The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011

I am participating in my first ever cookie swap! It happens to be the first Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap as well. The swap is hosted by Love and Olive Oil and This Little Kitchen. The deadline to sign up is Friday, November 18th. You will receive an email with the names and addresses of 3 different bloggers of whom you will send a dozen homemade cookies. In return you will receive 3 different boxes of cookies. On December 12th all participants will do a blog post with their cookie recipe. You know you want to join in the fun so click here and sign up!  

Halloween in Atlanta

On Friday Trey drove up. He got here earlier than expected so we went on a dinner and movie date! We ate at Cypress Inn. I had the Crab Cakes Special and Trey had the Grilled Salmon Summer Salad. Both dishes I would order again. After dinner we went to see Puss in Boots Imax in 3D. It was cute and funny.

Saturday we woke up early, packed and got on the road to Atlanta. My best friend threw her yearly Halloween party Saturday night. Here are some pictures from the party. I loved all the decorations.

The food included:

• Layered Taco dip
• Buffalo Chicken dip
• Biscuit Pizzas
• Hot Spinach dip
• Rotel dip
• Cocktail Sausages
• Bone Cookies with Raspberry Filling
• Oreo Eyeballs

Everything was soooo good! Perry did a great job.

1

Sunday, we woke up early again and got on the road since Trey had to drive back to Mobile after getting back from Atlanta. We stopped for lunch at one of my favorites, Flip Burger! I ordered the Heritage Turkey burger, Trey ordered the Raw Tuna Tartare wrapped in lettuce instead of on a bun and we shared a order of fries.

Heritage Turkey Burger – monterrey cheese, tomato, fresh avocado, pomegranate ketchup, alfalfa sprouts

Raw Tuna Tartare – mango sphere, avocado puree, soy jellies, compressed vegetables, wasabi mayo, sesame crispies

Housemade French Fries with smoked mayo and ketchup

We got milkshakes to-go. I got the Krispy Kreme milkshake and Trey got the Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow one. Both were really tasty but I liked the Krispy Kreme one the best.

Now it is time to watch my new favorite show! Once Upon a Time!

Questions:

• What are your favorite shows this Fall?
• Have you seen any good movies lately?

Decorating!

Here are a few things I bought today for my apartment. Nothing is finished but I thought I would share a few pictures.

I bought some spray paint for some furniture I already have and possibly the round table I bought today. I love black, gray, white, silver and teal. I will post more pictures as I get everything done.

Alabama vs. Tennessee

Today was a Game Day! I decided to go to the tailgate since it was Alumnae Weekend. We had a ton of good food and this cute candy bar. They had caramel popcorn trial mix bags and a lot of different “crimson” candies. They had one of my favorites! Boston Baked Beans.




I did not have a ticket to the game so the plan was to leave early and get some errands done before going home to watch the game. If you live in a college town then you know the best time to run errands is on a game day. The town is dead and it takes no time at all to get things done.

Well I had parked in a hidden parking lot for free. I was super happy I didn’t have to pay $30 or more to park. When I walked back to my car one Jeep had blocked the entire lot in! I was so mad! I guess that is what I get for trying to park for free. Thanks to all of my awesome friends who came to pick me up and then take me back!

Btw…. Bama won! It was tied until after half-time but we pulled it out. Roll Tide!!

Russian Inspired Chicken

My mom made this from our church cookbook when I was growing up. There are a ton of recipes for “Russian Chicken” on the internet. The main ingredient is Russian dressing. I went to target and could not find Russian dressing anywhere. I spent at least 5 minutes looking for it and had a random woman on the isle helping me search. No luck. I decided to mix Catalina and Italian dressings and make my own Russian dressing. Close enough right?



Russian-ish Chicken (Not sure what to call it)
Makes enough for 4

Instructions:

• 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 12 oz. jar of apricot preserves (I have also used apple jelly before)
• 1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
• 1 cup fat free Catalina dressing
• 1/3 cup fat free Italian dressing
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place chicken flat into a baking dish
3. In a medium sized bowl, mix the remaining ingredients.
4. Pour mixture over chicken and bake for 1 hour.

This weekend my sorority is having an Alumnae Weekend. I am looking forward to seeing all of the girls!

Now I have a ton of laundry, cleaning and DVR catching up on. I better get busy.

Bamboo Steakhouse and Sushi Bar

For lunch on Sunday, Trey and I went to Bamboo in Mobile. It is by far my favorite sushi place in Mobile and I have been to almost all of them. We started out with the crab wontons. They were crunchy and creamy and were served with a sweet and sour sauce. Delicious! We also got soup and salad which we did not order but I am guessing it came with the sushi. Here are the sushi rolls we ordered pictured from top to bottom.

Bama Roll - Salmon, crab stick, cream cheese and avocado. Roll is fried then topped with spicy mayo and eel sauce

Spicy Tuna – Tuna and cucumber

Wakamama - Bacon, smoked salmon, cream cheese, and avocado, topped with eel sauce

Scallop Nigiri

The Bama Roll was my favorite. I had to order the Wakamama because I had never had a sushi roll with bacon in it before. It was good but I only ate 2 pieces. It almost had too much bacon in it for me.

Trey really liked the Spicy Tuna roll. I had one but I like sushi rolls that have more vegetables or cream cheese not just primarily fish. He was the one that ordered the Scallop Nigiri rolls. I do not like scallops but he ate both of them and liked it. 

The restaurant itself looks over a pond. I love the atmosphere and the staff have been really great every time we have gone.

Birchbox

Yesterday I received my first Birchbox. If you don’t already know, Birchbox is a beauty sample subscription. You get one box a month and it has 4-5 samples each time. The samples are a “deluxe” size. You pay $10 a month. You do not get to choose your samples so it is a surprise each time. I can’t remember whose blog I saw it on but I decided to try it for myself. I like it so far. (No one paid me to say this. These are my own opinions.)



They wrap everything up so it’s like you are getting a present! I love presents!

When I got home from work today I did 75 crunches and the Tone It Up Saved By the Bell Workout.My legs felt the burn!

For dinner I made a bowl of oatmeal and loaded it with pumpkin, peanut butter and pumpkin spice. It was delish! A year ago you couldn’t get me to eat any type of oatmeal unless it had dinosaurs or gummy bears in it…



This weekend I am going to Mobile! I can’t wait! There is something about Mobile that I just love.

Pumpkin Banana Bread with Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread

This bread is my first time to taste pumpkin this Fall. I bought two cans of pumpkin at the grocery store and have been dying to use it. It did not let me down.



Pumpkin Banana Bread
Adapted from Skinny Taste
Makes 12 slices

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 1 cup whole wheat organic flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tbs. margarine or butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar.
4. Add bananas, pumpkin and eggs to butter and brown sugar mixture. Mix on medium until completely blended together.
5. Add dry ingredient mixture in and mix on low to medium until completely incorporated.
6. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese
Adapted from Skinny Taste

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. fat free cream cheese
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tbs. light brown sugar
• 2 tbs. sugar or sugar substitute

Instructions:

1. Using an electric mixer blend all ingredients together.
2. Mix until smooth and creamy.