We love Greek flavors

and this is another way to have them so we don't get tired of souvlaki and Greek salad.



This dinner was a roast cut sirloin steak put in a marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, garlic, and salt and pepper. It was grilled to medium and sliced into thin strips. It was tender, flavorful, and juicy.

On the side there is couscous with chunks of feta, chopped kalamata olives, and thin strips of roasted red peppers. There is also a mix of yellow and zucchini squash and halved grape tomatoes cooked together with garlic and oregano. Of course we can't have Greek without pita, so there was grilled pita also.

It was a tasty and healthful meal.

Quick and Easy: Cherry Cream Cheese Pie

I had to make pies the day after our vacation for a church dinner. We stopped at the grocery store before we even went home so I had to make something I knew the ingredients by heart. Cherry cream cheese pies filled the bill. A quick stop at the grocery store for cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, a few lemons, cherry pie fillings and graham cracker pie crusts is all that's needed. The pies turned out great and when the dinner was over, all that was left was the pie tins.

They may not be gourmet but they're mighty tasty.




1 9 inch graham cracker pie crust
1 8oz block of cream cheese
1 15 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 can cherry pie filling
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Whip room temperature cream cheese until fluffy and gradually add the condensed milk. While continuing to beat, add lemon juice and vanilla. Pour into prepared crust. After chilling for a couple of hours, garnish with cherries.

**I use the extra serving pie crusts and for two pie crusts, I mix 3 times the recipe so the crusts are completely full and thick. Plus sometimes I'm lucky enough to have some extra to eat out of a bowl.

It's a Pioneer Woman Day

Homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
Marlboro Man Sandwich with Hot Crash Potatoes for dinner.

Thank you Ree for your great recipes.





I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get a picture of the cinnamon rolls. They disappeared pretty quick.

Vacation breakfast: Fruit Fritters

On our last day of vacation, we stopped at Yana's in Swansboro, NC. It's a cute little restaurant full of 60s memorabilia. Meeting you at the door is Elvis strumming on his guitar. Elvis is cool, but we go there for the fritters.

The fruit fritters are TO. DIE. FOR. They have them in apple, strawberry, banana and peach when in season. Since there were four of us at this meal and peaches were in season, we got an order of each one. It was the delicious. I have to say, the peach and strawberry are my favorite with apple following close behind. The banana is also very good but the others would win out if I had to pick.

No we didn't eat all of them or we would have been in diabetic shock, but they did provide enough sugar to get us through our shopping. Yana's has take out boxes with the directions how to reheat them right on the box. They heat up very well.

Vacation dinners: Shrimp stuffed with crab, Drunken Shrimp and Scallops

Our absolute favorite place to have dinner at the beach is Frank and Clara's in Salter Path, NC. It is small and every visit we've ever made the quality of the service and food is always excellent. They bring cheese and crackers to your table while you view your menu. By now, I don't even use the menu, I get pretty much the same thing every time. The shrimp stuffed with crab or the crab cakes are the best I have ever eaten. The crab cakes are almost pure crab. They have so little filler in them, they are free form cakes because they wouldn't hold together like what most people think of crab cakes. They are so rich and delicious. They also have a wonderful homemade clam chowder that comes with every meal.

My choice on this visit was the shrimp stuffed with crab:



You get six shrimp with what amounts to six small crab cakes. It's to die for, really.

My aunt got the Drunken Shrimp and Scallops which was shrimp and scallops cooked in a wine sauce and topped with mushrooms and cheese. It was also very good.

The Omnivore's Hundred

The Omnivore’s Hundred

This started at a Very Good Taste blog and has been going through all the food blogs. I finally had a chance to do it. It's interesting because there are things I'd forgotten about and things I've never heard of before. Plus I have been putting off my assignments for one class and this is more fun than that homework.

I was surprised at how many I've had, but it's only because of our living and meeting new people while my husband was in the air force. I must say thanks to Oy for all the Thai and Vietnamese flavors and Patrice for some of the other items.


If you want to play, here’s what you do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Vacation dinners: shrimp and grits, crab cakes

On our vacation to the beach we ate out a couple of times. This dinner was from Clawson's on the Beaufort, NC waterfront. It's one of our favorite places to have dinner when we're at the beach.

My dinner was shrimp and grits: The spicy deep South recipe with bacon, garlic, onion, mushrooms, and sweet pepper, served with house vegetable



My mom's dinner was crab cakes: Homemade, with pineapple-red pepper salsa