Mac Off and Menchie’s

On Saturday afternoon, we got together with a group of friends for a good cause. A cause near and dear to my heart. 

This is very serious.

But not really.

The annual Charleston Mac Off! Mac and cheese, that is. 

Did you catch that? There, on that sign…White chocolate s’mores mac and cheese?! You know my eyes went big and my sweet tooth went crazy when I read that. It sure sounded strange, but I HAD to try it. Well, turns out it was just as weird as you would think. I love Graze and give them all the credit for taking a chance with that one, but it simply was not good. Sorry, Graze 😦

Once I got that out of my system, I tried all kinds of more traditional mac and cheese. You may have also noticed Crave listed on that chalkboard sign. And yes, they had won the competition for three consecutive years prior to this year. Wouldn’t you know it, but Crave won again! 

Here I am with a sample of the mac from Poogan’s Porch, complete with scallions, country ham and smoked gouda. This was one of my faves. 

Of all of the delicious mac and cheese I ate (way too much, but that was to be expected I suppose), this butternut squash ravioli in a brown butter sauce was the best part of my day. Rio Bertolini’s makes fresh pasta, which I’ve bought from local farmer’s markets before. They know how it’s done. I bought some lobster ravioli, butternut squash ravioli and whole wheat pizza dough to bring home for dinners this week. 

I needed something cool and refreshing as the heavy cheesy pastas quickly got the best of me. I’m not much of a beer drinker, or a day drinker for that matter, so this sparkling lemonade was perfect. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching football with friends, taking a nap and recovering from the mac overload. Somehow I managed to be hungry by dinnertime. I ate a salad at Moe’s then loaded up on a heavenly bowl of Menchie’s – Pure Chocolate, Cake Batter, Praline Pecan, and Peanut Butter yogurt topped with peanut butter cups, whipped cream and caramel sauce. 

What a day!

July Blog-A-Day #29: Single Girl Brunch at Puree

Okay, this isn’t news. I’ve blogged about Puree before and it’s now been about 2 1/2 weeks since I was actually there and ate the meal pictured here.

But…

It was absolutely, positively, perfect banana bread heaven. And I just had to share. 

Again.

They take two thick slices of banana bread and prepare them just like you would for French toast. Genius. The toast is dusted with powdered sugar and topped with more banana slices. It was so moist and flavorful; I didn’t want it to end! I ate as slowly as I could, which was just fine because I was a single girl that morning. Greg was out of town for a bachelor party so I took advantage of my alone time. I cherished every bite of the French toast along side my hot coffee poured directly from the French press. 

The bright, yet cozy, feel of Puree makes me feel like I’m at home. 

Iloveitsomuch.

July Blog-A-Day #21: DI Yogurt and Blueberry Cheesecake

Oh no! I’ve gotten behind on this blog-a-day thing. Whoops! It’s only one day though, so hopefully I can make up for it before this month is said and done. 

I’m just popping in tonight to highlight two delicious parts of my weekend.

1. DI Yogurt.

FINALLY! A frozen yogurt place opened on Daniel Island last week and I could hardly wait to get there. It did not disappoint. Better than Menchie’s?? Better than Di’lishi?? 

…You didn’t hear it from me.

I first went on Saturday night and filled my cup with some cake batter, dark chocolate and plain old vanilla. Then topped it with walnuts, peanut butter cups, whipped cream and sprinkles. While out for a bike ride on Sunday evening, I talked Greg into stopping for a cold treat. I am thrilled to have the fro yo right next to home, but I can see it becoming dangerous as well.

The yogurt was soooooooo creamy. Many of the toppings were comparable to the other fro yo joints around, but I noticed some of the fruit may have been sitting out a bit too long and they didn’t have chunky Oreo pieces that I usually like. Instead, the cookies were finely ground. The yogurt itself made up for it though. I will definitely be a regular.

2. Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

Since the fro yo stop on our bike ride was technically only a “snack,” I needed something for dessert later that night after dinner. I baked Bridget’s Blueberry Cheesecake Pie, which became the perfect ending to my weekend. 

It was my co-worker’s birthday today so I knew I wanted to bring the cheesecake into the office to share with her. It was a good thing I had that excuse, otherwise Greg and I easily would have eaten the entire thing this week. 

What was the tastiest thing you ate this weekend?

Weekend Eats 3-18-13

First things first – Wedding Day is two. months. away. Ah!!!!!! alkfjsdlfjsldfjsdlfjsd!!!!!

Okay, now that I got some excitement out of my system, here’s the tasty food I ate all weekend.

Saturday:

Greg and I met some friends on Sullivan’s Island for (pre) St. Patrick’s Day festivities. After standing around outside in the gorgeous weather for most of the afternoon, our appetites were raging…even more so than I realized. We grabbed dinner from Taco Mamacita, yet another new-to-me restaurant (third one in a week!).

I had one black bean taco and one blackened mahi taco with Mexican Street Corn on the side. Ummmm….yeah. It was ah-maze-ing. I practically inhaled the tacos. 

Greg had sweet potato fries as his side dish. We ended up splitting our sides, because the fries were sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and I simply could not resist. 

Sunday:

Brunch at Triangle. Duh. Blueberry pancakes for me!

Anndddd some coffee.

I made sure to fit my veggies into the day with a big bowl of shredded brussel sprouts, onion, bell pepper, zucchini and broccoli sauteed in chicken broth for din din. I topped it all off with a little crumbed goat cheese. 

What was the tastiest thing you ate this weekend?

Restaurant Review(s) – SNOB & Mi Xao

This has been a very eventful week when it comes to – my favorite thing – FOOD! Therefore, you can say it’s been a great week. To make things even better, work has continued to be busy making the days fly by. And not the “oh my gosh I’m so stressed I can’t even breath” kind of busy, but the good kind of busy. A couple Sugar Free Red Bulls may have helped too.

Let’s get back to my first thought though – the food!

Greg’s aunt was in town and invited us to dinner at S.N.O.B. (Slightly North of Broad), which is a very well-known restaurant in Charleston. I had somehow never been there before and was so excited to finally check it off my Charleston restaurant bucket list.

We started with some appetizers to share – a delicious fruit and cheese plate and chilled shrimp. We were also given a bread basket for the table with both cornbread and a traditional white baguette.

When it came to my entree, I kept things simple with the Vegetable Plate.

While this can seem like a boring choice, it was not boring in variety or flavor. My plate was filled with steamed spinach, zucchini, tomatoes, lima beans, green beans, mushrooms, broccoli, a few cuts of cheese, and a small scoop of grits. It could not have been more perfect. 

I had asked the waitress how the dish was prepared, because I wanted to avoid having a plate of super oily veggies. She told me some were steamed and others were sauteed in chicken broth. I loved that idea! I can’t be the only one that has never thought of that, right?? I’m so excited to implement that new-to-me cooking method. 

I finally made it to Mi Xao this week as well, thanks to Christina’s recommendations. It is a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in Mount Pleasant with the cutest little dining area. 

Greg and I split an order of the spring rolls, which was a great decision. They were awesome on their own, but also came with the best little citrusy dipping sauce ever. Greg had a traditional chicken stir fry with brown rice as his main dish. I had the Tom Yum Kung Pho. Christina has raved about this pho and I knew I had to have it too.

The menu describes this bowl of noodle soup as having: Shrimp, rice vermicelli, lime, chicken broth, cilantro and green onion. Oh my goodness, it was just as good as Christina made it out to be! It was one GIANT bowl, that’s pho-sho 😉 I probably didn’t even finish a third of it. The menu says it’s spicy and they’re not kidding. But as long as you like spicy, you will be happy. I can’t wait to finish it off for lunch tomorrow! 

Weekend Eats 3-11-13

I kicked off the weekend with Mexican food and a margarita, on the rocks, with salt. The best way to do it.

I ate a half bagel with jelly, apple slices and hot tea for breakfast one day.

I snacked on mixed nuts during the day while working at my company’s conference (I mostly picked around the peanuts and went straight for the almonds and cashews, mmm). 

On Sunday I ate the other half of the bagel, this time with avocado and sliced banana. You may think it’s weird, but I promise it’s delicious. (Hint: this may be foreshadowing a recipe coming your way later this week…)

After church, I stopped at Whole Foods for a simple veggie and hummus wrap from the deli counter to fuel my grocery shopping.

 

I also ate pralines. Sugary, melt-in-your-mouth pralines. If you aren’t familiar with these, they are a true Charleston/Southern staple and I highly recommend you get yourself some if you ever have the chance. We hand them out to guests at our conference and any leftovers? Yeah, they come home with me 🙂 Nice perk if you ask me. The combination of pecans, brown sugar and butter is a wonderful thing. 

What was the tastiest thing you ate this weekend?

Weekend Eats 12-3-12

This was quite a productive weekend between holiday festivities on Daniel Island, shopping, decorating and eating good food.

Friday night, Greg, Zoey and I went to the Christmas tree lighting on DI, followed by dinner at Orlando’s Pizza.

We shared this large Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple ($17.75). It was huge. Not surprisingly, we managed to have almost half left over that we ended up eating for lunch on Saturday. Overall the pizza was great, but I tend to like thicker crust more than thin crust like Orlando’s. Still, the flavor was there and I couldn’t complain. 

Saturday morning started by supporting another Daniel Island spot, Fired Urth. Greg and I sat outside with Zoey as we sipped our lattes and ate our pastries. I had the Cinnabee latte (cinnamon and honey) and Greg had a caramel latte. To eat, I had a pecan scone and Greg had a cinnamon sugar donut. Everything was amazing. 

When we told them we wanted the order “for here,” I was still expecting to-go paper cups for the lattes. So I was pleasantly surprised when the drinks were served in mugs. I was so intrigued by the foam art on top and how it managed to hold its shape as I drank my way to the bottom. 

Sunday morning I made biscuits and gravy for Greg, while I wanted something a little healthier. I topped one of the Trader Joe’s buttermilk biscuits with one cooked egg and some shredded cheddar cheese. 

Perfection.

My weekend wrapped up with warm, gooey brownies, also courtesy of Trader Joe’s. I used their Guilt Free Brownie Mix which calls for fat free yogurt to be combined with the powder mix. I added powdered sugar on top and ate my serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Ok, now THAT is perfection. 

What was the tastiest part of your weekend?

Weekend Eats 11-5-12

I don’t know about you, but I had quite the busy weekend involving very little sleep. Having a young pup at home will do that to you. 

My mornings started out with the only thing I’ve had for breakfast in the past two weeks or so- Overnight oats made with almond milk, two tablespoons of granola for added crunch, sliced banana, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

On Saturday, Greg and I took Zoey to Park Day, an event held on Daniel Island every fall. A brand new park area was recently developed on the island and made a great spot to hold Park Day. The event was bigger than it’s ever been, with music, food, games, etc. It seemed like every food truck in Charleston was at Park Day, making it difficult to choose which we would eat from for lunch. 

I knew cupcakes were in my future that day, so I wanted something small for lunch. Greg was in the mood for barbecue so we opted for Hello My Name is BBQ which we have both had before. Their menu listed “Goat Cheese and Bacon Mac and Cheese” and I just had to try it. 

Unfortunately, they just gave me the plain old cheddar mac instead of the goat cheese like I asked for 😦 We had already walked back across the park with our food before I realized it wasn’t quite right. I didn’t feel like walking back and waiting in line so I ate it anyway. I wasn’t UNhappy with my lunch, but I am still so curious about that goat cheese mac!

After Park Day I went to Cupcake Camp and, well, I already told you all about that yesterday. But here’s another look at some of my indulgences. 

What was the tastiest part of your weekend?

Weekend Eats 10-29-12

As of right now, while I’m writing this post, I came up with a new series for this little old blog of mine. Mondays on Counting My Cupcakes will now feature weekly…or biweekly, or triweekly, depending on my schedule ;)…

Weekend Eats!

Rather than full restaurant reviews or entire posts about the more simple meals I make at home, I will highlight some of the tastiest parts of my weekend. 

For other bloggers out there, I’m working on a button for this so you can join me in Weekend Eats as well! Stay tuned, I’ll get that to you soon!

On the menu this weekend?

On Saturday, after some wedding gift registering (so fun by the way!), Greg and I parted ways for the afternoon. I headed to Whole Foods for lunch. With so many options, I’m often a little overwhelmed deciding what I want from the cafe. It was a cool and rainy Saturday in Charleston so I wanted something comforting. I opted for a ‘build your own’ wrap from the deli. Inside a spinach wrap went pimento cheese, tomato, spinach, red onion and roasted red pepper. 

I brought the wrap home and ate half of it alongside a sweet juicy apple. 

After church on Sunday, Greg insisted on brunch at his favorite spot, Triangle. I’m not one to deny brunch so brunching we went!

It’s always a struggle passing up pancakes, especially with pumpkin pancakes on the menu, but I managed to talk myself into the Veggie Omelet instead. Not a bad choice! The omelet was filled with peppers, onions, mushrooms and goat cheese (instead of bleu cheese as described on the menu). With two side dishes of fruit and home fries, this makes for one giant meal. Again, I saved half to bring home and am looking forward to finishing it off for lunch today!

Dinner last night came in the form of the remaining half of the pimento cheese wrap with steamed broccoli and carrots on the side. 

What was the tastiest part of your weekend?

A Restaurant Review – Fired Urth

Okay, so Fired Urth isn’t actually a restaurant, but rather a self-described Espresso Bar and Artisan Bakery. I’m not going to beat around the bush here. This place is good! As a matter of fact, it’s my new favorite place.

Chris and Missy, the husband and wife owners, recently moved to Daniel Island from North Carolina where they had a cupcake and coffee shop as well. You can read their full story here. They opened Fired Urth just this past week and I happened to notice it while on a run over the weekend. I immediately looked it up when I got home and was more than intrigued. After being ready for work a little earlier than normal yesterday, I knew exactly how to make use of my extra time.

I walked into the cafe and noticed the local Christian radio station was playing over the speakers. Bonus points! 

First and foremost I needed coffee in my system. But I couldn’t help but stare into the bakery case. 

I quickly skimmed the drink menu and decided I had to go with their signature drink: The Cinn-A-Bee Latte, made with two shots of espresso, steamed milk, cinnamon and honey ($4). 

I realized I wasn’t going to be able to get out of there without the ghost of one of these pastries haunting my day! (These are the things I tell myself…) There were a variety of scones, coffee cake, and biscotti, just to name a few. I picked a pumpkin scone ($2), and Missy was so kind to throw in a Donut Muffin too! She said this is one of their most popular items – a muffin that tastes like a donut and coated in sugar. Sounds right up my ally, huh? 

My hot latte and freshly baked goods smiled pretty for a quick photo shoot in my car. As tempting as it was to eat it right then and there, I really wanted to be able to take my time and enjoy my treats, not distracted by driving. So I drove quickly to work, settled in at my desk, and savored each sip and bite. 

The scone was soft, dense and chewy with the perfect pumpkin spice flavor. Traditional scones are much more dry and crumbly. There is a time and place for that, but not with this scone. Since I had the donut muffin too, I ended up saving half of each pastry for my afternoon later. After all, I didn’t want to put myself in complete sugar overload. 

The muffin truly did capture the essence of a donut. It is a genius creation and I could have eaten five. Self control, my friends. It doesn’t always come easily!

Fellow Charlestonians need to make a visit to my next of the woods on Daniel Island and try this place as soon as you can. I am already dreaming of my next trip. It’s not often I spend money on morning coffee, since I get it for free at work or just make it at home. But with such a great place so close to home now, that could change. 

Like Fired Urth on Facebook here and follow them on Twitter here.