Sally Loo’s Cafe

Ok it is official: I think I've found my favorite spot to eat in San Luis Obispo. This gem of a cafe was discovered right after we moved to California. It's only a 5 minute walk from our apartment, right over the train track pedestrian walkway that separates our street from the other side of town. This is a bit dangerous, as we are basically neighbors with my favorite place to eat. It has been taking all of my willpower to stay away!

Why do I like this cafe so much, you ask? Number one, it has an adorable canine mascot. "Sally Loo" is the name of the owners' dog, who named their cafe in her honor. Cute, right?? That is her face painted on the sign, in the photo above. Second, the food is awesome. Nothing fancy, just a really good sandwich or breakfast or fresh-sqeezed orange juice, bursting with fresh ingredients that you can see and taste. Below are some favorites...

 

This is the turkey brie sandwich, my favorite item on the menu thus far. I don't even like brie by itself, but in this sandwich it is pure magic. 

 Stuart got this sandwich as a special one day - look at all that avocado!

 Cute brick and wood round out the interior.

 A healthy looking bagel to start the day, perhaps?

 

And did I mention the OJ is fresh squeezed? My fave!

Basically, I feel like this cafe was created just for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I am off to Sunday brunch! ;)

Homemade Funfetti Cake

Happy Birthday to me!! On Monday, I turned the big 2-7 and am excited to enter this new year and see what it has in store. I can now say that I've entered my "late" 20s - exciting and scary! Where does the time go?!

I celebrated my birthday by going on a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico to celebrate the wedding of two amazing college friends. I had never been to New Mexico, so it was wonderful to soak in the unique scenery, architecture, and food that makes up that beautiful desert state. We honored the occasion by having quite a few margaritas, and eating lots of dishes smothered in red and green chile sauce. Here is a photo of me wearing a hat borrowed from a mariachi band musician! I could not resist.
 

On Monday, we were ready for some R&R and I didn't wait to go out to eat yet again. So, I baked myself this funfetti birthday cake from scratch! It was absolutely delicious, although the traditional Betty Crocker box mix still holds a special place in my heart. We also make this scrumptious rack of lamb along with an AMAZING and addictive Cesar salad recipe. For some reason, this homemade dressing is like crack cocaine for me. I could eat three bowls of this salad per day!

But back to the funfetti...

 Yes. You will need sprinkles. Lots of sprinkles.

Ingredients:

Cake

1 and 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 large egg

1/4 cup yogurt  (plain or vanilla; or greek yogurt; or sour cream)

3/4 cup milk

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup sprinkles (not nonpareils)

Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

3-4 cups powdered (confectioners') sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream (can substitute half-and-half for a different consistency)

2 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Note that this recipe only makes ONE cake pan worth of cake, not two. Spray one 9-inch springform or baking pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Whisk in the sugars vigorously getting out any brown sugar lumps - mixture will be gritty. Whisk in egg, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until no lumps remain. Batter will be thick. Slowly stir in sprinkles by hand, being VERY careful not to overmix because the sprinkles will quickly bleed their color.

3. Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil (loosely to avoid the top from sticking to the foil). Bake for 13-17 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

4. To make the frosting, beat softened butter on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for 3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla extract with the mixer running. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if mixture is too thick. Frost cooled cake as desired and top with sprinkles. There may be leftover frosting depending how much you wish to use.

The inside of my cake looks a little crazy here because I mixed in the sprinkles with my stand mixer instead of by hand. The result is a bit more "tie dye" looking than the typical funtetti cake!

Baked Sweet Potato with Spicy Corn Salsa

The perennial problem with trying to "eat healthy," I've found, is that often the things that are the best for you just don't taste very good. But lately, I have really been making an effort to eat healthier. This is by no means because I want to go down a pant size of somethings like that. You will never catch me living off off flax seeds and berries or doing some crazy cleanse where all you drink is lemon and cayenne pepper. No way. 

Rather, the reason I want to eat healthier is literally to get more of the nutrients that my body needs to function at it's best. As humans, our bodies need certain amounts of vitamins and nutrients, such as calcium and magnesium, to do what they do. At a recently doctor visit, a blood test showed that my potassium levels were below normal, and the doctor strongly recommended that I get more potassium in my diet. While there are TONS of supplements out there that claim to provide the nutrients we need, the honest truth is that those pills are not proven to be effective, and the only sure-fire way to get what you need is to eat it. 

 

These amazingly delicious sweet potatoes are the answer to my prayers: tasty, full of flavor, 100% healthy, and chock-full potassium and other good stuff. I literally licked my plate clean. This dish is absolutely filling enough to be a complete meal all on its own - and you won't regret a single bite.

Ingredients:

4 small sweet potatoes or yams

1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup corn (fresh, or frozen corn rinsed and well drained)

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

For the Vinaigrette:

1 lime

1 tablespoon oil

2 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons adobo sauce (from a can of chipotles in adobo; I substituted a sprinkle of cayenne pepper)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Clean and dry the potatoes, then pierce each sweet potato several times with the tines of a fork. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil and bake 45-60 minutes or until tender.

2. In a bowl, add the black beans, corn, onions, and cilantro. Stir to combine.

3. In a smaller bowl, mix together the lime zest and juice, oil, honey, adobo, salt and pepper. Pour over the black bean mixture and toss to combine.

4.Slice open the baked sweet potatoes and stuff them with the Black Bean & Corn Salad. Serve. 

The SLO Life and Free Beer

Happy Friday!! What do you have on tap for this weekend? I've had a busy week, which is a very good thing considering I am now flying solo with the hodge-podge of freelance work that I talked about here. One week down and so far, so good! Tomorrow, I'm driving up to Santa Clara to attend the engagement party for two of my very good friends. I'm looking forward to being one of the bride's "non- bridesmaids" leading up to the wedding -- they want to keep things simple and are going to skip the big wedding party thing, just like Stuart and I did!

I have to take this opportunity to catch you up on my life in San Luis Obispo (or SLO, as everyone here calls it). We've had quite the Indian summer going on this month, with weather typically around 80 degrees. That means I've had the opportunity for multiple pool days, such as in the photo below.

Stuart and I also went and studied/worked one afternoon at this Avila Beach coffee shop, Joe Mama's. It has the most amazing ocean views right out the window! Can you believe it? What a peaceful view to look up to from your laptop.

Finally, last Friday night we were walking downtown to have dinner and ran across this random free-beer truck run by Central Coast Brewing!! Check out that sign they threw together in the front window. The truck has beer taps built onto the outside of the truck, and we just walked up and they filled a glass (or two) for us. So we stood around on the sidewalk and drank free beer, along with the rest of the small crowd the truck drew.

 

 

 Thank you Central Coast Brewing! What a beautiful, wacky, amazing town this is.

Panko Chicken

Since I've been busier lately, I am really feeling dinners that are super simple, quick, and have a tasty payoff. Work wise, this has been a very eventful week for me - I had three job offers in the space of three back-to-back days. Talk about a record, in the greatest possible way! To sum it all up, I ended up taking a gamble and going the least conventional route: starting now, I will be freelancing part-time for an educational publishing company, and part-time for a local wine/tourism marketing company. I should be terrified about my lack of job security and health benefits, but instead I'm just excited!

With the above craziness and my growing workload, I found myself going back to one of my absolute favorite chicken recipes. This panko chicken recipe comes from the cookbook of Susan Brady, my good friend Alex's mother. I received a copy of her cookbook at a Christmas party years ago, and have been making this dish ever since. It takes NO time at all and is incredibly flavorful as a result of the dijon mustard and chopped garlic mixture that it's coated in just before baking. The chicken is cooked on high heat, which means it's typically ready in 20 minutes flat. You can learn how to make the accompanying Rosemary Smashed Potatoes here.

Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 per person), cut into tenders
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup panko bread crumbs
3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the panko and parmesan until blended.
3. In another medium bowl, mix the garlic, mustard, and melted butter.
4. Slice the chicken to your desired size (I like mine the size of chicken tenders so that they are sure to cook thoroughly). Take one piece at a time and coat it well in the mustard mixture. Then, coat the rounded side of each chicken breast in the panko mixture.
5. Place each chicken piece panko-side up in a rimmed baking dish, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and fully cooked.

I am always amazed at how flavorful and delicious this chicken tastes. It remains moist from the dijon, but also gets nice and crispy from the panko bread crumb coating. Serve it with anything from steamed vegetable to rice - and leftovers and perfect chopped over a salad the next day.