Name: Chicken and Waffle Sandwiches
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 4 sandwiches
Ingredients: 9 1/2 ounces (about 2 1/4 cup) flour (I used white whole wheat flour); 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 3 eggs, lightly beaten; 2 cups buttermilk; 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter; 1 cup pimento cheese; cooking spray or vegetable/canola oil; 2 cups buttermilk; 3 teaspoons salt; dash sriracha or hot sauce; 2 chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise into 2 cutlets each; 1 1/2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/2 teaspoon onion powder; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper; vegetable, canola, or peanut oil; hot sauce or Buffalo wing sauce; maple syrup; dill pickle chips

Taconooga (Downtown Chattanooga)

February 9, 2015

When I asked readers for Mexican food recommendations, TacoNooga on the North Shore ranked near the top of reader recommendations!

I am embarrassed that it took me as long as it did to get to Taconooga…it’s been around for a while, but that location doesn’t seem to be the best (which makes no sense, given how many people are always crawling the North Shore) so I guess I wanted to wait to make sure they were going to stick around! I’m glad that they did. Mexican food is one of my top “cravings” and, though we don’t eat it as much as we used to, I could probably eat it every night and not get tired of it. I was struck with a craving on Friday and decided that we needed to head to Taconooga this weekend, especially after commenters on my Facebook page raved about it.

This weekend was gorgeous, with nothing but blue skies and temperatures in the sixties. The North Shore was very busy (but then, when is it not?) and when we got to Taconooga around 2:00 it was packed out. No empty tables, though they quickly cleared a table that just had some supplies stacked on it so we could sit. Apparently we hit at the end of the lunch rush, because it wasn’t quite as busy when we left as it was when we arrived, but there were still a lot of people. We were given menus (the food menu, the drink list, and a weekend specials menu, which I wish I’d taken a photo of) and our server took our drink order.

After she brought our drinks it took her a few minutes to get back to us to take our order, for which she apologized, but the place was busy so we were really not upset! She was very friendly and I wish I’d thought to ask her name. After she took our order it only took a few minutes for her to bring out our food, which she told us was all made very fresh.

Perhaps the one downside to Taconooga is that the chips and salsa are not complimentary, but in my opinion it is mandatory to have tortilla chips with something in a Mexican restaurant so we were willing to pay. There are a lot of options: queso, freshly made guacamole (which is supposedly out of this world…we saw a couple order it and it was a huge bowl that looked delicious), choriqueso (queso with chorizo), and several others. We decided to just stick with the basics and get chips and salsa. You get to choose two of the three salsas: we chose the house salsa and the spicy chili salsa (the third was tomatillo). Both tasted very fresh. The spicy chili was not so spicy that I couldn’t eat it, but it definitely had a strong kick. The house salsa had some sort of herb or spice that I didn’t recognize that set it apart from others. The chips were thick, hot, and freshly fried. Perfect.

I decided to get the tacos al pastor and the pescado especial (fried tilapia tacos). The al pastor tacos had chunks of pineapple from the marinade, which I’ve never had in a taco al pastor before, but it definitely gave a tangy sweetness to the tacos. They had tons of cilantro, which in my opinion is always a good thing, and lots of red onion….which I would usually hate but for some reason I like raw onion on tacos. The pescado especial had a large piece of battered, fried fish on double corn tortillas and was topped with lettuce, mango salsa, and jicama for crunch. There was a side of a mayo-based sauce that I added to the fish taco. It was very fresh and the sauce, though I couldn’t place the flavors, was a great complement. There were large chunks of mango and jalapeño in the salsa, but it wasn’t overly spicy. I loved the addition of jicama.

Philip decided to get a chorizo (Mexican sausage) taco and a taco lengua (that’s right…tongue). Like my taco al pastor, both of his tacos were topped with ample amounts of cilantro and onions. He liked the chorizo and said that it was some of the best that he’d had-in competition with Taqueria Jalisco and Delia’s-not greasy, spicy but not too much so. The lengua was perfectly spiced, falling apart, shredded finely. I know the idea of tongue scares people, but it is really just like a very tasty pot roast. I PROMISE. I would tell you if it was bad! It was very tasty.

We ordered two sides: frijoles charros (pictured above with Philip’s tacos) and Mexican street corn (which you can order on the cob or loose…neither of us likes corn on the cob). The frijoles charros are pinto beans cooked with bacon, onions, and garlic. They were very smoky, tender, and flavorful….but if I had to choose one side to eat here for the rest of forever, it would be the Mexican street corn: yellow corn with queso fresco, spicy mayo sauce, and chili seasoning. There was just enough mayo sauce to make it a little creamy. The seasoning on top made it nice and smoky, and the queso fresco gave a salty bite. Everything we ordered was delicious, but the Mexican street corn was the highlight of the meal. By the way, the sides are big enough for two people, so next time we’ll probably just order one Mexican street corn and forego the beans.

Taconooga is definitely a contender for a spot among the best Mexican restaurants in Chattanooga.

The food is fresh and delicious and the staff is friendly and amazingly quick. It was a good value, too-a ton of food for just around $21 pre-tip. It’s great to see restaurants like this full to the brim with customers. I’ll be back as often as I can get back!

Taconooga is located at 207-A Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. They are open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. You can call them at 423-757-5550 or email them at taconooga@gmail.com. Check out Taconooga’s website and like Taconooga on Facebook.

Mimi’s Deli & Bakery (Hixson, Tennessee)

January 26, 2015

Mimi’s Deli & Bakery is a great, family-owned sandwich shop and bakery in Hixson, Tennessee. I think they have the best sandwiches this side of the county!

A few years back, Mimi’s Gluten-Free Market opened up in Hixson, right next door to O’Charley’s. Though we aren’t gluten-free, we went in several times then sort of inexplicably stopped going…I have no idea why. They carried quite a few products that we couldn’t find anywhere else without having to drive to Whole Foods or Earth Fare. They mentioned to us on one visit that they were hoping to eventually add housemade sandwiches and baked goods to their offerings…then one day we drove by and noticed that the place was no longer Mimi’s Gluten-Free Market but rather Mimi’s Deli & Bakery.

So it turns out Hixson wasn’t quite ready for such a niche market, and the family that owned the shop decided that rather than close their business they would change their business into a restaurant. It took me a while to go in, though I’m really not sure why. Let me be clear….this isn’t Mimi’s Gluten-Free Deli & Bakery, though you can have your sandwich on gluten-free bread if you so choose, and the bakery case is full of gluten-free options like big, gloriously iced cupcakes, brownies, and cake pops (plus a few gluten-full items for those of you who are a little frightened of the gluten-free offerings).

In the back of the space, there’s still a small area selling some food items, including prepared gluten-free breads and frozen items and baking items. The rest of the place is full of tables. The seating is ample, so you can find a spot after you place your order and pay at the counter. The menu items are written on a gigantic chalkboard wall, but for details you can grab a menu at the counter to peruse. There are sixteen sandwiches, five hot dog options, burgers, salads, soups, and sides.

The lady at the counter recommended the cheesesteak, with sliced beef, onions, peppers, Provolone cheese, mayonnaise, and a house seasoning blend on an 8-inch hoagie roll. I have a hard time passing up a well-made cheesesteak, though they are admittedly difficult to find. I am usually sorely disappointed by cheesesteaks that are full of tough meat, not enough cheese, and barely cooked vegetables served on a dry and overly crunchy roll. This was not one of those sandwiches. The meat was perfectly cooked-so tender and deliciously seasoned. The vegetables were caramelized with just a tiny bit of crunch, and there was a ton of cheese melted on top. The roll was chewy but soft enough to bite through and the whole thing was hot and fabulously delicious. I’ve been watching my caloric intake, but I threw that out the window for this meal and ate the whole thing. And I didn’t regret it even a little bit.

Philip is a sucker for a Reuben, so he took the lady’s other recommendation and ordered the Reuben (the traditional Reuben with corned beef, not the California Reuben with turkey). The Reuben was made on grilled marbled rye with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and house made Russian dressing. Everything was well-heated through (unlike some other places that serve Reubens with cold corned beef in the center where the grill just doesn’t quite get) and the ingredients were well-balanced-not too much or too little of any one item. The Russian dressing was tasty…the best Reubens are always made with house made dressing. We also ordered a basket of hand-cut natural fries, which were tossed with house seasoning. They were skin-on, which you guys know that I love, perfectly cooked, and deliciously seasoned.

One other thing! I had to take a picture of the ketchup. Unfortunately, a lot of times when you eat in restaurants you are assaulted with cheap food-service ketchup (a lot of times that’s bottled as “fancy ketchup). Not here. The ketchup was Hunt’s! My BFF is a ketchup connoisseur, so I had to text this to her as I knew it would make her smile.

I’m going to take a leap here and tell you that Mimi’s Deli & Bakery has the best deli sandwiches in Hixson, at least from what we’ve experienced.

The people were very friendly and are obviously committed to serving a quality product. The prices were good as well-for our sandwiches and fries (we drank water), we paid about $17. There were quite a few people in and out while we were there, so this place is not a secret…but the service was impressively quick. Get to Mimi’s, you guys!

Mimi’s Deli & Bakery is located at 5036 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343 (between O’Charley’s and The Bread Basket). You can call them at 423-877-8700. They are open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additionally, they offer delivery (!) Monday-Friday, 11-2 p.m. as well as call-ahead ordering. You can find more information on the Mimi’s Deli & Bakery website, including their menu. Be sure to like Mimi’s Deli & Bakery on Facebook!

Chicken and Waffle Sandwiches

January 21, 2015

Chicken and waffle sandwiches are the perfect combination of chicken, waffles, Buffalo sauce, maple syrup, and pickles! They’re irresistible!

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure statement.

Have you ever had an idea so profoundly obvious that you wondered how you never thought of it in all of the four years that you’ve been blogging? Oh, was that just me? Because I just thought of chicken and waffle sandwiches like two weeks ago. How is that? Because as soon as I thought of it I realized that I should have thought of it, I don’t know, four years ago!

Now I’ll make a confession: I’ve never actually eaten chicken and waffles. I mean, I know that anything with fried chicken seems quintessentially Southern, but chicken and waffles as a combination really aren’t. Nope, chicken and waffles as we know them actually originated in Harlem. And I didn’t even know such a combination existed until like six or seven years ago, when I saw a television show that referenced Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, perhaps the most infamous place to procure said meal.

It seems that these days chicken and waffles are pretty easy to find on brunch menus pretty much everywhere, but I’ve never ordered them and I’ve never made them either. Until now. For some reason I’ve been mildly obsessed with chicken sandwiches lately (look for a chicken biscuit sandwich and a Chick-fil-a style chicken sandwich coming up soon). And this gives me a new chicken sandwich to be obsessed with.
To give this a little bit more of a Southern twist, I added in some pimento cheese because pimento cheese waffles? Come. On. Only I found out from an email that a reader sent me that pimento cheese really isn’t Southern either, but let’s all just pretend that I didn’t type that. Pimento cheese is an iconic Southern food and pimento cheese waffles are winning.
Crusty with cheese around the edges, drizzled with hot sauce and maple syrup, and topped with dill pickles, this is pretty much a dream sandwich. And if you don’t have a waffle iron, I promise that I won’t judge you for using Eggo’s….if you want to include the pimento cheese just spread a little on the waffles.

These chicken and waffle sandwiches were so good!

Mary

Yield: 4 sandwiches
Chicken and Waffle Sandwiches
30 minPrep Time:
30 minCook Time:
1 hrTotal Time:

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Ingredients
For the Pimento Cheese Waffles
9 1/2 ounces (about 2 1/4 cup) flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 cup pimento cheese
cooking spray or vegetable/canola oil
For the Fried Chicken
2 cups buttermilk
3 teaspoons salt
dash sriracha or hot sauce
2 chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise into 2 cutlets each
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
vegetable, canola, or peanut oil
For Serving
hot sauce or Buffalo wing sauce
maple syrup
dill pickle chips
Instructions
Brine the chicken: Up to 12 hours prior to cooking the chicken, whisk the buttermilk, salt, and hot sauce or sriracha in a large bowl. Place the chicken into the buttermilk brine. Cover and refrigerate.
Make the waffle batter: Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and butter and whisk until incorporated. Add the pimento cheese and stir with a large spoon to fully combine. Set aside to rest.
Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 200 degrees. Preheat the waffle iron. Prepare the waffles according to manufacturer’s directions, spraying the iron with cooking spray or brushing with oil prior to preparing each waffle. When the waffles are fully cooked, place in the preheated oven until ready to serve.
While the waffles are cooking, cook the chicken. Pour about an inch of oil into a 10-inch skillet and preheat over medium-high. Whisk together the flour, salt, onion and garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper together in a pie pan.
Using tongs, remove one piece of chicken at a time from the brine. Dip into the flour on both sides, then dip back into the buttermilk and back into the flour. Fry on each side for about five minutes, until golden. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels. If not serving immediately, place on a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. I cook the chicken in two batches so that the pan does not get crowded.
To serve, place each piece of chicken on a waffle. Drizzle with hot/Buffalo sauce and maple syrup. Top with pickles and another waffle (if using Belgian waffles, like I did, cut the waffles in half and use one half as the top and one half as the bottom).
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https://chattavore.com/chicken-and-waffle-sandwiches/

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Bacon and Potato Soup (Quick and Easy!)

January 17, 2015

This bacon and potato soup is thick and rib-sticking, ready to be topped with cheese and green onions. It’s a crowd-pleaser on cold nights!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure statement.

Every once in a while I get in a fog where I can’t seem to think of what to cook, what to write about, where to eat, etc., etc. I’ve been there for the last couple of weeks. I managed to eke out a few posts but this week my momentum came to a screeching halt. I have no idea why this happens, but I guess it’s just a fact of life for me (and a lot of other bloggers, I’d imagine).

As I made my grocery list for the upcoming week on Thursday night, I wracked my brain trying to think of what I could possibly make that I hadn’t made before. I asked my Facebook followers for some suggestions, and boy did they come through. I have tons of ideas, not the least of which was potato soup.

How have I not written about potato soup before? I mean, I wrote about creamy potato-leek soup a long time ago (and I do love my potato-leek soup), but not a rich, hearty potato soup perfect for topping with bacon and cheese. I don’t even understand this. Potato soup has always, always been a comfort food for me, something that my mom made often when I was a kid and something that I frequently make for myself when I’m eating alone or when I don’t have ingredients for other meals. I guess maybe it was too obvious?

To me, a chunky potato soup needs very little. Potatoes (obviously!), chicken broth, bacon, cheese, maybe a little onion for another layer of flavor. And it must be creamy. Usually, I make a roux and add milk to make my potato soups creamy, but I decided to leave the roux out for this one and instead use the soup to make itself creamy by pureeing half of it and stirring it back into the pot. Cream cheese added a little richness in the absence of milk or cream.

Topped with a little bit of cheddar cheese (and honestly, I think that the cheese here must be cheddar, sour cream, green onions, and, of course, bacon, this soup is out-of-this-world rich, flavorful, and delicious. Served with crackers, good chewy bread, or quick and easy spoon rolls (pictured), this is a perfect winter lunch or dinner. If you puree all of the soup, you can freeze it to keep in the freezer for lunches. See the “notes” below for instructions on making this into a slow cooker meal.

This bacon and potato soup is perfect for cold winter nights!

What’s your favorite potato soup?

Mary

Yield: 4 servings
Bacon and Potato Soup
15 minPrep Time:
25 minCook Time:
40 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients
4 strips bacon, diced
1 large onion
2 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled, rinsed, and cut into 1-inch cubes
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
salt and pepper
cheese, sour cream, and green onions for garnish
Instructions
Preheat a 4-6 quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp and remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.
Remove all but one tablespoon of the bacon fat from the pan. Set back over the heat. Add the onions and cook until soft. Stir the potatoes and the chicken broth into the pan. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
Place the cream cheese cubes into a bowl. Ladle about a cup of the hot broth into the bowl and whisk until the cream cheese melts. Add back to the bowl and stir to incorporate.
Scoop half of the soup into a blender and blend until smooth. Add back to the pot and stir until completely combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until heated through. Serve with the reserved bacon and other desired toppings.
Notes
If you would like to have a freezable soup, puree all of the soup. Potatoes tend to disintegrate when frozen and thawed. This recipe can be prepared in a slow cooker. Cook the bacon and the onions on the stovetop, then add the onions, potatoes, and chicken broth into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until potatoes are tender, then complete steps 3 and 4.
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Cheese Tortellini with Cauliflower Sauce

January 9, 2015

This cheese tortellini is fresh and delicious, topped with cauliflower sauce, Brussels sprouts, and tomatoes. It’s a great vegetarian dinner!

There are many things that I love about my job as a behavior analyst for a large school system. Long breaks are not the least of these, as I am sure you can imagine (though I can honestly say that breaks were in now way a motivation for me to pursue a career in education, as many like to purport, and they also have nothing to do with why I have remained in the field of education for more than fourteen years). A friend asked me a while back why teachers always say that they that they love their jobs, but they SO look forward to breaks. There are two types of people that would ask this question: (1) people who have never been teachers and therefore don’t understand exactly how physically, mentally, and emotionally tiring teaching is; and (2) people who have never had summer, winter, spring, or fall break as a regular fixture of their job. I mean, come on. If you had that amount of time off to look forward to, you’d be pretty ready for a break by the end of the quarter too!

There’s a problem with all those breaks, though…particularly the longer ones. That problem is Newton’s Third Law, i.e. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Any working stiff can attest to the fact that the days, the moments leading up to a vacation are wonderful, delicious moments that defy comparison, as are the early moments of the break. The end of a vacation, though, regardless of your feelings for your job, brings feelings of sadness, loss, anguish. Okay, I exaggerate. But it amazes me that I can lie around and do nothing for two weeks and feel completely and utterly exhausted when I have to go back to work (I’m positive that it has nothing to do with the fact that I love to stay up late and threw my sleep schedule totally out of whack).

For this reason, it’s important that I choose dinners that are quick and easy to prepare on the weeks that I return from a break. It doesn’t hurt when those meals produce leftovers. And, since my new, more sedentary job means that I can no longer fit into my favorite jeans, it doesn’t hurt when they are a little lower on the calorie counts (I’ve been killing it with my new FitBit, logging my meals onto MyFitnessPal, and doing workouts from Fitness Blender, though!). This dish, cheese tortellini with cauliflower sauce, tomatoes, & Brussels sprouts fits that bill. Cauliflower sauce, which I discovered on Pinch of Yum, is amazingly rich and creamy while managing to be low in calories and high in nutrition (and there’s even an ebook of nothing but cauliflower sauce recipes!).

Oh, and another benefit of long breaks? Getting time to do things that I’m usually too tired for…like giving my kitchen a facelift. Our house was built in 1977 (it’s older than me!) and I had had it up to here with the ugly, dark melamine cabinets (with wood-grained veneers!) and the laminate “butcher block” countertops. So we painted them! Or at least we started painting them. Top cabinets are done, bottom cabinets not yet, and walls and floors will come later…but I am most excited about the countertops, which we painted using Rust-Oleum Countertop Transformations. I’ll post more about the process once we get it all done, but suffice it to say it’s messy. But that’s okay, because essentially we got countertops for less than $300. And I took these pictures on them! Once we get the bottom cabinets and the walls done, I’m hoping to build the Chattavore YouTube channel (I really don’t know if I want you guys to click on that link).