioneer Woman and Smitten Kitchen, as well as recipe sites like Food.com and AllRecipes.com. I think I’ve finally landed on my mix and technique. More on that next week. But Ree’s and Deb’s sites are a killer place to start.
Erin and her hubby recently launched a new food blog called The Speckled Palate. Check out this recipe for Fig Tart that just makes me want to find a fig tree and do this rightnow.
Grace has been covering new restaurants in the Denver/Boulder area left and right, and I can not wait to get there next month and try some (especially The Kitchen [NEXT DOOR]).

ICYMI : I’m trying to post more recipes here than ever before. This week, I covered Drunken Mushrooms and Baked Eggs with Kale and Cream. Next week? Grilled chicken and some really tasty champagne cocktails.

What tasty morsels have you found around the Internet lately?

doniree

Thanksgiving in Colorado

doniree — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000

I had a lovely Thanksgiving here in Colorado. Chris and I shared the Thanksgiving meal with his mom and a small gathering of family members up in the mountains. After a couple of hours there, we ventured back down to Boulder where we spent time with friends here, sharing wine and conversation. It was a lovely — and delicious! — Thanksgiving Day.

I made smashed butternut squash, very loosely adapted from this recipe on Epicurious.com. It turned out pretty well, though I’d like a do-over sometime with a bigger squash, the right kind of cream, and actual parmesan cheese (I used a small squash, 2% milk, and a cheddar blend). No pictures of that side dish, but I do have some pictures of the rest of the meal!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with family and friends and that your return to the real world today was a seamless and easy one!

doniree

Culture Clash

doniree — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:00:00 +0000

My Japanese-German friend, Akira recently told me about the schnitzel he grew up making in his family. Except this traditional German food was made anything but traditionally in his blended culture house.

Rather than veal – as I learned is customary – Akira’s family used turkey cutlets, thinly sliced, for their schnitzel. Then, rather than using regular bread crumbs, they used Panko bread crumbs – a much more traditionally Japanese food. Once battered, the turkey cutlets were then deep fried – in a wok. And then served with BullDog Tonkatsu Sauce – Japan’s “ketchup” as we learned.

Akira shared this with Chris and I one night last week, and then taught us about Feurzangenbowle – a German mulled wine, kicked up a notch by soaking a sugar cone on top of it, pouring Bacardi 151 on top of that sugar cone, and then lighting the sugar cone on fire.

The idea for Culture Clash was then born: Round up your friends, have everyone bring a drink/dish from their respective cultures, share food, drink rum-spiked wine – fun ensues.

That’s exactly what we did on Saturday night. We all played nice – the Japanese, the German, the Bulgarian, the Irish, the Irish-Sicilian, the Norwegian, and me, the Southern Girl. The food included, of course, the Feurzangenbowle and the Panko-crusted Schnitzel, Rakia (Bulgrian), Jameson (Irish), Lefse (Norske), Salmon (Norske), a German Gewurstraminer, an Italian red wine, and my Southern girl contribution – cornbread and fried okra.

Food is more fun in pictures, so here’s what all that looked like:

That’s the jist of it, but if you’ve just gotta see more, the rest of the photos are here.

doniree

Fromage to Yours: Colorado Cheese Festival

doniree — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:00:30 +0000

Grace and I had the chance to attend Fromage to Yours – the Colorado Cheese Festival a couple of weeks ago. First of all, mad kudos to Groupon for sharing that deal when they did; I’d have never heard of the Colorado Cheese Festival, and it’s something I’m glad I didn’t miss!

A few favorites, before the glorious and gratuituous shots of delicious cheese. Chevre was really front and center, which was fine by me – there’s nothing that doesn’t taste better with goat cheese in it, right?

Anything truffled. There were a couple, but one in particular really stood out: The Truffled Honey & Lemon Chevre, from the Avalance Cheese Company. Incredible.
The Jumping Good Goat Dairy. Their creative flavor pairings deserve a nod or two, and my favorites were the honey, maple, and pumpkin chevres.
Teton Basque Grilling Cheese from Blue Sage Farms. No, not grilled cheese. This was cheese that you can grill in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil, and it doesn’t melt! Instead, the outside gets a beautiful grilled finish, and the inside? Hot and melty cheese perfection. These were paired with red pepper, though I see so much potention with other fruits, veggies, herbs, and meats for the perfect cocktail party hors d’oeurves.
37 Degrees Crispbread. These not-quite-crackers are the most perfect pairing for cheese-tasting. They’re light and airy, don’t distract from the cheese flavors, but rather complement them with various flavors of fruits and herbs that really make the cheese flavors stand out. Best of all? They’re right here in the Denver/Boulder area. I really want to take their recommendation and pair the Lemon Zest crackers with some mascarpone and smoked salmon. YUM.

For more details, Grace posted a great write-up on her food blog, here. Check that out for more cheese fun and cultural swooning!

And now for the photos. Ready, set, drool:

Not enough? Check out my Flickr set.