THE AMUSED LIFE BLOG

  Good morning everyone!  Actually at the time you're reading this it could be any time of day so..."HI," instead. Your semi-fearless foodie folks down here in the Tennessee basin of Knoxville have been looking for ways to keep you informed about our 2 cent opinions on good eats and otherwise and as life has been busy I figured I'd give you my review on my attempts to get some fast-food breakfast outside my normal routine and give you my thoughts on the fare at Wendy's since they actually just in the past year or more started breakfast service. I figured I'd give them time to work out their kinks before putting my gut through a sampling of items but after a month and 4 weeks of trying one item per week here's my thoughts in ranking from meh to mmmmmmmm. #4 Sausage Gravy & Biscuit Okay, now being an admitted northerner in a southern world, I may not be the best person to tell you if this was a delicious dish or not. However, I've become accustomed o...

OUR FIRST MONTH OF BOXING IN THE KITCHEN: Boxed dinners that is provided by various great options and we have paid for our boxes so these responses and reviews are completely our own and not compensated by anyone; and with that - here we go! THE COOK'S EXPERIENCE (ERIK'S SIDE/HE SAID) When my significant other suggested that we try cooking at home, I was really excited. I was thinking to myself, now I can show off my culinary skills and introduce her to the cooking of my childhood. She suggested that we try the box subscription, Hello Fresh and immediately I could hear my mother in the background of my brain saying, "I taught you how to cook, you're better than that." From a cook's perspective, I really enjoyed cooking the Hello Fresh kits. They came neatly prepared and ready to go. The instructions were so simple, it didn't take a lot of time to prepare them. I get off of work at 5:30 pm so by the time I get home and take the fur kids out for a little bit...

 AKA Feasting and Firsts...Happy Thanksgiving! FIND For most of you, and I'm assuming mostly those in the South, I have only ever had pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Sometimes we'd add in some French Silk pie but always pumpkin pie. However this year my significant other decided to go rogue and instead change things up. Introducing...SWEET POTATO PIE. Now this may not be momentous to any of you, but for me; it would be my first time ever to eat that pie type. I was nervous. Mostly because I'm slow to warm up to sweet potatoes. Mostly I think due to the fact that I'm a savory over sweet person on every level; but I was taking the cooking off for Thanksgiving this year so whatever the cook wants, the cook gets. I requested a sliver. I was so worried I wouldn't like it. I was WRONG. I think now I perhaps love it even more than pumpkin pie and so new tradition has been born for the family. New pie...and it's sweet potato pie with extra creamy thick whipped cream.  Y U ...

aka Carbs Glorious Carbs A week or so ago I was up early for work or perhaps it was my day off...either way I stumbled upon Good Morning America which I rarely if ever watch. Just not a morning show person, hell I'm not a morning person. However this show featured some pretty awesome STEALS AND DEALS (apparently they do this often); and there was one deal that I could not resist.  Having moved to the South in 2001, I frequently miss some of the flavors and sensibilities of my northern upbringing. Growing up in Pennsylvania just 75 minutes outside of New York City gave you such a perspective on food and flavors and thankfully Mom and Pop culinary delights often found everywhere you go up there. I also grew up with a fondness for BREAD. You know, crusty on the outside soft on the inside goodness? You know, slather it with butter goodness? B-R-E-A-D. The thing that as we age we're not supposed to eat because it turns us doughy. Oh well, when they aired this deal I was in...hook, ...

A TALE OF TWO COOKIES Fall is in full swing in Tennessee, and the comfort of iced/spiced oatmeal cookies has moved into my mind, so in my budget-minded mentality I was determined to get some deliciousness in my gullet. Right now I'm just trying to get an idea of what store brands really bring the yum to my tum. This week's head-to-head is between Market Pantry's Iced Oatmeal Cookies and Kroger Brand Iced Oatmeal. So who came out on top? FIND Kroger took the prize and unfortunately Erik didn’t take a photo of the packaging but we’ll make that happen soon. They have the right amount of crisp, yet slightly soft and have a good layer of icing that’s sweet and stands out. Plus they were $1.00 this week so...you know that’s too good a deal for good taste! FAIL Market Pantry from Target’s iced oatmeal cookies are not bad at all, but honestly the taste just didn’t stand out. So it was easy for Kroger to take them over. They were much softer than Kroger’s and the iced taste wasn’t v...

FIND There's a new wing joint in town and so far, so really good! It's apparently a chain so see if there's one near you: WINGS OVER...well in my case, WINGS OVER KNOXVILLE ! Another new joint down in the UT campus area, which no doubt will do well given good wings and good tenders. We got the combo meals which gave us 3 tenders, 6 wings and a ton of waffle fries, plus a drink!  While it was a tad pricey at $14.99, they did give you a ton of food so in the end I'm not complaining at all. I opted for the Spicy Lemon Pepper seasoning on the tenders just to give it a shot since I'm not into hot stuff, and Lemon Pepper for the wings. Erik opted for the Jamaican Jerk flavoring across the board. We both downed out dinners with gusto, the woman who ordered was wonderful and the same for the lady who delivered. The wings were big and super flavorful which was great. There blue cheese was a bit overpowered by the wing flavors, but hey I enjoyed the flavors but will forgo the...

AKA: Casseroles and Caveats (When One of You Isn't a Casserole-Person) Growing up in Pennsylvania, I have always looked at casseroles as comfort foods in the fall and the winter. I love them. The ooey gooey, savory creations have been staples of my childhood years and I prefer them for ease and simplicity during busy life. They also typically are super budget friendly. However, Erik is my significant other. He ISN'T a casserole person. His family is into smoked meats and barbeques...and his mother often told him that a casserole isn't cooking saying "It's just something that you throw together hoping that it works out." So imagine his chagrin when I asked him on one of my busy days to whip up the casserole recipe I chose for this week. "Ugh...really?" Yes, really. In the meantime, he followed through. He told me that my chicken noodle bake would have been far better if I had opted for fresh ingredients rather than all pre-packaged prepared items. Ok,...

FIRST TIME RECIPE ATTEMPTS FOR THIS WEEK: Cheesy Spinach Pesto Flatbread   *****out of 5 Stars! Ina Garten's Baked Shrimp Scampi    *****out of 5 Stars! I've decided to make this more of an open format blog adventure and not feel like I have to "fail" anything per se. So instead I'll focus on the week of culinary adventures in my household. First of all, the two recipes I picked out to try were knock out of the ballpark AMAZING (links are above to the recipes). Seriously, they both were just sensational and the shrimp scampi was even better on day 2. However a word of, ahem...warning. Look, I'm just going to be real. I've been cooking A LOT lately. I've also discovered how much I use garlic in the meals I cook. I LOVE GARLIC. However...if you eat a LOT of garlic (as I have been doing)...your ahem, smelly bits may begin to smell like...GARLIC. Seriously, I was starting to worry that the garlic smell was just imbedded in the air, then I realized it was l...

FINDS I have to give mad-props to Aldi (once again I know), for having the best deal on family sized skinless and boneless chicken breasts (and let me tell you these chickens are quite ample birds). It's less than 10 dollars and I end up getting between 5-6 breasts in a package which equals 2 meals out of one package. You cannot complain about that at all. In fact this lead's me to the second FIND of the week foodie-wise. My second find is this recipe for  CREAMY TUSCAN CHICKEN  I found on the website www.delish.com! It was incredible, now sadly my sauce didn't yield a sumptuous vodka/tomato sauce coloring as you'll note in the video on the delish website; and I'm pretty sure it's because I had a lot of browning on the chicken and the butter browned a bit as well. However, it did not ruin this dish - just gave me more excitement for making it again and perfecting it next time. Plus, I will 100% agree with the need to have some crusty Italian bread on hand becaus...

FINDS Kroger's Flat Iron Steak is da bomb!  I am in desperate desire to try one of the local actual butcher shops but I'm seriously ballin' on the food budget game so while I have a deep want to become a customer of Willy's Butcher Shop or Hen Hoc in our fair and scruffy city of Knoxville, I'll have to make due for now with Kroger and Aldi my main choices for groceries these days. When I do the weekly menu planning I like to include a very diverse palate of meats for the week and I love to include steak once a week because it's a pure love of mine. I had planned to get a non-seasoned ribeye from Kroger's this week, but then remembered that they MAY have my all  time favorite cut that ranks just above the sumptuous ribeye....a   FLAT IRON   steak!?!? I would go on click list and see if it was an option, and blessed be it was! $12.00 later I was the proud owner of a beautiful steak and couldn't wait to cook it up. I followed the instructions that Alton Bro...

FINDS Take and Bake Bread is where it's at!  I swear you'd think I get a kick back from Aldi's but I don't. Not even a discount lol. But their take and bake french bread/baguette and their italian bread take and bake loaves will turn a regular meal into a night that feels truly home-made or akin to the night where you go out and they serve you fresh baked bread with your main meal. Seriously this stuff is good. Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, it's a carb lover's dream. FAILS My Attempt at a Cauliflower Roasting Recipe was lackluster.  I tried this   recipe   for Ina Garten's Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower. It was good, but I think it could have been better. First my cauliflower didn't crisp up and brown as much as it should which I think would have made it more crispy delicious and second I don't feel that I truly seasoned it enough. While the end result was good and pretty great when you got a fork-full with the parmesan and gruyere melted ...

FINDS After trying two flavors I have to admit I cannot say enough good things about Simple Creations Seasoned Beef Ribeye Steaks available at Aldi's. We've now had the chop-house seasoning and the roasted garlic and herb seasoning; and all steak cuts were under $5.00. So I could get 3 for each of us (each one is a single serve); for $15.00 in total as opposed to $15.00 for probably 1 rib eye most places. Mind you I want to get a bougie rib eye at some point from a local butcher but this girl is on a hard core budget so I have to stay focused on cheap thrills. I've followed the instructions from Alton Brown for the most part from the episode: STEAK YOUR CLAIM.  Here's the suggestions: Get yourself a Ribeye. Use a Cast Iron Pan 10 Inch - 11 Inch. When making steak, put oven at 500 bake. Put skillet in oven. Coat both sides of steak with kosher salt (I did not because they were seasoned already). Put pan on high heat for 5 minutes. Black pepper on both sides. Canola Oil a...

FIND Canada Dry Blackberry Ginger Ale is life!  OMG this has literally made me joyfilled during the pandemic summer. It's light in taste, crisp and refreshing and that blackberry flavor is there in such a delightful way. I cannot say enough goodness about this mix/combination. FAIL Double Stuff Cookies from Aldis are not double stuff oreos.  If you're wanting Oreo Double Stuff cookies just pay the extra. While Aldi's did a great job trying, they are more like regular Oreos. Now to find the Oreo MEGA STUFF and see how much I can add to my thighs. LOL.