Tag Archives: inauguration

A Hungry Texans Inaugural Feast!

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Hungry Texans Seal(1)Ah, America.  It’s a good time to live in DC, a district buzzing with excitement for the 57th Inauguration.  The Secret Service is in their dry-run stage for Monday’s big event, but we’ve already put together our Inauguration menu fit for the president himself.  Sure, we could have gone with a red, white & blue theme or made 12 versions of apples pie (trust us, we could have).  But we think this POTUS is just about the cutest thing since President Bartlett, so we decided to draw on inspiration from Obama himself.  A man who governed in food-loving Chicago, steals away to his native Hawaii for vacations, and now calls our very own DC his home.  A president who escapes the White House for crowd-drawing trips to Ben’s Chili Bowl and Komi, and, with his lovely Michelle, has reinstated the important White House garden (the produce from which is used not only in the family’s own dinners, but also donated to Miriam’s Kitchen- go WH!)  Yes, I’d say we’ve got quite the foodie president on our hands.

So we created a menu that incorporates many of the POTUS’s foodie roots- from the Windy city to the Big Island.  To escape the crowded Mall (or before you head to a ball), try this Hungry Texans Inaugural Feast!

Inauguration Feast

Featuring:

Chicago Style Half Smokes

Hawaiian Deep-Dish Pizza

Coconut & Pineapple Cupcakes

inauguration dinner hungry texans

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We The Pizza.

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hawaiin deep dish pizza

Continuing our Obama-inspired menu, we drew from POTUS’s island roots and decided to make a Hawaiian pizza- fresh pineapple, thinly sliced ham (proscuitto would be delicious as well), and two varieties of mozzarella make Hawaiian pizza one of the most popular in the States.  And then we got crazy and paid homage to his Chicago life ALSO, throwing those Hawaiian toppings on a traditional cornmeal deep dish crust.    Check out our recipes for homemade pizza crust and marinara sauce also!

You’ll need:
Deep Dish Pizza Crust
6 oz. shredded mozzarella
2 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese
6 slices of thinly sliced ham or proscuitto
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup sliced pineapple
2 cups marinara sauce

Start by rolling out your pizza crust to a 13-inch circle.  Rub the inside of a spring form pan with olive oil and set the crust inside the pan, working it two inches up the side of the pan.

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Layer on the shredded mozzarella and the sauce on top.  Seriously people- cheese FIRST.  Sauce SECOND.  The cheese sort of melts into the crust and creates this gooey perfection.

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Now, layer on your toppings.  We were looking for a traditional Hawaiian pizza, but obviously you could use a variety of other toppings:

  • Pepperoni
  • Assorted cheeses
  • Roasted bell peppers
  • Kalamata olives
  • A bevy of cured meats
  • Shrimp
  • This list could literally go on forever.

Bake at 425° for 20-30 minutes, or until, you know, the pizza is ready.  If you don’t know when a pizza looks gooey and crispy and perfect, then shoot us an email and we’ll come to your house and tell you.  We charge in pizza slices, if you catch my drift.

Love,

The Hungry Texans

cupcakes we can believe in

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Coconut Cupcakes Title

Even though Obama ate more custards than cupcakes during his first term in office, there are few desserts more “DC” right now than cupcakes. We took a tropical, Hawaiian twist on the DC favorite with these Pineapple-Coconut Cupcakes. What makes these cupcakes extra-special is they use crushed cookies instead of flour. You read right…cookies! One bite of these coconutty, cookie cupcakes & you’ll want to forget flour all together!

Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes Ingredients

For the cupcakes: (makes about 22)
1 stick unsalted butter
½ c coconut oil
2 c sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
6 eggs
1 c sweetened coconut flakes
¼ c crushed pineapple
1 box of crushed vanilla wafers, crushed into a fine crumb
½ cup of pecans, crushed into a pecan meal

For the icing:
8 oz cream cheese
4 tbl butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 c powdered sugar (or until reaches desired thickness)
2 tbl pineapple

Coconut Cupcakes 1

Start by creaming your coconut oil & butter together with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer. Once your fats are combined and a nice pale yellow, add your sugar & continue creaming.

Coconut Cupcakes 2

Splash in your vanilla & then start adding eggs. Add eggs one at a time allowing enough time for each egg to integrate (scraping the side of the bowl as necessary). Once you’ve added all six eggs, your mixture should look almost custardy.

Coconut Cupcakes 3

At a slow speed fold your coconut and pineapple into the batter. Once combined, add your vanilla wafer & pecan meals to the mix thickening it all up. Scrape the sides of your bowl and give your mixture a final few paddle rotations.

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Prep your favorite cupcake pan with liners.

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Fill close to the top. These cupcakes will rise a little bit, but not too much, so be generous with your fill!

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Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until they’re golden and pass a toothpick test.

For your pineapple cream cheese frosting, start by creaming softened butter & cream cheese together. Add vanilla & pineapple. Begin gradually adding powdered sugar until your frosting reaches your desired thickness (we erred on the thinner side). Once your cupcakes have cooled, frost ’em up!

Excellent room temperature or chilled, we dare you to eat just one!

xoxo,

Hungry Texans

Chicago-Style Half Smokes

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chicago style half smokes

In honor of Obama’s re-inauguration, we set out to create a Barack-inspired dish that highlighted his ties to both Chicago and our lovely DC.  This Chicago-Style Half Smoke combines the prez’s roots in Chi-City with his new home in DC.

The half smoke is an interesting sausage, popularized by DC’s Ben’s Chili Bowl and named aptly because it is usually half pork, half beef.  We found a half smoke that was produced in the DMV, and the nutrition facts are kindly out of focus, just like my mind treats all sausage.

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So what happens when you load a DC-native half smoke onto a poppy seed bun and heap on Chicagoan toppings?  A culinary mixture fit for the President himself!

You’ll need:

8 Poppy Seed buns (make your own with our recipe here!)
8 half smoke sausages
Tomatoes
Atomic relish
Dill pickle spears
Chopped onion
Yellow mustard

Once your poppy seed buns are out of the oven, this recipe is really all about assembly.  Heat the half smokes on a grill or on the stovetop, just until they have a bit of color and are heated through.  Then pile your Chi-Town toppings- tomatoes, relish, yellow mustard, a dill pickle spear, and chopped onion.

Since we couldn’t decide between a 312 and a DC Brau, we treated ourselves to both!