French Bread Pizza Pocket

Wednesday was a tough day for my husband. I hate it when he is feeling down and there isn't anything I can do to help with the situation.


I decided I would treat him to something that rarely gets done during the week in our house. After work I stopped at the store to pick up some supplies to prepare my man a home made meal. Yep, I was a domestic goddess;) Well, as domestic as I get.

Dinner

I decided to make a meal from my childhood.

French Bread Pizza Pocket


In the mix:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 6 slices cheddar cheese
• 3 individual french bread rolls (or hoagies)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cook ground beef in pan.
3. Add taco seasoning and follow directions on packet. Set meat to the side.
4. Cut off top of roll and pull out the inside breading.
5. Spoon meat into the hollowed out roll.
6. Top with cheese slices.
7. Place stuffed rolls on baking sheet. Put in oven and bake until cheese is melted.

Easy and delicious!

Growing up, this was one of my favorite meals. I remember watching my mom prepare the rolls and getting so excited while watching the cheese melt over the meaty goodness.



This dish is so easy to make and you can add so many different ingredients to jazz it up. Patrick had fun spicing up his roll with fresh jalapenos. They were the hottest jalapenos we've had all year!



We did like the french and had our salad after our meal.

In the mix: arugula, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, fresh grated parmesan and half an apple pear.

Topped with home made dressing: fresh lemon juice, olive oil, white balsamic, dijon mustard, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, white pepper and a touch of agave nectar.



I really enjoyed being able to prepare a meal during the work week. I need to make this a goal of mine.


The Pups

Whenever P & I have a tough day it's always nice to come home to our 2 furry children! They do the funniest things and who doesn't like a good laugh at the end of a stressful day.

The Capster has turned into a bit of a grump. You can always find him sleeping in his favorite position, nose crammed into a corner. He will sit this way for hours! I have no idea how he manages to breath.



Solera is still a young dog with a ton of energy. When he does decide to relax for a minute he gets in the most unusual poses. This position doesn't even look remotely comfortable!



And let's not forget about his favorite position. Head under the couch. I'm pretty sure he is looking at a toy he managed to get stuck under said couch.



Clearly Cappy doesn't understand what is wrong with his brother;)



I don't know what I would do without my boys; Patrick, Cappy and Solera!


Mention

On a sad note: Comedian Greg Giraldo passed away yesterday. He was one of the few comedians that I really liked. He had a wickedly smart humor. He died to young and he will be missed by many.



Question:

When someone in your life is feeling down how do you go about trying to lift their spirits?

Quick and Dirty

This is going to be a quick and dirty post. Work is crazy right now and all I want to do when I get home is veg on the couch. No time for blogging for this girl:(

Let's take a look at yesterdays eats!

Breakfast

I had one bite of these scrambled eggs. They were runny which is not a quality I enjoy in my eggs.


However, the spicy potato things were really good! Crunchy and topped with hot sauce, yum!




I needed something more that a couple potato things so I picked up a biscuit with egg and hot sauce. This was a nice comforting breakfast which filled me up nicely for the long day ahead of me.



Lunch

I was craving veggies so lunch yesterday was a medium sized salad.




Romaine, mixed greens, broccoli, carrots, egg, cucumber, celery, red onion and topped with balsamic:



Exactly what I needed!



Due to work I've been downing caffeine like nobodies business. I've been neglecting my water intake and my body is letting me know it needs water PRONTO!

I decided to add a packet of Crystal Light Lemonade to a liter of water. The Crystal Light added a really good flavor which made downing the water a bit more enjoyable:)

Dinner

My kitchen is seriously lacking in the food department so last nights dinner was ... interesting:/ The theme of this meal is nothing special but it does the trick.

I started off with a romaine lettuce, parm cheese and Newman's Own dressing salad:

My second course was a can of baked beans with some hot BBQ sauce mixed in:




Dessert

I thought dessert would be a home run. I mean a peanut butter chocolate cookie bar, how could I go wrong?





I'm sad to report that it was not nearly as good as it could have been. I didn't like the taste of the cookie and the peanut butter wasn't very flavorful.

I took a couple bites and in the trash it went.



I hope Wednesday's eats will be a bit more interesting. My tastebuds are begging for something yum worthy!

Question:

How do you like your eggs?

My favorite way to have eggs is over-easy with toast on the side for dipping. And no matter what egg I'm eating it's always better with hot sauce:)


Thanks for reading and I'll be bloggin' at y'all later!

California (food) Dreaming - Part 3

Here it is, the final installment of my California trip. Check out part 1 and part 2 if you need a refresher of the first part of my trip!

The very last morning I spent in California was sad but my sister knows 1 of the ways to cheer me up is with good food.

Breakfast

We started off at Posh Bagel simply because I liked the name.

It was a small shop with a ton of bagel options.



I chose the Pesto bagel (crazy good) toasted with egg, cheddar cheese and ham.



Perfect way to start out the morning.



The only way to make the bagel eating experience better is to pair it with some kick-ass coffee.

I like to experience local coffee shops when I travel so Starbucks was not going to work for me this morning. We chose the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company (LGCRC) .



LGCRC had a lot of different coffee options. I had a half hazelnut, half vanilla latte.



I took the time to look around the shop while I waited for my coffee. The feel of the place was so laid back and chill and the smell of the coffee was fantastic. People chatting, reading the paper or grabbing a coffee after a hike in the hills. I'm sure this coffee shop will be making another appearance on VCC.



The piece de resistance was the huge coffee roaster in the middle of the shop. No wonder the place smelled so wonderful!

I can honestly say I've never seen a coffee roaster in any coffee shop I've ever stepped foot in. It was so cool. No wonder this place is so popular and the coffee tastes great!




Snack

We sipped on our coffees while we window shopped and made our way to a cake shop I had been wanting to visit the entire time I was in California. It's all in the name: Nothing Bundt Cakes.




Such a cute little store:



with lot of cake options, in the bundt variety of course:




I opted for the mini Red Velvet:



My intention was to eat it on the plane but I couldn't resist it on the hour drive to the airport. So I dug in a bit early!

The cake was moist and oh so good.

I visited the store for the name and will be returning for the cake!

Miscellaneous

A couple more photos of the stunning flowers:

and palm trees:



I had a great time with my sister and can't wait to visit again!

Question:

Do you prefer chain coffee shops (ex: Starbucks) or the smaller shops?

I prefer the smaller shops. Don't get we wrong, I love my Starbucks latte in the morning but the smaller places have a charm that the big companies can't pull off.

Flaming Orange Peel

Yesterday was much better than Tuesday. I still had a ton of stuff to do but I took a more relaxed approach to it and all was good.

This is a pretty long post so if you are only going to read one section I highly recommend the "Happy Hour" section. I'm just so impressed by the bartender!



Breakfast

I was determine to have a good morning so I stopped at Starbucks before I stepped foot in the office.

Can anyone translate the "chicken scratch" on my cup?

(answer: I ordered a grande half pump, skim milk, pumpkin spice latte)

I wasn't sure if the latte itself would start my day on a happy note so I paired it with a Pumpkin Scone. I really enjoy the combination of these two so it's no surprise that it totally hit the spot.




Lunch

Ceres was calling my name. The Wednesday's specials are drool worthy.

Chicken Tortilla Soup: no cilantro, cheddar cheese, crisply tortilla




Loaded Veggie Salad: broccoli, carrots, pea pod, cucumber, celery, cauliflower, red pepper, mixed greens with a raspberry vinaigrette

Happy Hour

I needed to do some shopping at Whole Foods after work. I could spend hours looking at all the goodness Whole Foods has to offer. However, my husband does not have the same enthusiasm when it comes to grocery shopping so I dropped him off at the Bar next door. I look forward to Whole Foods and P looks forward to reading his kindle while having a cocktail. It works for us;)

After I was done with my shopping I met him at the bar, Binny's. We ordered a cheese, almond and bread platter. I can't remember the name of the cheese but it was dreamy. I commented to the husband that it's been along time since we had some really good cheese!



I wasn't sure what to order for my cocktail so I asked the bartender to make me a cocktail of his choice. I knew I didn't have to worry what he would bring me because he is by far the most knowledgeable bartender I've ever met! He not only knows a lot about all kinds of alcohol but he takes pride in the drinks he makes.

He chose a vodka old fashioned using Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka. Once the drink was completed he brought it over to me and then lite an orange peel on fired and threw it in the drink.

It was so cool and I thought it was just for show until I took my first drink. The fired up orange peel gave the drink a bit of caramelized flavor. Another thing it did was give the cocktail an amazing aroma. This was the first cocktail in my life (and I've had a few;)) that stimulated multiple senses; taste and smell. I'm telling you this bartender is something special when it comes to making cocktails!




On the way home we spotted a TV show, titled Ride Along, being filmed in Manny's Deli.





Dinner

Quick, simple, cheap and tasty just how I like my dinners at home!

Steamed some baby carrots, asparagus and corn. Mixed the veggies in with rice and topped it with soy sauce and Cholula hot sauce.





Dessert

Yet again simple and tasty! Barney butter and Trappist Pomegranate Jelly on a hot dog bun.

I've been dehydrated lately so throughout the night I sipped on my big jar of water. Whenever I drink water out of this glass it reminds me of my dad. When I was little the only glass he would ever drink water out of was a big ball jar:)




Project Food Blog

Just a reminder that voting ends today. Even if you don't want to vote please check out my submission here. I think it sums up me and my blog perfectly!

Question:

Have you ever been really impressed with a bartender? Where were you and how did they impress you?

Calgon - Take Me Away...

Does anyone remember that commercial?

When I was little my mom and I would spend an hour during the day watching General Hospital while eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches. During the commercial breaks the Calgon - Take Me Away commercial would come on and I always thought it was so funny. Something about a lady screaming Calgon - Take Me Away while images of her day floated around her head was very humorous to the 5 year old Tracey;)

Now I'm all grown up and not finding those commercials funny at all. Tuesday was my very own Calgon day. Everything was going wrong and I just wanted my mom to walk into my office and give me a time out!

Life is so stressful and it's so difficult to deal with it when you are in the stressful moment. I need to reread my post on stress and put some of those practices back into my life!

Breakfast

I usually eat Greek yogurt but decided to try the regular kind today. I still prefer the thick texture of the Greek but this Stonyfield Pomegranate yogurt with granola and almonds was mighty tasty:



Lunch

My meals for the remainder of the day were brought on by pure stress. Whenever I'm stressed out or "emotionally off" I self medicate with food that is not so good for me. Definitely something that needs to be worked on.

I needed a caffeine boost so a Rockstar beverage was needed:



Along with 1.5 Pizza Hut bread sticks:



and about half of this baked pasta:



Dinner

P and I were walking home and came across a new pizza place that opened up in the loop, Bacci Pizzeria.

P ordered a "slice" of sausage and I had peperoni. Here is my weird husband trying to eat his "slice" with a plastic fork and knife:



I put the word "slice" in quotes because this is not your normal slice of pizza. The thing was bigger than my head:



That is in noway an illusion. The "slice" was really that big! Bacci Pizzeria doesn't mess around when they say they are the home of the Jumbo Slice!

Project Food Blog

Just a reminder that voting ends Thursday, September 23. Check out my submission here. I think it sums up my blog perfectly!

Question:

Do you ever have those "Calgon" type of days? What do you do when you need a time-out?