Confetti Corn

My entire family came over for dinner on Saturday night because my grandmas and my cousin hadn't seen the new house yet. I had a bunch of corn in the freezer from my recent purchase of 48 ears (ugh...I'm so done with cooking corn!), and I thought there were a couple different Barefoot Contessa corn recipes from which to choose. The first cookbook of hers I grabbed off my shelf--"Back to Basics"--had a corn dish in it that sounded fantastic and easy. That's one of the things I love most about Ina's recipes, none of them require a lot of ingredients, but the ingredients they do use need to be high quality and fresh so you can really appreciate the taste. I'd much rather prepare dishes that way than ones that require 30 different ingredients.

Barefoot Contessa's Confetti Corn
2008, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, All Rights Reserved

2 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 small orange bell pepper, 1/2-inch diced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kernels cut from 5 ears yellow or white corn (4 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil, minced fresh chives, and/or minced fresh parsley leaves

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes, until the onion is soft. Stir in the bell pepper and saute for 2 more minutes.

Add the butter to the pan and allow it to melt. Over medium heat, add the corn, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the corn just loses its starchiness. Season to taste, gently stir in the basil or other green herbs, and serve hot.

*****

I don't know if I've gone on before about olive oil, but it really does make a huge difference to use good quality olive oil instead of whatever is cheapest at the store. I used to be one of the "buy whatever is cheapest" shoppers until I was at Sur La Table one day and was convinced by the sales lady to try an olive oil they had on special. Oh man, did it ever make a difference!! You could taste how much better it was, and the smell is so flowery and yummy and awesome. If you don't already, try buying a really good olive oil sometime and put a little in a dish and put some of the cheap stuff in a dish. Dip some bread in each (don't mix them, you want to taste each on its own) and see what I mean.

Back to my review, this was super easy to make, and it was a huge hit!! Everyone really liked it. My mom was still talking about it yesterday when I called her for something. I think I cooked the onions a bit too long because they were starting to take on that gray tinge that cooked red onions can have, but they were still good. This was a great summer dish, and so flavorful and pretty! Now I'm kind of glad I have all that corn in my freezer!

Barefoot Bloggers: Ultimate Grilled Cheese

Wow, I had no idea how behind I was on Barefoot Bloggers assignments until I just went to my Barefoot Bloggers tag and saw it's been quite some time since I've done any of them. Oops!! I hope I don't get kicked out of the group. I'll have to look over what ones I've missed and try to incorporate them into my next couple weeks' meal plans. I tell ya, moving a couple months ago really threw a wrench into a lot of things!

I was excited to see a bonus recipe for August from Ina's not-yet-released new cookbook. And it claimed to be the Ultimate Grilled Cheese. Why wouldn't I try something like that?! We're big fans of grilled cheese around here. Plus it had bacon...cheese and bacon together?! Yes please!!

Ultimate Grilled Cheese
From Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is that?

•12 slices thick-cut bacon, such as Nodine’s applewood smoked
•1 cup good mayonnaise
•1/4 cup Dijon mustard
•1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
•1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•1 white pullman loaf or sourdough bread, sliced 1/2-inch thick (12 slices)
•6 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature (for spreading, you probably won’t use it all)
•6 ounces aged Gruyere or Comte cheese
•6 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, such as Cabot or Shelburne Farms

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the bacon on a baking rack set over a sheet pan in a single layer and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, until nicely browned. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels and cut in 1-inch pieces.

2. Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Lay 12 slices of bread on a board and spread each one lightly with butter. Flip the slices and spread each one generously with the mayonnaise mixture. Don’t neglect the corners!

3. Grate the cheeses in a food processor fitted with the largest grating disk and combine. Distribute the bacon evenly on half the slices of bread. Pile 1/3 cup grated cheese evenly on top of the bacon and top with the remaining bread slices, sauce side down.

4. Heat an electric panini press. When the press is hot, cook the sandwiches for 3 to 5 minutes in batches until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. (Or, heat a nonstick skillet on medium-low, place two sandwiches at a time inside, and use a lightweight metal cake pan to weigh them down gently. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Flip the sandwiches, press them down with the cake pan, and cook for about 2 minutes, until golden brown. Repeat until all of the sandwiches are done.)

5. Allow the sandwiches to cool for 2 minutes. Cut in half, and serve warm.

*****

We were too excited to try these, so we cooked the bacon in a skillet instead of in the oven. That's the only change I made because I trust Ina and assumed they'd be awesome. Well, I was right. They were freakin' fantastic!!! I probably went overboard on my cheese usage, but for the ULTIMATE grilled cheese, I figured that was acceptable. The husband thought these would be better on a Texas Toast style bread and done in the skillet instead of a panini press, but he ate two sandwiches so he must not have had too much of a problem with them.

This will definitely go into our sandwich/panini rotation for sure!! Way to go, Ina!!

We like cheese in our house!


My husband is the bacon cook in our house. He was a master grill operator at the Waffle House back before I knew him, so all breakfast food cooking duties are his.


Cover your keyboards so you don't get drool on them!!

Turkey Sliders

While grocery shopping recently I saw packages of ground turkey on sale BOGO, so I figured I'd buy a couple. The husband is not a fan of turkey, but I'm forcing him to eat it anyway. I think it's growing on him. It's funny, he's a completely different eater than he was when we met. I wouldn't say he was picky then, but he was definitely particular about what he ate, and there were hardly any vegetables he'd eat. I'm so proud of him. :)

I didn't really know what to do with the turkey when I bought it, I just figured since we don't eat red meat very often it would be nice to have on hand. Then I thought of a recipe my friend Jen had made for sliders, so I thought why not do those but with ground turkey instead. Plus sliders are awesome!!

I'll post the link to the recipe Jen used; she modified it slightly from wherever she found it, so instead of a big long "adapted from Jen, adapted from so-and-so, adapted from another-so-and-so" you can go check the post on her blog if you're that interested.

Turkey Sliders
Adapted from Jen's White Castle Style Sliders

1/2 cup dried onion flakes
1 package ground turkey (I think it's 1.25 lbs)
1/2 teaspoon of Lawry's seasoned salt
6 slices of American cheese
12 whole wheat dinner rolls
Dill pickle relish to taste

Combine onion flakes, ground turkey, and seasoned salt in a large bowl and mix together. Spread the mixture in an 11x7 glass baking dish. Press evenly making one giant pattie.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Using a paper towel, pat the excess grease from the top of the pattie. Top with cheese slices, return to oven for 2 more minutes. Remove from oven, let set 5 minutes then cut into patties (I did 12 patties). Slice open and separate each dinner roll. Using a spatula lift pattie onto each bun bottom. Top each slider with some pickle relish on the bun lid and serve immediately.

*****

Oh man. OH MAN, were these good!! I gave the kids each two, and the boy ended up wanting a third. That's almost unheard of around here. And it was slightly disappointing because I was banking on him only eating two so I could have another one. Oh well. The only issue was that my turkey shrank up a lot...there was quite a bit of turkey shrinkage. Haha...shrinkage. Anyway, I figured it would happen, and it wasn't really a problem, just something to note.

These are something I will definitely be making again!

Mmmmm...sliders!


Mmmmm...sliders and baked kale chips!

Baked Kale Chips

Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do here! I didn't think we'd really had anything interesting (other than this past Friday and Saturday night), but when I went through the pictures on my camera and made a list of what all I needed to post there were eight things! Yowza! Guess I'd better get to typing.

I've been seeing a lot about kale chips recently. I was intrigued with the idea of them and really anxious to try them out. I saw some kale at a market last week for only $0.69/bunch, so I figured I'd get some and try it. I'd seen a recipe on the same blog on which the infamous Bacon Salted Caramel Brownie recipe, so I went back looking for that. The blog is Savour-Fare.com and she has some really yummy looking stuff posted there! Her recipe for kale chips called for sprinkling furikake over them once they were done, but I just stuck with salt and pepper.

Baked Kale Chips
Adapted from Savour-Fare.com

1 head curly kale
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove the central vein from each leaf and tear the kale into bite sized pieces. Place kale pieces in a large bowl. Pour vinegar and olive oil over leaves, and toss the kale in the vinaigrette and spread on a baking sheet, lined with foil.

Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes. Season with salt.

*****

Like I said, I was really excited to try this, but apparently I was the only one. Neither of my kids would even try it. I take that back--I made the boy try a piece and he wanted nothing to do with it. The husband said he liked the flavor at first but not at the end of the bite, that it tasted too "vegetable-y." I however, really liked these! Talk about healthy, and I loved the crisp texture and the flavor of them. Since kale is a winter vegetable, maybe I'll have more luck feeding this to my guys when it's actually in season. If not, it's their loss!!

Kale in chopped form:


Kale in baked chip form:

Food, Inc.

I've wanted to watch the documentary "Food, Inc." for quite some time now. It had been on our Netflix queue for MONTHS, if not over a year. Actually as soon as a friend of mine saw it in the theater and posted about it on Facebook, I added it to our queue, so whenever that was. A long time ago. Last night after the kids were in bed we didn't have anything to watch or do, so I suggested watching it. Don't you love streaming Netflix?! Best use of the Xbox and Wii EVER!

I knew the premise of the movie, and I knew a lot of it was pretty shocking. I've read two of Michael Pollan's books, and I knew he was involved with this, so I figured I knew what to expect. Even with that knowledge I was still shocked. Shocked is even a bit of an understatement. My friend Jen had watched it with her husband recently, so when she called this morning we talked about how disgusting it all was and how detrimental the way our society eats is to our health.

The movie is downright shocking. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, YOU NEED TO. It's mind boggling how little control we--and farmers--have over the food we eat. I don't even know where to begin with my thoughts on the movie. It was eye opening, maddening, and heartbreaking all at the same time.

I've always been an advocate of healthy eating (okay, maybe not always, but at least since my early 20s), but I've realized I need to take it to a whole other level. I've done my best to cut out items from my kitchen with ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, red dye #40, partially hydrogenated anything...basically if it has ingredients I can't pronounce, I try to not buy it. But it angers me to no end that no matter how hard I try to stick with all that, we basically have a tainted meat supply that we're feeding ourselves--and our kids--from each time we eat conventional beef, pork, or chicken. They're given food they weren't ever intended to eat, they're covered in other animals poop, they're given genetically altered food to make them grow faster and bigger than nature intended . Heck, even farm-raised fish are fed corn. I'm by no means a botanist, but I'm fairly certain corn doesn't grow underwater and was, therefore, inaccessible to fish, which in my mind means they shouldn't be eating it. If God wanted fish to eat corn, it would be growing in the ocean.

It angers me to no end that this is what we're stuck with. I'm pleased and excited that there are people out there trying to change this and have their voices heard in saying that this is not acceptable. It angers me that people are dying from eating meat that doesn't have to be contaminated. Jen and I have talked before (and I've had the same conversation with the husband) about whether there is a genuine concern about where our food comes from or if we're just more in-tune with it because we've educated ourselves about it. I'm still not sure what my answer is to that. I'd like to think that everyone would be as riled up as I feel after seeing this movie and want to change the system somehow, but maybe people are indifferent or just don't care. I don't know. I do know that if the little people don't stand up for themselves to be heard against these giant corporations that change will never happen. I'm going to start researching what I can do, and I urge you to do the same. I'm also completely changing the way I grocery shop. We're switching to organic as much as possible. I'm curious to do an entirely organic grocery shop and see what the price difference is. I figure regardless, I'll find a way to make it work. I want my family to be healthy, and if we have to give up certain things to make that happen, then so be it. In the long run I'd rather spend more now on eating well than spend it later on healthcare costs.

If you haven't seen the movie, go watch it now! Go! Do it!

Here's the website for the movie if you want more information on it or other resources: Food, Inc. Movie Website

(Stepping down off my soap box now...sorry if any of this is rambling and disjointed...I didn't really know where I was going with it, I'm just enraged and needed to vent about this issue...)

ETA: I was doing some Googling of Kevin's Law (a law that would give the USDA power to shut down meatpacking plants that have repeated contamination problems) and came across another blog entry about "Food, Inc." It was really good so I thought I'd share:

http://theorganicchic.com/blog/food-inc-if-you-dont-know-now-you-know/

Eggplant and Mozzarella Melt

I mentioned recently that I went on a trip to the beach in CA with two of my friends from college a few weeks ago. One of them is my friend Teri, and she was nice enough to fly into Phoenix and drive to LA with me so I'd only have to do one leg of the drive by myself. Isn't that awesome of her? It was so fun, too! A long boring drive like that sure goes by a lot faster with a fun friend in the car. She was telling me about a Martha Stewart Everyday Food cookbook that she has and loves, so once I was back home I put one on hold at the library. I don't think I got the same cookbook that Teri was telling me about, but this one has some great recipes in it. I think I'll hold it hostage for awhile, or at least as long as I can. I mentioned to my friend Jen how much I liked it, and she was talking about putting it on hold, so I'll assume if I can't renew it, it's because she's going to take it from me. ;)

Last week in my Bountiful Baskets produce co-op basket I got an egpplant. I was really excited because I love eggplant and have a lot of things I like to make with it, but I had seen a recipe in the Martha Stewart cookbook I wanted to try. It worked out perfectly, too, because last Sunday I made some tomato sauce for spaghetti and meatballs, so this way I could use up most of what was left of that sauce.

Eggplant and Mozzarella Melt
From Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

2 large eggs
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
Olive oil, for baking sheet
1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound), sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
1 loaf (8 ounces) soft Italian bread
2 cups store-bought tomato sauce
8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

1.Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a shallow bowl, lightly beat eggs with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread breadcrumbs in a pie plate or shallow bowl.

2.Oil a rimmed baking sheet. Dip eggplant rounds in egg, then dredge in breadcrumbs, turning to coat completely; transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake (without turning) until golden and tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

3.Meanwhile, split bread lengthwise, and place cut side up on another baking sheet; press gently in centers to create a well. Layer both halves with tomato sauce, eggplant, and cheese. Bake until cheese is browned in spots, 6 to 8 minutes.

*****

This came together really fast. I used panko for the breadcrumbs because I didn't feel like getting out my food processor to make breadcrumbs. I wouldn't recommend using panko, but it turned out okay. They just didn't cover the eggplant as thoroughly as regular breadcrumbs would have. But it worked. I ended up spreading a bit of sauce on top of the eggplant slices, too, when I assembled everything and then topped with cheese.

The husband was very excited when he saw this come out of the oven. He said it looked like eggplant parmesan pizza, which I guess it kind of was. I think my loaf of bread must have been bigger than eight ounces because the recipe said this was four servings, and those seemed really huge since that basically meant cutting each half into halves. Although the husband ate 1.5 servings, and the baby ate as much as I did! He and the boy split one serving, and then he ate half of mine! So I guess he ended up having an entire serving on his own. My kid can eat!

This was super fantastic and tasty and something I will definitely make again!

One side cheesed, the other awaiting its cheese:


Mmmmmm...eggplant and mozzarella melt...

Homemade Quick Black Bean Burgers

My friend Jen recently sent me a link to a list of vegetarian burgers/sandwiches from the Cooking Light website. I was looking for some vegetarian options in my meal plan recently and going through my Recipes folder in my email and saw that. These burgers sounded super easy and tasty. I wasn't sure what the husband would think because he says he doesn't like black beans, so I made him go hang out upstairs in the play room with the kids while I worked on them so he wouldn't know what it was. ;)

Homemade Quick Black Bean Burgers

1 (2-ounce) hamburger bun, torn into pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 (15.25-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1. Place bun in a food processor; process 4 times or until crumbs measure about 1 cup. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Combine 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, and beans in processor; pulse 8 times or until beans make a thick paste. Scrape bean mixture into bowl with breadcrumbs. Stir in rind and remaining ingredients. With moistened hands, divide bean mixture into 4 equal portions (about 1/3 cup mixture per portion), shaping each into a 3-inch patty.

3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan; reduce heat to medium, and cook 4 minutes or until bottom edges are browned. Carefully turn patties over; cook 3 minutes or until bottom edges are done.

Nutritional Information
Calories:182
Fat:12.3g (sat 1.3g,mono 6.7g,poly 3.6g)
Protein:6.6g
Carbohydrate:15.6g
Fiber:4.6g
Cholesterol:53mg
Iron:2mg
Sodium:448mg
Calcium:103mg

*****

I used two pieces of whole grain whole wheat bread instead of the bun. Oh, and I didn't have any fresh oregano, so I think I added in some cumin because I heart cumin and thought it would work nicely with the other flavors. The burger mixture was pretty wet and sticky, so I'd recommend a little non-stick spray on your hands to make it easier to work with and get the burgers in the pan.

I topped all the burgers with monterey jack cheese, then the husband and I also had avocado and tomato on ours. The boy doesn't like either of those, and the baby actually picked off the tomato and avocado and ate them on their own. He was not a fan of this dinner. The boy ate his well enough but wasn't happy about it. The husband and I both really liked these burgers, so I'd probably make them for a dinner we'd have after the kids are in bed. I liked these a lot better than some frozen veggie burgers I've tried, and I loved the chili powder and cumin in them.

Sorry for the half-eaten picture...I was so excited to eat I forgot to take a picture before I sat down at the table!

Tofu Enchiladas

I've posted this recipe before, but it was a really long time ago. It's one of the husband's favorites, and I had most of the ingredients for it recently. I'd forgotten how much I like it, although I think it's a lot better when it's fresh as opposed to the leftovers. The husband had no problem eating the leftovers, but I just didn't care for them as much. This is a great recipe for disguising tofu because you really have no idea it's even in there. My college roommate, Joanne, made this for me one time while she lived here in Phoenix, and I immediately fell in love with it. This was also one of the first--if not the actual first--meal I made for the husband when we were first dating.

Tofu Enchiladas

1 package firm tofu
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp paprika
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3-4 green onions
1 cup sliced olives
1 can drained black beans
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Mexican seasoning
12 corn tortillas
2 cans mild enchilada sauce
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Mix together first 10 ingredients. Divide filling between tortillas, following diections for rolling on can. Top with 1 cup grated cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

*****

The only thing I did differently was to use whole wheat flour tortillas instead of corn because I had them on hand and didn't feel like making my own corn tortillas. I had some filling left over--not enough to fill another tortilla but too much to just throw away--so I spread it on the top of the enchiladas before pouring the sauce on there.

We all really liked this. The boy doesn't like mushrooms, but he picked them out. The baby ate just as much of this as I did! He's an eater for sure, but it always amazes me when he eats an adult size portion! I'll have to get this in the dinner rotation more often since we all enjoy it.

Enchilada filling:


Mmmmm...saucy, cheesey enchiladas:

Surimi Rolls

Do you know one of the things I love about my meal planning spreadsheet? It's a super easy way for me to go back and see what things I've missed posting on my blog! Plus I love spreadsheets, but since I'm not out in the corporate world anymore I don't have many occassions for them, so really any chance I get to create one, I jump on it. Have I mentioned before that I planned probably 75% of my wedding using spreadsheets? I even had a way cool one for our seating chart at the reception using conditional formatting, SUMIF formuals, etc. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Anyway...I was figuring out my meal plan for the coming week (which isn't very exciting since I'm challenging myself to use stuff we already have on hand) and went back and looked at previous weeks' meal plans because I do a new tab for each week. I realized there are quite a few things I need to go back and post. The baby is napping, the boy is watching a show, and the husband is napping on the couch, so I'm having some computer time.

As a parent I feel I'm obligated to have a subscription to Parents magazine. Along with that I get weekly emails with meal ideas. Sometimes I take the time to read through them and see if there's anything interesting, other times I just delete it. This recipe was in one I actually read, and I loved how easy it sounded!

Surimi Rolls
From Parents.com

1 pound imitation crab meat (surimi), chopped
3/4 cup light mayonnaise
3/4 cup chopped celery (about 2 large ribs)
4 teaspoons fresh chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 hot dog buns, top-sliced variety

1. In a large bowl, mix together the imitation crab, mayonnaise, celery, tarragon, mustard and olive oil until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. To serve, spoon a generous 1/3 cup of the crab mixture into each roll. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

*****

I didn't have any tarragon, so I sprinkled in some Old Bay seasoning to add a little something to it. This came together ridiculously fast which is always nice. I was honestly surprised at how my kids gobbled this up. The baby could not get enough of it, and the boy ate every bite on his plate. This was a great dish for summer when it's hot out and you don't feel like cooking or heating up the kitchen but want something filling. I'd definitely make it again!

(I forgot to take a picture of it, but the post on Parents.com has a picture on it. I included the link in the recipe title up above.)

I'm back!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. I went on a girls weekend with two of my college friends to Newport Beach, CA the weekend of July 24th, then I was home for a week and left again on the 31st and just got home last night. My boys and I flew to Boise to spend the weekend with my best friend Brooke. My mom drove from Phoenix and met us there, and we had a great time spending the weekend with her, her husband, and their one year old daughter who is one of the sweetest little girls ever!! Although I may be somewhat biased since I'm her pseudo-aunt. Then that Monday my mom and I loaded up her car with my crazy kids and drove to Seattle. Why yes I am a glutton for punishment, thanks for asking! The drive went surprisingly well, and then we spent a week in Seattle. The husband flew up and met us there for the week, and my brother lives there, so we had some great family time and got to do a lot and see a lot of my friends while we were there.

Now it's back to the daily grind. I have mostly new dinners planned for this whole week, so if they turn out well I'll be posting them here. I've decided that instead of trying to post everything I'm just going to start posting new things I make that we like. Why waste my time posting a sucky recipe, right? The husband and I are both getting our cholesterol checked on Thursday, so in an effort to have it be okay, we're eating vegetarian between now and then.

I did eat some fantastic meals on our trip. Instead of filling you in on everything (leave a comment if you want me to...I can talk about food all day!), I'll just post links to the restaurants that were the highlights.

Red Feather Lounge (in downtown Boise...fantastic breakfast...lots of local foods on menu!)

Fanci Freeze (another Boise establishment...we didn't eat here, only stopped for a Boston Shake...a must-try if you're in Boise...milkshake topped with an ice cream sundae...my bobo of a four year old consumed most of the one we were supposed to share!)

Pike Brewing Company (in Seattle near the famous Pike Place Market...I didn't have any of their beer but the husband did and said it was awesome...I had a salmon sandwich that was so fresh and tasty, but I'm still kicking myself for not getting the ploughman's lunch plate with local cheeses and charcuterie)

Boundary Bay Brewery (in Bellingham, WA...one of my college stomping grounds...their Scotch Ale is my most favorite beer in the whole wide world...we were there for their Thursday night beer garden BBQ...it was awesome and they had outside toys for the kids...that made it even more awesome and my kids have never been as dirty as they were playing there)

Steelhead Diner (in Seattle also near the Pike Place Market...the husband and I had a date night here...fantastic food, reasonably priced wine list...I'd definitely go back...strangely enough, the red beans and rice was some of the best I've ever had)

Blue Star Cafe and Pub (in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood...great breakfast...especially if you had too much to drink the night before...the breakfast potatoes were amazing...so was the biscuits and gravy I had)

We also had really good Chinese food from a take-out place near my brother's but I don't remember what it was called, plus I don't think they had a website.