Childhood lessons, pre-made is ok!

I have had a bad case of nostalgia lately! The 90's and early 2000's seem to constantly be calling me back to a simpler time where choreographed dances and platform shoes reigned supreme!  Butterfly clips, glitter, boy bands, girl bands, and overall awesomeness!  During my most recent trip down memory lane I was pleasantly reminded of the band O Town.  Pre-packaged boy band created on the show "Making of the Band."  O Town was your average boy band with a versatile collection of guys, sweet angelic voices, choreographed dances, and harmony to rival the ages! They were even a little risque when they say, "how many triple X dreams that's been starring you." WHOA boys!

So what did they precious boys from O Town teach me?  That its ok to like pre-made things! As we ushered in the new millennium time seemed to speed up and pre-made, pre-packaged, quick and easy was taking over!  

Learn how to use pre-made things to your advantage!  We are all busy and finding the time to sit down and cook a somewhat healthy and delicious meal is unrealistic.  Recently I arrived home at 10 pm and knew we needed something for lunch the next day.  Luckily I had bought a few things that could quickly and easily be turned in the most delicious lunch ever! 

(ok so i was looking for a picture of a brain exploding, because this food blew my mind, and I came across this and frankly I had to share.  So it really doesnt fit, but like for real. WHAT IS THIS?)

Moving on.  So I was recently at the store and knew the week would be super crazy.  I had also already been toying with several ideas for meals, and here is what I came up with.

I had bought some pre-cooked frozen shrimp.  They're quick and easy to thaw, you can throw them in salad, or make a meal.  Plus its nice because you can thaw out the amount you want, so you dont have to worry about a ton of extra food laying around tempting you. And the very best part, no peeling the shrimp. There is just something weird about ripping something's carcass off causing me to look like this....

So another reason why pre-made is better.  Nobody wants to see that face.

So I have shrimp, what comes next?  Luckily my local grocery store was running a special on pre-made simmer sauces.  I picked up a jar of lemon garlic butter sauce.  You can always find pre-made sauces, look for what you want.  Also I didnt worry too much about the healthy factor because I knew the rest of the meal would be pretty healthy.  Also I hate reading boring things, it makes me feel like this....

Luckily my skrimps (thats what Grant calls them and its cute) were precooked, so I quickly thawed them under some running water, then threw them in a pan with the simmer sauce. I had to refrain from eating them immediately....

So I have the shrimp, I have the sauce, and now what to go with it?  My go to thought was pasta, but seeing as I am attempting to be on a low carb diet i decided to get real crazy and make mashed cauliflower! Again pre-made is a lifesaver! It was 10:30 pm, I was not about to try to figure out how to boil and make fresh cauli.  Luckily for me I had the frozen steamer bag of cauli, SCORE! Popped that bad boy in the microwave for 5 min, then poured it in a bowl with a little butter and a little milk (make it like you make mashed taters) and mashed it all up! Then to get a little green I steamed some asparagus and BAM, this was the result...

The best most delicious lunch ever!  It took me all of 15 minutes to make this meal thanks to my love for pre-made things!  My love for O Town and pre-made food allowed me to enjoy this meal and make all of my co-workers jealous!

So what have we learned, dont feel bad if everything you make isn't from scratch, Aint NOBODY got time for that!

If you're thinking bout my baby it doesnt matter if your black or white!

Michael Jackson taught us so many lessons, he taught us our ABC's and 123's and why 2+2 makes 4.  He taught us one of the most important dances we could have ever learned in our childhood, one that rivals all of the zombie hype of today.  And he also taught us the most important lesson, it doesnt matter if your black or white.  He himself could never really decide what color he was, so today I take a page from the King of Pop.

NOTE: Please watch the whole video as its absolutely hilarious! Go MJ! (it also took me way longer to write this blog because I immediately got distracted and had to watch more of his music videos, I recommend you do the same)

So anyways in following the footsteps of Michael I decided it was time to carry that over into all aspects of my life.  A friend of mine had asked me to make a cake and cupcakes for her baby kids birthday, so we decided on vanilla cupcakes with vanilla bean icing and a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate frosting. Because if your thinking about my cake, it doesnt matter if its black or white. (haha im so lame and i crack myself up)

So some of you may be thinking "how boring is vanilla cake and vanilla icing" You may even have a face similar to this seal who is totally bored....

But ill let you in on a little secret, he really likes my vanilla cupcakes.  He is my taste tester, his name is Jim.  So what makes these vanilla cupcakes so special?  Well the cupcakes were your typical white cake.  Its the vanilla bean icing that add that extra oomph.  The use of real vanilla beans adds character.  Now I have never used a real vanilla bean before so I really had no clue what I was doing or what to expect.  Here are some tips that might help you....

1. Cut the vanilla bean in half long ways

2. Use the back of a knife to scrape the 

seeds out of the vanilla bean.

3. Theyre sticky little buggers so try not to

get them all over your hands.

The recipe for the icing was very easy, it uses all butter, whereas typically im working with some shortening and butter.  This icing was easy to work with, but as my hands heated up the icing in the bag it started getting a little melty so try to keep you hands cold.  Dont get all clammy like these guys did...

The recipe:

3 1/4 sticks of butter, softened but be careful not to melt it.

3 C confectioners sugar (they always say to sift it but im super lazy sometimes so i dont and it always pans out for me, plus im not that great at following directions.)

1 vanilla bean, scraped

1 t REAL vanilla extract

Milk as needed to get the right consistency.

All those little dots are the vanilla bean....yummy!

Now, the vanilla cupcakes were bomb diggity, no doubt, but my pride and joy was the chocolate cake.  This would have made Dr. Martin Luther King proud at the way it tore down barriers based on color and flavor and united people together for one great cause, satisfying their sweet tooth.  This cake was a master piece of epic proportions.  I have never actually made a chocolate cake before, atleast not like this.  Sure the regular box cake with canned icing in high school, but this was my first endeavor into the world of chocolate.  I felt like an oompa loompa surrounded by that rich goodness.  I decided to make a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache in the middle AND on top AND chocolate frosting.  Now I can already hear the naysayers saying ohh thats too rich, well guess what, nobody likes you.

So moving on, the cake.  I wanted to use a box cake, but wanted to make it more than just your average box cake. So I did.

The recipe:

1 box Devil's Food Cake

1 box instant chocolate pudding

1 C sour cream

1/2 C Water

1/2 C Vegetable Oil

4 Eggs

I thought that making chocolate ganache was gonna be all hard and fancy. It was actually super easy. 

The Recipe:

4 bars of chocolate (16 oz) I used 2 dark choc and 2 milk choc

2 C heavy cream

I put the chocolate in the blender and got it all crushed up and little

Heat the cream in a microwave safe bowl for 2-3 minutes, then put the chocolate in another bowl and pour the cream over it. Let it sit for a minute or two, then stir. 

You have to let it sit to get stiff, so i let mine sit overnight. I had to control myself after licking the spoon and tasting that goodness. I wanted to eat the whole bowl, i didnt, dont worry.

As if chocolate ganache wasnt enough, I had to go and get cray and add chocolate frosting too.  This chocolate frosting was amazing, it tasted just like hot chocolate.

The Recipe:

2 3/4 C confectioners sugar
6 T unsweetened cocoa powder
6 T butter
5 T evaporated milk
1 T vanilla extract
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, cream butter in the mixer then alternate adding dry ingredients and the evaporated milk.  Add the vanilla, and BAM you have yourself some deliciousness.

The cake was so good.  I put the ganache between layers, realizing how important it was for the ganache to sit overnight.  Its a little slippery so you want to make sure its stiff enough not to make your cakes slide everywhere.  I was only going to put it in the middle but i have a tendency to be super excessive so i put it on top too. Yum!  Then i frosted that wholesome goodness and this was the result.....

The cake was a huge hit! Everyone loved it and most people had seconds.  I have to say it was honestly the best chocolate cake I have ever had.  I would love to have some right now....mmmm!

So take a page from Michael Jackson and be open to exploring things different from you and your norm.  

Drake aint got nuttin on me!

We recently watched with baited breath as they announced the various winners at the 2013 Grammy Awards.  With Jay-Z and Kanye cleaning up for N****s in Paris and Drake winning rap album of the year, my budding rap career has some serious competition.  I may not be the best rapper but I am definitely the best WRAPPER!  While Drake is making sick beats i'm making sick wraps, lettuce wraps that is!

So why am I writing a blog about the easiest thing in the world to make? Uh because its the easiest thing in the world to make, duh!  Im busy, like really busy, all the time.  I dont have time to make some fancy healthy meal every day, or a gourmet lunch for the hubs to take.  As most of you know a dieters biggest downfall is when theyre busy and they go grab fast food, and if you are me making a healthy decision at a fast food place doesnt happen.  I have no will power.

So I have learned what is easy for me and that is lettuce wraps! You already saw my delicious tuna wraps, if not look at my old blogs, NOW! :) But I have created several varieties.  Our favorite has been the buffalo chicken lettuce wraps with avocado and tomatoes! Those were delicious, so delicious I ate them before I could get a pic!  I recently made honey mustard chicken lettuce wraps.

The Recipe

1 lb of chicken (cubed)

1 T Dill

1/2 C Honey Mustard (low fat)

1/2 Avocado

Cherry Tomatoes

Boston Lettuce

Sautee the chicken with whatever the seasoning of choice is, I kept the salt low because honey mustard is already kind of tangy.  Once the chicken was pretty much cooked I put in the dill and honey mustard and let it cook for about 5 min.  Then I wrapped it up!  Avocado adds a mellow fresh flavor and the tangy tomatoes were delicious!

These are super easy for dinner when you are in a hurry, you can even have the chicken pre-cooked.  

Once I realized how awesomely low carb and delicious lettuce wraps were I started making them like crazy! One day I was trying to throw something together for lunch, I was already running behind and didnt have time to create something awesome, so I basically made a lettuce wrap lunchable.  I LOOOVE regular lunchables, they are like my favorite thing because im five. 

YUM! But so not healthy, they have like 80 gillion calories and sodium and fat and blah blah blah BOO. So here is what I came up with in a hurry, and with the exception of mistaking bleu cheese for ranch it was awesome. (bleu cheese is real gross. Moldy mold with extra mold, uh no.)

It was seriously so simple, I quickly cut up an avocado and some tomatoes.  Thru some lunch meat and lettuce in there and some cheese.  Then I made the actual wraps at work during lunch when I had time.  I also had an apple a snack, no caprisun tho. :( 

Basically it takes finding something you like and learning how to make variations of it.  No rapper has ever created some entirely unique beat, they use whats there and make variations of it.  So I took a page out of Drake's book and made a variation.  My wraps are definitely better than his and so much healthier.  No STD's, or hoes, or pimps, or sick whips, or drugs involved here, just some wholesome goodness! So get crazy and wrap it up!!

Getting funny on the green stuff!

As we get older our definitions of the green stuff have probably changed!  Now I know some of you are thinking of a particular herb used for medicinal purposes only of course, but unfortunately I'm not talking about that sticky icky.

No, now that we are adults, and we are fat its time to trade in the green for the other green stuff.  Zucchini, cucumbers, kale, cilantro, bell peppers, spinach, etc.  Yes we must make healthier and legal choices! :)  I have been getting creative (meaning Ive been making pinterest things) out of the good greens lately.  Our lifestyle change seems to be going well as Grant and I can both button our pants now, BIG accomplishment! We did not want to be part of the 2/3's of Americans that are obese.

Patriotism is being proud of your country and proud of yourself.  Obesity and over-weightness happen, I am just glad we are taking steps to be healthier and still eat some legitness!  Soooo here is what has been happening....

First thing I made was some super amazing and delicious Zucchini pizzas.  Now there are a few tips I will give you that will make your pizzas a little easier to enjoy.  I didn't grill or cook the zucchini first, mistake.  Zucchini is super duper juicy, like a zucchini waterfall. Its cray. 

So i suggest grilling or baking the zucchini first.  It will get a little soggy if you bake it, so bake it for like 7 min then take it out, drain the juice, pat dry with a paper towel and get ready to party!  Once your zucchini is a little less juicy, its time make some pizzzzzzza!  I kept it simple, i added sauce, cheese and pepperonis.  

A few more tips, beware of the sauce you use.  Some sauces have a ton of sugar added and that adds calories and carbs.  Read the labels, most people consume unnecessary calories because they're too lazy to look at a label.  Also I learned if you bake the pepperoni chips in the oven they get crispy, but also all that nasty grease comes out of them so you are saving yourself quite a few calories and zits right there! :) You're welcome!

Sooo here is the final deliciousness!

It was like bagel bites without the bagels.  The zucchini adds such a good flavor, its mild compared to the acidity and sweetness of the sauce, the saltiness of the cheese and pepperoni.  Great combo, Grant couldn't stop eating them, and unlike other foods I didn't have to cut him off because they're pretty healthy!

As I continue on this journey to appreciate other green stuff I learned about cucumber sandwiches on pinterest.  Now let me tell you sometimes pinterest ideas are awesome, sometimes they're not.  This was a half awesome idea resulting in this face....

This is not a pretty face, so pinterest don't make me look weird...its uncool.

Anywho let me tell you why it was only a half good idea.  Cucumber are big, and pretty difficult to bite through.  I followed directions (meaning I looked at the picture and emulated) I cut the cucumber in half, scooped out the middle part with the seeds, filled it will delicious things like turkey, avocado,and muenster cheese.  I brought a side of light ranch and at lunch I was ready to get funny on the green.  I took a bite, sorta. I tried to take a bite and realized the one trait of a T-Rex I didn't get was razor sharp teeth. (many of you are wondering about the t-rex reference, I have the world's shortest arms and tiny hands, I'm also a ferocious carnivore that will eat your face like I'm on bath salts. jk) I digress, so back to the cucumbwich.  I took the top cucumber half off and at more of a cucumber flat bread type thing.  So for the next time I think ill cut the edges off the cucumber and make a more flat and thin cucumber sandwich. Also ill probably peel the skin off so its easier to gnaw on.

Sooo it was difficult, but how did it taste? AMAZEBALLS!  It has the crisp, cool, clean flavor of the cucumber, it felt like I was eating summer. It was filling like a sandwich would be, but low carb and I didn't feel like a fatty afterwards.  So here it is....the half good pinterest idea....

I'm excited to continue my journey into the world of green.  I hope to begin a relationship with Kale soon but its playing hard to get and being kind of difficult.  Ill figure it out.  Don't be afraid to get a little funny on the green stuff! 

OH MY GOSH Becky look at her BUNDT!

I have a problem, lets be real I have loads of problems because I'm a hot mess, but nothing that cant be handled.  The problem I bring to you today is my severe addiction to anything with sugar in it.  Sweet tooth does not begin to describe my obnoxious sugar addiction.  I'm pretty sure I could break a crack addiction easier than my sugar addiction. Its also probably God's best invention, other than me! :)  This lifestyle change for Grant and I has been going pretty well, but I got a hankering for something delicious.  I also recently found my bundt pan that I got for our wedding and have never used, so it was decided, I would make a bundt cake.

Oh the possibilities for a bundt cake are endless.  There are only like 8 gagillion different types of bundt cakes.  So as any good pinterest addict would do I hit the boards.  I must have pinned a hundred different types of bundt cakes. (I feel that this is a good time to mention that Blogger is not recognizing bundt as a word...get it together, how would it make you feel?)

Anyways, there were so many different kinds of bundt cakes, there was a puddle of drool on my desk once I was done pinning.  I was going to be taking this on a trip over the weekend though, so I couldn't get too crazy because I wanted it to be able to travel well.  So using my in depth knowledge of the texture, density, and moisture of different types of cake I chose to make a pound cake bundt cake!  At this point after hours of pinning bundt cakes, I realized I had no recipe for a pound cake.  At this critical juncture one decides whether they will use a random recipe or whether they will consult the food gods.  I chose food god, meaning Paula Deen.

Look at that amazing woman, who wouldn't want to follow in her culinary footsteps?

So it was decided that I would make Paula Deen's Mama's pound cake. The most important thing to remember when baking is that it is actually an exact science.  When you are cooking you throw in a little of this and a dash of that, in baking you cant do that or you end up with ugly nasty lumps of ew! And then people make faces like this....

So follow the recipe. Don't try to be a hero.

The Recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

I found that it is very important to alternate the milk and the flour mix, otherwise you end up with a weird situation. Again, follow the directions or the baking fairy will come after you and she is a nasty little lady.

Also it is important to ensure that the cake doesn't stick.  I have found that getting some Crisco on a paper towel and covering the whole pan in a very thin layer,just making it greasy, then covering it in flour is the most effective way to get the cake to pop right out.  Some people use bakers spray, its whatever works best for you.  Make sure on the bundt pan to get all the nooks and crannys though.

Now most pound cakes do not have a glaze, but most bundt cakes do.  Since I was getting all fancy and creating a hybrid that rivals Klaus's vampire/werewolf hybrids in the Vampire Diaries, I needed to create a glaze.  I decided on an orange butter cream.  Now usual butter cream icing is thick, because its icing.  So I wanted the flavors but not the texture.  Luckily with the glaze you can just throw stuff in and hope it works, unless you are not a baker, then don't do that. 

The Glaze:

2/3-1 Cup of light cream (I used heavy whipping cream and it got a little stiffer than I wanted)

about 1/3 Cup of powdered sugar

1/2 stick of melted butter

Zest and Juice of one orange

Mix the cream and butter in your mixer until they are mixed together well, then add the powdered sugar.  Mix well then add the orange zest and juice.  Don't whip between adding ingredients to avoid the glaze getting too thick. 

SOOOO what happened? Well amazeballs deliciousness happened, DUH!

It was approved by everyone who ate it and my taste buds were ecstatic! I had never made a bundt cake before and now I can tell it will be happening more frequently than my diet should allow! :)

Favs in a Flash: Game Day Quickies

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOOTBALLL??? It is that time, for men and women alike to get crazy.  Super Bowl Sunday is a day of sheer gluttony!  Eating too much, drinking too much, yelling too much, and for some crying too much.  Emotions and tensions will be high as a group of very large sweaty men take the field and engage in some seriously close contact.  As America watches with bated breath to find out who will be the reigning Super Bowl Champion, they will also be consuming so delicious snacks!

I love Super Bowl Sunday, obviously, I'm a foodie.  Its a great day to throw caution to the wind and dig in.  Unfortunately this year, we are traveling and will be back just in time to catch some of the game.  This means I cant spend my whole day cooking. WAAAHHH! But thanks to a little planning, I have come up with some quick and delicious snacks you can make when in a pinch.  These are great for any game day, and since hockey season is finally underway we still have lots of game days to cook for.

The first thing is a healthier choice, but also super delish, simple, and quick.  A basic fruit dip.  Lets face it, everyone loves fruit dip.  If you know there is a game day coming up and you also know that you will be busy and not have time to cook, then make sure you hit the grocery store in advance.  That's the easiest way to be prepared is to think ahead.  This dip goes great with apples, grapes, and strawberries.

The Recipe: Be prepared to have your mind blown!

2   8 oz blocks of cream cheese (softened)

1 jar of marshmallow cream

Blend and BAM! You have dip!

Your Fruit will be as excited as these fruits are to take a dip :)

I was reading today how there will be a shortage of chicken wings this year, and if your team was not one who made it into the Super Bowl this could be the last straw.  As if it isn't bad enough watching a team you dont care about the idea of not being able to have buffalo wings is almost unbearable, but do not fear, I am here to save the day!

Buffalo Chicken Dip is not only delicious, but will help you cry a little less over the wing shortage, plus its way faster, which is my goal with this post, fast, simple, game day foods! This is a great "man" food, easy for them make and they will love it!

The Recipe: Its no use crying over chicken wings!

1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese

1  8oz pkg cream cheese

Buffalo Sauce (you pick your fav, I like Texas Pete's bc im a Texan)

2 cans of chicken (its by the tuna, on the canned meat isle)

1/2 stick of butter (my fav food)

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan then add the shredded cheese.  As the cheese melts you will need to make sure you stir it so it doesn't burn, also dont get crazy, cook it on med-low.

2.  Once the cheese is melted add the cream cheese, best to pre-soften so its easier. 

3. Add the buffalo sauce, use the whole bottle, go ahead, get crazy! 

4. Last, add the chicken, after you have drained it of course.

Stir it all up, put it in a bowl and get ready to have your face melted off with the goodness!

Last, but absolutely not least, is the quintessential game day food, QUESO! Everyone brings queso, but everyone loves queso.  You can never have to much cheese in my opinion, I have considered taking a bath in queso just because its so awesome! Here is a place I'm tryna go to for sure!

Anyways, queso can be great and pretty swift if you know what you are doing! Take your block of Velveeta and cut into small 1/2 inch to 1 inch cubes.  It will melt fast the smaller they are.  Since Velveeta is not really food, I'm fairly certain its plastic, tasty plastic, but plastic nonetheless, it is pretty resilient.  If you cube it in advance and put it in a ziploc in the fridge it will cut down significantly on the time spent on game day.  Also, if you pulled an Abby and used half spicy, half regular sausage then you still have a pound of sausage just waiting to be ingested.  So take that and cook it up like you would ground beef, let it cool (this tip is for the men), then put it in a ziploc and throw it in the fridge by your cheese chunks.  

The recipe: melt that plastic like its a Barbie!

1 block of Velveeta (previously cubed)

1 lb sausage (previously cooked)

1 can of Rotel tomatoes

Throw this all in a crock pot.  If you are in a hurry turn in on high for like 30 min, stirring occasionally, then as it melts turn it down on low.  

NOTE: if you don't have a crock pot, stop being an idiot and buy one.  JK you can melt this all in a glass bowl.  Put it in the microwave for like 3 min at a time stirring in between as it melts.  Once it starts to get melty put it in for 1 min increments.  

BAM! Queso in my belly!

While I know none of these recipes were life changing and for some they are probably old news, but sometimes you have to plan ahead and get stuff done! It is not uncommon for the hubs to say, he we need food for this game party or for that, and I have to think on my feet. If you know in advance that's better and easier so you can have it almost all done before game day even hits.  If you are a man reading this blog, then I know you probably did not think ahead and are scrambling at the last minute to have food for your epic Super Bowl party.  Chips and bean dip are not epic, so man up, get in the kitchen, and make some real food.  You might even be able to impress the ladies with your excellent cooking skills!

Crying like a Kardashian!

I'm a serial cheater, there I have admitted it, but so is my husband.  We just cant seem to turn down good fattening fried food.  I think we go on dates not so much for each other's company, but more for the food.  We are both having intense love affairs with food.  So last weekend we had a date night, meaning a lets see how much unhealthy food we can eat in one sitting.

My amazing hubs (pictured above) is the best foodie I know.  He studies food and restaurants, so we were lucky to find this Guy Fieri certified dive called Tune Inn in DC.  It definitely lived up to the reputation of dive, with a dim lighting, small staff, and decor as eclectic as the patrons.  We were blessed to be seated near two tables of middle aged men in super legit sweaters and loafers who were SCHWASTED!  We were then even luckier to hear them sing along to this little gem....

Oh yes it was a lovely experience! :) I actually loved it as it reminded me of being back in Texas.  It was a great dive atmosphere and was not dirty feeling like some dives, so that was a plus.

On to the food now, the menu was AWESOME!  All foods that I love, very !Merican!

There were fried pickles (my favvvvv), wings, onion rings, nachos, cheese fries, etc. And that's just the appetizer section. Check out the menu here.

After a discussion of the pros and cons of several appetizers and a very in depth discussion of the sauces offered and how they will go with each appetizer we decided on corn meal battered onion rings with a side of salsa ranch (the Texan in me jumped for joy about this sauce) and the house sauce.  I'm pretty certain they took an onion, cut it in half, and battered and fried the rings.  These onion rings were GINORMOUS and flipping DELISH!

As you can see in the picture Grant was impatiently waiting for me to take a pic so he could dig in!

We were then forced to narrow it down to one entree, that's the worst part about good restaurants is it is damn near impossible to decide on just ONE thing. Just one. It makes me feel sad actually. Kinda like this....

After more heated discussions, with mouths watering and eyes tearing at the difficulty of this decision, we chose. I chose one of the Tune Inn signature dishes, classy and elegant, a sloppy joe! Now I know some of you are thinking, for real, a freaking sloppy joe. Yes, a freaking sloppy joe.  They are delicious, they remind me of home, and they remind me of Billy Madison, one of the greatest films ever!

This sloppy joe was awesome! It can on a toasted hamburger bun, helps some with the sogginess. It was overflowing with meat as any good sloppy joe should be, but wasn't too saucy.  It was served up with a big plate of  good crunchy french fries and that special sawwwce!

Grant had a hard time choosing as well, but since he is on a fat trimmer diet he chose the fattiest thing on the menu. He chose a deep fried burger, which he has been craving ever since we watched some food show about burgers.  You see watching things like Epic Mealtime and other shows about food is not a wise idea while on a diet. Not if you are us, we then want to try everything.  Its a problem.  Anyways  Grant cant just eat things as they come, ohhh no, he is the sauce guy and must have extra sides of all sauces.  In addition to a deep fried burger he had to sub the fries for fried okra.  Fried Okra is Grant's favorite food, its one of the things that brought him to Texas for college and ultimately it led him to me! So I always know if any restaurant has fried okra it will be on his plate.  The burger came out and it was actually kind of beautiful, at least to a Texas girl who thinks fried food can be beautiful.  It was perfectly battered and was a gorgeous golden brown, crispy, and topped with lettuce and tomatoes and pickles.  The fried okra was honestly some of the best fried okra I have ever had.  It was perfectly seasoned, crispy, and delicious!  I would recommend looking away now if you are hungry or on a diet.

We both gorged ourselves on this delicious food, there was even discussion of a milkshake or some type of dessert, but at the end of the meal I had unbuttoned my pants, and was having trouble breathing, so we decided to call it a night.  If you are ever in DC and want some excellent, well priced food and a laid back atmosphere I recommend the Tune Inn.  If you are on a diet and are actually trying to stick to it, I do NOT recommend the Tune Inn, you wont be able to choose a salad guaranteed.