Big R's - Joplin, MO

Tbug wasn't going to be able to share Mother's Day with my mom, so the last weekend she was over we decided to go out to dinner for Mother's Day.  When dad asked what we all wanted, somewhere Tbug said she wanted ribs so dad decided we'd go to Big R's Bar-B-Q for Grandma's Mother's Day Dinner.

The last time Hubby and I ate here was in February of 2010 just after we got engaged.  We came here for a Dinner Club (which no longer happens).

They start you off with yummy rolls, butter and apple butter.

We all ordered sweet tea except for mom.  Mom always gets the unleaded.  You have to have one odd ball in the bunch, right?

Part of their decor had a man in a boat on the ceiling.  It really bugged Tbug.  She thought he was creepy.

I got a salad with ranch dressing as one of my side dishes.  It had lettuce, black olives, onions, tomatoes and croutons.  It was good.

Tbug got tired of coloring on her kids menu so I colored the cow.  I didn't have much in the choice of crayon color so we got a Pink cow with purple spots.

Tbug got the 3 rib platter and the Mom and Dad and Hubby and I got the Ribs for 2.  That way if Tbug needed/wanted more ribs, there would be more than plenty between the 4 of us she could have more.

Then Dad and hubby got the baked beans as one of their sides.  I got Potato & bacon cheese soup.  Mom got a Salad with Blue cheese dressing and steamed veggies.  Tbug went with a baked potato.  Then dad, hubby and Tbug went with the yummy suzie q's.  All the sides were delicious.

I got tickled at the sign as we left.  Makes you want to keep an eye on your kiddo, huh?

And of course there was a dessert counter on the way out as well, but we were all sooooo stuffed that there was no room for desserts.

Happy Mother's Day

{SWMO} Cashew Chicken

I'm not sure about where you live, but in our part of the country, when you say Cashew Chicken it means fried pieces of chicken over rice with cashew nuts, sauce & scallions. I've been to other places and go to order Chinese food and have a hard time... usually it is grilled chicken of sorts, with rice and lots of vegetables and a sauce and some cashew nuts. There is a HUGE difference! I've only found our type in around here. PC said down in Kentucky they got close, but I'm not buying it :). So last night we decided that we wanted some good ole Cashew Chicken. We could have stopped at the restaurant and brought it home, but I felt like cooking so we ran to the store, picked up a few ingredients we didn't have and went home and made dinner. This isn't something we have a lot but it's excellent! We took lots of pics to show you the recipe. I left my tripod at our house and we were at my parents so PC was in charge of the photos :)

(SWMO) Cashew Chicken

Ingredients:

for the Cashew Chicken: Chicken breasts cut into pieces, flour, milk & egg & Vegetable Oil for frying
for the Rice: Minute Rice, water
for the sauce: water, chicken bouillon cubes, butter, cornstarch, soy sauce
optional toppings: Cashews, sliced scallions

Getting the assembly line ready for the chicken breading, although PC suggested I put the flour in a large plastic baggie and coat the chicken that way, MUCH easier! plus less messy!

Measuring the rice. For 4 servings of rice I used 2 cups to 1 3/4 cups water. Once the water comes to a boil, dump the rice in. Place a lid on the rice for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and wait until it absorbs all the water. The use a fork to fluff it.

Rice is easy, put a lid on and forgetaboutit! :)

When preparing the chicken, after it is cut into chunks you put it in an egg bath that is 1 egg to 1/4 cup milk. Wisk those together.

Cracking the egg :)

Wisking the egg & milk together.

Your mixture will look like this.

Cut the chicken in bite size pieces.

After the chicken is cut up into bite size pieces, dredge it in the milk/egg bath.

Then drop it into the flour. If you use the bag method, place a few pieces in there, shake it up, a few more pieces, shake, you get the idea. Other wise you'll wind up with a horrible mess!

Pour the vegetable oil into a pan and heat it on the stove. It gets extremely hot so be careful not to burn yourself... IT HURTS :) not speaking from personal experience or anything.

Use a test piece of chicken to see if your oil is hot. If it bubbles around it, it is, if the chicken just sits there, let the oil heat up more before dropping anymore in.

Be sure not to over-crowd your pan. It will reduce the heat of the oil and cause it to take longer for the chicken to fry up.

After the chicken turns a golden brown take it out of the oil and put it on a paper towel lined plate. That helps absorb some of the grease. Also right out of the oil, salt it (and I'm not a big user of salt but trust me, it makes all the difference in the world).


Now for the sauce:

1 3/4 cups of water. To that add 2 chicken bouillon cubes.

2 tbsp of corn starch. (this is your thickening agent)

Make sure you are wisking this. It's good to have it over medium to medium high heat. Don't get it to hot though.

Then add 1 tbsp soy sauce.

and 1 tbsp Butter

Then keep wisking until it thickens up. It should have the consistency of gravy for mashed potatoes and gravy as a comparison.

Now pile your rice on your plate. Then use additional soy sauce if preferred (it's liquid salt basically). The top with your chicken. The dredge in your sauce. Now here is where you put the cashew nuts and scallions, we didn't have any so we ate with out it.

Bon Appetit (yes that's not Chinese but it's all I know)

Peace, Love & Awesome Chinese Food (IMO)

Backwoods - Greenfield, MO

After a long trek through the woods during the wee morning hours, we were all starving so we headed back to the truck to go in to town and look for some grub.  Mr. T had actually taken us up near Greenfield, MO so we weren't real sure where we could find breakfast but we drove past the Backwood Cafe & Restaurant and were sold.

I love small towns because we actually had some locals talk to us in the parking lot.  It just makes you feel right at home.

We about made TB sick so he was happy to get grub in his stomach.  He went for the biscuits and gravy.

Mr. T wasn't so sure about me taking pictures of his food but that didn't stop me :).  He went with an Omlet, white toast and loaded hashbrowns.  I sure would have liked to have tired those hashbrowns :)

I got 2 Scrambled Eggs with 3 pieces of bacon and whole wheat toast.  OMG yum!  It was so tasty to eat this, especially after getting up and walking through the woods at 4am to have no luck.

Hubby went with the big breakfast of Eggs over Easy with hashbrowns and bacon and a side of pancakes.

I might add the pancakes were mighty tasty because yes I tried his pancakes :)

This is definitely a place to keep in mind for breakfast if you find yourself out in the woods at a crazy hour of the morning, but I say it's a place for breakfast no matter what!

Crabby's - Joplin, MO

A couple weekends ago hubby and I were wanting to go to dinner.  We kept throwing out different restaurant ideas and finally decided upon Crabby's Seafood Bar & Grill.  I had eaten there for work once but he'd never eaten there.  He googled the menu which contains a lot of seafood which I"m not in to but I assured him I'd find something to eat.

My meal came with either a Soup or a salad.  I went with a salad with ranch dressing.  I liked the salad, very classy.  Greens, cucumbers, carrots and croutons.  The salad dressing was extremely tasty. 

Hubby went with the Seafood Chowder which was a combination of shrimp crab and sweet corn.

I had a Chicken breast stuffed with seasoned cream cheese wrapped in bacon served over a bed of risotto with a lemon cream sauce.  You have NO idea how fabulous this was.  I couldn't stop eating this, even when I was stuffed.

Hubby went with the Jumbo Shrimp and Crab Cakes over a Corn and Green bean salad.  He loved it.

This was definitely one of those tasty date night dinners that we'll have to go to again.

You know when we first got there we weren't sure we'd get in for 30 minutes, however they had a table get up and leave and we were in and seated within 10 minutes.  I guess that's what you get for showing up on Prom night for one of the local high schools.

El Charro

Last month on a Sunday hubby and I were driving around and decided we were ready for lunch.  We debated where to eat and agreed on Mexican at El Charro.

El Charro has been in Carthage for as long as I can remember and it's really good Mexican food.

You start with Tortilla Chips and salsa.  We also got an order of Cheese Dip (also known as Queso)

One of my favorite dishes from here is the Cheese Chicken.  It is grilled chicken topped with grilled onions and cheese served with Guacamole, rice, beans (I omitted these) and tortillas.

Hubby ordered 2 Chicken Burritos topped with cheese sauce served with rice and beans.

I can tell you, YUM!