Regatta's

Have you ever eaten at Regatta’s in Lexington Green? I purchased a Groupon to Regatta’s last week. I’ve always wanted to go but never had, so this was a good opportunity. The place was dead by the time we arrived at 9:30PM which is our typical eating time when we go out to eat. The waiter, Jason, was pleasant and let us know that all of the seafood is flown in fresh daily. I quickly ordered the raw oysters. It’s been forever since I had them and they were delicious. For the entree, I ordered the Maryland crab cakes and Matt ordered shrimp scampi. The crab cakes were so-so. Nothing to go crazy about. They had a nice dipping sauce that was sweet and sour. There were also fried green tomatoes on the bottom but they were tart and I didn’t enjoy eating them. The shrimp scampi on the other hand was delicious. It was cooked to perfection. It was probably the best shrimp I have ever tasted at a restaurant. Matt quickly ate it up along with his tree-sized broccoli stem. I would definitely go back to Regatta's. There were many things on the menu that I would like to try. When it's warm, they have a nice patio and view of the pond at Lexington Green.

On a more sad note, I will not be continuing my culinary education after this month. I have loved my nutrition class but unfortunately Sullivan was not honest with me when I enrolled about tuition costs and I just can't afford to go right now. I am going to just move it to the back burner for now and hopefully will get back to it one day. In the meantime, I want to focus back on my blog and try to keep up with it more.

To end on a happy note, I have moved apartments and will have a new roommate in April, Lindsay Bruner. We worked together at Winn Dixie/EW James for 5 years and she's moving back to Lexington. I'm so excited to live together because I know we will have a blast cooking. Also, she's a great photographer, so now I have my own personal food stylist for my blog. (Thanks ahead of time, Lindsay!!)

Healthy Cinnamon Granola

I love making my own granola, it's quick and it tastes so much better than store bought cereal. Plus, I can make it low fat and I know what ingredients are going into it. It only takes 10 minutes of prep work and you can do always do other things while it is baking.

I eat this with milk, pour it over yogurt, and even zap it in the microwave with some water or milk and make granola oatmeal. Enjoy!

Healthy Cinnamon Granola

• 4 cups rolled organic oats
• 3 teaspoons organic cinnamon
• 1/3 cup almonds, chopped
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/3 cup ground organic flax seed
• 5 tablespoons organic maple syrup
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup water
  

Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately then mix together. Preheat an oven to 300 degrees. Pour the granola mixture on a cookie sheet and spread out evenly. Bake for 45 minutes, making sure to mix the granola around every 15 minutes.

Baked Chicken for Two

There’s nothing better on a cold winter night than comfort food. I found this recipe by Jamie Oliver in the newspaper that just hit the spot. This recipe is for 8 servings but you can share it with your sweetheart this February and have lots of leftovers. I made it for my sweetheart and he thought it was "da bomb!"

Ingredients

For the brine
• 1 quart water
• 2 TB kosher salt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 springs fresh sage, leaves only
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Marinate the chicken in brine for at least two hours (overnight is best). It will become outrageously soft and juicy.

For the bake
• 4 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
• 2 slices bacon, finely chopped
• 8 carrots, thinly sliced
• 4 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 springs fresh sage, leaves shredded
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and fresh black pepper
• 1 2/3 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• A few pats of butter

Directions

1. Mix brine in a large bowl; add chicken. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 2 to 8 hours.
2. Remove chicken; let come to room temperature. Drain chicken, discarding brine, and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a roasting pan, toss the bacon, veggies, garlic, and sage with olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour in broth. Cook 30 minutes.
4. Remove veggie pan from oven; pour in cream and sprinkle with pepper and Parmesan. Add chicken, dotting pats of butter on each piece. Cook 35 minutes, or until chicken is golden. (I had to cook mine for over an hour.)

I think I'll write a restaurant review

I didn’t have my class this week so I don’t have any school news to write about due to a crazy snow storm last Thursday, but Matt gave me the great idea of writing restaurant reviews on my blog.

Friday night, we went out to IHOP for some pancakes. I noticed the restaurant inspection read “89” as I walked in but I’m not a stickler for those usually, I just eat and am merry. But when we were leaving, I started reading the inspection report to see why they were marked off. One of the reasons read “Mop was not in its proper place”. And guess what was sitting right below the report? The mop. It definitely still wasn’t in its proper place. I mentioned it to the cashier who nonchalantly replied, I never read those inspection reports, I guess I should”. I wish I had gotten a picture. And just in case you order the “smoked sausage” as I did, thinking I was going to get sausage, just know you are going to get hot dogs with your pancakes.

Saturday night, Matt and I went to a semi-new restaurant in Lexington called Sutton’s. http://www.suttonsrestaurant.com/ It’s located right in front of the Kroger parking lot on Richmond Road. I had read about it several times in the newspaper because they make all of their menu items in the restaurant and that had me very interested. We tried two appetizers: the pepperoni pups and meatballs. The pups were pepperoni and mozzarella battered and fried with a marinara dipping sauce. They were especially yummy and I could tell the meat was a good quality. The meatballs were good but nothing special. There was a history with the recipe being passed down generation after generation. For my entrée I ordered the grilled tilapia sandwich with kettle chips. Sutton’s cooks their own kettle chips and they were so good, Matt asked for a side order. The tilapia was disappointing though. It was very fishy and made the sandwich not enjoyable at all. Despite that, I do want to go back and try it again. Their flat bread pizza looked very good.

Let the culinary school adventures begin

This is long overdue. I have no idea why I have been slacking on my blog, other than the fact that I’m just a slacker. But, I’m going to try and get back in the habit of blogging a few times a week. I haven’t been cooking as much lately. It seems as if my life is slightly busier now. I go to the gym after work, I have a new beau, I’m addicted to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills…life is pretty awesome. Two weeks ago, I added another exciting journey to my plate and that is culinary school. I enrolled at Sullivan University in the Associate of Culinary Arts degree program. I have wanted to go to culinary school since I was in high school. I toured a school in Charleston while I was in college and toured Sullivan in 2005. It was always on my mind that I wanted to try it out and see if I like it. Now that I’m settled in my new job and my life here in Lexington, I bit the bullet and enrolled in school. Tuition costs to culinary school have always deterred me but I realized that it wasn’t going to get any cheaper and I was always going to wish I had tried.

This quarter, I am taking a nutrition class on Thursday nights and a Hospitality Management and Supervisor online class. So far, I love both of them. I’m learning so much. Even though I’m not actually doing any cooking until next quarter, I still have to wear my chef’s uniform to school. This includes checkered chef pants, my chef coat, black shoes, and my handkerchief tie. I light up when I put on my chef coat; I absolutely love it so much. It feels so right when I see myself in it.

Well, I am going to keep everyone up to date on my classes and any new recipes that I am creating. Last night, with the help of Matt slaving over the double boiler, I made white chocolate popcorn with M&M’s for work. Today is National Popcorn Day!

White Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients:

2 large bags white popcorn, popped
2 bags white chocolate chips
1 large bag M&M’s

Pour out the popcorn and take out the un-popped kernels. Over a double boiler, melt the white chocolate chips. In a large bowl, pour the melted white chocolate over the popcorn, and then add the M&M’s and mix well. Spread out on wax paper to dry for at least 24 hours.

Peace Corps Fiji

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Cheesy Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Cheesy Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
(1 serving)

2 cups brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cup organic vegetable stock
1 TB organic goat cheese
1 TB parmesan cheese, finely grated
6 slices, uncured pork bacon (I like a lot of bacon!)

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the bacon until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside. In the bacon grease, saute' the garlic until brown. Add the brussels sprouts and saute' for 4-5 minutes until they have browned on all sides. Pour in the veggie stock, cover the skillet and let the sprouts become tender and the stock to evaporate. When almost all of the stock has evaporated, remove the skillet from the heat. Crumble in the goat cheese and add the parmesan and bacon. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I ate this over whole wheate fettuccine but it can be used as a side dish. And as always this can be quadrupled to accommodate more brussels sprout lovers.