Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Happy For Bread & Butter!


Food! Who doesn't love food? I totally love it! Though, sometimes food could become my worst frenemy.

Because of health reasons, I do have a restrictive diet. For many years I couldn't eat many things that I used to enjoy. I know life can sometimes through you a couple of hiccups on the way. Though, thanks to a great natural doctor, and some supplements, I could once again enjoy some great food!

One of the many things that I could now enjoy occasionally, is bread! Oh, how I missed it! I would salivate when I saw someone taking a piece of bread along with their heavily seasoned spaghetti sauce! It was hard for me to feel somewhat left out, when all I could eat was a simple Caesar salad, which was perhaps the only food that I could eat whenever we will go out to a restaurant. Of course having great company was priceless, like that commercial says.

Now as a newborn baby, I am again experimenting with new foods! Though, I still have to be cautious, because sometimes I ended up paying for it. Like for instance two months ago, I was in the kitchen making one of my favorites soups, cream of squash. In my pot I added squash, some milk, brown sugar, a couple of spoons of butter, than I finish it off by sprinkling some cinnamon. I then asked hubby to try the soup. He tried a couple of spoons of it. And like the cute mouse from my favorite cartoon movie Ratatouille, he made his suggestions by adding more ingredients to my soup.

My hubby is not a chef or a cook, like some husbands are. I just wanted my hubby to try some squash soup. I thought that if he was also behind the cooking process and added his own suggestions, that he will at the end eat some of his vegetables.

You see my hubby doesn't care much for vegetables.Whenever I would add a side of vegetables to his diner, it was left untouched. So after many years later, I kind of cave in to his preferences. Well, that is what marriage is all about. As a matter of fact, I am thinking of purchasing the books The Sneaky Chef or Deceptively Delicious, that way I can make sure that he eats his veggies, without him noticing it. My little secret!

Anyhow to make a long story short, the soup turn out a great hit! That is, a hit to my stomach. My tummy couldn't handle all of that extra cinnamon. And can you believe that I am still paying for it. For several weeks, all I could do was lay down on the couch and watch TCM, which by the way is making me an old movies expert!

So what does the title of my post, "Happy for Bread and Butter", have to do with the story. Well, even though I might hold off on the cinnamon for now, I am still enjoying some good things of life! And that leads me to the happy part of my story. I am so thrilled to share with you my new and favorite bread and butter combination: Pumpernickel bread with honey butter!

If it wasn't for Sweet Tomatoes, I wouldn't have been able to rediscover my passion for bread and butter! If you are not familiar with Sweat Tomatoes, it's an all you can eat salad, soup, and pasta buffet restaurant, And the best part of this story is that this is the only restaurant that hubby gets to eat all of his veggies!

At the end, my hubby is happy. I am happy. And my tummy feels happy, after of course, I eat all of my salad with my two slices of pumpernickel bread with honey butter!


I am a happy and grateful girl!



Chao,



Carmen






Photo: Flickr Creative Commons by Jonathan Gill.

Monday, October 26, 2009

I Have A Crush on Cracker Barrel!


I have always loved homestyle cooking! And whenever I want that special home food meal and I don't feel like cooking, I go to one of my favorites restaurants Cracker Barrel. For any of you that haven't heard or haven't been to Cracker Barrel you are missing one of the best restaurants in the U.S!

Cracker Barrel is a vintagey restaurant chain known for it's homestyle food. The store is easy to spot because it looks like a an old country store with wooden sides and a large porch. When you first step into the store you are warmly greeted by an hostess. The whole store is decorated like a vintage barn home, with old fashion tins, photographs, lamps and all types of country decor
that takes you to that simple home living.

The food is not only delicious and succulent, but it is also less expensive than other restaurants. And there is so much good food to choose from. For Meats you have: Fried, Grilled, or Baked Chicken. Turkey, Pork Chops, Meat Loaf, Roast Beaf, Country Ham, and Fish. For Vegetables you have: Corn, Green Beans, Turnip Greens, Pinto Beans, and Cole Slaw. And for other type of sides you have: Mashed Potatoes, Hashbrown Casserole, Macaroni and Cheese, Fried Apples, Dupplins, Apple Sauce, Cottage Cheese, and Corn Muffins.

And of course we can't forget their breakfast food. Cracker Barrel is known for their tasty
Blueberries Pancakes, Grits, Eggs, and Buttermilk Biscuit with Sawmill Gravy.

Want to reminiscence the past? You should try their root beer!

Make sure that you have room for their nice Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola® Cake! And the ice creams, and the pies. I am telling you, the food is amazing here!

Now one of the other fun thing about this restaurant is that they also sell cute gifts for you and your home. So you can leave full and satisfied with a little scented candle or kitchen towel as part of the whole Cracker Barrel experience! How fun is that?



Want to make great pancakes like the ones from Cracker Barrel? Well, you can! Cracker Barrel sell this Pancake Mix and other food and gift items in their online store!


Last week my hubby and I had a wonderful time at Cracker Barrel. Whenever we go is like we are going on a date. We left happy and in love!





Chao,


Carmen










Photo: Creative Commons and Cracker Barrel

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