Pollo Tropical is more than you think #PolloTropical #ad

You may (or not) have seen Pollo Tropical in your area. I was recently invited to visited the one on LaVista Drive in Tucker (in front of Target). While I was there, my daughter and I were able to sample some of the items on their menu as well as preview some of the items. The preview I have already posted on my instagram account (feel free to check it out). This is what my daughter and I sampled.

She had a chicken quesadilla wrap with plantain as a side.  I had the pollo bites with a side of balsamic tomatoes.  I wanted the bites so that I could sample their sauce bar.  I tried the garlic cilantro, pineapple rum, guava bbq, and spicy poyo.  Of the four, my favorite was the pineapple rum (you can taste the rum!) followed by the guava bbq.  My daughter liked the spicy.

There are some really good sides you can get, beyond what you might expect. Rice (white or brown), beans (black or red), yellow rice & veggies, sweet potato casserole, and more.  Pictured below are more plantains (very good), corn casserole, and sweet potato casserole.

Their menu includes more than just chicken, though.  I was surprised to find out that you can also get pork (ribs, roasted or shredded). Other than the location (getting in/out of that Target can be a pain), the restaurant was pretty good.  You can find more locations on their web site:  http://www.pollotropical.com

I was invited to visit and eat in exchange for my review and posts on social media.  All opinions are my own.

Monday's Munchies with @SnackFever #subscription #KoreanSnacks #affiliate

This is my second box with Snack Fever.  I don't know about you, but I like trying new foods.  It's very convenient to have someone else send me things to try rather than go hunt them down myself.
So far, I've enjoyed all of the things they've sent me.  Now if only it lasted longer...

Boxete Delivery Korean Bistro #Review #Restarant #GoodFood #Korean

Over the weekend, my daughter and I didn't want anything we had at home for dinner.  So, she went online and found Boxete.  She then convinced her brother and I to join her.

My son ordered the B-Burger.  He said it was good.  He certainly didn't have anything left over when he was done.

My daughter ordered the beef lettuce wrap with rice roll.  Her comment about her meal was simply "yum".  It was more than enough for her (plus someone else) to eat at one sitting.  She had leftovers for lunch the next two days.

I knew going in that I would have leftovers, but I underestimated just how much would be left over.  I ordered the Boxete sampler with Boxete chicken.  The big yellow thing is the omelet.  The chicken is very good.  The omelet was a bit odd to me at first (I'm not used to sauce on my eggs), but was still very good.

My daughter and I agreed that next time we would split an entree.  My son wants to try something new next time (he played it safe with his choice this time).  There's a $15 minimum for free delivery and delivery area is limited.  We're fortunate enough that we're just inside the delivery area. 

Friday's Food goes to Helen, Georgia @Hofers-Bakery-Cafe

I took the teens to lunch after tubing the 'hooch.  We decided Hofer's of Helen sounded very good.

I didn't get pictures of the food (sorry, slipped the brain), but my son and I had reuben sandwiches.  My daughter and one friend had their Poorboy.  The 4th teen had a chicken salad croissant.  All were very good and pretty well devoured.

Then there were the deserts.  My daughter had the Black Forest cake, she gave it a definite thumbs up.  The rest of us passed and decided to get sweets downtown a while later.

The cafe is very small, so they won't seat you unless everyone is present.  You may have to wait a bit to be seated as well.  You can order from the counter for either the bakery or the deli and there is outside seating as well.  I fed the 5 of us for about $72.

Friday Food takes us to I Luv Pho

My kids and I took it easy two weeks ago on Friday and walked to "I Luv Pho" on Jimmy Carter Blvd.

My daughter and I split a bowl of chicken and pho (noodle) soup as well as an order of crab rangoon.  My hand is in the picture to show the size of the bowl.  This is what they called a SMALL bowl.  It fed the two of us with left overs.  My son had their beef soup.  His had more flavor than ours.  My daughter and I agreed that it was a bit bland, good, but bland.

My daughter and I both ordered boba drinks.  This was my daughter's strawberry boba.  Very light strawberry flavor.

This is my jackfruit boba.  Tasted kind of like banana.

Overall, the food was good.  Not sure how often we'll actually make it over there, but it was a good price for the amount we received.  I fed the three of us for about $30.

Korean Barbecue at Honey Pig @HoneyPigUSA

Last week was my daughter's birthday.  As a tradition in our family, the birthday person gets to choose a restaurant (or type of restaurant) to go out to celebrate.  Rarely are we "on time" to do dinner, but that's ok.  My daughter's choice this year was to go out for Korean.  We could have just driven down Buford Highway and found a spot, but I decided to try to do some research first.  My research brought me to Honey Pig.

The meat cooks on your table, sort of hibachi style.

We chose to get their combination platter. That includes a selection of 5 meats, 4 cuts of beef and 1 of chicken. You also get sprouts, mushrooms and kimchi.  This was the first cut of meat cooking with the sprouts, mushrooms and kimchi.

This was the prime rib.

I stopped taking pictures at this point to concentrate on eating. It was a LOT of food. The menu suggests a minimum of 3 people for the combination platter. It fed the 5 of us with a little left over that we took home. The servers were very attentive, helping us with the meat. Each meat was put on the cook top separately, with the chicken being cooked last. It wasn't cheap, but it was VERY GOOD. I fed the 5 of us for around $150 (not including tip).

Exploring Ponce City Market for lunch @simplyseoulllc @simplyseoul @poncecitymarket

So in keeping with the goal of a new restaurant each week (new to us, any way), my kids and I went out on my daughter's birthday to the Ponce City Market for lunch.

Just for fun, these were on display on the food hall.

There are quite a few options for eating in their food hall.  We ended up trying Simply Seoul.  We each had a 2 bulgogi bun combo, which comes with a bottled soda.  My son had one beef and one chicken.  My daughter had two chicken.  I had a beef and a mushroom.  There was also a pork version, but we didn't choose it this time.  We all agreed that it was just the right amount for lunch and that it was very good.  I fed the 3 of us for about $30.

As we hadn't been there since it's opening, we took the time after lunch to explore the shopping too.  There is free parking on the street (very limited), or a pay-to-park lot.

Cabana Grill #Win with their Mexican menu @TheCabanaGrill

A great little restaurant located on Scenic Highway in Snellville.  I visited them at their grand opening in March and wrote about it here.  They have recently upgraded their menu and wanted to share them with you!  They are now offering kids meals for kids under 12 as well as a new lite menu with items under 400 calories.

Cabana Grill is currently offering the Two Taco Combo for $5.99 and the $5 Fiesta Deals are available everyday 4 – 7 p.m. The deals include includes your choice of a 10oz margarita, a domestic beer or a 20oz fountain drink and a small chicken or pork carnitas nachos.

Check it out and here's a great way to do it: Win 4 Be Our Guest cards to the Grill.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


About Cabana Grill

Cabana Grill, a subsidiary of Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., specializes in authentic Mexican food made fresh by hand. The chef-driven concept features tortillas hand-pressed and grilled right in front of guests, as well as a variety of salsas made from scratch throughout the day. The first Cabana Grill restaurant opened March 2014 in Snellville, Ga. and offers a selection of beer and tequila margaritas, limited table service, patio dining and a drive-thru. For more information on Cabana Grill, including employment opportunities and menu and nutritional information, visit www.facebook.com/thecabanagrill.



About Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc.

Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., owns, operates and franchises Pollo Tropical, Taco Cabana and Cabana Grill restaurant brands. The brands specialize in the operation of fast-casual, ethnic restaurants that offer distinct and unique flavors with broad appeal at a compelling value. The brands feature made-from-scratch cooking, fresh salsa bars, drive-thru service and catering. For more information about Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., visit the corporate website at www.frgi.com.

Pinterest inspired food: chicken pot pie

I'm no chef, nor am I a foodie. I generally don't blog about food, so I'm stepping outside of my comfort zone. I've been surfing pinterest looking for things to try on my family. I want to expand what I cook (and what they eat). I've mostly focused on crockpot cooking, but this was one slightly different. The recipe I found on pinterest, didn't do much more than show pictures, no steps or cooking. So, I took the pictures and ran with them to see what I came up with.

Fairly simply, the ingredients consist of canned biscuits, can cream chicken soup, can mixed vegetables, can chicken. You can spice to taste. I mixed the soup, veggies, and chicken together in a bowl. I only wanted 8 pies, the middle mix made enough for 16. So I froze the remainder. I took the canned biscuits and flattened them out and put them in a muffin tin. I left a little bit extra to pull over the top. I put a big spoonful of the mix into the center of the biscuit, then folded the top over. I also put some shredded cheese on top because my kids like cheese. It cooked at 350 for about 20 minutes.  I didn't get pics of the process and my final picture doesn't do it justice, but this is a sample of the pot pie.

My son, who doesn't like pot pie, said it was the best pot pie he'd ever had. Though I'm not sure I convinced him to eat pot pies more.  It was simple to make and easy to eat.

Friday's Food

I went ahead and tried planning 2 weeks worth of meals for my family.  I'm trying to cut back on expenses and realized that I went a bit overboard with snacks and random food the last couple of months.  (Inspired by my friend Mummy Butterfly to actually put action to thought.)  So, in order to do that I had to find something to cook so that I could plan.  I've been using pinterest a lot lately (I'm sure you've likely noticed), and have come up with several recipes I want to try.  The first one up was Honey Garlic Chicken in the crockpot.



My kids loved it.  I used muscadine honey instead of your standard "wildflower" or store bought, so the flavor was a bit different.  Very simple, throw it all in the crockpot and let it cook.  My kind of cooking.

#Popcorn, Chick-fil-a & #Coffee - Oh My!

It's that time of year again. Everyone is trying to sell something to raise money. My kids included. This year, my son is selling Popcorn for Boy Scouts. His goal is to pay for summer camp next summer as well as to pay his yearly dues. If you'd like to help him out, just let me know. I can send you an email with the link to order online.

My daughter is selling Chick-fil-a calendars (LIMITED quantities!) and Coffee/Tea for American Heritage Girls. The calendars are $7 each and CFA has changed the way they work. It's a card (assigned to an email) now, instead of individual coupons. If you're interested, contact me and I'll see what I can do to get one to you. If you like Coffee/Tea, you can order through this link:

[ Giving Bean - a coffee/tea fundraiser for American Heritage Girls Troop GA0593 - Lawrenceville]

Please assign my daughter's name to the sale during check-out so that she gets credit for it.

For my friends with kids also doing fundraising.. I'm willing to do a swap.

CiCi's Guest Appreciation Day

I was invited to CiCi's for lunch last week to hear more about some of what's going on and to find out more information about the chain itself. What I found out was very interesting. I didn't realize that they made the dough from scratch as well as the sauce as needed. They don't have a gluten free option for the dough, but if you need a gluten free option, they will give you a pan to load up on the toppings you like and then bake it special. Speaking of making it special, if they don't have the pizza you want on the bar, you can let them know and they'll make it for you. They'll give you a number and bring it to your table piping hot. They also have new Italiano pizzas (YUM) and Garlic Parmesan knots (DOUBLE YUM).

On average, a buffet for an adult runs $4.99 though the drink is extra ($1.69). On September 6th, most of the 20 stores in the Atlanta area will be participating in Guest Appreciation Day. On that day, the buffet will be $2.99 (drink will still be $1.69). There are 550 stores nation wide and all are franchises, so participation may vary.