Hello Fall!

It’s almost here! Tomorrow marks the first day of the fall season…now someone just needs to come tell Texas that! Granted, we have had some beautiful weather in Houston this week but as all Houstonians know, it will not last. Much to my husband’s chagrin the temperature does not matter to me, if it’s fall, my house is going to look, feel and smell like fall! I have my pumpkin spice candles and plugins ready, my fall wreath is about to go on my front door and my bread tins are prepared to bake loaf after loaf of sweet bread.  It may not feel like it, but fall is here and we are ready for it and anticipation of the cold weather that will eventually be here Sally and I have each come up with our top five favorite cold weather meals.

Leigh’s Favorite Cold Weather Foods

1. Baked Potato Soup

2. Pot Roast

3. Chicken Pot Pie

4. Chili

5. Chicken & Dumplings

Sally’s Favorite Cold Weather Foods

1. Chili

2. Chicken Pot Pie

3. Lasanga

4. Beef Stroganoff

5. Chicken Tortilla Soup

Now we want to know what your’s are. We have come up with a litst of the most popular cold weather meals, just click on your favorite!

 

Grandma Halleck’s Crab Dip

This Friday will mark a week since my grandmother passed. As happens when loved ones die I have been reflecting on the many times I spent with my grandmother and the traditions that she and I shared. We didn’t live close to my grandparents when I was growing up so I cherished the times we spent together. When I was very young my parents would fly me down to Houston during the Holiday season (I grew up in Dallas) so my grandparents could take me to see the nutcracker. When I got older my grandparents moved to North Carolina and my grandmother and I began writing letters back and forth. She would tell me about all of the flowers that were blooming in the garden at the Biltmore Estate and I would tell her about the heat she left behind in Texas. After my grandfather passed my father and his siblings convinced my grandmother to move back to Houston (I was here by then as well) and we were finally able to spend a lot of quality time together. She would tell me stories about my dad and his brother who had a penchant for getting into trouble, my grandfather’s days in the Navy and what life was like back in the “good ol’ days.”

When I got married I asked her to give me her favorite recipes, she gave me three. The first was her Ambrosia salad, a recipe that I am sure has not been made since the 1960’s, but she loved it. She also gave me the recipe for her black bottom pie and finally her crab dip, a staple at Halleck Family functions and my favorite dip of all time. I started making this dip years ago and because it is so simple I never need a recipe and have since lost the EXACT measurements but I wanted to share it with you anyways.

You will need:

2 cans of lump crab meat
2 packages of cream cheese at room temperature
Worcestershire sauce
Garlic salt
Milk
Tabasco

Directions:

Drain the crab meat and mix it with the softened cream cheese. Add milk, about two tablespoons. If you put too much milk in the dip will be runny. Next add the worchestershire sauce, about two tablespoons the garlic salt, one tablespoon, and tabasco to taste.

Because I don’t have the exact measurements you will want to taste the dip before you serve it. All of the favors should blend together, no ingredient should stand out on its own.

Serve the dip cold with ruffles, carrot sticks or celery.

Thank you for allowing me to pass on a bit of my grandmother to all of you. I hope that you all enjoy the dip, I always have.

Happy Eating ~ Leigh

Papi…He’s bringing the island to Kingwood

I’m not a native Texan…I transplanted from our friendly neighbor to the north. Naturally, there are many differences between Texas and Oklahoma; wine in grocery stores (thank you Texas), HOV lanes (thank you Texas) and a greater variety of fine dining (thank you Texas). However, one concept I struggled to grasp was the idea of eating food out of a trailer on the side of the road! Yes, I had seen food trucks in Oklahoma before but they definitely weren’t as ubiquitous as they are here.

During the Tasting the Town event last week, Leigh and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Tony Castro. Tony owns Papis Kiosco Boricua on Loop 494 in Kingwood, and his specialty is authentic style Puerto Rican food. We had a great visit with Tony…okay, to be honest, Tony did the talking while we stuffed our faces with his delicious food. He brought us samples of his pulled pork and rice, which were fantastic! The pork was so tender, juicy and delicious. Everything was so flavorful! I’m no stranger to Puerto Rican food, one of my favorite restaurants in San Juan is the Metropol – and Tony’s cooking definitely rivals it! I even mentioned it to my neighbors, who are from Puerto Rico, and they told me they had been to Papi’s several times and loved it!

I drove down Loop 494 to check out Papi’s. It was awesome, and not what I expected at all! Tony’s got a great courtyard area and picnic tables set up near his trailer so you can sit and enjoy your food. If you’ve got little ones, there’s plenty of room for them to run around too. Now that the heat of summer is behind us, this is the perfect time to go check out Papi’s fantastic menu. Like a lot of businesses, Papi’s had a slow several months due to the extreme heat, since their seating area is outdoors. We at Lake Houston Food encourage you to support your local business owners and patronize their restaurants every opportunity you can! Step outside of the norm and see what awesome food is out there just waiting to be enjoyed.

As an incentive to help you get out there and try something new we have a new coupon for you! $1.00 off your order at Papi’s and a BRAND NEW lunch special, every Wednesday and Thursday lunch plates are only $5.95, this includes one meat, one vegetable and a side of rice.

*The lunch special and the coupon cannot be combined*

 

Don’t forget to download and print your Papi’s Coupon.

Papi’s Kiosco Boricua can be found on the web at www.papiskiosco.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

Papi’s hours are Wednesday – Saturday 11am – 5:30 pm. (713) 992-6582

Happy Eating!

 Sally

You Are Invited!!

What: An intimate wine dinner with the owner of CapRock Winery

Where: Zamitti’s in Kings Harbor

When: Thursday September 27, 6:30 to 9 pm

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If you are looking for a low key yet elegant night out this is the event for you. Zammitti’s is hosting a wine dinner featuring wine from CapRock Winery. The GM of the winery, Phillip Anderson, will even be at the dinner to tell you about the different wines that you will be drinking. The wine reception will begin at 6:30 in the evening where you will have a chance to meet Mr. Anderson as well as the other patrons who will be dining with you. The dinner will begin at 7 pm and will be made up of four courses. The first course will be a trio of ravioli: lobster, portobello mushroom and cheese. The second course will be a caprese salad. The third course will be meatloaf, which I must say is absolutely AMAZING. The meal will end on a sweet note with tiramisu. This will be an intimate affair as there will only be seating for 50 people. The price for this lovely evening is $49.95 per person and is all inclusive. To reserve a seat call Zammitti’s at 281-361-7499, a credit card number will be taken at the time the reservation is made. If you need to cancel your reservation for any reason you must do so within 24 hours of the dinner or your credit card will be charged.

Hurry up and call before all the seats get taken and have a wonderful time, and dont forget to tell them that we sent you!!

For mor information of Zammitti’s click here and for more information about CapRock Winery click here.

Happy Eating ~ Leigh

Photos courtesy of http://www.caprockwinery.com and http://www.zammittis.com

Tasting the Town

Last night Sally and I attended Tasting the Town at the Humble Civic Center, an event that can only be described as a small town foodie convention where 38 local eateries came to the event to serve their best dishes to the people of the Lake Houston area..  To say we had fun would be an understatement, we had a blast!  We were escorted in to the bloggers cafe where we received our press passes and a list of all of the vendors and the food they were offering.  Once we got settled we were brought plate after plate of food. We ate every type of food from sushi to tamales to hospital food. Yes, I said hospital food, I’ll explain in a moment.

If you are anything like me then you have driven past a small restaurant in the area and wondered if the food was any good yet you never stop to try it.  One of the best aspects of last night’s event was that almost all of the restaurants I have wondered about where there as well as some that I have never even seen! The standouts for Sally and I were Papi’s Kiosco Boricua, Nico’s Bar & Grill, Rising Sun Sushi, Sorrento’s and Mis Cuatas Tamales.  Kingwood Medical Center’s kitchen staff was even on hand to serve some of their newest dishes.  The staff is on a mission to change the perception of hospital food, and based upon last night’s presentation they have done just that. I went from thinking of hospital food as a bland bowl of mush to open faced roast beef sandwiches with parmesan cheese and bean sprouts.

We will soon be posting stories on each of these restaurants but for now we wanted to share some pictures from our time at the event and to say thank you to the people responsible for hosting such a wonderful affair. 

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