Ike's Lair, Cafe La Tartine, and Roam Burgers

On a visit to see the bf, we did a small little food tour throughout the bay. Our first stop was Ike's Lair. It took me a little while to figure out that Ike's Lair is the same as the famous Ike's Place sandwich shop. They may have different menu items, but they have the same secret menu, so you can order your favorite secret menu sandwich at any of their many locations. (Why they have different names, I have no idea, but trust me they have the same great sandwiches.)

I don't remember the exact sandwich I got, but I remember it had something to do with Halal chicken, ranch, mozzarella sticks, red pesto, everything on it, and Dutch Crunch bread. It was pretty good, but since then I've had better sandwiches from Ike's. 

Krush Burger

SactoMofo had a little food truck event going on right by my work, where the Krush Burger truck was going to be. So, on my lunch break, I took a little trip over there and ordered some mini burgers! I got 2 sliders, including the Cowbell and the Ninja, and some of their Krush Fries.

These are the fries, they were really good. Just the right amount of salt and crispiness.

Artichoke Dip

We had a big Costco bag of seasoned waffle fries in the freezer and since there's nothing I love more than a good dip or sauce, I wanted to make a really good one for these waffle fries. I don't really remember exactly what I threw into the food processor, but here's a rough idea:

Drained can of artichoke hearts, along with some cream cheese, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, dash of Sriracha for heat, salt and pepper.

Sienna Restaurant

I've been to Sienna Restaurant before for my birthday, and it was good! Overall, I liked it, so B and I decided to grab lunch here to try some of their other menu items.

We ordered the Toasted Ravioli as an appetizer. These were really good, and the sauce was perfect. A delicious marinara to dip them into.

My 2nd SactoMoFo

You may remember a past post about Sacto MoFo explaining that it's a food truck get-together in Downtown Sacramento that they put on during the summer. Well, I went to a second one, and finally got to bring B. We tried some delicious food and here is what we tried. We tried foods from Volkswaffle, Red Truck, Star Ginger, and Chairman Bao.

First, was a waffle from Volkswaffle. We got strawberries and whipped cream on ours, and it was a delicious sweet treat to start off our food truck testing.

More Homemade Pizza

Went over to a friends house, and we wanted to cook something together. Pizza seemed like a good option, since I've been making so much of it recently. It turned out really great because her oven seemed to get extra hot. Almost burned it, but pulled it out of the oven just in time. It was absolutely delicious! Just used some store bought pizza dough, covered with some jarred tomato sauce, added some spices like oregano and some salt, tossed on some store bought roasted garlic (I know, this was news to me that you can find roasted garlic in a store, and it was amazing. Perfect for pizza), fresh mozzarella cheese slices, some fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

We cooked it for 8-12 minutes in a 500 degree oven. If your oven gets super hot like this one did, make sure to check on it every few minutes. Slice up and enjoy!

Off the Grid and Super Duper Burger

B and I decided to go get some lunch at Off the Grid food trucks, then go hiking at Mt. Tamalpais. I decided on one of my favorites, Koja Kitchen, and got the Kamikaze Combo which consists of your choice of Koja, and the Kamikaze Fries. I chose BBQ Short Rib Koja with added pineapple. Sorry the lighting is so bad on these photos, I was in a tent that made all the light orange. 

Almost Famous Garden Salad

One of my favorite salads to make, it's a copycat recipe of Olive Garden's Garden Salad. You can add pretty much any veggies you want, but I'll post here the original recipe. It's great with these baby peppers we usually have in the fridge, and pepperoncini's are also good in the salad. The dressing is easy to make, you can just mix all the ingredients in a blender.

Oat Peach-Nectarine Muffins and Chipotle Marinated Pork with Fruit Salsa

I had some time to bake, and since we had a few leftover frozen peaches and some ripe nectarines, I wanted to make some muffins. I found this recipe, and improvised a little. They turned out ok, not quite as flavorful as I had hoped. Maybe if the fruit had macerated in some sugar for a bit, then added to the batter it would have been better.

Guacamole!

Guacamole is one of my go-to favorite easy snacks to make. If I don't want to cook something, and we happen to have avocados and tortilla chips laying around, odds are we have the rest of the ingredients! Super easy the way I make it, and very tasty! Sometimes I mix it up and make some pico de gallo to add to the mashed avocados, other times I take the simple route (which is my go-to recipe) and just use some pre-made salsa, and jarred jalapeño slices.

Pasta with Tomato Sauce and Basil

I decided to make a simple pasta dish for dinner, and I used up this interesting pasta shape we had around the house. All I did was cook the pasta in boiling water, heat up some pasta sauce in a pan with some olive oil, and diced tomatoes. Then added the drained, cooked pasta to the sauce. Mixed with some grated Parmesan cheese, and topped with some chopped fresh basil from the garden! Easy, simple and delicious!

Ike's Lair and Off the Grid (again!)

B and I had heard about this sandwich shop in Redwood City that had amazing sandwiches. I was a little hesitant, but after finally learning that Ike's Lair is a part of the famous Ike's Place sandwiches that's so popular in San Francisco, I couldn't resist! We went with his brother, and once we finally decided on sandwiches, we sat and waited for them to be made. I ordered this sandwich: 

4th of July: Macaroni Salad and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was able to go visit the boyfriend for 4th of July, so him, his brother, and a friend got started on making some pulled pork for pulled pork sandwiches ahead of time. I wouldn't be able to get there until late, but I made some macaroni salad and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ahead of time. I love this macaroni salad recipe, it's so good! For the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I just took my normal chocolate chip cookie recipe, and added about 2 cups of oats. Turned out great, and 4th of July was a lot of fun!

Pineapple Sausages with Coleslaw and Pineapple Chunks

This was a surprisingly delicious dinner! We had these pineapple sausages in the fridge, and I found some pineapple chunks in the pantry. I decided on making a simple coleslaw to top the sausages with. I just split the sausages through the middle almost all the way though, but not enough to get two halves. Then I pan fry them on both sides, serve on Hawaiian hot dog buns, top with coleslaw and pineapple chunks.