Nothing But Food!!

Continuing with my usual or at least most frequent pandemic theme, this post, as noted in the title, is all about food.  Some made at home, some pre-prepped and bought ready to heat or cook and some take-out too…

I’m really looking forward to the not too distant future where most of my food related posts are actually based on sit-down meals in restaurants!  Dining out will be like a new experience…

I put together most of the salads that we have with our dinners.  This was my side salad when we recently had quiche for dinner.  The salad consisted of sliced carrots, celery, broccoli florets, crumbled blue cheese and a balsamic dressing.

This was a slice of our spinach quiche.  We’d purchased it at Fresh Market.  Laurie thought that it was very good…and I thought that it was OK considering that I’m not a big fan of quiche in general.

For another evening meal, we once again did take-out from Thai Bistro.  We started with our usual Crab Rangoon for Laurie and the Spring Rolls for me…but I didn’t include them in the photos because I’d featured them in a previous post on my blog site.

Laurie ordered the Tom Yum Goong Soup, shown above, as her entrée.  This hot and sour soup contains shrimp, mushrooms, chili, lemon-grass and chili tomatoes.  Laurie enjoyed the soup, eating all of the mushrooms and most of the shrimp…but I got to finish off half of that luscious broth, truly a good deal for me!

I also tried a new entrée.  This was my order of Param Chicken.  It consisted of steamed chicken with lightly braised carrots, broccoli, baby corn, cabbage and snow peas…all topped with “Thai Hot” peanut sauce.  It was accompanied with sticky rice and it was perfect for me. 

To learn more about Thai Bistro in Loudon Tennessee, just click on this link: https://www.thaibistrotellico.net/.

This next item attracted my attention when we were shopping in a local Food Lion Grocery Store.  Kevin’s Natural Food’s one pound container of Thai-style Coconut Chicken seemed to fit our Covid-19 meal rules.  If you’re not cooking at home, or doing take-out, then keep it simple, pre-prepped and ready to go…

We sided the microwavable coconut chicken with Uncle Ben’s 90-second jasmine rice and dinner was ready.  Laurie didn’t really care for it but I thought that it was OK and I’d like to try some other items offered by Kevin’s Natural Foods.

Kevin’s entrees are almost all chicken based.  There is Korean BBQ Style; Lemongrass; Cilantro-Lime; Tikka Masala; Chipotle Lime; Teriyaki-Style and Roasted Garlic.  One new item is the exception to the chicken ‘rule’…Korean BBQ Style Steak Strips.  Kevin’s also offers a number of side dishes including mashed sweet potatoes and 5 different variations of cauliflower…riced and mashed.   

I don’t eat mushrooms…but my lovely wife loves them!  So we recently bought a package of portabello mushrooms and, for dinner one night I seasoned and sautéed them for her.  She was especially happy because I didn’t do so well with our entrées…

I’d pan fried two 6 oz. boneless pork chops after Laurie lightly coated and seasoned them.  It looks good and I was fine with mine…but it was overcooked and my better half doesn’t like overcooked pork!  As I indicated, it was a good thing that I sautéed those mushrooms.

On a positive note, since she didn’t like that pork chop, I had leftovers! 

On another occasion we decided to try a box of TGI Friday’s Potato Skins…loaded with cheddar cheese and Applewood smoked bacon.  We sided them with yet another salad.  They were easy to heat…little effort expended…and they were OK as well as quite filling.

Time for dessert!  In this case we’d picked up a Key Lime Pie from the bakery cooler at our local Food Lion.  We were both pleasantly surprised at the quality.  It was very good, with just enough tartness and a great crust.  We would serve it to company…

A few weeks back we’d decided to visit a grocery store on Northshore Drive in Knoxville.  We wanted to check out their butcher shop.  While we weren’t impressed with the Butler and Baily Market, (Fresh Market has a better butcher shop), on impulse we’d picked up this Praline Peach Pie…they referred to it as a fruit pie.  It was very good and we stretched it out for several days…pairing it with either whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream.

That’s all for now.  The next post will not be about local flora, fauna, food or construction!  It will be about art and history…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave