We are the People Your Parents Warned You About (Sunday April 26)

I have to admit I was feeling a little under the weather Sunday morning after too much fun on Saturday.  We slept in and met up with my parents on the beach for a few hours.  It was a nice and relaxing way to spend my Sunday.  If I had the option to do this, I would spend one day a week at the beach just relaxing.  We made sure to enjoy our time at the beach on Sunday because the forecast did not look like beach weather for the rest of our trip.  

Dad at Pompano Joe's Beach Bar

For dinner on Sunday, we headed back to Pompano Joe's.  It seemed to be everyone's favorite spot, plus we could walk there from the condo.  This time we had a fabulous waitress, Ashley, who reminded us of our dear friend, Ashley.  She was super sweet and made the evening fun.  We were all feeling a little silly, but had a great time.   We started off with Reggae Rolls and hushpuppies and drinks for everyone, but me.  Several people ordered seafood, as they knew it might be our last chance for good seafood.  I went with the chicken tenders, which are sometimes fishy at seafood places, but not here.  They were quite tasty.  Katie got the largest taco salad we'd ever seen.  It was quite tasty and very impressive to view.  

Cheese! 

Mother of All Taco Salads

Chicken Fingers

Mahi Mahi  

After dinner, some of us wanted to grab a few Destin tshirts and we needed to hit Walmart for a few last minute essentials.  It was determined that I needed to drive my parents, as some of us had way too much fun at Pompano Joe's.  It was quite amusing shopping with my parents that night, as I had to remind both of them to behave.   

Red Red Wine (Saturday April 25)

On Saturday, we drove down 30A, taking in all the sites of the cool little beach towns along the way.  There were so many cute and impressive homes in such bright colors.  Our destination was Seaside for shopping, a farmer's market, and general wandering.  It was a cute area with fun little shops to visit.  The farmer's market was pretty much done by the time we got there, mainly due to the weather.  There were art shops, plenty of places to eat, home stores, and a few jewelry places.  Mom and I both got some jewelry at Shimmering Seas.  

While there were food trucks to try, we all opted for Bud and Ally's Taco Bar for lunch while we were in Seaside.  I must admit that on Saturday, I was starting to experience my mid trip crabbies and I was not my normal cheerful self.  The bartender at Bud and Ally's must have known this because my strawberry margarita came with a whole extra cup of goodness.  The food at Bud and Ally's was tasty.  We all split some chips, queso, and salsa, which had a good flavor.  For our meals, we did tacos, burritos, and taco salad.  The tacos were small, but tasty, with great fresh ingredients.  After Bud and Ally's, we spent a little more time in Seaside, finishing our trip with some tasty gelato. 

Burrito

Tacos

We had talked about possibly taking a dolphin cruise on Saturday, but it just didn't seem to be in the cards for that day.  I took a nice nap when we got back to the condo, hoping to get rid of my crabby mood.  For dinner, we tried Marco's pizza, which is a national chain, that I can now recommend.  Everyone got to eat as much or as little as they wanted and we could be as casual as we wanted.  After dinner, we played tenzies, a fun dice game.  Somehow, tenzies turned into a drinking game and then some of us progressed to actual drinking games, which ended with way too much red wine being consumed.  On the positive side, I was no longer crabby. 

Pin a Day: Brisket Tacos

While on vacation, I was definitely craving some BBQ.  We had lots of seafood and southern foods, but the Texas part of me really wanted some BBQ.  When I planned my menu for the week, I found this great recipe for Brisket Tacos.   I lucked out and found a brisket at HEB that wasn't too big or expensive.  I had a hard time at first finding one that would fit in my crockpot.  This recipe was super simple and made the house smell great all day long.  I made sure to set an alarm to wake up on Sunday because the brisket needed 8 hours to cook and I didn't want to eat dinner really late.  I used the recipe as inspiration, but definitely did not follow the recipe perfectly.  I rubbed the brisket with my Salt Lick rub, put it in the crockpot on low, and covered it with Dr. Pepper (made with real cane sugar). I let it cook for 8 hours.  After 8 hours, I let it sit for 15 minutes and then cut it against the grain.  We served our tacos with Rudy's BBQ sauce, shredded Monterrey jack cheese, and cilantro on HEB fresh tortillas.  The tacos were delicious.  I didn't follow the recipe for the mango BBQ sauce because I don't like mango and I already had a great sauce.  Another adaptation might be to add some coleslaw to the taco.  These were so good and will definitely be something I make again.

Off We Go to the Wild Blue Yonder (Friday April 24)

Friday was a busy day on our vacation.  We started off with a trip to the Donut Hole.  Every person who heard I was going to Destin recommended this place so I knew we had to try it.  I am not really a big breakfast person, but I do love donuts, so I was pretty excited.  We had a short wait to be seated, which I've heard is totally different from peak season, where people wait hours for a table.  We all ordered coffee and then browsed the extensive menu.  Mike and Aaron each ordered the Everything so they could sample eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, and ham.  It was a lot of food, but they each did a pretty good job tackling it.  Mike even admitted that the pancakes rivaled those at Kerbey Lane.  Katie went for the most unique dish with the crab eggs benedict.  She also lucked out and got the very last one.  Mom got the granola pancakes and was unable to finish them because the portion was so huge.  Dad got an omelet, hashbrowns, a biscuit and a side of gravy, which he split with me.  I am picky about my breakfast foods so I created my own meal of sides.  I went with hashbrowns, cheese grits, and biscuits to go with the extra gravy Dad had.  Everything was delicious and we were all quite stuffed after eating all that food.  Normally, I would want to take a nap, but we had a busy day ahead of us.

The Everything

Crab Eggs Benedict  

After stuffing our faces, we loaded up into the car and headed to Eglin, to visit the Air Force Armament Museum.  This part of our trip was especially exciting for Dad since he works with planes and for Mike because he loves soaking up all Dad's plane knowledge.  The rest of us were interested, but I think those two were most excited.  I'll admit, it was pretty cool, and there was so much to look at both outdoors and indoors.  Outside, there were many different planes in excellent shape.  Dad gave detailed explanations to those who were interested, while I got an abbreviated version from Mom while she took pictures.  We were both impressed with the amount of knowledge she's soaked up over the years.  Inside the museum, there were more planes and lots of cool weapons to view.   

Mother of All Bombs

Jazz Hands, Burnt Legs, and a Plane...just another day  

Learning how to fly

We skipped lunch on Friday because our breakfast had been huge, but we still opted for a snack.  Friday's snack came to us in the liquid variety.  First, we stopped at the Emerald Coast Wine Cellars, where we sampled a variety of wines, looked at wine crafts, and made a few purchases.  Next door, we hit up Bad Ass Coffee, for our afternoon caffiene fix.  We had visited Bad Ass Coffee about several years ago in Maui.  We got a variety of delicious coffee treats and had a wonderful chat with our barista about more fun places to visit during the remainder of our trip. 

Aaron with a new friend

For dinner on Friday, we headed to the Backporch, located right on the beach.  We discovered truly how casual it was when we saw that many of the patrons opted to skip shoes, shirts, or pants.  This restaurant came highly recommended by my parents as well as PopPop, so we were eager to try.  Most people in our party selected some sort of seafood option, which they all enjoyed.  I went for steak and found it to be quite enjoyable.  The corn medley and pineapple rice were great choices, too.  We really hadn't been eating too much dessert, but Mom said we had to make an exception, so we all split a piece of the orange cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting.  It was pretty amazing, but I am definitely glad that we opted to share because we would have been stuffed otherwise.  After dinner, we played games for a bit before heading to bed and preparing for our next adventure.

Steak! 

Shrimp

Amazing Orange Cake

Pin a Day: Malibu Chicken

After being on vacation for a week, eating out all the time, and gaining about 5 pounds, it was time to get back to eating a bit healthier.  On Friday, I tried a new recipe, Malibu Chicken.   I liked that it was something fairly easy to make and once i figured out the recipe, it honestly was pretty quick to make.  I was smart and bought chicken breasts that were already split, so I could skip the step of cutting them up.  Prep wise, the thing that took the longest was grating my Parmesan cheese because my grater really needed a good cleaning.  I set up bowls with eggs and a second bowl with the cheese and panko crumb mixture.  I gave each chicken piece a healthy dip in the egg and then in the crumb mixture, making sure that they were coated well.  I put them in the oven for 30 minutes on 350.  While they were cooking, I made a salad and cooked some rice for a side dish.  After 30 minutes, I pulled out my chicken and added a piece of deli ham and swiss cheese to each one.  I cooked the chicken another 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, I made the sauce for the chicken.  I used mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and I substitued honey mustard for the yellow mustard and honey.  Once everything was done, I was ready to serve and eat.  It was really good.  The split chicken breasts cooked great and I didn't have to worry if they were done.  I liked the combination of the chicken and the tangy sauce, which was also great with the rice.  This chicken was very similar to chicken cordon bleu and is definitely a recipe we will be making again.

Cheeseburger in Paradise (Thursday April 23)

On Thursday, we finally spent a considerable amount of time at the beach.  We slept in and slathered ourselves in the appropriate (or so some of us thought) amount of sunscreen for a bunch of pasty folks and headed across the street.  I have been to several different beaches, East Coast, West Coast, Gulf, and Caribbean and this is truly one of the prettiest beaches I've ever seen.  The sand was white, almost like sugar, and the water was a beautiful shade of aqua.  The weather was great too, with sunshine and a bit of a breeze.  It was also really clean and there wasn't much seaweed or animal life in the water.  We enjoyed relaxing, whether in the shade under our umbrellas, or along the waterside.  We are all people watchers too, and beaches are a great spot for that.  We spent a couple of hours at the beach before we headed back to the condo for lunch.  We had to be careful not to sunburn ourselves early in the trip.

Playing at the Beach

Waves

Beach Santa

Strolling

After a relaxing day at the beach, we had plans to meet up with Shayne to get our pictures and then head out to dinner at McGuire's Irish Pub.  We were moving slow, so Mom and Dad got the pictures and we met them at the restaurant.  We had prescreened the menu before we went out to eat so we were pretty excited by all of our different food and drink options.  McGuire's was a pretty cool place and I really thought all the dollars hanging from the ceiling was an interesting touch.  We started with beverages, with tropical drinks for some and great beers for others.  We were also excited for appetizers and selected Reuben eggrolls and Irish boxtys.  The eggrolls were different from anything I'd had, but was very yummy.  The boxtys, which were basically deep fried garlic mashed potatoes, were delightful.  I probably could have made a full meal of those.  For our entrees, we mixed it up, with Mom and Katie ordering fish, Dad and I getting burgers, and Mike and Aaron going full Irish with corned beef and cabbage and a Shepherd's pie.  The sheer amount of food was huge and we were all stuffed afterwards.  Unfortunately, this was probably my least favorite meal, mainly because my burger was overdone.  Otherwise it was great, and we had a fun time here.  When we returned to the condo, we took time to look at our amazing pictures on the tv and spent time figuring out how to easily make them accessible to everyone. 

Irish Wake

Reuben Eggrolls and Boxtys

Dollars Hanging from the Ceiling

Beer Flight

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Shepherd's Pie

We are Family (Wednesday April 22)

Wednesday started off as a lazy day with the family breaking into 2 teams in order to accomplish the important tasks.  Team 1 (Mom, Katie, and Aaron) hit the grocery store so that we had food and booze for the week.  Team 2 (me, Mike, and Dad) got to drive back to the Panama City Airport to deal with rental car issues.  Mike came to make sure Dad and I kept our tempers in check.  Fortunately, we didn't have any issues and my dad's discount made the car way cheaper than we were able to negotiate on our own.  We relaxed the rest of the afternoon before getting ready for family pictures.

Just the two of us

My mom loves pictures, especially family pictures.  Last year, we did pictures on the beach in Galveston and they turned out ok, but we sometimes have trouble cooperating.  This year my mom hired Shayne from Next Level Photography to get some professional family pictures.  We met him at 5:00 pm as the sun was starting to set.  He was lots of fun so it made us have more fun and relax.  He got some great pictures of the whole family and each individual couple in the dunes, on rocks, and on the shoreline.  We were all really impressed with the pictures he took and it was less painful than trying to do all the pictures on our own. 

Katie and Aaron

Mom and Dad

The Whole Family

For behaving, my parents took us out to eat at Harry T's in the Harbor Walk Village.  Whether you see it as a reward or a bribe, it was delicious.  It had seafood, booze, and a relaxing atmosphere after getting our pictures taken.  Our waiter, Mike, was fun and made great suggestions of drinks and food choices.  We started out with drinks and broccoli bites, which were quite yummy.  The seafood lovers in our group got shrimp and grits, fish, and fish tacos.  Aaron opted for a fancy burger and I got BBQ pork tacos, per Mike's suggestion.  It was an excellent choice.  The pork was juicy and tender and paired well with the creamy coleslaw.  There was a bit of a snafu with our order, so Mike brought us s'mores for dessert.  We all had so much fun roasting marshmallows at our table.  We wanted to walk around a little more after dinner, but most of the stores had already closed.  Luckily for us, we were able to sneak in the Fudgery for treats to take back to the condo. 

Well Behaved Kids Get Drinks

Bbq Pork Tacos

Shrimp and Grits

Do you want s'more? 

Destin-ation Unknown (Tuesday April 21)

About a week and a half ago, we left Austin bright and early for our family vacation to Destin,  Florida.  We were so lucky that my parents decided to take us on this great vacation for our Christmas gift.  We were also very thankful that Linda and Eric, some of our Austin family, hosted Cecil for the week we were gone.  Our trip started fairly smoothly with an uneventful 50 minute flight to Dallas.  We had a long layover in Dallas so we grabbed some Whataburger for lunch and waited to head to paradise.  Once we were on the plane, we got some bad news that due to weather, we may have to wait for a long time before our plane left.  In the end, we left about an hour late, but that started my travel anxiety.  I was concerned we might not make it to the property management company in time to get the information to get in our condo.  Our flight to Panama City was fine, once we were in the air.  The airport in Panama City was tiny and we headed straight to the car rental/baggage area, where we had travel issue number 2.  My dad got us a super deal on a rental car through work, but the rental car people didn't want to honor it for me.  I was already agitated and this was not making matters better.  I managed to keep my cool and was only "short" with the unhelpful customer service rep, instead of irate.  We finally just rented the car for a day to get to Destin and were on our way.  The rental car was a Kia Optima, which only wanted to drive fast, despite lower speed limits.  The last thing I needed was a ticket, so I drove a nice leisurely speed from Panama City to Destin.  The drive was beautiful with tons of gorgeous pine trees and beaches on either side of us.  

View from the balcony of our condo

After a series of travel mishaps, we had success at the property management office.  The ladies were all super nice and got us merrily on our way.  We were very impressed with the condo.  It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and plenty of space to hang out, including a fabulous balcony with a beach view.  We unloaded our luggage and determined that we earned some drinks.  The rest of the family wasn't due in for a few more hours, so we walked over to Pompano Joe's.  The restaurant was right on the beach and we had a great view as we got seated.  We ordered drinks-  a bucket of booze for Mike and a local beer for me.  For dinner, I ordered the BBQ jerk chicken sandwich and Mike got the blackened Mahi Mahi.  My sandwich was yummy with the right amount of seasoning and the pineapple coleslaw was pretty good too.  Normally, I do not eat my friends from the sea (Fish are friends, not food.), but I decided to taste Mike's fish and it was actually pretty good.  After our meal, the family was getting closer, so we ordered some Yuenglings and waited for them.  Yuenglings are a decent basic beer, but you can't get it west of Tennessee so it's a bit of a treat when we get to have it.  Our family finally arrived and we ate dinner and started talking about all the fun things we planned to accomplish during our week together.

Miles's Bucket O'Booze

Bbq Jerk Chicken Sanwich

Blackened Mahi Mahi  

Yuenglings!! 

Pin a Day: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

On Sunday, I had to get up really early to help make the store look pretty.  I knew I wouldn't have time to eat before I headed out and I also didn't think I would be super hungry at 4 am!  I decided to bring treats to share with my friends, so I made these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins.   This recipe was great because it used all ingredients that I have in my home on a regular basis.  It was also pretty tasty, easy to double, and fairly healthy.  I doubled this recipe so I would have plenty to take to work and some for Mike and I as well.  I did make some modifications as I was preparing this recipe.  First, I never make mini muffins.  I don't have a mini muffin tin and I feel like its a hassle.  I like average muffin tin sized muffins, which to me, is the perfect serving size.  The other big change I made was using low fat creamy peanut butter because that's what I like.  The recipe said low fat was not recommended, but I feel like they turned out fine.  I started off by mixing the dry ingredients in a bowl and setting them aside.  Next, I put the wet ingredients in my beautiful stand mixer and let it do the tough work.  I added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly and mixed until just moist.  Finally, I mixed in some mini chocolate chips.  I put my batter in the muffin cups and cooked for about 22 minutes.  I ended up with just under 3 dozen full sized muffins.  

The results were great.  The muffins were a hit at work Sunday morning and a hit at home with Mike too.  They served as a great breakfast and snack all week.  In fact, as I am typing this morning, I am finishing up the last of the muffins.  This was a yummy treat and one that I will definitely be making again in the future.   

Pin a Day: Easiest Meal Ever

Okay, it's time to catch up on my last few blog posts before vacation!  Last Wednesday, I made the Easiest Meal Ever.  It was pretty easy to make and tasted okay too. Basically, I just threw everything in the crockpot and let it cook about 6 hours.  After 6 hours, I shredded the chicken and let it cook while I made rice.  When the rice was done, we served it with shredded cheese on tortillas.  I made a similar recipe and it seemed to turn out better.  This recipe was decent enough, but probably not one I'll use on a regular basis.

Pin a Day: Stewed Beef and Grits

Last Thursday, I made the spiciest dish I've ever cooked in my life.  It was yummy, but those scared of spice should not attempt this recipe.  I was super excited to try this recipe for Stewed Beef and Grits.   I had to work that day, but I knew it needed plenty of cook time, so I made the beef before I went into work.  I browned the meat in butter and oil for a little bit.  Next, I added the spices, beef broth, and chipotles in adobo sauce.  I cooked that for about 2.5 hours before I had to leave for work.  I refridgerated my beef while I was at work for about 4.5 hours.  I put it back on low heat when I got home, so it could heat up.  Meanwhile, I started on the grits.  The recipe called for 4 cups of grits, but that would not fit in the pot I was using, plus, I didn't feel like I had enough meat to go with that much grits.  I started by sauteing some onions and red peppers.  Then, I added in my grits and water.  I used the quick cooking grits because I am impatient so it helped the process go a bit faster.  Next, I added some half and half and diced chilies and let it cook a while longer.  Finally, I took the grits off the stove and stirred in some shredded cheddar cheese.  We served our beef on top of the grits with a side of green beans.  The stewed beef was sooooo spicy and the grits had a bit of a kick to them as well.  We definitely needed plenty to drink with this meal.  We strained the big chipotles out of the leftover sauce and it was still super spicy when Mike ate it for leftovers.  Next time, I would double the amount of beef I used and maybe strain out some of the chipotles ahead of time.  If you like spicy, this is a great dish, if not, the grits are still worth a try.

Pin a Day: Baked Pesto Chicken

On Monday, I tried a new chicken recipe.  This recipe was different because it suggested using chicken tenderloins, which is nice because it portions well and thaws and cooks faster.  We really enjoyed this Baked Pesto Chicken.   It was also great because it was fairly healthy.  While my oven was preheating, I made the pesto from a Knorr's pesto mix and started boiling water for rice.  Once the pesto was cooked, I poured some in the bottom of my pan, added the chicken, and poured the rest of the pesto on top.  I cooked it for about 25 minutes covered.  I added the mozzerella cheese and cooked it for about 10 more minutes.  We served the chicken on a bed of rice with a side of corn.  It was really tasty and fairly easy as well.  I wish it was a little quicker to make, but I never rush when it comes to chicken.

Pin a Day: Chicken Caesar Wraps

Its time for an all new addition of "What's cooking in my crock pot?"  Last week, I made these Chicken Caesar Wraps.   It was a pretty standard recipe, where I put my chicken breasts and 1/2 cup of water in my crockpot for about 6 hours.  When I came home from getting Mike from work, I shredded the chicken breasts and added them back to the crock with a cup of caesar dressing and let it cook for another 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, I threw some tater tots in the oven and got lettuce and parmesan cheese ready for the wraps.  We used our deliciously fresh HEB tortillas and got our wraps ready.  The wraps were really good and its nice to find another way to cook chicken in the crock pot.  This will definitely become part of our favorites collection.

Pin a Day: Bacon Pesto Mac and Cheese

Are you tired of the same old side dishes?  Me too.  I try lots of recipes for main courses, but I seem to get stuck when it comes to sides.  On Monday, I was having steak and green beans and I needed another side item.  Typically, I would serve a baked potato, noodles, or rice.  Tonight, I decided to give a try at Bacon Pesto Mac and Cheese.   I knew I had my work cut out for me convincing Mike that this recipe could beat his favorite boxed mac and cheese.  I also knew it would be a bit more time consuming, but I was hoping that it would be worth it.  First, I cooked the macaroni noodles and set them aside.  Next, I started on the roux of butter, flour, and milk.  Once the roux was done, I stirred in both cheddar and mozzerella cheeses until they were melted.  I pour the cheese sauce on the macaroni, stirred in the bacon, and pesto.  We were ready to serve.  It was quite good and both of us went back for seconds.  I liked the addition of pesto and bacon to make the dish a little bit more grown up.  Mike liked it too, but I'm still not sure it beats boxed mac and cheese for him.  This dish could also be a main course by adding some grilled chicken to the top.

Pin a Day: Lemon Yogurt Cake

I haven't been baking as much lately, so when I do, it has to be really good.  This lemon yogurt cake was perfect.   I also liked that it was a Food Network recipe, which usually turn out great.  First, I combined my dry ingredients in a bowl and set those aside.  Next, I combined yogurt, sugar, lemon zest, and eggs.  I substituted a lower fat great yogurt instead of full fat plain yogurt.  I added the dry ingredients to the wet and then folded in the oil.  I cooked it and let it cool for 10 minutes.  Then I added the sugar and lemon juice mixture.  Right before serving, I glazed it with a combination of lemon juice and powdered sugar.  This dessert was tasty and light-the perfect way to end a spring day.

Time to Cha Cha

Saturday was a gloom day so we ran a few errands and then had plans to go to the Austin Spurs basketball game.  As we were out, we decided to try a new Thai place by us called Chada Thai.  Mike had read a few reviews on Yelp and was eager to try it out.  It was not crowded when we got there, but remained steadily busy while we were there.  The decor was pleasing and the menu was nice looking with plenty of pictures and descriptions.  Based on Yelp reviews, we started with the Golden bags, which were a cooked wrapper with chicken and vegetables inside.  We liked these and they were different from anything we'd had before.  For our meals, Mike ordered the yellow curry and I had the Pad Thai.  Both meals were delicious.  Mike's curry had the right amount of spice to it and giant pieces of chicken.  My pad thai was mild so I kicked up the spice with some chili sauce.  The portion of pad thai was huge and I definitely could have split it with someone else.  The food was good, the atmosphere was nice, and service was great.  It still doesn't beat our favorite Thai place, but it was a good standby.

Pin a Day: Buffalo Chicken Taquitos

I am always looking for new ways to cook chicken so it doesn't get boring and buffalo chicken is always a great way to do that.  I already have a trusty buffalo wrap recipe that I love, but I decided to try this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Taquitos.   We reallyy enjoyed this recipe despite the fact that it took forever to cook the other night!  My big fail was that I should have precooked and shredded the chicken.  I had 2 really thick pieces of chicken that took much longer to cook than I wanted.  I may start cooking a huge batch of chicken ahead of time to speed up my day to day cooking.  While the  chicken was cooking, I threw my cream cheese and buffalo sauce into the stand mixer to combine it.  I doubled the amount of buffalo sauce because I felt like 1/8 cup was not enough.  Once my chicken was finally done cooking and shredded, I added 2 cups of chicken to the sauce mixture, stirred it up, and put it into my tortillas.  I sprayed the filled tortillas with a little bit of cooking spray and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes.  They came out golden brown and crispy.  The taquitos were tasty and we served them with a little bit of ranch dressing to complete the buffalo flavor.  These were yummy and with better planning could be a quick and easy go to dinner dish.

Pin a Day: Chicken Fried Rice

We love Chinese and Thai food, so I am always looking for new Asian recipes.  I decided to try this Chicken Fried Rice.  Upon reexamining my Pinterest page, I realized I have made several different chicken fried rice recipes and they are all very similar, so I'm thinking this may be the last one I try.  First, I got my rice started cooking.  Next, I worked on cooking the chicken.  Then, I cooked my veggies and scrambled my eggs.  Finally, I added my chicken and rice back in and let it all cook together for a few minutes.  As the recipe was lightly seasoned, I pulled out sriracha, Chinese mustard, and chili sauce to kick it up a notch.  The recipe was great and made plenty of leftovers, but it was nothing new or special.  Fried rice is a basic recipe and this recipe did not disappoint.

A League of its Own

Last Saturday, we ran some errands right before dinner and couldn't decide what to eat.  I was tired of eating at the same places and we remembered a place near some of our favorites that we could try.  The League was a cute pub settled in a strip mall in Cedar Park.  We ordered a couple of beers and started browsing the menu.  There were lots of great things we wanted to try.  In the end, Mike ordered the beef sandwich with truffle fries and I ordered a beer cheese burger on a pretzel bun, also with truffle fries.  Our food was fantastic!  The meat was juicy and flavorful.  The fries had the perfect amount of Parmesan and garlic, along with the truffle dip.  The beer cheese on my burger was creamy and tangy, while the pretzel bun provided the perfect canvas for a burger masterpiece.  The League had a great menu and we'd love to go back to try more items.  My only wish is that they would add a few more beers to their tap list for greater variety.  Overall, this was a great place for a last minute dinner. 

Pin a Day: Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin and Cheesy Broccoli Orzo

We had been eating a lot of chicken lately so it seemed like time for a change.  Last Thursday, we tried two new recipes which did not include chicken.  The first recipe was for Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin.   This recipe was definitely easy, but the results weren't quite what I expected.  My pork tenderloin was a only a pound so it may have cooked a little bit faster than I expected.  Instead of making the rub from the recipe, I used the Salt Lick rub I had in my pantry.  I cooked it in the crock pot with a 1/2 cup of water for about 5 1/2 hours.  Then, I made the sauce and basted it for the last 1/2 hour.  When I went to cut it, it basically fell apart like pulled pork.  The sauce also didn't really carmelize as much as I had hoped either.  Overall, it was decent, but not necessarily my favorite pork dish ever.

The second recipe I tried was Cheesy Broccoli Orzo.  This recipe was great!  I tried this one based on items I found in my pantry and freezer that I wanted to use up.  First, I boiled the water in a medium sized pot.  Next, I cooked the orzo for about 3 minutes.  Then, I added some frozen broccoli and cooked it for about 3-5 more minutes before draining the orzo and broccoli.  Finally, I stirred in some cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, and skim milk.  The orzo was yummy.  We eat a lot of rice and while this was similar, it was a nice change.  I was definitely pleased with the outcome of this dish and will be adding it as a side to some of my other favorite dishes.