You don't have to travel to do fun things and feel like you are on vacation. Today myself, my Mom, and Sis decided to do lunch. Little spur of the moment and on a Tuesday :) Only went to Jungle Jim's nearby but had drinks, a nice meal, and a great chat with laughs. It doesn't take much to have fun and feel happy and relaxed :) Just food and drinks and good company for me most days ;) lol We had the white Sangria and a Watermelon Martini. Both were very nice and great on a hot day while sitting outside. Meals were: Fish Tacos with sweet potato fries, 1 piece Fish & Chips, and Chicken Nachos. The food was all good and service was great.
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Another great day at home, really enjoying the weather :) So nice we decided to cook outside. Had chicken marinating for a day and grilled it to make Tuscan Lemon Chicken which is a delicious recipe. Instead of doing a whole chicken we did 4 bone-in chicken breasts. For a side we had sliced sweet potatoes, brushed with olive oil and grilled as well. Also had Roasted Asparagus, this could be done on the grill as well but we didn't have the room so did it in the toaster oven inside. Great meal, and we even ate outside :)
Tried a new Stuffed Pepper recipe tonight for dinner and they were pretty good. This recipe is more like a spaghetti without the pasta; the meaty sauce is stuffed in a red pepper instead. It was tasty and not too difficult or long to make. I will likely make them again. The only change I made (other than using ground chicken instead of turkey, and fresh spinach instead of frozen) was I baked the peppers not stuffed first for 15-20 minutes, then added the meat mixture stuffing and baked about 10 minutes more. I like my peppers to be cooked and the meat mixture is already cooked and hot so just how I decided to do it. One side looks different as Hubby didn't want the extra cheese on top of his.
We had such a good evening at Get Stuffed last week we decided to go again this week :) Again, we had excellent food. A new favorite spot for us. I started with the same appetizer: Shrimp, that myself and Mom split. Next time I may get my own :) No offence Mom, lol. Hubby tried something new: Fish Stew and he loved it. I tried it, not for me because it has anise in it and I am not fond of the licorice taste at all. It was a hearty stew though; pretty large for an appetizer and filled with lots of seafood. Mains were the Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Au Jus for myself & Mom. Mom had the same stuffed pork dish last week and raved about it so much she had to get it again. I tried a taste of hers last time and then I wanted one for myself so that's what I ordered this time. It was delicious; so tender and tasty. We ordered mashed potato and grilled veggies as our sides. The mashed potatoes were a great choice and went so well with the pork; especially when you put them into the same bowl and soaked up the au jus :) Yummy! Hubby ordered the pork special for the evening. It came with grilled veggies and a fruit chutney, I believe. He really enjoyed it; said it was one of the pork dishes he has had in a long time. Another great evening, even better that I didn't have to cook it and super better that I didn't have any dishes to wash! Woohoo! Win, win :)
As I mentioned last post, I have been getting out of the nightly cooking habit. Sometimes not in the mood to cook (seems to be happening more often), or not feeling well enough to cook, or too busy, or not looking forward to what I had planned to cook. This week I planned meals for Monday through Thursday and made them all :) I never plan meals for the weekend. Monday was the Shrimp Stir-fry I already posted about :) Tuesday we had one of my favorite meals. I made Pork Chops with Apples and Onions (I have simplified this recipe at times, like today, and just fry up apples & onions with the chops and add a little olive oil and apple balsamic). We had Roasted Asparagus and baked potato with it; it was delicious. I only had half a chop and it was enough for me with everything else. Wednesday we had Pizza. These were added to the menu to pretty much use up ingredients we had on hand :) Still good though. They have marinara sauce (which we usually use instead of pizza sauce) tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, prosciutto, pineapple, mushroom, onion, and mine have cheese. The small ones are on Greek flatbread and will have those for lunch the next day :) Thursday we had Almond-Flax Crusted Chicken with baked sweet potatoes. This chicken is really good and pretty easy. Should of had a veggie with this but we didn't. Nobody is perfect :)
I have really fallen out of the cooking habit, and completely fallen out of the enjoy to cook habit. I still make weekly meal plans and shop accordingly, but I really couldn't be bothered most nights to cook. I am hoping it's just a rut I've fallen into and will soon get out of; even if I have to claw and dig my way out, kicking and screaming the whole way, sweating and on the brink of death :) OK, a little over dramatic, maybe? I did manage to cook tonight, and it was a beautiful day, and it's my last week of pre-k classes so I'm pretty busy and very excited; but I did it! Woohoo! I should get a medal. No medal? Well, I did get a stir-fry, so all is not lost :) I made a very simple shrimp stir-fry. It was good except that the shrimp were not the best, sigh. I think they may be a little old, not good since it's a huge bag I bought from Costco and just opened, ugh. I made white jasmine rice. I stir-fried some veggies (red pepper, snap peas, asparagus,and water chestnuts) in olive oil. Added a little hoisin sauce to the veggies. Stir-fried the shrimp separately after marinating in garlic olive oil, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. A nice simple meal. Not too much chopping or prepping. Except for the below par shrimp it was pretty good. One days dinner done, only every other day to go :)
We had Piatto for supper tonight. We do eat there a lot because it's so good but I don't always post about it as I often get the exact same thing. Tonight there were a couple of small changes but still just as good :) We started with a Bruschetta appetizer to split. I usually don't get an app but had already planned to take half my pizza home for lunch the next day :) The Bruschetta was great; fresh tasting and delicious. The only pizza I ever get at Piatto is The Stephanie. It is fantastic. Hubby is the pizza lover and he loves the fact that I found a pizza that I really enjoy as well, now we can eat there more often. This pizza is in the white pizza section and has goat cheese, prosciutto, pears, and balsamic. It may sound a little odd but it is truly delicious. Hubby had a modified Margherita; less cheese and he added extra veggies. Even had some dessert tonight and not my usual Tiramisu. Living on the edge, haahaa. Tonight I tried the Chocolate & Arabica Budino (never would have remembered the name of that dessert or had a clue how to spell it, found it listed on their website). It was a dark chocolate with orange custard and topped with vanilla whipped cream. It was a nice size (not too large) and very good; but still like their Tiramisu best :) Also had a latte and Hubby had a cappuccino, both decaf of course. If you are looking for a good coffee, this is the place to go. One of the best coffees I have had in St. John's in a long time. It is the closest I've found here to the great coffees I enjoyed in Italy. Excellent food, as usual, and the service was top-notch!
Went out for a spur of the moment dinner tonight. We decided to try "Get Stuffed", a restaurant that we haven't been to in several years. Just kind of got forgotten about over the years after I moved back to Newfoundland, but I'm very glad we remembered it again.
There were 3 of us for dinner. I had a cocktail to start and they were very nice and a great price. I had a punch one (sorry, don't remember the name) but it had Malibu, Screech, pineapple and lime. Not overly sweet, but tasty and refreshing. It was very nice; so nice that I ordered another and my Mom ordered one as well after trying mine :) Apps tonight were the Grilled Calamari for Hubby, he really enjoyed it, and Shrimp for myself and Mom to share. The Shrimp were great, done in an orange glaze. Both the shrimp and the squid were cooked perfectly, not over-cooked and rubbery which I find happens more often then I would like when eating out. This restaurant serves it's sides separate from the mains, so you can pick and choose which sides you want and you can share them if needed. We decided to go with two sides only and that was just enough for the three of us with no leftovers. We had the honey glazed carrots (they are pretty sweet but good) and the grilled vegetables (very nice and simple). Mains were: Blackened Salmon with Fruit Salsa (for Hubby, and he really enjoyed it), Fried Cod with Scrunchions and Lemon Butter (for myself, it was excellent), and Stuffed Pork with Au Jus (for Mom, which she loved as well). This restaurant also offers two sizes for it's main courses; a regular size (which we all ordered) and a get stuffed size. Great for those bigger eaters or just if your feeling really hungry :) The food was all fantastic, the prices were good, and the service was great. We will be going back again soon. Another great restaurant to add to the rotation :) Sorry for not posting anything lately but I was pretty much sick for an entire week :( I teach preschool and joke that I caught the cootie plague; I think I really did this time :) I was in bed by 7 or 8 most days and ate very little all week. Some days there was one meal only, others there was just picking here and there. Nothing worth blogging about and no good pics of course, unless my countless glasses of orange juice count :) Feeling much better now and decided to try out a new recipe tonight: One Pot Lemon Pasta. This one is not a keeper for us. I made as is, using 1 large lemon instead of two as suggested in the notes. I also used my regular gluten-free pasta but don't think it turned out as good as regular pasta would have, although the recipe said gluten-free could be used. I had high hopes for this recipes, thought it would be a nice dish that was quick and easy. The lemon flavor was good but myself and Hubby felt that the sun-dried tomatoes and lemons didn't taste great together. It just seemed like an odd combo to us. Also, I had to cook my pasta longer than the recipe said (another 3-4 minutes on high to get the water gone) and my pasta ended up a gluey consistency; maybe due to the lack of gluten, not sure. I ate it but already not looking forward to it for lunch tomorrow :( Hoping it will be better, fingers crossed. I sprinkled a little nutritional yeast on top to serve, keeping it a vegan dish as well as gluten-free. Update: This recipe was actually better the next day. The flavors seemed to combine and it wasn't gluey/slimy; seems to have dried up a bit (in a good way) and was therefore better.
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AuthorMy name is Michelle and I am tired of struggling with my weight. I am stopping the struggle. Archives
September 2020
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