Kaleo's Bar & Grill (Pahoa, Hawaii)

We decided to eat at Kaleo's at the recommendation of the owner of the vacation home we were renting, and boy were we ever glad that we did! The atmosphere was laid back, considering how fancy the menu was. The chefs here know what the heck they're doing - THAT'S for sure!

But beyond that, we were incredibly impressed with the service. I have never been to a place where they come out to escort you in the building with an umbrella when it's raining, but at Kaleo's, they do. With a SMILE, even! The staff there actually seem to really enjoy what they're doing, and it shows.

They also had live music the night we were there, and the girl playing guitar and singing has got some talent!

We were there with our 15 month old son, and they pulled out all the stops to make us feel right at home with him. That is a rare occurrence these days, and it did not go unnoticed.

So about the food. Oh man. The food!! It was DELICIOUS, and my husband's prime rib was THE best I've ever had. (Based on the one bite I was able to sneak away). I went with the coconut shrimp, and it was delicious as well! The sauce that came with it was so sweet and tangy with just a little bite to it to remind you not to drink it.

We would highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this place! If we are ever back in the area, we will be returning!

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Bamboo Restaurant & Art Gallery (Hawi, Hawaii)

We decided to try the Bamboo Restaurant in Hawi with full intentions of checking out the Pololu Lookout beforehand (which didn't happen). We thoroughly enjoyed our experience here - both the atmosphere, service and food!

Mark went with the bamboo burger, which he said was very good (as were the fries).

I went with the special, which I do recall being some sort of seasoned catch of the day (Ono), and I do recall being delicious, but I don't recall exactly what it was seasoned with, but it was paired with steamed spinach (VERY good) and mashed potatoes.

If we were back in town, we'd go back, but it wasn't one of those meals that just made our taste buds go nuts or anything.
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Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Last night I got a hankerin' for some soup. I realized I needed to use up some chicken broth, and thought why not cater to my soup craving and make some homemade chicken noodle? so I did!

I've made this by a recipe in the past and never has any recipe ever really done it for me, so I now make it to taste exactly how I like it: with LOTS of carrots, celery and chicken, light on the onion and a big bag of wide egg noodles.

I ended up using approximately:

8 large carrots, chopped
6 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium white onions, diced
1 lb bag wide egg noodles
2 6-7oz chicken breasts, diced and cooked
3:1 broth to water ratio, which was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 6C broth and 2C water
generous seasoning with thyme, garlic salt, parsley and crushed bay leaves

I just threw all the veggies in a stockpot with the water and broth and seasonings, then brought to a boil for about 5 minutes. I then added the egg noodles and boiled another 5 minutes before adding the cooked, diced chicken and letting the flavors blend for a bit.

I'm pretty excited to eat leftovers for a few days now :)

Chocolate Frosting (via Diane)

There are a very few things that my husband requested that I learn to make, and one of them was his Mom's chocolate frosting. Granted, in my mind, this isn't a frosting, but rather an icing, due to its texture, but he likes it, and I suppose that's all that matters, right?

You start by melting a couple tablespoons of butter in a saucepan.

You then add a couple tablespoons of half and half and stir in.

Once the butter and half and half are blended well and a little bubbly, add in 2/3 C semi sweet chocolate chips and stir until blended.

As I said before, this turns into more of an icing or glaze than frosting (which I typically think of as fluffy and light and what you would decorate with), but it's pretty good nonetheless.

All-Purpose Seasoning (Courtesy of Gracious Pantry!)

I found this little gem from a clean eating blog I've been following recently, and can't WAIT to try it out - sounds wonderful :)

I agree with Tifany's sentiment that sometimes those Mrs. Dash seasonings aren't quite the flavors I'm hoping for - either too strong or just not quite the right flavor. I'll be checking this out and seeing how it goes!

So here's the recipe from www.thegraciouspantry.com

And here's the ingredient list:

Ingredients
2 tbsp. garlic powder
4 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. celery seed
2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. ground mustard

Combine them all and make sure to store in an airtight container to preserve the flavors!

I'm going to be trying mine on some chicken soon, I think, or maybe pork. I'll make sure to let you know how I like it!

Manicotti

I've made Manicotti exactly once in my life, and I'm not entirely sure why it was just this once. I think partly, I'm just not overly fond of cheese mixed with my pasta (unless it's Parmesan, in which case: more, please!) It was actually very delicious, and I have fond memories of it from my childhood. But overall, when I think of Manicotti, I think of it being time-consuming, and I don't love it enough to spend this much time on it regularly.

I don't recall exactly where I found the recipe, but it was very similar to this one off the Food Network website. (The difference being instead of using marinara sauce, I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato paste)

It seems simple enough: boil the manicotti noodles:

Sautee the sausage with some fresh pressed garlic and diced onion:


Shred up some cheese:

Yes, a BIG mound of cheese :)

Add the seasonings to the meat while it's browning:

Then add in the tomatoes and tomato paste:


Chop up some fresh basil and add it to the skillet:


Then, you mix ALL this cheese (and an egg) together and use it as a filling for those shells. (This is the part where I said it gets VERY time-consuming...and the shells kept breaking on me.



You then place all the stuffed shells in a baking pan and cover with that meaty tomatoey sauce...

...and then you add a bunch of shredded mozzarella. You then bake that Manicotti for about 30 minutes or until the cheese on top gets melty and delicious!


As far as manicotti goes, it was very tasty, and if someone else spent the time making it, I'd definitely eat it again. I just felt like it was too much work for something I'm not THAT crazy about.

Beef Wellingtons

For Valentine's Day this year, I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try something I've never tried before: Beef Wellingtons. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I figured it was worth a shot: steak, sauteed mushrooms and onions all enclosed in a pastry couldn't be all bad, right? RIGHT!

The recipe I found on Taste of Home's website (which I halved) was fairly simple to follow. You need the following ingredients (this is for 2):

Ingredients:

2 beef tenderloin steaks (6 ounces each)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
A whole normal size package of fresh mushrooms, chopped (I LOVE mushrooms)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 package (17.3 ounces) frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

You start by generously seasoning the beef tenderloins with salt and pepper sauteing the tenderloins lightly on each side just until brown.

Then, remove the tenderloins and let them cool completely in the fridge while you sautee the mushrooms and onions in the same pan.

Once the tenderloin is cool and you've let the mushrooms and onions cool to room temperature, you remove the bacon from the beef tenderloin and place it in the middle of a square of puff pastry, then top it with the sauteed mushrooms and onions like so:

Close those little pockets of goodness up, pinch together at the top and brush with egg, then bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

The finished product :)

It was truly delicious! I'm not entirely sure I'd go through all the trouble again dealing with the puff pastry, but I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out, and the hubby thought they were delicious as well!

However, I'd probably pass on the lobster mashed potatoes we paired with them. They took more work by far than the beef wellingtons, and they weren't that good. I would opt for normal mashed potatoes and let the wellingtons shine like they should.

I also added a large stuffed mushroom (store-bought) and some fresh steamed broccoli.