If there is ever anything you need to know about me, I LOVE FOOD!!! You honestly have no idea. I not only love to eat it, but I love to cook it. Experimenting is exciting to me, whether it turns out yummy or not, because now I know. Trying new ingredients, cuisines, flavor profiles, spices as well as the latest gadgets, gets me thrilled. You would not believe the amount of spices and gadgets I own (I need a new kitchen).
Food truly is my passion (outside of my kids, family and pets of course).
I will spend hours pouring over recipes to pick the things I like and try the bits and pieces I've found, that I personally like, and make my own-ish dish. I take far too many pictures of food and have gained a following of friends that have asked me to make recipe books. I can't tell you have much that gets me pumped up. I have no training. My parent's often say, I don't know where you got these skills from.
My only problem is I don't measure anything. It's dump this, dump that, so sharing my recipes can be rather hard.
Another thing I am known for is endless shrimp at Red Lobster. The piles of tails that my love and I create are seriously a known thing. Our servers have taken them back to the kitchen, and the "one refill at a time," never applies to us. One server has even ordered us more without us asking and said you only had 29 refills so I had to make it an even 30.
I LOVE SHRIMP!!!!! Enjoy a picture of our latest shrimp tail pile. I challenge to do the same and tag littleredssnaps so that I can see it! It's happening now at Red Lobster. Just saying.
I will post recipes that I have created as well as have tried from other sources. If you have something that you would like me to try, please let me know. I love trying new things!
In our house, we use Rice A Roni often due to the various flavors and the ease of cooking it. I used the below recipe last night and I likely won't purchase another box, at least the chicken flavored. I changed a couple of things. I used fine cut fideo noodles and instead of stock I used two cups of hot water mixed with 2 teaspoons of Knorr chicken bouillon granules. I also did not use almonds due to an allergy in our family.
I used the following recipe though I doubled the batch, because honestly. Biscuits. You can obviously use these in many different ways. At first they were for biscuits and gravy. I also cut one in half, toasted it, put some butter and marmalade on it. Delicious. I plan you make an egg and cheese biscuit tomorrow.
https://www.savorywithsoul.com/satisfying-southern-flaky-biscuits/
I then used the same recipe but used vegan butter and extra creamy oat milk (same measurements as original recipe). They were great, but I added a little too much flour to make them not so sticky wet. Tasted great either way. We had them with dinner last night warmed up. I highly recommend the toaster though for some crispiness.
Scrub potatoes.
Poke all over with a fork.
Add 1 cup of water to the instant pot.
Place potatoes on the rack.
I only had a bag of russet potatoes so they are smaller but are absolutely delicious anyway.
Set Instant Pot on high for 14 (more time needed for larger potatoes) minutes and allow to naturally release pressure. Top with your favorite toppings. The last time I made them, I put butter, sharp cheddar cheese and minced ham pieces with pepper. So yummy! Taco meat, cheesey broccoli and of course butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon pieces are always delicious toppers.
My dad and I decided to check out a local place that I have had on my list of restaurants that I have been wanting to try.. The Goodness Land Middle Eastern & Mediterranean is located at 6555 W Overland RD Unit 110 Boise ID 83709. My fiancé got me hooked on Indian and Middle Eastern food not too long after we got together in 2005. I crave it all the time now and most of it is gluten free and healthier than the foods we eat in the US daily. Some claim it to be spicy, but my palate begs to differ. My dad and I basically wanted to try nearly everything (let's be honest, everything is a bit much) so we came as close as we could.
We started with the hummus with shawarma (chicken, pine nuts, lemon, sesame paste, olive oil and served with pita bread). It was mild, simple and yet incredibly satisfying. Especially with that perfect pita (best pita I've ever had). The chicken was flavorful but maybe just a little dry, however, it worked. A tasty dish but with everything we tried, it was my least favorite but that's not because I didn't like it.
The second appetizer was the eggplant stew (cooked with tomato paste, red pepper flakes, diced tomatoes, spinach, and served with pita bread). There were more ingredients in this dish, we asked, but she was so soft spoken that I couldn't make it all out, but this dish was unexpectedly delicious. I was not expecting it to be cold and it had a pickled flavor which I REALLY wasn't expecting. I could have honestly made a meal out of that. I will likely be craving it for the rest of my life. My dad said, "I think this is something that people will love or hate and I think he was right." We both loved it.
The two appetizers COULD HAVE been a meal in themselves, but we decided to order a FAMILY PLATTER. They told us multiple time that it serves 8-10 people. I said we are 8-10 people haha. Then they asked if we wanted it served in a catering box so we could eat what we could and take the rest home. We wanted to literally see it on the silver platter. The family platter is: 3 shish kebab lamb, 3 chicken kebab, 2 skewers of chicken shish tawook, 2 skewers lamb tikka, 6 pieces of falafel and decorational salad. I do not regret our decision to go with the full platter. The meats were amazing with my favorite being the shish kebab lamb. Lamb is iffy for me. I either love it or hate it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I perhaps may have taken more than my fair share.... OOOOPS. Sorry not sorry. I did enjoy it all though. I'm not entirely sure what sauces were served with it but I do believe one was tzatziki. The red sauce was a little more tomato-y/peppery (I think tomato chutney) and had a little spice (according to my dad). All of this was on a bed of two incredible rices. One I know for sure, one was biryani. The anise/allspice flavor was very prominent. We ate almost all the meat and made a good dent in the rice. Still went home with 3 styrofoam containers full of leftovers.
We got a couple of unique drinks. One being an Honey Bee Basil Seed Passion Fruit drink and the other was some peach mango fizz drink. That passion fruit was so refreshing and I hope I can find it to buy it. Their hot tea is also wonderful.
Though many laughed at us for the amount we ordered, I don't regret it one bit. Besides, leftover Middle Eastern food is just as good as leftovers. I highly recommend this corner little restaurant. The interior is great too! There seemed to be only one guy as a server so he could disappear for some time. I did feel like a complete idiot that was the true epitome of a white American. Cheers to learning more about other cultures!
https://goodnesslandboise.com/.
https://goo.gl/maps/Z45X3FpTMTusrfDC7
#thegoodnessland
My homemade smoothie
Frozen mango chunks
Frozen pineapple chunks (I had leftover pineapple that I froze)
Frozen cherries
Half of an avocado
Juice of one lime
Ice cubes
Zero sugar oat milk (I used Califia Farms)
Scoop of vanilla bone broth https://a.co/d/0BY1Zcz
Scoop of super reds https://a.co/d/3LYazi4
Scoop of gelatin https://a.co/d/3E8VxBo
Scoop of collagen https://a.co/d/1Shyjbv
Hemp hearts https://a.co/d/aPrJceE (I use WinCo's bulk as well as Costco's)
Blend (I use this https://a.co/d/7avlPho and bought extra cups)
4-6 pork chops
1/4 cup olive oil
2 lemons (zest and juice)
1/2 teaspoon of salt or to taste
2 teaspoons of pepper or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh minced rosemary
1 teaspoon of oregano
5 cloves of garlic minced
Mix seasonings and pour over pork chops. Marinade in the fridge. The longer the better.
*I thought this marinade was delicious but could've used more salt. Very lemony so if you aren't that into the lemon flavor, this may not be for you.
September 14, 2022
I am a hot sauce lover. I recently ate a California reaper that the CFO of my job brought me to see if I could "hang." Several coworkers gathered around and watched me eat it, first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. I was fine. So to say that I enjoy heat, is an understatement.
My new favorite hot sauce, though, is Tabasco Siracha. My husband brought it home from WinCo and now I put it on almost everything. Unfortunately my bottle of regular Siracha rarely gets used (which is good because I can't find it anywhere anymore).
The flavor is great. Just imagine the vinegary taste of Tabasco mixed with chili/Asian flavored siracha. Genius!! It certainly has a kick so if you don't like the heat, I don't recommend it. It's great in eggs or breakfast burritos, in stir fry's and soups (especially Cup A Noodles). Yes, even with my advanced taste capabilities, I still eat Cup A Noodles. Don't judge. I've made several different kinds of dishes that were even better with Tabasco Siracha drizzled over the top. It is a must try for my heat loving friends! I've added a link for Amazon but ff you have a WinCo near you, I know they have it.
If you happen to try it, let me know your thoughts because I'd love to hear from you!
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