Spicing up Seattle

I love living in Seattle especially on days like today. The sun sparkles as it hits all the bodies of water surrounding this great city. The smell of sand, salt and food is almost always in the air. That's the best part, the food. This city is packed full of fantastic restaurants, great food writers and photographers. This is a city where you can really enjoy a good meal.

I follow a lot of Seattle Food Bloggers and know where they get their inspiration from. This city just provides tons of it from the Pike Place Market to all the fantastic farms within a short drive. Of course this means I have a ton of recipes that I'm dying to make but no good place to collect them. I was excited to recently learn about Kitchenbug which is a smart recipe collector that shows dietary and nutritional information on any recipe from any website. The other awesome thing about Kitchenbug is that you can adjust the size of your recipes. This is great for me since I have two adults, one toddler and one sometimes I eat food baby eater. I don't need a dinner that makes enough for 6 people. I like to adjust my meals so we have the right amount of food.

I've been hard at work collecting some of my favorite Seattle recipes on Kitchenbug in a collection box named, "Spicing Up Seattle". I have a few favorites and a few recipes I'm dying to try in there. Come check it out and tell me, what are your favorite Seattle recipes? 

Carribean Sandwiches in Fremont

Scott and I love this little sandwich place in Fremont. It's seriously tiny and doesn't even have a sign above it's storefront. You know you've reached this place when you smell the roasting chicken and see the hoard of people lined up out front.



I first heard about this place from a friend and honestly I wasn't too excited. Huge sandwiches with caramelized onions and big pieces of meat? Not too sure. Then I became a caramelized onion fiend and knew that I had to get to Paseo.



Of course visiting Paseo's does violate my "No Cash Only Restaurants" rule (which always makes me angry) but you see their food is so good that the cash only thing doesn't bother me now. It just means I need to plan ahead a bit more.



My favorite dish is the "Caribbean Bean and Rice Bowl" which is delicious and huge! It doesn't come with onions so I always get a side of their caramelized onions. This bowl is enough food for 2-3 meals. I like to take the nice chicken thigh out immediately and save that for a sandwich the next day. Then I take half the beans and rice out and save that before digging in to the remaining food which honestly is still alot.



Scott swears by the sandwiches. His usual favorite is the roasted chicken but he also likes to have the pork at times. He then usually finishes off my Caribbean bowl because as he puts it he, "loves the chips!"



So get out there! Try Paseo and you won't be disappointed. Seriously I eat there at least 3-4 times a month and I love it each and every time. Oh and be forewarned, they put mayo on their sandwiches, some people love that but others hate it.

Paseo
4225 Fremont Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 545-7440
Yelp Review

Homegrown Stopover

Sunday morning yoga left me hankering for some fresh, delicious food. Scott and I decided it was time to check out the new Homegrown sandwich and soup cafe in Fremont.



We walked down to the cafe and stepped inside. The menu boards are HUGE! In fact, they are so huge, that they overwhelmed me a bit. My eyes were darting back and forth while my fingers were pointing to all the delicious sandwhiches and salads.



The menu board lists which items are local, organic and/or sustaintable. They also list what local producers provided which items. I love knowing where my food comes from and I feel that the owners of Homegrown do too!



Each table had a culinary herb plant placed on it which was great except that some of them had little bugs on them. This happens with plants, I know! My plants at home have some of these little natty bugs. I find it usually happens from over-watering.



Scott ordered a Ruben sandwich while I enjoyed half a Turkey sandwich with a small Beet salad. Both were delicious.

I did have a few small complaints about this location though. The menu boards are so huge that you are overwhelmed as soon as you step in. Once you are acclimated though, they look great!

The ordering system is a bit strange. You order at one side of the counter and then step to the other side to pay. The guy running the cash register said they were working to change that shortly.

Lastly, all I wanted was some regular ice tea but they only had bottled ice tea. I think it would be a bit more sustainable to just brew up some ice tea in a pitcher and serve it that way. They could even create their own special "Homegrown" brew!

Overall though I'm going back, a lot. I really like this place and I'm glad it is so close to where I live.

Homegrown
3416 Fremont Avenue North
(between 35th St & 34th St)
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 453-5232
eathomegrown.com/

Can I Have Ice Cream For Breakfast?

This weekend, I finally made my way to Molly Moon's for their Maple Bacon Ice Cream Oatmeal breakfast and I'm so glad I did!



Molly Moon's served me up some hot oatmeal and then placed a scoop of Maple Bacon Ice Cream on top. I then sprinkled some cinnamon over it all and dug it.



The savory taste combined with the creamy ice cream and grainy texture of the oatmeal was a delight to my senses. All of Molly Moon's ice creams are a delight to me though. They use the freshest ingredients along with some of the most interesting flavors to create amazing ice cream.



All in all, my tummy was very happy at the end of the meal. So very happy! It made the rest of my day, that much better.



Molly Moon's Ice Cream
1622 ½ N 45th St in Wallingford
206.547.5105
www.mollymoonicecream.com

Skillet Time

Scott LOVES The Skillet and often talks about having lunch there. Unfortunately the location doesn't always work for us BUT today our schedule and the Skillet location worked out for us!



We headed out on a Skillet hunt on the way to pick up my race packet. Yes, I'm running the Seattle Half Marathon on Sunday because I'm insane and it will probably be more of a stumble than a run.



The menu at Skillet was short but filled with delicious food choices. I quickly selected the burger and requested poutine fries on the side. Scott ordered the same.





Seriously it was so good! I can't wait to go back again and now I know why Scott talks about it ALL the FRICKIN' TIME!



Skillet Street Food
Hours, Locations and Menus can be found on the Skillet Website.
From the Skillet Street Food Website, the concept: "We buy old Airstream Trailers, and outfit them so that they have a full commercial kitchen. We then go out to local office parks, events, farmers markets and provide impeccably executed and seasonably relevant bistro style food. Our market is people who really like food, and who appreciate food. Our goal is seattle first, the west coast/world second."

Trophy

This past weekend, Scott and I headed over to Trophy for some afternoon cupcakes and coffee.



I love this cupcake place. Their cupcakes are just sweet enough to be delicious, just moist enough to melt in your mouth and just the right size to make your tummy happy.



We sat within view of the cupcake kitchen and were able to watch the snowballs being frosted. They looked delicious!



So skip over Cupcake Royale and head over to Trophy Cupcakes. If they are good enough for Martha Stewart, they ware good enough for me!



Trophy Cupcakes at Wallingford Center
http://www.trophycupcakes.com/
1815 N 45th St Suite 209 (between N Burke Ave & N Wallingford Ave)
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 632-7020

14 Carrots of Goodness

Last Saturday after I had a very nice 7-mile run, Scott and I headed to the 14 Carrot Cafe for breakfast



The 14 Carrot Cafe is a nice restaurant located in the Eastlake neighborhood. The menu has a slight Greek flair which I love but because I like to copy Scott, I ordered the Huevos Rancheros.





They were delicious! I loved that they placed the sour cream and the salsa in bowls on the side. It's those extra touches that I love.



The specials looked delicious too and made me crave something with pumpkin in them.



14 Carrot Cafe
2305 Eastlake Ave E
Seattle, WA 98102
(206) 324-1442

Seriously Good Pie

Scott and I have been trying for months to return to Serious Pie. I finally figured that if we went at 5:30 on a Tuesday, we'd get in without the 45 minute wait. Scott warned me that I would need to prepare for a wait but it was a delight when we walked in and were immediately seated.



Serious Pie is a Tom Douglas restaurant and one of my favorites. The pizza is amazing! I've had salads there that have made my tastebuds cry with delight. They cook all the pizzas in a wood burning oven and serve them up on custom made Epicurean boards (with special grooves).



We ordered a mushroom and truffle cheese pizza along with the daily special pizza with was a spicy sausage. I love the truffle cheese pizza and studied it this time in an attempt to make my own.



The story behind Serious Pie is that the space was previous used to make bread for the Dahlia bakery and restaurant. Tom saw an opportunity to offer up pizzas and I am so glad he did!



One of my favorite meals is a delicious pizza with a nice frosty beer. Tom takes the ordinary pizza experience to a whole new level though and has inspired me in my home pizza making skills.



For desert, Scott and I decided to share the pumpkin canoli which was amazing! The pumpkin spice was just right and the canoli was crispy and full of flavor.



Serious Pie
316 Virginia
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 838-7388

Mon-Sat 11am–11pm
Sun 4pm-10pm
No Reservations

Pizza, Beer and Wine are available for take-out.