A long time coming

Wednesday saw the office's long awaited return to Leonard's Barbecue. They have an outstanding buffet, that has a MWF and T-Th schedule. The MWF one is more of a southern cooking type, whereas the T-Th is a flat out bbq extravaganza. More of us prefer the southern one, due to their country fried steak, so we went there on Wednesday.

That's a mountain of mashed potatoes, a couple of pieces of country fried steak, some fried okra and a roll. Now double that pic (excepting the roll) and that's what I had to eat on Wednesday. There was no dinner that night, I was still working on lunch.

Their country fried steak is pretty much the best I've ever had. The gravy is good, but I prefer the cafeteria's and Paula Deen's over theirs. The fried okra was OUTSTANDING. It was, for me, perfect. Nice and crunchy, just the right amount of salt, but you still had the pop of the seeds inside. The potatoes were the weak link, once again. They had a great consistency, but they just didn't have any seasoning. It was tough to get them salty enough because of the gravy being on there you couldn't really mix it in. Their rolls are ok, they're similar to Sister Schubert's, but they're a bit too dense for my liking, so I usually only eat a half of one.

Picture-less Tuesday

Tuesday didn't have anything that looked particularly appetizing in the cafeteria, so I went with some microwavable chicken and biscuits for a lunch time snack. I'll get a pic of them next time I eat them. They were ok, considering they were microwavable chicken and biscuits.

For dinner, I stopped off at 5 Guys to pick up burgers and fries for Jesse and myself. I went with the usual bacon burger. And as normal for them, the burger was outstanding and the fries were really good also.

Hearty Monday

Monday, the cafeteria had their "Texas Pot Roast" for lunch. I decided to give it a shot, as I was fairly hungry after my light Sunday eating:

I discovered fairly quickly what made it a "Texas" pot roast ... one of the things it was cooked in was jalapenos. Luckily, it wasn't too overpowering, and gave a nice robustness to the flavor. The potatoes were pretty well done that day, but they still needed help from the gravy.

For dinner, I fried up some ground beef, Italian sausage, then doused it in some Prego meat sauce and simmered it for a while. I boiled some penne pasta up then drowned it in some of the sauce and had some crescent roll rounds to fill it out:

The sauce was more meaty than saucy, and the penne just sucked up even more of the sauce, so it was more like a beefy mac. That said, it was still really tasty, and only could've been better if it was a chilly night, instead of in the beginning of summer.

A Sunday Cookout

On Sunday, I hung out with the parents for most of the day. That evening Dad cooked some burgers and hot dogs on the grill:

You may be asking, "Where's the beef?!" I assure you, there's some in there. It was a very dense patty, but was pretty good. The hot dog was a bit more charred than I care for, but was still tasty. The fries were perfectly cooked.

A light Saturday

On Saturday, I had my first full day off in a while. And by full day, I mean I did nothing, not even any "chores" or house keeping stuff. As such, I had some chips and Pancho's nacho cheese dip for lunch, and for dinner I hit up Arby's. As I hadn't had much to eat, I went with the usual #2 (medium roast beef sandwich and potato cakes) and added a small cheese sticks to the order:

The potato cakes were cooked well and drained well too, so they weren't very greasy. The cheese sticks were nice and gooey inside and crunchy on the outside. The beef was warm and very juicy.

Friday Junk Food

On Friday, I went to see Brave for an extended lunch break (I highly recommend seeing the movie, even more so for Mothers and Daughters). At the theater, I went with my usual corn dog and frozen coke combo. No pic this time. It was a very well cooked corn dog, the bottom of it didn't come apart as I scooted it up the stick to continue eating it, which usually happens. And the mustard packets seemed to have a lot more mustard in them than usual this time, almost had too much for the corn dog.

After the movie, went back to work and worked a little bit late. Met up with the gang for a dinner of Papa John's, which I forgot to take a pic of. David and I split a large pepperoni pizza. It was good, nice amount of meat, the cheese was plentiful, and not too much sauce.

Trifecta

On Thursday, I had a trifecta of sorts. I hit up food from 3 different ethnicities. For lunch, I went with the cafeteria's wonderful country fried steak, mashed potatoes with gravy and one of their egg rolls:

The steak was good as usual, the potatoes were pretty good, the gravy outstanding and the egg roll was deliciously meat filled as usual.

For dinner that night, Jody, Jesse and I hit up the Pizza Hut's box meal, which was a "medium pan pizza" (in actuality their bread sticks with sauce, cheese and toppings, which I LOVE) cheese sticks and cinnamon sticks. We went with a meat lover's for the pizza. It got delivered in a timely manner (unlike the last time) and as a result, was nice and warm and appropriately gooey. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a pic of it, so here's a tiny pic of the generic item from Pizza Hut's website:

Trying to climb out of the hole

So, after Tuesday's wallowing in unhealthy tastiness, I went with a salad for lunch:

We've got 2 types of lettuce, some spinach, carrots, some purple stuff (not sure if it's lettuce or cabbage), ham, chicken, bacon bits and italian dressing. It was pretty good, I didn't get the dressing mixed around enough though.

For dinner, I finished off the chicken strips and supplemented it with a couple of nuggets and fries:

It was ok, the strips were pretty good, the nuggets are passable.

The decline continues

On Tuesday, I just threw out all pretenses and went with what sounded good:

Corn dog and fries for lunch. It was pretty tasty, nice and warm, the cornmeal wasn't too done, but wasn't gooey, and the hot dog in there was nice and warm. Their fries are never salty enough, but unlike the upcoming dinner fries, you can actually get salt to stick to them.

For dinner, I met Jody and Jesse at Huey's, cause I wanted a Huey Burger:

I went with just bacon and ketchup for the toppings (If I hadn't give up for the day I'd have added some lettuce and onion) and fries for the side dish. Huey's has some great steak fries, but the downside of them is the inability to get salt to stick to them. They're just too dry (on the outside). I'm wondering if I could get them to salt mine as soon as they yank them out of the fryer.

Pork Monday

Lunch Monday, I went with the cafeteria's pork tenderloin. I had them douse it in their gravy, and added some mashed potatoes with gravy, creamed corn, and a roll.

The loin was pretty good, but as usual, not a lot of flavor. Nice and tender and juicy though. The gravy helped with the lack of flavor problem. The potatoes were ok, but the corn was horrible. There's 2 predominant ways to do creamed corn, and I'd go so far as to say in my neck of the woods, it's about an 90/10 split on which of these gets done. You can either do it sweet (90) or salty (10). If you can't tell by the split numbers I've assigned, there is a preferred way. The cafeteria went with the salty route and it wasn't good.

For dinner, I went with baked pork chops and zucchini.

I've gotten pretty adept at cooking this, so the chops were very juicy, great flavor and tender. The zucchini was pretty good too.

The beginning of a decline

For Father's Day, I had planned on taking Dad (and the family) out for dinner. Dad didn't feel like going out, so it's been postponed. As a late lunch/snack that afternoon, I went with some chicken flavored ramen:

It's chicken ramen. It was tasty, for chicken ramen.

Since dinner was a wash, I debated with myself on what to eat on the way home. It ended up being Captain Grease D's. I went with the 3 piece fish dinner, corn on the cob and fries.

The fries were freshly cooked for me, the fish wasn't, but it didn't taste like it had been sitting out for too long. The corn was nice and juicy, the fish was tasty, not quite as salty as I would've liked. But that's probably for the best.

Asian Buffet

Saturday was spent playing on the computer and doing laundry. As such, I didn't realize how late it had gotten. Why's this important? Cause I ate one meal that day. Went to the Asian buffet. Started off with some sushi, I think it was a crunchy shrimp roll, which I forgot to take a picture of. I also had a cup of egg drop soup and some of the mongolian grill:

They only had a broccoli bin (yuck), mushrooms (double yuck) and some shredded carrots/onions/and green things, which made it in. They joined the noodles, some shrimp, chicken, beef and an egg. It was pretty good, nothing great.

Finished the evening off with a hot fudge shake from Sonic (the Dip was stupidly packed).

Friday Food

For lunch, I had the leftover pork chop and corn from Wednesday night:

The pork chop was plenty juicy, as I kept it stored in the excess from the baking, and reheated it in that same juice. The corn was fine too.

For dinner, I had a Red Baron Meat Trio pan pizza. As far as higher end frozen pizzas go, this one is my favorite.

They have some kind of seasoning they use with the cheese and the crust has a great flavor, thickness and texture. The toppings are usually plentiful and always tasty.

Big food Thursday

For lunch on Thursday, I had some of my leftover chicken noodle soup, and the cafeteria was doing chicken fried rice, so I grabbed one of their great egg rolls

The egg roll was plenty meaty, as I got a shot to show. The soup had thickened up so much, I only had a portion in the cup, and had to add some hot water from the fountain and nuke it to make it back into a soup as opposed to more of a casserole consistency.

For dinner, Jesse and I hit up the Longhorn steakhouse. I went with a salad, and their Shrimp Scampi Filet.

I forgot to get a pic before working on the salad. It was much fuller than that beforehand, I assure you. Oh and it had Italian dressing. I've been trying to branch out from my usual honey mustard dressing I get on them. I didn't finish it, as my lunch was very filling and I wanted to be sure I could eat all of the steak.

I did manage to remember to get a pic of the steak before I ate it, however not before I ate the three big shrimp that were on top of it. It was very good, nice and tender, good seasoning and the shrimp and other stuffing was a nice compliment. The baked potato was cooked well, but their salt shaker didn't want to dispense the salt out of it, so the potato suffered from that.

It evens out, right?

For lunch, the cafeteria had their superb country fried steak. I was rather hungry, so I went with 2 sides, both potatoes and gravy (the other sides were stuff that I don't like, and I can't remember which ones).

The steak was good, as usual, but I'm going to have to get them to start putting some gravy on both sides. The crust is a little tougher than plastic knife is good for, and I'm afraid that I'm going to end up going through the foam container. Crust is great, otherwise, it's actually not too thick or crunchy, it's just the interaction with the container. The potatoes were ok, not very well seasoned, but not bereft of it as they usually are.

For dinner, I tried to even out the heart attack of a lunch with a baked pork chop, roasted zucchini and some corn:

The pork chop was very good. I went with my usual mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little bit of onion powder this time. The zucchini had the same, but instead of onion powder I added some butter as it was almost done. The corn just had some salt and butter.

Wrap and a bird

For lunch today, I tried another turkey, ham and bacon wrap from the cafeteria:

As you can see, this time it didn't stick to the paninni press (and they had bacon). It was ok, not too great.

For dinner, I had a chicken soup craving, so I baked 3 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Once they were done cooking, I cut two up and tossed them in a pot with a bunch of chicken broth, got it boiling and added some egg drop soup seasoning. After it cooked for a while, I tossed in some rice noodles and most of a cut up potato.

I didn't get a pic of any of it.

The chicken breast I did eat was OUTSTANDING. I don't know if it was just a superb piece of meat or if I hit the exact perfect amount of seasoning or what, but it was tastier than it had any right to be. And the soup... oh man, it was outstanding too. It was so good, in fact, that I regretted eating the chicken breast earlier, because I wanted a second bowl of it.

Pizza

Monday was another long day at work. I went with a Garibaldi's pizza for a late lunch. The usual, a meat lover's:

This was 10" of tasty. Perfectly cooked, topping portions were great and plenty of cheese and sauce. This was all I ate today, it was that filling.

Steak night

For Sunday, I went to see Snow White and the Huntsman with Mom, Sis and her boyfriend. I had a frozen coke and a pretzel there for lunch. I didn't get a picture of it, and it's probably for the best. But it was pretty tasty.

For dinner, I went with another flat iron steak and some zucchini. 

That steak is an outstanding cut each time I've had it. Full of flavor, very tender and usually only one little piece of fat that you can't really deal with. Which is surprising, because it looks like there's a large piece that runs down the middle that you'll have an issue with. But it has cooked down into almost nothing each time I've made one of these. And for usually around $6 or $7 at Kroger, that's a lot of meat for your buck. I highly recommend it.

The steak and zucchini were salted, peppered, a little bit of garlic powder and olive oil (on the steak). As the steak was almost done, I tossed a little bit of butter in there, and then some more on top of the zucchini. The rolls are Sister Schubert's brown and serve yeast rolls.

Not a very healthy day

On Saturday, I went in to work, in order to make some of the time I missed for my vacation up. I ended up being there for 11 hours that day. For lunch, the cafeteria had a lot of stuff that didn't look that good, and 2 things that did, beef and potatoes:

The roast was good, and had so much gravy it was almost like a beef stew. The flavor was nice, not too salty but very hearty. The potatoes were actually salted and the gravy just enhanced them, instead of making them just tasty.

For dinner, I was tuckered out, so I just went the easy route and tossed some more chicken tenders and fries in the oven:

Friday Feast

For lunch on Friday, I ate at the movie theater before watching Prometheus. I went with my usual of a corn dog and a frozen coke. The corn dog was about as cooked as you could get before hitting over cooked. It wasn't bad, but it was a hair past really good. The breading was well done and the dog was just past pleasantly tough. I don't want it to sound like it was bad, but I think I've been a bit lax on my descriptions in the last few posts. This was a good corn dog, just not as good as they have been in the past. The frozen coke was very good, however. A nice mix, not too icy and not too syrupy.

For dinner, my sister wanted to go to Cracker Barrel, so that's where we went. I went with my usual, CFC. But, as you'll see in the picture, I hit up the corn instead of the dumplings.

I'd love to say I was trying to be healthier, but that'd be a lie. They were out of dumplings.

I KNOW, Tab. Travesty of the highest order.

My okra was very good, not the best I've had there, but better than usual. Meaning it was fairly crunchy, and not too ... gooey inside. I personally love my okra very crunchy, so this was a plus. The corn was nice and buttery, very plump kernels. Juicy and pleasantly salty. The mashed potatoes were really good for the old Crack House. I prefer mine more creamed than mashed, and they usually go more mashed than creamed. The gravy was good. The chicken itself was very flavorful and juicy, the breading not too thick or overcooked. The biscuits were good. A nice thickness and held the butter well.

Chicken and Salads

For lunch on Wednesday, I went with another salad. After the positive experience with the spinach on Sunday, I added them to the mix in this one. It was their generic salad mix, some spinach mix, eggs, chicken, ham, bacon bits and a drizzling of Italian dressing:

I hope it looks healthier than the last one did, it certainly tasted it.

For dinner that night, I had no idea what to have. So, I went with chicken tenders (not nuggets) and fries:

Burger time

I think I'm about burgered out. On Tuesday, the cafeteria didn't have anything that floated my boat, so I went with 5 Guys for dinner that night. Here's my usual bacon burger and fries from them (double bacon burger to most other places):

As usual, the burger and fries were outstanding.

The trip home

On the trip home, I only stopped to fill the car up. On the first mid trip fill up, it was lunch time, so I hit up old McD's and got some chicken nuggets and fries. No pic of them, as I ate them on the way. The nuggets were really good, and the fries, while tasty and fresh, weren't salted near enough for my taste. Which is probably a good thing for my health.

While we were out Saturday getting stuff for the party, Furey, Ike and I stopped to get the crab for the boil. The crab place also had scallops. I love scallops and have never cooked them, so I bought a couple pound of them. I left them in the freezer while I was there, and got one of those cheap Styrofoam coolers and a bag of ice to keep them frozen on the way home. It worked better than I had hoped, the ice was still mostly there after the 12 hr drive and the scallops were still mostly frozen.

I took the ones that had thawed out and ended up sauteing them as my searing of them didn't work out like I wanted. I prepared them in an olive oil, butter and garlic powdered concoction. As I didn't have any good veggies handy (did this after getting home and didn't feel like stopping to get any or going back out), I went with the instant potatoes (garliced them up too) and some biscuits:

They came out fairly well. Or very well, if you account for a first attempt ever.

The day after

For breakfast, we hit up the local Cracker Barrel. I went with the "Country Fried Breakfast" which in my case was the chicken fried chicken (big surprise), scrambled eggs, and biscuits and gravy. And I forgot to take a picture of it.

After that, the gang broke up and most headed back home. I hung out with Tab, Furey and their kids as I was heading back on Monday (12 hr drive wasn't happening after the day had started). So, we hung out in the pool for most of the afternoon.

For dinner, we had some hamburgers, corn, and finished off the crab that had been leftover from the party:

Yep, look at that, I tried to healthy up my usual fare. Went with corn for the side dish and tossed a couple of leaves of spinach on there. It was pretty tasty, and the spinach added a nice texture without being too bitter (last few times I've tried spinach on salads or such it had been really bitter).

And there were 3 blue crabs left over (yes, they really had a blue hue pre cooking) and a couple of clumps of snow crab legs, so we dealt with them. And they were tasty.

And for dessert? Key Lime Pie:

Very tasty, sweet with a little bite of tart.

Party Time!

My friends in Florida, Tab and Furey, were throwing a big "trailer trash" themed crab & shrimp boil party. So, for breakfast, I made (by request) some pigs in a blanket:

I was fairly hungry as all I'd had the day before was that Whataburger, so you can see that I forgot to take a pic before digging in. That pan was FULL of them.

As for the party, I did a pork loin, there was the crab and shrimp boil, a B L T salad, some bean dips, meat trays, chips, cheesy poofs and I don't know what all else:

I wasn't very happy with my tenderloin, but the crab and shrimp was excellent as was everything else I tried (some of the meats off the tray and all the chips).

What? A burger?

Over the past weekend, I went down to Ormond Beach (just north of Daytona Beach, FL) to visit some friends. Friday was my drive day down there. I stopped off in Alabama to have something we don't get too often, as they don't have a franchise in my neck of the woods, Whataburger:

I went with the double burger, ketchup only and regular fries and a Coke. Burger was outstanding, as usual, and their fries were really good too. I still prefer McD's skinny fries over theirs, but W's is probably second on the skinny fry list.

The Old Switcheroo

For lunch, I hit up the old Crack House (Cracker Barrel), and went with my usual, the Chicken Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy (white on both), fried okra and dumplings.

The food was very good, I ate almost every bit of it. I only hate half of one of the biscuits though.

For dinner, I had the other half of that flat iron steak to get rid of, so I fried it up, and added some scrambled eggs, for the old breakfast of Steak and Eggs. First time I've ever actually gone with that meal:

It was outstanding. I put most of that praise on the steak. It had the same seasoning as the other half, only they'd been sitting in a ziplock bag for a few days. It was stupidly tender,so much so that I made steak and egg biscuits out of those and had no problem eating them. Flavor was top notch as was the tenderness.

Fried Rice again

Fried rice attempt again. This time, I baked a chicken breast (it was EXCELLENT, I almost hated to cut it up and toss it in there) and had my roommate work on the rice with the rice cooker. Once that was done, I tossed it into a frying pan and fried it up with an egg, some butter, garlic powder and soy sauce, and the cut up chicken breast:

I'm not sure if I over fried part of the rice, or if I didn't let it sit in the cooker long enough after the cook light went off, but I had some overly crunchy rice again. But, I got the flavorings so right between the chicken, soy sauce and seasonings, I ate it all anyway.

Carnivore Day

Today was a meat day. I decided to finally try the cafeteria's wrap table out, and had them create me a custom wrap. It was going to be basically a club, minus the veggies, but they were out of bacon. So it was a ham and turkey wrap. They offered to toss it on the panini press, and hating cold food, I said "Please do." 

Unfortunately, I was apparently the first person to get a wrap on the press that day, and it wasn't greased up very well, so it tore the wrap pretty well. I told the lady not to worry about it, it was still perfectly edible. The ham was very sweet, or maybe it was the turkey, I don't remember which off hand now. The homemade chips were very bland. I'll just get a bag of regular chips next time.

For dinner, Jody decided to get some Garibaldi's delivered and I joined in on that. I went with my usual from them, the 10" meat lover's:

It took forever to get delivered, but it was tasty all the same.