For a Crowd: Parmesan Garlic Grits

Friday was my turn to bring in breakfast to work. I sort of made MY FAVORITE BREAKFAST, but I left off the sage butter so the bread wouldn’t get soggy and I used shredded mozzarella instead of fresh to keep the cost down. I lightly fried the eggs the night before, assembled everything and then the next morning I put it in a 250 degree oven for like 20 minutes to let the egg finish cooking and warm everything up. To go along with the sandwiches I made parmesan garlic grits. Sounds really fancy, but oh so easy! This recipe is easily customizable for the number you want to serve, just follow the directions on the box, but use half water and half, half and half and then add as much garlic as you want and half as much cheese as grits.

Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

Let's talk Italian

There is a place in Vegas, right off the strip called Battista's Hole in the Wall.  In a word it is amazing, or in Italian it is Sorprendente (and no I didn't know that I googled it).  Not only is the food stunning, delicious, perfectly flavored and reasonably priced the joint gives you all the wine you can drink!  Yeah, you read that right...all the wine you can drink! When you sit down at the table they place two decanters of wine (one white and one red) on the table, and they continue to bring new ones each time they are empty.  Holy freaking cow...way to start off a night in Vegas!  The menu is simple and it sort of reminded me of The Old Spaghetti Factory (anyone ever been there?)  There are chalk boards on the wall with the choices like: spaghetti and meatballs, linguini chopped clams, chicken alfredo, lasagna, and Veal Marsala which I had and have not regretted for a second!  The price range is amazing $22.95 to $37.95 (for like file mignon) but most choices are below $30.  With each entree you received your choice of minestrone soup or italian salad, garlic bread and a homemade cappuccino, oh and complimentary all you can drink house wine, did I mention that?

  I had the soup and it put Olive Garden's to shame.  I know that's probably not that good of a comparision anyway but its all I could think of.  The bread is to die for, giant pieces of bread with huge chunks of garlic on them toasted a perfectly golden brown butter color...I had to remind myself I had veal coming so I wouldn't fill up on bread alone.  I was glad I did, 3 huge pieces of veal covered in the mushroom marsala sauce served with grilled zucchini and  pasta.  OMG...I almost went into a food coma!  I ate 2 pieces of the veal and most of the pasta and so badly wanted to clean my plate, but I just couldn't do it.  (remind yourself all the while I am drinking all the wine I want).

   Then they brought everyone the most delicious cappuchino I had ever tasted!  The whole expereince was perfect!  We couldn't do dessert (no room in the inn), but the cappuchino filled any need for sweetness...so good!

I love this place!  Huge props to my friends the Felices for recommending it.  Whenever I go back to Vegas there is not a doubt in my mind I will head to this Battista's!  Where do you like to eat in Vegas?  Have you ever been to Battista's? 

Just so you know...

I haven't died, and I am still making an attempting to blog, but there has been alot going on.  This week has been crazy because
1. I have been recovering from a wonderful weekend in Vegas!
and
2. I had Lasik surgery.  AMAZING - best decision ever!

So needless to say blogging hasn't been exactly top priority.  Now that I can see, sans glasses or contacts, and I no longer feel sick when I so much as smell alcohol, I promise I will post next week.  I ate some great food in Vegas that I need to write about.  Oh and I baked some chicken wrapped in panchetta this week....needless to say it tasted GOOD. 

Everyone have a fabulous weekend and I promise I will post great stuff next week!

The most delicious meal!

Last night the FH took me to Woodfire Grill.  You know the brain child restaurant of this guy:

Who was on this show:

Well to say the least it was amazing!  We each had the 5 course chef's menu, which also included 2 "taste" courses.  I really can't say enough about it, other than you just have to go and enjoy it for yourself.  Here is the breakdown of the courses we enjoyed:
amuse bouche - sorry to say I actually don't even remember what it was...but it was good...I will comment later what it was...I gotta keep you guessing, something with a horseradish sauce...
first course - foie gras mousse, it had some rye bread crumbs on top for crunch which I think totally made the dish.  the mouse was so silky and full of flavor it literally melted down my throat it was just so delicious!
second course -seared diver scallop, I think it had baby argula on top - perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned, the best scallop ever
taste - sweet potato soup, served in a shot glass.  The fh doesn't even like soup, but he liked this.  It was so complex like it contained every perfect flavor of thanksgiving dinner
third course - seared quail over a chorizo ragut,  it was so delicious the little bit of spice from the chorizo and the quail had a little crunch to it - perfect!
fourth course - lamb shank with truffle risotto, I have no words for this, it blew my mind
fifth course - choclate lava cake,  the perfect amount of sweet to end the meal

We each had a liquor drink when we first got there, sage against the machine, highly recommended.  Then we did a wine pairing with the 3rd and 4th courses.  The wines were perfect and only $6 a piece!  To top it all off at the end of the night they presented us with a detailed menu listing everything we had (even wines and tastes) and it had the date and our names at the top and it was signed by Kevin - talk about service! 

I loved Woodfire and stronly encourage you to try it if you live in or are ever visitng Atlanta!  Have you ever done a chef's tasting menu before?  Were you impressed?



Eating Healthy and Working Out

As I previously mentioned, I am trying to eat healthy and work out on the reg...I usually do really well during the week (veggies, lean protein, lots of salad) and then suck on the weekend (beer, chips and dip, burgers)...I try to tell myself that this happens to everyone.  Anyone?  does this happen to you?  I think it is just so much easier to stick to the work out schedule and healthy eating plan during the week, and then go junk food bonkers deviate from the plan on the weekends.  This weekend was especially tough because my future father in law threw the FH and me a great engagement party with lots of delicious food one day and the super bowl the next day, yumm football munchies...so today BACK ON TRACK.  For dinner we are having mini-turkey meatloaf  and sautted kale.  If the kale is good, I will give you that recipe tomorrow by the end of the week.

In the mean time check out my friend Elizabeth's blog: Running for Bling.  She runs marathons and raises money for the blood cancer research.  It's a great blog to read and right now she is having a give away...so click away.  haha!  sorry that was a really cheesey joke attempt rhyme.....

Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

For a Diet: Asian Salmon Salad

The other night I grilled these (salmon filets) :



And I put them on top of this (mixed greens, roasted red peppers, almods, seseme dressing) :  

And I am convienced in a few short weeks I will look like this (I don't know her I just googled "skinny"):

Ok, probably not exactly like that considering I am 5'3" tall and have what some like to refer to as "child bearing hips" but hopefully like a slimmer me.  (By the way the people who refer to my hips as previously mentioned are not my friends)  In all honesty this salad was delicious, filling and total fit in my "eat healthy to loose weight for the wedding" plan.  The salmon marinated for about 20 minutes while I was doing my Jackie Warner one-on-one upper body workout.  (which is an amazing combo of cardio and upper body toning, highly recommended)  That was just enough time for the flavors to mingle, but not over power the fish.  I threw the fish on my grill pan, assembled my salad, rehydrated and was eating dinner in less than 15 minutes. Easy Peasy!  If nothing else try the Kraft Asian Toasted Sesme dressing, it is really good.  I used it in the fish marinade and then a little more on my salad.  I do hope you try it all though: lots of flavor and nutrition and not alot of fat and bad stuff, the wedding I mean, swimsuit season will be here before you know it...What work outs are you liking lately, if any?  What do you marinate your salmon in?  Have you had a good salad lately?  Can you suggest any toppings?  I see alot of salads in my next couple of months meal rotations...

Sincerely loving food,

Lainey

*Neither, Kraft dressings nor Jackie Warner have any idea who I am or that I am commenting on their products and I did not receive anything for their mention here.  I just happen to really like that dressing and enjoy doing that workout on Comcast on demand, and my arms are looking good!

Vegas Baby!

Two weeks from tomorrow I am going to Vegas!  My sister has planned, what I can only assume will be, an amazing bachelorette party.  I am super pumped to be spending the weekend with my best friends.  I went to Vegas as a 12 year old, stayed at the MGM and enjoyed the amusement park, but I have never been as an adult.  We are staying at the Excalibur and hopefully hitting up that all you can eat buffet.  I'm looking forward to gambling, drinking, eating and hanging out.  What is your favorite part of Vegas?  Do you have any "must eats"?  Looking forward to hearing your crazy stories and then I will share mine when I return...but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas so we will see...