Gourmet lunch?

Hey friends!  How is everyone’s Saturday going?  It’s been a productive one over in this neck of the woods

I got all the grocery shopping done this morning which felt great – the menu is looking pretty good this week even though I’m going to be short on time due to week 3 of that training I’ve been going to.

I even ended up $splurging$ on a beautiful pork shoulder with dry rub from Whole Foods.  I was going to purchase this cut of meat from the regular grocery store, but after seeing them at 2 stores they just looked like they were soaking in chemicals and so not appetizing. 

Therefore I decided to treat us to some high quality pork, no antibiotics and the high quality standards/practices used by Whole Foods ensure the animal has a healthy, comfortable life.  Worth the extra money? YES.

Guess where this is going….

Oh yea, this crockpot is amazing!  It has digital temperature read and even includes a probe so it knows when the food is done cooking… holding it at a safe temperature after that.  Awesome

Ya’ll will be seeing this tomorrow!

We also cleaned the house this a.m. and got things ready for our friends to arrive – I can’t wait – it’s gonna be one of “those nights” I can just feel it

I heated up a quick lunch consisting of leftovers from last night

Gourmet lunch?  Felt like it, in 1 minute 30 seconds flat!

We have some errands to run including hitting up World Market since The Man has decided we need to be the peeps on the block with the “cool candy” that kids can’t get anywhere else… & they def have plenty of neat stuff at WM like that!  I am so proud  

More adventures to come tonight… including Laura’s famous red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, dinner out with friends, then some potential bar action    Now if only this rain would go away…..

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FRIENDS!!!

We got a winner!

Hey hey friends   Happy Friday to you all!!

So here’s how the weekend began, a post-work Slider Eating contest featuring 2 long-time eating rivals!

• female, approx 5’2″, 105lbs
• male, approx 6’2″, 190lbs

So who can eat the most slider burgers in 1 hour?

 

How’d it play out?

• homegirl ate 11 sliders
• homeboy ate 13 sliders

Ummm yea, impressive right?!

I wish I could post the pics of their faces as they hit the end of this eating race…. they were priceless haha.  It was pretty fantabulous to say the least.

After work shannigans I stopped at World Market & TL’s (Tom Leonards peeps ) for some goods

Hey, it’s the weekend!

Biggest. bbq. sauce. ever.  And some dark chocolate with sea salt, which I found my way into and it’s to die for!   

Plus eggplant & brussel sprouts for roastin’ tonight thanks to some inspiration from my fave Iowa lady  

Once I got home and got settled in I had plans to marinade some thin pork chops in a homemade marinade.  However, plans were thwarted midway through once I opened the meat and it did not smell good at all wtf?   So I went with my gut instinct to trash it, and back to the store I went.  Chicken it is!

So back to the marinade, which I made out of these guys plus a few additions that came to mind as I was a’mixin!

• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/2 tblsp chopped ginger
• 2 tblsp lite soy sauce
• 2 tblsp SF apricot spread
• 3 tblsp chicken stock
• 1 tblsp EVOO
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp agave
• black pepper

Put the chicken in marinade for about an hour (all I had left after that fiasco!)  Then cooked it up in a large skillet (medium heat to start, then medium low covered with foil to ensure tenderness!)….. removing once done and allowing the sauce to thicken up before serving.

Served up

I also had some plans to roast some veggies

• eggplant
• brussel sprouts
• tomato

I sliced up the eggplant and layed out on a pan covered with cooking spray.  I then added some sea salt, pepper, oregano & fresh chopped garlic on top.  Roasted at 350F for about 40 minutes

 

and voila!  This was absolutely scrump-dilly-ump-tious !!

Then I got the brussel sprouts ready for roastin’ (which I haven’t had since I was oh, 10 years old prob?) by slicing off the core and cutting in half, then tossing in some EVOO, minced garlic, salt & pepper.  

I also cut up a tomato, topped with some sea salt and added to the pan for roastin’

 Roasted these at 400F for 30 minutes, flipping midway through

And then plated them up all together   H-O-L-Y   Y-U-M!!!

And also made up some basmati rice to go alongside using the rest of that chicken stock, so much flava!

 

 

Then all plated up!!!

Ummm can I just way that this was probably one of my favorite dinners EVER?!?!  Why you ask?

1) The chicken was amazing — check out the fantastic way the marinade coated the outside, almost making a soft crust!  This marinade WILL be made again, no doubt.

2) Roasted eggplant with garlic and spices ROCKS.  Period.

3) Roasted tomatoes take on a completely different flavor, so sweet and almost like candy.  Look for more of these to come very very soon!

4) Roasted brussels are really very deelish, lovely texture and flavor — mmmm hmmmm!

So that was a happy wonderful dinner, and look what The Man accomplished while I did all this cookin’

He did a superfab job eh friends?!   love it!

Alright, time for some dessert and tv watching….. can’t wait for my friends to get here tomorrow and don’t you know that I’ll be back for some fun blogpost recaps!

Have a great night peeps