Po Boy Jim on H Street

A couple of weeks ago, a few of my friends and I ventured out to Po Boy Jim on H Street NE.  Po Boy Jim is a fairly new establishment so it really wasn't crowded.  It is a family owned business which I love.

When we walked in, we were greeted by Rachel.  Rachel was such an awesome server!  She is getting into bartending and was excited to make our drinks.  I had the Arnie Palmer (their adult version of the Arnold Palmer), my friend had the Po Boy Hurricane (it was strong and delish) and we also had the Limelight, which was good.

Now on to the food....I started with their wing flight.  You get 10 wings in 3 different flavors (Carolina BBQ, Jerk and Honey Bourbon).  The honey bourbon wings were my fave!  The Carolina BBQ wings were good and the jerk was okay (spicy but not traditional jerk IMO).

Next up I ordered the shrimp yardie.  The yardie has this mango sauce on it, it was good with a sweet then spicy kick. The yardie is a very messy sandwich.

My friend Pepper ordered the steak and cheese with shrimp.  She said it was good but not worth the price.

My other friend Quita ordered the salmon po boy and deviled eggs. Everyone ate the deviled eggs except me.  They said the deviled eggs were really good.  Quita liked her salmon but couldn't finish it.

My girl R opted for a starter as her meal.  She went with the crab balls, she said they were delish.

The only issue we had was that I wanted onion rings (all the sandwiches come with fries).  Since I didn't say it before my order went in my friend Pepper ordered onion rings with hers.  When her sandwich came, there were fries on her plate.  Rachel was very apologetic and put in an order of onion rings for us even though we said she didn't have to.  I am actually glad she did as they were so good :)

Rachel also split our bill without anyone asking.  We usually just divide the bill amongst everyone (my friends are not the type to analyze a bill and only pay for what they ordered :))

Overall - I will definetly go back there to try their other Po Boys.

Bonus: If you take a picture of your food and post it on InstaGram while still dining, you will receive an order of beignets.

Quita and Pepper enjoying the wings.

R taking her first ever bite of beignets

R enjoying the Limelight

My Arnie Palmer

 

The wing flight, R's crab balls and our Limelights

Raspberry Granola Bars (vegan)

A few years ago one of my old coworkers made these delicious Raspberry Granola Bars.  They were so good, I just had to have the recipe.  Lucky for me, she was willing to shares.  Now years later, I am sharing the recipe with you.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup - whole wheat pastry flour
3 cups - quick cooking oats
1/2 tsp - salt
2/3 cup - oil (I use coconut)
1/2 cup - maple syrup
2 tsps - vanilla extract
1/2 cup - raspberry jam (or any flavor you prefer)

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350
• Shift flour and salt together add to the quick cooking oats
• Add oil to dry ingredients and mix
• Add maple syrup and vanilla, mix well
• Lightly oil 9x9 baking pan.
• Press half of the mixture into the pan.
• Spread jam evenly over bottom mixture to cover
• Cover with remaining mixture, press gently
• Bake 30-35 minutes
• Let cool then cut into bars
• Enjoy!

FYI...these bars are not as healthy as the ingredients may suggest.  If you are counting calories, I would suggest only one bar a day. 

Pancakes

Cooking from scratch is not as hard as some make it seem.  If I can do it, anybody can do it.  I don't really like to cook but I love to eat.  However, when you make your food from scratch you know what is in it.  And you don't have to worry about the high sodium intake (you control how much salt goes in) or all the other crap you can not pronounce.

Anyway, I have been making these pancakes for a couple of years now and they never fail me.  Unless, I use old baking soda :)  They are super easy to prepare, you can mix up the ingredients the night before and are ready to go in the morning.  These pancakes are way better than the box stuff and a little better for you too.


Disclaimer: I did not take the picture below.  We ate the pancakes before I thought about making this post, so I had to grab a picture from Google images.

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
3 tbsps of sugar
2 tsps of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
2 eggs
4 tsps of unsalted butter or vegetable oil
1/2 tsps of vanilla (optional)
1 1/2 - 2 cups of buttermilk

Directions:

Melt butter and sit aside.  Combine all the dry ingredients (it is not a requirement for you to sift them).  In another bowl slightly beat the eggs with the vanilla.  Add to dry ingredients, then add the buttermilk and melted butter.  Stir to combine but do not over mix.  The batter should have small lumps.

I usually pour the batter into a measurement cup to make it easier to pour onto the griddle.  You can also use a ladler or ice cream scoop.

Don't forget to oil your pan.

For blueberry pancakes: Fold in fresh or frozen blueberries right after you have combined all the ingredients.
  
 

Sloppy Joe recipe

In my house we try to make our meals from scratch as much as possible.  One day I had a taste for sloppy joes and knew that the can mess would be too high in sodium and calories.  So I went on a search for a sloppy joe recipe.  I found Spencer's Sloppy Joes on the Food Networks website.  I've made a Gina and Pat Neely recipe before, so I decide to give it a try.  This has now my go to recipe for when we want sloppy joe's for dinner.


(Please excuse the picture quality.  I don't have a professional camera, these pictures were taken with my iPhone.)

I pretty much stuck to their recipe with a few tweaks here and there.  I have highlighted the changes I made in red.  If you would like the original recipe click on the link above.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped (I love garlic, you can use the recommended 2 cloves or less depending on your preference)

1 family pack lean ground turkey

Seasoning salt, garlic powder, onion powder and ground black pepper
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste (you can omit if you don't have it)
1 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 

 

Directions

Heat oil in a large skillet with straight sides. Add the bell peppers and garlic. Saute until tender, about 3 minutes. 

 

Season ground turkey with seasoning all, garlic powder, onion powder and ground pepper.  Add the ground turkey to the vegetables. Stir and cook about 8 minutes, until the meat is no longer pink and fully cooked.

Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire, into the skillet. Stir. Simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes. Serve on hamburger bun with extra sauce.