Heights Food Swap

My lovely friend, Lisa, hosted another Heights Food Swap this last weekend. She took a break from having them as she just had her second little, Lincoln, 7 weeks ago. To see the first Food Swap we had and to learn more about what it is, check out this post.

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Being November and all, most of the items brought involved pumpkin or something you could cozy up with next to a fire…if only we needed a warm fire in Texas. Warm fire or not, the food was delicious.

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Lisa made Pumpkin Pasta, which I had last night with a creamy sauce. It was so excellent all we really probably needed with it was olive oil and some fresh herbs. Mark said it tasted like he was eating pumpkin pie, yet it wasn’t pumpkin pie.

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Meredith made a Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie (pronounced pee-cawn) because she is from South Carolina and all. The Bourbon made the pie less sweet than a normal pecan pie, which I absolutely loved…and the chocolate. You can never go wrong with chocolate.

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Gina made a homemade Caramel Sauce that I may or may not have drizzled on 2 slices of cheesecake yesterday and coffee.

Ok.

It was more than a drizzle.

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Jamie made a Pumpkin Pie Dip that you can have with apples, graham crackers, or your finger. No big.

And yes, it was double dip worthy.

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I made a Pumpkin & Honey Beer Bread which I will be making again very soon, ya’ll. The bitterness of the beer mixed with the sweetness of the bread made me want to eat the whole loaf in one sitting. Thank you Lord for self control…I found the recipe for the bread at {a sweet baker} and highly recommend you run to the store and get stuff to make it yourself asap. I modified the recipe a tad (didn’t use chia and flax seed, but just flax seed & used a bit different measurements on the spices) but I am sure it is just as tasty as it is written.

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Last but not least…Heidi made the cupcakes of all Fall cupcakes. A pair of Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting and a pair of Apple Cider Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting.

These are the kind of cupcakes you need to eat with a fork in tiny bites because you want it to last forever

{insert image of Squints saying for-ev-ER}

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If you live in the Heights and would like to join us in a Food Swap please let me know! The more people the better 🙂 And if you don’t live in the Heights area of Houston, you should start up one in your neighborhood…because good food, good drinks, and good company are mighty good, ya’ll.

Thanks again to Lisa for hosting!

heights food swap

A couple weeks ago, a good friend of mine hosted the first ever Heights Food Swap.

also coined as

“one of my favorite things ever”

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When fellow foodie lover, Lisa (the friend), told me she wanted to start having a food swap I had no idea what she meant! So, for those of you who, like me, have no idea, this is what goes down…

Let’s say 13 people wanted to participate in a food swap. Those 13 people decide individually of something yummy to make. It could be homemade pizza dough, bath salts, cold brew, freshly baked muffins, homemade jams and cheeses, and the list goes on…Each person would make 12 batches of their item, package it up cute, and bring it to the swap. We then swap all the items! So, you come with 12 of the same item, and leave with 12 different yummy foods and/or home items.

The only catch is that what you bring needs to be made by YOU!

Lisa made some coffee, pumpkin donuts, and biscuits for us to munch on as we sat, chatted up on life, and shared what we made and how it could be used. It was so fun and I am looking forward to the next one as I am sure it will be bigger, which means more foodie goodness for me to take home 🙂

This first time around was on July 4th weekend so we had only 4 of us that participated.

Absolutely worth it.

Lisa made some yummy cold brew coffee and a homemade coconut vanilla syrup that pairs quite nicely!

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Heidi made both rosemary infused sea salt and espresso infused sea salt. One word. TASTY. She recommended using the espresso infused salt on steak or in desserts. I’m thinking some salted, caramel espresso brownies would be real good.

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Megan made cilantro-avocado hummus. I dug into this right when we got home and put it on a salad. It was delicious. Sadly, the next day I dropped the mason jar and the hummus splattered everywhere on the floor. That was my 4th time to break something glass related that week. Clumsy.

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I made a batch of cold brew as well and some homemade cherry, almond, & coconut granola to go with. I made enough for Mark & I to enjoy as well 🙂

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My mind is already streaming with ideas for the next one in August.

Thanks Lisa for such a great idea! Can’t wait to share what people whip up the next time around. I’ll make sure and share with ya’ll after!

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If you live in the Heights and are interested in participating, let me know. Next one is August 3rd! 

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If you don’t live in the Heights then you should start one where you live!