Giveaway! Food For Thought Trivia Challenge!

This game is soooooo cute that I had to buy a copy for myself and a copy to give away.  That's right, this is not a sponsored giveaway, it is sponsored by myself! Trying to get more of my followers signed up on my blog so my numbers go up and I really wanted to share this adorable game!  If you are already a follower... THANK YOU and please comment for the giveaway! This game comes in a picnic basket-esque box and comes with 4 game pieces, a dice, game board and large stack of trivia cards.  The questions are so cute and range from really simple questions like "what't the phrase used to describe an overly simple task?"....... "easy as pie" to much harder literary questions such as " In Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, what is the teacake that sends him into ecstasy?"....... "a madeleine."  This game is too cute!  Perfect gift for a foodie lover or to break out at a boring dinner party!

http://www.foodforthoughttriviachallenge.com/pages/home.htm

To enter the giveaway, please make sure you are signed up as a follower on the blog, and leave a comment telling me what your favorite board game is.  As I have been thinking of things to register for for my wedding, I have learned that they have re-done Hasbro games such as Monopoly, Clue, Yahtzee, Risk, Life and Jenga in vintage style wooden boxes that you can place on a shelf and look like nice books.  The  pieces in them are all metal and wood, and the images all look like the classic images. If you are a board game lover, you should really check these special edition games out, they are nicely priced too!

Winner will be announced June 9th!

Ro*tel Recipe Contest: Info about it plus my recipe for Tangy Ro*tel Stuffed Chicken and Grits

Ro*tel is sponsoring a recipe contest where the grand prize winner gets $2,000!  To enter you have to become facebook fan of ro*tel (just until the contest is over) and then submit your recipe. This contest ends June 13th! You have unlimited entries, and must use one ro*tel product in the recipe. You must have a facebook account to enter.  I found out about it though a blog I read called "Deep Dish South."  Mary, the blogger, is going to be the judge in this contest.  Check out her blog and consider entering this contest! I am thinking that the $2,000 would sure be nice for all the wedding planning I have been doing! : )

Here is the recipe that I made up and am submitting to the contest.  I made it tonight and it is delicious!  There are not enough recipes out there that use grits!   

TANGY RO*TEL STUFFED CHICKEN AND GRITS

Servings: 4, Prep Time: 10 minutes, Cook Time: 35 minutes

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 ounces of goat cheese, this is one small log, I prefer to use Belle Chevre as I am trying to support local places, this is made in Elkmont, Alabama

1 and 1/3 cups quick grits, do not buy instant grits, get blue stone ground for something different if you can but this will take much longer to cook 

1 can drained mild Ro*tel

1/4 cup chopped green onions (3 stalks)

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups milk

3/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 tsp tomato paste, try to buy this in a tube not can, this way you can use a tsp at a time without wasting and keep it in the fridge

salt, fresh cracked black pepper, and garlic powder to taste

1tsp olive oil

Before continuing........We are big fans of goat cheese, if you are not a goat cheese fan don't worry.  Just buy some Mexican queso fresco cheese and add a bit of lime juice to your ro*tel to give it that nice tangy taste.

In a small bowl, mash the goat cheese and 1/2 can of ro*tel until well blended.  On a plastic cutting board, partially butterfly the chicken breasts.  Take 1/4 of the cheese mixture and place into the cavity you have created.  Place in a glass baking pan and repeat the process with the rest of the chicken. Drizzle the olive oil over the chicken evenly, use a pastry brush if you really want to get exact with your oil coverage.  Then quickly salt and pepper the top of the chicken breasts.  Bake in a 375* oven for 30 minutes.  While the chicken is baking in the oven, you will be making the cream sauce and the grits.  Take the other half of the can of ro*tel and blend it until it is smooth.  I used an immersion blender but you can certainly either use a standard blender or leave the sauce chunky.  Add the cream and tomato paste and heat it in a small sauce pan on the stove top until the sauce is warmed through, you are not trying to cook this mixture. In a larger sauce pan, combine the milk and chicken broth and bring it to a boil. Slowly add the grits, turn heat to low,  and simmer for 10 minutes stirring constantly. I like my grits to be thick and creamy more like a polenta than your standard southern diner runny greasy grits.  Plate (or bowl) the grits first, then one of the baked stuffed chicken breasts to the side, and pour 1/4 cup of your sauce over the chicken and grits.  Add a handful of green onion on top. Picture below is a little bit fuzzy because of the steam! I served mine with a garden greens salad with heirloom tomato slices.

This easy cream sauce can also be used with shrimp and grits or in a spicy crawfish pasta ( really simple to make, buy a frozen package of de-shelled crawfish tail meat and thaw, add pasta, and this recipe of sauce, really delicious!)

Lost Finale Party! Pictures of all the Yummy Treats!

LOST FINALE PARTY! I cannot take credit for any of the cooking or creative parts of this party. I was a guest and it was really fun and delicious!  Kudos to my friends Anna, Tina, Laurie, and Rachel for making all the yummy Lost themed foods.  I am avoiding commentary on the actual episode. Though I will say I am much happier after thinking about it than I was last night.

Key Lime flavored Island Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Sand

Fish Shaped Biscuits to go with the Fried Chicken (not pictured)

Airplane Sugar Cookies

Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Bites

Mexican Dip, Claire's Peanut Butter, and Rum!

Dharma Cola! Love the labels!

OH NO!!!!  It's the smoke monster!

Schnitzel Ranch Restaurant Review and Menu: Huntsville, Alabama AL (glass beer boot)

Full Restaurant Menu and Bread Menu at bottom of post!

If you are looking for cheap authentic German food and delicious Paulaner Pilsner served in DAS BOOT you will love this Oddly named and clip art logo-ed establishment. You can order the men's boot (1 liter) or the ladies boot (.5 liter). Eventually they said they are going to try to sell the boots, but they have to import them.  The decor is homey, not fancy, with a ceiling full of hanging beer steins, and when you want service at your table, you pull up your table number flag. Very creative, and very cute when the owner said they have a patent pending on it.   You can't beat this price in town for German food. I still love Ol'Heidelberg and Cafe Berlin for fancier German food, they have the best blue cheese salad I have ever eaten, but they are very expensive compared to the lunch prices at Schnitzel Ranch.

For an appetizer we started with a fresh baked German pretzel with mustard. So delicious!

We ate Jager Schnitzel (mushroom brown gravy) and Rouladen (beef filled with onion, relish, and bacon in a thick gravy).  They were amazing!

Jager

As cute and delicious as Schnitzel Ranch is... I must confess they do have a few shortcomings in some of their sides that you should take into consideration when ordering, but this should not overshadow how delicious the rest of their food is.  The red cabbage tastes like it was plopped out of a can instead of being homemade, the salad is iceberg out of a bag, the butter is some other type of spread, and the bacon in the German potato salad is real bacon but chopped up chips from a bottle.  All other sides were amazing:  cucumber salad, potato dumplings, spaetzle, and pan fried potatoes. 

Now I come to the best part about the restaurant:  the owners! Renja Reinig-Schmitt and her husband, Joachim Reinig came from Germany after they had researched the country and choose Huntsville as a very German friendly area.  They used a special visa to open a business as she is trained in business and he is trained as a butcher. Renja was our waitress and was so nice and talkative explaining the food, telling us her story of how she opened the business, and where she came from in Germany.  My mom lived in Germany when she was little so they were discussing Stuttgart and the Black Forest.

Fun Dessert:  Spaghetti Ice Cream Sundae..... Vanilla ice cream extruded into noodle shapes topped with whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and coconut.  Delicious!

Please try this restaurant for lunch sometime with friends or to go to watch a soccer game at night.  Also, they serve an extensive variety of fresh baked breads now.  The pumpkin seed is particularly delicious!

Menus are below.  Click on picture for larger image.

  

Wonderful Find: 1880 Lithograph Marriage Certificate Couple on Lake with House and Church... also Calligraphy in Birmingham

I am so excited about the find I am showing you today.  I have been trying to find ways to add special touches to my wedding.  I love collecting old photographs, letters, money, and lithographs and somehow wanted to incorporate that into my wedding.  I looked at several reproduction blank marriage certificates on eBay from the Victorian Era through the 1920's and found several pretty ones but they all seemed very girly and flowery and mostly pink.  I wanted something beautiful and classic that I could have framed and hang in my dining room.  I came across this one later when I wasn't looking for it simply by typing in "lithograph." When I received it in the mail yesterday I was ecstatic.  It is from 1880, it is copyrighted, has never been used, and is in perfect condition!  No creases, no fading, PERFECT!  It even smells old like an awesome old library book!  You know the smell!  I keep searching for others like it and have come across one other that is the same, it was used and filled in in the 1880's, but instead of it being a lithograph with gold accents, it was watercolored in.

When we get our engagement pictures, I hope the photographer will take some individual shots of us in sepia tone.  Those would look perfect in the photo slots!

I am currently looking into the copyright law, or rather my fiancé is.  Most works of art are copyright free after 100 years I have been told.  If that is so, I intend to make some professional copies of this and possibly sell them as many others do on eBay with reproduction ones.  Of course, the gold ink will not copy like this, but I have not seen a prettier version of an antique marriage certificate. Let me know if any of you are possibly interested in buying a copy for a reasonable price or if any of you have seen something like this.

  I don't know if you can see from this picture, but the lithograph of the couple on the lake between the church and their new home is so detailed and crisp.  Very beautiful!

Here is another beautiful one online that can be printed as a reproduction.  This one has less of a religious overtone and is very brightly colored. It also has a boat scene and the holding hands.

Update 4/14/2011:  I have officially gotten the sepia tone portraits placed in the certificate and we hired a wonderful Calligrapher, Melinda Sapp, to fill it in for us using historic style walnut ink and a wonderful Spencerian script.   If you are looking for a calligrapher in the Birmingham, AL area to do anything from calligraphy wedding invitations, monograms, envelopes, place cards, etc...this is the lady for you.  I didn't need professional no-mistake style font so she gave me a great deal and it looks flawless to me.  

http://www.calligraphybymelinda.com/index.html

You can now also buy copies of this particular lithograph wedding certificate in my newly launched etsy store: Mullican & Davenport.  This was a very irregular sized lithograph, so the print shop copies came out without the full chain link border, but it is not very noticeable.  Very sturdy great copies. Thanks for looking!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MullicanXDavenport

Bargain Post: Treasure Hunt Store Tuscaloosa AL - Joseph A. Bank Cashmere, Sport Coats, Suits, Ties for 90% off!!!!

Treasure Hunt in Tuscaloosa, AL:  It is located in the old Winn Dixie Shopping Center across from Walmart on Skyland.  Big sign now up, logo is a parrot and treasure chest.  Turn left at light after last turn for McFarland Mall.

Tuscaloosa Treasure Hunt Hours:  Monday through Saturday: 9am to 8pm.   NOT OPEN ON SUNDAYS!

This place constantly gets new stuff everyday. They have tons of great deals on expensive cookware such as celphalon, nordic, kitchenaid, Emeril, tons of different brand coffee makers and espresso makers....... and it goes on and on and on.   They also have tons of clothes, garden, some groceries, some home improvement.... basically you never know exactly what they will have until you go!

Ok, so I am going to do a rare non-food post and also do a price breakdown.  I got the absolute best deals on awesome Men's dress wardrobe today. If you are in the Tuscaloosa area... you have to go to this store!  I feel like the best fiancé/daughter/future daughter-in-law ever today!  Really makes me want to be paid to be a personal shopper for people!  That would be a personal shopper that specializes in bargain shopping and getting the most bang for your buck! Treasure Hunt, a chain store, has recently opened up in Tuscaloosa.  They have items from stores like target (40% off tag), bed/bath/beyond(40% off tag) , Jos. A. Bank (90% off tag), and random luxury items such as Valentino, Versace, Brian Atwood, Ralph Lauren, and Oscar De La Renta shoes (70% off tag).  There is one awesome pair of copper toned Valentino high heels that I have been drooling over - though at 70% off of $785 they are still out of my price range.  I don't think there are that many of us size 5.5 out there so maybe they will still be there when they reduce them further. These are close out items, incorrectly labeled items, floor model items, and several of the "i can't see anything wrong with this item" items! (Got a better term for it.... let me know).  They constantly get new items in and last week I did not see anything Joseph A. Bank in there.
http://ilovetreasurehunt.com/   Sister store is called Dirt Cheap.  http://ilovedirtcheap.com/

Update:  I finally went to our Dirt Cheap to see if it was similar since they are both owned by Hudson's.  They are not similar!  Dirt Cheap is a dirty dirty lice pit full of dust bunnies and broken crap!  Don't go, just go to Treasure Hunt!!!!!

  My fiancé has been slowly building his professional law wardrobe over the past 3 years at Joseph A. Bank and today I think we finished it for at least the next several years.  If we had bought these coats, suit, ties, shirt, scarves in the store it would have cost him a total of $3,332.00!!!!!!!!!!  I got them all today in the perfect sizes with no damage for $333.20!!!!!   That means for each $295 dollar solid cashmere sweater I paid $29.50 for it!  Suit $795=$79.50   and so on and so on.   For Hood we bought a total of:  1 navy blue wool overcoat, 1 camel hair blazer, 1 black/ivory herringbone pattern sports coat, 1 green/brown lightweight sports coat, 1 charcoal grey suit, 4 cashmere scarves, 1 traveler's shirt, and 2 ties!!!!!!!  The 2 scarves in the second picture are for possible Christmas presents for others.

As far as cashmere sweaters went... they only had size XL and XXL left.  So I bought a ton of blue and grey ones for step-dad and step brother...... What would have been $1,534 was $153.40!

Several green and brown colored cashmere sweaters, 1 vest, and 1 traveler shirt for future father-in-law.   I love personal shopping!!!!!!!!  Colors didn't show up correctly on this last picture.  The brown, dark green, and lighter green sweaters all are much brighter than this picture shows.  For this group what would have been $1,739.50 in the store was $173.95!

So yes, while all this does add up to an expensive day..... these are still a steal and I got great clothes for 4 awesome guys!!!!!!    Too bad there weren't any small or medium sweaters or any  90% off women's clothing!!!!!!  I could have taken care of our whole family!!!!!!!   Women's clothing is at 40% off whatever the previous store's coupon says.  I found several Lucky Brand shirts that were nice, but at 40% off they were still around $50.  Maybe next week!!!!!

BBQ Picnic Shower, Lemon Cake, BBQ Green Beans, Fruit Skewers and Drunken Watermelon!

Yay!  Co-hosted a wedding shower for our friend at River Road Park West under the Gazebo overlooking the Black Warrior River.  Beautiful place for picnics, showers, and birthday parties!  The weather was perfect, all the food turned out great, catered BBQ picked up on time (Mike and Ed's), and everybody was really happy!  I made the lemon cake, BBQ green beans, fruit skewers, and the drunken watermelon.  Alas, I forgot to take a picture of the baked potato salad and the macaroni and cheese I made, they are covered up in the picture.

This is a box lemon cake with box icing.  I just added extra slices of lemon twists and half moons and mint leaves for decoration.  I love lemon box cake, so moist and summery!

Fun way to do a fruit display instead of doing a fruit tray. Use a trifle dish and 5 lemons, limes, or oranges, and add some mint leaves to the bottom.  Skewer fruit and one or two marshmallows on bamboo skewers until half the stick is covered.  Insert the pointed end into the lemons for stability. 

I made this recipe because the groom grew up with having BBQ Green Beans instead of BBQ Baked Beans and he loves these.  I had never made them before, but a recipe for them was in my Cotton Country Cooking Book.  They were delicious.  Basically you drain and place 6-8 cans of green beans in a casserole dish.  Make a quick BBQ sauce to taste out of 2 cups of ketchup, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, black pepper, 1 cup chopped cooked bacon (I used maple flavored market pantry bacon and it added an extra something) to taste and mix together with the beans.  Add rings of onion and a few strips of cooked bacon for the top.   Bake in 350*F oven for 45 minutes until bubbly and onions are cooked.


DRUNKEN WATERMELON

Cut a plug out of one end of a watermelon.  Set it upright in some sort of container, care bare trash can was the perfect size for me.  Stick a funnel into the plug.  Take a bamboo skewer or wooden dowel and stick it in the plug to make room for some of the liquid.  Slowly pour your vodka of choice into the hole, a cup or two at a time, about an hour apart or so.  I used two cups of Gordon's vodka and then switched to Smirnoff Watermelon flavored vodka (not pictured).  I must admit that for me personally, this drunken watermelon was a bit too drunkedy!!!!  Others loved it though!  You choose the amount of vodka you want to pour in. Work with a towel underneath in case your watermelon doesn't take the vodka as quickly as others.  You don't want your kitchen smelling like a distillery! I also saw that doing a drunk watermelon with cheaper bottle of champagne is becoming popular, I might try that next time!

Sam's club had a Mexican beer sampler pack that included Dos Equis Lager, Dos Equis Ale, Tecate, and Sol.  Great deal!  I love my drink dispenser!  Best purchase ever!  It is made out of recycled glass and I bought it as Costco last year. I also love my huge green tubs.  Don't remember where I got them.

Don't have time to post anymore recipes, I will add the recipes for Baked Potato Salad and Macaroni and Cheese later!

Law School Graduation, University of Alabama National Championship Ring 2010, and Luther Burgers (Krispy Kreme)!

This past week has been very busy for me and I haven't had time to post much.  It was the last week of law school for my sweetie and several of our friends who graduated this past Saturday.  I am so proud of them all!!!!!

Day after graduation, we went to the Blue Angels Air show in Tuscaloosa, it was epic!  I also got to try on a very nice Alabama Crimson Tide Football manager's ring......... the thing was huge and gorgeous!!!  Look how this thing dwarfs my hand!

As part of the celebration for the end of law school classes, one of our friends made us these as part of a decadent celebration....... Luther Burgers!    Yes.... that would be a hamburger with cheddar cheese and thick sliced bacon on a grilled Krispy Kreme bun!   And yes........ IT WAS ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!    You have got to try this once in your life!  I looked it up online, this thing probably has 1,000 calories, and 40 something grams of fat supposedly, but the sweetness really went well with the smokiness of the grill flavor!  I think using cheddar instead of american and using the thick cut bacon instead of cheaper bacon really put this over the edge on epic-ness (yeah not a real word).  I ate a salad the next day and tried to do some dance workouts to counteract the greasy sweet goodness!

Giveaway announcement:  Sometime in the next week I will be posting a giveaway for an awesome self-inking stamp set that can be used to personalize recipes, books, invitations..... you name it!  I love the Fab Finds for Under $50 blog and she ran a giveaway for a stamp set from Three Designing Women, I posted a comment to try to win but did not.  A week later, the company that had sponsored the giveaway said they connected my comment back to my blog and loved it!  They sent me a stamp as a gift/happy engagement with my both of our names and the wedding date to use on invites, I got it in the mail yesterday. It is sooooo beautiful and amazing!  This also will save me a lot of money on trying to make my save the date invitations. They also sent me a kit to giveaway with interchangeable stamps where you can put your name, initial, or write whatever you want. You can only buy their stamps, embossers, and designer items to stamp from stores and not their website. More info to come later in the week!!!!!!

Dinner and a Movie Sunday: Waitress and Strawberry Chocolate Oasis Pie

I am going to try to start a new tradition for each Sunday.... Dinner and a Movie.  Sometimes it might just be dessert and a movie like tonight but I think this will be fun.  I really miss old school TBS Dinner and a Movie with Paul Gilmartin and Annabelle Gurwitch.  TBS still runs Dinner and Movie with Paul and a new girl I think, but I miss my childhood Friday nights with Paul and Annabelle!

If you have never seen the movie Waitress, I highly recommend it.  It is an usual film that definitely is not what you would expect from seeing the cover.  If you love cooking/eating pies and want to watch a cute movie with some sass... you should go rent this one with Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion!



Keri Russell's character is a waitress in the South where she also gets to make creative pies everyday for the Pie Diner she works in.  She generally names these pies according to what her interests are or what is going on in her life like "Mermaid Pie, Naughty Pumpkin Pie, Pregnant Miserable Self Pitying Loser Pie, and I Hate My Husband Pie"...... just to name a few without giving the entire plot away!  The pie I made tonight is the pie that Andy Griffith's character requests.  He says, 

“Nobody in the world can make strawberry chocolate pie like you!  Wednesday is my favorite day of the week just ‘cause I get to have me a slice of it.  I think about it as I’m waking up.  It could solve all the problems of the world that pie.  It’s a thing of beauty, how each flavor opens itself, one by one, like a chapter in a book.  First, the flavor of an exotic spice hits you.  Just a hitn of it… and then you get flooded with the chocolate, dark and bittersweet, like an old love affair.  And finally…. Strawverry!  Strawberry the way it was always supposed to taste like but never could….”

There are several different versions of people's ideas for what this pie should be. At first I thought this would just be an experiment to keep to myself, but it was delicious so I have decided to share it.  I took bits and pieces and combined them with how I know to make a pie because I am certainly not a pie expert.  I turned mine into more of a cheesecake than a pie, but I used a chocolate cookie crumb crust, fresh strawberries, French dark chocolate, and for the extra hidden flavors I used Nutella and a splash of Frangelico liquer (hazelnut flavor). 

 STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE OASIS PIE
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 prepared chocolate cookie crumb pie crust
1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk
1 packaged 1/3 fat cream cheese
half a bar of a nice dark chocolate bar (whatever your favorite is)
2 tablespoons nutella
1 egg
spash of Frangelico (you could omit this or replace with amaretto or kahlua)

In a bowl using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese for about 3 minutes or until fluffy.  In a small microwaveable bowl, place the sweetened condensed milk and the dark chocolate cut up into pieces.  Microwave for 30 seconds and then mix until the chocolate is melted and combined with the condensed milk. Microwave longer if necessary.  Slowly add the milk mixture to the cream cheese while mixing.  Finally add the egg and liquer if using and mix to combine.  Pour into the crumb crust and bake at 300*F for 55-60 minutes. Allow to set on counter on a wire rack for 1 hour and then chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours.  Top with fresh sliced strawberries.  You can also make a glaze to put on top of strawberries using sugar and cornstarch or by using melted strawberry jam/jelly, but I was so hungry I skipped that part!

Not very picture perfect.... but delicious!

My new favorite kitchen gadget: a strawberry huller.  You push it in, twist and the hull comes out, you then press the button on end and the hull pops off the utensil.  Very easy!!