The Elusive Chicken and Broccoli Pie Recipe

Back in the 80’s, my mom found a recipe in a magazine for “Impossible Chicken and Broccoli Pie”. If I remember correctly, it was “Impossible” because it made its own crust, and it was part of a Bisquick ad. That recipe has since disappeared from Mom’s collection. It wasn’t in the Bisquick cookbook the previous tenant had left behind in a drawer when I moved in to my apartment in West Springfield. Bisquick.com didn’t have it either. So I checked the Jiffy mix website, and there it (or something close enough) was. Good thing I wrote it down, because it isn’t there anymore!

“Chicken Casserole with Broccoli”/ “Chicken and Broccoli Pie”

1 Cup Jiffy or Bisquick baking mix (I also use Trader Joe’s Multigrain Baking Mix, which makes it a little denser.)

1 ½ cups pre-cooked chopped chicken (or 2 cans 4.5 oz. each of chunk chicken, drained)

(A great use for leftover rotisserie chicken, though I usually plan ahead and bake a couple chicken breasts from my freezer stash the night before. My sister made it with leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Yum!)

1 (10 oz.) package frozen broccoli, rinsed and drained (I’ve also used well-drained spinach.)

1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

3 eggs

¼ teaspoon seasoning salt (I use Goya Adobo with cumin.)

¼ teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. (A 9”x9” baking dish will also work.)

Place chicken, broccoli, and cheese in the baking dish, intermingling them.

Mix the baking mix, milk, eggs, and seasonings in a separate bowl, to make a batter. Pour the batter over the ingredients in the pan.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.

Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

I often double the recipe, using a 9”x13” baking dish, and baking it for about an hour.

Web Goodness

I came across a recipe that looked positively scrumptious. The problem was, since the author was in India, she was working in the metric system. As much as I love metrics and understand it better than the U.S. system (I started school right before a deadline to make the changeover that never happened, in the midst of a big push for metrics), I just don't have the measuring tools for it.
Fortunately, I found this conversion calculator on line. It's very thorough, and the list of specific ingredients to convert is long. Kudos to these fine folks. (P.S. I have yet to convert the recipe.)


Then there is Cracked, which started as a competitor to/knock off of MAD in print, but now brings its humor to the web. Humor you can learn from. The language gets PG-13 sometimes, but laughing and feeling smarter afterward is good.

The 6 Most Horrifying Lies The Food Industry is Feeding You

6 Subtle Ways You're Getting Screwed at the Grocery Store

OW OW OW OW OW!IIIIIIIIIII

Today, on Facebook [Ugh. Beginning a post with that phrase makes me sound like a Facebook-addicted hausfrau with no life. Oh, wait, I am. Kill me now.]

As I was saying, today on Facebook, one of my friends wrote about making the mistake of not washing her hands thoroughly after cutting up a hot pepper, and then touching her eye. A chorus of sympathy comments ensued, including comments that the burning sensation those peppers cause on one's skin is bad enough.

Of course, as some kind of domestic-doyenne-by-default, I had to put my quasi-expert advice in.

"Ow. I keep a box of medical gloves in my kitchen for stuff like that--also good for making burgers/meatloaf/meatballs, to keep the ground meat from getting stuck under my fingernails."

I also use the gloves when I am working with dough, and sometimes when I'm cutting up onions or handling raw fish, to avoid smelly hands.

Disclaimer: I've never actually cut hot peppers. I haven't made food involving them. Not that I'd rule out ever doing so, though I might used the canned chiles instead of fresh.

Too freaking hot to cook.

Lately, it's been too hot to cook. Or to think. So this will kind of be a lazy post.

I'd like to share what I've been enjoying, as well some of my favorite quotes about food.

From the Twitter feed of Kelly Oxford:
Calling yourself a "good cook" after following a recipe, is like calling yourself a 'good carpenter' after putting together Ikea furniture.

And some more quotes, which I found on www.quotationspage.com

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.--Calvin Trillin

Never eat more than you can lift. --Miss Piggy

Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.--Socrates

You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces--just good food from fresh ingredients.--Julia Child


~What I'm enjoying:~

Farmer's markets are finally in season here in Massachusetts.

Lunchtime concerts on Worcester's common on Fridays this summer, with food vendors and a farmer's market.

Living so close to Trader Joe's.

The goat cheese medallions from Trader Joe's. 1 ounce portions of bliss.

The Trader Joe's version of Triscuits (Woven Wheat Wafers) dipped in hummus (I really like to pick up several tubs of Tribe when it goes on sale. Unfortunately, some of the other brands now use a preservative, sodium benzoate, which makes the hummus taste off.)

CHERRIES!!!!!! :)

Ice cream at Gibson's Dairy on Sunderland Rd. Generous portions, and a little piece of the country in the city.

Stonyfield Yogurt. It's organic, and it comes from New England. Also, they have a rewards program, with codes on the packages which you can submit to get free yogurt or other goodies, such as magazine subscriptions, carbon offsets, and fleece socks.

Cabot cheese. It reminds me of my honeymoon. I saw them make pepper jack cheese. It's a co-op. Lots to love about Cabot.

Kashi GoLean Crunch mixed in plain yogurt.

Smoothies as a refreshing treat and sometimes lunch on hot days. I mix plain yogurt with frozen fruit (no ice, so when it thaws, it won't get watery), bananas, and sometimes a splash of juice.

Grits. OK, just these two recipes I've made. (I would be open to trying more grits recipes.)
With Cheddar, Bacon, and Artichokes
With Goat Cheese and Chives/Scallions

Steak on my Griddler (like a Foreman grill, but more settings and removable plates).
I grilled up some sirloin tonight with thick round slices of vidalia onions. Awesome.

My favorite juice box pick-me-up when I'm on the go or at (volunteer) work: Fruitables by Apple&Eve. It's a mixture of fruit and vegetable juice, and has a lot less sugar than plain fruit juices. (10 grams and 70 calories in a 6.75 fluid ounce Tropical Orange Fruitables, versus 20 grams and 100 calories in the same size Adam&Eve Naturally Cranberry.)


I have trouble with allergies, skin reactions, and sensitivities, so I have to be picky about what I use in my home and on my body. Household products I like:

Everything Seventh Generation makes. Their hand soap and dish soap are the rare ones that don't make my skin break out in a rash. Their dishwasher detergent does not contain chlorine, and doesn't put those vapors into the air. Their feminine hygiene products have also been good for me, since they don't use chlorine in making them.

Trader Joe's powder laundry detergent, about $8 for the box that lasts us (2 humans, 2 guinea pigs) at least a month and a half and doesn't irritate my skin.

The special Woolite for darks, which does a fabulous job of keeping my black clothes as black as they were when I got them and prevents pilling. I usually stock up on it when it goes on sale.

Borax, the Wonder Substance. Once upon a time in my cellar, I had left a pile of laundry next to a leaking pipe. A couple days later, the clothes were soaked and the moldy smell was so terrible, it didn't come out in the wash. I was afraid I'd have to throw out all those clothes. I bought a couple boxes of borax, and washed everything 3 times, and got rid of the mold. I use borax when I wash the towels that line the guinea pigs' cages to eliminate the raunchy odors. Borax is a color safe bleach, as well.

None of the products or merchants mentioned have given me anything. I just like this stuff. (But if they wanted to give me something, I wouldn't say no.)

Match Those Herbs!

I was in a 4-H garden club for several years as a youth. In the winter, we'd meet at our leader's home to plan for the spring and to cook and do other projects. We would grow herbs in the summer, harvest and dry them in the fall, and have them on hand in the winter.

I received this list at one of those meetings. It has come in handy when improvising in the kitchen. I think of it as a "master list" of which spices go well with which foods. However, this is not an exhaustive list but, as its title says,"Traditional Kitchen Match-Ups".

TRADITIONAL KITCHEN MATCH-UPS

BEANS, DRIED

cumin

garlic

onions

parsley

sage

savory

thyme

BEANS, GREEN

basil

cloves

dill

marjoram

mint

savory

thyme

BEEF

basil

bay leaf

chili pepper

cumin

garlic

ginger

marjoram

onions

oregano

parsley

rosemary

sage

savory

tarragon

thyme

BREAD

anise

basil

caraway

cardamom

cinnamon

coriander

cumin

dill

garlic

onions

oregagano

parsley

poppy seeds

rosemary

sage

sesame seeds

thyme

BROCCOLI

basil

dill

garlic

nutmeg

oregano

CABBAGE

basil

caraway

cayenne pepper

dill

marjoram

savory

CAKES & PASTRY

allspice

anise

cardamom

cinnamon

cloves

fennel

ginger

nutmeg

CARROTS

basil

chervil

chives

cinnamon

cloves

cumin

dill

ginger

marjoram

mint

parsley

savory

CAULIFLOWER

basil

cumin

dill

garlic

marjoram

parsley

rosemary

savory

tarragon

CHEESE

basil

chervil

chives

coriander

curry powder

dill

garlic

marjoram

parsley

sage

tarragon

thyme

CHICKEN

allspice

basil

bayleaf

cinnamon

curry powder

dill

garlic

ginger

mace

marjoram

nutmeg

onions

paprika

parsley

rosemary

saffron

sage

savory

thyme

COTTAGE CHEESE

basil

chives

cinnamon

curry powder

dill

paprika

thyme

EGGPLANT

basil

cinnamon

garlic

marjoram

onions

oregano

parsley

savory

thyme

EGGS

basil

chervil

chives

coriander

curry powder

dill

fennel

marjoram

oregano

paprika

parsley

rosemary

sage

savory

tarragon

thyme

FISH

basil

chives

curry powder

dill

garlic

ginger

marjoram

oregano

parsley

sage savory

tarragon

thyme

FRUIT

anise

cinnamon

cloves

ginger

mace

mint

nutmeg

rosemary

LAMB

basil

bay leaf

cinnamon

coriander

cumin

curry powder

dill

garlic

ginger

mint

onions

parsley

rosemary

tarragon

thyme

MUSHROOMS

coriander

marjoram

oregano

tarragon

thyme

PARSNIPS

basil

curry powder

dill

marjoram

parsley

thyme

POTATOES

caraway

chives

dill

marjoram

oregano

paprika

parsley

rosemary

tarragon

thyme

SALADS, GREEN

basil

chervil

chives

coriander

dill

garlic

marjoram

mint

oregano

parsley

rosemary

tarragon

thyme

SOUPS

basil

bay leaf

chives

dill

garlic

marjoram

onions

parsley

rosemary

sage

savory

thyme

SPINACH

allspice

basil

chives

nutmeg

rosemary

SQUASH

allspice

basil

cinnamon

cloves

dill

marjoram

nutmeg

rosemary

savory

STUFFINGS

garlic

marjoram

parsley

onions

rosemary

sage

thyme

TOMATOES

basil

bay leaf

chives

garlic

oregano

parsley

rosemary

savory

tarragon

thyme

TURKEY

basil

garlic

marjoram

onions

rosemary

saffron

sage

savory

tarragon

thyme

VEAL

basil

bay leaf

chervil

marjoram

onions

parsley

rosemary

savory

thyme

**********************************************************************

BONUS: Scrawled in my loopy middle-school era penmanship at the bottom of the page is a recipe for a "Soup Blend", herbs wrapped in cheese cloth to make a "tea bag" to steep in the broth.

SOUP BLEND

1 teaspoon each of basil, celery seed, chervil, marjoram, parsley, and thyme.

1/2 teaspoon each lemon thyme, sage, and rosemary.

P.S. Thanks to Tina and Lois for being great 4-H leaders.

Look At This Lunch!

I love avocados. I love goat cheese. When I saw this Avocado Goat Cheese sandwich on the menu at Z Cafe (389 Main Street, Worcester), I knew I had to have it.

I chose the foccacia bread (other options included sourdough and ciabatta, along with the usual rye and wheat). Besides the namesake ingredients, the Avocado Goat Cheese sandwich features tomatoes, spinach, and a balsamic glaze.

This sandwich made me glad I'd tried an independent establishment for lunch. I very nearly went to one of the chains for lunch, since I didn't have much money, but I didn't spend much more on my lunch at Z Cafe than I would have at that chain: $6.50 for the sandwich, with an apple on the side (the other options were chips and coleslaw).

Z Cafe is only open for breakfast and lunch on weekdays, but they host private functions in that space on weekends and evenings, as well as catering. eatatz.com

Sardines: Your Questions Answered (If You Had Any)

Hence the phrase "packed like sardines".

I decided to indulge my morbid curiosity and finally try sardines.

I bought sardines packed in olive oil, and also the sardines packed in spring water, and tried them both. Now for the Q&A.


Q.: What did they taste like?
A.: Short answer: canned fish. More nuanced answer: the sardines in olive oil tasted like albacore tuna. The sardines in spring water were different, blander, and I can't explain it well. But it might pass for tuna if enough mayonnaise was added.

Q.: What motivated you to try sardines?
A.: They are a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids, which are "brain food", as well as being beneficial in numerous other ways. Also, I also seldom eat tuna, because of the concerns about mercury. I have already gone through heavy metals detox, which sounds like it should involve Alice Cooper or something cool, but involves IV treatments. I'd rather not undo that.

Q.:What about bones? It must be hard to pick tiny bones out of tiny fish?
A.: While the spines are easy to pull out, deboning is not necessary. The bones are soft and small, and you can just eat them, they add a little crunchiness to the texture. Also, it's a good source of calcium.

Q.: What about sodium?
A.: The brand I bought had 250 mg in the can packed in oil, 200 mg in the can packed in spring water (no salt added). 10% and 8% of the daily value.

Q.: How do you serve sardines?
A.: I was eating them straight from the can (after draining them) because I was home alone and that's when I get lazy. Here are the serving suggestions from the cans.
Packed in oil: "Delicious on crackers, bread, toast, sandwich wraps, or straight from the can. Add to your next open-faced broiled cheese sandwich."
Packed in spring water is similar, but ends with "Add to your next green salad".

Q.: Would you buy them again?
A.: Maybe, if it was on sale at the right price point. (I got these 5/$6, ie: $1.20 each.)

Indoor S'mores

I made s'mores in the oven for my family's potluck on Sunday. They were a hit.

The great thing about these is that they are incredibly easy to make, and pretty cheap too. I made 30 s'mores, and that was only about 2/3 of a $1 bag of marshmallows, plus about 2/3 of a box of graham crackers (which I'm sure I paid less than $3 for), and 4 Hershey milk chocolate bars (the regular size, breakable into rectangles) which were less than $1 each. I had bought 6 of those bars, so I could have made many more s'mores, but 30 was more than enough for our group.

I have also made these s'mores with gourmet dark chocolates, like Green & Black's Dark 85%, which was very intense, so I used only one square from the bar on each s'more.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Line cookie sheet with foil or parchment, if desired, to make for easy cleanup.

Arrange graham cracker halves on cookie sheet, top each with a marshmallow.

Bake for about 4 minutes.

Take out of oven, top with chocolate (2 rectangles from the Hershey bar per s'more was just right), which should melt from the heat of the marshmallow, but if it doesn't (it might not if the room is cold), give the s'mores about a minute in the oven.

Top with the other graham cracker halves.

Enjoy!

In Which Maggie Loses Her Mojo

I think I've lost my mojo. Unlike Austin Powers, I won't be going back to the Sixties to retrieve it.

My senses of smell and taste have been off lately. All winter, I had the cold that would never end, and since I am a freak who reacts badly to just about every cold medicine out there, I couldn't take anything to help it. Now, it's allergies. Benadryl renders me unconscious. Zyrtec makes me sleepy, and if I take it at night, I wake up hungover. Claritin has no side effects, but didn't work either. I'm trying Allegra now, but it wears off too quickly--I can breathe at night, when I take it, but during the day, I am a drippy-nosed mess.

My cooking is suffering. When working without a recipe, I've been adding too much garlic and spice, because my judgement of what is enough is off.

I'm also not enjoying food as much. I feel bad when I eat out and I can't appreciate the flavors, because my sense of taste is off. I had my favorite TV dinner for lunch today, and it was totally unappealing.

I might need a break from blogging about food if my senses aren't in proper working order.

In the meantime, I highly recommend my friend Jonathan Vaudreuil's blog. He's always been a "big guy", but now he's aiming to reach his ideal BMI, and is tracking his progress with diet and exercise. (He also shares some nice recipes.)
http://jvgetsinshape.wordpress.com

Hopefully, I will get my mojo back soon.

In Which Maggie Makes Corned Beef and Cabbage (but waits until Saint Patrick's Day is over to blog about it when it is less relevant)

Sorry, my bad. I should have posted how to make Corned Beef and Cabbage in time for Saint Patrick's Day, so that it would be out there as a helpful guide. But no, I suck. I made it a week ago, and am only posting today. I've been busy, but not too busy. I apologize.

Unless there are any stragglers left in the bin of corned beef at the grocery store, my timing makes this more a story about how I did it, rather than directions how to do it. (Though, you can check this post again next year, when it's corned beef and cabbage time, I suppose.)

I made my corned beef and cabbage in my 5 quart slow cooker. It took about 5 hours on high. I made enough for me and Chris to have for dinner, have seconds, and then eat it for lunch the next day.

But let's backtrack a little, back to the grocery shopping.

I don't really have any preference flat cut vs. point cut. I bought a flat cut because that was the only cut the low sodium CB (made by Hummel Brothers, in New Haven) came as. A serving of regular CB had 48% of the daily allowance of sodium; the reduced sodium kind was still no angel, with 35%. I bought the smallest CB I saw, which was a little over 2 pounds.

I picked out the smallest head of green cabbage I could find, a little under 2 pounds, and grabbed a bag of yellow onions, because those were on sale too.

I already had baby carrots and small potatoes at home. I only had to halve the little potatoes, but if I'd gotten "baby" potatoes, I wouldn't have had to. I didn't bother peeling the potatoes because they cleaned up well, and their skins weren't too thick. (They were the "white potatoes" that were on sale a while back.)

I cut the cabbage into wedges (eighths), cutting out the hard stem-like part in the middle.
I cut the onion into wedges similarly.

I put the CB on the bottom of the slow cooker, then added the veggies, mostly mixed together, though the carrots closest to the bottom cooked better than the ones toward the top. I poured in about 4 cups of water, and put the lid on it.
I plugged in the slow cooker, turned it to "high", and left. 5 hours later, I came back, and it was all done, and my house didn't reek of cabbage, which can happen when boiling it.

I took out my largest colander and drained the slow-cooker into it. I let the food cool for a couple minutes, and then it was time to eat.

Home Remedy: Cough Syrup

I got this recipe for homemade non-drug cough syrup from a friend out in Western MA a couple years ago. She, in turn, got it from her friend. Its provenance before that, I do not know.

After recommending this to a friend, I realized I should at least try it. So I just did a few minutes ago. I don't have a cough, so I can't tell how good it is for that, but my sinuses are a little clearer since taking it. At least I now know how it tastes: sort of like buffalo wings, but with ginger too. Or like General Tso's chicken.

COUGH/SORE THROAT SYRUP

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 TBSP honey
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP water (heated)

Add all ingredients in a jar and shake well. Take 1 teaspoon of the syrup as needed.

In Which Maggie Compensates For Her Motor Skill Deficiencies.

I have always had problems with my coordination. On the gross motor side, it meant taking eight years of adaptive phys ed (my own special gym class, sometimes with a couple other kids), being out of step most of the time in marching band, a driving instructor telling my parents I was basically beyond hope, and then crashing another driving school's car, which was the end of my attempts to learn to drive.

On the fine motor side, I had to go for extra help with my penmanship in elementary school, and I still don't know how I learned to play flute and oboe, even though I wasn't very good at either, and I could easily have been the worst percussionist the DPHS band had ever witnessed. In college, piano lab was an unmitigated disaster, but luckily it was pass/fail and showing up was what mattered most. (That I went on to major in music still baffles me. I wish someone had stopped me.)

Not surprisingly, my knife skills are absolute crap. I think I'd like to take a class to improve them, but funds are tight, and I am managing with what skills I have.

I have a Chop Wizard. (Watch the video) Most commercials and infomercials exaggerate the difficulty and hassle of food preparation, but this is an accurate portrayal of what happens when I have to cut up vegetables. I also find chopping vegetables dreadfully boring, and after a couple minutes I can hardly stand it. So I love using my Chop Wizard whenever I need small pieces.

However, this device has its limits.

I broke my first one trying to chop a raw yam. Yams are just too hard.

While the parts are dishwasher safe, the Chop Wizard can still be a bitch to clean. Just ask Chris, who does the dishes most of the time. In fact, I often apologize to him before using it. I thought it would be nice to use the Chop Wizard to dice cooked chicken breast into little chunks to make chicken salad with, but that was not such a good idea. The chicken fibers tenaciously clung to the crevices in the top part, and it took a long soak and lots of picking at it (with the little tool that comes in the box and looks like a 'fro pick) to get it clean. New rule: no meat in the Chop Wizard.

I use my kitchen shears more often than I use knives when I am preparing food. I have two pairs of kitchen shears, so I can avoid cross-contamination between meats, produce, etc. Aside of some large or hard food (carrots, squash, yams, etc.), I find that cutting with shears is often quicker and easier than cutting with a knife. I find it easier to cut raw meat with the shears, instead of holding down a blob of meat and sawing vigorously at it while it squirms in reaction to the sawing. Occasionally, I will use shears to cut cooked meat as well, like I wound up doing when making that chicken salad. I remember cutting up rotisserie birds with shears when I worked at a supermarket. It was quicker than sawing through the chickens' ribcages with a knife would have been. I also cut herbs and some vegetables with shears, like peppers and celery.

TIP: Kitchen shears are the best tools to cut celery, because they snip through the strings with ease, and makes a nice clean edge, as opposed to ragged edges with hanging strings.

Maybe I don't really care about honing my knife skills; I have adapted in my own way.

In Which Maggie Debates Whether or Not to Believe a Comedian.

Of course, comedians love to joke around--that's they do it for a living, after all--so I wasn't sure what to make of this.
I was watching Amy Poehler (whom I adore) on Jay Leno. She said her son had an earache recently, and the pediatrician told her to make a poultice out of onions.
To make the poultice, saute onions in olive oil, stuff the warm mixture into a sock, and hold it against the affected ear.

I had to check this out, and in my web searching, I was able to verify the onion cure. I particularly liked this page, so I'm passing it on.
http://www.organicauthority.com/health/health/how-to-rapidly-relieve-an-earache-using-supplies-you-probably-already-have-in-your-home.html

Teriyaki Sauce, Some Assembly Required

I decided that we were having beef teriyaki skewers for dinner, and I wouldn't let the utter lack of teriyaki sauce in the fridge or cupboard come between us and succulent meat on a stick. Usually, I'd just buy some, but today I felt like making my own instead.

I searched the internet for a recipe to guide me and found this one.

Chris said he liked it better than regular store-bought teriyaki sauce, and I agreed. My version didn't have any MSG or high-fructose corn syrup, two ingredients often found in store-bought teriyaki sauce, but of which we are not fans.

THE MAGGIE'S TERIYAKI SAUCE

1 Cup soy sauce (I used a low-sodium variety with no MSG.)

1/4 Cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons molasses

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup olive oil

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Turn down to a simmer, still stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes.

BEEF TERIYAKI SKEWERS

--Cut steak into thin strips.

--Marinate the strips in the teriyaki sauce. I did mine for 6 hours. Depending on the cut of meat, you could do more or less. I was using top round steak, and if I use that cut next time, I will probably marinate it overnight to tenderize it better.

--Soak bamboo skewers in water for 20 minutes. Or use metal skewers.

--Preheat oven to 400F

--Line a baking sheet with foil.

--Run the skewers through the meat.

--Bake for about 15 minutes.

I "recycled" the teriyaki marinade to make fried rice. When re-using a marinade, one must boil it first to kill the germs from the meat.

First Post of 2011

Like dinner at my house lately, this blog post is thrown together from random ingredients.

First off, this is the Pumpkin-Sage Cream Sauce recipe I've made a few times for different groups, always to many compliments. It is very easy, but perhaps people hear "cream sauce from scratch" and it sounds like it should require lots of time, effort, and magic.
http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/pumpkin-sage-cream-sauce-3686


Junior's on Shrewsbury Street is one of our favorite places to go out to eat. It's near our home, and even closer to our credit union and its ATM, so we wind up there a lot. I have to thank my sister for introducing me to Junior's, back when she lived in that neighborhood.
http://www.juniorspizzagrille.com/
It's not just pizza, they have other offerings. Last night, I had the special: caramel apple glazed pork chops with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli. Awesome.
For dessert, we split the fried dough sundae, which was two modest scoops of vanilla ice cream, about as much whipped cream as ice cream, and chunks of fried dough, with strawberry (or was it cherry) and chocolate glazes crisscrossing the top. Currently, a picture of the fried dough sundae is on their website.
The coolest thing about Junior's is that it used to be a service station garage before they converted it to a restaurant, and they kept the big garage doors. In the summer, they do have outdoor seating, but if you'd rather be a little more sheltered, you can sit inside the doors and feel like you're "outside enough", and it also makes the whole restaurant feel more open.

New Year's Eve day found us out and about doing errands, so we went to lunch at Moe's in Shrewsbury.
Moe's is a franchise chain, one might call it "quick casual", serving Tex-Mex cuisine: burritos, tacos, etc. I got a vegetarian burrito (the "Art Vandalay") and the vegetarian salad (the "Personal Trainer") to have for dinner later. (Hooray for the buy one get one coupon!) The only thing Chris (the picky eater) eats there is the chips with the queso, a generous little bowl of hot white cheese dip, but he enjoys it. Everything at Moe's is made to order, so you can get just what you want, and vegetarian dishes are easily made vegan by skipping cheese and sour cream.

I got a subscription to Cooking Light magazine for Christmas. Yay.

Happy New Year!