Tag adventures in food

Day Light Savings: Springing Forward with a Picnic on the Twelve Mile River, Cateechee, South Carolina

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The days are growing longer and springing forward with the time change today extends the sunshine, albeit cutting an hour of sleep off. What’s a person to do but to catch the rays on the riverbanks and perhaps rock out to the humms of the rapids.

While seeking a different venue (my digital map wasn’t working properly) I came upon the river and it’s idealic location, simply because Lay Bridge Road is closed/blocked off, allowing a pseudo parking area to be created and locals/adventureres to enjoy the serenic setting. Catechese Dam on lay bridge road is also a minor historical site as well.

I stopped by the local store and chose a few items for a picnic, sticking my purchase in a re-usable small shopping bag as I don’t currently own an actual picnic basket and the durable bag makes it easy to carry my food items to and from the site (plus, the handles don’t dig into my fingers, especially important when carrying items on an adventure!)

While I am a fairly skilled person I realized that hunting and gathering for my food isn’t really conducive for feeding myself, packing a picnic is a very affordable way to eat well without breaking the bank or spending a small fortune on take-out (my entire picnic would have easily fed 2-3 people for less than $8 total.) I usually pack a bit extra–in case I stay out a bit longer than expected, meet a new friend, etc-one may never know what excitement adventures lead too and who doens’t like good snacks and food to eat and share?

The weather has been dreary, grey rainy skies lately and with a clear, sunshine filled cool day, it was a lovely adventure to enjoy the river and lay on the banks and soak in the sun, eat my picnic and enjoy the sounds of nature serenade me with their melody. A special treat? A group of 4 kayakers paddled by with their colorful paddles and head gear on!

A little video I snapped of the river, about 1/4 mile from the historical damn sign

Amy and Issaqueena, Walhalla, South Carolina

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A delightful afternoon with my cousin as we joined up for a small adventure! We were having so much fun that we forgot to take pictures at the Waterfalls near the Stumphouse Tunnel in Wahahlla, South Carolina.

A co-worker had given me a few scratch off tickets, which we cashed in and purchased a few more, scratching them off together and laughing, joking, and pondering what we would do if we won the big pot ($10,000 on that particular game.) We didn’t win the big pot but it was fun to play a game of pretend in such beautiful surroundings.

Of course, we picked up awesome lattes and frappuccinos on our way to the waterfalls!

Kings in the Corner-Game night with snacks & Goodies

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My sister hosted game night and we played the card game “King in the Corners”. My sister made homemade Apple Cinnamon Bread with apples and caramel dip. Papa brought fried chicken and fish. My Sweetness also joined in the games and fun–My sister and nephew also played in the games and goodies!

Life is better with loved ones and fun family nights! Of course, the highlight of the evening was getting to play with my nephew and watching “bop bop” along to music and hearing him squwak along as he played card with us.

Want to partake in the games and goodies? Follow the links below!

Apple Cinnamon Bread Recipe

Kings in the Corner Card Game

If you want to partake in the fried chicken and fish, Papa picked up both at the hot food department at the local Ingles Grocery stores!

Garden and Chicken-Indonesian Inspired stack bowl

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My Sweetheart’s Mother planted a small garden before going to visit family and asked me to help him take care of it while she is on vacation-what to do with the harvest but to eat the bounty!

Chop and simmer the following:

2 Green Bell Peppers

1 large (or 2-3 small fresh zuchinni)

2 small purple onions

4-6 toes of garlic

2-4 fresh Jalepenos

10-15 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Himalayan Salt, Pepper, and ground cumin

In a Seperate pan, Simmer 2-3 large chicken breast, once cooked, top with a jar of Korma Sauce (usually found in the international aisle of the supermarket), simmer until warm.

Ladel the steamed/sautched vegetables into the bottom of a bowl, top with the chicken korma mix, enjoy! Top with a bit of siracha sauce and/or feta cheese.

Summer Salad-a cool way to eat in the heat

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Summer in the South is especially hot and I don’t like heating up the house in the middle of the day to cook myself a meal and make the house even hotter, so what is the solution? A salad!

A bag of salad mix ( I used a Farmers Blend as it was on manager special)

a half pint of slice cherry tomatoes

small avocado, chunked small

2 tsp of chia seed

dressing of choice

*optional to add a can of tuna or leftover chicken

New Things for Nourhan, An adventure with my neighbor

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Adventuring with a buddy is always so much fun, especially when your buddy is your Egyptian neighbor and friend. Nourhan is an international student (such a lovely lady)-so this eveing, our schedules finally aligned where we could go on an adventure together!

Nourhan spends a lot of time in the classroom and labs at Clemson University, studying hard, doing research, and working on her thesis–and hasn’t had much time to explore before now; We are making up for lost time!

We enjoyed the local history of the Maiden taking shelter along the waterfalls to escape her captors- and the history of the Stumphouse tunnel(where the Clemson Original Bleu Cheese was originally formulated and made by the old irish immigrant recipe and more!) Plus, on our way out, a fun armadillo decided to grace us with it’s presence as it crossed the road as we drove away. Nourhan hadn’t ever seen one before and asked me what it was, a cute little armadillo!

It has been a giant blessing having Nourhand as a neighbor and a friend and I am so glad she moved in next door to me!

Making a message for Nourhan’s mom
Nourhan Elashkar and Anna Potthoff @ Issaquena Falls
Stumphouse tunnel entrance
Nourhan Elashkar
Nourhan Elashkar drinking from a stream that feeds the waterfall
Nourhan Elashkar Stumphouse Entrance
Hanging out with Yet, the Big Foot
Nourhan Elashkar and Anna Potthoff with Big Foot, Walhalla, SC
Nourhan Elashkar first time eating mexican food, a hard taco, a Relleno, rice and refried beans at Los Arcos

Making meals in a Jiffy, dump, pour, mix and go!

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Sometimes we need things that are easy and don’t cost an arm and a leg while we are busy doing other things but we also don’t want to eat “junky crappy” food either. Here’s a combo that made it super easy (and I happened to pick up the soup on sale 2 weeks ago while grocery shopping.) The cornbread is technically homemade with help, a lovely combo!

Recipe

Dump the Box of Soup into a medium pan, warm on medium low heat (start after you pop the cornbread into the oven)

Open the box of cornbread, dump into a mixing bowl with milk and egg (directions are on the side of the box)

Bake the Cornbread according to the package directions; you can put it into a muffin pan or in a greased 8×8 baking dish; either way works.

Once the cornbread is done and the soup is hot, serve up. I found that the cornbread and soup makes four small servings or 2 larger servings.

Expanding homemade meals-homemade Thai with help

Anna--The Adventurer 2 Comments

Not too many people enjoy eating the same dishes over and over and over again-especially me. So what is a girl to do? I sought out some recipes to help expand my cooking skills and meal variety. Eating out gets expensive quickly and adds to my waste line far too fast (I swim for overall benefits but also to help trim down and be more curvy!)

I purchased a jar of Thai sauce, claiming to be good for dipping and cooking and found a recipe that could use it.

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts, chopped and cooked in olive oil

1 medium sized onion, chunky chopped

2 dried red spicy peppers crushed up

1 small bag of frozen brocoli florets

2 Tablespoons of Thai Peanut sauace

1/4 cup slided almonds

salt and peppper

Cook the chicken in the oil, add all the other ingredients and let simmer for 20 minutes on medium low heat. Serve! Serves 3-4 people. So Yummy!

Keeping things simple-making thing simple-Lent Day 11

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Okay, there are some days that life just needs to be made easy; yes, there are times even when i don’t want to cook for myself because I am just not feeling groovy or adventerous in making different food. When one lives alone, one gets to do all the cooking and cleaning and sometimes, a little easyness is needed!

My meal today for lunch was made easy by using sliced strawberries, bananas, chopped walnuts and a bit of feta to create a quick and easy meal for myself. Who else needs quick meals sometimes?

Dock Side Style Spicy Cod Dinner with Singing (wooden spoon edition)

Anna--The Adventurer 1 Comment

Rising prices in eating out, inflation can be felt nearly every where these days but it doesn’t stop us from wanting to eat something tasty, go on date night or want to serve/dive into good meals. Eating is an essential but it should also be a nutrious joy, too!

I am a huge fan of getting good steals, using coupons and shopping local–thankfully, Aldi’s stores has had a good selection and price on fish lately and it has made cooking this winter a lot easier.

Tonights pre-dinner entertainment was provided by myself, compliments of singing to Ed Sheeran and my trusty wooden spoon was the microphone. My apologies to the neighbors and to my Sweetness, who was delighted to hear that super was being served and my horrid redentions were over.

  • 4-6 Pieces of Frozen North Atlantic Cod (thawed)
  • 2 Cans of Green Beans, drained
  • 1 cup white rice (not boil in the bag)
  • Lemon Pepper, Salt Pepper, Garlic Powder, Cajun Spice, Lemon Zest, Cayenne Pepper, 3 cups of Corn flour, French Onions (course crumbled)
  • 2 -3 eggs
  • Oil for frying

Crack the eggs in one bowl, in a second bowl, mix the corn flour and all the spices and herbs

Dip/Run each pieces of fish through the beaten eggs, thoroughly, and heavily coat in the corn flour mix, place in cast iron frying pan (with about an inch of oil of your choice in the bottom).

Make Rice in a seperate pot or in a rice cooker, adding 2 tsp of old bay seasoning or lemon pepper plus a little splash of oil.

Fry Fish on medium heat until fish is thoroughly cooked and crunch on both sides.

Warm Green beans

Plate a bit of each item on to a plate and serve. You can now unplug your wooden spoon “microphone” and put in the dishwasher.