A Taste of New Orleans When people mention food from New Orleans, everyone immediately thinks of Gumbo, Jambalaya, Crawfish Boils, and food seasoned with spicy cayenne pepper. Maybe it's Po' Boys or red Beans and Rice. Of course, it could also be bread pudding and bananas foster (YUM YUM!!!) but there's something else. What else is there? MUFFULETTAS!!!!!!!!! Oh yes! Muffulettas. Muffulettas are as much New Orleans as the French Quarter, Bourbon Street and gumbo. What is a muffuletta you ask? It is one of the greatest sandwiches EVER! This sandwich is pure Italian, and pure Sicilian if you want to be specific. New Orleans, in its population and its cuisine, owes much to Italy and especially Sicily. According to some websites, the muffuletta sandwich was invented by Signor Lupo Salvadore, who opened the now-famous little Italian market called Central Grocery on Decatur Street in the French Quarter in 1906. Muffu...
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Chicken Piccata with Lemon, Capers and Artichoke Hearts
This is my take on a dish I first had at Vinny's Italian Grill on Timberlake Rd in Lynchburg, Va several years ago. Italian is one of my favorite foods and Vinny's can serve up some really good Italian. When you say Italian though, most people think of the classic spaghetti with tomato/meat sauce or Fettuccine Alfredo. I like spaghetti but I despise Fettuccine Alfredo. To me, it smells like... Well... the least gross answer I can think of is ruined milk. Anyway... Lots of Italian restaurants have Piccata of some sort. Olive Garden has both chicken and veal piccata, I think Macaroni Grill has it, and Carrabba's may have it. I think the best I have had though was at Vinny's. When I have a meal that I really like, I sometimes try to recreate it at home. I like to think that I am a pretty good cook so this seemed like a dish I could do myself. I have made this dish several times over the last couple of years and tonig...
Loaded Potato Casserole or Heart Attack on a Plate
Well, 'tis the season for cooking and eating, especially get togethers for friends, family, or co-workers. Tonight was our company Christmas dinner at 911. Plenty of good food and lots of laughs. As is customary with a "covered dish" dinner, everyone signs up for a dish to bring and the meat is provided. In the past, I have made this potato casserole and it was a hit so I figured I couldn't go wrong making it again. After mentioning it last night on Facebook and people eating it tonight, I had some requests for the recipe. I figured I might as well go ahead and write/type it out so I could share. This side dish is really just like a loaded potato you might get with a steak except it is a casserole. Because of all of the guilty pleasure ingredients that are in this dish, it has been called "Heart Attack on a Plate" (thanks Teresa). Here's the recipe: Ingredients 6 lbs Idaho russet potatoes 1 1/2 lbs thick-sliced hickory-smoked ba...
A new direction with the Blog & Jambalaya!
After months and months of this thing sitting idle and me not having anything I have felt like sharing, I have decided to go a different direction with my blog. Yes, I am still dieting and trying to lose weight. My success is not what I would like for it to be but I can say I have made progress. This new direction will also touch on this from time to time but overall I want to do something different. I could have chosen a number of things to write about like computers and networking, or ham radio, or politics (yeah, right) but there are lots of those type blogs out there already. I am going to write about my cooking and meals. I have no idea how this will go but hopefully I'll be able to keep up the content. I'll share my recipes and thoughts on improving them, family reaction to the meal, maybe some pics of the dish and who knows what else. To kick this off, I'll start with last night's meal. Sorry, there won't be any pictures for this one ...
No, I didn't Abandon the Blog Part 3... and the Influences of the Little things in Life
Well..... I really didn't... but it still looks that way. Everybody knows how it goes. We all get busy, life gets in the way and things just get pushed aside. This is no exception. Well... I guess I should give an update on where I am. In the last post,I mentioned I still had a couple of pounds to lose. Well, I did manage to lose those pounds. The nutritionist was pleased and I was pretty happy too. After a couple of days, the insurance coordinator called me and said I was approve by Blue Cross to have the surgery. Shortly after her call, the surgeon's nurse called to schedule my surgery. Wow!!! I was not prepared for those emotions. I didn't have an answer for her. I had a lot of stuff going on at work and even had some work related travel planned. I told her all of that and that I would have to look at my schedule and get back with her. Well, things kind of rocked along for a week or so and I ignored...
No, I didn't Abandon the Blog Part 2
Whew. The last few weeks have been rough, especially the last 7 days. I had meant to post sooner but life just hasn't allowed it. As some of you know, my dad has been sick and things are still not back to normal. First though, I'll talk about me. My last nutritionist appointment went pretty good. I hadn't lost much weight but I had lost some. I still had about 3 pounds to lose. I have been working really hard to get those three pounds off and have been somewhat successful. The last I checked, I have about 2 pounds to go. I have changed my diet around quite a bit but it is a slow go. Still, I think I can make it. Dealing with Dad has really been tough the last month or so. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in the last part of December as well as mild dementia and COPD. Last Wednesday, he had surgery to remove the upper lobe of his left lung. The surgery was successful but there are some side effects that ma...
No, I didn't Abandon the Blog Part 1
Holy crap it has been a long time since I posted anything here. Sorry about that folks. Life has just been absolutely crazy the last few months. Truthfully, I don't even know where to start but here we go! The last time I posted I was in Chicago and had gotten myself into some kind of funk and was kinda down. I am over that particular funk but there is plenty of other stuff to take its place. Chicago was an interesting place... at least what I saw (but, honestly, wasn't much). It was a nice break away from everything here though. I really enjoyed seeing my good friends Amy and Glenn. We didn't get to spend as much time visiting as we wanted to but we still had a good time. Chicago was also fun because it allowed me to experience some new foods. I had Polish, German, Chicago Beef, Chicago Hot Dogs, and Chicago Style Pizza. I have to say that the Chicago Style pizza was my favorite. Even with eating all of my meals out a...