Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Pulled BBQ chicken in the Crock Pot




This is one of the recipes in the world and it has become a lake favorites of the family. I think it is also healthier than pork. Take at least 4 chicken breast place in crock pot. (I use frozen chicken breast) put one large bottle of preferred BBQ sauce and 1/2 cup of water. Allow to cook on high for at least 4 hours (the longer it cooks the more tender it becomes...just falls apart).


When ready to eat, pull apart place on sandwich buns, you can add sauce if you like, eat and enjoy!!

Trios....YUMMY






One of our favorite places to eat downtown Greenville, South Carolina is Trio- A brick over cafe! We eat there several times a month. My favorite dish is the Rotisserie Chicken. I also love the BLT pizza! I love the atmosphere and being downtown. My boys love to eat there and then head to Mast General store (which the refer to as the "candy" store) for treats afterwards! They both love to eat there and so it is very family friendly! I have attached their website... check it out and if you are local....go eat there!






Crock Pot Lasagna- Like (sort of)



Crock Pot Lasagna

I have been trying to do lots of Crock Pot recipes lately. I have several that I use on my own that are easy. I always check out blogs, websites, etc for new recipes (a girl can never have enough crock pot recipes). LOL! Recently, I tried Crock Pot Lasagna.

The recipe was really easy, basically brown a pound of beef combine with sauce of your choice and allow to simmer on stove top, then layer in crock pot with uncooked lasagna noodles and cheese choices. Cook it on low for 4 hours. I followed the directions, and it came out alright. I thought that it tasted overcooked. Tommy (the hubs) liked it. He had 2 servings, he did comment however that he thought it may have cooked too long, Eli (my 12 year old) hated it...He said it tasted overcooked, and Bleeze (the 6 year old)...he wouldn't even taste it (not unusual for him).

I will try it again.... cook less time. It was super easy and really convenient!

Cheddar's Casual Cafe





This is a definitely a YUMMY!!!!!!!! I am so excited that we are getting one of these Greenville. It is always a treat to go there and eat when we go to Charlotte to visit my brother! I have not had one thing that I did not like there. My two favorites are the appetizer the Santa Fe Spinach Dip which is only $4.99 and then a LOVE the Monte Cristo Sandwich which is only $6.99. I have had their steaks, chicken, ribs, and more and I LOVE IT all. Greenville is getting a real treat having them come here. If you haven't seen the location, it is on Woodruff Road at the old Greenville Mall (Hollywood 20 Movies theater!

Check out their website for all the yummy food!!!!

Friday, August 26, 2011

remembering through the years.....

15 years ago when I first married my hubby we enjoyed many meals of Hamburger helper. So this week as I was walking through Walmart, I saw the new Ultimate Cheeseburger Mac by Velveeta meals which really resemble Hamburger Helper. I decided that I would make this lovely dish because we all really like Velveeta cheese. This was really funny because it was the week of our anniversary and I swear we had more meals of Hamburger the first two years we were married than anything else. I remember at one time we had 15 boxes.... all a different flavor.

So I made this little dish. I mean by no means it a gourmet meal, but it was okay. In the words of my 12 year old...this is good and it would be good when you are in a rush. LOL!!! My hubby liked it also. Bleeze, the 6 year old....to be honest... he gagged. He gags on everything.....(except chicken and piza) So overall I guess this is a "like". I mean it is NOT something I would want all the time but would make again!


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

City Range.....not so sure about.....


Last night was my fifteen year wedding anniversary. Back at Valentine's Day we went to City Range in Greenville for the first time. Honestly, neither of us was very impressed with our service, presentation or meal. However when you have a gift certificate you decide to give it another try...LOL!

So we decided to give it another try. I have to say that we were still not impressed. The atmosphere is nice, warm, and relaxing. I am sure that it is just wonderful in the winter with the huge stone fireplace that is the middle of the dining room. I admired the lighting fixtures but completely forgot to take a picture of them.

As far a service, the hostess warm and welcoming and our waitress was polite, kept us happy and I have no complaints there!

Now on to our meal.....

They start your meal off with a warm loaf coated in garlic and parmasan cheese. This was very good and I throughly enjoyed it! The butter dipping sauce was great.

I had the house salad which was made up of a fresh mix of romaine & iceberg lettuce, garlic croutons, and a tomato and cucumber relish each of skipped on the House Paris salad dressing and both opted for honey mustard. I really enjoyed the sald and loved the tomato and cucumber relish. It was a simple salad and the presentation was just the "normal" salad.

Tommy had the traditional Ceasar's Salad which was made up of romaine lettuce, croutons, anchovy garnish, and classic caesar dressing. His comment was that it reminded him of the salad at McDonald's....(I don't think that is that great)

Our appetizer selection was the Signature Trio made up of crab cakes, shrimp cocktail and tuna wontons. The menu reads a "shareable sampler". This statement is true for the two of us however if you have a large party it is not enough. There is only two of each selection. My favorite selection on the tray was the crab cakes that were glazed with Meyer lemon aioli, then I suppose the shrimp cocktail which was just the ordinary shrimp cocktail...nothing special, and then the tuna wontons. According to their menu the tuna wontons are "award winning" the are made of sashimi tuna, spicy aioli, scallions, pickled ginger, sweet soy glaze, atop bite size crispy wonton. They were good but I would not put "award winning" on them! (remember this blog is just of my opinion)

Now on to the main course...

Tommy had the Black and Blue..... a lightly blackened tenderloin medallions, pan-seared,layered with blue crab cakes, topped with béarnaisesauce blend, served with garlic mashed potatoes &asparagus. Now I did not taste his (normally I do) Tommy said that the tenderloin medallions were tender and the crab cakes were good but the mashed potatoes and toast that it made them soggy and he could not eat them.

I had the Bourbon Pecan Chicken... a marinated boneless, skinless chicken breast, pecan coated, flash fried then baked, served with bourbon pecan cream sauce, garlic mashed potatoes & seasonal vegetable garnish. The chicken reminded me of a frozen Tyson chicken patty from the local grocery with some sauce poured over the top. I did not even eat half. The sauce was okay and the mashed potatoes did not taste like "real" potatoes... I think they tasted almost like the instant potatoes I used to make when I first got married. The veggies were so soggy that I could not eat them at all.

Over all the food was not TERRIBLE! It was just not worth $70.00 (thank God for the gift certificate) We do not mind paying money for good food but this was not worth it. I felt like I could have created my dish with a bag of Tyson chicken patties at home.

So there you have it! My first restaurant review....

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Introducing "All Things Yummy.....and Not so Yummy"

This is something I have been thinking about doing for awhile now. I have always enjoyed writing, giving my opinion, and sharing good finds and not so good finds. One of my passions is visiting different restaurants, trying new products, and experimenting with new recipes. I decided that I would pen to paper ( or should I say keyboard to blog) and share my finds so stay tuned for my "not so professional" but honest opinions on different restaurants, new products, and experiments with new recipes. So stay tuned for more details......