it must be a special occasion!

it's not everyday you see me cooking, eating, posting about meat.
i rarely eat or cook with meat.
but there was this creeping feeling in my belly that i *needed* some chicken.

i really REALLY love pounding out chicken breasts and rolling them up with all sorts of delicious things. i've done ham & swiss, spinach & sun dried tomatoes, stuffing, the possibilities are endless! ...and that's what i love!
so, i pounded out a chicken breast and then it was time to empty the fridge. what do we have here? i thawed out some chopped spinach and mixed it with some goat cheese. i added diced roasted red peppers and chopped pickled garlic cloves. *drool* there was these amazing layers of flavors going on in the filling. tangy & creamy goat cheese with the sharp pickled garlic. i rolled my little chicken breast up with all that delicious filling. stuffed... if you will! i topped them with a unique spice blend i picked up, basiks key west spice blend. the spice blend is citrus-y and spicy, and all basik spice blends are sugar & preservative free! woot!
i stuck my decadent (*drool*) piece of chicken in the oven at 425* for about half an hour. the top of the chicken started to brown with the spices, it was heated through, and the middle was creamy and rich. de-lish!
i completed my dish with the maple roasted purple sweet potatoes, and kernels off the cob tossed with hot sauce.
holy crap, i'm hungry!

hit me up,
i'm now taking reservations for dinner.

the oxford!

bitches!
i absolutely LOVE this place.
i'm pretty sure the oxford is one of my favourite places in raleigh. (no need to worry, flying saucer. i'll never cheat on you... xoxo)

there are a ridiculous amount of fabulous things on their menu. too many too even discuss!
but i will say that i've had enough food and beer off their menu to dub them... amazing!

this evening i had panko covered avocado fries. yeah, you heard me right, bitches. avocado fries. deliciously creamy slices of avocado, covered in panko, deep fried, and served with chipotle cream sauce. honestly, this is the first place i ever had these deliciously golden brown pieces of heaven, and they're outstanding.
additionally, i had a greek salad. boring, i know.
then, the royal oscar chicken. what royal and oscar have to do with a chicken dinner is beside me. i do know that this plate of meat, potatoes, and veggies was out of this world. some ashley farms chicken (organic and locally grown... woot!) with asparagus and a lobster/crab mash... this dish was... regal. it was rich and delicious, the chicken had a crispy seasoned skin with flavourful mash and the asparagus gave me a little... summer. my only complaint was how salty the dish was. in the defense of the nearly-untouchable oxford, i don't eat salt often. i rarely cook with it (after the brontosaurus diet) and i infrequently add it to anything. i feel that i'm hypersensitive to salt, so i'm sure my complaint is my personal downfall. other than that... bring on the food & beer!

located in downtown raleigh, across from the wake county court house, the oxford is an amazing place to hang out, drink, eat appetizers, dinner, or late night snacks. (i've been there for all...) the atmosphere is one you would want in your house, and the food is original & gratifying.

get your ass on a plane, and get down here.
...maybe i'll even buy you dinner.

typical tremendous thursdays!

thursday dinners are always the best!
when i have an audience, i put on my a-game!
woot!
i made a lot of food for dinner this week, and i held it all together with some big flavors. it looked pretty rockin' and it tasted delicious.
here we go...
the shrimp was peeled and deveined. luckily, the deveining was done for me. why? because it's disgusting! i tossed the shrimp in a frying pan on medium / med-low heat and let them get opaque on each side. then, i added my mixture of (surprise, surprise) pineapple juice and spicy garlic texas pete's! yum! i had quite a bit of sauce, so i let the shrimp finish cooking with the sauce, and then i jacked the heat up to high and let that sauce cook down and get nice and thick.
oh, you little neon orange shrimps... how i want to eat you!
i cut up a chicken breast into some super skinny strips. i cooked that over medium heat and added onion powder / garlic / paprika / chipotle rub... anything i pulled out of the spice cabinet, really. made sure my chicken was just cooked through.
smear some fat free refried beans to a la bandarita low carb whole wheat tortilla (they're 1 point!) and added my chicken. they were an unfried, jacked up, taquito! finished that mess off with some mango-pineapple salsa from earlier in the week, and it was outstanding!
i made a plain salad topped with salsa to go with the shrimp, and added some extra beans.

super-fresh, spicy & sweet mexican!
this isn't taco bell, my friends!