A Very Philly Weekend

Despite the fact that I caught a cold/flu/whoknows on Thursday, Curtis came down Friday night for the weekend, and is now on his way back to Virginia with our doggy.  This marks the first time I'm in Philly without him, only for two weeks, but will certainly be different. 

We ended up having a really nice weekend.  Stay tuned for part of it (hint: it involves pictures), but for now I will focus on the food, since we checked two restaurants off the list of those I wanted to try.

First, Percy Street BBQ: 

Curtis described it as "hipster BBQ" which is probably about right.  Nevertheless, the food was priced well and tasty, we were able to watch the first quarter of the UCLA-Oregon game on a TV there, and we got a few dishes for free for our "wait," which wasn't long. 

Here's the rundown of what we got: 

Deviled eggs (on the house) 

Skillet Cornbread (on the house)

Macaroni and Cheese - delish

BBQ Fries with Chopped Brisket - also delish

Pulled Pork (me, delish) 

Burger (Curtis - "pretty good")

Chocolate-Banana Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Ice Cream (Curtis - "ok")

Root Beer Float (me - delish) 

Suffice it to say, I'm looking forward to eating leftovers tonight.  Not quite Alabama BBQ, but tasty. 

Next? Brunch at Jones: 

Styled as an old-school diner with a modern twist, Jones is one of many "Starr Restaurants," by a local restaurateur, who has several restaurants, all with different themes (I think I've been to four of them so far, The Dandelion, Talula's Garden, and Frankford Hall, and they are all fun)

Again, good meal.  We started with their famous Monkey Bread, which was yummy and warm: 

Then I had the egg sandwich with tater tots (which was just okay), and Curtis had the French Toast, which looked cool and tasted good.

Overall, a yummy weekend :-) 

"Sweet Tea Proper" - Shameless plug

Since I haven't been very good at posting on what it's like to live in the South, let me refer you to a good friend of mine from here, who has started a lovely blog about Southern living: 

Sweet Tea Proper

Sweet Tea Proper is "Designed to bless your heart, home, and life, Sweet Tea Proper is filled with faith, photos, recipes, ideas and inspiration to share and highlight the beauty and charm of Southern living."

I really enjoy her blog, and while I think I have a personal bias, since I do know that she is a lovely person and great example of the ideals found in a Southern young woman, I can also vouch for the authenticity of her site and the earnestness with which she presents her favorite aspects of where she lives. 

Also check it out on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Sunday Recipes

I was inspired by my weight watchers meeting Saturday to try a few new recipes yesterday.  

Up first:  Simple Cornbread/Corncake

(from my WW Leader, adopted from the Emily Bites Chicken Tamale Bake Recipe) 


This is literally, a box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and a can of Creamed Corn.  Bake in a 9x13 dish at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 


Result:  

I think I misheard my leader, because this was essentially a disaster. Perhaps she baked it in a square pan, instead of 9x13.  I think muffins might even be a good option.  But this came out rather flat and took much longer to bake than the recipe called for. Curtis (quite rightly) remarked that it reminded him of corn cake.  I quickly agreed, and resolved to serve this a side with our dinner this afternoon (see recipe no. 2) 


Damage: not much at all since we didn't eat much of it.  Points breakdown is 3 points for 1/12 of a serving. 

Second: Taco Casserole Bake

(From Emily Bites) 

As you might recall my first Emily Bites Recipe was the Pasta Bake, which I've made twice now and is very tasty.  I love the casserole concept because it's easy to make leftovers out of for lunches.  Here we go: 

Ingredients:

25 Baked Tostitos Scoops
1 T Chili Oil (I found this in the Asian foods aisle) - if you are considering replacing this with regular oil please note the chili oil adds a lot of spice and flavor to this dish, so replacing it will affect the flavor profile
1 Onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ¼ lbs extra lean ground turkey (I used Jennie-O which comes in a 1.25 lb package) [I accidentally purchased regular ground turkey but it didn't change the points value]
2 T taco seasoning
15 oz can black beans, drained
1 c salsa (I used medium)
1 c 2% shredded Mexican cheese 

Directions:
1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2.    In a large skillet, warm the chili oil and sauté onions and garlic until softened. Add ground turkey and taco seasoning, break up into pieces and cook until meat is browned. Mix in salsa and beans and cook for a few more minutes until salsa thickens. [I used the George Foreman to Cut out some Fat on the front end]
3.    Break up the tortilla chips into bite sized pieces and use them to line the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Evenly spread the meat mixture over the chips and then sprinkle cheese over the top*. Bake for 20 minutes.

*Additional Serving Options:
This casserole is great on its own, but it you’d like to cut the heat it can be served with a dollop of guacamole or reduced fat sour cream. I ate some of my leftovers with 2T of Wholly Guacamole. You can also add jalapenos, black olives or any other toppings you’d like before baking. Toppings will affect the P+ value.


Result: 

It was tasty, but we had three comments:
1. It would be great as a dip, but we did feel it was left wanting as a stand-alone dish.  It really needs chips or a tortilla. 
2. Some chopped tomato on the top would look great and taste great. 
3. We are not ground turkey people - we should have used ground beef.  It probably wouldn't have resulted in more points (or you could just use less) and would be much more in our wheelhouse. 


On the plus side, it was remarkably easy to make, and wasn't as spicy as I feared it would be.  I would probably make it again, albeit with some variations to make it go faster. It was my first time mincing garlic and I don't have a chopper so doing everything by hand was time-consuming. 

Damage:  1/8 of the casserole alone is only 5 points, which is especially great for lunches.  I added 1/4 an avocado (2 points), 1 TB fat free sour cream (0 points), and a scoop of "corncake" (2 points) to my meal.  

Dinner Tonight - Pasta Bake

I got this great food blog recommendation last week- www.emilybites.com

I made the pasta bake tonight, which is like a lasagna but with penne pasta. We were very happy with the result!

Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.emilybites.com/2011/11/layered-pasta-bake.html

I'd take a picture of mine, but it's already refrigerated and partly gone. Just know that it was good - Curtis had two servings :-)

Soda Cupcakes

I can't believe this is (I think) the first time I've tried it, but I finally made the chocolate box cake with a can of diet coke, instead of egg/oil/water! 23 minutes of baking later, we had delicious chocolate cupcakes!