Fervent Foodie

I gave up cereal.

July 28, 2011 14 Comments

OH THE HORRRRORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My grumbling belly wants to know why the heck I’ve decided to torture myself in such a way, given my well-known love and infatuation for cereal. Why would I willingly rip such a dependable source of joy from my life? And what the heck did cereal do to deserve this unjust exile?

Lately, I’ve turned into a major snack monster. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about snacking and eating small meals throughout the day. I’m also all about incorporating lots of delicious yet nutritious treats into my day. And apparently I’m also all about grabbing fistfuls of cereal and shoving them into my mouth every time I step foot into my kitchen. A handful of puffins after breakfast to cleanse the palet… a handful for my pre-dinner snack… you know, just to hold me over… and while we are at it, why not throw in a late night bowl o’ cereal to settle my tummy before bed?

Cereal and I, we have a LONG history.

This was, at one point, my favorite Friday night ritual after all:

My infatuation runs so deep that it’s not abnormal for my pantry to have five+ open boxes of cereal on any given day.

A while back I caught on to my cereal addiction. I think it was sometime around the day I decided, after scouring every aisle of the grocery store in search of a fabulous dinner feast, that of ALL THE THINGS the grocery store offered me, I’d most like to have THIS for dinner:

(You may have noticed I’ve now pictured wine twice in this post. Yes, I like to drink wine with my cereal. No, I’m sure as hell not giving up wine.)

It was around that time that I started using a small coffee mug to dole out my cereal portions rather than a bowl, which enabled me to still get my cereal fix without going overboard. But it’s a slippery slope, my friends. Eventually one mug of cereal turned into two… then two turned into three… and as a CPA I am confident that 3 mug-fulls of cereal is equivalent to a crapload. And god knows how many bowls four fistfuls of cereal is equal to. I mean, I do have freakishly large hands after all.

So in an effort to nip this snack monster issue in the butt, I’ve decided to give up cereal for the rest of busy season (AKA through September 15th for you non-tax folk). And on that day when busy season once again comes to a screeching hault, I will be wiser, stronger, and fully prepared to have a sweet sweet reunion with the my beloved cereal.

Giveaway, Product Review

Picnic in the Penthouse + #giveaway

July 25, 2011 27 Comments

Over the weekend, my mom, sister, and I made a trip to the Charlotte Farmer’s Market in search of delicious treats. It was my FIRST trip to the market since moving to Charlotte. What the heck have I been waiting for?!

I was really impressed by the wide variety of goods for sale at the market. Yes, they had your standard fruit and veggie selection, but they also had a fab selection of local meats, cheeses, jams, and even local crafts, pottery, and jewelry. And a bunch of crazy vegetables I’ve never seen before.

Here are some pretty shots:

We did a lap around the market in search of dinner inspiration.

And ended up nabbing quite a few goodies including these fresh tomatoes and basil which we combined with fresh mozzarella from Trader Joe’s to make a fantastic caprese salad:

We opted (aka I demanded) to put olive oil, salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar on top:

We also snagged some corn on the cob and some grass-fed beef for our burgers. I haven’t had corn on the cob in quite a while, and the cobs we picked up from the farmer’s market were so tasty and sweet and the kernels were just the perfect size to fit between the gap in my front teeth.

Makes me think I need to incorporate that veggie into my life more often 😉

We sandwiched our grass-fed beef burgers between brioche buns courtesy of Trader Joes, and topped everything off with more tomato and onion from the market and lotsa ketchup and mustard, of course.

I know these look like little baby burgers, but they were actually six ouncers dwarfed by those delicious brioche buns.

The only things missing from our picnic in the penthouse were potato chips and dip. In my family, we eat chips and dip as an appetizer, and as a first course, AND as a compliment to any summer meal. We will down 2 bags with gusto, especially if there’s some Lawson’s chip dip nearby for dunking Smile

My belly was still obsessing over the thought of chips and dip when I came home from work yesterday and was greeted by a large box of York’s Harvest Garden Chips from Charlotte-based Tropical Foods!

First off, coming home to a package of goodies to sample has to be THE BEST welcome home present EVER. I immediately tore into the package to check out the Garden Chips.

The chips are made from real vegetables (awesome), and they are completely natural, completely crunchy, and completely addicting Smile

I was sent a few different varieties to try, including Okra, Green Beans, and the Mixed Vegetable chips (sweet potato, taro root, squash, carrots, and green beans). After trying each and every vegetable chip variety, I decided the carrots and the green beans are my fav Smile

Have you guys tried these veggie chips yet?

More importantly, do you want to try them *for free*?! We all know I love freebies. I have no shame 😛

You can enter this giveaway for the York’s Harvest Garden Chips up to four times by leaving a comment on this post for each of the following:

1. Leave a comment and let me know your favorite cookout food (recipe links are always welcome!)

2. Add me to your RSS feed OR sign up for email subscription to my blog

3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway:

4. Like the Fervent Foodie page on Facebook:

Comments must be posted by midnight Thursday July 28, 2011. Then I’ll use a random number generator to select a winner Open-mouthed smile

Restaurants, Travel

A day in Clover, SC

July 25, 2011 9 Comments

This past weekend my mom and sister made the long haul down from Ohio to visit me in North Carolina. 7 hours in the car, and they still had smiles on their faces when they arrived Open-mouthed smile

I’ve been so excited for them to come down since I relocated to Charlotte in April. When you’ve spent your whole life in one area, it’s really bizarre to pick up, move, and plop down in an entirely new city without physically sharing it with your friends and family.

One of our excursions over the weekend led us to Clover, South Carolina to visit my mom’s friend Lucy. My mom and Lucy met on the internet. Apparently, that string of crazy runs in the family Smile .

Clover is a very rural town about 45 minutes away from Charlotte and about 30 minutes from Rock Hill, SC.

By rural, I mean there was a whole lot of this going on:

I don’t know what it is about this photo, but I absolutely love it. Maybe it’s because I don’t often get the opportunity to photograph animals in such close proximity, or maybe it’s just the look in this guy’s eye. Doesn’t he look like he’s posing for the photo??

Lucy lives on a beautiful property dotted with wildlife and rustic buildings.

It’s crazy that such a short drive out of the city brings you to this peaceful, seemingly simple, town.

If it weren’t for the sweltering heat (holy triple digits!) I could have walked around taking photos for hours. Every nook and cranny bubbled over with picturesque country charm.

Are you ready to hightail it to the countryside yet?

By the time we finished touring Lucy’s house, we were starving (when am I not?) and headed to Lell’s Café in Rock Hill for lunch:

Lell is a friend of Lucy’s, and her café is about “real food and quality products.” They specifically focus on using fresh local ingredients with an emphasis on keeping the menu as organic and natural as possible. They don’t even serve pop (soda for your southerners), given the artificial ingredients and chemicals it contains.

How awesome is that?

I eyeballed the menu and the specials and spent some time drooling over these fabulous looking scones:

But decided to go with Lucy’s advice and get the French Connection sandwich for my meal:

The French Connection had sliced ham, a generous portion of deliciously melty brie (welcome to heaven), and fruit spread:

I’m not usually big on mixing sweet and savory, but I am so happy I stepped outside the box and got this sandwich because the combination was simply fabulous.

Yow.za.

Jenny tried the veggie wrap which featured the hummus of the day. Unfortunately, the hummus of the day happened to be olive hummus and Jenny happens to hate olives (even more than I do!). She took most of the wrap home with us, and Mom, who adores olives (she must be adopted) had the leftovers for a midnight snack and said it was fabulous.

I tried to be sneaky and snap a photo of mom on my way back from the bathroom. Of course the light shining in the window washed out what could have become THE ONLY photo in existence with her actually smiling.

Apparently the gods are on her side and intervened on the photo op, thus destroying my hopes of getting a natural photo of her.

One of the many great things about Lell’s is their serious coffee selection:

I went with the mocha latte:

So friggin delicious. One of these days I am going to get a job as a barista so I can learn to make delicious coffee concoctions for myself. A girl can dream, right?

Lell’s carries their local focus from the table to the walls and displays artwork of several local artists. Lucy was one of the artists featured. How cool!

After lunch we drove around Rock Hill, scouted out downtown Clover, then hit up the Goodwill where I found a new pair of running shorts (tags still attached!) and a gap skirt for $3 a pop.

Can I get a Boo.Ya.?

Dinner was courtesy of Lucy’s husband Tommy, the Red-Neck-Chef.

Hello Moroccan Chicken!

As soon as I saw the olives, I had to giggle. Poor Jenny Smile

Even with the olives, this meal was deserving of a golf clap for the chef! I adore anything with cumin, so this dish was right up my alley. Ok… yes, I picked out the olives. Maybe the Red-Neck-Chef will post this recipe to his blog so we can all enjoy it again Smile

We ended our visit in Clover on a sweet note courtesy of a large slice of Lucy’s homemade peach pie:

Only in the south Smile

I may not have gotten any photos of the people in this post, but every person mentioned has a website so feel free to get your stalk on Winking smile

Recipes

I say frittata, you say… ?

July 24, 2011 8 Comments

If I ever volunteer to come to your house and make you breakfast, you should consider yourself very lucky. You should also consider yourself forewarned:

For no dish, no matter how simple, will the kitchen be left unscathed. What can I say? I like to become one with my food Winking smile

And yes, that IS a bottle of wine next to the eggs.

I’ve always wanted to make a frittata, and this Sunday morning I was in the mood to get my cook on so I decided to give it a shot. Once I started googling frittata recipes, I realized I was lacking a major piece of equipment: a skillet that could go from stove top to oven without causing a fire. Dangit. That’s going on the T.J. Maxx list.

Since I had my heart set on eggy bliss, I decided to just use a standard glass pie pan. Does that mean it’s not a frittata anymore? Hmmmm what would its proper classification be? I say frittata, you say….. frrrrreggcasserole?

Something to ponder as the man pours your mimosa.

This frittata consisted of:

6 egg whites
3 eggs
2 Hot Chicken sausages (casings removed, cooked and crumbled)
1 large handful chiffonade spinach
S&P, to taste
Frank’s Red Hot, to taste (plus more for garnish )
1/4 cup diced tomato
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
2 tsp minced garlic

While I cooked up the sausage, and sautéed the onion, mushroom, and garlic, I got to egg crackalacking. Once the sausage was cooked and the veggies were soft, I stirred all the goodies into the eggs then poured into a pie pan that I’d coated with cooking spray.

Into the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, and you’ll end up with this beauty: