Blackened Chicken Salad

As we continue our week without a kitchen, we tried out Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grill last night. I do realize that when you go to a place with ‘buffalo wings’ in the restaurant name you should order them. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it because I saw they were served up in little cardboard food containers and I really wanted food on a plate…with a fork. This is the blackened chicken salad. The chicken was seasoned with a roasted garlic herb mix that gave me ideas for coming up with my own version. The “salad” part was rather limp lettuce and pale tomatoes. My daughter counted 36 TV monitors in the place and decided they use the monitors as a type of wall art. All kinds of sporting events were being shown. The ambiance was a little disturbing at first because I could hear constant smacking/kissing sounds as patrons licked their fingers while eating their wings. I bet that means the wings are good, though. You get your choice of 14 different sauces.

BBQ Chicken Wrap

Day one of eating dinner elsewhere for a week: Red Robin. It's kid-friendly which was most important last night. This is their chicken BBQ wrap - strips of grilled chicken, a few thin tortilla strips, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, spicy BBQ sauce and a touch of ranch dressing wrapped in a spinach tortilla. I would order it again, and probably will since RR is a favorite with my daughter.

Paper Cup Coffee - Drip, or Instant?

Home-brewed drip coffee this morning in a paper cup. It was a big news weekend in the coffee world with Starbucks giving out free samples of their new VIA instant coffee, along with a coupon for a free drip coffee. Did you try it? It's still on my to-do list. Hopefully, I can try it out, in a paper cup, today.

Retro Candy: Pop Rocks

When I was a kid, this was a highly-prized candy, at least in my book. Partially, this was because I never actually owned any, although I tasted it at a friend's house. I was excited to share this childhood memory with my 7-year old daughter last night. However, she didn't share that enthusiasm after putting the candy in her mouth. She says it doesn't really taste that good, and...it's creepy.

Taste Test: Chippery Chips

I chatted with the "Chippery lady" at Albertsons this week. The Chippery is a machine in select stores where they put potatoes in one end, and fresh potato chips arrive at the other end. Then, they're spun with seasonings and bagged up. If the Chippery lady is there, she can do custom seasonings for you. These are A+ chips in my book, and they come at a premium price. Just 6 ounces will set you back $3.99. The chips are big, have bite without being so crunchy that they tear up your mouth, and taste potato-y.

The Whole Enchilada - Seafood Casserole Style

Enchilada casserole is just the lazy way to make enchiladas. Layer thawed salad shrimp, crab meat (I use krab), diced onions, a bit of sour cream, cheddar-jack cheese and corn tortillas. I poured a can of green chili enchilada sauce over the top and baked at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
I like enchiladas served on a bed of iceberg lettuce. Top them with sour cream, or salsa. The last batch of cherry tomato salsa for the season was used as a topper here.

Dinner on the Dashboard

A visit to downtown Boise's Brick Oven Bistro (which, forever in my mind will be the Brick Oven Beanery, the previous name of the restaurant) to grab a sandwich for some car dining. I hadn't been to the Bistro in a while. I ordered the club, which is sliced fresh-roasted turkey, thick bacon, homemade mayonnaise, tomato, lettuce and fresh cucumbers. I don't remember fresh cucumbers being on the sandwich ever before, but they were good. I had a choice of white bread or wheat bread with sunflower seeds. I chose white bread - as you can see, they decided I should have wheat instead.