I think I have a pretty good sense of when I don’t want my mom in the kitchen…those days when the kitchen can never be cleaned up enough, or no one appreciates that she cooks every day…so on those days I like to try and have something on the stove before she even gets home from work (along with a margarita in the freezer ). Rachel Ray’s quick meals are great for times like these. Her chicken with wild mushrooms and balsamic cream sauce is especially good because I usually have most of the ingredients (aside from the mushrooms) in my cabinets anyway, so it’s always really easy to throw together.

Chicken with Wild Mushrooms and Balsamic Cream Sauce

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Spencer and I visited longtime Baton Rouge/LSU favorite The Chimes this week for lunch. Surprisingly, I can’t find any historical information on the Chimes and why it’s so well-loved, other than that it’s a college bar with an extensive beer selection and great food. Does it even need anything else?

The Chimes

My birthday was this past weekend, and for some reason I was craving enchiladas. I found a recipe by Tyler Florence on foodnetwork.com for green chile enchiladas and decided to try it out.

Roasted Green Chile-Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe was an interesting one to put together–I’ve never made enchiladas or salsa and never worked with a few ingredients used here, but I think they came out great.
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I was excited to try another of “Baton Rouge’s best” last week but was disappointed that the pizza place turned out to be cash only.  Hungry and still craving pizza, Spencer suggested a new-ish place right outside the mall, BJ’s Brewhouse.

BJ's Brewhouse

To me, BJ’s is just another casual dining restaurant, with a menu about half the size of Cheesecake Factory’s (which is still massive).  They supposedly brew their own beer on site, which accounts for the special yeast bread used in their most popular menu items–deep dish pizzas.  Spencer has been raving about the pizza here for months, so I decided to give it a try.

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(Update: Check after the jump for the difference between gelato and ice cream!)

After a day of outlet shopping with the family, I suggested we stop at a new gelateria I’d heard of through Baton Rouge blog Cuisine Rouge. Latte e Miele (Milk and Honey) is located on Highland Rd right outside the Baton Rouge country club.  They’re apparently new enough to not have a permanent sign up yet, but the place was bustling when we stopped in.

Latte e Miele Flyer

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Acme Oyster House

My family and I visited Acme Oyster House’s Baton Rouge location Sunday afternoon. This is not a first bite for any of us, we all love Acme, so I don’t have any first bite photos to show. Lots of food photos though, so I’ll start with our one “usual”: chargrilled oysters.

Chargrilled Oysters

I’d venture to say that Acme has some of the best chargrilled oysters in town. Mike Anderson’s comes to mind as a close contender, but I’d need a side-by-side comparison for that battle. Next up, entrees: Read the rest of this entry »

Spencer and I visited Dempsey’s Po’boys, a place a little outside of my usual Baton Rouge stomping grounds (Coursey/Sherwood) on the recommendation of another BR blogger. This blogger named Dempseys’ French Dip and Gumbo one of Baton Rouge’s best dishes, but I’m not sure that I agree.

Dempsey’s is a locally owned place specializing in po’boys with other typical South Louisiana fare making appearances on the menu. On our visit, the place was packed with a lunchtime crowd and we had about a 10 minute wait for a table. Service was a little slow, but I didn’t see many staff and most tables had parties of 5 or more, so with that volume, a little slowness is forgivable. Spencer and I both ordered the “soup and half”, a cup of soup/gumbo and a half po’boy for $10. I tried the soup of the day, cream of corn and crab, and Spencer had seafood gumbo:

Cream of Corn and Crab

Seafood Gumbo

First bites and more after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

When my mom gave me her debit card to go grocery shopping last weekend, I took the liberty of picking up ingredients for a personal favorite from my Rachael Ray cookbook.   This one does easily qualify as a 30-minute meal–simply grill/broil steaks and make a quick and delicious bleu cheese cream sauce to toss with spaghetti.

Steaks on the grill

What the recipe calls for, and what I’ve always done, is to use a broiler pan (basically an oven rack inside a pan) and cook the steaks under the oven broiler for 5-7 min/side.   But my dad has this big fancy grill outside, so why not use it?  After he showed me how to use the grill for future reference, I got started on the bleu cheese sauce.

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