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Some like it hot

November 3, 2010 6 Comments

There is a small portion of the population out there that crave heat in their food. These are the people who actually enjoy the runny nose you inevitably get when eating something hot. The people who know when others say something is “hot” it won’t even phase them because of their extreme tolerance for heat. The people who’ve contemplated carrying around a bottle of hot sauce in their purse/bookbag/car. The people who have found a way to incorporate buffalo sauce in to breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. The people who constantly get asked “you put hot sauce on that?!”

You know who you are.

This recipe is for you.

I bring you slow-cooked buffalo chicken sandwiches:

When I first stumbled upon this recipe, I KNEW it was destiny. Buffalo chicken dip is a staple in my circle of friends and family, so how could a buffalo chicken sandwich NOT be amazing?

Simple answer. If you like hot food, you will love this sandwich.

The recipe was very easy to throw together.

Throw the following into a plastic baggie to marinate overnight:

4 raw skinless boneless chicken breasts
3/4 of a Quart (24 ounces) buffalo wing sauce (use your favorite brand–we used Gionino’s, of course)
1 package dry ranch salad dressing mix

The next morning toss the marinated chicken into a crockpot, and cook on low for 6 hours. Once the chicken is cooked, pull the breasts out of the crockpot and shred them up with two forks. Toss the meat back in and then add:

2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces of buffalo wing sauce (which is the remainder of the quart)

Cook for one hour more, and then serve on top of a toasted kaiser roll.

To make the sandwich even more amazing, add some pepper jack cheese.

Awwwwww yeeahhhhhhh.

WARNING: Things may get a little sloppy. But true hot sauce lovers like to become one with their food, am I right? 😀

Recipes

Zuppa Toscana

October 29, 2010 15 Comments

It’s hard to believe that I used to hate soup. Whaaaattt???? I hated them. And I mean all of them. I found soup unsatisfying and uncravable. I needed something with substance (and by substance I mean a big hunk of meat or a big hunk of bread).

How could I resist this beauty???

Nowadays the soup and salad combo is one of my favorites, especially this time of year. I love the contrast: a cool crunchy salad and hot comforting soup. I went to lunch with my coworkers last week and tried Zuppa Toscana for the first time. It was DELISH, and I knew I had to give it a shot.

So first off, what is Zuppa Toscana anyway? Tuscan soup… not exactly descriptive. Google tells me Zuppa Toscana is supposed to include sausage, bacon, greens, potatoes and cream. Sounds like a good starting point!

After some futher googlin I found a few recipes that looked pretty tasty and after some tweaking and Maryfications I ended up with some mighty tasty results!

First up, I took some help for my girl Jennie O’, and grabbed 3 hot turkey sausage links.

I ran a knife along the back of each sausage link to cut through the casing, then removed the sausage meat and discarded the casings

Once my skillet was nice and hot, I tossed the sausage in and used a spatula to break out the meat. When the sausage was no longer pink, I removed it from the skillet and set aside.

Next up, I heated up a soup pot, once hot I added one large diced yellow onion, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and and 1.5 tsp red pepper flakes. I like it hot!

Glory in a pot:

Cook the onions until soft and translucent, then add 2 boxes of low-sodium fat free chicken broth (64 ounces). While you are waiting for the soup to come to a boil, slice up one large potato:

Bring the the soup to a boil, then add the sliced potatoes. Reduce to medium heat, and cook for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender. Next toss in the sausage and one cup of half and half.

Let the soup simmer away until everything is warmed through, and just before you are ready to serve it toss in 3 cups of spinach.

VOILA! Soup is served!

This soup was AWESOME. Only problem was my poor potatoes practically disintegrated in the soup. Next time I think I’ll chunk the potatoes rather than thinly slicing them.

Despite that potato problem, the soup was so tasty and it had a little kick which I loved! If you aren’t big on spicy foods, cut the red pepper flakes and black pepper back.

Serve with a delicious salad, of course!

Zuppa Toscana Ingredients List (makes 6 Servings)

3 links Jennie O’ Hot Turkey Sausage
1 large diced yellow onion
1 and 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
64 ounces Chicken Broth Fat Free Reduced Sodium Chicken broth
1 large potato
1 cup half and half
3 cups fresh spinach

Stats on one serving Zuppa Toscana: 207 calories, 15g carbs, 10g fat, 14g protein, 2g fiber

Restaurants, Travel

Taking it easy in the Big Easy – Part 3

October 18, 2010 5 Comments

Day 3 in the Big Easy started off with:

Haha, well actually it started off with FREE continental breakfast at the hotel. Thennnnn the Maker’s Mark (for Jarrod anyway… I think that stuff tastes like nail polish remover).

After breakfast and some meandering through the French Quarter

Then we stopped at Primo’s for some snacking:

Primo’s got horrible reviews online, but we were dying for some bruschetta and they happened to have it on the menu so we decided to ignore the reviews.

I love how all the bars and restaurants down here are open to the streets. Most of the buildings have huge windows that you can open up and it makes you feel like your are in a courtyard instead of inside the building.

I should also mention that the whether has been AMAZING the whole time we have been here. 80+ degrees, sunny, and no humidity. GLORIOUS!

I’m so glad we ignored those reviews on Primo’s! Take a look at this beauty:

Jarrod said it was the best bruschetta he ever had. I don’t know about the BEST, but it definitely was REALLY friggin delicious.

We also ordered a small margherita pizza:

This was tasty too—just needed a little hot sauce!

After lunch we had some time to kill, so we popped a squat across the street from Jackson Square to watch some street performers.

These guys were actually REALLY good!

And they drew quite the crowd!

It’s crazy what these guys can do with their bodies. I can’t do a pushup let alone hold my whole body up with one arm and spin it around like a helicopter while simultaneously bouncing up and down:

Me and the BF in Jackson Square:

After lunch, we headed to our French Quarter & Cemetery tour (which I purchased on Groupon a month or so ago). The tour only cost us $10 a piece, and it was a self-guided walking tour that lasted 1.5 hours. SCORE!

While walking around the French Quarter a random man shouted out Jarrod “Man you big as an Avatar! Look at that big ole white boy!” Neither of us have seen the movie (so we’re not quite sure how Jarrod reminded the guy of an Avatar), regardless we both busted out in laughter at the man’s explanation (as did the group of people walking behind us). Only in New Orleans 😀

You may be wondering why the heck we wanted to go on a cemetery tour on our vacation. No, it’s not because we are nearing on Halloween. It’s because New Orleans cemeteries are uniquely interesting:

Since the city is located below sea level, all of the deceased are buried ABOVE the ground.

What’s even more interesting is that family members are added to the tombs over CENTURIES. We passed many tombs where the first family member was buried in the 1800’s and over the years more and more family members were added (even as most recent as 2004)!

Jarrod and the tour guide:

The tour guide told us that this is the tomb Nicholas Cage built for himself:

Even though this tour was REALLY cool, we both felt odd smiling for a picture in front of a tomb (hence the grimace on Jarrod’s face) 😛

After the tour, we headed back to the hotel for our daily afternoon nap (we’re like a bunch of old farts, I swear!).

We were having a lot of debate on where to go for dinner, but settled on Margaritaville. I know, I know… Jimmy Buffet is one of Jarrod’s unstated idols, and neither of us have ever been to Margaritaville, so off we went.

We wanted to push ourselves a little out of our comfort zones, so we opted for the Crab, Shrimp, and Mushroom dip for our appetizer:

It came with delicious garlic bread for dipping. I thought it was actually really good (Jarrod wasn’t quite so keen on it, but he was fully satisfied with the bread).

For dinner we went with the Jambalaya:

Jarrod said this was the best meal he had to date in New Orleans, and I agree it was DELICIOUS. And yes, that is seven (count them) seven pieces of garlic bread that we wolfed down during dinner 🙂

After dinner we strolled over to Bourbon Street and stopped on the backside of Jackson Square to snap a photo of the shadow casted on the backside of the building:

While on Bourbon St this time, we hit up several bars including Club 524, Krazy Korner, and the Bourbon Street Blues Company (again!).

On our walk back to the hotel, we both concurred that our favorite parts of New Orleans were everything we had seen OUTSIDE of Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street is definitely fun and full of crazies, but it is a little too commercialized. We both just prefer the old-world charm of NOLA over the flashing neon lights of Bourbon Street. I do wish we had an extra day in LA to visit the districts outside of the French Quarter, but alas that will have to wait til next time!

Restaurants, Travel

N’awlins – part deaux

October 16, 2010 7 Comments

Day deaux in New Orleans started off as any vacation day should: A HUGE breakfast of course.

We woke up bright and early Err… we headed to breakfast at 11:30…. whatev. Our destination was the Old Coffee Pot Restaurant in the French Quarter.

To our surprise, Guy Fieri had just been to the restaurant last month! How cool!

The best part of the restaurant (in my opinion) was the AWESOME courtyard, which had a really intricate mural painted on all the walls.

Gentleman admiring the view:

The service was incredibly slow :-/ but I just had to keep reminding myself to take it easy. I’m used to a much faster pace of life than they have down here, that’s for sure. We were able to get some mimosas pretty quickly, so that helped to turn my frown upside down 🙁 –> 🙂

For breakfast we decided on splitting the Creole eggs and potatoes:

And some creole pancakes with mashed bananas:

Jarrod REALLY liked both of the dishes:

I wasn’t real excited about them though. The banana pancakes were super tasty, just too sweet for my breakfast tooth. And I was really caught off guard by the creole sauce. I expected something spicy, but it turned out to taste more like spaghetti sauce! We decided I was thinking of cajun sauce. Hopefully I can score some cajun food in my belly this weekend 🙂

After breakfast, we walked around the French quarter:

We spotted Cafe Du Monde, which was one on my MUST-VISIT places… but since we were still full from breakfast, we didn’t stop.

Then we walked along the Mississippi River

Until we reached the Aquarium! Neither of us have ever been to an Aquarium before, so we were pretty pumped to check it out!

I soon realized it’s incredibly difficult to capture good pictures of an fish in an aquarium!

Jarrod checking out the fishies:

This one makes me laugh every time I look at it 😀

There were two really AWESOME parts of the aquarium. First, was getting to touch sting rays:

Isn’t that out of this world??

In Jarrod’s words, the sting rays were “creepishly smooth.” I didn’t believe him til i mustered up the courage to touch one as well. After several missed attempts, I was able to brush my hand across one of the stingray’s backs. I immediately flung my arm from the water, squealed like a child, and ran over to Jarrod with my hand stuck out it front of me and a look of fright on my face. Hahaha.. I’m fairly certain I scared all the children waiting in line for their turns. What can you expect though, those things really are freakishly smooth!

The second BEST part of the aquarium was one of the final rooms on the tour that had a floor to ceiling GIGANTIC aquarium with HUGE fish, sharks, and turtles:

I could have sat in here for HOURS! So relaxing.

After the aquarium, we did some more site seeing and then stopped at the Crescent City Brewhouse for a drink:

Even though neither of us are beer drinkers, we both thought the fermentation tanks were pretty cool!

Next stop: Johnny Po-Boys for lunch!

We split the chicken po-boy and the shrimp po-boy:

Then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep! First stop on the dinner path was Pat O’briens Courtyard:

This picture really doesn’t do the courtyard any justice (darn night time pictures). Just trust me that it was AMAZING.

For dinner we split the sampler, which consisted of Jambalaya, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, and Red beans and rice:

This was hands-down our best meal to date in New Orleans. My favorite was the jambalaya, and Jarrod’s favorite was the gumbo. Don’t worry, we wolfed down the red beans and rice too 😀

After dinner, we made a much anticipated return to Cafe Du Monde!

I have been waiting to try these Beignets (French doughnuts) for MONTHS.

That is an extreme amount of powdered sugar! Ready to dive in!

DSCF3826

These beignets were so hot and friggin delicious. Heaven in my mouth I kid you not. We may have to make another stop at Cafe Du Monde this weekend 🙂

After hitting up a few local establishments, we headed to the Casino to get our gamble on. I was feeling lucky, so I popped $5 into a 2 cent slot machine. About 5 minutes later, I decided to pull my money out:

Don’t worry, I lost the remaining 40 cents on a penny slot a few minutes later.

Jarrod nearly lost his $10, but luckily he hit the jackpot on his last spin and was able to get his total up to $9.94!

Given that I didn’t pay for any of my drinks, and that I got to keep the 94 cents because Jarrod hates having change in his pockets, I’d say I came out the TRUE winner this evening 🙂

Restaurants, Travel

Big Easy – Part 1

October 15, 2010 9 Comments

Here’s a recap of our first day in the Big Easy:

Jarrod almost fell down the escalator in the airport. Sadly, I did not capture this on video.

We hopped in a cab and headed to the hotel, which is right on the border of the business district and the French quarter.

Our hotel is super old and super charming:

After we cleaned up, we headed to the French Quarter and stopped in at the first restaurant that caught our eye: Jean Lafitte Bistro… though oddly that wasn’t the name on the front of the building… Peculiar…