A couple weeks ago Jim, Robby and I went to the Stonewall Kitchen flagship store in York, Maine for the food truck wars they were hosting. They had five food trucks from the Portland, Maine area set up in their parking lot and each truck picked an item from Stonewall Kitchen’s NEW products. Each truck had to serve samples that they made using the product they chose.  All the trucks were also serving items from their regular menu that were available to purchase.

We arrived just before 4:00 pm (it started at 4:00 pm) and boy was I happy we got there when we did.  The parking lot filled up quick with lots of kids, families, senior’s and even an RV pulled up and set up to enjoy the event!! The first thing we did was to pick up a score sheet at the Stonewall Kitchen table that was set up. At the table you received not only a score sheet, but some promotional items being given away. They had hats, cups, and various stickers! Lets face it everyone loves a free gift and this is one of my favorite places!  O.K. on to the trucks!

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We started with the Wicked Good truck, with  the sample from this truck, a little play on a BLT. This was bacon, arugula and tomato with Stonewall Kitchen’s Garlic Aioli on a roll. This sample was OK, not much Bacon but lots of arugula. They had cheese steak, chicken and waffles , fries and poutine to order! This was not a bad start.

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Next was the CN Shawarma truck. They served a blueberry smoothie using Stonewall Kitchen’s blueberry jam. This smoothie was TERRIFIC,…smooth, creamy and  full of blueberry flavor! That was a great taste of Maine! Along with the sample they had chicken shawarma and lots of other raw and all natural products for sale!

Thimageis next truck, Mainely Burgers was hands down our favorite truck! The sample they were serving was a burger with cheddar cheese, sautéed onions, bacon, maple mayo, thinly sliced green apple with Stonewall Maple Bacon jam! This burger is called  “The Mainah” and it was FABULOUS!  We ALL RAVED about it!!!  I would follow this truck anytime for another burger like that! I would also like to mention not onlyimage was it  incredible, but the burger was perfectly cooked. That can’t be easy with a mob of people in front of you! They had a number of other specialty burgers, but the one thing I noticed that was being ordered by almost everyone in line was the fried brussel sprouts!  Who knew?! If you’re in the Portland, Maine area and see this truck, stop and get “the Mainah” you will not be disappointed!

 

Well, sadly the next two trucks we were not able to try, the lines at this point were HUGE and STILL growing!

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The Fish ‘n Ship’s truck was serving basil pesto battered fish with diced tomato aioli. That sounds pretty good to me! They also had regular fish and chips, fish sliders, fish nuggets and fries to mention just a few things! This appeared to be a VERY popular truck!

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Last and certainly not least was the Urban Sugar truck, This was the only dessert truck. This truck had an enormous array of donuts, sauces, gourmet donuts, glazed donuts and donuts served with cinnamon and sugar! Thank goodness the line was so long on this truck. I don’t think I could possibly decide!
What a fun evening and a great way to discover what is served on all of these great trucks! I am looking forward to making a trip to Portland and having more delicious food!

Enjoy,

 

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Back to my slow cooker again! The weather has been Hot, Hot, Hot!  I feel like I have made a lot of meatballs lately.   BUT, I have to say I love that I can have them for dinner with buttered noodles. The boys can have them in a sub roll for lunch the next day! Anything for good leftovers that everyone will eat!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE MEATBALLS
1 cup of plain Panko crumbs
2 tablespoons of diced onion
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
Dash of nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
1/2 cup 1% milk
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 egg beaten
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground Pork

INGREDIENTS FOR GRAVY
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups low sodium canned beef broth
1 beef bouillon cube or the equivalent amount of Better than Bouillon (I use this )
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS FOR THE GRAVY
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the flour and cook whisking until smooth. Whisk in the beef broth, bouillon and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Transfer sauce to your slow cooker on low heat.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE MEATBALLS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well combined. Roll meat mixture into balls, I make mine smaller than a golf ball. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and place the balls on the sheet and bake for 30 minutes turning the balls after 15 minutes. Transfer the meatballs and all of the juice into the slow cooker to finish cooking for 4 hours. Serve with buttered noodles.

Enjoy,

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These pretzels are so good! One bite and they became an instant family favorite! They are easy to make and great to give as a gift or bring to the office! You can add pecans or leave them out.  You can also decorate with sprinkle’s or other decorations depending on the holiday. Because it’s August now  I used cute little flower and bee decorations I found in the cake decorating aisle at my local store.

INGREDIENTS
18-20 large pretzel sticks (I like the UTZ brand)
1 package caramel bits
2 Tablespoons of water
1 package Ghirardelli melting chocolate
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Prepare a sheet pan with a layer of parchment paper and lightly spray with non stick baking spray. (use a pan that will fit in your refrigerator).  Melt the caramel bits with the 2 tablespoons of water in the microwave until fully melted (my microwave took about a minute and a half).  Using one pretzel rod at a time, dip the pretzels about 3/4 of the way up the pretzel, do this for each pretzel rod.

If you are adding the chopped pecans place the pecans on a plate and as soon as you dip the pretzels in the caramel roll them in or sprinkle the pecans over each pretzel. Place pretzels on your prepared baking sheet until each pretzel is done.  Place your baking sheet in the refrigerator to set up. This takes 30-40 minutes. When the caramel is set up, melt the melting chips according to package directions and dip each pretzel rod into the chocolate 3/4 of the way up the pretzel rod.  Place back onto the baking sheet. Do this for each pretzel rod and if you are decorating with sprinkles or other decorations do this now while the chocolate is still “wet”.  After you have finished all your pretzels place them back into the fridge for 30 minutes.  I then like to store mine in the fridge in a Ziploc bag.

Enjoy!

 

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imageI made this salad for dinner one night and we loved it!  Full of big BOLD flavor! We liked it so much we each had it for lunch the next day! Feel free to add whatever veggies you like to the salad.  I used what I had on hand that day!

INGREDIENTS
3 chicken breasts
1 bottle of Iron Chef General T’so’s Sauce
Romaine lettuce
red bell pepper
scallions
roasted peanuts

 

DIRECTIONS
Place the chicken and enough of the sauce to coat the chicken in a Ziploc bag and let marinate for a couple hours up to 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the marinated chicken in a baking dish and bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through. While the chicken is baking, chop your salad ingredients and place them in a large bowl. Add roasted peanuts. When the chicken is done, take out of oven and let sit for ten minutes. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces. Add the chicken into the salad and drizzle with some of the leftover sauce from the bottle.

Enjoy!

 

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Are you looking for quick, easy and something that will please everyone at your dinner table? This just might be it! You can change up the flavor of the chips anyway you want! Robby LOVES honey mustard sauce with his chicken fingers so that was the type of chips I bought for this recipe and it was perfect!

INGREDIENTS
4 chicken breasts
1 small container of plain yogurt
1 bag of  Honey Mustard Kettle chips or your favorite chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and spray with non stick cooking spray. Empty the yogurt into a shallow bowl. Crush about half of the bag of kettle chips and place them in a shallow bowl. Take your chicken breasts one at a time and dip them into the yogurt covering the entire chicken, then dip the chicken into the kettle chips covering the entire chicken with the chips and place on baking sheet. Do this for each chicken piece. Bake the chicken for about 35-40 minutes or until cooked through.

Enjoy!

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