Tag Archives: coffee

Places to eat in Kansas City: Slice Deli & Bistro

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On a recent short trip to Kansas City, we decided to try some place different for breakfast. I read about Slice Deli on Urbanspoon: it was rated 95%, and reviewers raved about how great the sandwiches are, and about how they smoke and roast all the meat on site. And given the name, I was expecting something bistro-ish. So we went with high hopes.

Which was a mistake.

Now, given all the positive reviews, I’d be willing to try it again at lunch time. And if you go in with realistic expectations, it would be just fine. (Except for the coffee. More on that in a minute.)

First the atmosphere: The space is bright and clean, with toys and games available to play while you wait. But Slice is adjoined to a convenience store, with a large open doorway between the two, and there is no change in ambiance from one to the other. “Deli” is an appropriate description. “Bistro” is not.

My husband and I both ordered “The Beater:” two eggs any style; two slices of bacon, sausage or ham; hash browns and toast. I thought the sausage and eggs (which I ordered over medium) were perfect. The hubs considered the sausage overcooked. The toast came without butter — and without an offer of butter from the waitress — and there was none sitting out. The hash browns were perfectly adequate.

I’m not a big coffee drinker, but my husband is. Big coffee snob, really, if we’re going to be honest here. He grinds locally-roasted Sumatra beans every morning, and perks it in a French press. Get the picture? He described the coffee at Slice as “the worst coffee I’ve ever had anywhere.” Given that ringing endorsement, I didn’t try it, so I can’t give the alternate opinion. If coffee is coffee to you, you might think it’s perfectly fine. If you’re a coffee connoisseur, you might want to skip it.

So the bottom line is: go for lunch, go in with reasonable expectations, and if you’re picky, skip the coffee.

Slice Deli & Bistro on Urbanspoon

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Recipe review: tiramisu cups (quick & easy!)

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I recently did a recipe round-up of a dozen cute little dessert shots. One of those made the final cut for the special birthday party we hosted last week: tiramisu cups from Sprinkle Bakes. Or, as my daughter calls them, “tirami-shooters.”
I chose these because: A) they’re so gosh-darn cute, B) they’re super easy, and C) who doesn’t love tiramisu?
Sprinkle Bakes uses a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese in place of the traditional but hard-to-find (and more expensive) mascarpone. I do wish I’d thought to purchase a large star tip for that finessed look when piping the creamy stuff on, but had to make do with a plastic baggie with one corner snipped off. It doesn’t affect taste though, does it?
You may notice that there’s chocolate in mine…. I couldn’t find lady fingers at my grocery store, and didn’t feel like taking the longer trip to a specialty store, so I subbed Milk Chocolate Milanos — which are basically just ladyfingers sandwiched with chocolate. When the tiramisu had sat at room temp for a while, these worked okay because the chocolate became somewhat soft. But when they were served straight out of the fridge, it didn’t work so well, because the chocolate hardened and interfered with the creamy, fluffy texture that is tiramisu. So, next time, I will start hunting earlier and go farther afield to find real ladyfingers. Or if I’m feeling especially industrious, make my own.
But these are simple, and darling, and delicious. I will certainly be making them again!
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Coffee Panna Cotta

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“Panna cotta” is Italian for “cooked cream,” and that’s exactly what it is. The result is a smooth, custard-like yumminess made without eggs or oven time. This Coffee Panna Cotta is easy enough to make every weekend, but elegant enough for a special occasion.

I use instant espresso powder because it’s easy to keep on hand, but if you have some brewed espresso on hand, you can certainly use that. Just be sure to chill it before adding the gelatin to it.

If you’re cutting down on sugar, it can be made with Splenda Blend. I don’t recommend making it with only Splenda. The consistency becomes very jello-like, and there’s something very, very wrong about opaque jello.

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This is not all the ingredients; just the ones for the
coffee/gelatin mixture.

Coffee Panna Cotta

1/3 cup very cold water
1 t. instant espresso powder
1 (.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
2-1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup white sugar (for low carb: 2 to 3 T. Splenda Blend)
2 t. Kahlua (optional; does contain sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

 

Stir the espresso powder into the cold water until completely dissolved.  Stir in the gelatin powder.

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It may want to clump at first, but stir until it looks fairly homogenized. It will still look sort of grainy. Set this in the fridge.

In a saucepan (size at least 2 qt.), stir together the heavy cream and sugar or Splenda (and Kahlua, if you want), and set over medium heat. Bring to a full boil (which may take up to 10 minutes), stirring frequently or constantly. Watch carefully so it doesn’t boil over. Boiling cream doesn’t look like boiling water: it mostly just has bumps moving just under the surface, with an occasional bubble breaking the surface.

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Retrieve the gelatin mixture from the fridge…

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It will look even more grainy now; that’s okay. Whisk it into the cream until completely dissolved. Cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Leave it off the heat for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

Clean-up tip: fill the sauce pan and liquid measuring cup with cold water now, to soak off the remaining gelatin.

When the cream mixture has cooled to about room temperature, pour into individual dishes. Espresso cups, small ramekins or dipping bowls work great. Putting them all on one tray or baking sheet makes transporting them to fridge easier.

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In my house, what comes next is my husband wandering into the kitchen. “What’s this?”

“Coffee panna cotta,” I answer.

“Can I have some?,” he asks.

“Well, it’s not nearly done, it needs to…”

Too late! He’s got dish and spoon in hand, enjoying coffee-cream soup for lunch.

Cover the remaining dishes with cling wrap, and move to the fridge. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

If you can.

6-10 servings, depending on what size dishes you use.

You might also like:
7 Special Occasion Cookies
Coffee Heath Bar Ice Cream
Chicken with Mushroom Sage Sauce (another special-occasion-worthy dish)

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Recipe review: Coffee Ice Cream (with Heath Bar)

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coffee ice cream - our favorite!

For me, living a low carb life means that the majority of the time, I stay away from sugary foods. But it also means that it’s okay to splurge once in a while. (If “once in a while” turns into “pretty much every day,” then it’s not working!) Also, if I’m going to compromise my healthy habit by eating something sugary, I will only do it for things I really, really love! Grocery store cake or cookies? Nah. Homemade carrot cake or cinnamon rolls? Worth it!

This coffee ice cream is one of those things that’s worth it.

This ice cream recipe from Simply Recipes originally caught my eye as something to make for my husband. He LOVES coffee, and his favorite candy bar is Heath or Skor. But once I tasted it, it became one of my favorites, too!

We served it at Christmas dinner. It goes great with pumpkin or pecan pie!

By the way, we don’t have an ice cream freezer. (Well, we have a vintage hand-crank one, but that only gets used if there are young children around, eager to take their turn at cranking!) We just put it in a shallow container in the freezer, and stir it every 30-60 minutes. I’m sure it would be even more amazing made in an ice cream freezer, but if you don’t have one, don’t let that stop you from enjoying this totally-worth-it treat!

You might also like:
Peanut Butter Pie
No-bake Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake

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Recipe review: No-bake raspberry-lemon cheesecake – low-carb version

This pretty photo grabbed my interest, but I was a little disappointed to see that the original recipe on My Baking Addiction included Cool Whip. Not ’cause I’m a snob about that, but we’re trying to eat low-carb, and even “No Sugar-Added” Cool Whip has corn syrup in it. (Sneaky, huh?)

But that’s easily solved. To make this dessert low-carb:
– replace the sugar with equivalent sweetener of your choice,
– replace the Cool Whip with homemade whipped cream: start w/ 1/4 c. cream, sweetened with a little vanilla and 1 or 2 teaspoons of the sweetener of your choice, then whip it — whip it good!
– replace the graham cracker crust with chopped pecans.

Yum!

I’ve also made variations…

Lemon or lime – Leave out the raspberries and add the zest and juice of one lemon or lime. If you like, add a little food coloring to make it more citrusy-looking.

Coffee – Leave out the lemon juice and add 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder. And, if you like, a couple tablespoons of Kahlua.

Peanut butter – Leave out the lemon and add sugar-free peanut butter to your liking; 2 Tablespoons if you want just a hint of PB flavor; pile it on if you want more. This is especially delicious topped with a bit of shaved chocolate! (Or try my Peanut Butter Pie recipe.)

Also, you can make this lower fat by using reduced fat cream cheese and/or replacing some of the cream cheese with ricotta.

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