Happy New (Food) Year!

Cheese Wheels Full of Pasta (there’s no other way to say this)

So, this was around before John Legend gave it to his pregnant belle, Chrissy Teigen. But, with such celebrity status the two have made it a real thing. You can read Daily New's article about it here.

In a nutshell, it’s a cheese wheel that’s hollowed out, but there’s still a good amount of cheese hanging onto the edges inside, and then you toss pasta in it. It makes those who love carbs and cheese want to cry real tears for days at the beauty of fresh pasta paired with it’s most complementary friend—cheese.

But, it’s not exactly cost effective, so the rest of us will have to settle for grinding a little extra Parmigiano Reggiano on top of our Bolognese. But that doesn’t mean we can’t dream of some day placing a large, hollowed cheese wheel full of pasta on our dining room table to admire and then devour.

Spiraled Everything

The cheese wheel may be out of your price range, but the ability to serve veggies in spiral shapes is well within your limits. This is accomplished by buying a machine that turns veggies into "zoodles." The trend is popular for those wanting to be a tad bit healthier, and those seeking that something different to eat. 

You can substitute sweet potatoes zoodles for rice noodles in your favorite Thai dish, or zucchini zoodles for the spaghetti you pair with your family’s most adored meatball recipe. Plus, many of these clever machines give you the ability to choose what size of zoodle you like, from angel hair-style to tagliatelle-sized. It’s something different and delicious to put on the table.

Here's a spiralizing machine we really like and this link also takes you to a ton of recipes.

Waffles for Days

Much like the ability to make zucchini into something resembling a noodle, waffles are going in a thousand directions, as well. You’ll see that world where savory meets sweet, for example, waffle sandwiches with pork and a savory egg-based waffles with syrup, and another world where sweet meets sweet, such as waffle-topped cupcakes and waffle pie.

Here's a link to one of our Edible Indy Original Recipes, Sweet Potato Egg Waffles.

Alkaline Diets

You may have heard Dr. Oz, The Today Show or Victoria Beckham mention alkaline diets—and we expect to hear more about them in 2016 as empirical evidence (and infomercials) have proven celebrities drive a lot of the diet market—but what exactly are they?

We took a look at this diet on WedMD, http://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/alkaline-diets, and learned a little bit about it. It appears you have to cut out caffeine and alcohol (OK, how many people did we lose already?) and eat less acid-filled foods, such as meat, dairy and processed foods, and more alkaline-filled foods, like fruits, veggies and tofu. The idea is a body with less acid in it, and more alkaline, can help you lose weight and maybe fight some medical issues.                                           

Sour Beer

It seems that sour is the new IPA, and it also seems there are those who love sour beer and those who don’t. For those who do, the moment has arrived and there is a much wider choice of sours, local and afar, to choose from at your favorite neighborhood eatery.

The most exciting news we heard on this front last year was from our local friends at Upland Brewing Co., headquartered in Bloomington. They will be opening a brewing wing solely devoted to sour beer production (hand to the sky, right?). For those who have grown accustomed to getting their mitts on Upland sours during the sour lottery each fall, they will rejoice at the ability to get more of what they love year round.

You can read the press release about Upland’s expansion plans here.