Petunia Bloom

Louie’s Grill and Bar December 22, 2008

A post I wrote for Tulsa Food Blog:

Louie?s Grill and Bar will not disappoint in the area of hamburgers.  There were three different people at our table with three different hamburgers and they were all good.  Good enough for me to go back and order another one!

The fries were shoestring style, which are my favorite.

Here is a picture of the All American Cheeseburger w/o onions:

The ketchup on there was added by me.

We ordered fried pickles as an appetizer and, surprisingly, I liked them!  They were served with ranch and wasabi ranch sauce.

Also, I hear the Guinness is very good?

6301 E. 101st Street South
Tulsa, OK

(918) 298-5777
Call for To Go orders!

Michael V’s Restaurant and Bar December 17, 2008

A Tulsa Food Blog Post

A friend of mine had a dinner held in her honor at Michael V’s Restaurant.  The restaurant had a nice ambiance, and it was the perfect location for her dinner as we were able to sit in a private area in the back of the establishment.  We were told by the hosts of the party that the restaurant had been wonderful to work with and went above and beyond to be accommodating.

For starters, we had Michael’s signature salad.  According to Michael’s website it is, “Mixed greens tossed with raspberry vinaigrette and topped with sun-dried cherries and apples, candied pecans and crumbled goat cheese.”  The salad tasted great.  My husband, who says he doesn’t like goat cheese, ate the whole salad including the goat cheese.  My husband and I had the rib-eye steak, and I would have to say it was the best rib-eye steak I have had in Tulsa.  Yes, it is #1 on my list for Tulsa steaks.  I could have done without all the onions and parsley sprinkled all over the plate, but the roasted vegetables looked great and tasted even better.

Our private party had one waiter assigned to our group.  He was super efficient and kept the whole party moving smoothly.  During the “speech time” he even turned off the music so everyone could focus on the person of honor.

After the meal, the chef came out to greet our party and see how the food was.  He was a hoot and a half wearing colorful pajama pants paired with an even more colorful personality and a chef’s jacket on top.

My husband and I will definitely go back to Michael V’s.  Come to think of it, our anniversary is coming up so Michael V’s here we come!

Pecan Tea Balls December 16, 2008

My husband wanted to take small gifts to work for Christmas, so he ordered to me to make cookies and chocolate dipped pretzels.  I told him I would make cookies, but we could buy the chocolate dipped pretzels at Target.

My grandma always makes Pecan Tea Balls at Christmas time, so that is what I made using the recipe she always uses.

1c. Butter
1c. Chopped Pecans
2c. Flour
1/4c. Sugar
2t vanilla
1/2 bag Powdered Sugar

Mix together all the ingredients.  Roll into balls the size of a marble.  Bake 350 degrees for 20 mins.  While hot, roll in powder sugar.  Roll in powder sugar again when cooled.  This will make around 27 cookies.  Mine were bigger than marbles, so you could probably get more than 27 out of a batch.  I almost always double the recipe, because these keep very well.

I used the wax paper for easy clean-up, but it is definitely not needed.

These cooled very quickly by my drafty window which was good since I wanted to bag them right away.

Here they are bagged with one chocolate-dipped pretzel each (that I didn’t have to make!).  I was pleased with how they turned out, and they should be well-received.  If not, I will never know.

Vegetable Soup with Lentils December 7, 2008

It seems that I have read several articles/books lately that have praised the nutritional value of lentils, so I bought a small bag of green ones.  After looking online, I decided I would make vegetable soup and add lentils to it.  To be honest, I didn’t think I would like lentils one bit but wanted to try them just in case.  They are VERY cheap and VERY healthy.  I couldn’t find a recipe online that fit my fancy so this is who I made it:

2 T Olive Oil (I don’t like olive oil so I always use grapeseed oil in its place…yes, I am weird)
1 small onion chopped
7-8 carrots, peeled and sliced
1.5 green pepper chopped
6-8 cups of water
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 can garbanzo beans
1 bag green lentils
2 large handfuls of baby spinach
2 bay leaves
1 t Italian seasoning (mine has marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, and basil in it)
1 T dried parsley flakes
Pepper and Salt to Taste (I don’t ever add salt but you could.  I love pepper so I added a lot of pepper.)

Use a large stock pot.  Saute onion, carrots, and green pepper until soft.  Add the the other ingredients except the spinach and stir.  Put the lid on and bring to a medium boil.  Let simmer for 30-40 mins until your lentils float to the top.  Turn the heat off, put the spinach on top, put the lid back on for five mins or until the spinach has wilted.  Then stir in the spinach.

This was so good!  It makes a lot.  I would say it makes 12 individual servings.  It freezes very well, so I like to freeze it individually for nice easy meals to pull out of the freezer at anytime.  I had never bought Italian seasoning before, but it was also very good.

You could use any vegetables that you like in place of what I used.

One of my Crockpot Go-To Recipes November 21, 2008

I shared this in Jazzercise tonight, so I thought I would blog about it!  This is the most simple crockpot recipe and it has turned out great time and time again.  Also, it is very healthy.

Place frozen chicken breats in the bottom of a crockpot.  Pour Salsa (diced tomatos for less spicy) over the top, pour a can of rinsed black beans on top and cook on low all day.  Serve with a dollop of sour creme.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Pound Cake November 17, 2008

Go to ThePioneerWoman.com and print out the recipe for Blueberry Pound Cake.  It was the most moist pound cake I have ever had!  It had a dipping sauce to go with it.  Normally, I would never make the sauce to go with a recipe but I was feeling happy and went ahead and made the sauce.  Yum…Yum…  It was worth it, and my guests loved the sauce!  The secret ingredient:  2 6oz cartons of yogurt

Before you make this recipe, go here and sign up to recieve a coupon for buy one, get one free of Rachel’s Yogurt.  I am not sure why, but I received two of these coupons in the mail.

D’Novo Lean Gourmet – New Tulsa Treat October 21, 2008

My husband and I went to a new restaurant in Tulsa called D’Novo Lean Gourmet.  The whole point of the restaurant is to provide gourmet food without the calories.  Each meal is supposed to be under 500 calories, which isn’t too bad considering some of the smoothies sold at Jamba Juice have over 1,000 calories.

The restaurant is located at 61st and Yale where The Market used to be.  It is a nice shopping center, and D’Novo seemed to have an excellent image.  To get inside the restaurant one has to walk through the outside eating area, which is beautiful.  Check it out below…

Now that I look back at them, my pictures don’t really do it justice.  You all can just use these and then imagine. 

In the entrance to the restaurant is a waterfall on the left which is very pretty.  The whole restaurant is white it seems.  The booths are white; the walls are white, like I said everything is white.  I don’t know how they are going to maintain the white booths or the white walls.  It seems like they would get dirty so fast.  Well, that is their problem to worry about.  On to the food.

I ordered chicken with ratatouille pasta.  The chicken was wonderful.  I thought it would be too dry, but to my amazement it wasn’t.  It was great.  It was served with whole wheat pasta which definitely needed some more vegetables added it to it for the price tag.

My husband ordered a sirloin burger which was served as a wrap.  His meal came with a salad.

Next time we go, I will have the Sirloin Burger as well.  It was very very good.

Overall, I was pleased with the atmosphere and food at D’Nono.  The man who took our order wasn’t the most friendly crayon in the box, but he seemed efficient enough.  I was surprised at how quickly our food was delivered to our table.  My husband and I will definitely go back to D’Nono and I would recommend it.

The restaurant is filled with chandeliers.  My phone didn’t do a good job at capturing their brilliance, but you get the idea.

Pumpkin Bread October 19, 2008

Last year I found the best Pumpkin bread recipe.  It was supposed to taste just like the Pumpkin loaf sold at Starbucks, and it did.  It is wonderful.  I made it last year and again this year.  You can find the recipe here.

I took several pieces to Jazzercise this morning to give away and it was a big hit.

Amaranth October 5, 2008

A new food for you to try:  Amaranth.  It is a grain that is extremely high in fiber and protein.  One of my friends eats it every morning for breakfast in class and it always smells so good, so I asked her how to make it.  First off, I had to go to Whole Foods and buy 1 cup of Amaranth grain.  It wasn’t expensive at all.  To cook Amaranth.  Boil 1 cup of Amaranth with 2.5 cups of water and several shakes of cinnamon for 18 mins and then let sit in the pan.  The Amaranth will absorb all of the water, so you will end up with more than three cups of Amaranth.  Usually I let the Amaranth cool, then I put it into a large container to use throughout the week.  To warm up for breakfast:  I scoop out three large spoonfuls, add one large spoonful of Organic Almond Butter, and one cut up banana.  Oh my goodness, it is so good.  It has 14grams of Fiber, 15 grams of protein, and no sugar except for the natural sugar of the banana.  My husband eats this up.  We both really like it.

Apple Salad October 2, 2008

While in Branson, MO, this weekend we went to Silver Dollar City.  We had so much fun.  If you haven’t been to Silver Dollar City in a while, you need to go back soon.  They just opened up a Culinary Craft School.  It is amazing but you have to pay $10 extra to book a spot.  It is basically a cooking show where everyone gets to taste the final product.  Despite the fact that I only went home with two new recipes, I will definitely take another class at the Culinary Craft School.  It was fun to sit in a brand new gourmet kitchen and watch food be made.

One of the recipes that was demonstrated while we were there was this Apple Salad.  I have made it TWICE since getting back.

Ingredients:
7-8 apples (I used Gala)
1 can crushed pineapple
1/3 bag small marshmallows
Nuts (I like Walnuts)
*optional* cut up orange slices
1 cup fat free half and half, give or take
small container of light cool whip

Directions:
Drain can of pineapple into large bowl and fill the bowl up half way with water.
Cut up all the apples in to small pieces and place in bowl with pineapple juice.
In another large bowl, whip up cool whip, crushed pineapple, and half and half.
Stir in nuts and orange slices.
Add apple pieces, stir, and store in fridge for up to a week.

Notes:
The orange slices make this salad really sweet.  I would prefer the salad without them, but my husband likes them added.  The teacher at the culinary craft school said that she adds different types of candy depending on the holiday.  Orange slices are good for Halloween, etc…