Peppermint Bark

So I want to first start out by apologizing for my extended absence. Life got busy and I have had a really hard time finding new recipes to try. That hasn't changed, but this is one of my favorite recipes and I make it a lot during the holidays, so I decided to post it. This one is so incredibly easy too, and truly only takes about 10 minutes to make, and then it just has to sit for an hour. At first glance it will look like a lot, but that's just because I tend to be a little wordy.

The ingredients are very simple:
1 bag white chocolate morsels
A little olive oil
24 peppermints
Wax paper

I put the peppermints in a small Ziploc baggy. I try and do both green and red peppermints because I personally think it looks prettier, but you can use all of whatever color you want. Then the fun part. I grab a hammer, go out to my back porch, lay down the bag and break up the peppermints. You want to have a little bit of powder, and then a lot of pieces about 1/4 the original candy.

Now put the wax paper over a small cookie sheet. Put the morsels in a microwaveable bowl, and pour the olive oil on top. I've never measured this part, but its probably about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Microwave for 30 seconds, mix, and microwave another 30 seconds. Keep doing this in 30 second intervals until it is all melted.

This part is optional. I do this because it makes the bark more minty throughout. Grab a sifter, and use it to sprinkle the powdery part of the peppermints into the melted morsels. Stir this well to get the minty flavor throughout.

Now you pour the melted morsels onto the wax paper on the cookie sheet. Spread for desired thickness. Sprinkle the peppermints on top, pushing the larger pieces down a little so they stay in place.

Refrigerate for 1 hour, then just break into pieces and put in your favorite holiday tin.

I love having these with coffee; either melting it in the cup, or just eating as I drink.

I hope this is easy enough and that people try it. This is the first recipe I suggest when someone wants something easy to make for the holidays.

New Recipe: French Toast

I know it seems silly to post a French Toast recipe, but I had never made it before, and it was really good.

Ingredients:
King's Hawaiian Sweet Bread
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Butter or oil for frying
Maple syrup

1. Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
2. Dip bread through this mixture (do not soak).
3. Melt butter in frying pan or skillet. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
4. Serve with maple syrup.

Again, it was so simple, but it was really good! Danny had been craving French Toast for a while, but we've been too busy the last couple weeks for me to make it. I think he was very happy. I even made cute little shapes with my cookie cutters. It's a football helmet and a fish since he loves football and going fishing :-)

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Pictures from Bataar Mongolian Grill

I had posted a restaurant review back in May for Bataar Mongolian Grill. The place was really good, but that first time our food was WAY too spicey! Well, we went there again last weekend and were both much more conservative as far as the spices we chose. I have to say, I still have to tweak mine a little, as this last time it wasn't spicey enough, but Danny said he got his just right.

I remembered to take pictures of the food this time, so I'm writing this blog simply to show you how much food you get! This is my meal, soup, and some things off the salad bar. I didn't even bother going to the dessert bar, because I didn't even begin to make a dent in all of this food, so there was no point. And I think for the 2 of us it was only like $20! There is so much food that I had leftovers to take for lunch at work the next day :-)

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Restaurant Review: Five Guys Burgers and Fries

So we decided to try this burger place for lunch today. We had seen it around a few times and kept meaning to try it, but hadn't gotten around to it, until today. We went to the one in Southlake because that's where we were, but we had first spotted the one in Hurst.

To start off, we went around 2pm, and it was PACKED! I think there had just been a rush when we happened to go because it did calm down a few minutes later. The place is very LOUD. And the way the tables were set up...I didn't like it. I've never been to New York, but it was set up the way I've heard New York is and would imagine it to be. A lot crammed into a small space, and tables just on top of each other and you are having to share with strangers. I didn't like sharing my table...I prefer for it to be just me and Danny, not other people sitting that close to me. The price was decent, $15 for 2 burgers, a GIANT side of fries which is a 'Regular', and 1 drink that we shared.

The burger was okay. Not great, but not terrible either. I definitely prefer Red Robin's burgers to this place, but I definitely prefer this place to McDonald's, Sonic, OC Burger...and any other fast food place where I've tried their burgers.

I would eat there again, under the right circumstances. I would not eat here if I were near the Hurst location, because Red Robin is in the same shopping center and is a much better burger.

I can't post the address because the website store locator apparently sucks and it won't load or do anything. The rest of the website seems to be working, just not the locator. It's www.fiveguys.com if anyone is interested in checking them out.

No pictures because it was just a burger wrapped in foil, nothing special about it.

Restaurant Review: Funky Baja's Cantina

Let me start by saying that no, this is not the same Baja that I keep saying I need to review that has the amazing margaritas, though they are related. This place is the more affordable version of the original Baja. The food is cheaper, and they have good drink specials. We went last night when the special was $3 crown and downs. I got a crown and coke and for $3, it was pretty strong, which of course made me happy.

We didn't try their margaritas, and I didn't see anyone else in the place drinking them, so not sure about them. My friend that we went with said she has tried them before and they are okay, but not as good as the original Baja.

As far as food, I ordered chicken quesadillas and they were okay. Definitely not the best I've ever had, but I was hungry and they filled me up and I had plenty of leftovers for lunch today. I was more impressed with the guacamole and Pico on the side. They were very tastey and really helped spice up the quesadillas.

Danny ordered the spicy sliders and said he wouldn't get them again. They came with some random fried onion chip things...I think he tried one of those and left the rest alone. They didn't look good to me at all, and there was no way I was about to try them if he didn't like them.

I do have to say I was annoyed by the chips and salsa. More that we had to ask for it and pay for them. I'm sorry but with the name "Baja Cantina," I shouldn't be having to pay for chips and salsa. You should get it for free at a Mexican restaurant. The salsa was very different from the original Baja. It was good in a different way, but I prefer the original.

The price was good though. We got 2 drinks each and both ordered a meal, and the chips and salsa and it was only $29, whereas at the original we always share 1 appetizer, and chips and salsa are free, we usually pay around $35-40.

So all in all, a decent place. Drink specials were good and food was okay, depending on what you get. We will go back I think.

Sorry for no pictures, it was really hot in there and I was not thinking about my phone.

Which reminds me, they need to crank the a/c because we were dying.

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Recipe: Stromboli

I will start by saying that I am going to post the original recipe I found, and then I will say all the changes I made. It's a great recipe for a base, but it's awesome because it is so easy to customize it to your personal preferences.

Ingredients:
1 (10 ounce) package pizza crust dough (you will need one for every Stromboli you are making)
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 cup cooked Ham, diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 (14 ounce) jar pizza sauce
1 (4.5 ounce) can mushrooms, drained
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (8 ounce) package sliced pepperoni sausage
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef until no pink shows; drain. Mix in the Ham, bell pepper, onions, pizza sauce and mushrooms.
3. Lay the pizza dough flat on cookie sheet. Put a layer of cheese on one side of dough. Distribute pepperoni slices over cheese. Place a heaping pile of the sauce mixture on top of pepperoni. Sprinkle with more mozzarella cheese. Fold dough over and pinch ends and sides together. Poke holes in the top and brush melted butter on it.
4. Cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Slice in half to serve.

Now, anyone who knows me and has been keeping up with this blog knows I don't ear pork of any kind, so for me that rules out the Ham, and pepperoni. So since I don't want those, I don't bother with the ground beef either. Instead, I make myself a vegetarian Stromboli. I cut up several different kinds of bell peppers, onion, and mushrooms for myself. For Danny, I put pepperoni and mushroom and extra cheese.

This makes a huge Stromboli, and we always have leftovers for lunch the next day. This is one of Danny's all time favorite meals. I was actually supposed to make it 2 weeks ago, but other things came up and it just didn't happen. He's been asking about it ever since, wondering when I was going to make it. I think he would say it was definitely worth the wait.

The picture is only half of the Stromboli.

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New Recipe: Banana Pudding

So I decided to make banana pudding very last minute on Friday because I had a little nervous breakdown last week and Danny was such a trooper and was so patient and understanding and sweet to me, that I felt he deserved a treat. He loves pudding and bananas, and its very rare that we have dessert in the house, so I felt it was appropriate.

Ingredients:
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups cold water

1 (4 serving size) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups whipping cream, whipped
36 vanilla wafers
3 medium bananas, sliced and dipped in
Lemon juice

1. In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk and water. Add pudding mix; beat until well blended. Chill 5 minutes.
2. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon 2 cup pudding mixture into 2 1/2 quart glass serving bowl
3. Top with 1/2 each of the vanilla wafers, bananas and remaining pudding. Repeat layering twice, ending with pudding mixture. Chill thoroughly. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

Now, I have to say the only reason I don't have a picture this time is because, believe it or not, I don't have a pretty glass serving bowl. I really should get one...but anyway, I put it in a random bowl I had which is not very pretty, and I wasn't about to post that. Maybe I will get a nice bowl sometime soon and make it again and get a good picture.

Anyway, this turned out to be really good! It sure does make a lot though! Good for a party, but too much for just 2 people. I used cool whip instead of whipping cream (less work for me) and it still tasted amazing. I used the light cool whip, fat free pudding, and reduced or low fat wafers. Not to say this dessert is good for you, but I made it not as bad for you by doing this, and again, it was great.

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Restaurant Review: Ginza Sushi

We had some friends of ours invite us out to the lake a couple of weekends ago, and when we left, one of their favorite sushi restaurants was just down the road, so we all decided to go and try it out.

Again, I forgot to take pictures (I'm so bad at that when it comes to sushi! I don't know why!), but I can tell you it was a lot of food. We were there for dinner on a Saturday night, and it wasn't very busy. We didn't have to wait to get a table, and while there were definitely other people there, it wasn't completely full.

After a LONG look over the menu, I eventually decided on something with 3 different rolls on it. I can't remember what it was called, but I kind of settled. Again, I know I'm new to sushi, but I prefer to eat shrimp, and I really don't like places that make it difficult to select a meal that has shrimp, without having to also get something like salmon. So that was strike number one. I did eventually find something with shrimp, crab, and something else...I can't remember. California roll maybe? I dunno. Then we got our soups. I LOVE miso soup, so I ordered that. And it was very good! But it did have some huge green leaves of something floating around in it which I was NOT a fan of. I had to pick around them and wasn't able to truly enjoy my soup because it felt like work because of them.

When we got our food, like I said, it was a LOT! I learned that I am okay with eating sushi that has crab in it. I wasn't too thrilled about it to begin with, but it was pretty much the only thing on the menu that had shrimp in it. It was all decent. I can't remember what the other roll I had was, but it was okay. Nothing wonderful about it, but nothing terrible about it either, just meh. The crab roll was better. I still don't really prefer crab, but I know now that I can at least tolerate it or try it in different ways. The shrimp roll was REALLY good! I'm one of those people that when I eat, I save the best thing for last, and it was definitely the last thing left to eat off my plate. I was pretty impressed with it, but not really enough to say that I love this restaurant, simply because I had to tolerate everything else in order to enjoy the shrimp.

Not the best sushi I've ever had, but far from being the worst too. I would eat it again if everyone else wanted to go there, but I wouldn't suggest going there if it were up to me. I will stick to my places that offer more varieties of shrimp.

Ginza Asian Bistro and Sushi
5244 S Tx-360
Grand Prairie, TX 75052

Restaurant Review: La Familia

This is one I've been to a few times, and while I don't really love their food, it's not bad, and that atmosphere is pretty cool.

Upon walking into this place you will see a sign on the doors that says (and I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember if this is word for word), "If you can find somewhere that uses fresher ingredients than us, then eat there." Which I find to be pretty funny. They claim to make everything fresh daily, nothing held over from the previous day. I have to say, my favorite thing about this place is their salsa. It's really good and as they say, amazingly fresh. I don't care much for their queso though. I don't know what it is, but I only had 1 chip with queso on it and had no desire to have another. The chicken tortilla soup is pretty good, though it seems to change drastically every time we go. This last time it tasted more like a minestrone soup than chicken tortilla. It was really good, but not what I expect out of a mexican restaurant.

Every time we go, Danny gets this drink, I think they called it a turnarita, but it's a margarita with a beer in it (see picture), and they light it on fire when they bring it to you. They place 2 sugar cubes that are soaked in everclear on top of two limes, and light them up. It's pretty cool looking. You can choose whatever kind of beer you want to go in it. This time around Danny got Victoria beer because that's what our friends were drinking, but normally he gets Modelo. I keep saying Danny, because unless it's from Baja Grill, I don't like margaritas. I still need to write a review of Baja...hopefully soon. Anyway, that's getting off topic.

This time around, Danny and I just shared fajitas, and no, there were not fajitas for two, they really think one person can eat all of this. We brought them home and Danny had plenty of leftovers. There is a picture of them below as well. I wasn't very impressed by the fajitas though. Of course, I don't typically go for fajitas when we go out, which I guess could have something to do with it, but I really think it was the rice, beans, and tortillas. The rice and/or beans (I'm not really sure) had some kind of weird nut thing in them that was not at all appealing to me. And the tortillas...they were TINY, and I don't know what it was about them, but every time I tried to put something in them, it would break. Not very soft I guess. I got frustrated with it and just ended up tearing the thing up and dipping it in the salsa and guacamole like it was a chip.

The place is decorated really cool though, and the staff are very attentive and friendly. The owner shakes your hand when you walk in, and one waiter explained the turnarita to us...and I'm not going to go into it because it was a little bit dirty, but HILARIOUS! We were all laughing our butts off!

So anyway, the only reason we really go here is the salsa for me, and the beverage for Danny. And it's down on W. 7th St. in downtown Fort Worth, which is a neat area so that helps. If it came down to my craving really good mexican, I would definitely not go here. But for a night out with friends, it's a definite win.

La Familia
841 Foch St.
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Recipe: Crockpot Pepper Steak

This is one of my favorite meals and it is sooo easy because of the crockpot. It actually started out as a meal that Danny would sometimes make for his one night a week to cook, but he didn't use the crockpot, he just made it in the skillet. He told me once that I took his recipe and perfected it :-)

Ingredients:
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 medium onion
1 can Hunt's fire roasted tomatoes
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1.5-2 pounds stew meat (depending on how much meat you like in your meals)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon garlic salt
Minute rice

1. Cut up all bell peppers and onion into 1x1 inch squares.
2. Season stew meat with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.
3. Put stew meat in crockpot. Top with canned tomatoes. Pour peppers, onions, and minced garlic on top.
4. Cook on low 5-6 hours.
5. Serve over rice.

This recipe makes a LOT of food for 2 people, but I always make this much because we both love it and will eat the leftovers. Make sure when you cut the onions that you peel apart all of the layers, otherwise they will cook in large clumps and not be evenly spread out.

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Recipe: Easy Cheesecake

So I have this extremely easy no bake cheesecake recipe that I've made several times now. I always get compliments on it, and I seriously think it only takes about 10 minutes to make, if that.

Ingredients:
1 8oz. block cream cheese
1 8oz. tub cool whip
1 cup sugar
1 Graham cracker crust
1 tablespoon vanilla
Pie filling of your choice (I always use cherry)

Mix everything together, pour into crust and refrigerate 4 hours before serving.

The only thing I do differently, is I scoop some of the gel from the cherry filling (making sure not to get any of the cherries) out and mix with all the other ingredients to make the entire cheesecake taste like cherries. You can still add the rest of the top when done to give it even more flavor.

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Restaurant Review: Logan's Roadhouse

I know this is a chain restaurant, and I don't typically write reviews on them, but we went there yesterday and our experience wasn't all that wonderful, so I thought I'd share.

We've been to Logan's on a few other occasions, and I think we've always gone to this one location. We had found a coupon a couple weeks ago (we are attempting this extreme couponing thing, I should write a blog about that too) for buy 1 entree, get 1 free on July 3rd and 4th. So we've been looking forward to it for some time. I should start out by saying that we probably sat at that table for about 10 minutes without anyone coming over and saying hello and offering to get us drinks. We finally had to flag down a waitress and ask if we could get something to drink, strike number 1. She eventually got our drinks to us, answered a couple questions we had about the coupons, and then left us to make our final decision before we ordered. I was really thirsty, so my water was already pretty much gone, and it took her a while to come refill my glass, and when she did, there wasn't much water left in her pitcher, and it didn't even fill my glass half full again. She eventually came back with a full pitcher and refilled my glass, that by this point was completely empty again.

Normally when we go, Danny gets a steak and I get a salad. They have a really good "Kickin' Logan's Chickin' Salad" that I am quite fond of. But I figured, since my entree was going to be free (Danny's steak is like $15), that I would try one of their smaller steaks as well. I opted for the 8-ounce cut Sirloin. The 6-ounce would have been fine, but I'm weird about my steak, and I cut off all of the outside edges and don't eat them, so I went for the 8-ounce so I would have more than just a couple of bites left after that. We both got salads as one of our sides, and Danny ordered french fries as his other, and I ordered a baked potato. Let me say right here, we had our 15 month old nephew with us, and the reason Danny ordered fries was for him. 

It took FOREVER just to get our salads! And they had a strange taste to them...not sure what was up with that. We then received our entrees, and Danny didn't get his fries. Had to wait a while to see our waitress and flag her down, and then had to wait a while after that for her to bring us the fries. Luckily the kid was fine with eating our bread rolls so it didn't seem to bother him.

Now, for the steaks. I will start by saying that the size and cut of the steak was perfect. Danny and I cook steaks every Sunday, and while I love my husband more than anything, he likes to buy these gigantic cuts of steak with the bone in them and a lot of fat on them. I don't like this. I hate having to cut around the bone, and I feel like we waste so much money on these things for all the fat we get that I refuse to eat. But he likes them, and we cook steak for him anyway, not for me, so I just deal with it. But that's where the greatness of this Logan's steak ends. It had absolutely NO flavor! The steaks we cook ourselves taste 100 times better. I don't know what it was, but it was just very blah and boring. Thank goodness mine was free, because if I had to pay for that, I would have been very upset. I will definitely be sticking to my salad from hereon out.

And the service...the place was not really busy. I mean, it wasn't empty in there, but considering there was no line of people waiting to be seated, you walked right in and got a table, the service should have been better. I guess maybe it's possible that they were short-handed because people probably called in sick because of the holiday weekend, but still. I'm not a very demanding person when I go to a restaurant, and honestly works really well with me. Just tell me from the beginning, I'm sorry, we are short-handed today, and I will understand. Just keep my water glass full and get me a drink within a decent amount of time of me being there, and I can pretty much be fine with having to wait a little bit longer on my food.

Anyway, I'm sure we will probably go back eventually, it's not like we eat there all the time anyway, but I really hope the service is better, and I look forward to my salad!

Logan's Roadhouse

5912 Quebec Street

Fort Worth, TX 76135

Restaurant Review: Bad Azz Burrito

First I would like to apologize for not writing in quite some time. Though it seems like nobody really reads this, so I guess people aren't really all that upset. I've been in a rut lately. I can't seem to find any new recipes that look or sound good to me. And it's summer, and HOT, and cooking just hasn't even been appealing to me. I will try and get better, but I still haven't found any promising new recipes, so who knows what will happen. I can at least, try some new restaurants and write reviews on them I guess, so here it goes.

We went to Bad Azz Burrito today. It's a relatively new place not far from our house. We have driven by several times and said we should try it, but never have, until today. A burrito sounded good for lunch, and I was actually craving Freebirds, but I was determined to eat somewhere new so that I could write a new blog. I've been feeling bad for not writing. So off we went to Bad Azz Burrito.

We went at 12:15, so right at lunch time, and I was surprised that it wasn't very busy at all. We walked straight up to the counter and had a girl waiting to help us. We told her we had never been there before, and she was very nice and offered to help and walk us through things, and make suggestions. We started out with what kind of tortilla we wanted. They had the same as Freebirds, white, wheat, cayenne, and spinach. But they also had a jalapeno tortilla as well. I like the cayenne, so I went with that, but Danny decided to try the jalapeno one. He said he couldn't really tell there were jalapenos in it.

Next, we moved on to rice. They had Spanish and cilantro lime. I'm not a big fan of cilantro lime anywhere, it just doesn't have much flavor to me, so I always go with the Spanish. But I have to say, the cilantro lime here looked very interesting...normally it's white rice with little pieces of cilantro in it...and this was, but the rice was not white. I'm not really sure what it was honestly, but I was somewhat scared. The Spanish rice looked funny, like it had been sitting for a while. And it really wasn't very good in the burrito to be honest.

We both got black beans, a new favorite. They are healthier for you than refried beans and they actually taste really good. We've been eating them on everything we would normally have refried beans on for a few months now, and they were very good. Danny got carnitas on his burrito, and he said next time he would try the steak. I guess this means he didn't care for them. I chose to go the vegetarian route and get no meat at all. Instead I got pico de gallo, red onions, jalapenos, cilantro, and salsa. Danny got minimal vegetables, some weird guy thing against veggies, I don't understand it. Even though he didn't care much for the carnitas, I have to say, if you get meat on your burrito, they load it up! I think Danny's burrito was about twice the size of mine, and it was mostly because of the meat.

They do something different than at Freebirds which was interesting. After all of your choices are in the burrito, they stick it on a pan and run it through a little oven thing that resembled what they put your sandwich through when you go to Quizno's. It was very interesting.

I have to say, aside from the crappy rice, which one of the reviews before we went said it was just Uncle Ben's rice, my burrito was pretty good. I wouldn't choose to go there over Freebirds, but if we were hungry and driving by and in the mood for a burrito, I would definitely stop there again. But I would be skipping the rice.

They also had barbacoa, which Danny got a sample of and said was pretty good, I'm not so sure about that though. So anyway, overall review was decent, but doesn't compare to Freebirds. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. Was simply a "meh" kind of place.

They do have a coupon online for buy 1 burrito get 1 free with the purchase of 2 drinks. It was an online coupon that some places will accept by you just showing it to them on your phone. However, they were not one of them. They wanted the coupon to be printed, so we didn't get to use it. But definitely with the coupon, the price and the quality of the food would be just right.

Bad Azz Burrito
1200 South Bluemound Rd
Saginaw, TX 76131

New Recipe: Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken

I have to start off saying yay! I finally found a new recipe to try! It seems like it has been forever since I cooked something new. I still need recipe suggestions from people reading this though. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon steak sauce (or worchestershire)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1. In a shallow bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayonnaise, and steak sauce. Set aside a small amount of the honey mustard sauce for basting, and dip the chicken into the remaining sauce to coat.

2. Grill chicken over indirect heat for 18 to 20 minutes, turning occassionally, or until juices run clear. Baste occassionalky with the reserved sauce during the last 10 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent burning.

We made this chicken and then cut it into strips and put it on a salad. It was REALLY good! I made the sauce this morning and let the chicken marinate in it all day. I also made some extra sauce and we simply used that as our salad dressing. Danny and I both really liked it and wouldn't change a thing.

HELP! Need new recipes!

I've been stuck in a rut and haven't made a new recipe in about 3 weeks. I keep looking, but I find nothing that appeals to me. So I'm calling out to all 5 of my followers (though Danny is one and he doesn't really count because he doesn't read this, shame on him!) and asking that you PLEASE email me some recipes so I can get back on track. Oh, and share my blog with your friends and family, I need more people reading.

I did just come into the office with the intent to write this blog, but before I got on here, I did go to my favorite recipe site, allrecipes.com, and I found something I think will work for this week, but that just covers this week. I don't want to get stuck in another rut for a couple weeks. I would love to have recipe suggestions and have things planned out for a couple weeks ahead of time. It would definitely makes things easier for me.

Thanks everyone! I look forward to some suggestions!

Restaurant Review: MK's Sushi

So we've eaten at this place a few times, but we ate here again yesterday for lunch and I decided to write a review.

I LOVE sushi! It's just a little pricey so I don't really get to eat it as often as I would like to. I worked a half day yesterday, and Danny took the day off, so we decided to go out to lunch since we know this place does the Bento Box thing. One thing about sushi is that I never feel full after I eat it. And with it being expensive, you can't really order a bunch of rolls (unless you are made of money, which I am not), so as good as it always is, there is always this feeling after eating it like "was that really worth it?" And this place is no exception. We went for dinner a couple times and like always, I felt a little cheated.

But I cannot say that about their lunch. It is ridiculous how much food you get! I got the Roll Bento for $8.95 and I got a California Roll, Spicy Crab Roll, Fried Crab Roll, a salad, and miso soup! I was so full! One of my rolls had 8 pieces, one had 7, and the other had 4. But that was more than enough, and they were all so good! The Spicy Crab Roll was my favorite, followed by the California Roll, and then the Fried Crab Roll. This place still wasn't anywhere near as good as Zena Sushi (see previous review on them), but for lunch it was amazing.

One thing I really, REALLY hate about this place though...they send out coupons in the mailers all the time, and I think we have tried to use them on 3 different occassions and they will not honor them. There are no limitations stated on the coupons themselves, but every time we go to pay with one, they come up with some lame excuse as to why we can't use it. We've gone for dinner during the week, dinner during the weekend, and lunch during the week and every time were told no. My opinion is, if you are going to send people coupons, then you need to honor them.

Again, forgot to take a pictures (I've been getting really bad about that lately!). I guess I need to put Danny in charge of helping me to remember to take pictures. If I go again any time soon (not likely, but you never know), I will take a picture and post it on its own.

MK's Sushi
2901 Fair Dr. Suite 100
Fort Worth, TX 76131

Recipe: Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
4 bananas, mushed
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 2, 9x5 inch loaf pans.
3. Mix all ingredients together and pour into pans.
4. Bake for about 35 minutes.

This was my grandmother's recipe and I absolutely love it. Danny does too. When I come home from the store with a bunch of bananas, he knows what's coming and gets very excited. I love to make a couple of batches and take some up to work, and Danny and I love to just have it for breakfast with coffee. Or for an afternoon snack, or an after dinner snack, or pretty much any time. LOVE it!

No pictures, sorry. I took a picture of it once, but it really didn't do the recipe justice. You will just have to try me on this one and go make it, NOW! Or after your bananas sit for a few days.

Restaurant Review: Anejo - House of Tequila

I went to this restaurant a couple of weeks ago with my co-workers to celebrate one of them moving to Austin and starting a new adventure in her life. I'm not a big margarita person (except for one specific place), but the happy hour special here is $1.50 margaritas, so that's what we were all drinking. I will say that for that price, it was a great margarita. That's not to say it was wonderful, but really, for that cheap, you can't expect much. I'm pretty much a light weight and at the one place I have to have margaritas, I'm feeling it by the time I'm halfway through with it. I had 2 at this place and never felt anything. Which is good considering I was driving, and I only spent $3 for them, which is the same as a coke or something would be anyway.

They had a really awesome looking patio at this place, and actually the wait to sit out there was longer than the wait for the restaurant. Because of this we sat inside, so I didn't get to experience it, but everyone looked to be having a good time. It's too hot outside now to enjoy it I think, but on the day we went the weather was pretty nice.

On to the food...the salsa was pretty good. Not the best and not the worst I've ever had, but I liked it. One of my friends ordered a bowl of Queso for $6 and it was a very nice sized bowl, and I have to say, probably the best Queso I've ever had! I want to go back to this place simply for the Queso. I'm making myself hungry right now thinking about it.

The rest of the food...not so much. Again, it wasn't bad, but it's wasn't great either. I had the chicken enchiladas and I had some leftover and I had no desire to box it up and bring it home. I think everyone else's opinions on the food were pretty much the same. This place is VERY proud of their food. The quesadillas had 6 little bity pieces, and cost $11.95. Nachos were $11.95, street tacos were $13.95! If I'm going to pay that much money for food it better be absolutely amazing food that I crave and want to eat quite often. Not the case here.

I think if I had a group of friends and the weather was nice I would try this place again just for the patio and the Queso. I would definitely try the food again and get something different, but I would go into it knowing I was probably not going to be impressed with it.

Anejo - House of Tequila
9159 Boulevard 26, Suite 300
North Richland Hills, TX 76180

Restaurant Review: Bataar Mongolian Grill

So Danny and I have both been told we needed to try this place by a few different people. Basically it was like Genghis grill but way better. So over the weekend we decided to trek over to Bedford (not terribly far from us, but not exactly convenient either) and try it.
First thing we noticed was the way they set up the food. At Genghis they put the meat first and the veggies second, but this place was reverse. We both thought that was somewhat clever since meat is more expensive, they were probably hoping people would fill their bowl with lots of veggies and not have much space left for meat. But not us. We noticed it immediately and made sure not to go overboard and I know I for sure had plenty of room for LOTS of shrimp.
Second thing we noticed is that you get a lot more at this place. All your veggies and meat go in the bowl, you pick whatever kind of noodles you want and put them on the side, and pick your rice on the side as well. Then you give them your food to cook and get to pick a soup and some salad.
We did both agree that they should have explained better (possibly with warning labels) how spicey the sauces were...while we both really liked our meals, they were WAY more spicey than we thought they would be. I like spicey things, and I was dying. My eyes were watering, nose was running and my face was pretty red. Danny said it looked like I had started to sweat, but I think he was exaggerating. He did have to take off his baseball hat because he was getting hot.
Anyway, we both finished most of our meals, and thank goodness they also had ice cream so we could cool down! All of that food and variety and the price was significantly cheaper than Genghis.
My overall review is pretty good. I will definitely go back, but will be much more conservative with my seasonings.
Bataar Mongolian BBQ and Bar
1925 Airport Freeway
Bedford, TX 76021

New recipe: Homemade Sloppy Joe's

Ingredients:
1 package hamburger buns
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle chili sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery and oregano. Saute 5 minutes, or until onion is tender. Transfer mixture to a bowl and reserve for later.
2. In the same skillet over medium high heat, combine the round beef and sausage, and saute for 10 minutes, or until well browned. Drain grease, and add reserved onion mixture, chili sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Serve over toasted hamburger buns.

Let me start by saying that never in my life have I cared for sloppy Joe's. They have always smelled funny and tasted worse to me. But for some reason this recipe stood out for me and I knew I needed to try it.

Now of course, I did make a few changes. For starters, we all know I don't eat pork of any kind, so instead of the sausage I just used more ground beef. Next I used hot taco sauce instead of chili sauce, and I used 3 cloves of garlic instead of 2 because I LOVE garlic! (And Danny never said anything about it having too much garlic, so it was fine.) I also added about 1/2 of a chopped jalapeno because I had it in my refrigerator and I like things spicier. Other than that, everything else I kept the same.

Danny walked in the house from work and said it smelled really good, (first good sign!). He started asking what was in it and I refused to tell him until after he tried it and said if he liked it or not. (I was afraid if I told him it had taco sauce in it he would start to think it wasn't a real sloppy Joe.)

So anyway, I got the buns all toasted in the broiler (4 minutes on low is more than enough) and served. He took one bite, looked at me with this look...then he said "oh my gosh this is really good!" Phew! I was a little worried because like I said, I've never liked sloppy joe's so didn't know how they should taste. Then I tried it and what do you know, I like it too! Yay!

So all in all, very good recipe. I'm happy that I tried it and will definitely make it again!

Sorry I forgot to take a picture. I was so concerned with how it tasted that the picture thought completely left my mind.

New Recipe: King Ranch Casserole

So, my boss told me I needed to make this MONTHS ago...by that I mean at the very beginning of AUGUST, and I just now got around to it. I printed out the recipe...it just got lost in my mess of other recipes and I completely forgot about it. But she mentioned it to me last week, so I was determined to find it and make it this week.

Ingredients:
8 ounces chicken, cooked and diced (skinned)
6 corn tortillas
4 ounce can diced green chiles
1 onion, diced
6 ounce shredded cheddar cheese
4 ounce can mushrooms, drained
1 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
10 ounce can Ro-Tel tomatoes

Directions:
1. Spray a 9x13" pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut tortillas in 9 pieces and use half in bottom of the pan. Use half of the chicken and place over tortillas. Repeat layers. Set aside.
2. In saucepan, dissolve cornstarch in chicken broth and cook over low heat. Add onion, green chiles, milk, mushrooms, salt, and Ro-Tel. Cook for about 5 minutes. Pour this mixture over the chicken tortillas. Cover evenly with cheese. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

The only complaint I have about this recipe is that it told me how many ounces of chicken, instead of telling me how many chicken breasts to use. I don't have a scale...so how am I supposed to know how much 8 oz. of chicken is? That's just a pet peeve of mine I guess. Anyway, I think 3-4 chicken breasts would do. I only used 2 (that's normally all I get out since there are 2 of us) and I felt it could have used some more.

The only thing I changed in the recipes was the green chiles. I was probably not looking in the right place at the store, but I could not find them anywhere. Unless it was meaning I needed to buy my own chiles and chop them up? Anyway, the Ro-Tel tomatoes had green chiles in them, and I just chopped up some jalapeno instead.

Other than that, no changes were made. And this recipe was amazing! Danny took the first bite, and I'm always nervous with him when I try a new recipe. And he raised his eyebrows, looked at me and said "This is really good!" I breathed a sigh of relief and tried it myself and I have to say, I'm a little annoyed with myself for taking so long to make this! The only thing I will do differently next time is to use more chicken.

Stuffed Bell Peppers - Suggestion

Can you tell I'm catching up on all of my blogging this morning? I was just looking through some of my old posts, and saw on my Stuffed Bell Peppers recipe that if I ever perfected the sauce on top, I would post. Well, I figured it out! It's so incredibly simple. 1 cup of picante sauce, and 1 cup of sour cream mixed together. That's all! It gives it the perfect amount of kick with a little bit of creaminess. This tasted so much better than any other combination of tomato sauce or anything else.

I hope if anyone tries this they love it as much as I do!

Recipe: Salsa

So the title of this one isn't "New Recipe" because I've been making this for years. But I always do it without a recipe and just figure it out as I go. Well, I made it last night and actually tried to be conscious of how much of everything I was putting in, and I think it was a pretty good batch, so here it is.

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes
1 small white onion
1 jalapeno
2 small cloves garlic
1/2 a bunch of cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice tomato and onion into quarters, and put in blender.
2. Slice jalapeno and add to blender, along with garlic.
3. Blend to desired chunkiness. (*Note: If you can't fit everything into the blender at once, break it down to have a little bit of everything every time you blend. i.e. 2 tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 1/2 jalapeno, 1 clove garlic for 1 batch.)
4. Pour into bowl, add salt and pepper for desired taste.
5. Chop up cilantro and mix in.
6. Enjoy

New Recipe: Cowboy Hash

So I know I've been very bad about posting the past couple of weeks, but my excuse is that I was on vacation for one of them and didn't do much cooking (I did post a restaurant review!) and this first week back to work from vacation was kinda crazy. Add to that the fact that we do boxer rescue and took in a new foster mid-week, and yeah, crazy! BUT, I did manage to make a new recipe this week, so here it is, Cowboy Hash:

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
chili powder, salt, and pepper to taste
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can corn, drained
1 can ranch style beans
1 can black beans, drained
1 cup shredded cheese

Optional ingredients:
biscuits
mashed potatoes
sour cream
salsa

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute ground beef, onion, and garlic until meat is browned; drain.
2. Add chili powder, salt, pepper, and enchilada sauce and simmer 5 minutes.
3. Stir in corn, beans, and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Sprinkle cheese on top for last 2-3 minutes.
5. This is where the optional stuff comes in. You can serve over biscuits or mashed potatoes.
6. And the other optional stuff. You can top with salsa and/or a scoop of sour cream.

I wish I had served this over mashed potatoes instead of the biscuits, because I think it would have been much better. But I didn't have the time or the energy to make them, so I went with the biscuits instead. Danny said it was a little bland...I think he's a little crazy! I deviated from the recipe and aside from pouring TONS of salt and pepper on it, I did the chili powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, and some other seasoning that I can't remember the name of but was in my pantry. I think he just likes to say everything is bland as an excuse for him to use his beloved Crystal Hot Sauce. He puts that stuff on EVERYTHING! I dunno, maybe it could have used something else, but for a quick and easy recipe, I think it was just fine.

I didn't take a picture because it's not much to look at...just a big mess of food on a plate, lol.

Restaurant review: Abendigo's Grill & Patio

Well let me start by saying this one isn't local. We went on vacation to Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and this restaurant got great reviews, so we tried it out.
The first positive for this place was that it was open, woohoo! It is ridiculous to me that it seems that everywhere around this town is closed a vast majority of the time.
So we get inside, and the place is very impressive (especially for the kinds of places around here). We got pretty excited that we were in for a treat. So we get seated and start looking over the menu...not very many selections and they are very proud of their food.
We started off with a spinach and artichoke dip...I've had better than what they brought us at Chili's.
So then we order. I got the Buffalo Chicken Salad and Danny got Chicken Fried Steak. When I received my salad it smelled wonderful! The Buffalo chicken smell was making my mouth water. And the entire thing was delicious! However, if you are going to charge $13 for a freaking salad I expect it to be MUCH larger than it was! Danny's chicken fried steak was terrible! He said it tasted like a TV dinner and that his vegetables had more flavor than the steak.
And then there were the flies...I am not sure if it was just one that was pestering me, or if there were multiples, but it was very difficult to enjoy the meal with it (or them) constantly buzzing around.
So in the end, we spent $34 and I'm still hungry and very much looking forward to the popcorn we have back at the cabin. I'll give it a 2 out of 5 stars.

Abendigo's Grill & Patio
259 N. Stephens Gap Rd.
Broken Bow, OK 74728

Restaurant Review: Texas de Brazil

I know a lot of people have probably heard of or even been here, but Danny and I went last Sunday for the first time ever to celebrate our 1st Anniversary. Let me just say, if you haven't ever heard of this place and want to go, be prepared...you are going to spend over $100 for 2 people...and that won't include drinks. We knew this going in (thank goodness!) and had prepared ourselves. But it's somewhere that Danny has been wanting to go for a long time, so I said okay, lets just go.

Now, I am not much of a meat eater. I'm not a vegetarian because I do eat meat, but it's not normally something I crave. I was very much looking forward to and planning on only eating from the salad bar (no meat and it is cheaper if you only eat that!). We had both also agreed that we weren't going to get drinks, only water, to try and help keep the cost down.

So we got all dressed up. Danny wore nice jeans and a polo, and I wore a dress (the same dress I wore to our wedding rehearsal a year ago! it still fits! yay!), along with the strand of pearls Danny got me for Christmas, and my brand new pearl earrings he had given me that day! (He's such a good hubby, always spoiling me!) I love when we get dressed up, because it's not all that often. And I felt so grown up going to a restaurant that actually does have a dress code.

When we got there, they have a parking lot with valet service right next door. We didn't have the guy actually park our car, but you can park in that lot too for a fee. I do think Texas de Brazil needs to hire a new guy or talk to him about customer service. You see, this parking lot is connected to another one, and the only thing to mark where ours ended and the other began, was a very faint yellow painted stripe. Mr. valet guy didn't tell us this. So Danny parked in the "other" lot that we didn't pay for. Luckily the attendant there came out immediately and said we couldn't park there. We could have been towed! So we moved the car (thanks mr. parking attendant!) and started on to dinner.

I have to say, when you walk into this place, it is amazing and gorgeous. Beautifully painted red walls, plants, and nice bar...it was all so nice. We were a little early for our reservation, so they told us we could step inside and they would come get us in a few minutes. So we went to the bar. At this point we had both decided, what the heck. It's our anniversary, we are both going to have a drink and we are both going to get the full experience of this place (meaning I was not just going to eat salad).

I decided to get a drink called "The Beach Bum" in remembrance of our getting married on the beach (that was my excuse anyway, it just sounded really good!). And it was. I need to figure out what all was in that thing and have Danny learn to make it. So we barley had to wait and they were coming to get us to take us to our table. The hostess was so friendly and cordial and explained to us the process of how everything worked.

Then our waiter came up and was very friendly and explained everything to us again and said if we had any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

So here's the process. You go up to the HUGE salad bar and get anything and everything you want, and then go back and eat it. When you are done, each person has a little card that is green on one side, and red on the other. Basically, green means bring me food, red means no thank you. When you are done with your salad, they bring you a clean plate, and that's when you flip your card to green. At this point, a bunch of guys walk up to your table and they all have different kinds of meats on a skewer. They tell you what it is and ask if you would like to try it and you go from there. And let me tell you, when you flip that card to green, within about 30 seconds there was a line of 5 of them waiting to get to us, it was crazy! We learned very quickly that we could not just leave it on green, we had to turn it back and forth.

The food was AMAZING! Even the salad bar was wonderful, which Danny had not been looking forward to (I wanna save room for the meat!). He even said at one point he wanted to go back up to the salad bar again. Which, I was not sure if we could keep going up there or if we were only allowed up there once, but oh well, we had plenty of food so it was fine. I have found out that I am in love with fillet mignon (I have to take the bacon off though, yuck!). I was a little annoyed that everything seemed to come with bacon wrapped around it. But I just took it off and then ate my food.

My overall review of this place is 4.5 stars out of 5. The only 2 things I did not like were the valet guy, and the fact that they let a guy dressed as a thug into this place to eat. And we were not the only ones that did not appreciate this. Several other tables stopped and just stared at him as he walked by. Guy was wearing very baggy shorts and a plain white tshirt untucked and wrinkled. Not trying to sound like a snob, but if I went to the effort to dress up and follow the dress code, and I am paying $100+ for a two person meal, I expect you to turn someone dressed like that away.

Texas de Brazil
101 N. Houston
Fort Worth, TX 76102

New Recipe: Zucchini Bread

So when I had planned on making the Zucchini Casserole last week, I misread the ingredients before going to the store, and lets just say I ended up buying WAY too much zucchini. So I was in search of another recipe so I could use the rest of it all up.

I had heard of zucchini bread before and a lot of people really like it. I looked up a recipe and it just so happened that I had everything I needed in my pantry (crazy!), so I decided to try it.

I am not impressed. It's not that it was bad, but it wasn't good either. It was very blah. Not very sweet, not much flavor, and really not much of anything except a waste of my time and food. IF someone were to give me a different recipe and swear up and down that it really is good their way, I would try it again. But other than that, I wont be trying this again.

 Here is the link to the recipe I used, yuck!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Bread/Detail.aspx

New Recipe: Zucchini Casserole

I'm a little late in posting this, but I tried this new recipe on Friday night, and while it needs some perfecting, it definitely has potential to be great. When I found this recipe online, it was actually a vegetarian meal, but my husband doesn't think anything is a true meal if it doesn't have meat in it, so I added chicken to it for his sake.  I will say, if there are only 2 or 3 of you that will be eating this, then DEFINITELY cut the recipe in half.

Ingredients: 
6 cups diced zucchini
2 cups diced yellow squash
4 cups cubed chicken, pre-cooked
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup cornflakes cereal
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
preferred seasonings (mine were salt, pepper, garlic salt, crushed red pepper flakes, Mrs. Dash seasoning)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, onion, cornflakes, cheese, oil, basil, seasonings, and eggs. Spread evenly into prepared baking dish.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Add cheese to the top and cook an additional 10 minutes.

My advice is to go overboard on the seasonings. When I made this it was very good, but needed more flavor. Even with all of the different seasonings I used, it was a little bland. I also added tomatoes to mine because I had them already chopped up in my refrigerator. Basically, most vegetables will work with this, so use whatever you have around the house.

My search efforts

I haven't posted at all this week...so terrible of me. I'm making my new recipe of the week tonight, but I wanted to post a picture of the effort I put towards finding new recipes. I feel like I'm back in school again sometimes. This is a casserole recipe book, my own recipe binder, random recipes spread out that I'm trying to choose from, along with my grocery list. for some reason finding a recipe this week was quite the task. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come...wouldn't you know as soon as I decide to keep a food blog it becomes more difficult for me to find new recipes.

New Recipe of the Week: Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Stew

I LOVE meals that I can cook in the crockpot! Not ideal every night of course, but as much as I do love to cook, it is nice to pretty much have dinner ready when I get home from work every now and then. That is what made this recipe appealing. And while it was good, it definitely needs some work. I will try it again sometime, after I figure out what changes I need to make. Since I like things spicy, it definitely needs more seasonings to kick up the flavor. I'm thinking possibly add some hot sauce into the soup mixture for more kick, and whatever random seasonings I have around the house.The consistency was very good though, so I wouldn't mess with that at all. I will keep thinking on this and try again sometime. Oh, and if there are only 2 of you, definitely cut the recipe in half, and you will still have plenty for leftovers.

Ingredients:
4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 (8 oz) package baby carrots
1 can mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can chicken broth
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 (16 oz) bag frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
biscuits

Directions:
1. Combine the chicken, carrots, mushrooms, onion, celery, soups, chicken broth, garlic salt, celery salt, and black pepper in a slow cooker; cook on Low for 5 hours.
2. Stir the frozen mixed vegetables into the slow cooker, and cook 1 more hour.
3. For the last 15 minutes, add flour and water mixture to thicken up.
4. Serve over biscuits.

Recipe: Stuffed Green Bell Peppers

So someone suggested I post my favorite recipe of all time. Well, that would be impossible because I can't pick just one. But here is one of my favorite recipes that is relatively new to me, and I'm actually in the process of making it for dinner right now.

Ingredients:
6 green bell peppers
salt to taste
1 pound ground beef
1/3 cup chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14.5 oz) can Hunt's Fire Roasted Tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed tomato soup
Pace Picante
Assorted spices depending on the flavor you want (I use chili powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper)
water as needed

Directions:
1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers, and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes; drain. Sprinkle salt inside each pepper, and set aside.
2.  In a large skillet, saute beef and onions until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, and season with salt, pepper and assorted spices. Stir in the tomatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water, and Louisiana hot sauce. Cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat, and stir in the cheese.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Stuff each pepper with the beef and rice mixture, and place peppers open side up in a baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine tomato soup with just enough water to make the soup a gravy consistency. Pour over the peppers.
4.  Bake covered for 25 to 35 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly and enjoy.

A couple of notes that I find to be helpful. I put the pot of water on the stove first since it takes a while to boil. After that while I wait, I get the meat cooking and then chop up the onions and add when I am done. I also add some chopped up jalapenos because I like things spicy. I also go ahead and preheat the oven so it's ready when I am. (Some of these things may seem like silly suggestions, but I know that when I first started cooking I didn't think to do them, so I hope it is helpful to someone. If not, then just ignore this entire section) Now, on the tomato soup/water mixture...I still have not perfected this. I personally don't care for just tomato soup on it. I have tried substituting it for the Pace Picante, and I have tried doing half Pace and half tomato soup. All ways are okay, I just feel like it could be better and I haven't found the perfect solution yet. But trust me, if I ever do, I will post it here :-) I'm thinking maybe mixing sour cream in with tomato soup might be interesting...too bad I didn't plan for that tonight and don't believe I have any sour cream. Maybe next time.

Restaurant Review: Zena Sushi

We tried a new sushi place the other day. We found it on urbanspoon and the reviews were mixed. Some raved about it, while others basically said it was the most horrible place ever. We decided to try it anyway, and I am convinced that the people who gave it bad reviews are either complete idiots, or total divas. They complained that the service was terrible, the wait was ridiculous, and the food was bad. Our experience was quite the opposite.

We went right at dinner time on a Saturday night and didn't have to wait. Our server was amazing. She checked on us several times and made sure that we were very happy. We sat at the bar so we could see everything being made, and every time something looked good we asked her what it was and what all was in it and she was very informative and knowledgeable. Our food came out within a decent timeframe. I guess the only bad thing I have to say is that our food came out separately. I had my meal for a few minutes before Danny received his, but it wasn't a ridiculous amount of time before.

The food...AMAZING! I think that was quite possibly the best sushi I have ever had! Now, I'm still new to the sushi thing; Danny only talked me into trying it about a year ago. But we have been to a few different places and this one is definitely my favorite. I have been craving sushi again ever since we walked out the door.

Oh, and another plus about this place is they don't have a liquor license yet, so our drinks were free. Of course that will change, but it was definitely an added bonus to our already wonderful experience. We will definitely be going back, hopefully soon!

I wish I had thought to take a picture of my food, but it looked so good that taking a picture was the furthest thing from my mind. I will try and get better at that.

Here's the address for anyone who may want to check it out:
Zena Sushi
1101 Melbourne Rd
Hurst, TX 76053

Figuring this out

Well, here it is, my first blog post. I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out, so if you are reading, please bear with me.

I guess I will start with what I plan to use this blog for. Erin's Food Adventures will be my experiences with food. Cooking, finding recipes, making changes to recipes, trying new restaurants and reviewing them, and whatever else I discover about food along the way that I decide to talk about. I'm going to do my best to bring you into my world of food. I love to cook (though admittedly, I am not the best at it), and I guess you could say that my New Year's Resolution was to try at least 1 new recipe every week. So far, I have pretty much stuck to it. I think there was a week or 2 that I wasn't able to keep this "resolution," but I made up for it the following week by cooking 2 new things.

My husband, Danny and I also like to try new restaurants every now and then, so I will be writing about those experiences. He seems to be pretty excited about my decision to blog, and wants me to be able to do it while sitting at a restaurant. So he found some blogger app for my phone and has figured out how to use it and I'm sure he will have a hand in any of my on the go posts. For the record, I am technology challenged, so anything cool I might seem to do in that regard is all him figuring it out, being patient with me, and doing his best to teach me.

I won't be posting every single day, as I said I only try one new recipe a week, but my goal with this is to post twice a week. Some weeks my experiences may be slow or too boring to write about in my opinion, and in that case I will reminisce about past experiences.

Oh, and if anyone ever has any restaurants suggestions, or recipe suggestions, please let me know. A couple of stipulations on the recipes though...I will NOT cook anything with pork of any kind, and unless it is tilapia or shrimp, I'm not really big on the seafood thing, though I am definitely more open to try that than anything with pork. Oh, and Danny isn't big on pasta, and since I cook for him, I do attempt to stay away from too much pasta, though I do still cook it on occasion.

Well, I guess that's it for my first post. I hope everyone is interested or excited about what this blog is going to be about. I might post another later today about last weeks new recipe as it was a major hit; it really just depends on how much time I end up having later.

Until next time!