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