Trader Joe Stir Fry and Give-Away #4 Winner(s)

We went to Red Lobster for the first time last night. I was SO shocked because I thought it'd be like a Bojangles serving seafood. A Captain D's twin, but not everything breaded. (Growing up less than 1 mile from the ocean will give you that skewed perception on seafood chain restaurants.)

Johnny's brother-in-law is from Boston, so in the same boat as me = "seafood snob." Johnny's sister said they tried it and he was pleasantly surprised, so I decided to give it a try, too. Plus, we had a coupon and it's got to be better than the frost covered bags of seafood at the grocery store, right?

Sweet holy mother of pearl the biscuits. Why has nobody told me about these before?!? How are these not common knowledge, fawned over publicly? By far, hands down, the absolute best biscuit I've ever eaten. If we weren't in a tackily decorated restaurant chain, I might have done a dance after the first bite!

My meal was absolutely HUGE! I got the Garlic Cream Shrimp and Scallops. A skewer of scallops, TWO skewers of shrimp, a light garlic sauce sparingly drizzled overtop, a massive serving of asparagus, and red potatoes. I also ordered a side of crab legs, so I got to bring home a BIG doggie bag - skewer of shrimp, half the asparagus and potatoes, and a big chunk of crabmeat from the claw.

Johnny had the NY strip with french fries, and both meals came with a salad at the beginning. He couldn't finish all of his steak, so we brought half home.

LEFTOVERS! I'd toyed around with making a stir-fry last night, but we'd ended up going out, but it's a perfect way to use up my extra shrimp and J's half of a steak for tonight's dinner!

White rice - check!
Trader Joe's bag of stir fry veggies - check!
Protein sources for both diners - check check!

Dinner is served!

Now, for the important news! The person who guessed the closest number of gummy bears, without going over was ....

....my Dad! haha :) He sent me an e-mail with his guess, and was off by only THREE! I was super impressed.

Equally impressive was Laura's guess of 40 -- off by only 5 bears! (There were 45 total bears in the glass).

For the 2nd winner, I did a random number thingy and the result was:

Jenn@slim-shoppin said...

Your spaghetti and meatballs look amazing!

I am going to guess 35

Congratulations Laura and Jennifer! Email me at christina at dinneratchristinas dot com with (1) your mailing address and (2) if you would like your banana bread with walnuts, or nut free!!!

Leah is the next BSI host!! She's settling on an ingredient and coming up with a prize, so check her blog over the weekend for the announcement!!!

Head over to Just Sweet Enough for a chance at Sweetie Pie's Prize Pack before Friday at midnight!

I also have a couple product review/recommendations I've meant to post, but keep forgetting!

I used my Kashi free frozen entree coupon and decided on Chicken Florentine. For a frozen meal, it was SURPRISINGLY good. I'd give it a 4.5/5. The only issues I had with it were 1) mushrooms - but that's a personal thing and I just picked them out and 2) the spinach having been frozen and then microwaved leaked a lot of its excess water into the dish. Near the end it started being kind of soupy and green, which was unappetizing. Other than that, the portion size was huge and there were real, quality ingredients in there, not chopped up bits of unrecognizable pieces. I don't eat frozen meals daily, but they are a great option for work, so it was nice to find a brand that I like and can trust. More than once I've heated up a meal from some random company and it was inedible, either from taste or quality - that's frustrating! After seeing Kashi's quality and ingredients, I'm positive that would never happen with their brand!

On a whim, I bought this little container of Hill Country Peach Champagne Sorbetto from Talenti. They make gelatos and sorbettos that are gluten free, vegan, dairy free, HFCS free, fat free, green Earth, and all natural. WOW! is all I have to say. The short list of ingredients were all things I recognized and the flavor was out of this world. A fresh pop of natural peach that wasn't too sweet with a warm aftertaste of the champagne tingle. So smooth and refreshing! The only beef I have is the hefty $4.50 price tag for a pint-sized container, but I savored it slowly for a week, having just a little indulgence each night.