Lunch - Pita sandwich

Thanks to Mollie G., we went straight to the deli counter at Publix and got some of their pepperoni. It is very yummy! My youngest daughter does not like sandwiches. She will take the bread right off and eat the lunch meat. So I saved her a step and packed her lunch with: rolled up Boar's Head Black Forest Ham, Pepperoni, Mozzarella stick, pickle, fritos and strawberries. I started the week by writing notes for her lunch box. I found scripture that would be easy for a child to understand. She loves her notes so much that she has decided to save all of them so she can look back at them when she's older. She is my sentimental sweetie. Love her!!!

For my oldest, she got a pita sandwich. I mixed spinach, romaine and mushrooms and added Paul Newman italian dressing. Stuffed the pita with the salad and added shredded mozzarella. Then topped it with ham. She said her sandwich was amazing... made me so happy!
She had her pita sandwich, mozzarella stick (I didn't add much to the sandwich since she had the stick), a pickle, strawberries and for snack/dessert a special K bar. The pita sandwich is a HIT so if you are looking for a lunch for your teenager - make her a pita sammy!
I need to look up some recipes or different sandwiches to send so it doesn't get boring for the kids.

Catherine's Market

If you do head out to the SpringHouse, you need to walk in to Catherine's Market. It's a small little grocery store with a seafood case and deli. You don't see many small markets anymore - you usually find mega-grocery stores. It was refreshing to see this grocery. I didn't have anything to buy but when we head down next time, I plan on getting some of their fresh baked bread.

The greens looked so vibrant. I couldn't resist taking pictures of the vegetables. I had to check to see if they were using green lights! HA! They weren't - the greens were just beautiful as were the fruit.

My new favorite - fennel. I love licorice so I really love fennel. If you roast veggies with fennel, you will not be disappointed. It gives the veggies such flavor. Mmmmm... think I'll have to roast some vegetables soon! I roast fennel with onion and carrots. It's so good.

I really wish there were bunnies there on Saturday! I wanted to take some pictures with the Easter bunnies.

SpringHouse

If you are ever in the Lake Martin area - heck, you need to drive to the Lake Martin area - go sightseeing, hit the thrift store at Children's Harbor, go to the antique mall and then go straight to the SpringHouse after building up your appetite.

Nick and I love to celebrate my birthday at Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama so it's natural that I would love the SpringHouse equally. Both restaurants are amazingly fresh and everything is cooked to perfection. I love that they use fresh items that are grown locally. Perfect!

A photograph of the back of the restaurant. I missed visiting the circular area that sits behind the restaurant. Mollie told me that it reminds here of the knights of the round table. I would love to see it the next time I come. Nick will definitely take me to lunch here again soon!
H was unsure of the menu items. They weren't in the least bit weird or as Anthony Bourdain says the "nasty bits". Everything looked great - I wish I could try everything. H ended up selecting the chicken tenders and fries. The chicken was fried in a cornmeal batter - reminded me of fried catfish. The french fries were crispy and a bit burnt (YUM!) - not burnt to a crisp but had that crisp taste. I thought it was delicious.
I forgot to take a picture of the housemade pimento cheese spread with homemade crackers. It was so so good. Wish I could recreate it.... I'll definitely try to. I picked the pork loin on a bed of white beans and english peas topped with a ramp pesto. MMMmmm Of course H ate most of the pork on everyone's plate. I would most definitely recommend the pork. Now I need to try everything else on the menu. Devin got the burger topped with a fried green tomato and pimento cheese spread with their homemade chips. I can honestly say that the burger was well cooked with a tang from the tomato and a creaminess from the cheese. I will recommend that to anyone. I want to eat it again!
Here's the crew! I'll tell you what everyone ate other than what I said above: Debbie and Rhonda had the pork tenderloin like I did, Mollie had the pizza and Stephie had the blue cheese salad.
It was too windy and a tad to chilly to sit on the back deck. I will want to sit there the next time we come. The view was gorgeous.
The view. Rolling green with a barn and the water beyond. This kind of view makes you want to create... to absorb nature... to bask in God's artistry.
And yea... we got dessert. I didn't get the camera out in time. We POLISHED it off in minutes. Each of us bought a different dessert and tried everything. We ordered the chocolate decadence, the pecan pie, Smore cake, banana pudding, and strawberry shortcake. I was one stuffed happy mother.
Please go try the SpringHouse. I have a good feeling you'll love it! If you're not sure what to order, then invite me. I'll go and show you what to get :)

Great BBQ

When I'm out in the field for work, the main topic of conversation is "so, where do we stop for lunch?" I never matters to me since I'm not sure what's out there as far as food choices. I'll stop and get some peanut butter crackers and a coke zero just in case we don't stop. That will prevent me from - as my daughter says - eating my arm off. Thank goodness for peanut butter crackers! HA!

We had a tough day today... walking through standing water, slipping on mud and sinking in fresh soil that is way too waterlogged to do any good! Oh and lets not forget the little critters that will hitch a ride on your pant legs... ugh! So I chose where we would stop for a break and eat some lunch.

Today's choice was the GreenTop in Dora/Sumiton Alabama. This is a restaurant that hasn't changed it bbq recipe in years. They have some great bbq and this truth is realized as you walk in and see the diversity of people who come in to eat. No conversation - just eating!

They have BBQ plates, salads, potatoes, hamburgers, fries... I would say that EVERYTHING is good here but I can't because I'm still stuck on the BBQ salad with ranch dressing - oh I also add their BBQ sauce topped off with some hot sauce. YUM!

This salad is really good. I think it's because of my affinity to onions and pickles. The salad is made of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, cheese and bbq. Simple and very satisfying. The ranch dressing is made in house and it makes such a big difference. Mmm good eats.

Nick asked me to get him the BBQ potato - which he loves because they only put the BBQ, cheese and sauce on it. He doesn't care for butter and he hates sour cream.

If you are ever on Hwy 78 in Dora/Sumiton - go check out the GreenTop. I can only suggest the salad since that's all I ever have there. You can also try their white bbq sauce. I prefer the regular red sauce but I hear many people singing the praises of their white sauce on chicken.

Lunch

My middle child is my pickiest eater. She doesn't like to try anything that isn't ham or a chicken nugget/finger. Seriously, it's insane. How did this happen? We have no idea. I didn't get a picture of her lunch because it's pretty standard. Blackforest ham cut into little rabbits (for Easter!), a whole pickle, Ritz crackers, vanilla cookies and sweet heat bbq chips. I'm sure she'll eat all of it! I'll need some ideas for something more creative for her.

My oldest child loves food. She's the one that you LOVE to cook for because she tells you how wonderful the food is with every bite. She is a joy to cook for just because she'll try anything! So today I cooked some pasta salad - tri-colored veggie pasta, sliced black olives and green onions mixed with some Paul Newman's Italian dressing. I placed a bed of baby spinach at the bottom, some sliced mushrooms and topped it with the pasta salad. Added a bit more dressing and then topped it with rough chopped ham. Added some pepper as well.

I put some sliced mango, pineapple and grapes in another container. A Special K bar in case she needs a snack either before or after lunch.
All neatly packed into a large rubbermaid container. That and a Life Water - and lunch is ready!
Working on my post-it notes so they get some inspiration while they eat their lunch!

Lemonade anyone?

If you love fresh squeezed lemonade, then run out to your neighborhood Publix and grab a gallon of Publix lemonade. I'm not a huge fan of lemonade because it can be too sweet or way too sour. But Publix has not let me down yet! I buy a gallon every time we go grocery shopping. What a treat.

Baby food

Do you watch Food Network? If you do, then you know Tyler Florence. Well that's how I know him since I don't have the ability to walk out and go to eat at his restaurants! So he has a baby food brand. I tasted it and it's delicious. My baby boy loves it! I mix it with a little oatmeal and he quickly gobbles it up.

Here it is right out of the package. You'll find some of the roasted bits in the puree. Don't believe that just because they are babies they can't enjoy some roasted veggies. It's so sweet and flavorful. Great job Chef!

I'm taking over this blog!

Since my husband takes months to update his blog - I decided to take over! My intention is to show you our everyday life and what we eat at home. The good, the bad and the very yucky at times! It's not easy for me to think of a menu for dinners - I don't have much time to look for recipes either so I tend to just throw items together from memory. It's good sometimes - but can end up being a disaster pretty quickly! I am so tired of eating out. You know it's bad when you go through a laundry list of restaurants and everything sounds mundane because you've been there. That's terrible - but true.

Lately we've been at the ball park all of the time. The delicious fried food at the park is good but not so healthy... and can break you rather quickly. So in order to save $$ we are going to do our best to bring food with us and prepare meals at home. Quick meals - so I need to find recipes to do that! If you have any to share, please do! In the meantime, I'll share the food that I whip up in our little kitchen.

My kids asked me to start packing their lunches as well. Apparently the school system has made their food so healthy that it tastes like cardboard... just bland and unappetizing. I also found out that my daughter threw away the majority of her food because she didn't like the way it tasted. WHAT?!?! That is just wasteful. So I'll put some of my ideas on here as well. I have a friend on Facebook that has inspired me! Carrie - you are amazing! She throws together lunch art on the fly. So I'm going to try my best to mimic her creative food abilities and make some food animals for N so she can decided to save it as her classroom pet instead of eating it. HAHA! I'll go ahead and apologize to her teacher.
So to start off this posting of our healthy dinners, here is our first. Do you recognize this one pot wonder?

If you guessed Hamburger Helper - you would be correct! All I had in the fridge was some good hamburger meat and a pack of very grayish brown hamburger meat. Needless to say, the gray meat was thrown away (which makes me sad because I just bought that meat!).

What did I do to "spruce" it up? Just cut up some green onions. HAHA! I know that's not really sprucing anything up but hey, I tried. I love green onions so it worked for me!

So on my first night of documenting our dinners and how we make it all work, I made hamburger helper. Ugh... not good Jen!