Category Archives: Munchie Mondays

Today is Kyle’s birthday!  We have had such a fun weekend celebrating… baseball, tennis, movies, and lots of good food!  I kept asking what kind of cake Kyle wanted and he finally decided on pound cake… to be served with strawberries and whip cream!  Delicious.  I made homemade pound cake and the strawberries were perfect.

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Kyle told you that we’d be celebrating the Chinese New Year with friends last night.  We went over to West Monroe and met up with some old friends and then made some new friends!  Our new friends are from northern China and own the Chinese restaurant in the Monroe mall.    Needless to say, the food was delicious and the time spent with Chinese friends was so fun!  We even got to watch some CCTV 1 on the internet.

The most important things about celebrating the Chinese New Year is the food and friends!

Deliciously spicy tofu:

Crab:

We also enjoyed dozens of jiao zi (Chinese dumplings),and Abigail got the one with the coin hidden inside!  Then there was da pan ji – a Xinjiang favorite that Abigail whipped up.

We do hope you enjoy a happy and healthy Chinese new year!

As promised, here is the other Campbell’s recipe I tried this week:

Tomato Basil Chicken and Pasta

Kyle’s adjective: rustic.

And in other delicious news, have you seen the Domino’s commercials? They hooked us and we gave the new pizza a try.  They have totally revamped everything and it is good!  You should try it the next time you’re in the mood for some take-out.

So, for all of the previous Munchie Monday posts I have really brought my A game.  The food has been quite impressive.  Well, this week, we’re not so high-brow.  It’s time for a Campbell’s Soup recipe.  I have this wonderful cookbook full of recipes that always call for at least one can of Campbell’s Soup.  The recipes are super easy and, so far, always delicious!

Yesterday we had Lemon and Broccoli Chicken for a late Sunday dinner.  I served it up with fresh steamed broccoli and sweet corn. All you need is chicken, 1 lemon, 3/4 c. milk and 1 can of cream of broccoli soup.  Cook the chicken, set it aside, heat all other ingredients, then add the chicken back in.  I told you it was easy!

This week is actually going to be a chicken marathon… I have 4 chicken recipes and 1 beef recipe picked out from this same cookbook.  I’ll share photos of all the finished products next week.

On another munchie note, we had a fantastic dinner party this past weekend with some very dear friends.  Megan is definitely the hostess with the mostest, and was responsible for all the delicious food!

Not only can Meg cook, she can get really creative… check out our fun place cards!

Until next week, happy eating!

by Susan

I missed out on a Munchie Monday post last week, but I will certainly make up for it today!  Kyle and I are headed to NC this week to see his family for Christmas.  So, today my family came to Ruston to have our Christmas together.  Kyle and I wanted to cook something delicious yet non-traditional.  (We aren’t nearly as good at turkey or ham as Mom, so we changed up the holiday menu a bit!)  We referred to our trusty Julia Child cookbook and decided on a French beef stew.  If any of you have seen the delightful movie Julie and Julia, you’ll know just which recipe I’m speaking of.

It was no small feat cooking this… it took us 2.5 hours working together!   You must blanche the bacon, saute the bacon, dry the meat, brown the meat, saute the vegetables, toss with flour, add the wine, braise the onions.  We became educated on many aspects of cooking that we had never known before.

We served it up with peas, boiled potatoes and a fresh garden salad.  I have to admit I was intimidated by the recipe, but we did it.  And it was absolutely delicious!  I hope you enjoy your holiday fare.  Merry Christmas!

by Susan

A few weeks ago we took a trip to New Orleans.  We had loads of fun with our friends, and I even got my first Munchie Monday post from our visit.  While we were there Philip went bow and arrow fishing with his Dad and brother.  We’d never heard of bow and arrow fishing either, but we were educated.  They went out on swampy, shallow water in an air boat and when they sighted a fish shot it with the arrow.  The arrow was attached to a rope and could be reeled back in with the fish in tow!  Philip was quite successful.  They caught a healthy number of redfish.  So much, in fact, that we came home with an ice chest.

Kyle grilled the fish and we served it up with garlic mashed potatoes and salad.  The important thing about grilling fish is that one side still has the skin.  This is the side that sits on the grill and there are no worries about sticking to or falling through the grate.  Kyle brushed it with olive oil and seasoned it with lemon pepper.  It stayed on the grill for about 20 minutes, and it was perfect!

Next time you’re in the mood for some delicious fish, try grilling it.  You won’t be disappointed.  Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful holiday season!

by Susan (not Kyle)

It’s a good time of year to be a foodie!  Thanksgiving and Christmas offer up some of the most delicious traditional American dishes.  Last week was no exception and my Mom certainly delivered.

The turkey was the staple, and done a little differently this year.  Dad took the wings, legs, and thighs and smoked them on the grill.  Mom took the breast and slow cooked it overnight in the crock pot!  It was fantastic!  The smoked turkey had a KC Masterpiece garlic balsamic marinade and the breast was cooked with Cajun Injector creole garlic flavor.  Mmmmm!

Mom can decorate a beautiful table, too.  Holiday tables at home are always a gorgeous spread.

Cannot forget dessert… Chocolate Chip Pecan pie, has to be my favorite.

Hope you all are enjoying your favorite holiday treats as much as I am!

Hi!  This is Kyle’s wife, Susan.  I love my husband, I love quality photos and I love to enjoy delicious food.  I’ve yet to post anything on this blog, and I thought it was high time I contribute.  So, I’m going to combine my love of photos with my love of food and bring to you a weekly post entitled Munchie Monday!

This Munchie Monday is all about the delectable delights we enjoyed in New Orleans over the weekend.  We headed to the Big Easy to visit our friends Philip and Angela.  When I told them of my need for great food for my debut post we headed to Surrey’s for Sunday brunch.  Surrey’s is a quaint cafe and juice bar on Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District.  It’s set in an old shot-gun style house and seats only around 60, so they have to turn those tables fast on a Sunday morning!    Our wait was less than 20 minutes and it was well worth it!  The walls are filled with work by local artists and the staff was really friendly.

Philip and I decided to try out one of their fresh juice blends  – Satsuma Pineapple Mango blend.  Delicious!

We poured over the menu for a while because everything sounded so delicious!   For me it came down to the Bananas Foster French Toast and the Shrimp and Grits.  Sweet or savory?  I went with savory and I definitely made the right choice.  It was loaded with fresh Louisiana gulf shrimp cooked in a New Orleans style BBQ sauce served over grits with bacon and toast.  The sauce was a rich, creamy creole sauce seasoned perfectly to compliment the shrimp.  Kyle, Angela and Philip got delicious dishes, too (all of which I stole a bite), but I have to say my dish was still the best.  Kyle enjoyed the French Toast, Angela had the Salmon and Eggs Benedict, and Philip had Corn Beef Hash.  I’d have to give Angela’s dish the runner-up slot.  The hollandaise sauce was great, zestier than most, and worked perfectly with the salmon.  Go ahead and salivate…

The next time you’re in New Orleans, stop by Surrey’s… your stomach will thank you.

I launched a new website two weeks ago. I think it looks fantastic – hold on while I pat myself on the back…just kidding -  thanks to everyone that helped and gave feedback on the site! If you haven’t seen it, click here.

The downside to launching a new website is that my email was down for close to a week. I called all sorts of support folks to get it back up. Many thanks to them for the help.  With that being said, if you tried to email me lately, I did not receive it. Please email me again! Thanks!

Now, on to the meat of the post -

As I’ve mentioned before, Susan and I lived in China for two years. It was a wonderful part of our lives and we look forward to returning to China one day. Traveling around China was awesome. But on the awesomeness scale, the food trumped the travel. Susan and I ate out everyday when we lived there. We had favorite restaurants and the owners and workers quickly learned to recognize us as there were only 6 foreigners that lived in our city of 200k. I have a couple of favorite dishes but my go-to was always gong bao ji ding — spicy chicken and peanuts. I could never get enough of the stuff!

I decided to try my hand at making my fav dish. While it wasn’t quite up to snuff by Chinese standards, I think Susan and I both enjoyed a tribute meal to our second home.

cooking the chicken, peanuts, and onions

some cabbage to go with the chicken

pre chow down!

I dug up this snapshot that I took with our point and shoot. This is a photo of Susan with two of our favorite restaurant owners! Their shop was right next to the school we taught at…eventually, they stopped asking us what we wanted to eat and just brought us gong bao ji ding! I really miss this place.