Movin On Up

Matt and I are moving!

Unfortunately that means a disappointing lack of fun food. We are in the process of trying to eat as much food that is in the fridge as possible so we don't have to move it.

In fact Matt told me the other day:
OK. I am officially declaring a Jihad against the food in this apartment!!!

What a goober.

Lebanon Apple Fest 2011

With the coming of fall, comes a plethora of culinary delights. Today was my first time venturing up to the Apple Festival. In the two years of living here, I've never made it up there! Which is probably good, as I'm pretty sure I've gained about 10 pounds today alone!

We had apple fritters, apple cider donuts, apple cider, and, of course, Apples!

We all walked around and partook of the culinary delights that were available.

Unfortunately I was too preoccupied with shoving food in my mouth to take pictures. :-(

I promise, I'll do better!

Dinner Party

Disclaimer:

I'm new to this whole food blog thing, so I apoligize

that there aren't more pics, I will do better, I promise!!

I wanted to host a dinner party for a few friends from work. To spend time together, eat good food, play Michael Jackson The Experience on Wii, but mostly to show off our super cute fall decorations.

So I invited my Big and my Little from work. I should preface this by saying that at work we have a "sorority" Kappa Kappa Chemo. (Yes, we're dorks) So the girl who oriented me, and the one who I oriented came over and we partied like only nurses know how. Meaning: Wine, Beer, Margaritas, Just Dance, and Michael Jackson, The Experience. Oh What a Night!

We had homemade tortilla chips and a fiesta dip for a pre-dinner snack. The chips were just flour tortillas cut into eights and baked at 400 deg. for 8-10 minutes.

I seasoned some with butter and salt, and others with butter and garlic/onion mix. The dip was a multi-layer fiesta! Beginning with a mix of refried beans and diced green chiles, next came a sour cream and taco seasoning mix, followed by blended peas (instead of avacado), onion and garlic, topped with diced tomatoes and cheese.

The dinner included garlic mashed potatoes, creamy broccoli casserole, and prime rib of beef. It was super tasty but there were several changes I would make in the future.

The Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

Our grocery store was out of the head garlic, and the recipe called for two heads to be oven roasted and them mashed up with the potatoes. With this lack of fresh garlic, I used about 2 tsp of minced garlic in the jar. It was good, but I definitely could have used more. Other than that, they were good mashed potatoes.

Creamy Broccoli Casserole:

The recipe called for only one can of cream of chicken soup, it definitely needed two. Also, It could have stood to have some rice in there. I usually make a broccoli rice casserole, where I add rice and use chicken broth to cook the rice right in the casserole. It called for bread crumb and italian cheese to be sprinkled on top during the last 5 minutes of cooking. This was delicious! I used italian seasoned bread crumbs, but any would be good.

Prime Rib of Beef:

I will start of by saying I have the hardest time cooking meat in the oven. I just can't get it to be tender! It is gradually getting better, but my wonderful husband has stood by me and faithfully sawed at whatever I put in front of him. It isn't until I make the comment that it's really tough that he says anything. He's so good to me. :-D

But I digress:

It called for carrots and onions to be chopped up and put on the bottom of the cook pan. Then mix salt/pepper/onion powder/garlic powder and rub it onto the roast. This formed a VERY crisp crust. It also kept the roast moist on the inside. It was just tough. I don't think I'm cooking it slow enough or long enough.

After dinner we had drinking and dancing:

The Echo Restaurant

Last night Matt told me that he was taking me out on a Breakfast Date, but wouldn't tell me where. It was a surprise!

So we roll out of the apartment on his Motorcycle "Betsy the Boulevard" and start riding. I tell you what. I didn't figure it out until we were crossing the street in Hyde Park Square, when I finally exclaimed: Is it Echo?!

Matt, exasperated that it took me so long to figure it out, just looked at me.

I have driving by it numerous times, but could never figure out what type of joint it was.

There was an awning and tinted windows, and always looked deserted. Well we walk in, and it's like walking back into a 50s diner. It was super cute! Old pics and newspaper clipping lined the wall. There were several seating options, booths, tables, or you could sit at the counter!

The staff was super nice, and service was prompt. They had a large menu, but to be honest, I only looked at the breakfast side.

Matt and I both got Steph's Sampler and a side of toast. That came with eggs, bacon, sausage, 2 pancakes, and one side item. Matt got grits, I got fruit. Everything was delicious and well cooked and nothing was exceptionally greasy, which is always a possibility in diners like that.

Moral of the Story: Check out Echo!

Mas Cerveza Por Favor!!

Is what My Wonderful Husband said to me, just now.

It's a little bit of an inside joke for us.

Luckily we have plenty of Cerveza to choose from.

For those of you who like a hefeweizen, we have Blue Moon (my personal Fave)

But, If you like a Pale Ale, We also have Sierra Nevada

If a dark beer is more your style we have Guiness Dark Lagar

And last, but certainly not least, we have....

Drum Roll please...

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.

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PBR

It's the most wonderful time...Of the year!

Yes, I'm talking about FALL!!!

And with fall, comes beautiful scenery, crisp weather, and tasty morsels.

This blog will talk about everything eatable and drinkable.

On Friday, we were feeling very festive, so we decided to make fall fare.

Starting with Pumpkin

Bread,

followed closely

by Apple Crisp,

ending with

regular old White Bread (made from scratch, of course)

They are all SUPER tasty. Well the apple crisp, left a little to be desired, but I think that was the nutmeg. My mother said that I wouldn't really like it, but I was being stubborn.

I took the Pumpkin Bread to work, and it was devoured. I'm a nurse, so anything left in the break room is fair game. It was actually gone by 5pm. So that's good, as I ended up making 2 loaves. That's what happens when you don't fully read the directions. Ooops.

I did go into the breakroom around noon, however, to find this tiny slice cut out.

I have three days off, so who knows what all I will get into, Well, me and Betty Crocker. :-D