Central Market at Preston Royal – First look!

New Central Market opens

Central Market throws open it’s doors today! The Preston Royal locale (previously housed by Borders) marks the opening of Central Market’s ninth store. IttyBittyFoodies had a media sneak peak yesterday at some of the innovations and offerings customers can look forward like the new selection of New York Deli-style dishes and baked goods. Think artisanal boiled and then baked bagels onsite and new bialys and New York City based Charlito’s cocina artisan salumi.There’ll be a full service custom sandwich bar with a “Build Your Own” sandwich option as well as a menu of chef created sandwiches.

Halloween ideas – Spooky Witches Fingers, Melting Witch Soup & Monster Pillows!

Spooky Witches Fingers!

My guest blogger is Darlene Rosen from Honey Girl Kitchen.  Check out her recipes  for Spooky Witches Fingers (sugar cookies), Melting Witch Soup (green of course) and monsters pillows (pumpkin spiced empanadas which are to die for!). Of course if you don’t have time to make these yourself, you can always order from Honey Girl Kitchen.

Gourmet Fast Food: Linguine with Lump Crab Meat, Asparagus & Avocado

Making a nice meal doesn’t always have to take a long time. This linguine recipe with lump crab meat, asparagus and avocado lets you create a meal in the time it takes to boil pasta. Now that’s what I call fast food.

Recipe featured on White Rock Lake Weekly

Till our next Happy Meal!

IttyBittyFoodies celebrates 1 year

Lollo & Pikelet

Happy Birthday IttyBittyFoodies! It’s time to have a Birthday Month Celebration! A year ago, I didn’t know if I could write again after taking a hiatus from writing when Lollo was born. Well here we are on our 60th post and nominated for Babble’s Top 100 Mom Food Blogs (please vote here under Cheryl Collett), named one of Dallas Best Blogs on Wherelocalseat.com and was featured on TinyDallas under Moms We Love.

Pikelet is about to turn 6 and Lollo is now 3.

Oddfellows in Oak Cliff

We have a love hate relationship with Oddfellows in the Bishop Arts District. We love the food but hate the long waits. But they have this wonderful fried tomato sandwich that beckons me and as a result, I’ve subjected my IttyBittyFoodies to the brutal waits – three times. On a fine day, diners can wait outside sipping coffee or hot chocolate made with their super expensive La Marzocco Strada Espresso coffee machine and the kids just wander about and playing with the piano outside.

‘Royal’ Meringue Mousse with lychees & summer berries

We didn’t get our royal invite but IttyBittyFoodies are celebrating the Royal Wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton all the same with our own Royal No Bake Meringue Mousse.  Pikelet my 5 yr old made up this surprisingly elegant Lychee Meringue Mousse recipe for the Princess Bride who dressed in an elegant Alexander McQueen gown. It’s his first recipe and the results are light, airy and naturally sweet, just like the Royal nuptials.

Honey Girl Kitchen

 

Just pack the hamper, wine and Pelligrino!

Spring is the start of picnic season and Honey Girl Kitchen is offering home-made organic picnic dinners to go! Think fresh ‘Fanciwiches’ made with Jimmy’s mortadella stuffed in a Mexican baguette and layered with smoked mozzarella and all the fixings or cool ‘Fancisides’ like jicama and cucumber salad or a simple caprese. The kid’s ‘Fanci Tiny Pants’ menu feature turkey wraps, cute little onigiri rice balls or organic PB&J sandwiches all served with a watermelon slice on a stick. Desserts are home-made brownies or Honey Crew Granola.

Mortadella on Bollilo

To top it all, Honey Girl Kitchen has thoughtfully coordinated pick up for these picnic dinners during the Spring, Summer and Fall Concert Series at The Dallas Arboretum from April 19 to October 27.

Belly full of whale cakes – easy salmon cakes with green beans & bacon

Pikelet & Lollo eat salmon cakes because of the book “Big Blue Whale” by Nicola Davies. They call them ‘whale cakes’ and eat loads because thought of having stinky ‘whale’ breath is an attractive trait when you are five and three years old.

“When it breathes out, it makes a great misty puff as high as a house. This is the whale’s blow, and you can see it from far away. You can hear it, too – a great PROOUFF. And if you are close enough, you can smell it, as the whale’s breath is stale and fishy.”

And the winner of the Artizone Bolsa Giveaway is…

Winner of the Bolsa Artizone dinner

Congratulations to

The ‘No Thank You Bite’

 We’ve all been there, trying to coax/bribe/threaten our kids to eat their meals while they squirm about and turn into artful dodgers. Sometimes we resort to theatrics and put on our best British accents and talk like Charlie from the Charlie and Lola series by Lauren Child. In the book, “I will never not ever eat a tomato“, Lola flat out refuses to eat all sorts of food and clever big brother Charlie tells a funny stories and rebrands them with exciting names

Holiday Party Idea – Tom Colicchio’s braised short ribs

Stunning results!

So done with turkey? Then try celebrity Chef Tom Colicchio’s (of Craft restaurant at the W Hotel in Victory Park) braised short ribs recipe. The results from this succulent fall-off-the-bone recipe is guranteed to garner ’oohs and aahs’ at the dinner table even from the most discerning itty bitty guest.

Eating Pam the Clam – Manila Clams steamed in Shiner Bock

dinner in just a few minutes

I don’t know about your kids, but Pikelet & Lollo love eating food associated with characters in their favorite books – see the Turkey Lurkey Fruit Plate recipe here thanks to the Henny Penny story. Last night’s dinner was clams and bacon steamed in beer and my Itty Bitty Foodies were thrilled they were going to eat Pam the Clam from their Dr Seuss “Tooth Book“.

Thanksgiving idea – Turkey Lurkey Fruit plate

 

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Honeycrisp apples are in season now! A cross between a Macoun and Honeygold apple, we first discovered this tart and sweet crispy gem when we lived next door to Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington.  The apples burst with flavor and Pikelet & Lollo  have aptly named their favorite breakfast apple, “The Big crunch!”

8 Ball Squash

8 Ball Squash

… the cutest little zucchini in the world!  They’re round and the size of a billiard ball – thus the name 8 ball squash. They are so darn cute, it’s almost a pity to cook them. But here’s a delicious recipe for you to try with your kids. Pikelet & Lollo liked to play with them more than eat them but the squash did looked good enough to try (which is all a parent can ask for). It’s a wonderful Fall accompaniment especially with grilled Lamb Rib Chops.

Everybody’s talking about… tacos

Tacos galore from Rusty Taco

“Taco joints are the new fro-yo” announced my friend, A. Talking about where to find your favorite taco is not a new topic especially here in Dallas but there does seem to be a spate of generation-next taco joints opening lately.

If you’d ever wanted to try Chinese cooking at home, stay tuned…

I’ve just won the lottery! Not really but close!

When you happen to have octopus tentacles in the fridge…

Octopus tentacles - dinner and a new toy...

 

Yes folks. You read it right. Octopus tentacles are what Pikelet and Lollo chose from the seafood counter at Central Market today. Why not I thought. It would be fun. So what next?

What’s ‘Home Made’ at your home?

I’ve added a section called ‘Home Made’. It will document my blogging journey as I’m ‘making’ this blog at home as well as recipes and sometimes… disasters that I try at home with Pikelet & Lollo. I’d love to hear from readers what they’ve been cooking at home for their own itty bitty foodies.

So tell me… what did you have for dinner this week?