Shrimp Blanc Pasta

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Right well it has been a while since I posted anything.  I must say I think I wore myself out with the constant deluge of cooking posting and all of the other stuff that filled my days.  So I think we will try this again at a more leisurely pace,  maybe a couple times a week.  Something to just keep the juices flowing, but gives the resivoirs time to refill.

Todays lunch was spur of the moment, and decided on the theme based on what I had in my fridge which is actually very little thanks to a long run of ordering out, mainly pizza!  So it was what is left in the fridge/freezer that is still good,  so I pulled things out as I went through cleaning out all of the stuff that was close or past its use by date. 

It turned out quite good actually,  a little sweet perhaps but that was due to a forgetful moment on my part that the almond milk I have is vanilla flavored, and not the plain, though still unsweetened naturally.  I had some shrimp in the freezer along with the spianch, and the wine was in the fridge from when I did the cordon bleu a while back.  So here is the end result.

Shrimp Blanc Pasta

1 package shiritaki spaghetti noodles
15 shrimp medium
1/4 cup spinach
1/4 cup saviougn blanc
1/2 cup almond milk (vanilla flavor)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 red onion (medium size)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tblsp minced garlic

Over medium high heat add butter, onion and garlic,  saute until tender.  Add wine, shrimp and reduce almost completely.  Add spinach, salt, pepper and almond milk and reduce again.  Transfer to bowl or use another pan to cook the noodles,  olive oil in the pan, and cook out the excess moisture from the noodles.  Plate and layer over the mixture from the bowl and done!

Blueberry Crisp = Fail

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So no post tonight due to my blueberry crisp turning into a blueberry goo... we shall try that one again at a later date!

Main Dish - Rosemary Chicken with Blueberry Sauce

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I think this week tops the list in recent memory for being bizarre, from the food I have made to the happenings in the daily life.

I started taking Thursday afternoons off due to never seeming to have enough time to get everything cooked, and things prepped for the dessert portion to get made to be able to send off to work to have devoured, so that I don't have to do it.  This week has just been even more messy.

So after the fiasco yesterday I was feeling better this morning,  then about 10am or there about my jaw starts throbbing, and I was having to keep ice on it just to keep the pain tolerable.  I thought this was a tad odd and such,  So I suffered through the rest of the time I needed to be at work and came home thinking that if it didn't clear up soon I would yet again be forced to go see the dentist and figure out what else was going wrong.

Pain wise it started to lighten up a bit,  but still was sore,  so I thought I would go get some orajel and see if that took care of it. By the time I got to the store and back it stopped hurting at all... What the...  well we will see what tomorrow brings,  hopefully we are all done with the teeth thing,  I am over that mess.

So supper... yeah... it is such an interesting color is it not?  I actually loved the color of purple it turned in the pan,  this is a little dingier looking then it did in the flesh as it were,  but for a food... I dunno...  The taste however was like most of this week surprising as to how tasty it actually was.

The recipe doesn't exist for this one,  and I was winging it as I went through things tonight sorry.  Here is the list of things that I used however.

Chicken
olive oil
rosemary
sage
thyme
pepper and salt
mushrooms
blueberries
a bit of butter
almond milk
lime juice
honey


I put all the dry ingredients together and pressed the chicken into it, and then pan seared both sides,  then stacked up the chicken in the pan and covered, simmering/steaming it the rest of the way cooked.  Then I removed the chicken and added the liquid ingredients and cooked down until the blueberries degraded down to a pulp as well as reducing the sauce thickness.

Side Dish - Blueberry and apricot Stuffing

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What is up with this week? So last night I was up have the night numbing a tooth that was giving me no end of pain.  What caused this I hear you ask, well let me tell you!  I went to the dentist on Monday, and had a deep cleaning done,  and all was well.  The next day all is still fine, and go to lunch which happened to have chips and salsa.  Nothing was problematic at this point either.  Then about 8pm or there about my mouth starts throbbing, and it just gets worse until finely I somehow fell asleep.  This morning I make a little trip to the dentist to find out what is going on,  and come to find out  I had gotten a little bit of a chip down inside my gum and it was irritating the tooth under the crown line...

Chips are my arch nemesis!  For it was these same chips and salsa (different restaurant)  that were to blame for popping and busting my temp crown! One would think I would learn, but I continue to tempt fate apparently!  Oh well... I am on the mend,  mouth is sore, but getting better at least.

All that said,  I fudged a bit on tonight's recipe, I had planned on doing it completely from scratch.  However due to the not quite all there state I was in while at the grocery store, I missed a few ingredients, so this is a bit farther off then I had even planned!

Blueberry and apricot Stuffing

2 cups bread bits (bought)
1 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 jalapeno (finely chopped)
1/4 red pepper (finely chopped)
1/2 cup mushrooms (finely chopped)
1/2 white onion (chopped)
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup apricots (finely chopped)
1/2 cup fresh blueberries (chopped)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp sage

Melt butter in pan, put in onion, mushrooms, red pepper, jalapeno, blueberries and apricots into pan,  saute for a few minutes, add seasonings mix well, add bread bits and milk and mix again.  Move contents of pan into casserole dish and cook for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I ended up adding a tad more salt,  but otherwise that's that!

Salad - Blueberry Salad

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It has been 60 days since I started my path down this road of eating things that were prepared by hand, no processed foods, and avoiding wheat and corn products.  A grand feat in some regards considering how invasive those two food sources have ingrained themselves into our food landscape.

We live in a society where the carb rules the edible roost, but our bodies were never meant to handle them on such a large scale as we eat them.  I think that this has led us down this path that the world sits in today.  More then any other aspect, our eating habits have given rise to the weight gain of our society.  So I cut them out, or kept them rather low at least.

Over the course of this blogs life the only recipes that contained any significant source of carbs were the desserts, and they only happened on Fridays, and were taken in to work to be devoured there.  I sometimes partook of that one,  but not always,  otherwise I have only eaten things that it into the profile as already described.  Mainly just the foods featured thus far in my blog.

The final results were in,  and by doing this and making sure I stayed hydrated (another important part)  I have lost 37 lbs over the last 60 days.  I would have actually lost a bit more I think had I not been so heavy handed with the dairy products the last couple of weeks,  I am getting too old.  My body doesn't seem to enjoy them as much as my mouth does!

So I am going off the restrictions for the rest of this week, and next week.  Then back on them.  I want to see how much carbs infiltrate naturally into my food habits.  The only thing that I missed while on this adventure was pizza so I am having that Friday!

Recipe tonight isn't one really.  It is just a salad with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, blueberries, thinly sliced onions, a few dashes of ginger, and a raspberry vinaigrette (sugar free).  It is a nice salad,  but I have never been a big salad person,  so I can't give it rave reviews.  So those of you who do. please do!

Appetizer - Blueberry Salsa

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Now let me be the first to admit I had no hope for this dish to actually taste good,  but I was pleasantly surprised!  There is something about this mixture that causes a whole lot of different taste centers to light up at the same time.  Sweet, salty, spicy and savory all at the same time!  Paired this with some Hint of lime and Hint of Jalapeno Chips for yet another layer of flavor.

In other news,  I think we can call this Hurricane (at least for the area I live in) a bust.  We didn't even get a decent thunderstorm out of it! Oh well,  maybe the next one will have some gusto!

Tomorrow is the big reveal for a secondary project I have been working on.  So that will be good to have done,  at least for a couple weeks, then it will be starting back up.  All in the name of self improvement I guess!

On to the Recipe!

Blueberry Salsa

1/2 pint fresh blueberries (diced)
1/2 red pepper (diced)
1/2 jalapeno pepper (finely diced)
1 red onion (finely diced)
2 tsp fresh cilantro (finely diced)
3 tbsp  lime juice
1/2 tsp salt


Mix well, and I found letting it sit in the fridge for a bit actually help gel the flavors a bit more.  But only do so if you can't resist eating it right away!

Introducing........ Blueberries!

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Here is the winner of the first voted on ingredient of the week!  I have my work cut out for me.  I can think of a few days that I haven't a clue what would get populated into that days entry.  So research time for me it looks like.

Still waiting for the hurricane to get here,  it is taking it's time...  I don't think it will ever get here though.  Maybe we will get a nice thunderstorm or two out of it!

Well if anyone has any idea's for what to make this week,  let me know!  I have appetizer, salad and dessert covered now,  but no clue on side dish and main dish yet... but never fear! I will think of something if nobody else has an idea.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend,  and look for the new poll for next weeks ingredient  on my facebook fanpage found at https://www.facebook.com/TableFor1To12.  and while you are there make sure to like so you can follow the exploits from there.

Surf and Shrooms

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This is one I was saving for a rainy day... and while it isn't raining yet... I is supposedly going to so why not use it!  I made this one a couple weekends ago, but didn't have a slot to put it in for the meal of the day,  so it got put on hold.  Until now!

What I remember about this is that it was a flavor that snuck up on you.  It started out going.. this is edible,  not bad, and by the time I got to the end of it, I was like *pout*  it is all gone.  I dunno what it was about how this particular dish melded together through the course of eating that changed my opinion so much,  but I would  be more than willing to eat it again to find out!  I just happen to not have seen this fish type in the store again...

So here is the recipe!

Steelhead Trout with a mushroom and ginger sauce

1 fillet of trout (mine had skin still)
3 tbsp Lime juice
1 tsp crushed pepper paste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp garlic salt
olive oil (for pan frying)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 pat of butter
2 tsp minced ginger
a couple dashes of dill when finished
same with the dashes of parsley


mix the lime juice, pepper paste and salt together and rub into one side of the fish fillet, heat pan to medium high with the olive oil, and sear fish, turn over and sear the skinned side for a min or so to loosen the skin off.  Peel off the skin, and flip back over to finish searing that side take the fish out and all of the other ingredients,  making the sauce. Reduce some of the liquid off, and then plate.  Then enjoy! the subtle attack on your taste buds!

Dessert - Ginger Pumpkin Cupcakes!

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We made it through another week!  Hopefully this weekend will be full of fun and exciting things.  If I can't have that, then I would like a nice quiet weekend instead.

Just got back from taking care of my friends house while she is out of town.  Her cat cheeto is getting all sorts of attention since he is only getting it once a day.  Poor guy, he probably misses his mom.  Then again he is a cat,  so probably see's her more as a servant to do her bidding!  Silly kitties.

Not much to say tonight, apart from that everyone who had these cupcakes LOVED these cupcakes! Even people who don't normally like pumpkin or ginger!  So here is the recipe!  WARNING! the frosting is also addictive. This dessert requires some attention to detail,  but totally worth it!

3 bowls may be needed!  wet ingredients in the biggest! as that is where the rest ends up.

Ginger Pumpkin Cupcakes


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix (or the cook kind also works, it is the cornstarch and flavor that we are getting from this)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (this was a chore to find,  but found some in the asian section of the super market)


1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree


Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Use paper cupcake liners. Whisk together the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cloves, and crystallized ginger in a bowl; set aside.
Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin puree with the last egg. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups (about a 1/4 cup in each liner).  Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.


Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups confectioners sugar
2 bricks cream cheese
1 stick butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Let the cream cheese and butter sit out to get to room temperature.  Put the cream cheese bricks in and blend in the vanilla, then chuck up the butter and blend that in until completely mixed into a whipped state.  Start adding the sugar in a 1/2 cup at a time until it is all incorporated.

Let frosting chill while cupcakes are baking in fridge to help solidify a bit. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled down,  the quickest way to frost them is to simply dip them into the frosting, and pull out straight up and give it a little twist at the end.  They come out uniform and pretty!

Main Dish - Beef Yakitori

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Yay for half day off today.  I just needed the extra time to get caught up with everything and finish up a few things.  Now of course I am ready for a nap, but I still have more to do!  That seems to be the way of things here at home these days!

Taking care of my friends cat while she is gone, so was over there keeping him company for a little while this afternoon and decided he really needed a good brush down. I got about half a cat in fur off him! He enjoyed the attention though.  It was good practice for when I finally get my own cat at some point in the future.  Still waiting on all his medicals to be done and such before I can officially adopt the Lilac Siamese.  So cute he is!

Ok time for the recipe since I keep getting sidetracked and this post is taking forever to write tonight!

Beef Yakitori


1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 lb sirloin steak, in 1 inch strips


In a glass or plastic bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, oil, lemon juice, sesame seeds, sugar, green onions, garlic, and ginger.  Thread the meat onto skewers. (If you are using wooden skewers, soak them 30 minutes first.) Place the skewers in a plastic or glass container just large enough to hold them, and pour the marinade over the meat, turning to coat well. Cover, and chill for a minimum of 4 hours. Right before cooking I dusted with some extra ginger powder, just because I wanted a deeper flavor.  Grilling is an option, but I ended up broiling them,  each side for about 8-10 minutes.

Served with the Ginger Orzo.  Was excellent!

Side Dish - Ginger Orzo

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Right well after fighting with my phone for... too long,  I just went with the original picture I took, which is a bit dark so sorry about that!  I should really invest in proper setup for food photography,  but like everything else takes too much money of which I never seem to have enough to keep up with my idea's.  Some day! Maybe I will get a sponsor or something,  that would be cool!

Okay so this evening is my first use of the new Konjac Pasta.  I used the orzo shape tonight obviously.  The pasta is made from the konjac plant fiber.  So this stuff is 100% fiber, no calories and no calories, but gives you that pasta feel and fix.  I liken the texture to be that of  al dente pasta, firm but still soft.  The flavor is null really,  so perfect for adding whatever you want to it!

On to the Recipe!

Ginger Orzo

1 package konjac noodles, orzo shape
2 tsp ginger, minced
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli

Another pretty easy dish,  toss it all in the pan, and heat through completely.  Simmer to let the flavors blend, and you are ready to go.  I tossed a piece of provolone cheese in since I had a slice leftover in the package.

Soup - Ginger and Mushroom soup

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I almost made it vegan friendly, but I used cream as I didn't feel like trudging out in the rain to get coconut milk as I had originally planned.  Otherwise this is a completely vegetarian dish this evening.  Hopefully it turns out good.  It is simmering as I write this up.

So here in Florida during the rainy season, we get these afternoon showers which seem to always show up right around the time to leave work,  and today was no exception.  The major difference this evening is that there was some massive claps of thunder and lots of lightning!  Just my kind of storm!  It was however a perfect night to stay in and have some soup!

Ginger and Mushroom Soup

4 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1 cup mushrooms
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1/4 cup cream
1/4 sour cream
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp red chili paste
1 tsp konjac powder (100% fiber thickening agent, NO CARBS!)


Toss it all in a pan (except the thickener. treat it like you would starch, a bit of cold water first with that then add to pan).  Cook to boiling medium heat, then with your Hand Blender which I got here... (http://www.target.com/p/kitchenaid-2-speed-hand-blender-contour-silver/-/A-13738210 except in orange).  Puree it into a nice even thickness.  Let simmer for about 15 minutes on low, and serve.  I put in a slice of provolone and a bit more parsley for show.

Appetizer - Ginger Crab Cakes

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Well this was a bit of a learning experience all around  about how to make these things... There is something to be said for fresh ingredients over canned!  In this case the crab meat,  I thought 'oh I have that can of crab meat in the pantry, that will work, no need to go to the store', little did I know how much extra work that would cause me!

So here is some helpful hints about this particular recipe,  thankfully I had made enough for two servings so I could get a picture!  If you use canned crab meat,  make sure you drain the life out of that sucker!  extra liquids are not your friend when it comes to making these.

Secondly too much of a good thing can apply!  It was the pepper actually,  I used peppercorn mayo instead of plain mayo.  I should have not added extra pepper.  While still good, the pepper overpowered the other things a little too much in my opinion.

Well on to the recipe!

Ginger Crab Cakes  (makes 4 cakes)

1 6oz can of crab meat
2 tbsp mayo
1 tsp freshly grated ginger root
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/8 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp lime juice
2 finely chopped mushrooms

Toss everything into a bowl and mash it up good.  Heat a pan with a bit of olive oil to medium.  Drop Dollops of the mixture into the pan and let cook each side about 5 minutes,  flip over and cook other side.

I added a spoonful of a cream cheese/sour cream mixture I had sitting in the fridge,  and whipped a little more ginger an dill into it.  Helped cool down my mistake with the pepper!

Introducing....... Ginger!

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Lets work with Ginger for the week!  I Loooooooooove Ginger.  There is something about the savory yet nasal heat that it creates and how it adds depth to so many other flavors.   I might even find a dessert recipe that will use this and won't make people get all creeped out by it. 

Next week we will be working with Chocolate as the ingredient since I had the request to do so.  That should be interesting.  Recipes that fit into the full meal plan all with the cocoa bean.  I look forward to the challenge!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, and are ready to hit the ground running, as tomorrow is the dreaded Monday... booooo...

Ok back to taking care of the other chores and squeezing out as much play time as I can from this day!

Leftovers!

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Well tonight was leftovers from the week,  but I thought I would make something new out of it instead of having an exact repeat!

So what all can you see in here that has been in something else this week?

Steak, cream sauce, asparagus, mushrooms, red pepper,  noodles (though I don't think I actually did use it in a recipe I shared) and of course Garlic!

Hope everyone has a great weekend,  and if you want me to work with a particular ingredient,  just shout it out and I will see what I can do!  Tomorrow we introduce the next great ingredient!

Friday - Chocolate Ribbon Cake

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Hooray!  The weekend is finally here and I am glad of it,  my kitchen needs a deep cleaning!  Finding little bits of oil here and a bit of salt there it is like the kitchen exploded and tried to get itself back together before I got home!  I know better, it is all me making that mess. Though as they say... "A messy kitchen is a sign of a good meal".  I like to think I have pretty good meals!

So I took the cake into work today, and of course got rid of the evidence thanks to all my co-workers.  I myself didn't have a piece, so I wanted their honest feed back on this dessert as I had never made something like this before exactly, and it received good reviews, however the chocolate cake part most thought was a little dry which I was wondering as I let it cool actually,  it just looked dry to me.  So forewarned is forearmed if you want to attempt this one!

Chocolate Ribbon Cake

1 devils food cake mix (make as directed for mix)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Prepare cake according to directions on package. Pour into Bundt pan. In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter and cornstarch until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, egg and vanilla until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture evenly over cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50ish minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. I found putting a piece of parchment paper between the rack and the cake worked well to keep it from pressing into the rack.

Main Dish - Garlic Braised Beef

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Again with the crazy evenings, and here I thought I was actually getting ahead of myself!  I had prepared both the main dish and the side dish last night, so I could make the dessert tonight, that way I could take it to work with me tomorrow.  I ended up being short 1 egg (thanks Rhia for the rescue) and don't have any corn starch in the house which I didn't even notice this recipe had called for before my alterations trying to correct the issues.  So we will see how that turns out... Hopefully still edible!

Things might be picking up at work a bit,  got a couple of new projects today,  though they are future items,  but I could at least do some prep work.  That will be nice,  some days are immensely boring!  I best not shout that too loud though as soon enough it will be the opposite once the reporting stuff is ready to be created.

Anyways, on to the Main Dish!

Garlic Braised Beef

1 flank steak
3 cloves garlic, peeled (and I smashed)
2 tblsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can chicken broth
2 tsp lemon juice

Mix pepper, salt and garlic powder and rub into the meat. In a skillet, put in a bit of olive oil and sear both sides of the meat until brown (around 5 min) each side.  Add rest of ingredients and bring to boil.  Reduce to Low heat, cover pan, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.  Remove meat and cut in strips against the grain.  To make the gravy turn back up the heat a bit and let it reduce,  if in a hurry you can use your favorite thickening agent,  however I prefer the reduction method (even if it takes longer)  as it intensifies the flavors.

Needless to say I was tired and not very hungry last night, so I had it today for lunch and it was wonderful,  the meat was tender and blended well with the creamy cauliflower mash.  The gravy added just enough salt flavors to make it work.  Now I have leftovers for about 3-4 more plates!

Side Dish - Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

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So much rushing today! After work, and after the conversation that was completely random about scrambled eggs and exes.  Sometimes I wonder where this stuff comes from,  but it all just happens naturally.

Needless to say it was grocery night, and while I didn't need a lot, I still needed stuff for the rest of the week.    Since I finally figured out what I was going to make and all.  The main dish is actually cooking tonight,  but will share it tomorrow since it takes a while too simmer and stuff.   I also got the stuff for the Dessert!  While it won't have any garlic in it, I think it fits with the robust flavors that are found in all of the other dishes this week.  It was either that or I make Garlic brittle, and I wanted to make sure it all disappeared at work Friday, which I don't think that would have...

So here is the recipe since I am running a teeny tiny bit behind schedule for getting stuff done, cleaned up and onto the evening activities.

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower
5 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
1 tsp pepper

Steam or boil the cauliflower (chopped into florets) until tender. Drain off the excess liquid and then puree, however you want, I have a hand blender, so I used that.  Add all of the rest of the ingredients at this point.  Keep going until completely a mashed mixture.  I added a splash of garlic/ginger oil to it for a bit of an extra kick.  Nice and versatile this is.

Soup - Garlic Soup

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Well it was almost fitting that was making soup today since I felt under the weather, and stayed home.  Probably a mixture of things, culminating in something next to a migraine, but not quite.  Needless to say I will be glad when it passes completely I do not enjoy this!

A few naps, and a bit of cooking was about all I got done today.  Hopefully another full nights rest will kick this to the curb and I can carry on carrying on.  Until then things are nice and quiet, slightly dark, and keeping it cool in the house.

I also realized I need to get more types of dishes.  When I was serving this up, I was thinking to myself this would do much better in a proper soup bowl, not this salad bowl type thing that I had to use,  the walls are much too high.  I will have to add random cool looking dishes to my long list of "to buy"  items.

Enough of the moaning and groaning,  lets talk about food!  While the soup was actually very good, I had a few things that I failed to actually do that I had planned on doing.  That being straining the soup and thickening it a bit.  Regardless the taste itself was still delish!

Garlic Soup

4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
3 tbsp  minced/pressed garlic
2 tbsp dried onion
1 cup chopped spinach
2 tbsp sour cream (trying to finish up the container)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
1 tbsp dried parsley

Combine the broth, garlic and onion in a pot and heat up.  Add heavy cream and seasonings and bring to a rolling boil, whisking as needed,  remove from heat and add spinach sour cream and cheese.  Whisk again until blended.   I ended up adding a bit of shredded swiss cheese right before serving (again finishing off a package).

Appetizer - Scallop Stuffed Mushrooms!

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Tonight is the appetizers including our special ingredient of the week, Garlic!  These were delectable.  I did so good at not eating them until after I got the picture taken, then I tasted one.  Divine they were!  Luckily I didn't need to retake the picture as they were gone shortly after.  The whole dozen of them!

This required a trip to the store to get the whole mushrooms as I apparently have been getting only the sliced ones lately.  So I grabbed this and some cream for tomorrows soup dish,  and a few more cloves of garlic and rushed home to prepare this dish.  In the rush I forgot to get the shrimp which is what I planned on using for this, but at least I had these scallops at home, which I think turned out just as good if not better then the original plan!

I think I even have a guest cook lined up for Saturday! A friend of mine from work has this meatloaf she has been dying to get to me,  but it is always her mother who makes it for her.  So she is going to acquire the recipe and share it with all of us!

So without making you wait any longer, here is the recipe for the appetizer of the week!

Scallop Stuffed Mushrooms

30-40 scallops (about 1/4 of a lb)
1 package whole mushrooms (I ended up using a dozen of them)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon parsley (for color mainly, though it ended up browning by the end)
1 tablespoon dried onion

In a pan I put the scallops butter and garlic in, and cooked them through on medium high,  then added the stems of the mushrooms(very finely chopped) and the rest of the seasonings,  kept agitating it as it finished cooking and reducing down.

I cut out the inner hood of the mushrooms to give me a little bit room for stuffing, but kept the gills in.  I took some whipped cream cheese with chives and with a spoon spread a thin layer over the bottom of the mushroom,  then spooned 3 on average scallops with the mixture on top.  then put a dash of garlic powder on the top.  I placed them on a cooking sheet and sprayed lightly with olive oil.  I cooked at 325 for about 10-15 minutes (when liquid starts to pool around the base of the mushroom).

Let stand for about 5-10 minutes and then they are ready to plate (if they get that far... soooooo good).

Introducing..... Garlic

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I thought I would start off with an easy one this week. I even found a dessert recipe with garlic,  but I am not going to make it.  That would be too weird!  Needless to say expect garlic in all of the other dishes this week.  Sometimes as a main flavor, sometimes as an accent,  you won't know until you actually get to see the dish!

If you have any dishes you would like to see me make with this either post/text/email me and I will see what I can do to accommodate.  Otherwise it will be whatever is made in the whim of the moment!

There isn't much else going on at the moment.  I am sad that the weekend is about over though. I was hoping for so much more of it.  That never seems to happen though,  funny how time just keeps trucking on.

Get ready for the adventure into garlic land!

Nothing special this evening :P

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So today has been a very low cooking productivity day.  Mainly because I have been playing Secret World all day with friends.  Which is just as good of a reason as any not to cook something too extravagant I think!

Tonight is just bacon and eggs, nothing fancy about them really,  just a bit of salt and pepper and dash of parsley and garlic powder.  Bacon I find is very greasy! I had a ton of grease in the pan after making only 4 strips! I should have probably broiled them or something but oh well.  Maybe next time when I am not rushing through food preparation.

As of tomorrow I will be switching things up a bit.  See how that sparks the brain cells. The new agenda will be something along the lines of the following.

Sunday - Introduce ingredient of the week
Monday- Appetizer with ingredient of the week
Tuesday - Soup with ingredient of the week
Wednesday - Side Dish with ingredient of the week
Thursday - Main course with ingredient of the week
Friday - Dessert which may include ingredient of the week... that is just too rough to come up with a dessert!
Saturday will be the Lunch Club review or Special Guest Chef/Foodie!

So if you want to be a guest by all means drop me a line we can set something up for you! I would love to share others food idea's as well!

Lunch Club ~ Red Mesa

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4912 4th Street North  St. Petersburg, FL 33703 http://www.redmesarestaurant.com/welcome.html

This week we went to our Mexican stand by,  mind you this is pretty upper scale Mexican on the non existent scale in my head.  Needless to say it is always good.  And when you get a basket of warm chips and their excellent salsa it always puts you in an excellent mood to start any meal.

Today I actually veered from my normal dish, I was TRYING to cut the carbs, but well... there were chips and salsa, so I cut them out where I could... but we only had one basket! Normally we would get through two baskets of chips! Anyways, back to the dish,  I got Chicken Fernandez ~ Mojo marinated grilled breast of chicken topped with spicy chipotle cream sauce, served with rice and fresh seasonal vegetables.  As it says in the menu.

The sauce was great! The chicken well cooked, seasoned, but I thought a touch bland, I was expecting more of a kick I guess. The seasonal vegetables were green beans and red peppers, which I had the red peppers and a couple green beans (not a fan really). Overall it was good, but still doesn't hold a candle to my favorite, which is a Friday special only... The seafood Burrito.... sooooo good.

Service this time around was mediocre, normally we get excellent service there. This time however the waiter was a little too busy with whatever he was doing moreso then interacting with the table. Failed to mention the specials, slow on the drink refills, little things like that.

The place is always hopping, usually a line by the time we leave. Glad we come early!  Rating overall 4/5 stars, normally it would be 5/5 stars, but knocking half point off for waiter, and half point off for entree not quite being up to par with the others I have had.

Rainbow Cupcakes!!!

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How can anyone resist a cupcake,  let alone a most colorful one like this?  I have to admit it, I ate one.  I am going to bring the rest to work with me tomorrow though so I can't have any more of them,  they are sooooo not on my diet.

There isn't a whole lot to making these recipe wise,  just a white cake mix,  then separate into 6 equal amounts I found this to be a little over a half cup each.  Dye the batter, then dollop about 3/4 tablespoon of each color layered over one another.  Follow directions for baking off the back of the box.  What I will provide you is the amount of dye for each color.  I was impressed by how vivid they turned out!  

Drops of Food Coloring

Purple - 9 red and 6 blue drops

Blue - 12 drops

Green -12 drops

Yellow - 12 drops

Orange - 12 yellow and 4 red drops

Red - 18 drops

The reason for a bit more in the red is it will come out pink otherwise.  I had just enough to scrape the bottoms to make 16 cupcakes total.  Frosting choice up to you but white would be good so it doesn't overpower.

Here is what the batter looked like dyed.  I remembered to take a pic at that point!

Chicken Cordon Bleu.... FINALLY!

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First off I have to say that I was actually nervous as to how this was going to turn out!  Mainly because I was using wine to cook with, and I don't ever recall making something with it before. I was surprised actually at how well it turned out!  Tonight's dinner consisted of, Chicken cordon bleu, steamed asparagus with horseradish sauce and tofu noodles pan fried in olive oil (and oregano, parsley, salt and pepper).

I ended up making two sauces with the wine, because I had browned the chicken and then made the first batch of sauce it in the pan while the chicken was baking.  I forgot one ingredient while I was at the grocery store tonight.  Cream... oops.  So I thought well what to do... and went with Sour cream instead, and since it was sour cream, I thought why not put in some green onions as well, and maybe a sprig or two of cilantro.

Then when the chicken came out I thought it didn't look brown enough so I rolled it in the juices/butter in the dish it was cooking in, and then threw some flour on them and cooked them again, browning them up a bit more.  After doing that I had the dross in the pan again to do something with so I was like lets do something different!  So this time I added a bit more flour, and all the juices from the baking pan, and some unsweetened almond milk, and was like wow... this version is good too!

All sorts of sauces tonight!  The recipes are pretty simple oddly enough. So here is the whole list of them!  this ended up being a bunch more then just chicken cordon bleu.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

3 slices Swiss cheese

18 slices thin sliced deli ham

1 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon paprika

6 tablespoons butter

I got the thin sliced chicken breasts so I didn't need to pound them flat or anything.  I folded the swiss cheese like a fan, and then folded in half, then wrapped in ham slice, flipped over and wrapped again, then once more and wrapped again!  No cheese leakage at all!  Secured them with toothpicks and pan seared them on all sides with the butter,  then moved to baking dish where the butter followed as well.  Baked at 350 for about 20 min and then removed, rolled in the butter and sprinkled some flour on them and pan seared again. Also removed toothpicks at this time.

The First Sauce

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 sour cream

1/2 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules

1 bunch of green onions

6 finely chopped cilantro leaves (put in at the end)

With the dross that was left over from the pan  (first time of pan searing) put all the stuff into it and let it heat up, and reduce I tosses a couple of red pepper flakes in there as well. 

The Second Sauce

1/2 white wine

1/2 cup almond milk (unsweetened)

1/2 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules

all the leftovers from the second round of cooking including the butter from the baking dish

1 tablespoon flour

Same as before just dump it all in stirring often while it mixes and heats up.  This one is more prone to separating depending on how much of the butter there is left it seems.  I tossed some cilantro into this at the end as well.  

The Third Sauce (this was for the Asparagus)

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons grated horseradish

1 teaspoon pepper

Heat up and let it set for a bit mixing and not letting it get too hot so the sour cream doesn't start to burn. then just dish and let set until ready to serve and plop some on the asparagus.

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Saucy Steak!

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This week... I tell you!  It either feels like it is rushing by or going so amazingly slow.  It feels like it should be Thursday, but it is only Tuesday!  I wonder where my missing days went...  Hope they had a good time wherever they went.

I have to clean the kitchen, I did a shoddy job last night, so tonight it will be a bit extra work,  but still nothing major.  I tend to clean as I go through a cooking job unless I need all surfaces doing something towards the meal.  Then it gets a little harder to clean, and it piles in the sink.

So tonight I was going to yet again make chicken cordon bleu, but I had pulled some steak out of the freezer too the day before the chicken, so I was like well I guess I better use that up first!  So that is what I did tonight.

Saucy Steak
4 cubed steaks
1/4 cup Parmesan bread crumb mixture
1 egg
2 tablespoons grated horseradish
2 tablespoons vinegar (I had rice vinegar handy which does weird things when cooked)
1 slice pepper jack cheese
smidge of parsley for show

I mixed the vinegar and horseradish together and smeared on one side of the steaks,  then pan seared them with a touch of olive oil spray.  I then took them out, coated them in egg and then in the crumbs and finished cooking.  I then took the left over cream of mushroom soup (about 1/2 cup)  and mixed in what was left of the mushrooms I had from yesterday too which wasn't much and dolloped  a scoop on each piece,  then the cheese,  and baked until cheese melted. Served with a side of steamed broccoli.

Tomorrow night Chicken Cordon Bleu! YAY!

The meatloaf that aspired to be more!

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What a day this has been! Well... more of an evening rather.  I get home today to a power outage at my apartment,  but not the entire complex,  it seemed to be isolated to just the row I was in,  and the people on the other side of the lake it looked like as well. So while the power was out I prepped what I could for what had started out to be a meatloaf.  Due to various variables it is more of a Frittata now then a meatloaf... Regardless! it is yummy,  I had two pieces!

So as I run around trying to catch up with my evening I find that I have very little to do around this place that isn't related to electricity or light.  Not that I am complaining or anything,  I just felt like I was getting behind on everything by not being able to do anything that I had planned on doing.  Of course it is just silly since nothing that I needed to do was actually important to do, just part of the nightly routine.  Who knew I liked routine.  Maybe it is my old age catching up with me!

Anyways on to the meatloaf Frittata recipe!

Meatloaf Frittata  (8 servings)

3/4 lb of ground turkey meat
2 cups chopped baby spinach
1 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1 small white onion
1 chicken bullion cube crushed and sprinkled (or if you have powder have at it)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup
4 slices pepper jack cheese


In a bowl mix everything except the cream of mushroom and pepper jack cheese. You have to get your hands messy with this one to make sure a good mix without shredding everything.  Since it started out with less meat then planned, I decided to bake in a 9 inch round cake pan instead of in the loaf pan.  I poured the mixture into the pan (sprayed with olive oil for no sticking issues).  Half of the can of cream of mushroom I just smudged around the top of the mixture after in the pan.  After cooking at 350 for 1 hour, I put the cheese in and baked until melted.

Breakfast for Lunch!

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Since it is Sunday, I thought I would take it easy and all. So I cleaned the kitchen, made some iced tea, did the laundry, played video games and did a little cooking.  I was going to prep cupcakes, but realized I don't have a cupcake pan!  So I guess those are on hold!.

Oh and I also was able to add a Pinterest button,  but you have to go into the actual article to be able to click it,  otherwise it just links back to the blog and not the actual item.  So you all use that, you should pin some stuff to help spread the fun,  I will work on taking some more "classy"  pictures.  Since that is what all of the ones on Pinterest seem to be.  I might have to get some more lightning, and get all sorts of plates and settings... I smell a shopping spree!

Needless to say for after finally getting everything else done, I was like let me just whip something up quick.

So I looked in the fridge and saw I had one egg left, thought why not.  Fried the egg with a little sea salt and pepper, a dash of parsley flakes.  Had a couple cheddarwurst left, so sliced those and tossed them in the pan too!  Then I thought that is a whole lot of salt, I need to tone it down a bit,  so I made a little topping/dipping sauce. Which is just a dollop of sour cream, a smidge of red pepper paste and a bit of parmesan cheese.

It was tasty!  I haven't had breakfast type meal in ages.  Some day I may even work up to doing crazy things with waffles or something!

One Fish, Two Fish

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Ahh the weekend,  finally some time to relax and take it easy.  Went to the grocery store as is the usual Saturday adventure,  and today was a bit different in that the grocery store was BUSY!  Normally when I go it is just medium busy,  today there were lines backed up at all the registers open, and they even opened a couple more.  The people in front of me were stocking up for a month it looked like!  They had 3 little kids, but had almost 3 carts full of food.  I didn't see the full bill value though, but they were doing the happy dance after their rewards card was swiped as to how much they had saved.  With three carts though I would hope they had done some serious savings.

Apart from that adventure, I have started watching a series from a few years ago called Wonderfalls,  I forgot how much I had liked what little I saw of it the last time. It looks like it only made it two seasons though,  that seems to be the way of things that I like.

On to the food!

This evening I decided to try out the tilapia I had purchased,  and here is what I did with it.

Parmesan encrusted Tilapia (Serves 2-4 depending on cut)

2 fillet of Tilapia
1 egg
1/2 cup Parmesan
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1/2 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon red pepper paste
2 tablespoons olive oil


Mixed the dry seasonings together, took half of it and dry rubbed it onto one side of the fillets.  I heated up the pan and seared in olive oil both sides. on a plate I had scrambled the egg, and on another plate mixed the Parmesan with the rest of the seasonings.  I brushed the egg onto the fillet and then caked on a layer of the Parmesan mixture, plated and then broiled until the top turned the golden brown color.

Served with some left over spinach, mixed with some minced garlic, Parmesan and a bit of butter.  To drink, cherry infused iced tea.

Lunch Club ~ Thai Wok!

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11270 4th Street North #112 St. Petersburg, FL 33716‎

This has been one very busy week!  Hopefully next week will be less so.  I am ready for a nice relaxing weekend, hopefully filled with good food, and entertainment of whatever variety that keeps me from getting bored.

In other News, I am the officially recognized adopter of the Siamese cat that I have been hoping to get.  It will probably be another month before I can bring him home, so I have plenty of time to prepare for his arrival!

Now on to the important bit... The Food!

Thai Wok from the outside looks like a little hole in the wall place, but walk inside and it all changes!  The wood paneling and decor are chic with out being cliche.  It is a small place, only servicing about 30-40 people max at a time, but lunch time is almost always packed!

The lunch menu is set up in such a way that you have a base dish and can switch out the meat (or even tofu and vegetarian options on the fly, which is handy to have for such an eclectic group like ours.

I ordered the Fresh ginger stir fry with Chicken,  medium spice.  Delish!  The fresh ginger is so pronounced in this dish and makes it refreshing yet filling every time. We also ordered a side of Spring rolls, which are always excellent as well. Sometimes I even splurge and get the wantons too (I am a sucker for appetizers).

The wait staff is always friendly and buzzing around the place when it gets busy.  If you are like our group when we go there, we tend to have a favorite dish and get it repeatedly.  The waiter knows our orders by heart unless we want to switch it up, which is always an nice feeling, that someone would take the time to remember "the usual's".

I haven't been to many of the Thai places here,  but thus far this place is my gold standard to compare the others too.  If you are ever in the neighborhood you should give it a try!

Not "Another" Noodle post?!

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Well actually it is,  I have another one too,  but will save that for an emergency.  I wanted asian today, so asian flavor I went after!  Lunch today didn't happen until about 2:30 in the afternoon today since it was day two of my billing cycle.  Tomorrow is clean up for all of the stuff I couldn't get to the last two days.

I think tonight will just be a nice quiet night, maybe watch a couple episodes of Poirot on netflix.  My brain is pretty much broken until some sleep has occurred.

Asian inspired Noodles


1 pouch of shirataki noodles
10 or so peeled and cleaned shrimp
2/3 cup of frozen veggie mix
1 tablespoon ginger and garlic stir fry oil
1 teaspoon of minced ginger
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper paste

in a pan dumped the drained noodles and the oil in,  let it heat through,  added ginger and shrimp and vegetables, let veggies heat through, added soy sauce and red paste,  mixed up and covered to steam for a bit,  then uncovered to let some of the liquid evaporate.

Another easy one! and oh so tasty, all because of the ginger!

Ready in Five!

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So this was lunch today,  I came home and was like what to make, I wasn't in the mood to work too hard at lunch and it is my busiest time at work (monthly billing).  So I was like lets make it quick! Looked in the fridge, grabbed the stuff, and had it plated within five minutes!  And to top it off it was delish!

I got home this evening and was like, I have no idea what to cook,  but lunch was pretty good, and I did take a picture, out of habit really,  but thought what the heck,  everyone needs something easy, quick and yummy that can be whipped together in short order!

This evening was grocery night,  so I stocked up on the spices!  Expect a few asian inspired dishes to come in the future.  As always if you have anything you would like to see cooked up,  just send me a note and I will do my best to oblige :)


Ready in Five!  (1 serving)

1 package shirataki noodles
handful of spinach (chopped)
5 or so slices of thin deli style roast beef (finely chopped, then cross chopped so it looked like it was shredded beef by the time it was done)
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 tablespoon cream cheese
dash of salt if needed


Drain the noodles, and put in pan, toss in the sour cream and cream cheese, and turn on medium heat.  while that starts to heat up,  grab the spinach and chop it up and toss it in,  same thing with the meat,  mix and add pepper and salt at the end, final mix, and it is ready to plate!  I even tossed a bit more spinach on the side and drizzled with ranch, and sliced up an apple.  Still all under 5 minutes :)

Piña Colada Cheesecake!

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Well it was time for a dessert, and what could be more fitting then a cheesecake from a guy raised in Wisconsin?  The thing that I love about cheesecake is that you can put pretty much anything in it and it still tastes great!  There are of course exceptions I am sure,  but I have yet to find any.

Sorry for the not so pretty picture,  I was rushed a bit in doing it today since I was doing it on my lunch break before packing it all up to take off to work to have them devour the rest of it!

So apart from this decadent cheesecake, I am waiting for the an interview call with the foster parent of the Siamese cat that I am looking to adopt. Hopefully that all goes well too.  Don't know why it wouldn't, but you never know!

Anyways on to the cheesecake.

Piña Colada Cheesecake  (serves 12)

3 8oz bricks of cream cheese
1 can crushed pineapple
1 cup coconut
1/3 cup butter
2 cups  graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup sour cream
4 tablespoons rum (imitation in my case)
1 tablespoon almond extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs


In a bowl mix the crumbs, butter (melted), half cup of coconut, and almond extract. mix well, and pres into crust of greased or parchment covered spring form pan.  Pre-heat oven to 325, and bake crust for about 5 minutes, remove from heat and set aside for the moment.

In another bowl mix cream cheese, half cup of pineapple, 1/4 cup coconut, sugar, rum and sour cream together,  mix completely.  Fold the eggs into it 1 at a time, if you use a mixer you may need to knock the air bubbles up after you are finished.  Pour entire contents into crust filled spring form pan.  Bake for about an hour at the 325.  Take out and let cool for about a half hour just on the stove top.  After that you can move to the fridge to speed up the cooling down process.

Once it is cool, you can remove from spring form,  and add the rest of the pineapple to the top (sweeten as you want, I like it a bit tart)  and then garnish with the left over coconut around the edges.

Leftovers Surprise!

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Right!  Just a quickie tonight since I still have to finish making the Cheesecake as I said I was going to be doing this evening.  However before it will be completely ready for pictures, it will have to set for a while,  and that would just get too late.  So I decided to just toss something together quick for supper and then go back to making the cheesecake!

Looking in the fridge is always a fun way to start an episode of experimental cooking.  I found the stuff that needed to be used, and then went... what else do I have that will go with it. The picture was the result!

Leftover Surprise!  (serves 2)

The leftovers:
1/2 lb of ground turkey (from the failed wanton attempt)
1 cup chopped spinach (from the salads for sister)
5 slices deli ham, thinly chopped, then cross chopped and well... shredded by the end
2 tablespoons of cream cheese,  left overs from the cheesecake
2 slices of swiss cheese (last of the pack)

The Rest:
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 pouch of shiritaki tofu noodles
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt


Brown the meat, toss in the rest really and let it simmer and meld together,  I plated on a bed of spinach since I have so much extra!  Very quick and easy.  Oh, and just some Pepsi Max to drink.

Now back to the cheesecake prep!

Tomorrow the work peeps are going to eat well, since I needed a way to get rid of the rest of the ice cream in the house without tossing it out.  So a cheesecake and ice cream are going with me to work!

Wanton Surprise?

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Right well...  My sister and family are headed off to Disney for the rest of the week, so I thought I would try to finish up today's entry.  Remember me saying this was about experimenting?  Well that is what this dish did completely!  Needless to say it was an experience too!  Pan frying is something I hadn't done before as you can see from the picture farther down this page, but 20 or attempts later I got the hang of it! 

I am actually going to work on this recipe a little bit before sharing.  The problem with this particular method is that you have to make a batch of it before you can taste test it.  The flavor is a bit off.  So I want to try it again.  They were edible,  but not to the point of wanting to eat every last one of them.  Which is what I am after when it comes to Wantons!

They weren't bad with the left over dip from the salmon though,  that seems to be an all around good dip to make anything taste good!

Well That is it for tonight.  Tomorrow... Dessert!  that way I can take into work to dispose of.  As it stands now I have a couple of containers of ice cream I don't know what to do with.

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This is how bad my first batch turned out!  Just pay attention to what is happening when you cook and adapt accordingly.  Then you can get stuff that comes up properly,  like above!

Summer Salad - Requested by my Sister

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Well my sister is on her way here with her husband and my nephew,  and she let me know the time they were going to be here.  I asked her if they were going to have supper before if they wanted to wait until they got here.  She wanted some real food, something that said Florida.  Which apparently to her means salads and fresh fruit!  She said she wanted "Meat salad, fresh fruit and ice cream" which later turned into sherbet so I went and got some from the store since I don't keep any in the house.

I had to ask what a meat salad was,  apparently just a salad with meat :)

Other then that just waiting for them to arrive to eat up!

Baby spinach leaf salad with onion, black olive, mushroom, red and yellow peppers.
Fruit salad with honeydew, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe and green apples.
Some fresh Cherries
And a Plate-o-Meat, some steak, some chicken (with seasonings) and my left over salmon just in case!
And a bowl of the extra veggies for finger food if needed.

Lunch Club - Beef O'Brady's

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Feather Sound

2325 Ulmerton Road #3

Clearwater, FL 33762

So when I moved down here from Wisconsin, I left behind a tradition of the lunch club with my old building (which was closed down).  As I got more and more incorporated into the new building here,  I felt the need to revive this in a new location.  It is a good way for the "peons" in the department to get away together and vent about work and such things.  Some days there is no work talk at all, others that is all there is. It is good though to be able to get out with your peers and see how they are doing in a non work setting.

On to the food though!  Beef O Brady's is a chain,  but for me they always have be best wings (well that or Buffalo Wild Wings which they don't have here that I have found).  I had to get the Traditional Wings with the garlic Parmesan sauce.  They were excellent as always,  crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside!

I also got the lunch grilled chicken salad which was pretty basic except for the addition of sauteed mushrooms which was new for me, but helped an otherwise boring standard salad. The pablano ranch dressing was actually quite good on the salad as well.  The rest of the table got the Veggie Rice bowl, which looked pretty good, and the other two got the Chicken taco's which they both seemed to like a lot.

As for the service, that would have to be my only real complaint from this location.  We got seated and our drinks came just fine,  and we were early enough to beat the lunch rush,  however our food still seemed to take quite a long time to get out to us.  Our waitress what we saw of her was nice and friendly,  but only saw her once at the beginning and once at the end,  and one drink check towards the end.

Overall though I enjoyed the place.
Rating I would give it a 3/5 star,  one star for food wait time and half star for limited attention from our waitress, and the other half for a VERY cluttered table,  half of our table was covered promo stuff.

Crammin Salmon!

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Well after a slight delay... forgot I had put the salmon in the freezer and not the fridge,  We got around to cooking the salmon :)  I have never actually had salmon in steak form or in many other forms really,  being that I don't really care for the fish,  but this is about experimenting in cooking, so I have to go to stuff that I may not even like to at least try it for the first time with a new perception and taste buds willing to potentially suffer through something not so nice.

I am gearing up for the weekend as well by taking tomorrow off from work.  My sister and her family are going to be visiting me this weekend, so I wanted to have a little "prep" time.  Like clearing the huge boxes from the bed I purchased for the spare bedroom.  That would be an example!

Hopefully the weather will be comfortable, right now it is a tad too warm outside for my liking, thank goodness for air conditioning!

Well on to the salmon!

Crammin Salmon (serves 2)


1/2 lb piece of salmon, (seared both sides then baked)
1 teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of dried dill
1 lime (juice)
1 tablespoon of butter


Dill Dip

1/2 dollop of sour cream
1/2 dollop of mayo
1 dollop of whipped cream cheese
1 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of dill


First I let the salmon soak in the lime for about 15 minutes, and then mixed the seasonings and rubbed them into the top side of the steak.  Then I seared the salmon in a pan, both sides for a minute or so, just to kind of seal them (in a bit of olive oil)  then transferred it to a greased pan and stuck the butter on top.  Baked for about 10 minutes at around 475 uncovered. Check and see if the middle of the steak flakes you know it is done.

While that was baking I mixed together the dip,  add a little pepper if you want more kick then the ginger.  I taste tested with one of the red pepper spears I had already sliced up and YUM!

Pull the Salmon out and I sliced in half,  it looked too huge for one serving otherwise.   I paired it with a baby spinach and mushroom salad and some red pepper spears with a spare dollop of the dip!  Peppermint iced tea to drink.