the round up

by the way, some of the random goodness that has been happening:

We finally got a Chuy's!!! Seriously, I can't even explain how happy this made me -- delicious Tex-Mex finally to be had in North Carolina. I will eat all of their flour tortillas if you let me.  Also, look at that adorable caped corgi! I love this place. 

We won a cheese ball at trivia! We were at the Pinhook in Durham for awesome trivia and came in second and won a cheese ball! Can you even believe? Best trivia winnings ever.

Casey put both dogs in a box.  And they stood their like the good pups they are.  They weren't in time out or anything, just hanging out in a box...

 

Chloe was a party animal for Halloween.  Get it?! 

Jonathan made me many a feast, including this one -- eggplant parm, delicious! 

xoxo

better together, but a tad ridiculous

I'm talking about Mac & Cheese and Sloppy Joe's (or Jeff's in our case).  Oh yes, why not turn Sloppy Jeff's into a casserole by topping it with Mac & Cheese?  Obviously it had to be done.  
This past fall was a cold one, so I was inspired to make some more ridiculous comfort foods. This one is pretty straight forward to make as well as being delicious, assuming you are comfortable making the two parts separately.  

Mac & Cheese Sloppy Jeff (Joe) Casserole Recipe

Ingredients:

1 recipe of Sloppy Jeff's (or Joe's) 

1 recipe Mac & Cheese mine has:

         1 1/4 cup macaroni noodles

         2 Tablespoons butter

         2 Tablespoons flour

         1 1/2 cups milk

         1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese 

Extra shredded cheese for topping the casserole 

Process:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Bring a pot of salted water to boil (for the pasta) and cook as directed; drain when done

While that is happening, make up some Sloppy Jeff's (vegetarian) or Joe's (I used my vegetarian recipe) and place in a 7 x 11 pyrex pan, like so:

Then head back to the Mac & Cheese: 

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat

Then whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute

Turn down the heat to medium and slowly pour in the milk

Continue to whisk frequently until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken 

Turn the heat down to low and slowly add in the cheese, as much as you like, which is obviously a lot

Once it is all melted and up to your desired cheese-level, mix in the drained cooked pasta:

Then spread that mac & cheese over your sloppy jeff's and top with some more cheese for a good crust

Bake the casserole for 25-35 minutes until golden on top

And then, enjoy!

xoxo

food lately: you know, from the last six months (part 2)

don't worry, there's more:

arugula salad with tomatoes and cheesy croutons 

pasta salad with cantaloupe, arugula, and prosciutto (awesome!)

pasta with eggplant, grilled onions, and tomatoes in cream sauce

one of my favorite pizzas i've ever made with eggplant, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, and pesto

and... the strangest pizza i've ever made with leeks, broccoli, and veggie patties, but not terrible

thyme & parmesan biscuits, fried eggs, and left over dressing 

cheese dip nachos (oh yes!)

a delicious feast of roasted sweet potatoes, greens, caramelized onions, chorizo sausage, goat cheese, and crepes (also one of my favs)

plus some sweet treats: 

brownies

and blue bell! 

xoxo

science of beer

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham hosted an after-hours event on the Science of Beer. So of course we (Ashley, Jonathan, and I) went.

There were food trucks outside but we were ready to head in for some beer...I mean science.

Once inside, it was pretty busy and we were surrounded by beer. And yes I mean beer. It was really an awesome beer tasting with some science to entertain along the way.  

Jonathan getting riled up about something:

Basically, you walk around, stop at a booth have some beer, do a little talking, and maybe learn a little science. But there was something about this event that made it even better:

THE CRAFTING STATIONS

Yes people.  The wise founders of this event incorporated some beer-related crafting booths to take a break and enjoy coozie-decorating or coaster making.  A wonderful idea that provided me with a good deal of excitement   However, they were out of coozies by the time we made our way over to that area, so that was a little disappointing.  They must have underestimated the inner crafter of beer drinkers. 

Anywho, there was also a Cabot cheese booth, which was a much needed and a delicious food element to this walk around:

Do you see how much cheese she is rocking?

The dill one was my favorite, and now I can't find it anywhere. 

Major life problems.

After drinking so very much beer, we headed over to bull city burger for some food and water.  

Yes, the water comes in mason jars, adorable but almost the norm now, and no, the burgers were not that spectacular.  They were not bad, they were in fact good.  But not great, and the fries were fine, as was the pickled platter.  Overall it was overpriced decent food.  I wouldn't go back.

To recap: yeah to Museum of Life and Science for putting on such a spectacular event, just bring more coozies next time!

xoxo

squash of course

in blossom form though and so good.  

We got some squash blossoms in our CSA last week so I stuffed them with a combo of ricotta, goat cheese, and basil, dipped them in some egg and then flour and pan fried them to perfection:

Oh, and I had a little extra filling mix so i just rolled that in the flour and pan fried as well...yeah.

so delicious.

xoxo

an end to the brackets.

Ok. So I'm sure y'all saw the big news, 

that cornbread lost to beignets in the finals!!! So ridiculous, I know. 

Oh wait. The basketball bracket. 

Oh yes, that ended too. With UK winning, and I'm so happy they did. 

Why? Oh because it meant I finished in 3rd of our bracket group. boom diggity.

But also, we had a party to watch some of the great basketball since UNC and NC State were playing on the same night. It was a great time with lots of booze and food and fun. 

 Ashley did her hair all fancy with two braids in the back:

Casey sculpted a wolf in sheep's clothing (a wolf out of sheep's milk cheese) to represent his inner turmoil of being an NC State grad working at UNC...adorable.

 

And then everyone else brought snacks, 

the real reason we come together to watch other people run around. 

  

There were many more that I missed. 

A solid time team,

xoxo

food lately: greens

Well I'm pretty sure spring is in full swing in NC, so I've been phasing out of my winter cravings in exchange for delicious greens and things.

Salad with egg, tomato, cucumber, and maple-dijon vinaigrette: 

Greek salad with Feta, tomato, cucumber, olives, falafel, and tzatziki dressing

And finally - caprese salad with pesto

Eat your veggies!

xoxo

green and white all over

sandwich time.

sourdough bread + drucker's cheddar +

cream cheese & goat cheese whipped up together + 

 cucumbers + arugula = delicious. 

check plus team.

xoxo

easy does it stinky

I was craving a good ol' frenchy sandwich with dijon, brie, apples and ham.  

I had turkey instead of ham but no big.  

The only problem came from the brie - I got one that was bit more stinky than I prefer so my sandwich had a good kick to it, but still tasty.

ps. life is rough right now, final two weeks of the semester...

xoxo

lunch these days

This is the semester from hell. 

We are all about to pull our hair out and cry, and we aren't ones to cry, promise.

Lunch is often filled with many mini containers of things. You know how I love a mini. 

There is usually ranch and some veggies, cheese, bread and some protein.  Here it was hummus.

Please note my reading glasses, a recent addition.  Too much to read in this place.

xoxo

Sweet Treats

Porto's is probably my favorite bakery.  The cubans do it well.  I'm not going to lie.

Though they have many tasty treats that make my mouth water, like their potato balls (yup I said it), I recently had a bad craving for one of their sweet treats: the cheese roll.

Let's just say it's amazing. No exaggeration here fools. But seriously, what's a girl to do when she is 3,000 miles away from a decent cheese roll?  Clearly, I needed to give it a homemade go.

So the real thing is basically a pastry dough that is a cross between puff pastry and a croissant filled with a delicious cream cheese filling.

I worked with what I had: puff pastry, sugar (raw and white), cream cheese, and vanilla.

I was low on puff pastry - down to just a third of a sheet so this was going to be a small batch.

1. Let the dough come to room temperature and then roll out slightly. Follow directions on package and preheat oven to ~425.

2. In a small bowl, combine ~1/4 cup of cream cheese with 2 T white sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

3. Cut pastry dough into 8 even slices. Scoop 1/4 of filling onto 4 pieces of dough.  Top with remaining pieces and pinch the sides with a fork.

4. Place on baking sheet and spray or brush with a little canola oil, sprinkle with raw sugar.

5. Bake (following package directions) for ~ 10-12 minutes.

When these bad boys come out of the oven get ready for a bite of heaven.
It's not the real thing, but it's pretty delicious.

xoxo