Travels in the South

Surprise – surprise – surprise.  Just goes to show you that every once in a while mom listens to her body…. especially when it screams, “Eat a salad sometimes!” LOL

Last weekend, mom/dad went out for brunch.  We won’t discuss what daddy ate – probably another hamburger – snorts with piggy laughter.  But mom got a salad and I have to say it looked pretty darn good to me.  It had all of the regular stuff – croutons, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cheese with light Thousand Island dressing.

See mom can be good…. at times.

 

Travels in the South

Hello sweet friends – welcome to this week’s Travels in the South.  Have you ever heard of macaroni cheese balls?

I had not either… well that is until I found some cool pictures on mom’s i-Phone the other night.  She had some interesting pictures and a lot of explaining to do for sure.

Mom and dad went to a local steakhouse and these delights were appetizers.  These wonderful balls are of course made with macaroni and then they add some fabulous cheeses – asiago, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

.

They roll them in breadcrumbs and then deep fry them for a very short time. They are so cheesey as you can see from dad’s picture.

The restaurant serves the macaroni cheese bits with housemade ranch dressing.  Of course dad liked them plain straight up without any additional sauces.  He says they hold their own and are awesome all by themselves.

 

Shopping Around the World

Hello sweet friends.  Welcome to another edition of Shopping Around the World.  This month we are highlighting things that we cook in this hot weather outside.  So without further ado, here is mom – take it away mom!

What we have this month is a meal that keeps on giving – LOL.  Friday morning before work, I put a beef roast in the oven.  I got a nice beef roast (around 3 pounds) at the market for around $14.00.  That night when I got home, I cut all of the meat up and put it aside.  In the meantime, I took a head of lettuce ($0.98 head) and chopped it all up placing it in a huge bowl.  On this date, I didn’t add anything extra – just the salad mix so far.  I then poured in some 1000 Island salad dressing into the lettuce (probably 1/3 bottle for the entire salad $0.34).  I tossed and coated all of the salad with the dressing.  At this time, you can add a little more if you need it.  Just make sure your lettuce is coated.

I then used some big plates and put some salad into the plates.  Next up, the beef that I had previously sliced was put on top of the salad.  Just as a garnish, I took some barbeque sauce I had on hand and drizzled it over the beef.  There you go – dinner is served.  The entire meal cost $15.32 and we had salads for two all weekend in this heat.

 

 

 

 

 

Travels in the South

Hello friends – welcome to another week of Travels in the South.  Now we all know that mom is trying to do right – trying to live a healthier life. She believes in the 90-10 system.  90% of the time she eats right while the other 10% of the time she has what she wants – within reason.  Well this past weekend, mom was craving a hamburger… which is weird because that’s something she doesn’t usually crave.  So her and dad went to a local burger joint.  And mom did good.  She really did… okay for the most part – remember 90-10 system – snorts with piggy laughter.

So what did mom eat?  This is typical of things she orders when her and dad go out.  This is called a Buffalo Wingman’s Burger.  What makes it that?  It has a blackened beef patty, pimento cheese spread, spicy pickles, red onions, a spicy mayo made with Chipotle pepper sauce and then topped with two buffalo wings – oh and mom got it bunless with a side salad.  See what I’m talking about on 90-10 system?  Sounds delicious and mom said it tasted even better.

 

 

Travels in the South

Welcome friends to another Travels in the South.  This week mom/dad went seafood.  At our local Joe’s Crab Shack, they have an appetizer that mom/dad like to get and share.  Pair it with a salad and you can say perfect meal.  What is this appetizer?  Joe’s Crab Shack calls it Crab Nachos.  Mom/dad call it a little heaven.

It has almost everything in it – lots of delicious crab dip, pico de gallo, black beans, lettuce, corn, cheese and an awesome avocado lime dressing.  And there are plenty of nachos to scoop everything up with and enjoy.  And the bonus is that the nachos don’t get soggy.  You know how sometimes they get limp and wet with regular nacho toppings.

So the next time you are craving something seafood but with a curb of delight, check out your local Joe’s Crab Shack for this delicious appetizer… or make it a meal like my mom/dad do.

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we are concentrating on salads and I present to you mom’s salad.  It has a little bit of everything and mom/dad eat these several times during the week as their meal at night.  Hope you enjoy it!

.

What you Need:

1 head of lettuce ($0.98); package of grape tomatoes ($0.99); croutons (package $1.19); shredded cheese (package $2.49); Cucumber ($0.98); sliced ham (2.49 for quarter pound); mushrooms (pack $2.49); chopped walnuts ($2.49 pack); Catalina Dressing ($1.49)

Everyone knows how to put together a salad.  What’s interesting is what people put ‘in’ their salads.  AND if this is what’s for dinner, you want the salad to be hearty.  Mom/dad eat this salad usually 3-4 times during the week, especially here in the Summer where it’s just too hot to cook anything on the stove or in the oven.

Now mom will change it up sometimes and use chicken from the night before instead of ham, or sometimes she even puts spicy pickles in the salad.  It just depends on what ingredients you have on your hand.

Mom fixes an entire bucket of salad and keeps it in the refrigerator for us at night.  And yes, even I eat salad – wouldn’t you with all of these ingredients?  Except mine doesn’t have ham – you know for obvious reasons but chicken night we all win.

When you think about the ingredients above averaging out for 2 people and 1 pig (snorts) over 4 nights, it only equals out to $3.90 for each dinner night.  Now that’s not bad at all!

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for participating in mine and Fozzie‘s Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures of food from around the world!

This month was a free for all.  Five items of your choice for any meal or dessert or appetizer – it’s your choice.  

Knowing this, my mom went all out – snorts.  I am going to tell you about the hottest thing that mom has eaten lately.  She gets this salad every.chance.she.can.  Notice I said “get” and not “fix” – snorts with piggy laughter.  Okay, this month mommy is cheating by not fixing this delectable, gorgeous salad.  She has been on this DIEt thing lately – not only to lose weight but to get a few of her numbers down in her bloodwork.

Well, my daddy is a meat eater – go figure huh?  There is a local steakhouse that he absolutely loves to go to and will jump at the chance anytime he can.  But here’s the great spot, mom loves this Strawberry Pecan salad they have and she says it’s a meal for her.  What daddy does is order his steak and upgrades his salad to this masterpiece for like less than $2.50 – can you believe that?!  That way, daddy gets his Flintstone steak and mom gets her beautiful salad.

And on this beautiful salad is red onions, grapes, strawberries, pecans, oranges and lettuce.  It is topped with a strawberry vinaigrette. Can you taste it?  I told mommy that this little oinker wouldn’t even mind this salad for dinner.  What about you?

  

 

Shopping Around the World

This month we received a suggestion from our friends Reilly and Denny with Cowspotdog. This month we are pricing FIVE items from two different stores for price comparisons in your area.  Now, we are going to make this kind of easy.  FIVE items of your choice in making a meal.  Of course, you can use more than FIVE items to make your meal but you have to price comparison shop FIVE items from TWO different stores.

---

We here at the Hotel Thompson have been trying to eat better these days and with it being so darn hot, we have been eating a lot of salads.  With that in mind, we took this month’s shopping adventure with the makings of one of our favorite week day meals.

1 – Head of lettuce.  It’s funny how the price of a head of lettuce fluctuates so much.  We went to Kroger where it was 0.99 a head.  Publix had it for $1.19 a head.

2 – Seedless Grapes.  We got a small bag of red seedless grapes, 1/2 pound, at Kroger on sale for $1.19 a pound.  At Publix, they had the same for $2.39 a pound.

3 – Shaved Ham.  Don’t tell Bacon okay.  We got the store brand low sodium ham shaved at the deli at Kroger for $4.99 a pound.  Publix brand for the same was $6.99 a pound.

4 – Cheese.  We buy the block of cheese from Kraft and cut and shred what we need.  A block on sale this week at Kroger was $2.50.  Publix also had it for $2.50.

5 – Strawberries.  In the summer time, it’s a fight for fresh strawberries.  We love them and they are one of Bacon’s favorites.  I like to slice them up and put them in salads.  We bought a package from Kroger for $2.50.  The same package at Publix was $4.99 this week.

Things also in this salad were chopped pecans and tossed with Catalina Dressing.  The all time perfect summer salad in this Georgia heat!

Hope everyone had fun this month – I know we did!

 

Shopping Around the World

This month items to price were:

FIVE Ingredient Salads.  There you go.  Cold salads, pasta salads, seafood salads, chicken salads, hot salads – any salad of your choosing – five ingredients.  List the ingredients, prices and how you make your five ingredient salad.  We have enjoyed seeing everyone’s homemade dish over the past couple of months.  IF you can attach a picture to your FIVE Ingredient Salad that would be awesome!

  This was a challenge.  I like a lot in my salad – variety keeps me interested in eating the things *I should*.  It’s always an endless battle.  And I’m really trying to fix salads more often these days.  Me and the hub unit have come across the perfect FIVE ingredient salad for us which consists of the following:

(1) A bag of mixed lettuce ($3.00 a bag); (2) A 1/2 pound of ham ($6.00 sliced at the deli); (3) Shredded cheese ($2.50 for the block); (4) pecans ($8.00 a bag); (5) Thousand Island dressing ($2.49 bottle).

We go for the mixed bag of mixed lettuce because it has everything in it – but it’s one item, right?  Between me and the hub, the one bag can last two nights.  So for this meal it cost $1.50 for the salad mix.

We like to add a little meat to the salad for a chef salad.  We get the ham from the deli and ask them to shave it thin.  We get 1/2 pound and we can eat on this all week – it doesn’t take much to put in the salad – just some for taste.  So I’m estimating for the salad portion for the both of us $2.00.

We buy the blocked cheese when it is on sale and I shred it myself.  One block can do salads all week so for the both of us on cheese $0.50.

Now pecans are expensive around here – and we are in the south!  I like to buy a big bag of them at $8.00 – they freeze very well.  I will take some out, chopped them and toast them in the oven.  Then I put them on our salad for crunch.  Kind of like having croutons but way better.  The one bag lasts us for about 2 weeks so averaging it out it costs about $1.00 for the both of us.

Then the dressing – you have to have dressing and we both love Thousand Island.  The one bottle lasts us all week – it’s a small bottle 😦  That averages out to $0.50 for the both of us.

So what is the bottom line for this salad for the both of us together?  $5.50 for dinner.  And we change it up from time to time.  Salads are so versatile and we love them.  What about you?

 

Thanksgiving – Thompson Style

For the past four years, mom and dad have been celebrating Thanksgiving day by going to an old antebellum mansion called The Blue Willow Inn.  The Blue Willow Inn is located at 294 North Cherokee Road, Social Circle, Georgia.

To the left, you will see a picture of what the restaurant looks like from the outside.  It’s so pretty and was already decorated for Christmas.  Inside, it’s broken down into rooms with the middle of the house being set up where the buffet is served. 

I’m not sure how many of you remember Lewis Grizzard who use to be a writer for the Atlanta Journal and Consititution.  Grizzard was also a great novelist.  He use to frequent this restaurant and one of the dining rooms is named after him. 

.

There was also a beautiful fountain outside of The Blue Willow Inn.

As you can tell from looking at this picture to the right, it got a little cold the night before Thanksgiving.  Can you see the iciscles hanging off the fountain?  bbrr – that made this little oinker cold just looking at it. 

I asked mommy if she touched the iciscles and she said yes they were freezing cold!  I guess someone forgot to turn that fountain off… or tell mother nature to turn up the heat – snorts.

.

The food at The Blue Willow Inn can be described in one word – yummy!  It is southern food at its best.  This picture to the left is mom’s plate.  She won’t tell me how many plates she ate but she said that didn’t want to see/eat or smell food for the next three days – she’s such an amateur – snorts.

 

They had everything imaginable on the buffet this year:  fried chicken (mom’s favorite), steak and gravy, sliced turkey, cornbread dressing, ham, mac and cheese, turnip greens, corn, green beans, sweet potatoe soufle, lima beans, fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes, chutney, cranberry sauce, cornbread muffins and pecan cheese biscuits.  Thud – I call this a piggy paradise!

.

And that was just the dinner.  Desserts were off the hook – that’s dads words. 

They had peach cobbler, chocolate cake, pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake and coconut cake.  Of course daddy had to have some.  Here’s his picture of his dessert plate.

And I know you are probably wondering.  Did they bring me home a piggy bag?  Yes they did 🙂 and I was one happy oinker.  Green beans, some turkey, a little chicken and mac & cheese.  I give the restaurant four hooves up.  I can do that because after I finished my piggy bag, I was laying on my back with my hooves in the air like I just didn’t care.

So that was our Thanksgiving.  I hope ya’ll had a great one as well!

XOXO – Bacon