15!

Yesterday, I turned 15! Wow! These past couple years have been the fastest ever! Oh my.

I don't even want to tell y'all how much I ate yesterday. I was sick on Sunday and barely ate anything, so yesterday I splurged. And if you're on a diet, you may want to leave.

For breakfast, my mom made these. We added jalapenos, pepper jack cheese, mushrooms, and lots of red pepper. They were AMAZING. My dad loved them so much he ate two.

For dinner we went to Bonefish Grille. This is one of my top 5 favorite restaurants. It's not any more expensive than, say, Longhorn's, but it's a little bit nicer and infinitely better. 

We started with bang bang shrimp. This is not optional, people. You MUST eat this shrimp, which is covered in a rich creamy, hot sauce. Once you eat it and the yummy bread, which is served with olive oil and basil pesto, you really don't need anything else. But we decided to restrain ourselves on the shrimp and leave room for entrees.

My mom and I got Baja fish tacos. Tilapia with mango salsa, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and some sort of vinaigrette dressing. Amazing. I must recreate. Mom got a salad, I was bad and got housemade potato chips. These were underbaked in some parts, but for the most part, crispy and delicious. 

Dad got a salmon salad. I didn't try any, but he seemed to like it. 

My sister got a tilapia burger with fries. Don't ask me why she ordered fries when there were so many other options, but she did. Anyway the burger was amazing and I am going to swipe the leftovers. Mwahaha.

Afterwords we were stuffed but we went home and had homemade gelato and orange marmalade cake.

Stay tuned because you don't want to miss those recipes.

Have a good day!

Mellie

Mixed Berry Delight Pie

Ahhh, summer. The beach, the sundresses, the pool, the freedom from school, the flip-flops, the ice cream, the grilled steaks/burgers, the fruit.

I love summer fruits. I love them by themselves, but I really love them in pies, cobblers, and other desserts. Fruit desserts are way better than chocolate. Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate, but fruit is lighter and fresher and tastier.

This pie contains three fruits-lemon, blueberries, and the ultimate summer berry, the raspberry. It is sweet, though not too sweet. If summer had a flavor, this would be it. 

Mixed Berry Delight 

(adapted from Granny)

For the pie:

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 c lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1 graham cracker crust

For the topping:

2 c raspberries

2 c blueberries

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp lemon juice

Beat cream cheese until fluffy, beat in sweetened condensed milk. Add lemon juice and vanilla, mix well. Pour into crust and chill 3 hrs or till firm.

For the topping, mix and cook over medium heat till thick. Cool before pouring over pie.

Serve this pie at your next picnic, pool party, or whatever. Once your guests taste it, they will make you the official dessert person, so hopefully you can handle the responsibility. Or maybe once you taste it you won't want to share. I sure wouldn't. :)

Happy evening!

Mellie

Fruit Salsa

Guess what? It's been exactly 1 month since I last posted a recipe. Can you believe that? Summer flies by!

I've been too busy having summer romances with:

1.Agatha Christie novels.

2.Sundresses, especially ones from Kohl's.

3.Actually, I'm in love with all Kohl's dresses.

4.Eggplant, especially the eggplant rice bowl at Doc Chey's.

5.Flourless Torte.

6.And fruit salsa. 

There's really nothing not to love about fruit salsa. It's fresh and flavorful, pretty, and ridiculously simple. And just bursting with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. I feel kind of cheated that in all my years of eating and cooking and enjoying food, I'd never had it.

Uuntil I made this recipe. And it was love at first bite. And my whole family felt it too. Then my mom mom found this one. It was not quite as awesome, but it was awesome. And then I made up another one. Oh no! I forgot the measurements. But I remember what it had in it:

Mango-peach berry salsa:

Mangoes

Peaches

Bell Pepper (<--red would be prettiest)

White Onion

Fresh cilantro (<--one of my current obsessions)

Blueberries

Pita or Tortilla chips, for serving

Then finely chop everything, saute the onion in cooking spray, and mix everything together. Serve with chips.

See? A child could do it. 

I made another one, and this time I remembered the measurements:

Watermelon Salsa

5 c watermelon, coarsely chopped

1 c blueberries, coarsely chopped

1/2 white onion, finely chopped

1 bell pepper, finely chopped (I used 1/2 orange and 1/2 yellow)

A few springs fresh cilantro, chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

Saute the onion in cooking spray, then combine everything. Serve with tortilla or pita chips. 

Yum.

I'm not sure what my next recipe should be. I've been cooking a lot recently! How about you pick? I like to do things my way, though, so don't expect this to become a regular feature. OK, here's the list:

1. low country boil

2. cornbread

3. a muffin or quick bread

4. a fruity dessert

5. pancakes or waffles

wow, I just realized that all those contain an unhealthy form of carbs. Oh well. 

 Good night!

  Love, 

Mellie

Everything's Better at the Beach

Hi! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

So, I should probably write the last Folly Beach post, since I got back like a week ago. I was just busy; we went to Asheville almost immediately afterwards, because it's a Fourth of July tradition.

 

Want.

Every night, we went to a small ice cream shop called Sugartime. This place doesn't look like much; it's really small and doesn't even have tables. But the ice cream is really, really tasty. It's fresh, flavorful, locally made ice cream from a brand called Wholly Cow. Sugartime only has a few flavors, but they change some of them up each night.

I had cookie dough the first night, vanilla the second night, and mint chocolate chip the last night. Mmmmm. The vanilla was really vanilla-y. I think the mint chocolate chip was my favorite though. I thought the cookie dough could have used more cookie dough. Mom got brownie batter the first night and peach the other nights. Both were really good, especially the peach. It was made with real South Carolina peaches. Dad had heath bar. Like the cookie dough, it needed more stuff. I don't remember what my sister got, except she got vanilla the last night. I'm sure whatever she got was good though, because she was very happy.

Folly is a great town. I really recommend it. But if you go, you have to take me with you.
 Love,
Mellie

Ciao from Chucktown

I'm officially in love with Charleston. Right now we're at Folly Beach, but I would have loved to stay in downtown Chucktown. It is the prettiest thing EVER! So many lovely old fashioned homes.

Today we ate lunch at Cosmic Dogs. My family acted like it was the best thing ever, but I thought it was just OK. The hot dogs, the milkshakes, the fries, the slaw-i think you could make just as good or better food at home. I did like the vintagey atmosphere of the place. Overall, it gets a B.

In Charleston we went on a carriage ride. Biggest. Ripoff. Ever. The old homes are beautiful, but we could have looked at them for free and not listened all the boring details. Plus, it was sooo hot. By the end I was too sweaty to go to any shops, but maybe tomorrow.

Overall, I'm pleased with Charleston and Folly. I'll blog more about it later. Bye!

Mellie

I'm Back!

I'm back from camp! I went to Bigstuf, which is an amazing Christian camp in Panama City Beach, FL. I had such an awesome week and I am NOT ready to be home again. It didn't feel like 5 days.

While I was gone, something great happened in blogland:

Courtney @ semisweet gave me this award! I feel honored. I have to answer the following questions: 

1. Favorite cartoon character: Then, probably VeggieTales characters. Now... it's the same.

 2. Favorite thing to photograph: I like taking pictures of food, because I like making the food look pretty. It tastes better that way!

3. Favorite thing to cook: I like baking better than cooking, because it uses exact measurements. I hate it when my mom tells me to add a drizzle of this or a handful of something! It's hard to pick just one thing, but I really like making yeast breads

4.Favorite way to exercise: I don't like exercise that much, but I do like Pilates.

5. Favorite Movies: I can't pick just one! The Blind Side, The Bucket List, The Princess Bride, Gone with the Wind, and The Last Song.

6. Clothing:  I really like summer dresses.

7. Flower: Pale pink roses, and hydrangeas

8. Breakfast: Hmm that's tough! I do love scones, muffins, and quick breads.

9. Book: Again, I can't pick just one! I love The Mark of the Lions series by Francine Rivers, The Russians  series by Judith Pella, The Last Song and A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks, and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

and then I have to add another question for the people I award it to:

 What is your least favorite food? I'm not a picky eater, but I can't stand asparagus! Never have, never will! Blech!

Now I have to pass on the award. I don't want to! This is hard! I like all the blogs I read! And some people who I would like to award have already been awarded. That's what I get for waiting so long, I guess. OK, here goes:

1. Kat @ katshealthcorner,

2. Lynne @ milk n' cookiezzz

3. Erika @ the teenage taste

4. Sami @ a teenage gourmet

Ughhhh that was hard! I feel mean.

In other news, I'm going to Folly Beach and Charleston next week. I'm excited because I love going new places! It's still inside my little 6-state bubble though. One day I will break out! but anyway, I promise to share recipes and restaurants.

Have a good weekend!
Mellie

Ed Boudreaux's Bayou BBQ

Oh how I love Asheville. I grew up in a biggish (that's a word, because...I said so) small town and now live in an even smaller town, but my heart belongs to the city. And Asheville is a great size-large enough to have the  rush and energy of a city, yet small enough to have less traffic.

I absolutely adore downtown. I love, love, love, love it. It's so funky and unique. I love those Bohemian dresses the hippie women wear. I love the art. I really love the boutiques. And of course I love the food. 

Last weekend, I visited my family in Asheville, and on Friday night we went to Ed Boudreaux Bayou Barbecue. We went back in November and I had some amazing barbecue and the best sweet potato fries I've ever eaten. These fries are the perfect doneness, and slightly sweet and salty. And they must be eaten with Alabama White BBQ sauce. This sauce is divine-mild, tangy, not really sweet. I also tried Rajun Cajun BBQ sauce and it was good but it paled in comparison. 

This time, i decided to get a portabello melt, because I'd never had portabellos before. It was delicious- it had portabellos, avocados, lots of swiss cheese, red onions, tomatoes, balsamic ailoli, and sprouts. It was absolutely amazing. I only ate half but it was really satisfying. (I managed to eat all my fries though-they are that amazing!) They also have other vegetarian options like black bean burgers, avocado melts, and a couple of sandwiches with tempeh.

Afterwords we went to the drum circle. That's just what it sounds like- a place where all the hippies dance and play drums. People come from all over to participate. They look really ridiculous and a little creepy-but it's really cool.

I love Asheville. But I guess you probably figured that out. 

Have a good night,

Mellie