Food and More Food!

Time for a little bit about some personal food choices and creations… I am definitely a gourmand rather than a gourmet.  You also may have noticed that I don’t always make the ‘right’ or ‘best’ selections for healthy eating.  Oh well, at this stage in my life, food is my guilty pleasure…

So let’s compare.  The top salad was built at our local Ruby Tuesday’s salad bar by our friend Bruce from St. Louis Missouri.  The second salad was mine!  What can I say?  Why go to a salad bar if you’re not going ‘all out’ and taking advantage of what it offers? 

How about our entrées?  Healthy vs. semi-healthy.  Bruce vs. Big Daddy Dave.  Blackened Tilapia vs. Creole seasoned Tilapia with shrimp and a nice parmesan cream sauce!  The good news for Bruce is that his healthy diet has really paid off for him… For me the good news is that I still enjoy my food!

Laurie and I do indulge in certain prepared food items from the grocery store.  Sometimes they aren’t so good and sometimes they’re excellent.  In this case it was a Kirkland (Costco) Signature Brand Pepperoni Pizza.  They are excellent but they are good enough to keep on hand for one of those days when you don’t feel like cooking and you don’t feel like going out to eat.  We just add our spices, (cracked red pepper, an Italian herb blend), and a lot of parmesan before sticking these smallish pizzas in the oven.  Quite satisfactory…

Moving on, I haven’t published any of my ‘special’ breakfasts lately but things haven’t changed much.  I don’t like wasting leftovers and eggs go well with so many foods…

We recently had a leftover chili dog (Nathan’s all beef) and rather than just heat it and eat it, I added a bit of shredded cheese, heated the chili dog and melted the cheese in the microwave.  Then I dropped an over-easy egg on top.  Add Tabasco…Yum!

One of my favorite foods when I was growing up in Jackson Michigan was the local Jackson version of the Coney dog, aka chili dog.  Jackson Coney Island first opened in 1914, hasn’t changed its menu much and it’s still in business.  It’s located close to the historic Amtrak Railroad Station in downtown Jackson.  Address: 615 East Michigan Avenue.  Phone: 517-513-3369.  Their website can be found at https://www.jacksonconey.com/.

We had a Cracker Barrel gift certificate from my nephew Nathan and his wife Janice that we hadn’t completely used up.  Consequently after a recent dinner at Cracker Barrel I had a left over fried turkey ‘tender’ that I ‘couldn’t waste’. 

I had one more hot dog bun left over that I toasted lightly and buttered.  Then I zapped the turkey tender in the microwave oven with a little added parmesan on top to warm it all up…and finished it off with another easy-over egg.  FYI, that turkey tender tasted a lot better with the added cheese and fried egg. (Plus Tabasco)

We really like an occasional dinner featuring Bertolli Chicken Florentine and Farfalle from the frozen food section.  Of course Laurie spices it up and adds lots of extra spinach plus more chicken and Alfredo sauce.  It makes too much food for the two of us…so once again I had leftovers to deal with!

In this case, I heated the leftover Chicken Florentine in a frying pan… I didn’t use extra sauce or add butter but I did add lots of parmesan before heating it up.  The second photo shows the reheated pasta when it was ready for the ‘final step’.

There was so much Chicken Florentine left that I ‘just had’ to cover it with 2 easy over eggs.  It was a very creamy and luscious breakfast/brunch, especially after I added the Tabasco.

FYI...On days when I have big breakfasts like these, I only eat 2 meals, breakfast/brunch and an early dinner.  

That’s it for now!  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what I’ve been up to!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave