Yummy Food Recap - Vol. XIIII

This entry is filled with tasty delicious food!  I draw the cut-off date at May 15, because it ended on a good note, yet unfortunately there weren't any pictures from that day.  My Android, which I use to take many of my pictures when in restaurants, failed me this weekend.  The memory was full and the pictures I were taking weren't saving - and the damnable phone gave me no clue that this was the case!  As a result, pictures are limited from some of the meals, and a few are even blurry.  Also an obstacle this time around... I actually forgot to take pictures of a lot of the food - fail right?  Sigh!  But fear not!  Let's see what I ate this past month...

Executive Summary:

Monday, April 25^th – Smitty’s

Tuesday, April 26^th – Spicy Mac and Cheese

Wednesday, April 27^th – BBQ Pork Tenderloin and Oven Fries

Thursday, April 28^th – Zapata’s & Meatball Subs

Friday, April 29^th – Gander Trip!

Saturday, April 30^th – Wine Fest in Gander

                               

Tuesday, May 3^rd – A&W, Chicken Tacos and Skittle Brau

Wednesday, May 4^th – Breakfast Burritos, Goodies from Rocket and Steak

Thursday, May 5^th – Burgers

Friday, May 6^th – Kraft Pizza Kit

Sunday, May 8^th – Emergency Late Night Snack Attack: Cheez Whiz Toast

Monday, May 9^th – Hashbrowns, Pepperoni Sandwiches and our Feature Recipe

Tuesday, May 10^th – Grilled Cheese with Soup, Steak Kebabs and Nachos

Wednesday, May 11^th – McHappy Day!

Thursday, May 12^th – Pork Chop Sandwiches!!!

Friday, May 13^th – Sweet Thai Chilli Shrimp and Green Beans & Red Velvet Brownies

Saturday, May 14^th – Cod Nuggets and Hashbrowns, and Oliver’s (See Feature Restaurant)

Monday, April 25^th

This blog entry begins and ends in restaurants, and on this day we visited Smitty’s in the Marriott downtown for a late breakfast.  I enjoyed the special, which included sausage, bacon, toast, home fries, scrambled eggs and coffee.  Josh got his usual breakfast fare of eggs Benedict.  Both were great and the two of us cleared our plates.

Josh's Eggs Benedict at Smitty's Restaurant

The Breakfast Special I ordered

Tuesday, April 26^th

A new favourite condiment of ours is pickled jalapenos and we tried them out in a cheese sauce when we made ourselves a pot of mac and cheese.  This mac and cheese was extra hearty, because we cooked some ground chicken to add to it.  Delish!

Looks non-cheesy here but it was super creamy cheesy

Wednesday, April 27^th

I had been hankering for some of my oven baked French fries and we had pork tenderloin in our freezer that we needed to use and it sounded like a good combo.  I make the fries 2 inches long, almost hickory stick length, toss them in olive oil and then about a teaspoon of keg seasoning before broiling them for 20 minutes, turning frequently.  They come out crispy and flavourful every time, though you really do have to be careful to watch them so they don’t burn up.  For the Pork, I used a mix of Kraft Onion BBQ sauce and Diana’s Honey Garlic BBQ sauce, which I added to the pan once the pork was fully cooked.

These fries are my favorite!

Thursday, April 28^th

We have been enjoying Groupon’s lately, and we scored a $20 for $10 one for Zapata’s for their lunchtime seating.  We parked at Mom’s house, which is about a 15 minute walk to downtown, and walked down to the restaurant on Bates Hill.  The place was really small, but cute.  I particularly liked the green bricks on the wall, they stood out to me for some reason.  Instead of bread on our tables to start, there were tortilla chips and house salsa, which was nice!  I ordered the Chicken Flauta’s and Josh ordered the Chicken and Beef Fajitas.  We never had Flauta’s before.   It was a corn tortilla that was deep fried, which was filled with juicy pulled chicken breast and cheese.  It was covered in sour cream and sprinkled with sliced almonds.  Both of our meals came with a side of refried beans, Mexican rice and corn.  Delish!  Unfortunately my camera was being a damn fool that day and wouldn’t take nice pictures.  Here’s a blurry one of Josh’s meal.

Blur-tastic!

For supper that night we enjoyed some of our favourite meatballs:  Serrano Angus.  We made meatball subs out of them with cheese and some spicy pasta sauce – ommmm nommm!

These meatballs are amazing

Friday, April 29^th

I woke up on April 29^th at 6:00 am to watch the Royal Wedding on CBC, and when Josh got up at 7:30 he drove to McEsso on Elizabeth Avenue to get us some breakfast before making the 3 ½ hour drive to Gander for the weekend.  He had his standard 1 Bacon and 1 Sausage Egg McMuffin, and I had a BLT meal.  Hours later on the road to Gander, I was hungry and thought about our breakfast, then realized that my BLT had no T!  The only tomato that entered my system that morning was the sweet and reliable ketchup that I had used on my hashbrown patty.  Those sneaks at McEsso!  :)

In Gander we were first assaulted with many Easter goodies, to our delight!  There were Peeps, Coffee Crisp eggs, Oh Henry bars, mini chocolate things, skittles, Cadbury Creme Eggs, and last but certainly my favourite:  BUNNY LAPINS!

Mmm Sugar!

For supper we had some BBQ pork chops, grilled veg, and yummy potato dish.  We finished off with some dessert of Grasshopper Cheesecake that Sheila made.  It’s a mint cheesecake that I want the recipe for *wink wink Sheila!*

Dies for this cheesecake!

Saturday, April 30^th

Our first morning in Gander we made breakfast: lemon ricotta stuffed french toast.  I love this breakfast because it reminds me of dessert haha!  It's lemony and sweet and really filling. I always end up licking my plate clean.

You can't see the inside, but wedged between this bread is the land of delicious!

One of the main reasons we traveled to Gander this weekend was to attend Wine Fest with the Abbott’s.  Unlike some, Josh and I intended to drink all that was poured for us, and not just taste and spit the wine.  Therefore we needed a heavy supper to keep our bellies happy, and Sheila made us a nice pasta of rigatoni and cheese.  Yum! 

Om Nom!

When we were back from Wine Fest and in our jammies, we decided that the cheese and crackers at the event just weren’t enough to satiate our appetites.  A quick call to Pizza Delight solved that issue!  Check out all of our loot!

Deluxe Pizza for a late night snack

Our combined loot from Wine Fest.  With each purchase, we got a free bottle of Apothic Red, yay!

 

                               

Tuesday, May 3^rd

Josh decided the day before that we were due for some good old A&W breakfast sandwiches.  We justified our craving by walking to the Churchill Square location, burning some calories so we wouldn’t feel so bad about eating it. 

Blog readers may or may not care to know:  this is the last time you'll see me with these glasses!  New ones last week!

Supper consisted of chicken breasts diced up, then fried in a soft taco seasoning kit.  We like to use chicken sometimes for our tacos because they really suck up the seasoning and we feel slightly healthier about it (minus all of the sodium, mind you!). 

Crazy delicious

That night we were feasting on our Easter goodies from Gander, and decided to make a beverage that only avid fans of the Simpsons would know about:  Skittle Brau.  This is how Urban Dictionary defines it:

Drink invented by Homer Simpson. Consists of beer and Skittles.

Homer: "I'm feelin' low, Apu. You got any of that beer that has candy floating in it, you know, Skittlebrau?"
Apu: "Such a product does not exist, sir! You must have dreamed it."
Homer: "Oh. Well then just gimme a six-pack and a couple of bags of Skittles."

I liked how the beer changed to the color of the Skittles :)  It kind of reminded me of a cooler, with the Skittles making the beer sweet.

Skittlebrau is fizzy!

Wednesday, May 4^th

We had a few tortillas left over from our chicken tacos and some salsa as well, and that usually means we’re in for a treat of breakfast burritos. 

Amazing!  We wrap them up and seal them on the George Foreman grill to get 'em nice and toasty

Since I finished up at my old job I’ve been enjoying daytime activities much more.  One such activity has been going for walks downtown.  This day I went for a pastry date with my friend Krissy to Rocket Bakery for some sweet delights.  She was the one who told me about this place; it is located at the old Auntie Crae’s store on Water Street.  It was filled with lots of amazing baked goods:  the thing that caught my eye the most was the absolutely beautiful cakes they had.  They were iced with roses that looked so beautiful.  They were cream and pale pink, with little delicate leaves, the entire cake was covered thick with them and no cake could be seen beneath it.  I really wish I had thought to take a photo for the blog... next time I am down there I will take one to post here.  The service was great.  I was even offered a sample of the cookie of the day, which was French Macaroon with strawberry butter cream filling.  I ended up buying 2 French Macaroons, 1 Currant Scone w/lemon curd on the side, and 1 Ginger Cookie.  I also picked up some chocolate covered espresso beans that were on discount.  My total came to just under $13 - pricy for some pastries, but SO delicious and worth the quality.

I absolutely love that they come in a cute little white box <3

Detailed shot of the amazing French Macaroons

That night for supper we were lucky enough to have two T-bone steaks.  We still had some leftover Brussels sprouts, so we paired that with some mashed sweet potato – yummmmm.

Look at those babies

Om nom nom!

Thursday, May 5^th

Nothing says satisfaction like a good burger.  That is all.

Mmm yea

Friday, May 6^th

I’ve had some bad luck in the past with Kraft Pizza Kits (kits expiring without me knowing, crust burning, crust too wet, etc.)  I was happy this time to actually have it work for me!  I finally got to use my pizza pan that I bought at Winners with a birthday gift card from Josh’s mom and it worked great.  It was the kind that has the holes in the pan so the crust gets all yummy and crispy.  We bought a stick of pepperoni and made a standard Deluxe pizza:  Onion, Green Pepper, Mushroom, Bacon and Cheese. 

I loved the way the red onion looked (and tasted)!

Sunday, May 8^th

Every now and then it happens to everyone: a case of insatiable snack attacks.  I was saved from this on May 8^th by the ever reliable Cheez Whiz Toast.  NOM.

I use a lot of it on my toast - it's thick!

Monday, May 9^th

This day for lunch, Josh and I enjoyed some cheap, albeit comforting meals for lunch.  I chose my go-to meal: Hashbrowns in a bowl with ketchup, and a cup of coffee.  Josh went for a sandwich of both pepperoni and turkey, with homemade chipotle mayo and mozzarella cheese. 

This is seriously my favorite

At first I was glad that he was the one eating this and not me, then I ended up making one for myself a week later haha!

Later we both sat down to a most unhealthy meal that we cooked in our new deep fryer.  See the Feature Recipe for more!

Tuesday, May 10^th

My grilled cheese and soup ended up being a bit of a farce.  I was distracted while cooking the grilled cheese and it burned.  I tried scraping the burned stuff off but then it was just dry and crumbly *sigh*.  Nothings hurts like a ruined grilled cheese.

I was upset as I took this picture, look at all that poor burned toast :(

Supper was also a bit of a letdown.  I made a pineapple marinade for the steak bits, but instead of making them tasty it made them slimy, even after they were grilled.  Not to mention, a lot of the bacon that we wrapped some of the pieces of steak with fell into the BBQ (probably because of the slimy beef...GROSS!)

Looks can be deceiving

The only saving grace for the day was the makeshift nachos we made that night as a snack.  Phew!   :)

These were really spicy!  We had Fireball Salsa!

Wednesday, May 11^th

There’s nothing better than donations as an excuse to eat McDonald’s, and that is why every year I look forward to McHappy Day!  Aside from our normal monetary donation that day, we purchased a few items that $1 would go towards the Ronald McDonald house.  I tried a tactic suggested by some friends: Double Pickle.  Amazingly delicious, and if the burger already has pickle on it, then asking for extra is free!   Imagine that :)

I got a girl toy!

Thursday, May 12^th

We had some more cheap cuts of pork in our freezer so we decided to make pulled pork sandwiches.  We prepared and cooked the chops the same way we did for our empanadas a few weeks ago, but after the meat was pulled we just added a load of BBQ sauce and heated it on the stove top until it was sweet and sticky.  However, just as we were about to heat up the shredded pork with the sauce, the power went!  In the middle of the day and it was fine outside!  Luckily it only lasted about 10 minutes and we still had some residual heat from the burner.  We enjoyed them thoroughly once they were done with some Ziggy's Mac and Cheese salad.

What a sad sight LOL

Friday, May 13^th

I ran into my friend Lesley at the supermarket a few weeks ago and couldn’t help but notice that she was buying green beans.  Ever since then I’ve been DYING for some.  We ended up having a bag of them between ourselves, with spicy sweet Thai chilli sauce for supper. 

I thought this picture came out really well - this is presauce

That night we had my little brother Daniel and little sister Emily over for a sleepover.  While Daniel preoccupied himself with Josh playing Smash Brothers on the Wii, Emily and I set out to make Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies.  At first I was scared because it wasn’t cooking in the centre, but after reading a few reviews I found this was normal and that it was supposed to be gooey and soft in the middle.  These were my first brownies from scratch and I am DEFINITELY making them again soon.  The only thing I might change is the food colouring; I might leave it out or try less (and maybe even use a wacky color!)  Emily loved them, and I thought they were great with glass of milk.

So creamy and chewy and chocolatey

Saturday, May 14^th

We shipped the kids off early the next morning, because Josh’s parents were coming in for the weekend.  While we were waiting for them to arrive, Josh and I shared some Our Compliments brand fish nuggets and McCain hashbrowns with some malt vinegar.  For something that comes frozen, they sure make a tasty meal!

Good old comfort food

That night we went out to Oliver’s to celebrate Sheila and Boyce’s anniversary.  You can read more about that adventure in the Feature Restaurant section.

That’s it for this edition of Food-a-holic.  Stay tuned for the Guest Bloggers that will be posted in the following days and weeks to come!  Shoutouts go too Nacho Cheetos, pickled jalapenos, seafood, Sobey’s mother’s day chicken specials, and Caramel Chillatés from 2^nd Cup.