Food TV

I love watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Jake humors me but only for about one episode.

I don't know why he doesn't like the show. We enjoy eating in those Mom and Pop, non-chain, one of a kind, hole in the wall type restaurants. We had several favorites in Utah. There was a favorite Asian place (it went out of business before we moved), a couple favorite burger places and a really great Korean place. I almost forgot our favorite Mexican place- the flan was divine!

We haven’t found as many favorite places here yet. We do have a favorite pizza place (they also have calzones to die for!), a favorite diner, a favorite Asian take out place (there are tables to sit in but not many and it really works better to bring it home) and a favorite “nice” place. We are still looking and having fun trying places out.

The reason I like DDD is I love seeing that every town has great little places to eat. I figure if we go places I will know where to eat.

There are some things I don't think I would try. One time they went to a place that had pig ear sandwiches. I'm sure that to some pig ears are great- so I will let anyone who likes them have them.

On another episode, they showed a pizza with eggs cracked on it. I am not a big fan of eggs. I can eat eggs with enough cheese, green chilies and hash browns but NOT eggs with runny yolks!!! The sad thing is the pizza looked great until they cracked the eggs on it. I would try this restaurant because the pizzas look great. NO RUNNY EGGS though.  

Mostly the food looks really good and I keep a mental list of places to try.

If you are taking a trip, check out the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives website to find a great place to eat when you get there! Do you have a great Diner, Drive-in or Dive in your area?

Y is for. . .

Y is for Yummy!

I love deserts and sweets. I also love to make them. I like chocolate, vanilla, fruit and most any dessert flavor.

One of my favorite cookies is peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip.  (Here's the recipe. Try them you will be hooked!) Jake is not a peanut butter cookie fan but likes these cookies because the peanut butter is not an overwhelming flavor and the texture is wonderful!

Jake loves ginger carrot cake cookies (Here's the recipe. Make the cookies small they are very rich!)

We also like banana bread, and apple bread, and pumpkin bread.  

We don’t eat a ton of sweets but we do enjoy them.

What sweets do you enjoy?

Check back tomorrow for a great quote and on Monday find out what z is for. . .

K is for. . .

K is for kitchen.

I didn’t enjoy cooking for a long time. When Jake and I first got married he worked second shift and he wasn’t home in the evening during the week. So dinner wasn’t a big deal. We cooked together on the weekend and went out a lot.

Once we moved to North Carolina Jake worked days and we were home together for dinner. So we started cooking. We cooked a lot together and since that went well I started to try more things on my own. We eat a lot of chicken- mostly grilled.

One of our favorite marinades is regular Italian dressing. It is cheap and easy!

Another is. . . 

Sticky Garlic Marinade

3 crushed garlic cloves

2 TBSP honey

4 TBSP ketchup

4 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp Dijon mustard or spicy brown mustard

Salt and Pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Marinate 3 or 4 chicken breasts for 30 minutes or longer. Grill, sauté or bake.  We marinate in a gallon ziplock bag.

Recipe from thissweetcountrylife.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

I do enjoy baking more than cooking dinner. Cookies, cakes and pies are much more fun than regular dinner.

Check back tomorrow to find out L is for. . .

The Day After

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had delicious food, great company and the Cowboys won. (That  makes for the perfect Thanksgiving!)

Somehow this:

always turns into this:

and we had lots of plates that look like this:

We are thrilled to have leftovers! I got food pictures but no people pictures! I need to work on that!

I am not a big Black Friday shopper. I really enjoy sleeping in that day. My brother Tom started the Day-After-Thanksgiving tradition of eating Pumpkin Pie for breakfast. I’m not exactly sure when the tradition started. I think it was when we visited relatives in St. George, Utah one year.  Anyway, I tried to continue the tradition but just couldn’t quite eat the pie at 6:00 am. (Yes, that is sleeping in for me.) So here is what I ate at 10:00.  I think it is close enough to count. It was FABULOUS! (If you haven't tried pumpkin pie for breakfast you should!)

Thanksgiving is coming!!!!!

from pinterest.com

We love Thanksgiving here. Jake and I grew up with some different traditions and not just in the food area.

I grew up far from relatives, so we had just our immediate family and some close friends for Thanksgiving dinner. We had homemade cranberry sauce (it has big chunks and is GREAT) and the stuffing is dry and DOES NOT GO IN THE BIRD.  My mom is not a huge gravy fan but my dad is so on Thanksgiving we had gravy.  We didn’t have mashed potatoes but a different kind loaded with cheese.

Jake grew up close to both sets of grandparents and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. Thanksgiving dinners were filled with family. They had cranberry jelly (from a can with no lumps) and his mom made a stuffing that is sort of like a casserole (and really a meal by itself!). There was tons of homemade gravy and mashed potatoes. They also had dinner based on when the Dallas Cowboy game is (either before or after).

We have a combination of the two. We eat Jake’s mom stuffing (it is SO wonderful!!) and eat around the Dallas Cowboy game. We do have both kinds of cranberries (we each think our kind makes the meal) and mashed potatoes (some years with the peals and some years without). Our gravy comes out of a can (way easier and always perfect!!!) We eat the leftovers for several meals and enjoy every bit!

We enjoy our time together and talking about what we are thankful for. Some years we go to my parents and some years we are here at home. Our church has a dinner on Wednesday and we have gone to that the last couple years.

How do you celebrate?

Greek Fest!!

We went to the Greek Fest this year. It was so much fun. We got there early and so parking wasn’t a problem (we will have to remember that for next year!).

Us before we ate all the Greek food!

We walked around a bit first but decided to get some food first. They had trays made up and you chose the tray you wanted. I chose the Greek chicken and Jake had the lamb! It was SO MUCH FOOD! All the food was wonderful and we found a place to sit inside (with the AC!!) and enjoyed the food and the dancing. They had kids (they looked to be 10-14 years old) performing traditional dances. 

Greek Lamb with pastichio and other great food!

Greek chicken with pastichio and other great food!

Then we went outside to look around. We saw many booths with things to buy (jewelry, clothes, t shirts etc) and some deserts. We were too full for baklava but tried some loukoumades (fried dough like donut holes with honey, powdered sugar and cinnamon). We wanted to get 6 but somehow ended up with 12! They were delicious and will try them again next time.

Little children performing traditional dances. They looked like they were 4-8 years old.

The only thing I wanted but didn’t get was a gyro. We were just too full. Luckily this festival comes every year so next year we will go again! The weather was great and the entertainment wonderful.  If  there is a Greek fest in your area- give it a try!

New Recipe!

We tried another new recipe this weekend! Slow-Baked Mac and Cheese! It was wonderful (and super easy. I followed the recipe with a few changes- we didn’t put the bread crumbs on the top (it reminded Jake a bit too much of Tuna Casserole) and when the directions say wait until the butter is room temperature- they mean it. I was impatient and didn’t wait as long as it said and the cheese wasn’t as smooth as I was expecting.

We had the Mac and Cheese with steak (top sirloin) and green beans and it was very good. All the flavors went together very well.  I think the mac and cheese would also go with pork or chicken. We may try it with a different blend of cheeses next time!

Here's the link:

http://whiskandaprayer.blogspot.com/2010/08/magazinecookbook-monday-slow-baked-mac.html

Let me know if you try it!

New recipe

I tried a new recipe last night. I got a craving for shortcake. I looked on Two Peas & Their Pod (go here  for other great recipes) and found a recipe that looked great and we had almost everything. I did have to go the store for a lemon (the recipe called for juice and lemon zest.  Since we didn’t have any fruit I looked at the strawberries and blueberries. Both were in too large a container. Jake decided to get some cherry pie filling to put on his short cake.

The recipe was very easy. The dough was very sticky though (next time I will add more flour and knead it a bit longer!)

Here's how they look on the blog!  From Two Peas& Their Pod

They came out great and really hit the spot. I put butter and jam on mine and Jake had the cherry pie filling (I think the jam was better!)

Before I put the butter and jam.

A little different than the original but still great!

Go here for the recipe!