Come out of Chi-bernation for these Winter Food Finds

Posted on February 11, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Oh winter…devilishly evil Chicago winter. You haven’t been able to keep us down…especially with all these events and restaurant openings popping up. What about you, dear readers? Have you wound your scarf around you and strapped those snow boots on to take the chill out of winter? Here are some spots that may make you wanna brave the great white Midwest.

Remember that ol’ Lasalle Power company dance club you used to troll to pick up your future v-day date? Well now it’s been converted into a brand new Gino’s East. Chicago’s legendary pizza spot just got classy at its River North location. Three floors of expansive rustic cozy hangout space will eliminate your wait with your out of town guests as you get your “mangia” on with artichoke pizza, pickle-y sliders and fat stuffed cheese sticks with spinach. The restaurant proclaims to be including a brewery opening in several months as well…just in time for Spring!!

Our next pick is a neighbor to the north, Pizzeria Serio, a hidden addition to the food scene on Belmont avenue in Lakeview. WGN’s Chicago Best honored Pizzeria Serio as one of Chicago’s fave pizza. Check out the video here. We hopped over snow mounds to meet with the Chicago Food Bloggers and Pizzeria Serio was gracious enough to host our group. We sampled several tasty starters like a Spinach Salad (baby spinach leaves, red onion, mandarin oranges, goat cheese and walnuts in homemade citrus dressing) and the more traditional Caprese. For veggie lovers and goat cheese lovers (eww says one of us..the goat cheese hater) try the spinach specialty pizza (EVOO, sea salt, black pepper, fresh garlic, tomatoes, spinach, ricotta and goat cheese sans sauce). For the more purist pizza crowd, try the wood burned crusty Eat Your Veggies (onions, green peppers, mushrooms and black olives) and get your 5 a day veg serving…a good excuse to eat mas pizza if we do say so…and we do.

In a whole other country (this is what it feels like to Chicago residents) is Farmhouse in Evanston. This tavern makes their own burgers, condiments and soda from scratch with ingredients plucked straight from Midwestern farms. Even their beverage selection is pulled only from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. The majority of interior pieces are reclaimed woods and salvaged materials. At the kick off to North Shore Restaurant month, going on now, we gobbled down hot beer battered Wisconsin cheese curds with crispy warm centers and fresh Tavern-cut peppery potato chips with homemade ranch-like dipping sauce. On demand for our next visit is the Old World Grains Burger with Forest Mushroom and Poblano Pepper. For those of you who don’t venture that far out of our city, there’s also a sister location in River North with a slightly different menu and a two floor space. Don’t all these pics of yummy food make you wanna trek through your alley to the El?

Relishing the Pro Chef Life: Fresh Meal Delivery Service from Relished Foods

Posted on February 3, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

UPDATE: 8.21.14 Relished has expanded and rebranded to become Home Chef. They now offer vegan and veg friendly menus as well…all the more reason to stay home and be lazy instead of grocery shopping!

Ooo we are so sick of winter in Chiberia and we’ve had too many days of stir crazy all day pajama pants wearing. This weather sure hasn’t made it easy to get out to grocery shop, let alone put on any real semblance of clothes. Enter Relished Foods to conquer any reason to brave the cold white landscape we now call home.

Relished, is a fledgling Chicago area company that delivers fresh ingredients with clear visual instructions to cook healthy delicious meals like a pro. Each order includes three meals for one week. Recipes rotate weekly.

Now to the good food stuff!

We received 3 recipes:

Farfalle Pasta with Shrimp
Arugula and Fennel Salad with Chicken
Naan Pizza

We were hesitant about the Farfalle Pasta recipe which seemed too simple and possibly bland but once we noticed the fresh prepped ingredients and easy instructions our curiosity got us…. Farfalle Pasta sans Shrimp recipe included fresh baby spinach, basil, plump juicy cherry tomatoes, garlic and asiago cheese. This is how manageable the recipes are. We washed the vegetables, sliced the cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic. Lastly, we added EVOO, sea salt and grounded whole black pepper…so taxing (wink)!

Once we took a bite of this dish, we were pleasantly surprised by the flavors. Although simple, the dish was satisfying and complex.

With the arugula, we got to experience some ingredients we don’t usually utilize like fennel, and even champagne vinegar (you fancy, huh). The chicken was lean and still juicy. Relished packaging made it manageable to have one vegetarian and one omnivore eating the same meals as the meats were packaged separately from the veggies.

The naan pizza made us giggle in delight because we love artichokes, roasted red peppers and onions. All you had to do was plop the toppings on and bake. The recipe made two 8 inch pizzas.

What we learned about getting Relished pro chef meals sent to our house:

All meals take 30 minutes or less and require minimal cooking skills.
Recipe cards were visually stimulating, well articulated and can be used again!
Food came in a space aged cooler box and ingredients stayed fresh until we were ready to cook.
Meals cost around $10 a serving.

We really appreciated that all meals were veggie heavy, creative and delicious. Relished is only about 6 months in and they have also indicated that they are exploring only veggie/vegan meal options to expand their dietary offerings. Now if only they would send us some hot cocoa to warm things up for us, we be all about staying in for another week or so.

Thanks to Relished for inviting us to try such yummy and vegetastic meals!!

Chicago Restaurant Week Giveaway: Enter Now

Posted on January 30, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

First, we want to say welcome new followers!! We love comments and questions so please chat it up with us! Let’s initiate you to the Chi Organic Girls club with a giveaway. 🙂

Two essential Chicago questions:

1) Have you been getting your eat on at Restaurant Week?

2) Are you getting rewarded for getting your eat on?

We’re sure one of these answers is a resounding and forlorn no. Enter Spring Rewards to the foodie rescue!

Spring Rewards will feed you people and that’s not all. They also offer a service to get that wallet in order. We know ours is packed full of rewards cards that are often forgotten when we need them most (we’re looking at you, Walgreens Balance Rewards). To solve this crisis, you enter your debit or credit card into their secure system in addition to those pesky rewards cards and Spring Rewards automatically tracks those rewards for you. Merchants who partner with Spring Rewards may also give you a lil sum’ sum’, like cash back, directly on your card, for being so loyal.

Now, to fill your #crw hole in your pocket and stomach. To enter, follow these picto-instructions.

Spring Rewards is gifting out dinners for two at places like Roka Akor, Keefer’s, Red Door & Tanta. Does anyone want to take us?

Ok, no pressure…but…we really want the truffled kale from Red Door.

Get started here and happy eating!

Giveaway ends on 1/31/2014!

Chicago Thin Crust? A Pizza Must!

Posted on January 3, 2014 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Blaze Pizza

Oh Twitter, how we love thee. Recently, the Chicago Food Scene held a Twitter poetry competition for free Blaze pizzas. We dug deep back to our middle school Haiku writing days and typed a clever pizza ditty….and won!! Once our coupons came, we gleefully braved the snow to try the “new to Chicago” casual pizza chain, Blaze Pizza, situated in Boystown right near the El stop. We weren’t really sure what to expect when we entered but the staff hollered out a welcome and invited us to come closer.

As we shyly peeked around, they detailed the Blaze pizza process for us. The fine art of pizza creation is set up in an assembly line format. Patrons can pick their own pie toppings and sauce or choose a signature ‘za and watch while it is made. Pizzas are 11 inches of thin crust glory and take only 3 minutes to cook. We were intrigued by the gigantic oven and learned that 12 pizza could fit inside which brings to mind sitcom hijinx of craaazy pizza cooking. The oven man assured me that he avoided that magnitude of pizza multitasking. The oven does, however, cook pizzas at a blazing (get it?!!!?) hot 800 degrees.

There were a ton of signature veggie pizza options available to us as well as gluten free and vegan substitutions. We decided on the Red Vine, with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil and chunky red sauce, and the Green Stripe, with pesto sauce, arugula, and garlic minus the chicken.

Blaze Pizza – “Red Vine” with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil and chunky red sauce

Blaze Pizza – “Green Stripe” with pesto sauce, arugula, and garlic minus the chicken

Pizza Highlights: Blaze Pizza is a real departure from Chicago style pizza and a real good one at that. The crust was light, crispy and a titch garlicky. Our wallets were happy because their pizzas only cost 8 bucks and we each walked out with leftover slices. We also tried the S’mores pie, a chewy marshmallow with melted chocolate in between 2 British biscuits. It had appropriately crumbly texture but we decided it could have used a quick pop in the oven.

Status: Liked, retweeted and plused, we loved Blaze Pizza and will be back to make our own creation. Thanks to Blaze Pizza and Chicago Food Scene for choosing us as the creative poetresses that we are and giving us pizzas instead of an award.

Meatless Monday: Roasted Broccoli Sammiches

Posted on December 16, 2013 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Bored of boiled broccoli, all soggy and bland? How about some roasted broccoli with flavor! We’ve been hooked on oven roasted veggies this year and have no intention of ever looking back. We made two versions of roasted broccoli that can be eaten alone or even added into a sandwich (think cheesy melty panini).

Baked Broccoli Cheese Sandwich

Modified from here.

Serving 2 people.

Ingredients

1 small sized head of broccoli
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
whole black pepper, grounded to taste
Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread
4 whole wheat bread
Smoked gruyere cheese (also available at Aldi)

Directions

Preheat oven 400 degrees.
Cut broccoli. Put into a round tupperware. Add seasonings and oil and mix it.

Spread out on a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes.
Spread lightly Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread on 4 whole wheat breads.
Add 1 sliced smoked gruyere cheese on top of coconut spread on each of two sandwiches.
Add the roasted broccoli to each of two sandwiches.

Put in a panini maker or grill on stove.

For a more spicier flavor as a snack or side dish.

Same as above plus
1/4 tsp garlic
red chili pepper flakes, to taste
cayenne pepper or chile arbol ground, to taste

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes and it’s ready to eat! Now excuse us because its dinner time. Broccoli ahoy!!

Meatless Monday: Cranberry Spiced Butternut Squash

Posted on December 2, 2013 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Are you suffering from a lingering Thanksgiving coma? Are you currently looking at a squash that your aunt brought you over the holiday with a perplexion on how to use it. Squash is one of those winter foods that we didn’t know what to do with during our early cooking days. Now we know there is a multitude of squash available: all that can be turned into awesome veggie meals

Recognize any of these variety of squash???

Pumpkin, Spaghetti and Carnvial Squash (bottom left to right)
Butternut, Acorn and Buttercup Squash (top left to right)

Here’s a starter recipe for the puzzling squash. This week’s Meatless Monday dish features yummy natural cranberry sauce and a winter superstar, Butternut Squash. If you’re feeling extra lazy, which we’re guessing you still are as we noticed your Santa pajama pants, you can grab pre-cut and peeled butternut squash from the grocery store instead of machete-ing that sucker. If you’re more adventurous, cut open the squash length wise, scoop out the seeds, peel and cut into 1 inch cubes in preparation.

Cranberry Spiced Butternut Squash

Ingredients

2 cups butternut squash, chopped in 1 inch cubes, peeled
1 cup natural cranberry sauce (no jiggly cran jelly people!)
1/2 cup no salt sunflower seeds (no husks)
Maple syrup to taste

If you’re feeling spicy, you could add 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Vietnamese cinnamon is our favorite).

Directions

Fill a medium sized pot with water and bring the water to a boil
Boil squash until tender
Drain water
Mix all the ingredients while squash is still warm
Add maple syrup until desired sweetness

Easy peasey butternut squash can be transformed into other various hearty dishes. You can puree it with veggie stock and spices for a delicious savory soup, mix it with arugula and feta, or, for a sweeter treat, try roasting it with cinnamon and butter. Now put on some real clothes and go attack that squash!

A Very Veg Thanksgiving: Baked French Onion Soup and Mushroom Gravy

Posted on November 27, 2013 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Here’s Part 2 of delicious side dishes from my cooking adventure, French Onion Soup and Mushroom Gravy taught at Whole Foods Market Cooking School in Lincoln Park. Thanks to Google+ Local Chicago for hosting this culinary experience!

When you see the food pics below, you’ll know why the whole class was clamoring to get a close view of the finished product.

French Onion Soup

2 tbsp oil
4 large sweet onions, thinly sliced with the grain
1tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme or 1 tbsp fresh thyme
1/2 cup dry red wine, recommend cabernet sauvignon
2 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
4 cups filtered water
1 small baguette
1/2 pound Swiss, Gruyere, or Emmenthaler cheese, shredded

Emmenthaler Swiss Cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees
Dry heat a large soup pot or dutch oven for 2 minutes. Add to hot pot the sliced onions. Sprinkle salt and drizzle olive oil over onions. With a large spoon or tongs, constantly turn the onions so they do not stick to the bottom. Continue stirring and flipping for 5-10 minutes. The onions will start to shrink and caramelized beautifully. Add the thyme and stir once more. Place a lid on the pot and continue this 30 minutes, stirring every so often. This is where the base of the flavor comes from. The longer you caramelize, the deeper the flavor.
Slice baguette to fit your bowls, either on a diagonal or in circles. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes, until bread is completely dried out.
Add red wine and balsamic vinegar. This will help deglaze the pan and pick up more flavor. Let cook another 10 minutes with no lid. This will concentrate the liquid a bit to help deepen the flavor. Add bay leaves and water and bring to a boil. Turn heat to simmer, place lid on pot and allow to cook another 15-30 minutes.

Ladle into bowls, place bread over soup and sprinkle on cheese. Place under broiler for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. Be aware of the time as the broiler can burn food very quickly. Enjoy!

Mushroom Gravy

Whole Foods Market recipe adapted from Post Punk Kitchen

4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup whole wheat flour or almond flour for gluten free
2 tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 tbsp paprika
2tsp thyme
salt and peper to taste
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Directions

In a large bowl, mix 2 cups vegetable broth with flour. Whisk until there are no lumps. Add remaining 2 cups of vegetable broth and set aside.
Heat a large sauce pan. Add oil and shallots. Saute about 5 minutes until shallots are limp.
Add garlic, mushrooms, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined. Saute about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked.

Add wine and bring to a boil for 3 minutes, letting the liquid reduce. Stir often.
Add broth mixture and nutritional yeast to the pot. Let cook 10-15 minutes until gravy thickens.

So this is my first experience with mushroom gravy as a born vegetarian! Use on whatever dish you want….cover your greens, your mashed potatoes or slather it on the Whole Foods “meat” loaf recipe from part 1.

Craving more variety for your veggie-giving? Check out the following veg/vegan recipes as a Thanksgiving side dish or fall treat and have a healthy happy holiday tomorrow!

Super Moist Pumpkin Bread by Post Punk Kitchen

Sweet Potato Soup with Ginger and Vanilla by Post Punk Kitchen

Candied Yams by Earth Balance Made Just Right

Buttery Apple Cider Carrots by Earth Balance Made Just Right

Vegan Pumpkin Pie by Whole Foods Market

Ay Chica WoW WoW, we heart sexy tacos!

Posted on November 26, 2013 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Our constant gratitude attitude must be working this holiday season. We got a karmic invite recently from Rockit PR goddess, Kara Callera, to chow-wow down at Billy Dec’s most recent restaurant installment, ¡AY CHIWOWA! (throwing out a couple more thanks, universe!).

Highlight Reel: AY CHIWOWA is at the tip of River North on Orleans and Chicago (worth noting as there is secret free parking in the area if you are willing to stretch those Chicago winter legs for a block or two). Perfect spot for: After work drinks and apps with coworkers (lots of specials for those of us on a “paying back college loans” budget), partying on the weekend with your lady friends (VIP service and private room space in the back of the spot) or an upbeat date with someone who likes it loud. AY CHIWOWA is also known for their immense selection of tequilas and creative cocktails, such as the spicy Acai Jalapeno Margarita, so call an Uber or a pink mustached Lyft in honor of Movember if you wanna get down.

As cold as it was outside the night of our visit, we received a warm welcome from staff and like a T.I. rap song, we were invited to have whatever we liiiiiked. The music was bumping with throw back jams like “Snoop Doggy Dog” and an ugly sweater train of patrons danced past us as we settled ourselves at our cozy table. As Jill, our bubbly and attentive server, brought out a bevy of items, the dudes next to us probably thought we were trying to add some extra padding for the long winter.

Here’s the good, the amazing and the meh OK of AY CHIWOWA battling it out for best thing in our bellies.

Starters:

Fresh chunky mango guacamole and roasted salsa paired with hot salted tortilla chips

VS.

Queso fundido (aka big old bowl of melty mexicheese) with sauteed peppers, onions and garlic

¡AY CHIWOWA!

Winner? Tie. If we were on a deserted island and only had one food to live on, we would be praying some avocados would be drop from the sky. The queso fundido, however, was a surprise plus with its flavorful veggie additions.

Veggie Entrees Throwdown:

Veggie Quesadilla

VS.

Veggie Tacos

¡AY CHIWOWA!

Winner: Somehow queso fundido jumped in the cage match and beat up both veggie quesadilla and veggie tacos. All three featured the similar sauteed peppers and onions leaving the veggie variety a little lacking. Maybe throw some black bean tacos on the menu to entice the veg/vegan crowd?

Meaty Martial Arts Taco Match:

Slow cooked brisket-like Barbacoa

VS.

Adobe Veracruz style Chicken

VS.

Pork Belly with pickled radish

¡AY CHIWOWA!

Winner: Barbacoa!!! The short rib meat was so juicy and tasty that no toppings were actually needed. The bright watercress salad on top of the taco zeroed in on the melt in your mouth texture of the taco. The chicken came in second with a solid Adobo spice and pleasing texture.

Our coup d’etat and game changers, though, were two sugar dusted churros, with a perfect balance of soft fluffy insides and crunchy outsides, accompanied by an addictive hot cajeta sauce. When we think of churros, usually its those stale carnival ones, not very thrilling to cupcake connoisseurs, but “someone” enjoyed them so much a bite of churro “mysteriously” ended up in her mouth…and then the stare down began.

¡AY CHIWOWA! Thanks again for hosting us!!

Looking for more of what’s hot in Chicago? Follow Billy Dec’s blog http://www.achicagothing.com and twitter https://twitter.com/billydec

Meatless Monday “Meat” Loaf

Posted on November 25, 2013 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

Are you reaaaaaady…to learn how to make delicious vegetarian and vegan dishes just in time for Thanksgiving? Are you prepared to make plant based entrées fit for even the most carnivorous foodie? You won’t even miss the meat!

On my beauteous bday, I attended Whole Foods Market Cooking School in Lincoln Park to learn about preparing meatless meals thanks to Google+ Local Chicago.

“Meat” Loaf

2 cups cooked brown or green lentils such as Melissa’s Steamed Lentils (all natural, no preservatives, non-GMO)
2 cups cooked short grain brown rice
1 cup rolled oats, blended such as Bob’s Red Mill Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp Italian seasoning blend
1/2 tbsp sage
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp ketchup to spread on loaf

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In a blender, place rolled oats and blend into powder
In a saute pan, add oil. Italian seasoning and sage. Allow to cook until oil absorbs spices and aroma fills the air. Add onions and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent and soft.
In a large bowl, add cooked lentils, cooked rice, blended oats, sauted onion and garlic mixture, crushed tomatoes and BBQ sauce. Mix thoroughly.

Pour loaf mixture into a well-greased bread pan and pat down. Add ketchup to the top and with the back of spoon, spread to coat the exposed loaf.

Bake for 1 hour. Let sit for 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and enjoy!!

Kate has been bugging me to demonstrate my new culinary skills for the holiday. She may have to wait for Part 2, French Onion Soup and Mushroom Gravy, coming soon! Don’t drool like her while you’re waiting. 😉

**Recipe from Whole Foods Cooking School, Lincoln Park

Where to get your Sugar Craving anytime!

Posted on November 18, 2013 by CHIORGANICGIRLS

*Gasp! *Marvel *Be in Awe.

What you see is real, not like unicorns, ligers, or bears…wait, bears are real.

It’s a cupcake ATM! Sprinkles! Cupcakes Bakery offers unique flavors and a not so overpowering sugar balance with a (BONUS!) 24 hour cupcake ATM machine.

Remember at 4 am when you woke up in a cold sweat craving a red velvet shot in the arm? Yeah, us neither. However, we sure have wanted a cupcake at 10:30pm after a jaunt to concerts in Millennium Park. And wouldn’t you know it, cupcake ATMs draw celebrities in too. Gary Sinise, of Forrest Gump and CSI fame, walked by us last time. He didn’t stop for a cupcake but that’s probably because the line was off le chain, as the French say. In retrospect though, the Key Lime, Chai Tea and Red Velvet cupcakes made it worth the agonizing wait. You shoulda stayed, Gary!

You can find this beauty 24 hours a day at 50 East Walton.

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Baked Broccoli Cheese Sandwich

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Cranberry Spiced Butternut Squash

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French Onion Soup

Mushroom Gravy

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Starters:

Veggie Entrees Throwdown:

Meaty Martial Arts Taco Match:

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“Meat” Loaf

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