PB2

I have been obsessed with PB2! I love peanut butter so much, but it can be not as good for you. I mean if you eat a lot of it. Of course peanut butter contains good fats for your body and is a great source of protein.... but if you are like me, and could literally eat half a jar of that stuff! It isn't too great for you. PB2 has 85% less fat, is less than half the calories, and still has that protein and good fat. You can mix it with water to create that peanut butter texture, I actually haven't done that yet, but what I have been doing is making smoothies. This is a delicious morning breakfast smoothie or snack smoothie. All I do is blend a whole banana with two tablespoons of this and 3/4 cup of almond milk and about 5 ice cubes to give it texture. This has been my go to morning smoothie, unless it's after a workout then I usually make a fruit smoothie. Fruit smoothies are more refreshing after workouts, but this one is a really great after dinner snack if you are craving something sweet but you don't want cookies, cake, or icecream. :p

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy saint Patrick's day everyone! Ireland is the one place I have always wanted to travel to before I die. I haven't an idea why, but I have always been fascinated with Ireland. I think it started when I was 9. I have always loved fairy tales, Wicca, and nature. I remember my step dad, or dad rather, buying me a book about faeries, and yes i meant to spell it that way. A lot of the photos in that book were of Ireland,and I have found it absolutely beautiful ever since. I will make it there one day! Well happy st. Patrick's day! I am celebrating with a dArk chocolate mint dove chocolate bar!

 I just love the way this bar looks! Mint and chocolate is my favorite flavor combination. It may be cheesy to celebrate with a mint green chocolate bar but I am also heading to the gym. :) gives me motivation and I just love celebrating in cheesy ways.

The Capital Grille

Chris and I love to eat out, and one place we just tried out for the first time was The Capital Grille.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I am an employee at The Olive Garden, and for those of you who don't know, the olive garden is owned by darden. Darden also owns red lobster (for now, I think that's going to be changing soon), The capital grille, seasons 52, Bahamas breeze, and a couple other places. Employees of darden get discounts of 25% for I believe up to 6 or 7 people. I cannot remember correctly. I have only ever used my discount twice actually. I will tell you, I was happy to have that discount at the capital grille. :) But that discount that we saved went to our servers' tip anyway.

 

From the moment I walked in to when I left, i couldn't believe it was owned by darden. It is definitely one of the nicest fine dining chain place I have seen. Usually chain places are well, typical. At first when we saw our server I wasn't sure if he was our server or a manager just helping out because it was busy... and then... I realized everyone was wearing this beige colored like vest that he had on, that almost resembled a suit.

 

After our water was poured by the servers' assistant, (busser to I think?) He brought us bread and butter, three verities, thin crackers, a darker bread that resembled the flavors of rye, and poppyseed rolls.

 

So to start Chris and I ordered the Lobster and Crab Cakes. Here is the description of them: 

"Seasoned with hints of bold dry mustard and sweet red pepper" These were actually perfectly seasoned, so much so that there was no need for the sauce. WHAT!!?? No need for sauce?!?! Yep, no need for it. These were $19.00.

 

We both wanted a salad, but not a whole one, usually as a server, I HATE when people split things, because usually it's because they want to save money, and usually when they want to save money, they don't tip accordingly, but I knew we were going to, and we already were ordering a lot of food. Now, not everyone that splits things doesn't tip correctly, I know this, but it just happens to have been the pattern I have seen as a server, so I hate to order things split, but we ordered a Caesar salad split.

It was like your typical Caesar, great nonetheless. The crotons were homemade, and extra crispy, just how we like them. Caesar salad was $10.00 

 

For our main courses, I decided to go on a whim and get the halibut. I usually don't like fish too much, mostly shellfish, not actual fish. Although if I had to pick a fish it would be halibut, Alaska opened my eyes to halibut. I have never ordered a full portion of fish though, knowing I don't usually like it.  They don't have a description of it on the site but it came with a honey mustard vinaigrette baby potatoes, and two artichoke halves. It was super light and delicious. I literally ate almost the whole thing. I have never been more impressed with a chain restaurant. Again, this is darden?! whatttt?! The halibut was $43.00

 

 

Chris decided on the Dry Aged Steak au Poivre with Courvoisier Cream, which was 14 oz, and described as, Tender sirloin flavored with black peppercorn for a spicy flavor. He got his steak medium rare, which is how we both love our steak! (Thanks Chef Naomi for introducing me to amazing medium rare steaks, and then allowing me to introduce chris to them!) When it came out he let me try a bite, we always do that with each other. The sauce was spectacular, the steak was cooked perfectly, and the marbling gave the steak a melt in your mouth flavor that was to die for. The only thing that chris didn't like about it, and me either, is that there was TOO much peppercorns. & this says a lot being that we both love pepper. The steak was perfect on salt, but the pepper was overload. Also it was too huge, chris ate about half of it, and didn't get a box. We never bring steak home, as it's just one of those foods that isn't good reheated, it's going to dry out. It is just best eaten fresh. It was 46.00

 

 

 

We also ordered a side of the Au gratin potatoes that can be seen a little to the left of Chris' steak. These were perfect! No critiques on those! The crust on top was golden, they were super cheesey and creamy as they should be. :) They made my belly happy! These sides are very large, and perfect. I just love when places serve their sides family style. Then, you can get what you want and not feel pressured to eat what is on your plate, which is good for these potatoes, because had I had a large amount on the plate with my fish, I would have eaten them all.  I want to say this side was $14.00 or $15.00

 

 

 

 

With tax- the original check was 136.00 and

with the discount, it went down to 102.00 give or take some change.

Discount saved 34.00 dollars, which went towards the tip anyway, but that was nice!

 

All together we spent 150.00 (with tip included) We tipped him 48.00 he was a good server

and knowledgeable. For my jersey people, Ask for Chris at the cherry hill Capital Grille

 

Overall it was really good, the discount makes it worth eating at. Now, that being said definitely not somewhere you go to unless you are craving steak or seafood, that is majorly what they offer. Also maybe not somewhere you would just go on a whim, we did, but hey we hadn't really been out in a while.

 



 





All Things New

 

Ever so often it's good to try new things, right?

Even if it is something prepackage.

Hey now, don't pass judgment,

Not everything can be homemade all the time.

Well and I like to try new things and give my opinions on them!

:)

 

On a midnight run to Wally World, Chris and I picked up a few things.

Actually we picked all the following items up the same night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First up:

Pretzel Crusted cheese sticks.

 

 

These were actually pretty delicious. It was weird having cheddar cheese inside of a cheese stick instead of mozzarella. I keep wanting to just call them mozzarella sticks, but they aren't because there is no mozzarella. These are breaded like the traditional FarmRich sticks, but they have bits of pretzels on the outside of the crust. This pretzel crust gives them a nice saltiness, but it isn't too much pretzel.

 

Second:

Buffalo blue cheese sticks

 

Alright, now when we made these, they were weird. We love buffalo sauce, wings are a weekly thing in our household, but something about these were off. It was... yes.. blue cheese in the center. I hate blue cheese. The taste is too strong, and something about it just tastes sour to me. At first, I couldn't tell it was blue cheese, I tried the cheese stick and only tasted a buffalo flavor at first. Then, I got that after taste. That sourness after taste of blue cheese. Chris could tell right away, and said "I really don't like that". I said they were ok, until I tasted that aftertaste.

 

 

Would I buy them again?

The pretzel ones: Yes. The buffalo ones: No.

 

 

 

Next: White cheddar kraft mac &cheese with garlic & herb

 

 

 

This was a real treat. I am a sucker for any white cheddar mac and cheese though, it just seems richer and creamer than a regular cheddar mac and cheese. Maybe it is all in my head though. The pasta in this is not your traditional mac and cheese elbow pasta. It comes with a mini cavatappi. For those of you that aren't familiar with that kind of pasta it is like a corkscrew pasta. ( And thank you to The Olive Garden for educating me on all the kinds of different pastas, more than culinary school). Anywho, this mac and cheese is super creamy, the herbs add a different taste to it, and the pasta holds the sauce more than the elbow pasta. I absolutely love garlic, and usually add extra to everything, but surprisingly this was well seasoned already, and nothing, not even salt, was needed.

 

I'd for sure purchase it again.

 

Last but not least: New 5 wintermint

 



 

I love gum and always have to try new flavors, I like the 5 brand and stride, they are alright. Correct me if I'm wrong, I think they might (might) be owned by the same company. Well I love orbit's wintermint so I decided to give it a try. It is very tastey, not as strong as the regular peppermint by 5, but it is stronger than orbit's wintermint. I love minty gum, but after a while it makes my stomach hurt, so I usually go with the wintermints over full on peppermints. This was good, but I still prefer orbit's wintermint.

Heads or tails

 

Have yall tried these amazingness Oreos?! I love Oreos so much, usually

just the original ones. Recently I discovered or, rather noticed

there are such an abundance of different Oreo flavors.

I decided to try the heads or tails, because the golden

are good, but I always liked the original best.

O.M.G.

Yes, I just Oh my god'd and abbreviated it like a teen,

because these deserve that much enthusiasm and joy.

I seriously love these more than the original, they aren't

too sweet, nor too chocolately, they are perfection.

These are my recent treasure, and I kind of just want

to eat a million of them, lol self control though!! Right?! :P

 

If you haven't tried these, trust me, you need these in your life,

right now.

 

Now,

 

yeah I mean now.

 

Why are you still reading this?

Go buy some heads or tails Oreos.

Now get that booty to your local store!

 

:)

 

 

Your Welcome.