Queen of the Food Age

Recipes

Italian-Style Turkey Meatballs

August 22, 2012

So, I recently started dieting, kind of, and was trying to find some ways to use ground turkey in place of ground beef to save some calories and fat. I Frankensteined some recipes that I found off of the internet together to come up with this Turkey Meatball recipe that I think is pretty delicious…but then, I think everything I cook is delicious, so…

…ok, well MOST everything I cook.

Ingredients:

1 pound Ground Turkey 93/7
1/2 C Red Onion
1/4 C Chopped Red Bell Pepper
2 tsp Minced Garlic
1/2 C Ricotta Cheese, part skim milk
1/2 C Italian-style Breadcrumbs (I used Progresso)
1 Tbsp Dried Parsley
3 Tsp Italian Spices Mix
2 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, mix together everything but the olive oil.

Oh, boy, doesn’t that look appetizing!

2. Add the olive oil to a frying pan set on medium-high heat and start rolling out your meatballs. I got about 16 balls out of the whole thing, but depending on how big you’re making them, you might get more or less.

They’re getting there!

3. Cook them until they register 165 degree internal temperature. I like to have a little crisp on the side, so I turned the heat up a bit at the end, but it’s totally up to you.

That’s not burned, it’s “crisp!”

4. Serve the yummy meatballs with some pasta or just with some marinara sauce for a meal. Only 300 calories per serving (serves 5 people, or one person over 5 meals, which is what I ended up doing). I also sprinkled it with some fresh basil and parmesan cheese. Yummm!

See, now it looks really yummy. OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH

2 Comments

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 8/20/12

August 20, 2012

So, you may have noticed there wasn’t a quote last week. #whoops I didn’t intend to not publish one, but I just couldn’t seem to find the time to get a quote out on Monday. Then I kept saying “Oh, I’ll do that tomorrow,” and then all of a sudden it was Sunday night again, and I realized that I was going to have to give up on August 13th. Maybe I’ll get around to it eventually, but I’d rather focus on the number of recipes and restaurant reviews I’ve had stock piled on my computer for the past few weeks.

This weekend, my parents moved my brother in at USC and popped down to Charleston afterward to visit for the weekend. It was great, we had Mellow Mushroom for dinner Friday night, and watched the new Jim Gaffigan special (Mr. Universe) before bed.

Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at Dixie Supply Cafe & Bakery, because my mom saw it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and thought the food there looked delicious. They say the camera adds 10 pounds, and apparently it also makes food look better than it actually is, because our breakfast was sub-par at best. I got their signature breakfast–scrambled eggs, sausage, homefries, and a biscuit with a side of sausage gravy. The eggs were burnt and had this weird gray stuff on them (I assume somebody burnt the non-stick cooking spray before cooking the eggs), so they weren’t very appetizing. The home fries were dried out and looked like they’d been sitting out under the heat lamp for hours before being reheated. The sausage patty was greasy and tasteless. The biscuit and gravy was the only redeemable part of the meal, and that wasn’t even near the top of the list of best biscuits and gravy I’ve ever had. In fact, it probably wouldn’t even make the top 20. Dad got the Wadmalaw Shrimp sandwich, with bacon and a fried green tomato on wheatberry bread, which was what was featured on DDD. This sandwich looks like something I could make at home, and none of it was outstanding. I find it hard to believe that something as mediocre as this could make it on Food Network, but to each his own, I guess.

Saturday night we went to Beaufort to see the Expendables 2 and Total Recall at the Drive In, and had dinner beforehand at 11th Street Dockside restaurant in Port Royal. Dinner was awesome. We had a great view overlooking the shrimping docks and boats and the Port Royal Sound right before sunset. It was beautiful. We ordered these jalapeno and cream cheese-stuffed fried shrimp served with a salsa ranch sauce as an appetizer, and they were amazing. Like a jalapeno popper inside a jumbo shrimp. Delish. Ben and mom split an order of fried mushrooms, since he’s allergic to shellfish. Instead of being little mushrooms that they battered and fried, they were like mushroom poppers, pieces of a big mushroom that were chunked up and battered and fried and served with a horseradish sauce. They really liked it.

For entrees, Mom and I split a pound of steamed shrimp with french fries and a crab cake. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and not overly fishy tasting, which I really liked. The crab cake was awesome, as well. Big chunks of crab, not a lot of bread or anything, served with this creamy pepper sauce. It was great. Ben got potato-crusted grouper with vegetables, which he really, really liked. I thought it was quite tasty, as well. Dad got Buttermilk fried flounder and fried oysters with a baked potato. He liked it, I think, since he ate it all. Expendables 2 was great, albeit pretty predictable, but I mean it’s not like I was expecting much. Explosions, gratuitous violence, corny jokes. It was freaking awesome. Total Recall was ok, but I thought it went on kind of long. Tina loved the drive in, though. She couldn’t remember the last time she was at a drive in, it’d been so long. She thought it was sooooo cool. And she said those three sentences about 15 times that night, at least.

On Sunday, we went to The Lost Dog Cafe out on Folly for breakfast, so I could show my parents what good biscuits and gravy tastes like. We got a full order and devoured it within a minute of the waitress delivering it to our table. I probably could’ve eaten like 5 more, but I showed some restraint. I actually went with the intention of reviewing it, so I’ll save the story of what we ordered for that post.

This week’s quote comes from Ron Swanson (aka Nick Offerman) and pretty much sums up my life.

“I’m starving. I’ve only had one breakfast today.”
–Ron Swanson

“I’m a simple man. I like pretty, dark-haired women and breakfast food”

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 8/6/12

August 6, 2012

This past week was extremely busy. I feel like it was both the longest and shortest week in history. As I mentioned last week, Sean and Christine came to visit for the week, and my mom was here from Wednesday to Friday, and Shay was here last weekend…. Basically my house was overflowing with people for the past couple weeks. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but I was also happy to have some alone time yesterday afternoon.

Friday night, Sean went to a concert at the Pour House, so Christine and I hung out around the house, eating leftover mediterranean food and watching The Artist, which I really enjoyed. We also watched a bit of Sherlock (which I always enjoy), before meeting Sean in Avondale. We only stayed out for about an hour and a half, because for some reason, both Gene’s Haufbrau and Voodoo didn’t seem to be running their air conditioning. There’s nothing I hate more than sweating into my beer. So we bagged out and went home and watched more TV before passing out.

Saturday morning, we skyped with Lily in Scotland before heading to Sullivan’s Island for a day of beach fun in the sun. We had a delicious lunch at Poe’s Tavern and worked off all of our calories by fighting the crazy strong current out in the ocean. We left the beach and headed home to make daquiris and hang out by the pool. We had dinner at Bluerose Cafe, which was delicious and ended the night by watching 21 Jump Street before falling asleep at like midnight, like a bunch of geriatrics.

Sunday, we went to Duke’s Barbecue before Sean and Christine got on the road to head back to Atlanta. After they left, I went to Kohl’s to take advantage of the Tax-Free Weekend and got a couple of outfits, which I’m pretty excited about. I ate leftovers for dinner, made some chocolate chip cookies, and caught up on more television before bed.

All in all it was a pretty awesome week. Although I gained about 5 pounds back from all the eating and drinking, it was totally worth it. But now it’s back to reality–salads, and calorie counting, and exercise, Oh my! This week’s food quote comes from Andy Rooney, who has some insightful things to say about dieting/cooking/eating food.

“The biggest seller is cookbooks and the second is diet books—how not to eat what you’ve just learned how to cook.”
–Andy Rooney

I don’t know what this is… but I kinda want to eat it.

4 Comments

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 7/30/12

August 2, 2012

So I had quite a busy weekend this past weekend, hence the delay on this week’s quote. So sorry about that. Shay came up on Friday night, and we went to Carrabba’s then came home and drank wine and watched The Muppets. Saturday, we went to the beach and then to Los Arcos for some delicious mexican food. Then we went to the pool in my neighborhood before going home and doing some cardio. Afterwards we showering and got dressed to go to the Drive In Theater in Beaufort, SC, where we saw The Dark Knight Rises (which was awesome) and Ted (which was not).

Sunday, we lounged by the pool, until we were chased out by thunder. We met Sean and Christine (who are staying with me for the week) for dinner before Shay left at Jestine’s where I had some disappointing meatloaf. Usually I get the pecan-crusted fried chicken breast, but I had a hankering for meatloaf. I should have just gotten the chicken (which is awesome, btw). The meatloaf was just really bland and tasted more like hamburger steak than meatloaf. But I love everything else I’ve eaten there, so I can’t complain too much.

So that was my weekend. Wednesday, my mom drove down and joined us for the 2nd annual Get Your Roll On, a Charleston sushi competition that was held at the SC Aquarium. We opted for the $40 VIP tickets, which were an amazing deal, as you got to have any 12 sushi rolls of your choice, unlimited pizza, pork sliders, chicken satay, and thai noodles, as well as a private, open VIP bar. Plus, there was a separate line at each of the Sushi stations for VIPs only, so we didn’t have to wait in any of the lines (Which were outrageously long, by the way). Not being a VIP would have been a total ripoff. Not sure which restaurant ended up winning, but we voted for Station 22 and Local’s Sushi Bar. So hopefully it was one of them, and not Tsunami (whose seafood is mediocre at best).

This week’s quote comes from Mikey Way, the bass player from My Chemical Romance. It’s in honor of all of the sushi I ate last night, and always seem to eat whenever I’m with Sean or Christine or my mother.

“I could eat my body weight in sushi”
–Mikey Way

Which, judging by your skinny jeans, probably isn’t actually that much sushi.

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 7/23/12

July 23, 2012

This weekend was fairly uneventful. Other than venturing out to Avondale with Kathleen Friday night (and staying out way later than I intended) and attending Becca’s housewarming party Saturday night (and eating way more than I intended), my weekend consisted mainly of lounging by the pool, reading Game of Thrones, going to the gym, and watching Breaking Bad on my couch with dinner.

I did cook some pretty delicious italian-style turkey meatballs Friday night though (I should have the recipe up sometime this week) that served as my main form of sustenance throughout the weekend. I had a bunch of ground turkey that needed to be cooked, and this seemed like the simplest way to make use of the resources in my fridge.

I also FINALLY finished Game of Thrones, book one. I feel like I’ve been reading that book for months. Well, really only like a month and a half, but that included three 4-hour plane flights, plus layovers, and reading during my lunch hour at Blue Ion since the beginning of June. It’s hard to get through a book when you watched the movie/TV show first and you know what’s going to happen. Watching a movie/TV show after you’ve read the book is great, because you can see how the actors and directors make the words come alive, and how everything matches up with how you see it in your head. Going the other way is much harder, because you’ve already seen how everything is meant to look so you don’t want to waste your time reading paragraph after paragraph of descriptions of castles, landscapes, and physical appearances of various characters. It didn’t help that the first book matched the first season word-for-word for the most part. I hear the second book differs a lot from the second season, so I’m thinking it’ll go by much quicker.

In honor of finishing Game of Thrones, this week’s quote comes from George R.R. Martin in the foreword of A Feast of Ice and Fire, the Official Game of Thrones Cookbook, which, of course I own (technically I bought it for Ben, butttt I’d totally take it back in the divorce). It’s a bit lengthy and verbose (whaaat?! George RR Martin, length and verbose? NEVER!!!), but I really like it.

“All the paragraphs and pages I’ve devoted to food in my books and stories over the years all my loving and detailed descriptions of dishes both ordinary and exotic, all those fictional feasts that made your mouth water…I never actually cooked a single one of them. They were made of words. Big meaty nouns, crisp fresh verbs, a nice seasoning of adjectives and adverbs. Words. The stuff that dreams are made of…very tasty dreams, fat free and calorie free, but with no nutritive value. Writing I’m good at. Cooking, not so much.”
— George R.R. Martin

Ahaha! Everyone you love is dead! Now I’m going to rip apart this lobster like I RIPPED APART YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS

Random Fodder

Once In A Blue (Ion) Moon

July 18, 2012

Today is a very special, delightful, and gratifying day of whimsy. It’s my 6 monthaversary working at Blue Ion, Charleston’s sexiest interactive marketing agency.

There’s a very thin line between “marketing” and “vandalism.”

I thought I’d celebrate by posting my 10 favorite “Blue” things (I’m still working on figuring out my favorite ions. I’ll try to have that ready in the next 6 months or so).

1. Blue Moon Belgian Wheat Ale

I love Blue Moon. Anytime. All the time.

2. Ravenclaw

“Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure”

3. Roasted Garlic & Bleu Cheese Fries from Tattooed Moose

I love anything deep fried in duck fat and smothered in stuff that’ll make my breath smell bad.

4. Blue (Da Ba Dee)

– Because my childhood, that’s why.

5. 80’s Eyeshadow

I wouldn’t sell yourself short, sir.

6. Blue Man Group

Because they dance to the beat of a different drummer. And that drummer is covered in paint.

7. Sapphires

Sapphires are this girl’s best friend.

8. Blueberries

Because they’re a delicious and healthy snack. And they taste good in everything. Like champagne. Or muffins….mmmmm muffins

9. The Ocean

Scuba duba doo.

10. My Godawful Blue Ion Internship Video

– You know it’s bad when autotune can’t even save you

2 Comments

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 7/16/12

July 16, 2012

This weekend I succumbed to spontaneity (and boredom) and drove to Augusta to hang out with Lauren for the weekend. It’s only like a 2.5 hour drive, so it wasn’t bad. After flipping through the radio channels on SiriusXM, I found that Howard Stern was doing an SNL on Stern special, where he compiled segments from different interviews he’s had with SNL cast members over the years and offers a backstage look at the history of the show. Being both obsessed with SNL and history, I’m pretty sure this special was made just for me. I learned a lot about the politics of the show and relationships between cast members that I never knew. It was really fascinating

Speaking of politics, I went into the campaign office with Lauren on Saturday and somehow let her talk me into making polling phone calls for an hour. I made about 50 phone calls and learned that people are really rude and hateful to people they don’t know on the phone. I definitely have some funny stories from it, and I’m glad I did it, but I don’t think I’d ever want to do it again. Now I feel guilty for all those times I went all “Crank Yankers” on telemarketers on the phone.

The campaign also threw a Watermelon and Ice Cream social from 3-5 Saturday afternoon, I went with Lauren under the pretense of helping out, but mostly I just wanted watermelon and ice cream. I got to meet Rick W. Allen and his wife Robin, who were both very genuine and nice, and if I were a registered Republican voter in Georgia’s 12th congressional district, I’d totally vote for him. Even though I’m relatively indifferent about politics in general, I really enjoyed myself at this grassroots political event. I also learned that if I join the Republican Women’s club in Charleston, I might get the chance to one day meet Nikki Haley. Now, I don’t really consider myself one political party or the other, but I LOVE NIKKI HALEY, and I’m not ashamed to admit it, Adrian. What other people are to Dr. Who, I am to Nikki Haley #FanGirlStatus.

But I digress! Sunday we hung out poolside at Lauren’s aunt’s house (whose backyard looks like something out of Pinterest. It’s gorgeous, and I’m super jealous). We spent about 4.5 hours lounging in the sun before hunger overtook us. We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, and then saw Brave before I finally got back on the road for home.

Continuing on the political theme, this week’s quote comes from President Barack Obama’s 2011 State-Of-The-Union address. I love the irony of using an Obama quote in a blog post about hanging out with a conservative Republican all weekend. I was originally going to do a quote from Romney, but it turns out he’s not very funny. Who knew. Plus I know having a quote from Obama in my blog will make that vein in my dad’s forehead bulge out really far, which always makes me giggle.

”The Interior Department is in charge of salmon while they’re in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them when they’re in saltwater. And I hear it gets even more complicated once they’re smoked.”

–President Barack Obama

Obama can has cheezburger?

3 Comments

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 7/9/12

July 9, 2012

So this was possibly the most boring weekend in recorded history. I had to take this online course from Market Motive for work, so my entire weekend was spent watching instructional videos and taking quizzes based on that material. All in all I probably spent 22 hours on my couch over the course of the entire weekend. I only left the couch to make food and to pee. It especially sucked knowing Sherlock: Season 2 was sitting in my mailbox, BEGGING me to watch it. But I resisted! Go me!

I was also dieting this weekend (and for the past few months in general). So far, I’ve lost about ten pounds since May, which is great, except that it’s 5 pounds more than what I weighed this time last summer. Being so busy was good because it kept me from cheating, but it also kept me from the gym. Normally I’m totally okay with that, but after 12 straight hours of Search Engine Optimization videos, I was itching for any excuse to get out of my apartment. The good news is that I am now certified in Conversion Optimization and Pay-Per-Click Fundamentals. Wooo!

This quote from Ali Landry kind of sums up how I am as a dieter. I need something sweet after dinner. I rewarded myself for being productive with 2 chocolate chip cookies, which was definitely not on my diet plan, but I didn’t care. Today I’m actually looking forward to going to the gym and stretching my legs after 2 full days of sitting on the couch.

“Chocolate is not cheating! After a salty meal, you need a little bit of sweet. This is living, not cheating.”
–Ali Landry

Also in the Ali Landry Diet: Bathtubs full of crackers.

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 7/2/12

July 2, 2012

This weekend, I drove to Atlanta to see Sean and Christine…. you know, because I haven’t done enough traveling this summer. July is going to be a month of sitting on my couch in Charleston. I’m so looking forward to it. This weekend was really fun, although I wasn’t crazy about the drive (5 hours by yourself is a lot). I just need for all of my friends to live closer to me, thankyouverymuch.

I didn’t get to Atlanta til almost 9 Friday night, thanks to crazy traffic and a couple accidents. Sean made tacos for dinner with homemade tortillas, grilled chicken, steak, and chorizo. I wasn’t a huge fan of the chorizo, but everything else was delicious. Christine passed out early so Sean and I watched the season 2 finale of Game of Thrones and he spoiled a bunch of stuff for me since he’s ahead in the books (to be fair, I asked).

On Saturday we went to this cool brewery in Marietta called Red Hare. I liked their beer ok, but it kind of bugged me that you got 6 drink tickets and they only had 4 beers on tap. Plus one of them was an IPA, and I don’t drink IPAs, so that was a bummer. The cool thing was they had this local ice cream shop, High Road Craft Ice Cream & Sorbet come by and serve two of their flavors which are actually made with Red Hare beers, “Watership Brown Butter Caramel” and “Ginger-Lime IPA Sorbet.” The brown butter caramel ice cream was some of the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten. So delicious.

Saturday night, Sean & Christine’s upstairs neighbors threw a party down in the clubhouse area, which was really fun. There was a bunch of Russian food which was cool. I really wanted it to be more delicious than it was. The one thing all the Russian people told me to try was this salad with chunks of ham, eggs, potato, mayonnaise, dill, and currants. Definitely not my favorite. But it was a fun time nonetheless.

On Sunday, we had a Greek feast that Sean prepared. Greek rotisserie chicken, crustless spinach pie, and spanikopita. We then saw Brave with Christine’s mom, which I really liked. I did get about 6 text messages/comments from people being like “I just saw a movie about you!” or “You were really good in that Pixar movie!” haha, I’m a great actress, what can I say.

This week’s quote is in honor of Independence Day. And what’s more patriotic than eating a bunch of meat and then setting off bombs in the sky? I really can’t think of a single thing.

“I usually don’t have a burger, a brat, and a steak…but, it is 4th of July. And I need the energy if I’m gonna start blowin crap up. It’s what the founding fathers would want.”
–Jim Gaffigan

Also, alcohol.

1 Comments

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 6/25/12

June 25, 2012

So, I’ve been in Cleveland, Ohio since Wednesday night visiting the Italian side of my family to celebrate my cousin Naomi graduating from High School. That’s 3 kids down, 5 to go on my mom’s side in terms of high school graduations. I’ve got a good feeling that the rest of the kids will do just fine.

As it is with any italian family gathering, there’s been food galore. I’ve definitely been overeating (the food’s so good it’s impossible not to). I can already tell I’m going to hate myself this time next week for all the food I’ve eaten, but I’ll worry about that later. You can expect next week’s food quote to be about salad or something lame like that, I’m sure. But for this week, I have the perfect quote. I hope it makes you laugh, because I definitely did.