Brad Paisley Concert

I have been to A LOT of country music concerts in my time, but I had never seen Brad Paisley live before. I was happily surprised when my husband bought us tickets to see him; the tickets were for our first anniversary, which was such a thoughtful gift!

I was just as excited to check out BayCare Sound as well. This is a venue in Clearwater that we hadn't been to yet, so it was good to see what time space is like. It's an amphitheater with a small lawn, but the whole space can hold 9,000 people. We noticed that there were several people with lawn chairs sitting just outside of the venue where they could still hear the music but didn't have to pay; they were just listening from the nearby park. What a clever idea! And there are a number of bars and restaurants leading up to the venue, so we were able to have a few (cheaper) drinks before heading inside. 

Even though the venue is smaller than Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheater in Tampa, or Merriweather Post Pavilion that we were used to in Maryland, there were plenty of concession stands for the whole crowd. There were bar stands everywhere you looked, and several different food trucks offering items like chicken sandwiches, personal pizzas, and funnel cake sundaes. There was certainly something for everyone (although I had a liquid dinner of just drinks!😆)

Alexandra Kay came on stage and handed out milkshakes to people in the front during "Fancy Like."

We missed the first opener, Alexandra Kay, although she did sing the duet "Whiskey Lullaby" with Paisley during the show (but she's no Alison Kraus!). The second opener was Walker Hayes, whom I had also never seen in concert. His song "Fancy Like" came out when Steve and I were first dating, so I joke that it's our song. It's definitely my favorite of his:

Here are a few other songs I like from Hayes:

You Broke up with Me

90's Country (I had never heard this song before, but I love songs that reference other songs! Very meta, like you're in on an inside joke.)

When Paisley came on stage, he looks the same since forever ago! He has great stage presence, and you could tell he was having so much fun. He sounds wonderful live; such a talented singer and guitar player! Here are some of my favorites that he sang:

Celebrity

Online

We Danced

I'm Gonna Miss Her (such a country song haha)

She's Everything

Water

Mud on the Tires (I thought this was going to be his encore song!)

Alcohol (THIS was the encore!)

River Bank (The music video played in the background; that squirrel was cracking us up!)

And here were a few songs he didn't get to (his set was much shorter than I expected!):

Little Moments

Waitin' on a Woman

He Didn't Have to Be

Two People Fell in Love

Letter to Me

Remind Me

We had such a fun time, and I would definitely come back to this venue again. But I'd be sure to bring one of those personal fans. It was HOT! I know Lee Brice is performing there in September. Maybe I'll try to get tickets to that!

Recipe: One-banana Banana Bread

Sometimes you only have one over-ripe banana, and luckily with Google, I was able to find this recipe from the Baking Mischief blog for a banana bread mini-loaf that calls for just one ripe banana!

Ingredients

• ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (60g) all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅛ teaspoon salt (¼ if using unsalted butter)
• 1 medium overripe banana
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons (42g) butter melted

Cinnamon Sugar Crust

• 1 teaspoon (4g) granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a mini loaf pan, line with parchment paper sling (optional), and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate medium bowl, mash the banana and whisk in the egg until well-combined. Pour banana mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just-combined.
4. Add melted butter, and mix until butter is incorporated into the batter. Don’t over mix, but there should not be pools of butter remaining around the edges of the batter.
5. Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan, leaving ¾ inch of space from the top of the pan (discard extra batter if there is too much).

Optional Cinnamon Sugar Crust

• In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.

        6. Bake for 30 to 38 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

        7. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes before removing and slicing. Then serve! 

I was baking at my parents' home in New Hampshire, so I didn't know where everything was. I found measuring cups but not measuring spoons, and I found cinnamon very quickly, so I used that without even bothering to look for the nutmeg (I did not make the cinnamon sugar crust. Why add an extra step?). So the measurements were estimated. Also, the house has a small oven with uneven heat, so I only baked my loaf for 25 minutes and that was perfect (at 20 it was still jiggly in the middle, but at 25 it had a browned top and the toothpick came out clean). It smelled so good coming out of the oven! This cake is so moist and delicious. I will definitely be making this one again!

Recipe: ANOTHER Orzo Chicken Dish

The spinach looks quite wilted, but it still tastes good!

This was another Instagram recipe I found online, this time from Neill, the "in vs. out" nutritionist. Again, very easy to make since you just put everything together in a casserole dish and mix!

Ingredients:

▪️200g orzo - 1.5 cups

▪️500g raw chicken - I did three large chicken thighs

▪️300ml chicken stock - 10 fl. oz

▪️1 diced red pepper

▪️190g reduced fat red pesto - I used green pesto from Aldi

▪️1 handful chopped spinach

▪️1 diced onion

▪️100g sundried tomatoes

▪️200g light Philadelphia cream cheese - 7 ounces (I used a full brick; why leave over 1 ounce?)

▪️Salt - pepper - paprika - oregano

Directions

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a 13x9" casserole dish. 
2. Cover and bake for 45 mins at 350˚ F. 

Seriously, that's it! I tried to do the conversions for you to make it easier. I didn't have everything (I had two tiny peppers that I used, and I used regular cream cheese), and I probably could have used a second jar of pesto. But even then, I was really happy with how this dish came out, and even happier about how easy it was to make! You really can't beat it!

(I think this recipe is better than the previous orzo chicken dish I made, but that's probably because of all the cream cheese!)

Recipe: Zucchini Lasagna

I had one cup of cottage cheese left over after making cottage cheese ice cream (that recipe here). So I looked up recipes that only needed one cup, and I found this one on the Taste of Home website. So I went to Aldi, bought all the other ingredients I didn't already have at home, and I tried it!

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup 2% cottage cheese
• 4 medium zucchini (about 1-3/4 pounds)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (additional cheese optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In large skillet, cook and crumble beef with onion over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink, 5-7 minutes. Stir in seasonings and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. In a bowl, mix egg and cottage cheese.
2. Trim ends of zucchini; cut lengthwise into 1/4-in.-thick slices. Toss zucchini with the flour. Layer half the slices in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Top with cottage cheese mixture and half the meat sauce. Add remaining zucchini slices; sprinkle with any remaining flour. Spread with remaining meat sauce; sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
3. Bake, uncovered, until heated through, about 40 minutes. If desired, sprinkle with additional cheese. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I have two main concerns with this recipe. The first is the flour: what is it for? For the first batch of zucchini, the recipe says to "toss" the veggies in the flour, but for the second layer, it just says to sprinkle them. So I wasn't sure how covered the zucchini truly needed to be. In the end, I just sprinkled all of them. I wonder if the flour was supposed to absorb some of the wetness of the vegetables? If that is the intended purpose, I think salt would work better, like when you are making eggplant parmesan: you cover them eggplant discs in salt to dry them out. In the end, the dish was quite wet, so I did something wrong.

My second concern was that the last step says to bake the casserole uncovered the whole time. But the cheese on top got burnt! I would recommend covering with aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes so this doesn't happen. It just doesn't look good when there's a burnt layer of cheese on top :(

I think this recipe is okay, but I have made many other meat-and-veggie casseroles that have Italian inspiration that are better than this one. I'd recommend this eggplant casserole or this chicken alfredo casserole instead!

Recipe: Easy Breakfast Egg Muffins

 

I love these reusable silicone muffin tin liners I found on Amazon!

My husband had tried making these previously (without spraying the muffin tins or using liners, so THAT was fun to clean up...), so I tried making them myself. As soon as I googled "egg muffins," this is the first recipe that showed up. And since it had the word "easy" in the title, I knew it was meant for me.

Ingredients

• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 8 large eggs
• 2 ¾ ounces fully-cooked bacon pieces (such as Oscar Mayer®)
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 1 pinch garlic powder, or to taste
• 1 pinch onion powder, or to taste
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• ½ (8 ounce) package shredded mild cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. Place bell peppers and green onions into a large bowl.
3. Add eggs, bacon, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
4. Sprinkle cheddar cheese into the bowl and whisk until incorporated.
5. Pour mixture equally into the prepared muffin cups.
6. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

I left a lot of this out. I only used one bell pepper (orange, for that matter), I don't eat bacon, and I didn't bother with the garlic powder/onion powder/salt. I also have 2% milk at home, so that's what I used. I did have green onion, but I also had some white onion that I added in, too. 

This really IS an easy recipe: mix everything together, pour it into muffin tins, and bake! I love the convenience both for making these but also for eating/packing to-go. Now I'll be set for a while when I need to pack breakfast for work! (yes, I get into the office before 7:30am, so I eat my first meal of the day at my desk...). 

Recipe: Chocolate Banana Applesauce Cake

 

It looks red, but that's just the lighting! These really just look like brownies.

I had two ripe bananas that were starting to go brown, so I knew I had to bake something with them. I had found this recipe a while back (I'm not sure where I saw it) from the Mom on Timeout blog. I already had the rest of the ingredients, and it sounded delicious, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Ingredients

• 2 bananas (very ripe)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup applesauce (no sugar added)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray 8x8-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Mash bananas in a medium size bowl.
4. Stir in sugars, applesauce, water, and vinegar until thoroughly combined.
5. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt just until combined.
6. Fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips.
7. Pour batter into prepared dish.
8. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top.
9. Bake for 33-37 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
10. Let cool, slice and serve.

I didn't think about it while I was making it, but as long as the cocoa powder and chocolate chips don't have any milk in them, this recipe is vegan! So that's good to know for future reference. I think my only complaint with this recipe is that it doesn't state whether or not the brown sugar should be packed. I'm guessing not because the recipe doesn't list it (so I didn't), but I'm not sure if that's right. But I baked mine for 33 minutes and it was DONE. 

This cake tastes like chocolate banana bread (which I've made before), just with a hint of apple flavor thrown in. It's an easy recipe, which I love, but I guess I was hoping it might taste more like cake. Maybe it's because there's no icing? I don't dislike it, but I also wasn't blown away. And it was kind of dry... Meh, there's better out there.

Recipe: Chicken Broccoli Skillet Dinner

 

I love the Crazy for Crust e-newsletter: Dorothy Kern has so many great recipes! While I mostly look at her desserts, I thought this recipe for a chicken broccoli skillet meal looked good. So I thought I'd try it!

Ingredients

• 8 ounces whole wheat egg noodles or any pasta
• 3 cups broccoli florets or more, if desired
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ medium yellow onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 10.5 ounce can cream of mushroom soup (see note)
• ½ cup nonfat milk
• ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese use fresh not from the green canister
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• Salt and more pepper to taste
• 2 cups cooked chicken see note

Instructions

• Bring water to boil in large skillet (you can also do this in a separate saucepan). Cook noodles according to package directions adding the broccoli to the pan when there is about 3 minutes of cooking time left for the noodles. Cook until both are cooked, drain and set aside.
• Using the same pan, heat the olive oil. Cook the onion and garlic until onions are translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the soup, milk, parmesan, and pepper. Whisk or stir to combine. Add the chicken to the pan to heat it through then add the noodles and broccoli to the pot. Stir to combine.
• Add more shredded parmesan for serving, if desired.

Notes

1. I used Campbell’s Healthy Request condensed soup, use what you prefer. You can also use cream of chicken or cream of potato soup in place of the cream of mushroom.
2. You can also use rotisserie chicken in this recipe in place of my instant pot shredded chicken.
3. If you are using FRESH chicken that is not already cooked: dice chicken into small bite sized pieces. After the noodles and broccoli have been removed from the pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Add the chicken and cook, searing on both sides, for about 5-10 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces) then remove to a plate. You want the chicken almost cooked at that point. Continue the recipe to make the sauce then return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan and let finish cooking in the sauce.

I appreciate the details and notes Dorothy puts in her recipes. I did cook the pasta in a different pot (I used Banza, a chickpea pasta, to be healthy, but the texture leaves something to be desired.), and I cut chicken breasts into smaller pieces and cooked them in the air fryer first. I also used cream of chicken soup as she suggests for an alternative, since Steve doesn't like mushrooms. 

I eye-balled the measurements for the broccoli and chicken, and I probably had too much of both, because I could barely fit everything in my largest walled pan! Or maybe that just means I need to get a proper wok :)

While the recipe is easy to make, I didn't find it very flavorful or saucy (and again, that could have been because of the proportions of my ingredients). If I made it a second time, I might use TWO cans of the soup, and perhaps some more cheese (Can you ever have too much cheese? I think not.). Certainly worth a try!