Cauliflower Pizza Crust- Healthy and Gluten Free!

A few months back there was a viral Facebook post about cauliflower breadsticks that got my mind going. If you could make breadsticks with broken down cauliflower, what else could you make?! I love the idea of making unhealthy foods healthier by upping the veggie content so the idea of pizza without flour fascinated me. This was my second attempt at making a cauliflower pizza dough. The first time it felt undercooked and didn’t crisp at all. I think this time around I got it very right by flipping the dough halfway through the cooking process and blotting the moisture off with a paper towel(Much like I did with my zucchini noodles in veggie lasagna) . The dough was slightly chewy with crunchy crisped edges. Obviously it’s a bit more work than ordering papa johns but I found it to be a worthwhile kitchen adventure!

1. Cauliflower Snow 2. before toppings 3. Finished pizza

 

Cauliflower Pizza Crust
1 large head of cauliflower
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1 tsp Italian seasonings
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tbs corn meal
1 egg

Pizza Toppings and Sauce of your choice!

Preheat oven to 450 with a pizza stone on the middle rack. While the stone heats up prepare the cauliflower.

Working in small batches pulse cauliflower in a food processor until it is finely shredded. It will have the consistency of fine snow. Microwave the cauliflower ‘snow’ for 5 minutes. Remove from microwave and let cool in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

When the cauliflower is cool to the touch wrap it in cheesecloth and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Transfer to a large bowl and combine with mozzarella, parmesan, egg, corn meal, and spices. Mix until everything is evenly distributed- I find it’s best to use your hands for this step.

Spray a piece of parchment paper with cooking spray and turn out the dough ball into the middle. Press and sculpt into a round shape about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Transfer parchment paper with dough on it to the pizza stone and bake for 15 minutes. Flip crust by sandwiching between two cookie sheets with a fresh piece of sprayed parchment and bake on the other side for 15 more minutes.

Remove from oven and add sauce and toppings. Return to oven until cheese is melted- about 6 more minutes.

Enjoy!
Charlie

 

Thrifty Tip: Take a Cooking Class!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems as though every restaurant these days is promoting some sort of farm-to-table dining experience. This past weekend I had the opportunity to immerse myself into a working restaurant kitchen and demystify the farmers market inspired meal. For my birthday this year Tom opted to go for a unique experience instead of a traditional gift and I am so glad he did.

On a crisp late summer morning I was joined by Allie and Zach, a lovely couple that I probably wouldn’t have ever met in my small NYC world. We were met by chef Abigail Hitchcock, our guide for the day. Abigail spent an hour walking us through the Union Square Greenmarket pointing out unique foods, sampling, and explaining how to navigate the massive amount of vendors and choices. We learned that purple string beans turn green when cooked and that you should eat the entire radish- including the stems. Unique vegetables such as the avocado squash were pointed out as well as trendy herbs such as purslane- which is one of the only non animal products containing omega three acids. Abby shared stories about how one of the vendors produce, The Orney farmer, was sometimes packed with more flavor because it seemed to struggle more through the growth process.

After our first browse through the market we collectively decided to trust our fearless leader’s judgement on menu choices and proceeded to purchase the freshest produce for our lunch. A short walk through Washington Square Park led us to CAMAJE, a working restaurant where we would hone our cooking skills. Under Abby’s watchful eye we were guided through a variety of dishes including grilled fish, baked eggplant, roasted potatoes, a tasting of heirloom tomatoes, and a delicious stone fruit tart. Chef Abby offered thoughtful instruction throughout the class teaching basic knife skills and answering any questions that popped up about cooking professionally. She structured our day in a way that novices and more experienced home cooks could relate to by focusing not on speed but on making the experience enjoyable. My favorite part of the day was the final product where everything was laid out family style and the four of us, no longer strangers, enjoyed the fruits of our very own farmers market feast.

For further adventures check out Chef Abby and Camaje at camaje.com
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One of my favorite dishes we made was a fresh take on grilled corn on the cob. Being a Georgia boy I always have memories of picking corn in my great grandfathers garden and eating tons of corn all summer long. I really enjoyed spicing things up beyond my normal salt and buttered corn.

Chipotle and Roasted Red Pepper Corn on the Cob

From Chef Abigail Hitchcock, CAMAJE NY

2 roasted red peppers, roughly chopped 1 Tbsp. pureed chipotle chilies
1 shallot, peeled, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
1⁄4 bunch cilantro
6 ears of corn, husk pulled back but not removed, silk removed

 

In a blender or food processor, combine everything but the corn. Puree until smooth. If mixture is too dry, add water 1 Tbsp. at a time until it purees. Season with salt and pepper.
Rub mixture over corn. Pull husk back up. Place corn on prepared grill on the low-heat side for about 10 minutes or until tender.

You may also wrap the corn in foil and place in a 400° oven for 20 minutes or until tender.
If there is leftover red pepper puree, use it to make a flavorful compound butter: Sauté the puree over low heat for 5 minutes, allow to cool slightly then combine with softened butter. Chill butter to firm it up

Enjoy!
-Charlie

 

 

 

A Thrifty Foodies review of Brooklyn Beans Coffee kcups

Anyone who knew me during my college years knew that I was obsessed with coffee. In fact, I spent a good four years of my life making lattes as a Starbucks barista in order to save up money to move to New York City. As most people know when you work for Starbucks you get a weekly pound of coffee. Needless to say I moved to NYC with POUNDS of coffee to drink. After a year or so I ran out of my stockpile and started to really get on board with the craft coffee scene. I love tasting different varieties of coffees and have been enlightened beyond the traditionally burnt tasting Starbucks generic brew.

Fast forward a few years and I’m living with Tom who owns a Keurig machine.  Lets get one thing straight- Kcups are not cheap. They are super expensive and for the price I found the coffee that green mountain was creating for their machine lacked so much of the character I look for in my morning cup of coffee. On a mission to find the perfect thrifty kcup, I scoured the internet looking for a new coffee that was packed with taste and wouldn’t break the bank.

What I found was the Brooklyn Bean Roastery, a local NYC company making a huge splash in the kcup market by producing quality craft coffees.  Brooklyn Bean’s taste reminds me of those tiny college coffee shops that roast their own beans.  For $22 on amazon you can get  44 kcups that are the best quality, quantity, and price you will find.  Brooklyn Bean has taken the variety found throughout Brooklyn and tried to harness it  into their NYC-centric coffees with names such as Boardwalk Blend, Brooklyn Bridge Blend, Cyclone, and Fuhgeddaboudit. Along with standards such as Breakfast Blend, French Roast, and Colombian Brooklyn Beans has created a totally satisfying line of coffee that I’m proud to have at my house every morning.  Every kcup I tried in the variety pack was well balanced and far from the watered down taste of their green mountain coffee counterparts.

Check them out at www.brooklynbeans.com and look for them online and at a handful of grocery stores. I’m excited to have found this small company right as they are about to explode into the coffee world.

Enjoy!

~Charlie

Crisp Socca with Burrata, Greens, and Olive Dressing- A Thrifty Foodies review of Williams Sonoma’s Weeknight Gluten Free

When Charlie asked me to write a guest post using the new Weeknight Gluten Free cookbook from Williams Sonoma and Kristine Kidd I was so excited.

Weeknight Gluten Free, 2013

Williams Sonoma cookbooks are usually really well written and crafted, but I have only bought them as presents for family and friends.  Having Celiac’s Disease, there was little there for me personally until recently-  Which is wonderful!  Looking through the cookbook I wanted to choose a recipe that I had never made before, so it would be a challenge and I could try something new.  Lots of the recipes were very simple, and truly were week night meal fare. Nothing overly complicated.  The one snag I hit was that most of the recipes also called for dairy products of some sort and I am allergic to cow’s milk. That narrowed down my choices considerably however, after discussing with Charlie the possibility of making a substitution, I settled on the recipe for Crisp Socca with Burrata, Greens, and Olive Dressing.  Burrata is a smooth mozzarella style cheese, and there really is nothing similar to it.  I decided to use a mild chevre instead to still get that smooth texture.

The batter was super simple to make and only took me two minutes. You can either use it immediately or leave it overnight in the fridge. That means you could whip it together in the morning, pop it in the fridge, and then it will be ready to go when you get home at night.

I used the batter immediately.  The recipe called for the use of two 9″ cake pans with which to broil the batter in.  This past year I changed over all my baking pans to silicone pans – oops!  I am pretty sure broiling my silicone pans would not have the desired effect.  However, I have an old cast iron pan that I absolutely adore and laughs in the face of a broiler.  Its 11 inches and not 9, but I figured it would be fine.  The recipe does make mention that you must watch your broiler, and indeed you must.  The difference between beautiful golden brown and charred unhappiness is a matter of seconds.  Luckily, the first one I caught right before the charred unhappiness appeared, and the second one came out perfect.

The vinaigrette was also super easy to make. I don’t have a food processor so I simply chopped up the pitted olives as fine as I could and then used the old fashioned method of whisking by hand until the vinaigrette came together.  Easily done and mighty tasty too!  I assembled the dish according to the directions and it made a fine looking plate.

It was tasty, and when I make it again I will try some different toppings.  I am thinking that adding chicken marinated in olive oil, sea salt, thyme, and rosemary would also be delicious.  Or instead of cheese, a creamy avocado would add a wonderful contrast to the bitter arugula and briny olives.  This seems like a very versatile dish that could easy support whatever leftover veggies you may have in your fridge to throw together – like roasted root vegetables, or sauteed summer squashes and asparagus.  Any way you put it together, its a very yummy and satisfying light meal.

____________________

 Crisp Socca with Burrata, Greens, and Olive Dressing

from Weeknight Gluten Free

 

Crisp Socca

1 cup garbanzo bean flour

1 cup water (room temperature)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary minced

3/4 tsp salt

generous dash of pepper

 

 

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and whisk well until smooth.  Use immediately or cover and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 2 hours, or overnight in the fridge.

 

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, and place your rack at the very top.  Once the oven is fully heated, change it to broil and place your pan(s) in the oven and heat for 2 minutes.  Carefully remove the hot pans and add 1 Tbsp oil to each and swirl to coat the bottoms.  Return to the broiler for another 2 minutes or until the oil is smoking.  Carefully remove the pan(s) from the oven and divide the batter into each (or half into one and broil one at a time, as I did) and swirl the batter to cover the bottom.  Return to the broiler and broil until deeply browned in spots, watching carefully, for 7-12 minutes.  Serve right away.  Makes 2 crisp socca.

 

Topping

3/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives

1/3 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

fresh ground pepper

4 cups of arugula or baby greens

8oz of Burrata cheese

 

Place olives in a food processor and process until finely chopped.  Add oil and vinegar and blend to make a dressing.  Season to taste with pepper. (The olives probably contain plenty of salt, so no more should be needed.)

Place the arugula in a bowl with half of the dressing and toss to coat.

Place the socca onto a plate, slice the burrata and spread over the socca.  Drizzle the remaining dressing and then top with the dressed greens and serve right away.

_______________________

Debbi Hobson, our newest guest contributor on Thrifty Foodies, is a costumer and Gluten Free baking expert living in NYC. She is currently working on her first Gluten Free cookbook which will be released later this year. Follow her GF adventures at Debbi Does Gluten Free!

Thrifty Adventures: A review from The Great Googamooga

Riding the train to this years GoogaMooga festival, I had feelings of foodie PTSD from last years long lined, food shortage mess of a train wreck. I’m happy to report that where they got so much wrong last year, GoogaMooga got SO much right with this years amusement park of food, drink, and music.

It was an overcast day Saturday in Prospect Park but everyone’s spirits were high even with the spotty patches of drizzling rain. Everything about this years festival seemed more spread out and streamlined. Gone were the long food lines spanning to the middle of the main stage viewing area and in their place were three line at each booth offering only one delectable best seller from the 85+ vendors set up throughout the park. I was pleased that within 10 minutes of entering the festival I already had a tasty La Mamasita arepa, one of my favorite dishes in NYC, from Caracas in my grasp. Overall the food choices were great and not terribly expensive- spanning from $12 tasting flights of bacon to $5 crostini with Salvatore Brooklyn ricotta and honey on a Pizza Bianca from
Brooklyn’s Saxelby Cheesemongers.

Besides my arepa from Caracas, I tried to stick to the unusual food suspects from restaurants that I wouldn’t nesisarily have access to on a normal afternoon. There were Duck Corndogs from James and my favorite dish of the day: The Carbomb Parfait. Robicelli’s created this mind blowing dessert containing a Guiness brownie, Bailey’s cannoli cream, and Jamison whiskey ganache. It was smooth, crunchy, and perfectly balanced making it my favorite treat of the day.

This year GoogaMooga also god rid of the doomed VIP all you can drink/eat area and added a system of VIP drink tickets. Within the bar areas there were multiple bars with some of NYC’s best mixologists from the Flatiron Lounge, The Nomad, and Maison Premiere creating artisan cocktail infusions featuring George Dickel Tennessee Whisky, Bulleit Bourbon, and Don Julio Tequila.  I had some amazing cocktails and might have found a taste for whisky by the end of the day with the help of a very informative seminar titled A Brief History of American Whiskey and The Cocktails that Made Whiskey Illegal. During this session participants were treated to several tastings and were taught how to make tasty and perfect classics like the Old Fashioned and Manhattan.  Another lovely addition to this years festival was the Housing Works sponsored literary stage which hosted a variety of talkbacks with foodies, chefs, and writers.

Some would say this festival must be cursed because Sunday’s festival was canceled by prospect park due to a downpour of a thunderstorm, but I say give them one more year to iron out all of the kinks. If they make even the same amount of progress that they did between last year and this year, NYC is in for a treat if GoogaMooga returns in 2014.

______________________________

Of all of the artesian cocktails I got to sample on saturday, one really stood out above the others as a uniquely blended taste. I reached out and was able to acquire the recipe for all of you at Thrifty Foodies. Here’s a cocktail recipe from the killer mixologists at the Flatiron Lounge featured at this years VIP Cocktail Experience. If you get a chance to swing by their bar for a classy cocktail, their mixologists assured me that even though it isnt on the menu they would happily make you a “Devil Went Down To Georgia” from GoogaMooga!

Devil Went Down to Georgia

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Bulleit Bourbon

1 oz. lemon juice

1 oz. peach juice

1 tsp. Tabasco

 

Combine all ingredients into a mixing tin.

Strain contents into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice.

Garnish with 1 lemon slice

The Great GoogaMooga v2.0: A Thrifty Foodies Guide

Hello friends-  Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL in NYC and it seemed like everyone who had the day off was out in central park laying out. Warmer weather is shining down upon us and it can only mean one thing: Summer Festivals!

If you remember last May there was an interesting too-good-to-be-true festival called GoogaMooga. The event promised to be the perfect mash up of music, food, and Brooklyn but fell very short of any expectations resulting in some very unhappy festival goers. Thrifty Foodies reviewed the experience last year and have been invited back to witness the new and improved GoogaMooga. Event organizers have been very clear that many changes will be implemented in order to make this years event go smoothly.  In any case here’s a Thrifty Foodies crash course to making the most out of your GoogaMooga experience.

What is GoogaMooga?

Produced by the same producers as Bonnaroo, GoogaMooga promises an amusement park of food, drink, and music.  Running Friday 5/17-Sunday 5/19 in Prospect Park, this years event is slated to have dining options from 85 NYC restaurants, 100 wine varieties, 75 beer varieties, and 10 cocktail bars.  There will also be two stages of music performances by the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Flaming Lips, The Darkness, Matt & Kim, De La Soul, Kool & the Gang throughout the day.

 

What to eat at GoogaMooga, Thrifty Foodies Top 5 Choices:

With so many options at this years festival(Including several one time only  Pop Up concept restaurants) Thrifty Foodies thought it would be a great idea to pick out some dishes we are looking forward to the most.  This year to simplify the messy cluster of last years festival each vendor will only be offering one item—Which in theory will mean every vendor will bring their best sellers!

 

1. Calexico
Quesadilla with roasted mushroom, goat cheese, sweet corn, and huitlacoche
We wrote about Calexico in our review of Madison Square Eats. They make some seriously tasty quesadillas and California style Mexican food. 
2. Caracas Rockaway
La Mamasita arepa with grilled wild mushrooms, roasted corn, Venezuelan chile “aji dulce”, cotija cheese, sweet plantains and avocado. Caracas is seriously one of my favorte places to eat in all of NYC.  Their food is so cram packed with fresh tastes that it’s always worth the long journey to their restaurants.
3. South Brooklyn Pizza
Margherita Pizza with fresh basil, San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, fontina and grana padano topped with olive oil. We ate this last year and it was SO delicious. They have a tasty roasted garlic “gunk” that you spread on the pizza before you eat it. I think it’s one of the best pieces of pizza in NYC and their location in the east village is one of my top places to stop for late night grub on the way home from the bar

4. Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
Hand Pulled Pork on a Roll w/ BBQ sauce served with barbeque beans, pork and cole slaw. One of the few uptown Manhattan restaurants represented at GoogaMooga. Dinosaur is hands down my favorite BBQ in the city—and that’s saying something since I’m a southern boy from the land of BBQ.

5. Umami Burger
Truffle Burger, signature beef patty, house-made truffle cheese, truffle glaze. I was talking to a friend the other day about how I feel like truffle oil is running the world. I’m strangely intrigued by the idea of this sure-to-be gut bomb BUT I’m for sure going to try one.

What about Dessert and Booze??

Last year I had a very tasty wine sampler from the Red Hook Winery and an IPA from the Bronx Brewery. As far as desserts go, I would suggest trying to check out The Big Gay Ice Cream stand because its sometimes impossible to get near their truck in the summer months.  I would also try to go to People’s Pops. I bought their cookbook last summer for my sister and have been dying to try out the real thing but haven’t made it to their store yet.

Sadly, unless you were able to snag the free tickets when they were distributed in early spring you’re out of luck on getting into the event BUT that doesn’t mean you can’t check out some of these amazing restaurants in their locations all around the city. Why not make a thrifty adventure out of it?

If you go:

The Great GoogaMooga

Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Friday 5/17: 4PM– 10PM

Saturday 5/18: 11AM– 8PM

Sunday 5/19: 11AM– 8PM

 

A Thrifty Adventure: Madison Sq Eats

This week a rehearsal brought me down to the Madison Square Park area. I never spend much time in that neighborhood, but when I do I am always slightly disappointed by the presence of affordable lunch/dinner options. Of course you can figure out something tasty and relatively cheap at NY mainstays Eataly or Shake Shack, but I’m talking about $10 ‘I’m so broke because pay day is a week away’ dinners. All of this brings me to one of my favorite NYC food events that’s happening right now through the end of the month: Madison Square Eats.

Usually two times a year, the plaza slightly above the intersection of Broadway and Fifth avenue is shut down by around thirty pop up restaurants with tons of cheap dining options. It’s absolutely possible to have a killer culinary treat within the $10-15 range. Of course there are the NYC treats like Momofuku Milk Bar($2 compost cookies that are to die for) and the Red Hook Lobster pound ($16 for a buttery warm lobster roll). Where Madison Square Eats succeeds the most are the outposts for the wildly successful food carts that don’t have brick and mortar shops usually. It’s a delight to be able to actually have a table and chair while enjoying tasty burritos and affordable beer from Mexicue. Last night I treated myself to a trio of street meat from Seol Lee Korean Bar B Cue- a first time pop up restaurant- which was so fresh and satisfying for under $10.

If you’re looking for an alternate to the usual penny pinching Subway sandwich, why not take a thrifty adventure down to Madison Square Eats and dine al fresco in the shadow of the flatiron building!

If You Go:
Madison Square Eats
Worth Square (at the intersection of Broadway, 5th Ave, and 25th St.)
Through Friday, May 31st
Open Daily 11am-9pm

A Thrifty Thanksgiving Day #3- Pie Face Review

 Tomorrow is the day- I hope you’ve been enjoying this week’s Thrifty Thanksgiving posts. Today we go on a thrifty meat pie adventure. When meat pies are mentioned I’m sure that most minds flood with images of Miss Lovett’s questionable basement pie shop from Sweeney Todd. On Monday I had the pleasure to try out NYC’s latest Australian import: Pie Face, and much like the chorus in Sweeney Todd sings- Yum.

Pie Face is a retail bakery café chain specializing in gourmet Australian meat pies and quality espresso. Each pie has a face piped onto it indicating the pies filling. Pie Face Pies are made at a central kitchen in Brooklyn and sent to the two manhattan locations(with more slated to open in the new year). On my visit I tried three mini pies, a thanksgiving turkey “stack”(what they call the larger pies), and three mini dessert pies. I was thrilled with the way each pie tasted. My favorite was a tie between the tandoori vegetables and the thanksgiving stack(what they call the larger personal sized pies). The Vegetable pie packed a lovely indian spice punch and proved that a vegetarian option could stand up strong in a meat based restaurant. The Thanksgiving stack is a roast Turkey pie filled with stuffing and topped off with a crave worthy  mashed sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. It was the perfect piece of thanksgiving in every bite. I discovered what makes their pies so delicious and different is that the top is made with puff pastry as opposed to the same crust as the bottom. This ensures that each smiling pie is crispy, crunchy, and very tasty.

So thrifty foodies- Here we are the day before thanksgiving- Perhaps you’ve already planned and pre-cooked your meal, but if you’re a little late jumping onto the thanksgiving train I highly recommend heading down to Pie Face where you can pick up your entire meal from tiny pies to full sized dessert pies. I went to whole foods this afternoon and was faced with a 30 minute line. Save yourself some trouble and go on an adventure to Pie Face.

Three Mini Dessert Pies

 

For Further Adventures….

www.PiefaceNYC.com

The NYC Food Film Festival: Food Porn

When I first read about the NYC Food Film Festival’s food porn party I was slightly intrigued. What was I to expect based upon the promos of a brunette feeding chocolate-covered strawberries to a bearded man or the alternate advertisements featuring beautifully photographed Top Pot pistachio doughnuts? Given its name, it should come as no surprise that the evening blew my mind.

This Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the sixth annual NYC Food Film Festival and it was a delightfully good time. Food Porn is self-defined by festival director George Motz as films containing beautiful shots of food set to a beautiful soundtrack. Simple enough and exactly what millions of Americans rely on the Food Network for daily. The difference in the NYC Food Film Festival lies in their unique execution of an evening of film shorts.

From the minute I entered the theatre where the festival was taking place, delicious sights and sounds bombarded me. The pre-party, prepared by culinary legend David Burke, lived up to any preconceived notions I had about the festival. Spread throughout the theaters concession areas were sinfully delicious samples including beer cheese soup, shrimp with a sweet potato custard, ‘Breakfast in a Tube’ and Burke’s signature cheesecake pops- artfully prepared by pastry chef Zak Young, of “Top Chef” fame.

It should be noted that scientists have determined the part if your brain that reacts to pornography is the same part that reacts to beautiful imagery–or in the case of the Food Film Festival, beautiful imagery of food.  After moving into the theatre for the main event, a series of short films were screened. While the films rolled there was energy in the air as a team of waiters rushed down the theatre aisles delivering tastings inspired by what appeared on the screen. David Burke and Brad Farmerie beautifully crafted each tasting, some of which were exactly what was being seen on the screen. Some of my favorite tastings included: iced Vietnamese coffee, Strassburger beef cooked to perfection, and deep-fried Tofurky that got me craving Thanksgiving. There was even a very unique moment where a local Brooklyn band, The Sundelles, provided the soundtrack live for one of the films from a small stage in the front of the theatre. Post screening, the audience was invited back to the concessions area for the main event where many the short films had set up tasting stands with pieces of the food featured on the big screen. Tastings this time around included: fried pig tails from The Brooklyn Star, Top Pot doughnuts, and tomato pies from Dirt Candy. There were also handcrafted beer cocktails created by Idle Hands Bar and plenty of Warsteiner beer to go around.  I’m absolutely thrilled that The NYC Food and Film festival invited me to come see, and taste, the best of their food porn. The evening was well executed and is a must attend for food and film lovers alike.

 

 

For further thrifty adventures:

David Burke Kitchen

www.Davidburkekitchen.com

 

Brooklyn Star

www.thebrooklynstar.com

 

Top Pot Doughnuts

www.TopPotDoughnuts.com

 

Dirt Candy

www.DirtCandyNYC.com

 

Idle Hands Bar

www.IdleHandsBar.com

 

Strassburger Meats

www.StrassburgerSteaks.com

 

NYC Food and Film Festival

www.TheFoodFilmFestival.com

(For all my friends in Chicago check out their next event on November 15-17!)

 

Preview one of the winning features, Dog Eats Dream by director John Craig Ross:

 

Thrifty Foodies Guide to Fall

One of the best things about fall is the abundance of activities celebrating the flavors of the season. I’ve had quite a few friends ask me for suggestions of where to partake in fall festivities. From buying fresh fall produce at the farmers market to renting a car and heading upstate- Here are some of my favorite thrifty fall adventures in NY.

For a local NYC adventure…
Let the farmers come to you. Check out your local greenmarket. New York has so many markets all over the city every day. My favorite has to be the union square market or the one at Lincoln Center. You can find everything you need to get your taste of fall including hot cider and tasty apple cinnamon doughnuts. While you’re bundled up and browsing the locally grown produce, grab the ingredients to make Harvest Stew for dinner! Or if a sensible fall festival is more your flavor check out Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Harvest Festival on October 1st where they’ll be bringing the pumpkin patch(and childhood crafts) to you.
grownyc.org/greenmarket

brooklynbridgepark.org

 

Hunt for Pumpkins in your backyard(sort of…)
Who knew that you could pick pumpkins via your metrocard? Just an hour trip via train/bus will get you to the Queens County Museum. It’s probably the closest pumpkin picking adventure you’ll have to manhattan. If you visit on the weekends they have a corn maze and they’ll be having an apple festival on October 7th(which is free…and they’ll be baking the nations largest apple cobbler)
Queens County Farm Museum
73-50 Little Neck Parkway
Floral Park, New York
queensfarm.org

Take an out of the city day trip…
Head to Warwick Valley. Just a short hour drive from
NYC. For apple picking be sure to check out the Warwick Valley Vineyard or Maskers Orchards. Both places have beautiful scenic pick-your-own orchards that are perfect for picnicking. I totally recommend picking up a few bottles of Warwick Valley Vineyard’s Doc’s Hard Cider. Its by far the best hard cider I’ve ever tasted. The nearby city of Warwick is a quaint town full of unique antique shops and home to an annual large scale apple festival on October 14th!
Warwick Valley Winery
114 Little York Road, Warwick, NY
wvwinery.com
Maskers Orchards
45 Ball Road, Warwick, NY
maskers.com
warwickapplefest.com

For the festival going thrifty foodie…
Fall is also a great time to check out some amazing food festivals. Between the NY Food & Wine Festival, Cider Week, and the Food Film Festival you’ll be hard pressed to find an event to attend. Lets get real- sometimes you can only pick one fall festival to attend and our top pick is the sixth annual Food Film Festival. The concept is unique and is the answer to watching mouth watering food films that leave you craving whats onscreen.  At the Food Film Festival you get to taste what’s on the screen. Events range from a Japanese inspired evening to an evening inspired by the farm to table movement. I totally recommend checking out one of their 6 events  spanning from the East Village to Williamsburg- you wont be disappointed.   Also noteworthy to check out is Cider Week- which is happening October 12-21- which has several FREE cider tasting events and evenings explaining the differences between apple cider and apple juice!

thefoodfilmfestival.com

ciderweekny.com
NYCwineandfoodfestival.com

 

For the perfect post-adventure FALL treats…

Did you know Thrifty Foodies is celebrating its second year? Last October was full of many fall flavored meals and treats that just happen to be some of our most visited posts. Here’s a flashback of what 2011 had to offer to hold you over for this years treats:

Pumpkin Hummus– our most visited post of last fall!

Starbucks Chai Latte*Fake Out*

Harvest Stew

Spaghetti Squash

Stuffed Delicata Squash

Pumpkin/Blueberry Pie Cookies

Fall Balls!

Mulled Wine

 

So there you have it- Thrifty Foodies recommendations to get you on your way to having a perfect fall. Happy adventures!
-Charlie