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A Dinner is Stewing...

8/15/2018

Brunswick Stew

With the amount of meat I had to purchase for this recipe, I was a little scared of what my grocery bill would be. However, it only needs 1 lb of each (3 total) meats, so it really wasn't too bad. I didn't follow the recipe super closely. This is mainly because I didn't have time the night before to prep the meat - the recipe says to put the meat and the stock in the fridge overnight. Well, those things only sat for a few hours before I proceeded. The only thing I think it would have prevented is the amount of fat in the stew, so maybe this version is much more delicious than what I would have made by following the recipe?

After cooking the meat in the water for 90 minutes, the meat was so tendering and just fell off the bones with ease. It smelled really good to! The meat stock smelled just as good and it was a little hard to just let it sit there until dinner time (the meat, not the stock, not sure I would have touched that). I'm pleased that this recipe for stew is more tomato based than anything. In the past, I've only ever had beef stew - which is good, yes - but I definitely like this one so much more.

The corn was perfect in the stew and I will say I really, really liked the bread crumbs on top. It gave the stew a consistency that was delightful. I may try this was other stews and soups I make just because. Overall, this was pretty simple though it does take a long time and some patience. Okay, maybe not the patience because I did not even watch it cook - is that bad? This stew goes up on my list for things that I loved so far in the book, which isn't very many things (lots of good things, but not a lot of loves). I recommend this recipe FOR SURE! And for once I'm excited to eat leftovers. YUM!!!

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Alabama White BBQ Sauce

I've been itching to make this BBQ sauce for awhile now. We went to Nashville a couple years ago and they put some white BBQ sauce on my fish tacos... I loved it. Typically, I avoid BBQ sauce because it's not my favorite. This one is delicious. It has the right combination of sweet and tangy (apple cider vinegar) and spice (cayenne pepper) that is great! In the picture to the left I ate some on top of my tilapia I made one night. It really went well with the lemon pepper I put on it. YUM!!! I recommend this if you're a fan of BBQ sauce... and even if you're not!

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Blackberry Cobbler

Being at my parents house currently, I do not have a means to make some of these pies on the list (my mom doesn't have a pie plate?) so I opted to make a cobbler. I've never made a cobbler and didn't really know exactly what a cobbler is - other than a person who makes/fixes shoes right?

Well, after making it, I'm still not sure. It's kind of a pie and kind of a cake with berries in it. The blackberries were good, but very seedy. Not sure I liked eating seeds like that. If I make this again I'd pick a different berry for sure.

For the most part it was easy. I didn't start the recipe early enough so we didn't eat dessert for awhile after dinner... but that's okay because the Brunswick Stew (see above) was so delicious all of us got seconds. I will say that this cobbler is mighty delicious when served over chocolate ice cream (YESSSS). I probably won't make this again, but glad I tried it. It won't go to waste nonetheless.

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Mai Tai

It's about time that I make another drink recipe. There's not too many in the book so I'm trying to spread them out... okay it's really because alcohol is expensive and I'd rather spend my money on beer.

When I first read the recipe for a Mai Tai I was excited. I liked majority of the ingredients that go into the drink. But when I actually made them, it was way to strong for me. I think it was the rum. Not sure how to lessen the blow on this one. I used the rest of the amaretto for amaretto sours and called it a night. Wish I had fun umbrellas instead of leftover Jack n the Box straws LOL

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Blue Buffalo

8/14/2018

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Blueberry Orange Onion Salad

I was a little iffy on whether or not I thought I would like this type of salad. In past years, I always strayed away from the sweet, fruit and nut salads because I just don’t usually like those types of salads. I feel like my taste buds are changing recently though,because I’ve been eating fruit on my salads lately (maybe it’s because it’s summer?). I still don’t like the fruity dressings though.

As for this salad, I did not make the dressing that the recipe called for, I ended up using a poppyseed dressing and it was absolutely delicious.

I used 50/50 mix, blueberries, a mandarin, and some onion. I don’t think I bought a sweet onion (on accident) but I love onions so that didn’t really matter to me. I think I would make this salad again even if I’ll be the only one in the house eating it. Very good and very simple.

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Buffalo Burger Topping

This recipe has made me come to the realization that I do not like blue cheese. Honestly, I don’t really like buffalo sauce either, but I decided to go for it this time and try something I didn’t think I would like. Guess what? I didn’t like it. The buffalo sauce wasn’t to bad, but that blue cheese was just absolutely disgusting. From here on out when a recipe calls for blue cheese I’m going to have to substitute for gorgonzola or something. That should would right? No more blue cheese.

Other than that, the recipe itself is simple. Mix it all together and sprinkle in some cheese on top of a burger!

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Rolled Pizza & Hawaiian Chicken

7/31/2018

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Pepperoni Rolls

These sounded good and easy one night for dinner. I did however change the way I made them slightly from what the recipe says. Instead of frozen bread dough, I went ahead and bought some crescent rolls and just rolls the cheese and pepperoni up in those to bake. It was super easy and I guarantee the outcome is similar if not close to the same as what the original recipe would have come up to be.

The rolls were good. I’ve never been much of a pepperoni fan when it come to pizza, but if they heat up well and don’t make a ton of grease I like it just enough.

The sauce I bought was not pizza sauce (this is because I legit could not find the pizza sauce) so it was very, very bland and not worth heating up to dip the rolls into. These rolls were good and I would consider making them again. Perhaps with some other ingredients on the inside.

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Grilled Huli Huli Chicken

Ahhh grilling and summer go very well together. I found this recipe, which hails from the tiny island chain of Hawaii and thought it would be perfect for a summer dinner. The marinade was easy to throw together, and kudos to me for remembering to actually marinate it in the morning. The only thing I didn’t add to the marinade was the ginger root. I just can’t justify buying an entire ginger root for just a few scrapings. I thought about using ground ginger instead, but forgot to buy some and my mom’s spice cabinet didn’t have any. Not a big deal though.

I thought the chicken was delicious. The recipe should be more specific on what temperature to grill the chicken at. We had to keep it on the grill longer than it said because it just took so long to get to the proper internal temperature. I also think we still took it off too early, whoops. It was close enough to not hurt anyone, but still we should have kept it on longer. I think they cooked for like 20-25 minutes.

If I make these again I will probably stick to baking it in the oven… stick to what I know best.

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Surfer Split

What better way than to close off a Saturday night summer dinner than with something called a surfer split? Obviously by the name you can probably induce that it’s a version of a banana split. And it is, but just a few changes make it it’s own from what I assume to be popular in California (that’s where people surf right?). The split itself is made with chocolate ice cream (yum), is sprinkled with coconut and blueberry preserves, and topped with whip cream, banana, and a cherry on top.

It was a good dish to eat, and super easy to make.

The only problem was by the time I got them on the table for everyone most of the ice cream was melted. I feel like this always happens to me when I make something with ice cream. Oh well, that’s what happens though right? The split was delicious and now I have some blueberry reserves I need to figure out to do something with. Any ideas readers?

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A Dinner is Stewing...

Brunswick Stew

Alabama White BBQ Sauce

Blackberry Cobbler

Mai Tai

Blue Buffalo

Blueberry Orange Onion Salad

Buffalo Burger Topping

Rolled Pizza & Hawaiian Chicken

Pepperoni Rolls

Grilled Huli Huli Chicken

Surfer Split

Dinner & a Movie

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