Olive Garden at home

I love Olive Garden. I don't love paying a lot or waiting for a table. Why is Olive Garden so busy? Andrew and I had a discussion about it, never mind. So I made Olive Garden copy cat recipes!

First. Pasta E Fagioli (the recipe). I used small shell pasta instead. Really good!! It's a pretty filling soup. It works fine as a main dish.

Next Olive Garden's Salad Dressing (the recipe). Think about it. It's such a cheap salad but Man! It is delicious! So easy to make really. Pour this over chopped romaine, sliced red onions, sliced tomatoes, olives, croutons, pepperoncinis, etc. Boom. The easiest salad everyone loves.

And last but not least....Olive Garden breadsticks (the recipe). I've made a copy cat recipe on this blog before. I must say this recipe is better. I did use about 1/3 c less flour than it called for. I kneaded it for 10-15 mins (more than what the recipe says). And! I let it rise in a bowl until doubled before I rolled it out into the sticks and rise. The result was altogether better than before.


FUN!!! My house wreaks of garlic but hey. It's a small price to pay. Literally....get it? ahahahahaa

Shrimp scampi

I was on pinterest and I saw a number of shrimp pasta recipes that all made me crave shrimp but not the actual dish. So I threw some stuff together.

-1/2 stick of butter
-olive oil
-15 or so shrimp
-lemon juice
-Italian seasoning
-thyme
-salt and pepper
-little dash of garlic powder
-angel hair pasta

It's hard to mess up. You can eyeball it and customize it to your own taste. I heated up the butter, oil, and spices first and then cooked the shrimp. I boiled the pasta separate and added it underdone (since it would cook more with the shrimp). Andrew loves shrimp and I love Andrew! Therefore, this was a good meal :)

Halloween for the Blaylocks

I love Halloween.

Not as much as Christmas! But I do love it.

Bats can be cute when they're not real :)

Andrew and I made Halloween costumes out of our real life personas jk. We were a prince and princess. I found the dress at Saver's for $7.99 (score) and I found a funny shirt for him for $3.99 (double score). I bought the crowns at Zurcher's (a party supply store) for $1.30 each. That gives a whopping total of $14.58. It's hard to imagine people spending hundreds on their costumes lol. 

Oh, and I found this snake. Just kidding. We went to Andrew's brother's work party (that's a mouthful). While we were waiting in line, a guy with a snake walked by. What can you do but throw it around your shoulders? I'm like a Britney Spears snake princess!!  

Red Thai Soup/Curry/I don't know?

I found some red thai paste at my grocery store. It said to add a can of coconut milk to make the curry. Same as the coconut korma, it was good, but not as good as a restaurant.

I added:
-a can of coconut soup
-green pepper
-chicken
-bamboo shoots
-some chopped onion and garlic
-a bag of noodles (pictured below), cooked without the seasoning

Serve with some rice and boom. Dinner. We just finished the leftovers and I'm relieved ahahah

Bananas Foster

I don't know if it's the Honey Boo Boo Child I've been watching recently or what, but I'm on a bit of a southern kick! And I need me some bananas foster!!

Here is the recipe.

Ohhhhh goodness. good golly goodness. gooooood stuff!

Awesome pumpkin bread

I found this recipe: Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread. Wheeeeeeeewwwie! Honey child. This is good :)

I decided to add a streusel topping, I know, I don't know what came over me. But I'm glad it did! It was a nice addition.

This is the recipe for the streusel topping I used:
1/2 c flour
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

I made the pumpkin bread the same, I just topped it with the streusel right before throwing it in the oven. DElishhh

Chicken Korma

If you like curry and you haven't tried Chicken Coconut Korma then YOU DON'T KNOW CURRY!!! Remedy this immediately and go to an Indian restaurant, repent, and get yourself some chicken coconut korma.

I had to make some because, as college students, we can't afford to eat out :(      ...(and it's not as good in my opinion)

But if you would like to try making it, there are several recipes on the internet which involve a lot of spices and ingredients and steps, bleh. So I did the same thing as the butter chicken curry. I bought a jar of the curry and added some coconut milk and some extra spices (chili powder, ginger, coriander, etc).

One day we will be debt-free non-students and we will be able to afford the real deal. Until then! I'll get my fix from jarred curry. :)

Chicken Parmesan

I didn't use a recipe for this. I just threw it together. I'm going to try to give an outline of what I did but be warned, it is far from exact... Just use the proportions you feel is right, you got this!!

-chicken breasts
-flour (seasoned with salt and pepper)
-beaten egg
-seasoned bread crumbs (Italian seasoning or parsley/basil/thyme/etc)
-oil for frying
-spaghetti noodles
-spaghetti sauce
-some mozzarella for the top

Pound out chunks of chicken breast and put in a plastic bag. Add enough flour to coat them and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.

Dip in beaten egg. Dip in seasoned bread crumbs. Fry 'em up in some preheated oil. I fried it because I like the crispiness. It's bad when it gets soggy and falls apart.

I put them on a bed of spaghetti sauce, put a little chunk of mozzarella on top, and baked it at 375 degrees for about 10 mins or so. I was just paranoid they didn't cook all the way when frying.

Serve with noodles and boom. Dinner :) Not totally traditional but it's how I like it!

BBQ meatloaf

Paula Deen you have done it again!

This is Paula Deen's BBQ meatloaf recipe. My mom really likes it and I know I do! Andrew liked it too! It has a homemade bbq sauce which is unique from store bought bbq sauce. I like it a lot. You could use store bought if you didn't want to make it.

And pictured you can see the lovely pink crocheted pan holders from our Aunt Elaine and the awesome Yankee candle from Andrew's brother and sister in law. We love you guys and we love your gifts! We use them allllllll the time :) 

Chicken and Mac

 Wheeeewww talk about bone stickin. This meal took a lot of butter. A lot. haha This meal is not for the faint of heart....

First we have homemade mac and cheese. It's Fannie Farmer's Mac and Cheese recipe. I liked it. I didn't love it. Do you want to hear something sad? I like KFC's fake mac and cheese. I realized that about myself when I was eating this. It was a depressing realization...

Next the chicken. This is a cool chicken recipe: ranch chicken recipe. It's made with corn flakes and ranch dressing mix and baked in the oven.

I HAD to have a salad with this. Moderation is key. Balance is essential. The salad doesn't exactly balance this out ;) but it helps. The true balance comes in having a lighter meal tomorrow night.

I love fast food. Don't even hate haha! This is probably healthier than a KFC meal since it's without the preservatives and the chicken is baked. It definitely tastes more homemade and people like that of course. I'm just saying I'd be okay with having Colonel Sanders cooked my meal instead, just saying! ;)