Introducing Carmel Cafe Tampa Fall Menu 2012

Last night I had the opportunity to get a sneak peak at Carmel Cafe's Fall menu with a couple of friends. Back in August, we visited Carmel for the South Tampa Grand Opening. Once again, Carmel Cafe blew me away.

The first item on the Fall menu which caught my eye was the Watermelon Granita which had Rosangel hibiscus-infused tequila, house-made sour mash, agave nectar, fresh watermelon & basil. I have a love affair with watermelon margarita's so I was very excited to give this cocktail a try. It was excellent and I would have drank 3 of them if I had a driver.

Watermelon Granita

Next up was the Italian Old Fashion with Buffalo Trace Kentucky bourbon, lemon juice, simply syrup, peach jam and Amarena cherries. I am not a bourbon gal and this was a little strong for my liking, but my friend Leslie (Dash of Les) enjoyed it very much.

Italian Old Fashion

Now that we had the opportunity to try out the two new cocktails, we feasted on a few new appetizers. I was intrigued when I saw Stuffed Maderia Dates on the menu as I have never tried a date. I was more than pleasantly surprised. The dates were stuffed with cream cheese and Serrano ham. I honestly could have taken down a plate of these little guys all on their own.

Stuffed Maderia Dates

We also tried out Danish Baked Brie. I am a huge fan of Brie and this appetizer was perfect with toasted walnuts and dried cranberries served on a puff pastry with apples and grapes accompanying. When we saw a preview of the menu, Lauren (Tasting Tampa) was very excited. She wasn't let down either as this was her favorite item of the night.

Danish Baked Brie

We sampled some of the roasted peppadew peppers stuffed with goat cheese which are now part of the Mezze Platter. This is how you take a perfect appetizer which already consisted of a trilogy of edamame hummus, Muhammarra, crispy fried feta cheese, marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and make it even better:

Peppadew Peppers stuffed with Goat Cheese

Now that we had the chance to try out a few appetizers, we were introduced to the new seasonal flatbread with blue cheese, roasted red peppers and caramelized pears. As I am not a fan of blue cheese, not even to the point I can fake it, I tried a piece and passed it on to the rest of our party.

Seasonal Flatbread

After the flatbread came the Spinach Gnocchi. I really think it should be renamed to Holy Gnocchi. If you have the opportunity to visit Carmel Cafe this fall, do yourself a favor and order this dish. The Gnocchi was full of tender spinach in a creamy Parmesan sauce. It was so  delicious.

Spinach Gnocchi

At this point, I found myself full and realized we were not half the way done. We were presented with the Seafood Medley which had Scallops, Shrimp, Calamari, Mussels, Chorizo, Israeli couscous, roasted red peppers, simmered in a saffron broth. It was excellent and I loved the couscous. This is a dish I would love to learn how to cook at home.

Seafood Medley

Next up was Chicken Maderia with portobello mushrooms, mashed parsnip potatoes and a rich Madeira wine sauce. I have never heard of Maderia wine until tonight and it does remind you a lot of Marsala. The Dates we had also had a Maderia component to it. It was one of the better chicken dishes I have had at a restaurant. The parsnip potatoes were not for me but the dish itself was excellent.

Chicken Maderia

Getting full yet? We tried the Four Cheese Stuffed Cannelloni, Ricotta, Fontina, provolone, Parmesan, house made Bolognese sauce.WOW WOW WOW. Everything was perfect about this pasta dish. The Bolognese sauce was very rich and meaty. The cannelloni's were fresh. It was a very good dish. In fact, it was Tracy's (My Other City By The Bay) favorite of the night. 

Four Cheese Stuffed Cannelloni

Finally, the moment I was waiting for all night - the dessert came out. Those who know me are probably reading this confused as you know I prefer Savory over Sweet. One word, Salted Caramel. The Warm Poached Pear with Salted Caramel, Vanilla Ice Cream was out of control. Our entire table asked for a bucket of that caramel sauce. It was that good. I could eat this type of dessert all day everyday.

Warm Poached Pear with Salted Caramel

And it is time for the nightcap - a cute Irish Coffee with a biscotti. It was the perfect ending to a perfect night.

Irish Coffee

If I had to choose which item is my favorite item on the new Fall menu is, I honestly would have a hard time picking just one. I hate to pick an appetizer but I am going to go with the Maderia Stuffed Dates. I just wasn't expecting the flavor, the richness of the goat cheese, the sweetness of the dates. Perfection.

Overall, Carmel Cafe's Fall menu was a home run. With so many different flavor profiles going, every dish gave me a sense of Fall-time comfort. You can check out Carmel Cafe's new Fall Menu by clicking here. If you haven't had a chance to dine here, try them out on a Sunday or Monday night when they offer a Prixe fixed dinner for two for $25. You cannot beat this deal!

A case of the running blues......

I never heard of runner blues. After we crossed the finish line of the Tower of Terror 10 miler a little over a week ago, I felt the biggest sense of accomplishments I have ever experienced. Meeting this goal was one of the best feelings I have ever had. I couldn't wait to get out there again and accomplish my next goal.

The days following the race, Gabe came down with the flu and I had zero motivation. Next thing I know, a week goes by. We finally laced up our sneakers over the weekend to find ourselves very blah. I wanted to quit after mile one. That isn't like us at all.

Then it hit me. I felt like I pushed myself week after week for 6 months to meet the goal of completing the Tower of Terror 10 miler. It was the core of what motivated me every time I went out for a run. Now it is behind me and I am a little depressed. The TOT10 was a very difficult race to run. While it was my longest distance to date, I did not have a problem with the mileage. It was the humidity and the course. I am a Florida native and never experienced 100% humidity at night. It was absolutely horrendous. My pace was off, my confidence was down and I got sick after completing the race. I feel like all this, and not having a near goal, is really affecting my running.

Sure, I have the Walt Disney World Half Marathon coming up in 100 days but I only have to go three additional miles than what I did on September 29th. I know if I don't get back out there, I will lose what I have trained for. So today, I have decided that I must sign up for a Half marathon prior to the WDW 1/2. I need to take action before it is too late. There so many options - so I need help deciding. Based on the course and medal, which would you choose?

Option 1.
St. Petersburg Women's Half Marathon - November 18th

This course is beautiful. My only downfall is that none of my friends will be able to run it with me. Gabe will be in the middle of Comps for his Masters Degree. I would be all alone. This is the week following the Wine and Dine Half Marathon which most of my running friends are attending.

Option 2:
St. Augustine Half Marathon - November 18th

Another absolutely beautiful course in one of my favorite cities. Downfall here is that I would have to travel home for the weekend and stay overnight in St. Augustine the night before. I would also be running this alone.

Option 3:
Santa Hustle Half Marathon - December 9th
Most of my friends from home are running this one. The course has not been released yet but I do know it starts at the Ocean Center so it is on Beachside. Their website did not clearly state if you receive medals or not, but those who completed the course in 2011 received this medal:

On their website, it shows you get this for free:

The race does start at 9am, and it is Florida.....so no way in this world will I be caught dead running in a long sleeved shirt in a December race. It's still warm here in December!

So which would you do? I will most likely run the Santa Shuffle along with one of the two top races. Right now, I am leaning towards the St. Petersburg Half.

Skinny Roasted Butternut Squash & Italian Sausage Soup for All Things Orange #SundaySupper

When Gabe & I first moved in together, he asked me to get a recipe from his father to make his favorite soup - Roasted Butternut Squash. At this point, I had never cooked with this type of squash, let alone buy it. The recipe Gabe's father Tim uses was from Emeril which I have turned into a healthier version of my own. This soup is excellent on it's own and it also pairs well with grilled cheese. Today, I am going to make you Skinny Roasted Butternut Squash soup, using non fat Greek yogurt instead of cream and sweet turkey Italian sausage, pairing with an adult grilled cheese!

Skinny Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Adult Grilled Cheese

• Ingredients
• 1 large butternut squash, about 3 pounds
• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil or EVOO
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage, removed from casings
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon sage
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 6 cups light chicken stock or broth
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 8oz container of non fat Greek Yogurt (plain or vanilla)

 Preheat your oven to 400. Cut your squash in half and lightly coat the inside with vegetable or olive oil (I use EVOO) and season with Salt and Pepper. I also use some Cavenders Greek Seasoning on it. Place the halves face down on a foil lined pan and bake for 45 min. Remove, let cool and remove the seeds.

While your squash is baking, take 1/2 lb of sausage and remove from the casing. I use my kitchen scissors to easily do this. A money saving tip - if your butcher sells individual Italian Sausages, purchase only what you need, or see if they will split a package up for you. I spent $1.50 on my 1/2 lb of sausage vs. $6 for the package. Sautee your sausage in a dutch oven or large pot until cooked. Add 1 cup of chopped sweet vidalia onions until they are caramelized. Add the garlic, sage and marjoram and stir for a minute. Add the Squash and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.

 During the cooking process, I like to mash my squash with my potato masher. I am not sure if this does anything for the soup, but it makes me feel better :) After the 30 minutes is up, add your yogurt. This time, I used vanilla and it was excellent. If you don't own an immersion blender, I suggest you purchase one. The first time I made this, I used my food processor to blend up the soup. It was a huge mess. With the immersion blender, you mix everything while it is in the pot. So easy!

 It's now time to garnish the soup! In Emeril's recipe, he suggest frying sage leafs on top. I prefer using some plain greek yogurt as a drizzle. You can also bake the seeds from inside the squash.

Skinny Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

 Now it's time for the adult grilled cheese! I use fresh baked Cuban Bread and take whatever is inside of my fridge. My secret ingredient is Hurley Farms Champagne, Honey & Sweet Garlic Mustard. I coat both sides of the bread with this delicious mustard and add Munster Cheese. From there, you can do whatever you want with it. This time around, I used turkey bacon and granny smith apples as my filler, to give it a tart and savory crunch. It was amazing!

The #SundaySupper family is using the spirit of the season to inspire you and will be sharing some fabulous dishes at the #SundaySupper table this week, and we do hope that you’ll join us! Just look at all of the fabulous dishes being offered up this week:

Sunrise  (Breakfast and Brunch)

Erin from Dinners Dishes and Desserts is baking up some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Heather from Girlichef is bringing Pumpkin Doughnuts with Spiced Buttermilk Glaze

Nicole from Daily Dish Recipes is making Pumpkin Donut Puffs

Patti from Comfy Cuisine is bringing  Classic Orange Marmalade

Sunithi from Sue’s Nutrition Buzz is making Spiced Pumpkin Ricotta Muffins with Craisins and Walnuts

Wendy from The Weekend Gourmet is cooking up some Pumpkin Maple Oatmeal

Jamie from Mama Mommy Mom is bringing Butternut Squash Butter

Chelsea from Chelsea’s Culinary Indulgence is bringing Pumpkin Spiced Donuts with Chai Icing

High Noon (Soups, Salads and Sandwiches)

Renee from Magnolia Days is serving up some Butternut Squash Soup

Beate from Galactopdx is bringing her Carrot Ginger Soup

Jen from Juanita’s Cocina is making some Curried Sweet Potato Salad With Cranberries and Pecans

Megan from I Run For Wine is making Skinny Roasted Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage Soup

Sarah from What Smells So Good is filling our bowls with some Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup

Alice from Hip Foodie Mom is coming with her Roasted Carrot and Red Quinoa Salad

Susan from The Wimpy Vegetarian is making Cider - Spiced Sweet Potato Soup

Tora from Tora’s Real Food is bringing Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup

Melanie from From Fast Food to Fresh Food is making Monty’s Pumpkin Soup

Lyn from The Lovely Pantry is bringing Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup

Kim from Cravings of a Lunatic is whipping up some Mandarin Chicken Salad

Sunset (Dinner and Main Dishes)

Sarah from Crispy Bits & Burnt Ends is offering up some Pumpkin Ravioli

Shelia from Pippis In The Kitchen Again is serving her Roasted Squash and Ricotta with Honey

Pam from The Meltaways is making Spooky Stuffed Peppers

Patsy from Famfriendsfood is bringing her Carrot Souffle

Laura from Small Wallet Big Appetite is bringing Chicken and Sweet Potato Fritters

Mehereen from Chattering Kitchen is making Sichuan Orange Glazed Chicken with Toasted Sesame Seeds

Tammi from Momma’s Meals is making Hearty Pork Stew

Kristin from Kwistin’s Favorites is making Orange Chicken

Soni from Soni’s Food For Thought is cooking up some Rigatoni with Pumpkin Ricotta Sauce

Shelby from Diabetic Foodie is cooking up some Moroccan Vegetable Stew

Dara from Generation Y Foodie is bringing Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Brandie from Home Cooking Memories is sharing a DIY Baked Sweet Potato Bar

Amber from Mama’s Blissful Bites  is bringing Rice and Fig Stuffed Mini Pumpkins

By The Bonfire (Sweets, Snacks and Sips)

Carla from Chocolate Moosey is making Pumpkin Tiramisu with Pumpkin Butter Caramel Sauce

Heather from Hezzi D’s Books and Cooks is offering up some Pumpkin Cake Truffles

Shelia from Cooking Underwriter is bringing Sweet Potato Bacon Beet Salsa

Anne from Webicurean  is making some Drunken Pumpkin Bread

Karen from In The Kitchen With KP is making Oven Baked Sweet Potato Chips

Leslie La Cocina De Leslie is making Sweet Potato Atole

Seet Fei from My Trials in The Kitchen is bringing Sweet Potatoes Mini Balls

Tara from Noshing With The Nolands is bringing Oranges En Suprise

Susan from The Girl in The Red Kitchen is making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Scone with Pumpkin Glaze

Conni from Mrs. Mama Hen is making Orange Glazed Poundcake

Isabel from Family Foodie is baking up Moist Pumpkin Bread

Cindy from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings is baking up a Vegan Pumpkin Orange Cake

Brenda from Meal Planning Magic is whipping up some Creamy Pumpkin Dip

Laura from Family Spice is making some Unprocessed and Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

Kathya from Basic and Delicious is baking up Butternut Squash and Carrot Bread

Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake is serving up Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

Stephanie from The Cookie A Day Challenge is whipping up some Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches

Katie from She Like Ruffles, He Likes Truffles is bringing Pumpkin Harvest Cookies

Nancy from Gotta Get Baked is baking up some Orange Macadamia Dark Chocolate Cookies

Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  is bringing Orange Soda Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Katy from Happy Baking Days is bringing Carrot Cake with Orange Glaze

Sandra from Midlife Road Trip is bringing Orange ya glad it’s fall! Hungarian Apricot/Walnut pastries

Please be sure you join us on Twitter throughout the day during #SundaySupper. We’ll be meeting up at 7:00 pm(Eastern) for our weekly #SundaySupper  live chat where we’ll talk about our favorite recipes featuring our favorite fall color.All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag,We’d also love to feature your easy go to recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers, too.

Come hungry!

Lightened Up 7 Layer Dip recipe and a Wholly Guacamole Giveaway

Happy Friday! I am an avocado & guacamole nut who fell in love with Wholly Guacamole when they introduced 100 calorie packs. I am excited to announce that I'm an official Wholly Guacamole Homegating Blogger! Homegating Headquarters has been the one stop party planning site for families during the ever popular Football season. Homegating Headquarters is part of the eatwholly.com site that gives readers menu ideas, recipes, grocery checklists, decoration ideas, special coupons and more so families can entertain this football season in Wholly Guacamole style. The Homegating site launches in November and Wholly Guacamole has given me THREE coolers packed full of their goodies to giveaway to my readers! I am starting this weekend off early by giving one of the three away. Here is a sample of what you may receive:

Wholly Guacamole Homegating Cooler

If you are a Wholly Guacamole fan like myself, and you are lucky enough to win one of the three coolers, you may ask yourself what will you do with all of that goodness? Good think you asked:

My lightened up 7 layer Dip is a crowd favorite. I always make this for any party. It is a healthy 7 layer dips since I do not use refried beans or sour cream.

Ingredients 
1 8 oz softend light cream cheese
1 small light creamy french onion dip
1 7oz package Wholly Guacamole
1 10oz Wholly Salsa (I use roasted tomato)
1 lb ground lean beef or ground turkey breast
1 pkg taco seasoning
½ chopped sweet onion
2 cloves garlic
1 can southwestern black beans, drained
1 pkg shredded low fat Mexican four cheese
1 package shredded lettuce 1 package whole wheat tortilla scoops
Optional top layer - diced tomatoes, black olives and/or jalapenos

Directions

1. Brown meat, onion and garlic & drain fat
2. While browning meat, combine your cream cheese and French onion dip until smooth. Spread on the bottom of your dish (I used 9x13)
3. Layer the wholly guacamole over of the cream cheese mix
4. Layer the wholly salsa over the guacamole

5. Layer the ground beef over the salsa
6. Layer the southwestern black beans over the beef
7. Layer the lettuce over the beans
8. Top with cheese
9. Optional toppings over the cheese - diced tomatoes, black olives, jalapenos

Enter here to win a cooler packed full of Wholly Guacamole goodies!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Not to monopolize my readers, but I have to say this! GO GATORS!  I will be wearing my Halftime Designs Gator-rita shirt to cheer on the boys this weekend vs. LSU. Beat the Tigers!

www.halftimedesigns.com

Seasons 52 - Drink them before they're famous event

Seasons 52 has been one of my favorite restaurants for quite sometime. My best friend Keri and I used to frequent the flagship location in Altamonte. After moving to Tampa, I was more than pleased to find their Tampa location right down the street from my office. Seasons 52 offers a seasonal menu which changes four times a year. They recently introduced their Autumn Menu (pumpkin anyone!). Whenever you dine at Seasons 52, you will always experience culinary delight that will not cause you to leave feeling guilty; nothing on their menu is over 475 calories!

Seasons 52 wine list is always changing too. Master Sommelier George Miliotes created the wine list "Drink Them Before They Become Famous" to introduce guests to new wines at a reasonable price point.

Thanks to my friend Katie (Ruffles and Truffles), I recently got to attend a wine and food pairing which featured six amazing wines from the Drink them before they become famous list, paired with items from Seasons 52 Autumn 2012 menu. I was tried wines I have never heard of before and fell in love with a few. The wines we sampled included Vista Hills Orange Pinot Gris, Willamette '11;  Farrier Andiron Semillon, Alexander '09;  Avanthia Godello, Valdeorras '10/'11;  Tilia Bonarda, Mendoza '11/'12;  Michael David Petite Petit, Petite Sirah, Lodi '09/'10;  Glenelly Cabernet Sauvignon, Stellenbosch '10

Drink them before they're famous

Vista Hills Orange Pinot Gris, Willamette '11 was a true crowd pleaser. Until now, I had never seen or heard of Orange wine. This particular one is rare - only 250 cases are available around the world and Seasons 52 happens to have them all. It was very crisp and clean and I would love to get my hands on one of those 250 cases!

The orange Pinot Gris wine was paired with Portobello Mushroom Flat Bread and Double Hummus & Sea Salt Lavosh. The Flat Bread was out of this world, featuring portobello mushrooms, roasted garlic, spinach, goat cheese and a truffle sour cream drizzle. The double hummus was a fire roasted red pepper with chili and a edamame with mint. Of the two, the edamame hummus was my favorite.

Portobello Mushroom Flatbread



Double Hummus

The second pairing we had was Farrier Andiron Semillon, Alexander '09. This was my first experience with Semillon and I quickly learned that I like it. I usually stick towards chardonnay's so I was pleased that I found another wine. This is a perfect Fall time wine.

The Semillon was paired with Cider-Glazed Grilled Chicken Skewers. Senior Director of Culinary, Clifford Pleau stated that when he was building the Fall menu, he used his childhood memories of visiting a cider press with his Grandmother. The Cider glaze was amazing, served with a Fuji apple slaw, sun-dried cranberries, toasted pumpkin seeds.

Cider-Glazed Chicken Skewers

Our third wine pairing was my overall favorite of the evening - Avanthia Godello, Valdeorras '10/'11. Godello is a very rare high quality grape. It was my favorite white wine of the evening. This full bodied wine is perfect to drink with my friends. I am not a fan of overly buttery or oaky wines and they are not fans of fruity wines. It was a perfect mix of all flavors.

The Godello was paired with a salad I may have had dreams about last night - Maple Leaf Farms Sesame Duck Salad. This salad had amazing flavors and I cannot put on paper. The duck was perfectly seared, served on top chopped greens, apples, mint, cranberries, butternut squash, toasted pecans. It was flavor explosion. Hats off top Seasons 52 for adding this salad to the menu. I urge you to go to your local Seasons 52 now and order this dish!

Maple Leaf Farms Sesame Duck Salad

After that amazing salad experience, we were served Tilia Bonarda, Mendoza '11/'12. It was a light and fruity red wine.

The Bonarda was paired with All Natural Piedmontese Steak. Piedmontese beef is meat from cattle having 1 or 2 copies of the inactive myostatin gene. This attribute provides a higher lean-to-fat ratio as well as a less marbled with less connective tissue cut of red meat than from cattle having the "active" version of the gene. The steaks have about 25% less calories than beef from other cattle breeds. It was very tender and had great flavor.

All Natural Piedmontese Steak

At this stage, I forgot about the final course of the night as I was already full. Sommelier George told us in the beginning of the night that we would have a battle of new world and old age between the Michael David Petite Petit, Petite Sirah, Lodi '09/'10 and Glenelly Cabernet Sauvignon, Stellenbosch '10. My friends Lauren and Shannon (Tasting Tampa) were very familiar with the "new age" Petite Petite and raved about it the moment they saw it on the table. I quickly understood why. This was an amazing full bodied red wine. I could have drank an entire bottle. I much preferred it to the "old world" wine, which I found very dry. I took a few sips of it but went back to the Petite Petit.

The battle of the wines was paired with another first for me - Manchester Farms All-Natural Grilled Quail served with mushroom risotto. I am very finicky when it comes to poultry and do not like bones or dark meat. While the quail tasted really good, I had a hard time eating it and went back to the wine. Let's not leave the risotto out of this - I could honestly eat it as a dish on it's own. It was SO good.

Manchester Farms All Natural Grilled Quail

Finally, the mini indulgence desserts made their appearance. I had the privilege of dining next to Executive Chef Melissa Louty and Tampa manager Elysa Franco. Chef told us that the Pumpkin Pie Mini with Double Gingersnap Crust was her favorite indulgence. I will take an entire platter of those. All of the mini indulgences looked amazing. I also tried the cannoli mini which I really enjoyed.

Mini Indulgence Desserts

Pumpkin Pie Mini Indulgence

Seasons 52 new Fall menu and the offering of wines before they become famous was an excellent night. Thank you Seasons 52 for a wonderful evening that I got to share with good friends!