Breathing life into the blog!

So I was gung-ho about the blog and then abandoned it. Bad me. But I didn't really eat much over the summer. HA! Anyhow, here's a quick note.

Since the spring, I have had my family over three times. Not often for most people, but a big production for me. First there was Mother's Day, then my mom's birthday, then my cousin Alison's baby shower.

Here's what we dug into:
Mother's Day
It was so damn long ago and I was a poor photographer that day that I don't remember what I served, except biscuits.

From mother's day

Mom's Birthday
We had a garden theme. I made appetizers and cheating shamelessly by just ordering pizza (but it was by mom's request).

From Mom's Birthday

Alison's Baby Shower
I did a "baby bird" theme and served brunch. De-lish. My aunt made french toast casserole (YUM) and I made spinach quiche, ravioli salad, biscuits, and served fresh fruit and cheese and crackers. The highlight, though, was the baby bird cupcakes. They were silly and delicious; an alternative take on the impossible Martha Stewart design.

From alison's baby shower

What ties these events together is the biscuits. They are such a nice touch. Sure, I bought the supermarket kind that POPS! open and scares the bejesus out of me, but who cares. Someday I'll learn how to make real biscuits. The best part is the honey butter I served with them. I found a few recipes (not that you really need one) and found that you can't simply measure, you have to taste as you go, which can be very dangerous as you can imagine. Basically you let butter sit out until it softens and mixer (with an electric mixer) two parts butter to one part honey, or even as much as half and half - depend on your taste. They really add something cozy to a party, especially when served warm.

From alison's baby shower

I'm so cheesy!

After hearing about, reading about, and passing them in the frozen foods section for years, I stopped in and picked up one of Amy's cheese enchiladas. Everything's all organic, which is not the type of gal I am normally, but I love enchiladas. You could enchilada (that's used as a verb there) a deep-fried hamster, and I'd probably eat most of it, if not all of it.

I need to do further research into this one because when we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago we got one of those super-nuclear power microwaves that obliterates anything you put inside it. So when I put the delicious-looking (albeit frozen) package in the microwave and followed the directions (3 minutes, turn, 2 minutes) I completely obliterated Amy's presentation. Which I'm sure would have looked scrumptious if not for my eighth-circle of hell microwave. (It was so bad...you know how when you over-nuke things they get little puckers and tiny holes all over so they look like the face of the moon? Yeah. My lunch.)

The taste, however, was fantastic. I'm not adverse to organic, but I don't shop for it specifically. This was so delicious, and I've had a lot of enchiladas. The cheesy nature of the enchiladas caused most of the filling to be completely liquefied (but yummy!) all over the corn and beans (also fantastic). I liked the foods in this order of awesomeness: cheesy-enchilada sauce-y filling, yummy corn tortilla, black beans, corn. I'm just not a corn person, but for frozen then microwaved corn - delicious. The black beans were impressive and especially good covered in cheesy enchilada sauce. I added a little sour cream for my own personal tastes (low-fat of course), and a diet root beer just to sweeten the deal. Right amount of spice, nice flavors, everything tasted fresh and homemade. Amy and I could definitely be BFFs, provided she came over with cheesy enchiladas every day.

The rating: it's just the way I feel about enchiladas, but I might have to get nekked for these. Delish.

Kashi deliciousness

It took me a long time to warm up to Kashi as I am a) not generally a fan of "health" food, b) wary of anything that contains quite so much fiber, and c) afraid that everything with that many whole grains (on a mission) will taste like biting into a sheath of wheat. And sometimes Kashi does taste that way (other times it bloats me from a size 10 to a size 14 and renders whatever pants I wore to work that day completely too small to comfortably make it home without unbuttoning). All that aside, I tried (along with Lauren two weeks ago), Kashi's new pizzas.

*Side note: along with my freakish late-developing shellfish allergy, I also have ridiculously high cholesterol, so I try to do whatever I can to avoid getting dead before I'm 30. Kashi and I are very close friends now.*

Admittedly, when I hear pizza, I think of a nice slice of thin crust with that orangey kind of grease floating up to the top and a couple good shakes of crushed red pepper on top. But pizza is pizza at the end of the day, so I picked up Roasted Garlic Chicken pizza, and Mediterranean Pizza at the Giant and we cooked them over at Lauren's. (Additionally, I housed one yesterday for lunch and dinner.)

They are kind of too big to eat alone, but one isn't really enough to split as a meal. Thinking along the lines of cooking for one, it's probably not a horrible idea to cook it and cut it and immediately hide half of it from yourself (definitely necessary in the case of the Mediterranean) and take it for lunch the next day or dinner the next night. But if you're only having half of the pizza (or a third, as they suggest) you'll need a salad or something. Come to think of it, the Mediterranean would have been delicious with little chicken on top of it, so there you go - add chicken, add protein.

The Mediterranean was my favorite. Roasted veggies, feta cheese, spinach, red onions. The flavors were good, the crust was crunchy and did not taste like cardboard. The Roasted Garlic Chicken (RGC) was also delicious. Ditto on the crust. I'm a big fan of red sauce on pizza, so my one beef with the RGC was no red sauce, but the garlic level was manageable - I wasn't covering my mouth the rest of the day to talk to people. Incredibly delicious, both of them. In fact, at one point, I was alternating bites between both pieces of pizza. And washed down with a Diet Sunkist orange...magnificent.

Overall, the pizzas are a little more expensive than Ellios (duh) but the ingredients are more expensive, and taste is definitely more developed, and I'd buy them full price (but especially on sale).

Rating:
Mediterranean - totally naked. Fantastic pizza.
RGC - down to my undies. It's definitely good.

A rating system you can believe in!

We tossed around some ideas (and we may continue to toss around some more). Just imagine all our ideas in a plastic to-go salad container, and we've added just the right touch of low-cal dressing, and now we're shake-shake-shaking it all together. One of the most rewarding things about eating salad is the salad shake. So satisfying.

The rating system, as I am pleased to announce it, goes somewhat thusly.

Imagine that each food/restaurant/recipe we bring to you here is a man. And imagine we, the eaters, are spending a somewhat amorous evening with that man (food/restaurant/recipe). Each food/restaurant/recipe is rated according to how many articles of clothing we would voluntarily remove for this man.

If you happen to take a glance back at my review of Garibaldi's in Savannah, you'll note I wasn't thrilled. I'd say that, for Garibaldi's, I'd take off shoes, socks, and maybe a cardigan (leaving a shell underneath at all times!). However, for The Lady and Sons, I'd probably get naked. See the difference?

Look for the rating system in our upcoming posts.

Egg Salad - Rediscovered!

As a kid, I LOVED egg salad. So I decided to try a slightly more grown-up version for dinner last night.

BIG-GIRL EGG SALAD

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/8 C chopped onion
1 tbsp light mayo
pinch curry
pinch cayenne
salt & pepper to taste
lettuce leaves
2 slices Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Bread (with 5g of fiber per slice!)

Directions:
Put eggs in a medium saucepan; fill with water about a half-inch or so above the eggs. Bring to a gentle boil; remove from heat & cover, letting it sit for 7 minutes. From there, immediately remove eggs and place them in a bowl of ice water for 3 minutes. Peel under running water.

Place whole eggs, mayo, and spices in a medium bowl, mash with a large fork. Toast the bread slightly, but let it cool before spreading half of the egg salad on one side. Top with lettuce leaves and the other slice – done!

Notes:
I prefer to leave big chunks of egg and yolk, so it isn’t too-too blended, just enough to mix in the spices. As a quick side dish, I thawed and steamed frozen broccoli (I didn’t have fresh, which is SO much better), tossed it with a little olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, grated romano, and seasoned bread crumbs. Yum.

Savannah Run-down

Savannah, if you've never been, is beautiful. Very historical but very accessible. But we're not here to talk about tourism. At the moment.

Food itinerary goes thus -
Friday: ice cream for lunch, The Lady and Sons for dinner.
Saturday: brunch at Express Cafe and Bakery, snack poolside, Garibaldi's Cafe for dinner.
Sunday: breakfast at the Westin Club Grille, all other dismal and overpriced meals for the day at the airport.

As far as the ice cream goes, we picked it up at the delicious smelling River Street Sweets on River Street. It wasn't hand-churned or authentic in any way - it was Edy's - but it was magnificent, and good on the go. And Stacie and I were on vacation, so there's nothing like throwing all caution to the wind and eating ice cream for lunch.

The Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant) was very, very easy to find. We spent most of Friday wandering the streets and getting our bearings. The city is a series of squares, the streets run straight, and if you have an eye for landmarks (don't use the squares as landmarks. There are 24), you'll have no trouble. The Lady and Sons is on West Congress and Whitaker, and it's three stories.

The inside is simple - wooden floors, beige walls with ivy stenciled on them. Great old (or distressed) wooden tables. Quick, friendly service. Lots of people saying "y'all" who can't wait to help you out. We ordered the fried green tomatoes because we couldn't resist, and then got the buffet, which was six different kinds of amazing.

The buffet on Friday night (it changes nightly) was fried chicken, smashed potatoes, chicken fried steak and gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans and potatoes (my first potatoes since starting South Beach on January 3), a seafood boil with corn and all kinds of seafood. Here's my seafood disclaimer: I can't eat anything but fish or squid. Shellfish will kill me - literally. So if you want a review on shrimp and lobster and crabs and crawfish and anything of that nature, stick with Lauren and Stacie. There were also steamed shrimp, cheesy grits, collards, and macaroni and cheese. The salad bar was also pretty well stocked. I also had a lovely glass of lemonade. Dinner was capped off with a bowl of banana pudding with Nilla wafers. Perfect. The collards and green beans had a little heat to them - not sure from what, but definitely delicious, and I offset that with some sweet potatoes anyway. The chicken was crispy, not over-breaded, and definitely delicious with a little bit of Paula's own hot sauce on the side. I felt like I was finally getting in touch with my grandfather's long-lost southern roots, and went in for a second helping of collards. The fried green tomatoes had a little heat too, with a spicy red pepper topping and a sweet Vidalia onion relish on the side. Incredible. The waitstaff was friendly, and our waitress didn't fall off the face of the earth as some are prone to doing.

Saturday morning we grabbed some coffee, caught the water taxi and went to grab breakfast/brunch at Express Cafe and Bakery, which was not only adorable but fantastic. And the name is accurate - very quick and hassle free so we could be on our way. It's on Bull and Barnard, and if you grab a window seat you can see the square and do some people-watching. I had the bagel with lox and cream cheese (they also offer tomatoes and capers on the side, but I opted out) and some apple juice. The bagel was nicely toasted, the lox was nice and thick (not too thick) and seasoned wonderfully. I don't know how much they had to do with that, but they bought it, so kudos on picking out yummy stuff. The bagel was pumpernickel and I'm assuming was baked on premises.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jp.nagel711/Savannah/photo#5173340638363473426

Here's the important one. My abysmal dinner on Saturday night. We asked the concierge for a recommendation (great lady, Mary. Our new best friend), and she recommended Garibaldi's on Congress, and called and made reservations. I called later from Forsyth Park to confirm and get a time for the reservations; Mary called and left a message saying that she'd confirmed our reservations for 7:30. When we got to Garibaldi's, there were no reservations in our name, even though Mary and I had both spoken to (in all likelihood) a manager. They accommodated us after I got a little Philly on the hostess, but gave us a small table very near the front of the house. Very loud, and distracting for me as I watched people walk in and out the whole time. I ordered a Libaio chardonnay (admittedly because it was the cheapest one and I was on a budget!), split the calimari, and had crispy duck in a ginger soy glaze with green beans and mushroom risotto. The chardonnay was a little weak and lacking in that crisp wine-ness I was looking for. Not watery, not fruity, but definitely not dry. It seemed to be nothing a wine usually is, but drinking it fast enough helped me forget about how angry I was at the hostess.

The calimari, served with an apricot sauce, was fantastic. Not too much breading, the right amount of crunch - very delicious. The house bread is also noteworthy. It comes out hot and fresh, sprinkled with rosemary and sea salt. I considered forgetting the whole reservation thing in exchange for a loaf of bread. The duck was fine, but I won't give it more credit than that. It was duck with yummy stuff on top. The mushroom risotto was also fine, but nothing on my plate was exceptional. Once I'd eaten most of the glaze off the duck, I was done. We split Tiramisu which was made with angelfood cake (blasphemy) and not nearly enough Kahlua. In fact, in the two bites I took before I gave up, I didn't taste any Kahlua. I was disappointed, pissed off, still a little hungry, and furious that I'd spent money at a place that did nothing for me. (Side note: the ghost tour that followed dinner was enough to make me forget, so if you must eat at Garibaldi's, go see some ghosts after so you can forget your dinner experience.) Additionally, at least a dozen waitstaff were hustling up and down flights of stairs and were obviously stretched pretty thin. I never lost sight of our waiter, who was very nice, but he did have plenty of other people to attend to at any given time. He was occasionally difficult to track down, but was friendly, polite, and helpful.

In short, Savannah: beautiful, warm, sunny, and moderately-to-severely delicious.

South Beach Living: Garlic Parmesan Chicken

At the start of 08, I began the South Beach diet and it worked great for a few weeks, but my schedule was impeding my ability to stay away from carbs/quick meals. My biggest downfall was Smart Ones or Lean Cuisines, good choices normally, but way out of the realm of low-carb eating.

So I've pretty much abandoned the no-carb thing, but I still try to watch that I don't overdo it. Enter South Beach Living (note: "Living" not "Diet") frozen meals. Wahoo! I sure was excited. The box is kind of big which led me to believe I'll feel super full.

The description: white meat chicken strips, rigatoni pasta, broccoli, red bell peppers & asparagus in garlic parmesan sauce.

The reality: white meat chicken strips [The chicken was actually quite good for a frozen meal. It had those cute pretend grill-marks, and wasn't dried out from the microwave time.], rigatoni pasta [Since this is a South Beach meal, I purposely counted the pasta: about 10 rigatoni, which was decent enough. I thought it was whole wheat pasta, because it tastes slightly different from regular pasta, but the box doesn't mention it. Perhaps it has added fiber], broccoli [Typical/good.], red bell peppers [Typical/good.] & asparagus [It was cut into such small pieces that it didn't seem like asparagus to me, but it was also good.] in garlic parmesan sauce [The sauce was a little thin, but definitely tasty].

And while I don't always care about the nutritionals, I'll provide them here for those interested: Calories: 270, Fat: 10g, Carbs: 22g, Fiber: 8g, Protein: 26g.

Definitely gets a thumbs-up, great when you're in a rush, and proved to be filling. Hooray!