Fervent Foodie

N’awlins – part deaux

October 16, 2010 7 Comments

Day deaux in New Orleans started off as any vacation day should: A HUGE breakfast of course.

We woke up bright and early Err… we headed to breakfast at 11:30…. whatev. Our destination was the Old Coffee Pot Restaurant in the French Quarter.

To our surprise, Guy Fieri had just been to the restaurant last month! How cool!

The best part of the restaurant (in my opinion) was the AWESOME courtyard, which had a really intricate mural painted on all the walls.

Gentleman admiring the view:

The service was incredibly slow :-/ but I just had to keep reminding myself to take it easy. I’m used to a much faster pace of life than they have down here, that’s for sure. We were able to get some mimosas pretty quickly, so that helped to turn my frown upside down 🙁 –> 🙂

For breakfast we decided on splitting the Creole eggs and potatoes:

And some creole pancakes with mashed bananas:

Jarrod REALLY liked both of the dishes:

I wasn’t real excited about them though. The banana pancakes were super tasty, just too sweet for my breakfast tooth. And I was really caught off guard by the creole sauce. I expected something spicy, but it turned out to taste more like spaghetti sauce! We decided I was thinking of cajun sauce. Hopefully I can score some cajun food in my belly this weekend 🙂

After breakfast, we walked around the French quarter:

We spotted Cafe Du Monde, which was one on my MUST-VISIT places… but since we were still full from breakfast, we didn’t stop.

Then we walked along the Mississippi River

Until we reached the Aquarium! Neither of us have ever been to an Aquarium before, so we were pretty pumped to check it out!

I soon realized it’s incredibly difficult to capture good pictures of an fish in an aquarium!

Jarrod checking out the fishies:

This one makes me laugh every time I look at it 😀

There were two really AWESOME parts of the aquarium. First, was getting to touch sting rays:

Isn’t that out of this world??

In Jarrod’s words, the sting rays were “creepishly smooth.” I didn’t believe him til i mustered up the courage to touch one as well. After several missed attempts, I was able to brush my hand across one of the stingray’s backs. I immediately flung my arm from the water, squealed like a child, and ran over to Jarrod with my hand stuck out it front of me and a look of fright on my face. Hahaha.. I’m fairly certain I scared all the children waiting in line for their turns. What can you expect though, those things really are freakishly smooth!

The second BEST part of the aquarium was one of the final rooms on the tour that had a floor to ceiling GIGANTIC aquarium with HUGE fish, sharks, and turtles:

I could have sat in here for HOURS! So relaxing.

After the aquarium, we did some more site seeing and then stopped at the Crescent City Brewhouse for a drink:

Even though neither of us are beer drinkers, we both thought the fermentation tanks were pretty cool!

Next stop: Johnny Po-Boys for lunch!

We split the chicken po-boy and the shrimp po-boy:

Then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep! First stop on the dinner path was Pat O’briens Courtyard:

This picture really doesn’t do the courtyard any justice (darn night time pictures). Just trust me that it was AMAZING.

For dinner we split the sampler, which consisted of Jambalaya, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, and Red beans and rice:

This was hands-down our best meal to date in New Orleans. My favorite was the jambalaya, and Jarrod’s favorite was the gumbo. Don’t worry, we wolfed down the red beans and rice too 😀

After dinner, we made a much anticipated return to Cafe Du Monde!

I have been waiting to try these Beignets (French doughnuts) for MONTHS.

That is an extreme amount of powdered sugar! Ready to dive in!

DSCF3826

These beignets were so hot and friggin delicious. Heaven in my mouth I kid you not. We may have to make another stop at Cafe Du Monde this weekend 🙂

After hitting up a few local establishments, we headed to the Casino to get our gamble on. I was feeling lucky, so I popped $5 into a 2 cent slot machine. About 5 minutes later, I decided to pull my money out:

Don’t worry, I lost the remaining 40 cents on a penny slot a few minutes later.

Jarrod nearly lost his $10, but luckily he hit the jackpot on his last spin and was able to get his total up to $9.94!

Given that I didn’t pay for any of my drinks, and that I got to keep the 94 cents because Jarrod hates having change in his pockets, I’d say I came out the TRUE winner this evening 🙂

Restaurants, Travel

Big Easy – Part 1

October 15, 2010 9 Comments

Here’s a recap of our first day in the Big Easy:

Jarrod almost fell down the escalator in the airport. Sadly, I did not capture this on video.

We hopped in a cab and headed to the hotel, which is right on the border of the business district and the French quarter.

Our hotel is super old and super charming:

After we cleaned up, we headed to the French Quarter and stopped in at the first restaurant that caught our eye: Jean Lafitte Bistro… though oddly that wasn’t the name on the front of the building… Peculiar…

View from restaurant balcony:

Dinner!

This pasta sauce was RIDICULOUSLY amazing (though both of us weren’t impressed with the sausage).

I love the old-world charm of all of the buildings here:

After dinner we headed to drinks and some live music at the Blues Club:

Then drinks at the Beach:

Hello Bourbon Street!

Next stop, the Bourbon Street Blues Company

Cheese!

Annnnnd then we went back to the hotel and passed out! Long day of fun in the Big Easy!!

Ramblings, What I ate

Outrageous

October 14, 2010 1 Comment

What could possibly be better than having an outrageously good looking boyfriend? Having an outrageously good lookin boyfriend who likes to cook, of course 😉 I don’t call him Man Candy for nothin’ (scroll to the bottom of this page for the story behind the nickname).

Anytime the BF offers to cook, I’m MORE than happy to oblige. Lucky for me, he offered to cook us dinner Tuesday night 😀

On the menu for the evening was some Italian crusted chicken over penne with a spicy red sauce. First up, the chicken breasts were covered with the contents of an Italian dressing packet along with some garlic powder and onion powder:

Making sure every inch of the chicken was covered with Italian goodness:

Then he popped the chickies into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes–until the chicken was cooked through and was nice and golden brown:

Slicin’ up the goods:

Jarrod is the most precise chopper I’ve ever known.

Chicken + spicy red sauce (with onions of course) + whole wheat penne + parmesan = HEAVEN. Oh and don’t forget the garlic breadstick!

We also cooked up some Jalapeno Popper spread for movie snackin’

We L-O-V-E dips. LOVE them I say. (We used fat free sour cream in place of the mayo on the original recipe)

As I’m typing this post, I am actually on the airplane to New Orleans (my bday present from the MC). Expect LOTS of delicious food pictures, and more than our fair share of Italian feasts over the next few days 🙂 🙂 🙂

Recipes

Pumpkin Cookies

October 11, 2010 10 Comments

I LOVE all things pumpkin. A few years back, I found this recipe for Iced Pumpkin Cookies, and it has been one of my go-to cookie recipes ever since (I do make a few Mary-tweaks). Feast your eyes, my friends.

Feast. Your. Eyes.

Oh yes.

First up, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then combine the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Next, combine the following in a large bowl until creamy:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar

Suga butta:

Then add:

1 small can pumpkin puree (or ONE HEAPING cup)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Once combined, add in the dry ingredients in thirds and mix:

Pumpkin batter:

I use a small cookie scooper to drop the cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I don’t flatten mine like the original recipe states. I like them a lil poofy.

Cook for precisely 15 minutes, immediately remove from the cookie sheet, and pop into the freezer for a couple minutes.

Yes, the freezer:

I’m not entirely sure why I do this, and it is probably an unnecessary step… but regardless I always do it and I think it helps the cookies to stop cooking sooner (which equals super moist and delicious cookies).

Once the cookies are cool, it’s time for icing! You can also make the cookies a day ahead and ice the next day. Just don’t store them in an airtight container (or you’ll end up with mushy business).

For the icing, mix the following in bowl:

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sprinkling of cinnamon

Nom nom nom!

Take a sandwich size plastic bag and place it in a small drinking glass. Pour the icing into the cup:

Mess free!

Snip a small corner off of the baggie and you’ll get oober professional results 🙂

Fancy pants:

Once I ice the cookies, I pop them into the freezer AGAIN:

Ok yes, probably unnecessary. But this helps the icing to set up. At least I think it does.

VOILAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Eat me now.

Since these cookies are super moist and delicious, you do NOT want to store them in an airtight container. I like to keep mine in the fridge and eat them cold.

MMMMMM HMMMMMMMMMMMM GOOOOOODDDDDDD.

This recipe makes 4 dozen pumpkin cookies.

What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe?

What I ate

Loaded Joetato

October 8, 2010 5 Comments

When I first graduated college and entered “the real world” cooking was not exactly my forte. Typically, I’d pick one to two meals for the workweek, purchase all the ingredients on Sunday, and then eat the same thing for dinner for the next five days. Can we say blasé?

Add this lack of knowledge in the cooking-for-one field to my pure disgust for all things raw-meat and you end up with a meal plan that looks something like this:

Spaghetti with red sauce and garlic bread
Chicken quesadillas (using pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, of course)
Ravioli with red sauce and garlic bread
Egg salad
Macaroni and cheese (and garlic bread if I was feelin festive)
Ice cream
Anddddd repeat.

After a few months of this monotony, I started to branch out…. to every local restaurant within walking distance that is. The food was FABULOUS, and the weight gain was… well… FLABULOUS.

Fast-forward a few years. I started to realize that Olive Garden take-out wasn’t the best option for my wallet. And while the Chop House in Cleveland has THEE MOST AMAZING MASHED POTATOES and Fat Fish Blue has fried pickles with hot sauce that rock my friggin socks off, these weren’t the best options for dinner every night of the week.

Dangit.

I love multi-purpose ingredients, but I HATE eating the same foods day in and day out. So how the heck do you eat healthy delicious meals but avoid having to eat the same foods over and over and over again? This is about the time I started batch-cooking basic ingredients to have on hand throughout the week to toss into whatever random concoctions I decided to make each night after work. Additionally, I changed my approach to grocery shopping. Rather than buying ingredients for a specific recipe (that undoubtedly made 6+ servings), I simply started purchasing fresh produce and ingredients that LOOKED tasty and then worked on incorporating those things I really liked into as many different concoctions as I could.

And I FORCED myself to get over my repulsion for raw meat. At first I handled all raw meat with two sets of tongs… Even this method led to sporadic dry heaving… Can you picture forming a hamburger with two sets of tongs?! Trust me… it ain’t easy.

In my house, Sundays are for cooking. Every Sunday, I cook up breakfast for the entire workweek, wash and chop veggies, batch-cook chicken breasts or turkey sausage, and roast up some veggies. Not only does this make healthy eating during the week super easy, but it also cuts down on my work-week cooking time.

Hallelujah.

So where does this lovely story take us? It takes us to a Loaded Joetato. Feast your eyes on this puppy:

This Loaded Joetato consisted of my leftover healthified sloppy joes atop 1 medium sized potato topped off with some fat free sour cream and chopped onion leftover from my chicken quesadilla and some roasted broccoli leftover from my Sunday cookfest.

Ohhhhh Joe.

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