A Party Appetizer plus Eggs My Way!

Anyone who reads my blog knows that food is a major focus… While it’s not all that important to Laurie, I am an admitted “foodaholic”.  As such it was hard for me to drop 45 + pounds to get down to my current fighting weight.  Nevertheless, with a low carb diet and exercise at the local wellness center, I accomplished that feat.  Another factor is that I don’t sit and watch much TV…which I’ve observed leads to my becoming restless and then looking for something to eat!

Still, I do love good food and I go on periods of splurging on carbs and sweets.  A 5 pound bump in the wrong direction and I rein it in again!

The first food item…a very rich but tasty appetizer…was Laurie’s Louisiana themed creation for a recent wine tasting/social/eating party that was held at Big Dude and Bev’s home here in East Tennessee. Big Dude’s blog site is found at http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com.

This was Laurie’s Warm Shrimp Gumbo Dip.  Everyone agreed that this was a big winner!  Although this serves up to 16 people, and there were only 10 of us at the party, very little made it home with us.  Everybody requested the recipe too… Here it is:

Warm Shrimp Gumbo Dip

Ingredients

·       ½ stick of unsalted butter

·       ½ pint of small cherry tomatoes cut into 4 slices each

·       4 celery ribs – diced

·       12 green onions – diced (used tender green portion only)

·       2 garlic cloves – minced

·       3 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning

·       1 teaspoon of crushed red peppers

·       3 lbs. of large shrimp, peeled, deveined and each cut into 4 bite size pieces

·       16 oz. of cream cheese

·       1 cup of grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt butter in large skillet.  Add celery and sauté until tender…about 6 minutes.  Add onions.  When fragrant add the garlic (we used pre-minced), the cream cheese, crushed red pepper and Cajun seasoning.  Then add the shrimp, the Parmesan Reggiano cheese and tomatoes.  Mix together at a medium low heat.  Stir as needed until the cheese is melted and the ingredients are blended evenly throughout.

Pour or spoon the mixture into the baking dish. (We used a 9” x 13” glass baking dish) Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned on top. Ovens may vary...it may take 50 to 55 minutes... just keep checking.

Serve with toasted baguette slices.  We found ours at our local Fresh Market in the fresh bread area…

Enjoy! 

Now onto a series of relatively carb free breakfasts that I prepared for myself… 

I took advantage of a bit of leftover gumbo that our friend Martha made for the Louisiana based food and wine tasting party.  It was another big hit at the party.  I’d eaten 3 helpings that night!

In any case, I took the leftover gumbo, heated it up in a frying pan and then covered it with a couple of easy over fried eggs.  I added Tabasco after taking the photo…and the spicy creamy yolks blended in with the gumbo very nicely.  Good breakfast!

Then there was a subsequent breakfast…2 easy over eggs on 2 leftover salmon patties.  This started a fish related theme for my breakfast!

A few days later, I took these 2 halibut filets and heated them in a frying pan with some grated parmesan on top…

I plated the heated and browned filets on a paper plate.  The cheese hadn’t melted quite as much as I’d liked but that minor problem was soon solved.

Just cover the filets and cheese with 2 over-easy eggs!  This was a very satisfying breakfast…after I added my Tabasco...

Too much parmesan?  Not in my book!  These were leftover Tilapia filets from our recent dinner at Z Fish House in Loudon Tennessee.  They serve so much food for a very reasonable price that it’s a challenge for anyone to finish their dinner…hence leftovers! 

To view a number of reviews on Z Fish House, just go to https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g55167-d8857197-Reviews-Z_FishHouse-Loudon_Tennessee.html.

And of course, after those Tilapia filets were heated up, I topped them with my usual 2 easy-over fried eggs.  Excellent!  The next time we go to Z Fish House, I’ll have to bring home one of their giant fried catfish filets for breakfast…

Well, now that I’ve worked up an appetite, I need to go and find something useful to do that keeps me away from the kitchen! 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what’s cooking!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

One More Diner and the Drive Home

Back to our Thanksgiving Holiday trip and our long drive home from Omaha…

 Due to an oncoming snow storm, we’d departed a day early to escape the weather.  Despite the horrendous traffic on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, despite arriving late, we at least managed to make it to our overnight destination, the Hampton Inn in Mt. Vernon Illinois.

No snow in southern Illinois, but the Monday morning after Thanksgiving was gray and a bit gloomy as we started on the final leg of our drive.   

When we have a long drive ahead of us, except for juice and coffee we generally skip breakfast so I can avoid getting groggy or being punched in the shoulder if I were to close my eyes while driving…

Consequently, after we circled Nashville on the Interstate and got on to I-40 east, I decided to take a chance and see what we could find to eat in Lebanon Tennessee.  When we spotted the Sunset Family Restaurant and noted how busy the parking lot was despite it being a bit after the normal lunch hour, we decided that this was the place!

The Sunset Family Restaurant is all about basic country or down home cooking.  There are sandwiches, dinners and even a waist watchers menu but this restaurant’s primary focus is all about it’s down home “meat and 3” or “meat and 2” offerings… The prices were right, that’s for sure!

As I said, we arrived at the tail end of the lunch hour… Patrons were lining up to pay.

The restaurant is just like the menu…simple and straightforward.  The place was clean and the waitress and cashier were down home friendly and efficient.

I opted for a salad as one of my sides.  Instead of the Meat + 2 or 3, I’d chosen an item “From the Fisherman’s Net”.  The salad was basic but the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh and they sure didn’t skimp on the blue cheese dressing…  

After reviewing the 9 different meat options, Laurie went for the Broasted Chicken “Meat and 2”, with Italian style green beans and French Fries. ($7.00) While it wasn’t the best chicken we’ve ever had, it was good and she liked the fact that she got the dark meat…her favorite!

My catch “From the Fisherman’s Net” consisted of 2 whole fried catfish, French fries and hushpuppies. ($11.50 with the salad) The French fries were decent and the hush puppies were good as was the catfish.  The only problem was that I’d forgotten what a pain it is to eat a bone-in catfish!  From now on its filet's only  for me…

Sunset Family Restaurant is located at 640 South Cumberland (US Hwy. 231 South) in Lebanon Tennessee.  Phone: 615-444-9530.  They are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunset-Restaurant/121731064508448.

After lunch, we headed east on I-40.  It was still a bit hazy or foggy but as we approached the Cumberland Plateau, we began to see some familiar terrain…

Driving across the plateau on I-40 ended up being one of the most nerve-wracking parts of our 2-day trip!  Visibility approached zero a few times and in this kind of driving situation, it’s hard to avoid thinking about all those news reports about major multi-vehicle pile-ups in bad weather on the Interstate highway system…

The good news was the once we cleared the plateau and rolled on into the Tennessee Valley in East Tennessee, visibility cleared up and we made it home without incident.  It was great fun visiting our families, but it’s always great to be home!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Long Drive – Break for Dinner!

At this stage in our lives, we try not to head north any time after mid-November through at least mid-March.  Laurie doesn’t like it when we have to drive in snow or ice, and wise man that I am, (sometimes), I generally accede to her wishes… (You know…the ‘happy wife’ rule!)

However, with our son and his family living so far away from us and given their busy schedule, there are times when we just have to take a chance during our ‘north country off season’.  This past Thanksgiving was one of those windows of opportunity for a visit…when they weren’t running as fast as usual, they had some time off and our grandsons were out of school.  

Most of the trip went well… Our plan was to leave on the Monday morning after Thanksgiving, stay overnight part way home and be back on Tuesday night.

As luck would have it, a cold and snowy weather front moved in on Omaha Sunday morning. Predictions of poor driving and accumulation caused us to rethink our plans and just before Noon on Sunday we hurriedly left for home.  The weather was turning ugly as we drove south from Omaha.

As we cruised by Kansas City headed east, it was a bit warmer and the snow and sleet that we’d encountered near Omaha had turned to rain and fog. 

Did I mention the other reason why we had planned to leave Omaha and head home on Monday in the first place?  It was all about the post-Thanksgiving traffic rush as everyone else headed home so they could go to work or school on Monday.

The traffic on I-70 between Kansas City and St. Louis was horrendous in both directions.  There were a number of accidents and it was stop and go much of the way…

It was late when we arrived in the St. Louis area.  We knew that Syberg’s Eating and Drinking Company was just off the Interstate in Chesterfield Missouri so we decided to stop and have dinner here before pushing on to our motel for the night in south central Illinois…

We’d eaten at Syberg’s during a previous trip to the St. Louis area and we’d enjoyed the food as well as the casual laid back sports bar atmosphere…

FYI, this Syberg’s location can be found at 17392 Chesterfield Airport Road in Chesterfield Missouri.  Phone: 636-532-7600.  Website: http://sybergs.com/LOCATIONS/CHESTERFIELD.aspx. 

We started out with Syberg’s Famous Chicken Dip. ($8.99) The dip is made with Syberg’s sauce, cream cheese and a 3-cheese blend with lots of shredded chicken mixed in.  It was pretty good if not great… (We’ve actually had a better chicken dip in East Tennessee where we live!)

We followed up the chicken dip with a 12 inch “build your own” Pizza. ($12.99) We ordered ours with pepperoni and Italian sausage…which is our ‘go to’ combo for pizzas.  This was a good pizza…something that is hard to find where we live.  The toppings actually had some flavor and the thin crust was perfect!

This pizza had something else going for it that Laurie really likes!  It’s cut into squares and rectangles rather than the unwieldy wedge slices.  Note that Syberg’s offers a combination of Provel and Mozzarella cheese as the base on their pizzas.  As I’d noted in a previous posting regarding St. Louis Pizza, the overwhelming favorite pizza cheese in this area is Provel… We like the blend best!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

A Casual Lunch and a Big Store!

When we visited our family in Omaha back in November around the Thanksgiving weekend, we did something that Laurie and I never do…we went shopping during the Holiday rush with our son and grandson's!

But, we also had to grab something quick for lunch so we all opted for a fast food restaurant chain that we’d never been to before…

This is Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. (Laurie loves Steak and Shake so this operation was a bit intriguing) Freddy’s calls itself a fast-casual restaurant franchise operation.  It was founded in 2002 and the company now has over 175 locations in 28 states with stores to open soon in another 5 states…

Unlike Steak and Shake, at Freddy’s you place your order at the counter.  The menu is all about the steakburgers with hot dogs, chicken tenders, a chicken sandwich and chili rounding out the selections.  Frozen custard served several ways provides customers with a sweet or dessert option.

The atmosphere is bright and the restaurant was clean.  In many ways, other than the color palate, Freddy’s décor resembles Steak and Shake’s.

This was the Bacon Double Cheeseburger. ($5.99) The burgers are cooked fresh when they’re ordered so they are served hot and juicy.  This was a very nice and satisfying sandwich…

Then there was the Double Cheeseburger with onion and mayonnaise. ($5.29) One positive note regarding Freddy’s burgers is the fact that they are served with butter-toasted buns, a real plus with any burger!

This was an order of Chicken “Tenders” with a side of French Fries.  Customers can order either 3 or 5 pieces of chicken.  The chicken tenders were just fine and the French Fries with Freddy’s Famous Fry Seasoning were very good!

This is one of Freddy’s all-beef hot dogs.  They are big and very tasty.  

There are a whole flock of condiments that you can add to your hot dog…or hamburger for that matter.  They include American Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Shredded Monterey Cheddar Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Bacon, Chili, Mustard, Ketchup, Mayo, Fry Sauce, Freddy's Sauce, Sliced Onion, Diced Onion, Grilled Onion, Sauerkraut, Pickles, Relish, Sport Peppers, Jalapeños and Cheese Sauce.

Another big grilled hot dog with a side of applesauce…

Yes, the burgers are a little greasy, but it’s in a good way!  Lots of flavor and comfort style dining satisfaction going on…

This isn’t gourmet dining but they do serve good burgers, hot dogs and French fries.  We didn’t try any of their frozen custard based offerings… This particular Freddy’s is at 2929 South 180^th Street in Omaha.  The Company’s website can be found at http://www.freddysusa.com/.

I don’t like to shop…!  However, having spent almost 40 years in and around retailing, when I do see something different in retailing or an operation that grabs my short term attention span, I do check it out and do a bit of exploring…

I’d never heard of Scheels before our family took us into this store in Omaha…

Scheels is a massive sporting goods store! 

‘Scheels All Sports’ is a privately held, employee owned and operated sporting goods and entertainment chain store headquartered in Fargo North Dakota.  The company operates 25 store locations in 12 states.  The company’s slogan is “Gear. Passion. Sports.”

This particular area is reminiscent of large portions of Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops/Outdoor World Stores…lots of guns and hunting trophies on display. 

Unlike those stores, especially Cabela’s, at this Scheels location the non-hunter outdoors person is not overwhelmed by the hunting portion of the store. 

(Since Scheels website states that all stores are not the same, it’s possible that hunting and guns are more prominent in other locations)

But, if you’re not a hunter and you aren’t into seeing hunting trophies on display, they are a little hard to avoid in one area of the store.

Scheels began as a hardware and general merchandise store in Sabin, Minnesota in 1902.  It's an American success story!  Frederick A. Scheel, a German immigrant, used the $300 he earned from his first harvest of potatoes as the down payment on the first Scheels…which was a hardware store.  Then he started adding a small selection of sporting goods to their stores in 1954.  Over the years, Scheels opened in surrounding communities, including Fargo North Dakota.  That is where the corporate office as well as the second-largest all-sports store in the world are now located.

Love the ambiance of this store!  It’s open and airy with lots to look at and explore.  FYI, Scheels All Sports now employs over 6,000 associates throughout the company.

How about a flight!  This float plane appears to be soaring through the atrium area of the store.  I suspect that this is a replica of one of the old Fairchild floatplanes that used to be so popular in the north woods of Canada as well as Alaska. 

 

As of the end of June in 2015, the company's new flagship store is in Overland Park, Kansas.  It is a 222,000 sq. ft. 2-story building.  Customers enter that store under a 16,000-gallon aquarium, complete with a coral reef and scuba divers who feed the fish daily.  In addition to a Ferris wheel, that store also has sport simulators and a walk of American Presidents.

FYI, Scheels website is at www.scheels.com/. 

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

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Adult Time Out in Omaha Nebraska

During our November family visit to Omaha, on one night the adults opted for an ‘adult time out’ at a local establishment…

This is Louie’s Wine Dive in Omaha Nebraska.  Sorry about the blurry photo but it is appropriate given the way our experience went.

 

Louie’s Wine Dive is a small chain of what is apparently a franchised operation.  They have locations in Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.  

Despite the favorable hour that we visited Louie’s, they weren’t very busy.  I had expected more of a crowd given the long Holiday weekend but perhaps folks were just spending time at home with their families.

The atmosphere and ambiance inside Louie’s Wine Dive was just fine…casual and a little quirky, fitting for a ‘wine dive’.

The ladies decided that they’d order a pitcher of Sangria.  They unanimously decided that it wasn’t very good.  There wasn’t anything distinctive about it…and they really didn't care for it.  

This is one of the House Specialties for Happy Hour.  The price was right, ($7.00 or $5.00 during Happy Hour), and these BLT Deviled Eggs were decent.  My problem is that it probably wasn’t fair to compare them with my wife’s most excellent version!  The Louie’s deviled eggs featured bacon, arugula and marinated tomatoes…

This was a flatbread special loaded with mixed greens, tomato, chicken, goat cheese and more and then drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. It was a decent offering and a little unusual at the same time.

This was the Cheese Flight. ($15.00) It included artisan cheeses, cured meat, crackers, toast, jam, pickled onion, Dijon mustard and cornichons.  It was just ok, but unimaginative…  

  

This was Louie’s version of fried cheese curds. ($8.00) They have named it
“Squeaky Cheese” and it was served with serrano dill aioli and marinara sauce for dipping.  The cheese curds were just ok.  We’ve had better in Wisconsin and even at a local dairy in East Tennessee.  I did like the dill aioli sauce though…

We just weren’t impressed with Louie’s Wine Dive… Part of the problem may have been the fact that we’d experienced a top notch and imaginative wine bar during our previous visit to Omaha and in comparison, Louie’s just didn’t measure up.  To view that previous wine bar experience, (Brix), and compare the two adult time outs, you can go to https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5617317794624015781#editor/target=post;postID=4306802088253676367;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=78;src=postname.

Louie’s Wine Dive in Omaha Nebraska is located at 16920 Wright Plaza.  Phone: 402-884-8966.  Website: www.louieswinedive.com. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave