Tex Drive In (Honoka'a, Hawaii)

We had heard so much about Tex Drive In and their outstanding Malasadas and decided that we just had to try them. We went here twice while staying in Waimea (once before exploring Waipio Road, then again on our way to Akaka Falls the next day), and enjoyed the food both times.

We tried strawberry, bavarian cream, apple and plain: We liked the plain ones the best followed by the bavarian cream. They were just alright. It reminded me of a fresh doughnut many other places, but it wasn't anything to write home about. In fact, I think this picture does it more justice than it probably deserves. It doesn't do anything for me when I see it, by any means. They were good, but not "turn the car around!" good.

The rest of the menu looked pretty good as well, and the second morning we ate there, we ordered a full breakfast (Two Farm Fresh Egg and Meat Plate - the hubby with Ham, and I with the Portuguese Sausage). It was very good and filling, but nothing out of the ordinary for the neighborhood Perkins or similar. My 14-month-old son was not at all fond of the Malasadas, but ate a ton of their Portuguese Sausage.

We also tried the Passion-Orange juice in hopes that it would quench our passion fruit cravings, but it was about as good as passion orange juice from SW Minnesota, just the same price as a half gallon of it would be at home (per cup).

All in all, the place was good, the food was good, but it wasn't unbelievably out of this world or anything. We'd certainly go again given the option, but I haven't been craving it since.

They were doing some construction on the front of the building while we were there, so we had to drive around the back, but it still was very pleasant, and it was nice to enjoy the morning with breakfast on the patio (or inside at the booths if the patio isn't your cup of tea). It's like a fast food place as far as ordering (order, they give you a number, you go get your food from the counter when they call your number), and both times we went, we fortunately arrived just before these huge tour buses came by. It is a huge tourist spot for sure.

If you want to check out their menu or website, here it is!

Pumpkin Pancakes with Maple Pecan Syrup

It's really no big secret to anyone who knows me: Autumn is by far my favorite season of the year. The air just feels alive and brisk and a short walk leaves you craving warm baked goods, hot chocolate, cider, and all sorts of other goodies with either an apple or pumpkin base - YUM!

I came across this recipe...how I came across this recipe...and decided I just HAD to try it out. But I'm not going to lie: these sound much better than they tasted. And I'm probably not going to ever make them again. I think it had to do with the cottage cheese in them - it just did nothing for me.

The Pancakes

The ingredients were simple enough:

flour
salt
baking soda
1 can pumpkin
1 C cottage cheese
1 egg
milk


I combined the dry ingredients first, then blended the wet ingredients until smooth before adding in the dry ingredient mixture, and pouring out the batter into yummy-looking, albeit orange pancakes!

The Maple Pecan Syrup

The syrup consisted mainly of just maple syrup and pecans, with a dash or two of nutmeg.



Overall, a fairly easy recipe, and it wasn't really too complicated, but it isn't something I'll be making again. It wasn't bad or anything, just seemed like a lot of calories for something I wasn't over the moon about.

Breakfast Greats

I tried my very first attempt at a new breakfast food in quite some time this Saturday morning - Swedish Pancakes.  Remember in my "welcome" post where I said that the things I make don't always turn out so great?  Well, this was one of them.  This time, Google failed me!  Rather, Google presented the thinnest recipe imaginable and while they tasted great, they were less than aesthetically pleasing.  We had them with some of our Schumaker's freezer strawberries heated up (that I froze a couple months ago) and they tasted delicious! 

Here is the recipe I used:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/easy-swedish-pancakes/Detail.aspx
Which looked like this (actually, they looked MUCH worse):

And here is the recipe I should have used:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Swedish-Pancakes
which should've looked like this:

Other wonderful breakfasts that I have made in the past include the following (although I will have to search for the recipes in my box in the future to post them):

Pecan Crusted French Toast

Remember when I said that some of the stuff that looks AWESOME isn't as awesome as it looks? This was one of those. It wasn't really bad, but Mark said he'd rather have the stuff below (which is WAY easier to prep!)

Caramel Rolls (recipe from Aunt Sharon!)

This one, I actually know by heart :) Put 18 dinner rolls in a prepared bundt pan and sprinkle cinnamon and pecans over them. Melt together 1/4 C brown sugar, 1 stick butter and 1/2 package butterscotch pudding and pour over mixture. Cover with foil and let rise overnight. Put in the oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes (keep an eye on it, because it isn't so awesome when the top gets burnt). A breakfast favorite!