Sunday Night Appetizers with Tyler

On most Sunday nights, I eat dinner with my cousins. There are anywhere from eight to 12 of us there each week and Sunday nights have recently become one of my favorite nights of the week. I used to hate Sunday nights because it meant dreading the week ahead; however, since I've been joining my cousins for dinner, Sunday nights are full of laughter, love and always a fun time which makes the end of the weekend much more bearable. 

This past Sunday night Tyler decided to make an appetizer before dinner. Apparently he had seen a you tube video on pizza cones and wanted to give it a try. By the time I arrived, he was pulling the cone portion of the pizza cone out of the oven. He had made a cone out of aluminum foil and then taken canned Pilsbury pizza dough and formed it around the aluminum cones. He then placed the open end of the cone around the bottom of a muffin pan and baked them. So, it was literally a cone of baked pizza dough and it had me intrigued. 

Once the cones cooled, Tyler and Jon Mark stuffed the cones with pizza sauce, pepperoni, cheese and bacon. The stood the cones up in oven safe mugs and baked them a while longer until the cheeses melted and the sauce was warm. We all gave the pizza cones a try and admittedly they were quite good. I think we were all a little surprised and impressed. 

There are a few more steps to the pizza cone making process than I outlined here. So, if you want to watch the video, which is less than two minutes I might add, check it out below. Happy pizza cine making!

My First Food Cooperative Experience

I don't know about where you work, but where I work, the company is pushing for everyone to get healthier. It seems to work. I've noticed a lot of people have lot weight and others are taking the initiative to eat better and exercise  more. I even recruited some co-workers to join my strength training class at the gym. 

We have a girl at work whose sole responsibility is to help us get healthy. So, she schedules classes and food demos and health fairs, etc. to encourage us in our quest to be healthier. A couple of months ago, our challenge for the month was to eat more fruits and veggies. I didn't even turn in my results because they were not even on par with the amount I was supposed to be eating. During the campaign, however, she told us about some local food cooperatives who offer fresh fruits and veggies each week. I made a mental note of it because I had thought about trying this out but had never taken the plunge...until last week. 

My diet lately has been nothing to brag about, and so, in an effort to force myself to eat fresh foods and actually cook something good for me rather than frozen pizza or nachos, I decided to order my first food co-op box. I went with the Plentiful Produce Group because the price seemed reasonable and it was a 1/2 veggie and 1/2 fruit box. I ordered by the deadline and picked up my box at the designated location this past Saturday. 

I really had no idea what to expect and so when I picked up my box, I was amazed at how much food was inside. I had seven sweet potatoes, seven green bananas, four huge red bell peppers, six tangerines, four apples, a bunch of kale, a pound of strawberries, a pound of green beans, and three pounds of broccoli florets. The lady who was handing out the baskets said that we were also supposed to have gotten pears in our box but the pears were bad. Seriously, so much good food and I got it all for $21,50 ($20 plus $1.50 handling fee). 

Before the weekend was out, I had eaten two of the sweet potatoes, all of the green beans (which were the best I have had in a long time), one bell pepper and most of the strawberries. I have hardly put a dent in all the good food because my schedule has been insane this week and I've not been at home in the evenings. I was, however, proud of myself for eating better, fresher, and local food. 

I was so happy with the basket that I went ahead and ordered one for this next week as well. I probably won't order every week because being a single person it is hard to eat all that much food, but I do plan to order often because it is a good motivation to eat well and cook more. 

If you live in Madison County and are interested in a local food cooperative, check out Plentiful Produce. 

Coleslaw 101

I'm sure when you clicked over here today the last thing you expected to see was a post about coleslaw. Believe me, it's not a subject I ever thought I would devote a whole post to, but here we are. I don't remember when or even how it started, but one day I became the official coleslaw maker in our family and now it is my most requested dish. My grandmother Opal was the original coleslaw maker in our family and I tired to replicate her slaw for some family event and ever since I've been the go-to coleslaw person. Even my grandmother loves it.

I make coleslaw for every holiday and cookout and all events in between and the funniest bit of all is that I don't even eat it. In fact, I don't even like the smell of it. I like coleslaw in general, but I guess when it's something you make all the time you kind of develop a distaste for it.

I often get requests for my "coleslaw recipe" and I hate it when people ask that because there is no "recipe". I just make it. There are no official measurements and that's what makes it difficult when people ask for the "recipe". Since I made coleslaw as part of our Father's Day lunch, I decided to put it in a post so I can refer people when they ask. There are still no measurements, but maybe this will at least help folks out when they are trying to make it on their own.

Here we go...

The Ingredients: Cabbage, Carrots, Onion, Mayonnaise, and Splenda (or you can use Sugar)

First, I chop the cabbage and then put in the food processor and pulse until it is very fine.  

The cabbage in the processor before it is pulsed

Chopped Cabbage

After chopping a bowl of cabbage only, I chop a bowl with cabbage, carrots and onion. In this case I used about 15 baby carrots and a little more than half an onion. The amount of onion you need will depend on how strong the onion is. You don't want the coleslaw to be overpowered with onion. 

The bowl now contains all chopped ingredients.

I use a spoon this size to scoop out the Mayonnaise. It's a serving spoon - bigger than a Tablespoon, but not as big as a giant serving spoon. The Mayonnaise jar I was using while making this batch of coleslaw was almost empty so I scooped as much as I could. Most of the time, if the jar is fairly full, I will scoop about three or four heaping spoonfuls of Mayonnaise into the bowl. 

 Here is the bowl with Mayonnaise scooped in.

Next I pour in Splenda (or sugar if you prefer). Again, there are no precise measurements, I just pour in the amount that looks good. If I were to guess I would say maybe a cup or so. 

Then I stir everything together. Sometimes I might add more Mayonnaise and Splenda depending on if the mixture is dry or not. Basically I just want it all to be mixed well an all the cabbage, carrots, and onion to be coated with the Mayonnaise and Splenda. (Yes, I keep my mixing bowl in the sink while I'm working.) 

Finally, I place the coleslaw in a pretty bowl, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving. That way it will be cold and all the flavors with me melded together. 

Here's an up close photo of how finely everything is chopped and what it looks like after mixed. 

And that, my friends, is how I make my infamous coleslaw. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out.

Easter Sunday...I Guess You Can Call It That

Last I left you, I was regaling tales of so-called birthday celebrations, which leads us to Easter Sunday in a roundabout sort of way. Weeks upon weeks ago I planned an Easter Sunday dinner for my family (parents', grandparents', aunt, cousin, brother, you get the picture). The dinner was also supposed to double as a birthday celebration for my parents and food assignments were handed out. I have always loved Easter dinner, my fondest memories being of Easter Sundays spent at my aunt Linda and uncle Cecil's, and so I was really looking forward to a good dinner (or lunch if you prefer) with the family. 


After arriving home from the birthday celebration on Saturday I did not feel like cooking in the least. I still had rolls to make and a squash casserole. After sleeping most of the evening away, I did manage to make the dough for the rolls so it would be ready for roll making on Sunday morning. I got up early on Sunday and got to work on the squash casserole. Sadly, I also spent a lot of the morning running to the bathroom (please note I thoroughly washed my hands after each trip). I managed to finish up the squash casserole and make the rolls so they could rise again and then called my parents to let them know I would not be joining in the Easter festivities. I would be dropping off the food and I sure hoped they would enjoy it. I had also planned on making a salad for the dinner, but it did not get made and instead the coleslaw from the night before was served. 


I spent the rest of the morning between the couch, the bathroom and putting food that I would not eat in the oven. However, the morning did not go to wasted as I discovered the most delightful show to pass the time. Time for a side story - A friend of mine had told me about a show entitled "Call the Midwife" that comes on PBS. She said it was grand and I happened to notice that the first episode of season two was coming on Sunday night. So, I logged on to the World Wide Web and discovered that the entire first season was available on the PBS website. There are six episodes in season one and by the time Sunday was over, I had watched all six episodes of season one, the Christmas special (I had to buy it from Amazon for $1.99 - totally worth it) and the first episode of season two that came on that evening. Yes, folks, eight and a half hours of the same show in one day - it was that good! 


Back to the story at hand - Around 11:00 a.m. I took all the food (rolls, squash casserole and deviled eggs) over to my parents' house as well as the Easter bucket I had put together for Sydney. I left everything in the kitchen with a note saying, "Happy Easter! Enjoy the food! Eggs and Coleslaw are in the fridge!" Best I can tell everyone enjoyed the food. I have since found out from one person that unexpected visitors were in attendance and then from my dad that there wasn't enough food - hey, that's what happens when you unexpectedly invite people over for dinner. Just a thought. Hopefully, though everyone got a little tasting of all that was offered and didn't leave hungry. 

After dropping off the food, I came back home and continued my "Call the Midwife" marathon and also looked at the Easter photos everyone posted on Instagram. All my friends and their children looked very springy and gorgeous despite the dreary weather outside - it rained all day. I did finally manage to bathe (always a good thing) and eventually enjoyed a delicious meal of Ramen noodles (please don't be envious). 

Hopefully your Easter was much more delightful than mine and I certainly hope the Easter bunny didn't forget you! 

Work Snack Day 2012

Today was our snack day at work and we had enough food to feed a small army and the food seemed to multiply throughout the day. I arrived around 6:45 so that I could update my morning reports and then help get the conference room set up. The girl who was bringing the tablecloths was running late and so arriving early didn't do me much good as I needed the tablecloths, plates, etc. to set up the room. She arrived a few minutes before 7:30 and I met her outside and helped her bring everything in. We got the room set up and then the food started arriving.

I brought sausage balls and a chicken ball to this work soiree of ours. Some of the other items that were brought included seven layer dip, homemade salsa, cheeseball, spinach dip, Boston butts, Chick-fil-A trays, cookies, cakes, the list could go on and on. There was seriously a lot of food. We ran out of plates before lunch time and had to get another stash from the cafeteria. HR supplied us with a tray of chicken fingers at lunch time and those were devoured so quickly I never even saw them - and I sit right beside the conference room where all the food was being kept.

Snack day is my favorite day of the work year. Everyone is in a good mood and jolly and having a good time. Most of the time we are all just trying to get through the day without killing each other. Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but all our attitudes greatly improve on snack day.

After our first trip round the food table we were joking about how eating was going to put us in comatose state and we would all want a nap. That's when one of the guy's came up with the brilliant idea to take these two photos.

I'm not gonna lie, I could totally have used a nap once or twice throughout the day. I managed to stay awake and I also managed to not eat too terribly much. I wasn't stuffed to the gills and miserable as can easily be the case on days like this. It was a really fun day at work. It's nice to see folks loosen up a little and have a little fun.

Tonight we are headed to The Living Christmas Tree and I hope to have a Friday afternoon post up about that experience. I'm looking forward to it as it is usually a really nice show.

Saturday Morning Baking Class

So, as mentioned previously, we had some superbly delicious rolls at the widow's dinner hosted by my class at church, and after eating these rolls decided I must know how to make them and so I got in touch with the lady who prepared all the food for the dinner. Her name is Christy, and she and her husband live at and run Shannon's House of Compassion, which is a ministry of Mayfair Church of Christ. Shannon's House is a ministry which provides a place to stay, free of charge, to family members who have loved ones staying at the hospital for extended periods of time. If you live more than 25 miles outside of Huntsville and have a loved one in the hospital here, then you can stay at Shannon's House at no cost. Christy and her husband prepare breakfast for those that are staying at the house and if they are cooking dinner that night, the families are welcome to eat dinner there as well. It's a really great ministry.

Shannon's House is located close by the hospital and the entire house has been renovated and it is gorgeous! Erika and I were in awe at all the loveliness of this home. the house was purchased by Mayfair and the furniture was paid for by the church as well (thanks to a special contribution). All the dishes were donated by a long time friend of my family's, Peggy, and a shower was held at the church to stock the house with all the other essential items. They have in the past year or so added a garden out back with a water fountain in memory of a young girl who died in a car accident and there is some lovely furniture out back made by Mennonites. It is really such a cozy and comfortable place and I'm sure that Christy and her husband make it feel like home to all the people who stay there. They have a web site in case you want to take a look and feel free to pass the information along to anyone who may need to make use of Shannon's House. The web site link is here. On the Saturday we learned how to make rolls, there were no guests staying so we had the house all to ourselves.

On to the roll making.... when I mentioned on the blog last week that I was going to learn to make these, Erika left a comment saying she would like to come along as well. So, I asked Christy if Erika could come and she said it would be just fine. After much emailing, we finally decided on the time of 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. I arrived a few minutes before Erika and when Erika arrived, we got right to work. The recipe was super easy to make - a lot easier than either one of us realized it was going to be -and it only took about 15 minutes, or maybe less to mix up a batch of dough. Christy had made a batch the night before so it had already risen and when she pulled it out, it was like the magic of television. She showed us how to pinch off the rolls and told us the best type of pans to use and also showed us how to roll out the dough and make cinnamon rolls. We made three pans - one pan of regular rolls, one of cinnamon, and one mixed - and after 30 minutes of instruction we were done with our lesson. Yes, it is truly that simple.

We tried to help clean up but Christy said her motto is if you clean up she won't have you back and so she refused to let us help clean up - which, quite honestly, was a-okay by me. I took home the regular and cinnamon rolls and Erika took home the mixed pan. I cooked the cinnamon rolls that evening for me and Justin - he had two, I had one, and saved one for breakfast the next morning. I also cooked the rolls and kept two but sent the rest home with Justin. Christy also sent us home with some amazing caramel corn and I may just have to ask her for that recipe as well. It was a fun morning and now I have a great recipe in my arsenal.

Erika adding in the yeast

Stirring up the bread

Adding in some oil

Kneading the dough

The finished product

Tales from the Weekend

Well, we’ve reached the time of year when my schedule seems to pick up along with everyone else’s and I don’t even have any children. I guess by the time school starts back there are just more things on the calendar for everyone, which suits me just fine as it hasn’t been a very busy summer.

On Friday night my cousin Brittany and her daughter Sydney came over to pass the time while we waited on my dad and granddad to come pick us up for the Madison Academy football jamboree. As it turns out, my granddad didn’t go (which wasn’t much of a surprise) and Brittany ended up driving so she wouldn’t have to move Syd’s car seat. The game wasn’t very good as MA trounced Columbia, but I still had a good time visiting with everyone and of course partaking of some concession stand food. I think you all know my avid love of concession stand food.

Syd striking a pose!

Saturday morning I had a haircut appointment for 8:30 and ended up taking The Tide with me. I think I mentioned that her legs have been bothering her some lately and I have suspected for a while that she has arthritis in hips. The past week or so she has really had a difficult time getting on and off the bed or the chair that she likes to sit in and Thursday and Friday she would attempt to get down from the bed or her chair and then would just sit there with a look of extreme sadness. So, I knew it was time to do something about that.

She stayed in the car with the windows down and a bowl of water while I got my haircut and then I took her to the vet where they worked her in. I thought we might be there for hours on end, but it actually ended up being a total of about 30 minutes, which was great. We saw the newest doctor at our vet’s office who we had never seen before. He did an orthopedic exam and The Tide yelped out in pain a few times. It wasn’t too pleasant for this dog mamma either. He determined that she did in fact have some arthritis in her hips and he prescribed some medicine for her. The medicine is injected into her mouth rather than a pill. He demonstrated how it was to be done, I paid the large bill and left thinking it was certainly going to be interesting each morning when I try to make The Tide take this medicine.

Saturday afternoon we had a joint birthday party for my dad’s mom who turned 80 on August 22 and my mom’s dad who turned 77 on August 20. Some of my granddad’s in-laws came in from out of town and then there were a plethora of Parkers there for my grandmother and some friends to boot. We enjoyed a good spread of food and fellowship.

Sunday morning I got up early to put together my grocery list and complete some chores and of course I had the pleasure of attempting to give The Tide her medicine. I finally managed to get it all in her belly. Some of it she had to lick out of my hand. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I went to church and sat with Jackie and her family and afterwards we had dinner on the grounds which was quite yummy. I made my weekly stop at Publix before heading home for my nap.

Me and Troy at lunch on Sunday

My friend Kendra text me right as I laid down to take a nap and wanted to know if I was free at 3:00. She had asked me on Friday about going out to the mall to be a part of that pilot they were shooting for the Food Network. Tyler Florence was going to be there and she wanted someone to go with her. Being the big loser I am, I backed out on her. I had kind of forgotten about it and I really didn’t feel like going. I was so tired and really wanted a nap. (I have been super tired lately for some reason). She said she wouldn’t hate me if I didn’t go, for which I was thankful.

Sunday night I went to church and then came home to eat a variety of leftovers from the weekend and do some laundry, etc. Kendra sent me a photo of herself from her afternoon outing and y’all, she got to meet Tyler Florence! How awesome is that? Guess I should have gone with her after all. Maybe we could have talked him into giving us our own cooking show; serves me right for being a big ole loser and wanting to sleep my life away. Next time I back out on someone, please remind me of this.

Kendra and Tyler Florence!

The Tide, by the way, seems to be feeling much better. She's getting up and down from the chair, bed, etc. and back to jumping up and down when she’s about to get a treat. I’ve got to change her food to a joint formula as well, which won’t be for a while because I just bought a new bag of food – isn’t that how it always seems to go?

Banana Bread and Driving with the Donut

Well, I managed to make it through the week despite all my sinus issues. I'm still not feeling top notch, but alas, life must go on, beginning with some yard mowing on Thursday night. I'm really not looking forward to it; but, it has to be done. I have a couple of random stories to share with you because nothing much else has really been going on. I've spent every night this week watching a movie and going to bed around 9:00 - I'm such an exciting person! So, without further adieu, I give you the following:

A story about banana bread - please try to contain your excitement. So, we have a cafeteria at work which I have mentioned on more than one occasion. I don't eat from there often because I'd rather save money and bring lunch from home and the food isn't always the greatest, although it has immensely improved since I first started working where I do. Also, the prices can be steep if you are not careful.

A while back, the cafeteria started making homemade desserts, some of which are not too shabby. A couple or three months ago, they introduced banana bread to the line-up. I didn't think much of it, but kept seeing people buy it and figured it must be good; but, still never took the banana bread plunge. Then a few weeks ago, the girl I sit with and her sister bought a slice and let me taste it and y'all it was so good! I couldn't believe it had come from our cafeteria.

The next week I gave the girls $1 and asked them to buy me a slice if there was some available. I could not stop thinking about that banana bread and I had to have some. Wouldn't you know it, that particular week, no banana bread was made in the cafeteria. Just my luck. I would go down to the cafeteria every day when they opened for lunch only to be disappointed and then I requested that someone make some loaves!
The week after I struck out on banana bread, the cafeteria made some loaves and so I bought a couple of slices and then someone else bought me a slice. Needless to say, after those three slices (not all in one day mind you) my craving for banana bread had been satisfied and since then I have not been craving it.

Everyone that works with me, however, apparently still thinks I am over the moon for the banana bread because the next week someone bought me a slice and this past week someone bought me a slice and I only ate a couple of bites out of each slice because I didn't really want any. I was thankful for the gesture - it was really nice for those folks to think of me; but, there's only so much banana bread a gal can eat before she is sick of it. You know what I mean?

A story about driving with the donut - I don't really suppose there is any specific tale to regale you with regarding driving with the donut, just that in general, it was terrible. I am so thankful that I was able to have a couple of new tires put on the car this past weekend.

On the Wednesday night that I had the blowout, I had to traverse over Chapman Mountain with the donut to go to church; needless to say, someone road my tail the whole way to the church building. I wanted to slam on my brakes and cause them to hit me if I'm being honest; but, then I thought better of it. After all, the last thing I want right now is a car payment.

Driving to and from work on Thursday and Friday was beyond hilarious. I had the foresight to actually leave the house early and it's a good thing I did because when you can only go 50 miles per hour down the Parkway (and that's the speed limit on that road) it feels like you are driving only 20 miles per hour. I felt like a grandma driving so slowly. Every single car on the road passed me. It gave me a big chuckle, but was still annoying and it made me realize just how fast everyone in Huntsville drives. Seriously, I felt like I was sitting still on the road.

I could probably sit here and write something else about the final week of the Olympic coverage; but, I think I will spare myself and you the misery of the situation. The last week of the Olympics was exceptionally boring television. The closing ceremony was beyond weird and those Ralph Lauren designed, made in China outfits that the USA Olympians were wearing were about the ugliest things I have seen in a long while. I will not be rushing out to get one.

Hope everyone has an exceptionally wonderful weekend!

Restaurant Review: Moe's Original Bar-B-Que

I've got another restaurant review for you today. I guess I've been eating a lot lately, or eating out more than normal anyway; and just a few weeks ago I said I didn't eat out much. I suppose I need to retract that statement.

Sunday after church I went with a few of my cousins to Moe's Original Bar-B-Que. Apparently all my cousins knew about this place because a few weeks ago, someone suggested it but because we had been talking for so long he thought it would be crowded and so we went to Newk's instead. Anyway, I made my first visit to Moe's this past Sunday with a table full of Parkers. Moe's is located on Cecil Ashburn in the same shopping center as Alabama Outdoors.

When I arrived, the line was almost out the door. The menu is printed on the wall and I took a look at it to see what I might want to eat. I decided on a pork sandwich plate which came with two sides and a drink for $9. The non-sandwich plates with two sides and a drink were $10. I chose coleslaw and potato salad as my two side items. Sadly, Moe's serves Pepsi products and so I drank some sweet tea which basically tasted like sweet brown water - there wasn't much of a tea taste to it. That, however, was the only thing about the food at Moe's that I didn't like.

The sandwich came on a grilled bun with red sauce and pickles and was absolutely delicious. I'm rather particular about bar-b-que and am always a bit apprehensive to try new places, but this bar-b-que had a wonderful flavor and was juicy and just generally tasty! The sandwich was piled high with meat such that a lot of it fell off and had to be eaten with a fork. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. A few folks at our table got the quarter (or was it half) chicken and y'all it looked so good - I just wasn't up for plucking my lunch off a bone or I might have gotten that as well. The potato salad was okay, not the best I've ever had but definitely not the worst and the coleslaw was kind of weird, but had a good taste and I put some of it on my sandwich. I almost got black-eyed peas which was a special side item for Sunday as was Mac and Cheese which nearly everyone at the table got and it looked amazing. I wished over and over that I had gotten that. (The more I write about this place the more I want to jump up and go get something to eat from there - it was really good - maybe I'm just super hungry right now). Other side items were baked beans, banana pudding and chips. The plates also come with a side of grilled Mexican cornbread that looked amazing. I didn't try it though so I will just go with what my eyes think.

The atmosphere is exceptionally casual - most of the decor is University of Alabama paraphernalia. I only saw one item from that other school. You order at the counter when you walk in and when your food is ready they call your name and you walk up to the counter to pick it up. There are a plethora of TVs for game-watching or what have you. The folks who worked there were really nice and we didn't have to wait very long for our food. I would say that after paying, our names were called 5-10 minutes later.

My cousin Anna said that one day (Tuesdays or Thursdays) they have a Thanksgiving dinner sandwich that comes with turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce, and my friend Janet said that on Wednesdays they have friend chicken that is supposedly out of this world and it sells out super quick. At the bottom of the menu it says that all food is made fresh daily and when they run out, that's it for the day. Judging by that statement, I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up being closed at dinner time. If you are interested in perusing their web site, here is the link.

Moe's was listed in one of the recent Southern Living Magazines as one of the best bar-b-que joints in the south and I was kind of skeptical but now that I've been, I totally agree. I will definitely be making a return trip to Moe's - sooner rather than later.

Edit: The nice folks at Moe's were kind enough to email me and send me some photos of their delicious food. Check them out below:

Moe's Bar-B-Que Sandwich

 

 Moe's Southern Sides - Yum!

Restaurant Review: Sandwich Farm

Last Thursday, Jackie and I had plans to meet up for dinner. The kids were visiting grandparents and so we set aside some time to catch up. Jackie arrived at the house around 6:00 and we headed out. Our first stop was Greene Street Market; since they have a few booths set up with food I thought we might be able to find something for dinner there. We struck out as far as dinner was concerned, but we did purchase a couple of homemade popcicles that were quite delightful and I also bought some cucumbers as those are my favorite.

In the Go Magazine from the newspaper that same day was a review for a new sandwich shop that had recently opened close to my house and so we decided to give it a try. The name of the place is Sandwich Farm and it is located on Cleveland Avenue next to the Lone Goose Saloon and around the corner from the Lumberyard and Bicycles, Etc. The girl that reviewed Sandwich Farm for Go Magazine said she liked it so much she went back the next day for another sandwich and you know what, I think I could have done the same thing because I kept thinking about that sandwich on Friday and probably would have stopped there for lunch on Sunday had I not been invited out by my cousin.

Sandwich Farm is a very small location. There are only about 10 tables, if that, and if you are handicap-able and in a wheelchair, then you might have some issues maneuvering around - this is something I often observe since my mom is in a wheelchair. She would probably knock over a lot of people or chairs if she were to zip around in there. There was one table away from the others that would probably work out okay if she were to venture out for a sandwich.

The menu is posted behind the counter and rather than simply naming what is on the sandwich, there is actually a picture of each sandwich and how it is stacked. The Go Magazine piece featured a picture of the roast beef sandwich and I had thought about getting it, but Jackie decided to order it and I figured I had better try something else so we could compare notes. So, I got the Turkey sandwich that came with avocado, Havarti cheese, garlic mayo, lettuce, (maybe tomato) all on a baguette. The bread, I must say was amazing. I'm a sucker for a good baguette. The sandwiches come with a choice of a side item - potato salad, coleslaw, chickpeas, and probably another choice or three that I cannot recall. I first ordered the coleslaw and then saw an older gentlemen with potato salad as his side item and it looked really good. So, I asked him how it was and he gave it the thumbs up and so I went and changed my side item to potato salad. I'm glad I did because it was indeed quite good and I am exceptionally picky when it comes to potato salad.

Jackie said the roast beef sandwich was really good - it came with a horseradish mayo (red onions and sharp cheddar which Jackie left off) and maybe lettuce and tomato. I'm doing a terrible job remembering what all was on these sandwiches. The turkey sandwich was also quite good. They also have a meatloaf sandwich and I almost ordered it per the advise of one of the employees. Perhaps I will get that next time. Also on the menu is a vegetarian sandwich, and I'm sure there is a ham sandwich of some sort because everyone has a ham sandwich. They also have a duck confit  sandwich and I will pass on trying that as I'm not a big fan of duck. If you want to skip the bread (why?) you can have any of the sandwiches served over a bed of greens with the homemade vinaigrette dressing. They have one dessert sandwich which consists of blueberries and ice cream between snicker-doodles. That sounds really good to me and if we had not been so full we might have split one. It might even be worth a trip just to give it a try. The sandwiches are around $8 each and the dessert sandwich was around $4 or $5 if I remember correctly.

I realize there are a lot of sandwich places around these parts and everyone has their favorite spot; but, if you are looking to try a new place that serves a sandwich with fresh cut meats, veggies and freshly made sauces, then you should give Sandwich Farm a try. I think you will like it.

My Problem with Raspberries

This post just goes to show you how little is going on in my world right now. I've resorted to writing about produce. I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of most all kinds of berries, strawberries and blackberries being my favorite. Apparently there was a bumper crop of raspberries wherever it is that raspberries are grown because for the last three weeks or so Publix has had raspberries on sale for $1.99 a carton, which is a pretty good price as they are usually upwards of $3.

So, for the past three weeks, I have bought at least two, sometimes three cartons of raspberries as I really love to munch on these and they are better than snacking on some sort of junk food. The problem is that out of the 6-9 cartons I have bought, I have maybe only eaten a total of two cartons because all the others have rotted before I even got a change to eat them.

This past weekend I bought two cartons on Saturday. Sunday night as I grabbed a carton out of the fridge to wash them and put them in a plastic container so I could take them in my lunch on Monday. Much to my chagrin, both cartons had rotting and molded berries. It has become rather apparent that Publix has way more berries than they know what to do with (there weer what looked like hundreds of cartons on the shelf) and the berries are also apparently not flying off the shelves which leaves rotting berries for those of us who do buy them. The bad berries are on the bottom of the carton so the next day or two when I finally go to eat them, the who carton is ruined.

Needless to say, I've learned my lesson (I hope) when it comes to these berries and I will not be adding these to my grocery cart this weekend, no matter how luscious they look. I actually had this same problem with two cartons of strawberries I bought Father's Day weekend. I bought the two cartons to make a cake and in total only about one carton was usable, the others had to be thrown out. Of course, peak strawberry season has passed us by and I'm sure they are not selling as many as they were a month or two ago, but still, the berries should last more than one or two days.

Speaking of berries, I would love to get some really good blackberries. Has anyone seen these at the farmer's market recently? I may check out Greene Street Market this Thursday and see if there are any available. Hopefully they will last more than one or two days.

Father’s Day Luncheon

Well, after the Saturday Cooking Extravaganza, the time for eating came on Sunday after church. As mentioned, I had mixed up the icing for the cake when I got home on Saturday. So, Sunday morning, I loaded up my icing, buttermilk and corn meal and headed to church. Once I arrived at church, I put the icing and buttermilk in the fridge and hoped I wouldn’t forget afterwards. Thankfully, I didn’t.

When church was over, I headed to my parents’ house. My dad had timed the meatloaf per my instructions. I took it out and put ketchup on top and put the cornbread pan in the oven to warm up the oil. I also put the potatoes in the oven to warm and the green beans on the stove for the same purpose and plugged in the fry daddy to fry up the okra. I mixed up the cornbread and got the okra cooking and then had to set the table since my brother was concerned with his own plans, which apparently didn’t include helping (frustrating). What made me chuckle is that he had told my mom that he was going to call me and see if he needed to bring anything… he never called. Then when I asked him to set the table he said he had to go somewhere to pick up some supplies he had left at his last job site and would be back when lunch was done. I was less than pleased because I really could have used some help; but, that’s how it goes when you can’t rely on your only sibling.

Despite the fact I was flying solo, I managed to set the table, prepare everyone’s drinks, and get all the food on the table in a timely manner. I was even the first one to sit down! We started eating about 12:15 (I love it when a plan comes together) and by 1:00 I was cleaning up and washing dishes yet again. That’s how it goes.

I think everyone enjoyed the meal. I know my granddad Ben did. He had three helpings of okra and said, “This is the best meal I’ve eaten since I’ve been sick”. Now he’s been sick on and off for almost three years. So, that’s a long time to wait for a “best meal”. Not sure if he meant that long or not, but it made me laugh all the same.

While I was cleaning up, my dad got a call and had to go out to the hospital to be with the family of a man from church who is sick. The work of a preacher is never done I suppose. Some folks had cake but most people just took theirs to go and we all went our separate ways.

I meant to take my camera with me to get a picture of every thing but didn’t do it and also didn’t take one with my camera. Oh well – there’s always next year!

Saturday’s Cooking Extravaganza

For the past few years on Father’s Day, I cook a big Father’s Day feat for the family. The meal always consists of meatloaf, and the side items vary from year-to-year. This year’s meal was planned to have the side items of coleslaw, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, green beans, and fried okra, and dessert was to be strawberry cake. As I do every Friday, I went to the grocery store and I got all the items I needed to cook this year’s meal.

On Saturday morning, I went to the gym, ran a couple of errands and then planned to start cooking. I ran into a small obstacle in that while I was out running those errands, I started feeling bad. I was either hungry or it was the beginnings of a migraine or both because my vision became spotty. So, I cut the errands short, grabbed a bite to eat and headed home. Once home, I gobbled up that food, took some medicine for the oncoming headache, took a bath, and took a nap. Needless to say, at this point, I was already behind schedule as far as the cooking was concerned.

After napping for about an hour, I got up and grabbed the bag of potatoes from my pantry to start peeling them. However, after pulling out three potatoes, I realized that the whole bag was bad… and I only bought the bag a couple of weeks ago. So, I put on some shoes and went down to Star Market to get a five pound bag of Yukon Gold – my favorite. When I got home, I peeled and cut up the whole five pounds of potatoes and put them on the stove to cook. At the same time, I was cooking the green beans which I had broken up earlier that morning.

While the potatoes and beans were cooking, I made the deviled eggs from the eggs I had boiled that morning, and after that was done, I took a quick break and sat down on the couch to enjoy a couple of deviled eggs (I made some extra) a cold Diet Sunkist. You thought I was going to say Diet Coke didn’t you?

Just as I was enjoying my snack, I noticed it was getting awfully dark outside and the wind was picking up. I got up and went out the back door to get a blanket off the fence line that was hanging out to dry. I brought it in and put it in the dryer and turned on the TV to see what was going on with the weather. Just as I turned the channel to 48, the power went out. This was the first time since the big storms that my power has gone out. A lot of other people in the city have lost power at various times because the system is still fragile, but I have been lucky so far, until Saturday that is. I also want to take this moment to say how awful the “weather people” have been at predicting the weather this past week. It rained when they said it wouldn’t and all day when they said a few hours and there was no indication of rain for Saturday on their pretty maps and radars. Moving on…

Since the power was out and I couldn’t do any cooking, I went ahead and did what I could around the house. Saturday is my house cleaning day anyway and since I was already behind schedule I used the power outage time to do the dusting and cleaned up the kitchen and other things like that. I also turned the eyes of the stove off as soon as the power went out. One of the things I remember most from the out power outage in April was the constant warning of “check your stove and make sure it’s off” since the power went off right during dinner time. I work with a girl who apparently didn’t hear or heed that warning because when her power came back on, so did her stove top.

Finally, after about three and a half hours without power, I couldn’t take the sitting around any longer. So, I packed up all the groceries, some pots and pans and utensils, along with the green beans and potatoes from the stovetop as well as The Tide, and went to my parents’ house to continue the cooking there. At this point it was about 6:00 p.m. I got to their house and got everything unloaded and was back to work cooking a little after 6:30 p.m. and I proceeded to cook for the next two and half hours. I mixed the meatloaf. I finished cooking and creamed the potatoes. I finished cooking the green beans. I made the coleslaw. I cut up and breaded the okra.

I had forgotten to bring my vegetable oil and my parents’ were out. So, my dad made a run to the store and also stopped by Sonic for him a banana split and me a strawberry milkshake. Once he was back, I mixed up the cake and put it in the bake. I planned to mix up the icing while it was baking, but realized I had left the powdered sugar at home. So, I decided to mix it up when I got home and bring it back on Sunday to ice the cake. The cake would have to cool anyway so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

About 9:00, I had cleaned up the kitchen, stored everything away and given my dad instructions on putting the meatloaf in the oven the next day. We loaded up the car with the leftover supplies and The Tide and we headed back home. Thankfully the power was back on (it had come on around 7:30p.m.) and I was able to mix up the icing before watching a little TV and then going to bed. Needless to say, it was the most adventurous day I’ve ever had in regards to cooking.

Thanks For The Salad, Deb

Last week I wrote a post about the Taco Flavored Doritos that have made a comeback and about the salad my mom used to make when I was a kid that was ever so tasty. Well, good ole Deb is a loyal reader of my blog and she made that salad for me this past Saturday. I should have taken a picture of it so you could see all the salad-Dorito goodness, but we were too hungry to take time to stop and do that. The salad was delicious and just as wonderful as I remembered it being. My dad liked it too and so did my mom. I’m not sure about my granddad; he didn’t say much, but he’s more of a sweets man anyway.

My mom didn’t have a recipe and just kind of made it up as she went along. Here’s what all she put in it in case you want to give it a try yourself:

Lettuce – a head of, not the bagged kind
Chives
Tomato
Avocado
Ranch Dressing – Just however much you think is appropriate
Crushed up Taco flavored Doritos

Mix the first four ingredients together then crunch up the Doritos, pour on top and mix again. Serve immediately – otherwise you’ll have soggy Doritos and that’s never a good thing.

You can add other ingredients as well. I remember this salad having cucumbers, but that may just be because I’m a cucumber lover and like to think of all things salad as having cucumbers. We didn’t think about putting cheese in it until the end, but you can obviously add that too. Just make it your own – I promise you it will be delightful!

A Blast From The Past

A few weeks ago, maybe even a month, the author of one of the blogs I read mentioned she had come across the original Taco flavored Doritos during her weekly grocery store trip and she had to buy some. When she later opened the bag and ate them, the taste reminded her of eating sandwiches and Doritos at her grandmother’s house when she was a child. I, also remembered the Taco flavored Doritos, and after reading her post, decided I must buy some if they made their way over to Alabama. I would link to the post for you, but I’m having a problem finding it.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the Taco Doritos at Target. I didn’t get any at the time because it was a quick in and out trip for me and on those type trips I am always determined to just get what I need and then get the heck out of dodge. Last week during my weekly Publix trip, I noticed that Publix had the Taco Doritos and they were buy one get one – in other words, half price! So, I put a bag in my cart and also got a sandwich from the deli and was anxious to get home and eat both the sandwich and the chips.

When I got home and put away the cold grocery items, I grabbed the sandwich and the Doritos, turned on some basketball, sat down on the couch and began to eat. OH MY WORD! You know how a taste, a smell, a song, or a sound will take you back to some place in your past? Well, that was certainly the case with the Taco Doritos. I took one bite and I was swept away to some time in the mid-1980s when my parents had a mauve bedroom with a TV in the corner where we kept our Atari hooked up.

My mom used to make a salad for dinner occasionally and sometimes for church gatherings that had lettuce, and green onions and she tossed in the salad dressing (I think ranch) and mixed it all together before crunching up Doritos and then mixing them in. The Doritos in that salad where the original taco flavor and as soon as that first taste hit my tongue I could taste that salad as if it were sitting right in front of me and I remembered how much I loved it. (Do you remember it mother? You need to get some of these Doritos and make that salad!!! With real lettuce – not the bagged kind. OK? Thanks!)

I don’t know if you remember Taco flavored Doritos or not, but if you do, then go out and get some and maybe you will remember a great story from your childhood or adulthood too. The bag I got was the retro looking bag which says “limited time”; but they are also available in a modern looking bag that says, “They’re Back!”. So, I don’t know if the Taco flavored Doritos are here to stay or if it’s a limited edition or if only the bag is a limited edition; but either way, I’m going to be buying some more of these and hoping my mom will mix up that salad!

Tales from the Potluck Line

Last night Erika and I went to the Ladies’ Night Out event for the month of February. This month we had the gathering at the church building and the menu was taco salad – one of my favorite meals, and Erika’s too.

When Erika arrived at my house for the ride over, we had a few minutes to kill and so I told her the story of my potluck experience at church on Sunday. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to type it out and tell you all yesterday; but, that’s how it goes I guess. This may end up being the week you receive a rather random post each day. I hope you are okay with that.

The story goes like this (and I’m afraid I really can’t do it justice with words alone as a demonstration is an almost necessary part of this story). A couple of our small group teams were having potluck lunch after church and I was invited to stay and eat with them. I have never been one to pass up a free meal, and obviously decided to stay. I was in line with some friends, talking to them as we were awaiting our turn at the table. When I got to the front of the table and picked up a plate, I noticed there was a different person standing behind me. RR, a lady that has been visiting with us for some time now, had magically appeared between me and the people I had been chatting with. I have no idea where she had been previously or how it came to be that she was all of a sudden behind me, but there she was.

Deviled eggs were the first item in the line and I put one on my plate and then decided to scoop out a spoonful of the congealed salad that was next. As soon as I put down the spoon, RR was all up in my personal space grabbing the spoon to put some on to her plate. I was really shocked at how close she was to me – it actually kind of frightened me a bit. In the meantime I had decided that I actually wanted two deviled eggs and went to put another on my plate, all the while, RR was so close to me I thought she was going to knock me over to get to the next food item in line.

It was at this point, that I stepped back from the line, placed my hand on RR’s shoulder and said as politely as I could, “Why don’t you go ahead of me, you seem to be in a hurry.” She passed me up, declared she wasn’t in a hurry, and proceeded to go down the pot luck line with a passion I have never before seen in my life. RR seriously went down the potluck line so fast it was as though she was the Tasmanian devil in the flesh.

So, last night when Erika and I arrived at Ladies’ Night Out, guess who was there? RR! I told Erika to be sure and watch how RR goes through the line. RR’s daughter was there and it was apparent that she learned her lack of food line etiquette from her mother as she was standing so close to RR in the line that it was difficult to tell one from the other.

I proceeded to demonstrate to Erika and some other folks what my experience was like on Sunday. Needless to say, I plan to steer clear of RR any time we have a potluck dinner on the church grounds.

A Recipe for You

I am stuck in an audit all day today. Please pray for my sanity. It’s a little past noon and I’ve been at it for four hours and who knows how much longer I will be in this room. I happened to have a moment right now while the auditor chats it up with another person in the room and so I thought I would do a quick post so as not to disappoint those of you who stop by today.

I mentioned in my More Birthdaying post that Erika had made a Dorito Casserole and Mary left a comment wondering about the recipe. I asked Erika if she would share the recipe so I could post it for you all in case anyone wanted to give it a try. I had some leftovers today for lunch and it was just as wonderful. Give it a try sometime soon.

Chicken Dorito Casserole

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1 can Rotel
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 bag Doritos (crushed up)
Shredded Cheese of Choice
Preheat oven to 400’.

While oven preheats, combine chicken, Rotel and soups. Add a little water if needed.
In a 9 x 13 pan, place a single layer of Doritos “crumbs”. Top with half of chicken mixture.
Add another layer of Doritos. Top with remaining chicken mixture.
Top with a good layer of cheese (Cheddar, Colby, whatever you like).
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

NOTES:
I use the canned chicken you can buy at Sam’s. 2 cans would probably be plenty; add 3 if you like more meat. It’s cheaper to stew a chicken and use that, but it takes a little more time and effort. This is certainly not a healthy dish, but I really like it. Usually I serve it with corn and salad.

Enjoy!
Erika

The Case of the Missing Donuts

Thanks to my college roommate Melissa for saving the day because I seriously had nothing to write about today and she made a suggestion in the comments on my last post that I write about my delayed Fed Exed donuts. Melissa knew about this from following me on twitter and I guess her curiosity got the best of her and she wondered what ever became of my missing donuts. Well, here’s the story…

A long, long while ago, one of the blogs I frequently read had a giveaway and a discount code for low-fat gourmet donuts from Holey Donuts. Needless to say, I didn’t win, but I did peruse the Holey Donut site and found the pictures of their low-fat donuts to make my mouth water. I never placed an order because I found the prices to be outrageous but I signed up for the emails from the company to see what kind of specials they were having, etc.

For months and months I would occasionally stop by the Holey Donuts site and think about ordering, but my stinginess with my pocketbook always prevented me from taking the splurge… until earlier this month.

As I mentioned, I had signed up to receive the company emails to be alerted about promotions and sales, etc. and the first week of January, Holey Donuts offered each box of their low-fat gourmet donuts for only $5.99 a box, and $7.99 a box for their cinnamon rolls. I had a little extra cash that I was willing to part with in order to see if the donuts were actually as good as they looked in the photos and placed an order for three boxes of the Sampler Favorites B. I chose this particular assortment because the donuts that had been calling out to me the most were the chocolate chip and the vanilla frosted and this particular assortment had one of each. Since I had never had any of the donuts before I wanted to get an assortment so as to see which donuts I liked the best in case there was a chance that I couldn’t live without the donuts and placed another order in the future.

So, on January 5, I placed my order and anxiously sat by waiting for them to ship. For states in the east and south, the donuts can be shipped FedEx Ground because they will still arrive within two days and for states in the west, the donuts have to be shipped via FedEx 2-Day. The donuts are handmade in New York and then frozen, packed in dry ice and then shipped. According to the Holey Donuts site, they must arrive in the two-day time frame so as to still be fresh. My donuts were scheduled for a January 10 shipment date and scheduled to arrive at my home on January 12. This would have been great except for the fact that Snow Storm 2011 hit on January 10 and on January 12, FedEx still wasn’t out delivering – at least not in my neighborhood.

So, January 12 came and went with no Fed Ex delivery; as did January 13. Fed Ex had changed the delivery date on the tracking page to January 13 and on that day the tracking page read that my donuts were “out for delivery” but about 5:15 p.m. or so the status changed to a delivery date of January 14. On January 14, the donuts were once again “out for delivery” and finally around 5:30 p.m. or so the FedEx guy stopped by my house.

I asked him if FedEx had happened to keep the delivery in the freezer since the box clearly stated “Perishable Item Please Keep Frozen.” The answer was just as I suspected “no, it’s just been on the truck or in the warehouse.” Great!

So, I brought the donuts inside and opened them up only to find them completely thawed. I took one out to eat right away and put the others in the freezer because the instructions said that even if they were thawed to go ahead and put them in the freezer. In the meantime, I had contacted Holey Donuts and asked them about my shipment. Would the donuts be okay? Would they be ruined? Etc., etc. Only to receive no response until I finally had to call them on Friday, the 14th, before I received the shipment and spoke with a person who said they should be okay. She was wrong.

Since this story is already way longer than you probably bargained for when clicking over here today, I’ll try to shorten it up a bit. Basically, the donuts were extremely dry and did not live up to my expectations. The overall taste wasn’t bad and as I suspected, the chocolate chip and vanilla frosted were the best and the most edible because the icing made the dryness of the donut bearable. The first assortment I opened, I tried all of the donuts. The powdered sugar was terrible – so dry that even soaking it in milk wouldn't have helped. I think I could have broken a window with it as well it was so dry and hard. The original glazed didn’t hold a candle to Krispy Kreme – not that I expected it would, but I thought it might at least have some taste to it. Wrong. The caramel crumb and sugar and spice were good as far as the top of the donut, but again the bulk of the donut was dry and basically inedible. As for the other two assortments, I thawed them out over the last week or so per the instructions (in the box with the lid closed) and they were just as bad. I basically ate only the chocolate chip and vanilla frosted and threw the others away without even a bite.

I received some sparse communication from the company saying that the donuts were supposed to be soft and moist; but I am here to tell you they were not. I kept thinking the company might at least offer to reimburse me the money I spent or offer to send a new box of donuts so as to at least attempt to keep me as a customer, but to no avail. Needless to say, I will never again order donuts from Holey Donuts. They have a lot of rave reviews on their site, but I am beginning to think they are all made up because I had a dreadful experience with them and found their donuts to be less than desirable and their communication was just as bad. Oh well, we live and learn I guess. I just wish it hadn’t cost me $30.

Chex Mix - My Get Together

For those of you who are regular readers, you may remember a few weeks back when I mentioned I was selected by the folks at Pssst to host a My Get Together Party for Chex Mix. I received three bags of Chex Mix (traditional, turtle, and honey nut) a cute bowl in which to serve the Chex Mix, napkins, plates and coupons to pass out to all the people who came.

I invited my American Idol gang to come over and participate in the Chex Mix sampling and they each brought other goodies as well. We had the football game on in the background while we munched away on all kinds of goodness.

I don’t know about the other girls, but my favorite of the Chex Mix varieties is the traditional. I especially love it when I happen upon a piece that’s loaded down with seasoning. The turtle and honey nut are also good if you are looking for something sweet for a snack. I prefer salty foods when I snack… well, most of the time anyway.

We had a great time catching up and I would like to send a special thank you out to the folks at Pssst for allowing me to host this party. Unfortunately I didn’t think to take any photos – it had been a long day – but I can assure you that we all had a good time and left with bellies full of goodness!

7th Annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run – Part One

This past weekend was the 7th Annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run benefiting the Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Fund at Huntsville Hospital Foundation. Jackie and I did the Ribbon Run last year and decided to do it again this year. Jackie’s mom, Jan, was also planning to participate and asked us to join the team she was on, Team Christina (more on this later).

Friday night was the pre-race spaghetti dinner at Huntsville Middle School and we all attended. The dinner was catered by Carrabba’s and was really good. They had ziti (with or without meat), Caesar salad, bread, and brownies and cookies for dessert. We all arrived a little bit after 5:00 and there were not a ton of people there yet, but as we were leaving there were a lot of people coming in so I would say we ate at just the right time.

Troy had red punch, can you tell?

After we ate, we went outside and looked at the luminaries. You could buy a pink bag for a luminary for a loved one who has battled breast cancer. Troy and Ashlyn got two bags for their Auntie Michelle.

We ran into some friends that we knew from church and talked to them for a while and then Jackie and I went over and had our picture taken by a pink tractor. There was a little boy named Steven sitting/playing on the tractor and he wasn’t too keen about getting down so we told his mom he could stay in the picture.

It was a nice evening spent with good friends and good food, which is always an excellent combination.

Up next… race day!