Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Yummy Food Recap - Vol. XII

Hello and welcome!  It is time once again to feast your eyes on my culinary adventures over the past few weeks.


Executive Summary:

March 21 - Chili
March 22 - First BBQ of the Season
March 23 - Rustlers
March 25 - Snow Day + Beer Fest
March 26 - Ribs and Roasted Veg
March 27 - Get Stuffed (see Feature Restaurant section)
March 30 - Pork Chops and Sweet Potato
March 31 - Dominion "The Works" Pizza
April 1 - Dorito Day!
April 3 - Pork Tenderloin Salad
April 4 - Cauliflower Quiche and Garlicy Green Beans + Starbuck's
April 5 - "Joe's Special"
April 6 - Epicure's Jambalaya


Alright, here goes..


Monday, March 21st
This was my little sister's birthday, so right after work we went to Mom and Dad's house to give birthday gifts, eat cake and all of that fun stuff.  Josh has the chili on all day on our stovetop so when we got back from the birthday celebrations all that we needed to do was pour up a bowl of hot chili and dig in with some multigrain Tostitos.  It was super delish!

Chilitastic!


Tuesday, March 22nd
When we visited Gander that past weekend we were given two lovely steaks from Josh's parents.  So when we saw how nice it looked outside after work we fired up our BBQ for the first time in 2011 and had an amazing supper of steak, jalapeno cheddar sausages and an alfredo noodle sidekick.

First BBQ of 2011 Season


Wednesday, March 23rd
On Wednesday we decided to take a break from cooking and we ate at Rustlers on Torbay Road.  We both ordered the Mustang burger (Josh with a side of garden salad and me with a side of fries!)  We also shared an order of Wagon Wheels, which are these gigantic onion rings that I think the cooks might even caramelize before battering/deepfrying.  Everything was absolutely great about this meal.  It really was exactly what I wanted - the sauce was IDENTICAL to Don Cherry's Ultimate Sauce which made me very excited :)

Rustlers Mustang Burger + Fries + Wagon Wheels


Friday, March 25th
Friday morning we were hit with a disgusting storm which resulted in my first snow day in almost 2 years ... yay!  Taking advantage of this extra day I did something I had put off since Christmas - Make Bread.  I pulled out the bread pans Mom gave me for Christmas and whipped up some Bread & Roll mix (Okay, I know it's not from scratch, but it's the best I was willing to do).  I used half the bag of mix, which is enough for two loaves.  But instead of making two loaves I saved half of it to make bagels!  My friend Melissa (or as I often call her: Momo) showed me and my friends how to make these delights about 3 years ago when she was visiting from her studies in Norway.  I haven't tried them since but I remembered them being amazing, so I tried to make a few for Josh for his upcoming birthday.  We made 6 all together:  4 cinnamon raisin and 2 jalapeno cheddar.... yea we have a big thing for spicy peppers and cheese!   Check out the Feature Recipe section for more info and pictures of the bagels...

My Bread Baking... it is not risen enough, I've learned my lesson for next time!




Friday afternoon we enjoyed a lunch of Chicken Tacquitos and salad.  I brushed some Diana's Honey Garlic BBQ sauce on the tacquitos during the last 5 minutes in the oven and they were amazing.   

Delicious Salad with Tacquitos



Friday night we stalked down to the Convention Centre for the 3rd Annual NLC Beer Fest.  We've gone each year the event has been held, usually because it's Josh's birthday weekend, but mostly because we have a genuine love for the subtleties of beer.  We are not big drinkers, but we do love a beer with supper on occasion, and Beer Fest lets us taste the varieties that the NLC are going to consider carrying.  We always leave with great ideas for what beers to serve with meals.  One of my favorite parts of the evening was the Rickard's "Brand Experience" room.  It was almost set up haunted house style, with winding corridors (minus the cobwebs!).  The first room was Rickard's Red, the first I had tasted by the brand.  A hostess walked us through the history of the brew, noting the ingredients, and telling us how to sniff and taste the beverage.  I love that they did this!  In the next room on the tour was not only my favorite Rickard's brew, but my favorite brew of all time:  Rickard's White.  This beer is great on tap - being served with a slice of orange is a must.  In the final room was Rickard's Dark - it's accented with maple and they even served us up a mini dessert of Rickard's Dark with a dollop of Vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup - YUM!  Also yum was the assortment of mini burgers, mini sausages, boneless wings, Ziggy's french fries and bags of salt and vinegar lays chips that made up the munchies at Beer Fest.

I loved the mini stein for Beer Fest this year!  Josh shows off his Mill Street Tank House Ale above...

Our collection of coasters that grows each year after Beer Fest


Saturday, March 26th
Saturday was marked with a not-so-bad hangover, despite the delights of the night before.  We decided to finish off the last rack of ribs we had in our freezer from Costco.  I take my ribs seriously - they are a 4 hour commitment.  Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves (see images below).  We also whipped up a side of roasted potatoes and onion that we found the recipe for on "Kitchen Boss" hosted by Buddy of "Cake Boss" - good show!


Mmmm

Russet & Sweet Potato with onion and garlic roasted in olive oil


Sunday, March 27th
This was Josh's 25th Birthday!  Since we started dating we've had McDonald's breakfast for his birthday and this one was no different.  We walked to McDonald's and ordered more than we normally do because we had some coupons muahaha!  We ordered 2 Sausage and Egg McMuffins and 2 Bacon and Egg McGriddle sandwiches...ohhh so good.  We also went out for supper.  See my Feature Restaurant section for more about our eats this day.

Greasy Goodness


Wednesday, March 30th
Wednesday we continued emptying our freezer of meats from Costco and pan fried some pork chops with some onions and mushrooms, and a side of sweet potato. 

Nothing like a pork chop with caramelized onions


Thursday, March 31st
Marking March's end it was only fitting that we eat take out once more.  So after a quick visit to see my Mom and Dad we drove to Dominion on Blackmarsh Road and ordered a "The Works" Pizza from their deli.  These pizza's are INCREDIBLE.  They use really fresh produce from the grocery store and cook them to order.  "The Works" is an 15" (maybe even 18"?)  pizza that has the following:  Pepperoni, Ham, Amazing Salami, Italian Sausage, Crumbled Bacon, Cheese, Green Pepper, Fresh Mushrooms, Red Onion and sauce.  That is a LOT for only $10.99!!!  Next time you are throwing a party, pick one of these up in advance and just reheat it in your oven; you'll save loads and it's much tastier than most take out pizzas.

Note: the box takes up the entire surface of our apartment-sized stove

Josh is anxious! So am I!!!

Detail shot ^


Friday, April 1st AKA Dorito Day
When we first started dating, Josh introduced me to a tradition that he and his friends celebrate on April 1st each year called Dorito Day.  Nothing really to it except that you need to eat as many different varieties of Doritos as possible.  I have celebrated Dorito Day for 3 years now and it only gets better with each year's new flavors that come out.  At work we bought some mini bags to share, and later that night we celebrated with the Dorito Day founders with some Spicy Nacho and Sweet Chili Heat.  Next year you should celebrate Dorito Day too!  It' beats having a trick played on you.

My day was complete with this assortment!


Sunday, April 3rd
Sunday we followed a recipe in a magazine from Sobey's that they hand out for free at the cash registers.  It was Pork Tenderloin Salad.  Not too fancy, just a loin seasoned with cumin, chili powder and brown sugar, roasted and served over spinach and some veg.  It went great with ranch dressing!

Yummy Salad!


Monday, April 4th
On Saturday we had set out a list of recipes that we were going to follow for the week.  Sunday was the salad (above) and Monday we had a quiche!  It was our first time making a quiche and it was fun.  We used hashbrowns as a base, and cheeses like Parm in the egg, and had some green beans sauteed in garlic and breadcrumbs on the side.  This recipe was in the April edition of the Rachael Ray Everyday magazine (which I subscribe to because it's awesome).  I recommend you pick up a copy and check out her delicious meal ideas!  That night we also made a short trip to Starbucks to pick up some more coffee beans.  I enjoyed a yummy Skinny Vanilla Latte and a Red Velvet Whoppee Pie <3

DEEE - licious!
My Special Treat <3


Tuesday, April 5th
The next meal on our list for this week was "Joe's Special".  We watch a show on the Food Network often called "The Best Thing I Ever Ate".  Celebrity chefs share the best meals they've ever had, and tell you where to find them.  They usually visit the restaurant and do a little behind the scenes footage on how the meal is made.  There is usually a theme, such as:  "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Bacon"  or  "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: With Chopsticks"  etc.  It's a totally awesome show, and another thing I recommend you look up :)  Back to the meal... it's essentially a hash of ground beef, egg, wilted spinach, onion and Worcestershire sauce with seasonings.  Where is lacks in looks it makes up in taste.  This meal featured on the "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Crazy Delicious" episode ;)

Crazy Delicious!


Wednesday, April 6th
That's today!  About a month ago we ordered some spices etc. from a company called Epicure.  That's where we got the seasoning for the jalapeno cheddar bagels I mention above.   We also ordered a variety pack of meal seasonings:  Tortilla Soup Mix, French Onion Soup Mix, Seafood Chowder, Chili, Pulled Pork and Jambalaya... which is what we made today!  All we needed to do was brown some sausage and chicken, add onions and red peppers, then rice, chicken stock, a can of tomatoes, shrimp, and the Jambalaya mix and bake for 35 minutes.  It was THE BEST Jambalaya I've ever had!  I need to get my hands on more of this seasoning...

Yum Yum Yum!


That's all for this edition of Yummy Food Recap.  Shout-outs go to Doritos, Buttered Popcorn, Hummus, Hickory Sticks my little brother couldn't finish, and Dairy Milk Chocolate bars.

3 comments:

Jabbott said...

Cheers! To many more Beerfests! Tune in next month for a Winefest blog, woop!

Sheila said...

Very Interesting read,your bagels look great....yum!!!!!

Food-a-holic said...

Thanks Sheila! :)