THE AMUSED LIFE BLOG

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...

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 ...

FIND If you are a pizzahaulic like myself you learn that eating out is going to quickly result in a budget crunch. Now, I would NEVER in a million years not tell you to enjoy your take-out/delivery but I do suggest trying, on occasion to make your own at home. You can get all creative with the toppings and customize it to your heart's content. I've been making pizza since I was 15 years old and my first home economics teacher taught us how to make dough from scratch...and trust, from-scratch dough is THE BEST there is. However, we live in a relentless world where we're competing for time and energy so learning a few shortcuts is nothing to be mad at. That's what leads me to this week's foodie find. I've experimented with various pre-made doughs. I love Pillsbury's pizza crust when I want to make a quick calzone; but I never cared for Boboli (always had a weird "preserved for shelf life" taste to it), and as much as I wanted to LOVE the pre-made cru...

FIND I love corn. I know it's probably the most nutritional equivalent of air and reminds you you had it later (sorry but it's true); so when I stumbled across this find in my weekly groceries list I decided I needed to try it. If you've never had Mexican Street Corn it's quite a complex load of flavors on the tongue (a mixture of cotija cheese, mayo, sour cream, chile powder and lime and then...more cheese). It's a lot to take in when you eat it on the cob fresh and can get a tad messy as well. So I was pretty hopeful this could fit the bill in a convenient way. It did! The only thing missing is the temperature heat of the grilled corn, but the flavors are robust and there is a slight kick to it that makes you just want more, even if only to try to figure out what that taste flavor is. Trust me, my sig-oth who always turns down random dips actually asked for more than 5 samples because he just had to figure out what that "flavor" was. So if you're loo...