The best thing I ever ate...excepting Praline Bacon

Last week, I was grocery shopping and realized that all the organic baby spinach was sold out. I started scouting around for a replacement, and spotted some greens called "Organic Girl." Still no spinach, but they had a baby spinach/arugula mix that looked good. That's a pic of arugula on the right, kinda looks like oak leaves.

SOURCE

These greens are soo, soo good. I hope I can find them when I move back to KY. They have stayed fresh and bright (no slime) for more than a week, no gritty stuff to be found, and I am now a humongous fan of arugula. I've eaten it like twice a day since last Monday on sandwiches, in salads, all sorts of green goodness. (good for little baby too).

You might not know this about me but I love sandwiches. I could eat one for lunch and dinner every day of the week and not have even an inkling of 'ennui.' Hot, cold, grilled, sweet and savory...you name it. Arugula on a sandwich was a bit of a revelation. One day last week I made this...

That bright, crisp, herby, almost anise flavor of the arugula was absolutely to die for paired with hearty wheat, oven roasted turkey, fresh, perfect tomato slices, salt, pepper and plenty of mayonnaise. I really can't say enough. I've been recreating this sandwich, every day around 12:00 pm for the past seven days.


Yes, there is a large bite out of that sandwich.

Well...how else was I to know it was one of the "best things I ever ate?"

Anyway, get ya some arugula and don't forget the tomatoes.

The weekend!

Oh my! We had a wonderful weekend! My in-laws came to visit and we always have fun.

W and I spent some time poring over the tour guide to find some new restaurants and interesting things to do (besides the general fun and hanging out that we always do).

Saturday morning was begun with a pot or three of coffee at home (Starbucks Costa Rica Tarrazu!! finally carried at Winn Dixie). Then we hit the road and drove across town to Faubourg Marigny/ Bywater area to a little diner called Elizabeth's Cafe, a locally owned place in an old house.

I have only two words for you: Praline Bacon.

I didn't take a picture, but it was amazing! Crispy, salty bacon drowned in ground pecans and brown sugar syrup. In the words of Uncle Jessie, "Have Mercy!!"

I ordered the "Elizabeth" which was two perfectly toasted slices of french bread topped with bacon, a beautiful poached egg and some incredible hollandaise sauce with a side of cheese grits. I also need to mention the Irish Coffee with Bailey's...my new fave brunch beverage! Ashley, Brittany and Sarah, we are going there when you visit!

We had a relaxing afternoon, several naps, then took a nice walk around Audubon Park  with P on his tricycle. After that we went for an early dinner to Jacques-Imo's Cafe. I know I sound like a broken record, but it was absolutely to die for. When you walk in the front door you're in a bar--the entire ceiling is crowded with framed paintings, it looks so cool! Then the hostess gets your info and leads you THROUGH THE KITCHEN. Literally, you walk through the kitchen where they're cooking up the food you're about to eat, into the dining room. Lots of small tables, close together, dim atmostphere, the walls are painted with murals. The one in our room was a forest, and the tree limbs continued up the wall and onto the ceiling. I ordered Salmon with black beans and ginger cream sauce. It sounds like an odd combo, but I promise it was the best thing I have eaten since I've lived in New Orleans. I can't wait to go back! We had P with us and it was the perfect noise level and relaxed atmosphere so that he didn't bother anyone else. I can't wait to go again!

This little guy can't talk yet but he can still run the show. He just points his little finger and we all run to see what he's pointing at. Here it was a lake and lots of interesting ducks.

It was a wonderful weekend with family, we are so fortunate!

Anthropologie Score!

I have a bad habit of getting out a stick of butter, barely opening it and scraping off what I need then just leaving it out on the counter so it will be nice and soft for the next time I want to use it. It starts looking a little gross after a while, crummy, greasy, you know how it is.

Over the weekend, I knew I had to do something about the butter situation when my husband looked at it and asked if it was trash. Hm.

This called for a trip to Anthropologie! I'm so excited to be living in a town with an Anthro, the closest one where we lived before was about 2 hours away. I know from browsing that they always have adorable little half-stick butter dishes so that's what I went in for. And bingo!

 Yay! The best thing about it, besides its cheery red glaze was the $3.95 sale price! What luck! It made me go into that, "Don't I need a gift for someone?" frenzy, you know what I'm talking about. There's a deal on something you don't really need but you're just trying to find some excuse to buy it (them...). Well, I only got one butter dish, but I did come out with two of the adorable mugs below, also $3.95 each. I'm a sucker for a cute coffee cup.

Now it's perfect!

Christmas Recovery Period

I'm so sad that Christmas is over this year. It seemed to fly by and I don't think I got in the requisite amounts of Christmas music, movies and fresh pine scent. I'm also feeling nostalgic about the holidays since we'll be moving next summer.

I did, however, experience more than my fair share of a few other things...

9 Batches of Secret Family Recipe Sugar Cookies

Sweet/Salty and delicious. While I did not eat all of these myself, I sampled copiously.

36 Pioneer Woman Truffles

Almond filled, sea salt sprinkled, dark chocolate covered and raspberry filled. Don't get me started, I had to put the rest in a box and send them to a neighbor just to stop the chocolatey madness. 

5 Entire Batches of Pioneer Woman Tiny Vanilla Scones

Apparently I'm all about PW this Christmas. I did share these scones with others, but did not shy away from making sure they were fit to eat. These things are totally addicting and perfect, I mean PERfect, with several cups of morning coffee/half 'n' half.

Many, Many Helpings of Spicy Cheese Grits

Mom and I ate these at a local restaurant and practiced til we got them right. Make them ASAP or you'll regret it forever...after you've tasted them one day and realized what you've been missing out on for so long.

Bring to a boil 5 cups of chicken stock and 2-3 Tablespoons of garlic powder.

Add 1 1/4 cups of uncooked grits. (cook according to package directions)

Stir in 1 cup of shredded Cheddar/Jack or Habanero Cheddar

and 1 cup of shredded Velveeta

Add ground red pepper to taste (start with a dash and go from there).

Pour grits into a 9 x 13 casserole dish, top with diced fresh tomatoes and sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Bake for about 30 min. at 350. 

10 Books: Some Worthless and Some Worthwhile

3 Blue Blood Teen lit books (Absolutely Worthless)

3 books: The Airhead Series by Meg Cabot (Worthwhile and fun)

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell (Worthwhile and loved it)
Pride and Prejudice (Worthwhile and always love a refresher!)
Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller (Definately worthwhile and I reccommend it!)
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (Not finished with this yet, but it's worthwhile!)


1 Season of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
Don't judge. It was a childhood favorite and my Mom gave it to me for Christmas as sort of a joke but W and I watched them, laughed a lot and were completely entertained.

52 Pounds of holiday padding on various parts of my body

I blame all the yummy things that my family and friends (and, ok, myself) baked, fried, bought and smeared with icing. I've got a lot of walking to do...too bad it's too cold out to do that now...actually I need the padding to stay warm, what was I thinking?

Scone Schmone...

Last night I thought it would be a nice treat to wake up to fragrant coffee and fresh, homemade scones.

Bah humbug.

This was my first attempt at scones, but I know that they can be finicky and the ingredients have to be added just right so I was really concentrating. The dough looked perfect and smelled so good. I started to roll it out and by some weird fluke I hit the espresso pot with the rolling pin, it shattered and flung slivers of glass all over the kitchen. There is nothing more frightening than seeing a hunk of something edible covered with sharp bits of glass.

"We here at Shards of Glass have determined that there is no safe way to eat a Shards of Glass Scone."

So obviously I threw it out and luckily had just enough ingredients to start a second batch (after cleaning up from the glass disaster). I mixed and rolled and sliced and just as I was putting the little guys in the oven I realized that in my hurry I had left the egg out of the dough. Bleepety bleep bleep bleep!!!

I tried to bake them anyway and they melted out into a flat, hard piece of yuck within minutes. Fail!

I'm going to eat you, Scones, if it's the last thing I do. Since I threw away six cups of flour, a quart of heavy cream and a pound of butter yesterday (among other things) I'm going to need supplies. Troops!

Thanksgiving Time is Here...Happiness and Cheer...

No...

Turkey Time is here...Lots of Ham and Beer...?

Maybe...

Thanksgiving Time is here...Bagels, lox and "schmeer"...?

NOPE!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, although I like to think that the Thanksgiving season continues on until December 1 then we can get down to serious Christmas business. Thanksgiving time is here with lots of turkey, ham, cheese grits, brussel sprouts, potatos, yeast rolls, three different kinds of pie, stuffing, you name it and we probably ate it. I have enjoyed two Thanksgivings thus far and have one more to go this weekend.

On Wednesday (W had to work) so me and Baby P went to the lake for Thanksgiving with my side of the clan: parents, my brother and his wife, my other brother and my sister. We literally cooked for two days and had probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten. The turkey was to die for. We used Pioneer Woman's Brining Recipe. I'm telling you: Best. Turkey. I. Have. Ever. Eaten. I keep going back to the fridge for little nibbles (even cold it's fabulous) and the flavor was unbelievable. You boil together water, apple cider, brown sugar, lots of salt, peppercorns, orange peel, some herbs and lots of garlic. Then you stick the turkey in that delicious smelling broth and put it in the fridge for about 16 hours. I'm drooling again. Really, do it sometime...not drool, make this brine...it would even be good in miniature with a little, bitty, whole chicken.

Here's our turkey! That's really our turkey, not just a turkey leg model.

Then we had the cheese grits. We borrowed the recipe from Josie's (a little restaurant/diner here) and they're amazing. They involve a little something called "processed cheese food" (that's velveeta, to the common man), chicken broth, some diced tomatos, garlic and cayenne (the secret to their greatness). Yum, yum, yum...I rewarmed them for my second dinner yesterday and I'm eating them for breakfast right now!!

Then there was the gravy, brussel sprouts (done with pancetta, salt, pepper and chicken stock), baby red potatoes braised in butter then tossed with assorted fresh herbs and I'll stop there because we really went out of control with the side dishes. My sister got halfway through dinner and had to go lay down on the couch.

Then yesterday, W had to work and several family members had a stomach bug, I did an entire separate Thanksgiving dinner for us. He requested a Honeybaked ham (always a crowd pleaser), I made the green beans that his mom always makes (mushrooms, ham, cheesy sauce, green beans baked in a casserole), cheese grits (duh!!), potatoes, and coconut cream pie (our fave!).

It was a great Thanksgiving! Can't wait for the one on Saturday with W's family!

I'm making cheese grits.

Five recent purchases that I really like:

1) This is a ruffled sweatshirt from New York and Company, but the picture doesn't really do it justice. The collar actually stands up, not flat like in the pic and should never be clipped in the middle. NY&C can be hit or miss, but sometimes they hit it right on. I love a sweatshirt that I can wear with my Target yoga pants or with a nice pair of black pants with almost anything underneath. Also, I can wash it over and over again after a dousing of baby spit up and it bounces right back.

2) This reversible 'puffer' vest from Target for only $15.00! The thing that I love (besides its reversible-ness and the two great colors) is that it's very thin. It doesn't feel or look all bulky.

3) Kroger brand White Cheddar Rice Cakes. I'm sure there are better ones at Trader Joe's (don't rub it in Ashley and Sarah), but I always crave crunchy, salty snacks. These are only 40 calories each, they're cheap and they taste really good so I'm not trying to go back for a round of potato chips later. Being at home long chunks of the day is good for laundry, but not so good for the snacking.

 

4) Dan in Real Life: I love this movie! It's so clever and moving and witty and I'm so glad that I own it now! I like to watch it every other day or so and it's the perfect movie for a farm or lake weekend! I got it used at Blockbuster-that's a great way to buy movies because they're $10 and you can take them back if there's anything wrong.

 5) I'm completely obsessed with this Emmi Swiss yogurt. It is amazing! The flavors are so unique - pink grapefruit and apricot and more, plus the typical strawberry and raspberry- and it's lowfat, but is much more creamy and rich than other kinds of yogurt. I've never been a particularly big yogurt fan, but this makes me crave yogurt and want it for breakfast and snacks and everywhere in between. That's a good thing because Dr. Oz says that it's one of the best ways to boost your immunity and fight off colds. You will love it!

Cupcake Wine...

I've recently discovered this amazing, California wine and cannot get enough! I keep a few bottles in my fridge at all times and love that it has a screw top so that I don't feel bad about opening a bottle just for myself (plus the bottle is lovely, looks very French to me). This wine has great ratings and the Sauvignon Blanc is my absolute favorite! It has been my good friend all summer, I'm going to be looking into the reds when the weather gets cooler! Yay for Cupcake Vineyard!