[Woodchuck Pumpkin Private Reserve] & strawberry spinach salad

So last week my boyfriend and I finally broke down and picked up the Pumpkin Woodchuck we kept walking past at the grocery store.

Can you tell I like this backdrop?

Woodchuck Grannysmith was my gateway into the world of beers (see early black velvet post). While there are a few ciders I enjoy more than Woodchuck, I still love trying the seasonal flavors and enjoy a good Woodchuck Amber on tap now and then. My favorite Woodchuck is the seasonal Fall flavor, and I haven't seen it around this year. However the Pumpkin Private Reserve is literally everywhere and I succumbed to my curiosity quickly.

I have to admit, this flavor was weird. It had the strong taste of sharp apples with a heavy pumpkin aftertaste. I don't mean artificial pumpkin-y notes, I'm talking legit canned pumpkin aftertaste. I'm not saying the beer was awful, it was interesting but I couldn't drink two at a time. It's a good transitional beer at most. I am pretty forgiving to the weird flavors Woodchuck comes out with, and while this beer isn't awful I don't see myself buying it again. In this case, apples and pumpkin do not mix.

Rating: C

I'm waiting for my treadmill to be brought to Austin. Meanwhile I've been trying to make lighter meal choices to compensate for my lack of exercise. Tonight I made a seriously excellent salad, all thanks to FINALLY purchasing a George Foreman grill. If you're strapped for money like me, you can always find them at a Goodwill for $7-$10 in pretty good shape.

Recipe: 
Spinach strawberry avocado salad with blackened chicken & greek yogurt honey mustard dressing

Salad
1 1/2 - 2 handfuls of triple washed baby spinach
4-5 large strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 avocado
2 chicken tenderloin strips, prepped in marinade of your choice

Dressing: (Make enough for one serving of salad)
Two parts of your favorite honey greek yogurt
One part honey mustard
1/4 lemon

Add all salad ingredients together while you preheat the grill.

When grill is heated, spray with cooking spray and place marinated strips on the grill. Cover with lid and cook for 4-4 1/2 minutes.

I'm a gigantic sucker for blackened chicken and this grill makes the BEST. It's always perfectly crispy on the outside and so, so tender inside.

While the chicken is cooking, whip up your dressing. While at the store I found this brand on sale:

The Greek Gods honey flavored greek yogurt.

I'm usually wary of trying a new greek yogurt because they can be utterly bitter. My favorite brand is Fage but it's too expensive to buy in bulk. When I tried a spoonful of this my anxiety turned to delight- it's AMAZING! Go out and buy it immediately. You're welcome.

Back to the recipe, I didn't measure the ingredients because I wasn't working off a recipe I found. I just wanted a good honey mustard dressing without all the calories so I played it by ear. Don't be afraid to get creative!

Two parts yogurt, one part honey mustard, and squeeze the lemon juice on top. Mix well!

Cut up finished chicken, top lightly with dressing (pictured made enough for 2-3 small salads) and enjoy!

Even my EXTREMELY picky boyfriend who HATES spinach with a passion as well as mustard enjoyed this!

Tentatively chewing that first bite.

Shipyard sighting and chicken noodle soup recipe!

So something happened today.

I found Shipyard Pumpkinhead at my grocery store.

I was on the phone chatting with my mother in the beer aisle when I spotted it out of the corner of my eye, and proceeded to shriek and almost ran a guy over to grab it (I apologized and told him "Dude you don't even understand" and he just stared at me whoops) and no, I'm not embarrassed. Okay, there's probably tons of pumpkin beer out there that are far superior to Shipyard but this is my jam. For now, I am happy, but I'm still continuing on my pumpkin quest because I bought the ONLY TWO six packs at the store. Why.

Now that my overreaction is over (I'm still not sorry) let's proceed to the pretty awesome chicken noodle soup I made today.

What's up.

I'm doing swimmingly well being back on my diet and this is a nice little lunch to have. I could eat it without noodles all day long.

Recipe:
Chicken noodle soup

Large pot & medium pot
5 lb chicken
Carrots
Celery
Medium Onion
One package of No Yolks egg noodles
2-3 chicken bouillon cubes
Light salt (add to your taste)

Remove gizzards from thawed chicken and place into large pot. Cover chicken with water, add bouillon cubes and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, turn heat down to medium and loosely cover pot with lid. Boil for 40-45 minutes or until the meat is tender enough to come off the bone.

Gross.

Meanwhile, chop up carrots, celery and onion and put aside. You can add as much as you want, I like to go heavy on the veggies. Once the chicken has boiled for 45 minutes (I also check with a meat thermometer to make sure it has reached its peak temperature) remove it, add the vegetables and bring back to a boil.

Tear the chicken apart to bite sized pieces and add the meat back in the pot.

Allow the pot to boil covered for 15 minutes or until vegetables are fork tender to your liking.

Meanwhile, bring medium pot to a boil and add egg noodles. I cook the noodles separately from the soup to prevent the noodles from getting mushy.

When everything is done, add noodles to bowl and cover with soup. Voila!

I'm back! - [Shipyard Pumpkinhead & blueberry beers mentioned]

Summer has come and gone and I'm back in Texas. During my summer in Massachusetts my laptop all but died on me so blogging became impossible on the slowest device on earth, and using my phone to update wasn't an option. But now I'm back and I'm residing in a brand new amazing city with a fantastic desktop (hello, Sims 3!). Austin has been greater than expected, but that update will come later!

During my summer trip, I lost over 30 pounds, got my eating habits straightened out, and drank a whole lot of beer (you know, to even out all the veggies). I tried a good amount of new beers and even learned to appreciate Bud Lite. The dive bars I sampled in Mass never had a big selection and Bud Light was always the cheap savior that did the job ;)

The big beer flavor of the summer seemed to be blueberry beer, I saw it literally everywhere in Florida and in Massachusetts. I only took brief notes of the bottles I tried, forgive me!

 

• Sweet Water Blue: Light, citrusy wheat ale with defined blueberry taste (C+)
• Wild Blue Lager: The blueberry smell immediately hits you, extremely sweet like blueberry syrup (D+)
• Sea Dog Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale: Easy to drink, light and crisp with a blueberry flavor that isn't overwhelming! (A-)

*winner!

If I was lucky enough to get a bartender in a good mood they would float blueberries in my blueberry beer!
Pictured: Sea Dog.

But let's talk about Fall. Fall is my absolute favorite season (Autumn is conveniently my middle name ;) ) This means pumpkin is EVERYWHERE. During my stay in Massachusetts I was fortunate enough to indulge in the amazing beer known only as Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale.

Stock photo of the amazingness.

Let me just start off by saying how devastated I am that there are no distributors that are in Texas. This is by far the best pumpkin beer I've ever had. The taste of pumpkin is light, and the level of spice is perfect without being overwhelming. When it comes to fall beers, the spice is the most important factor to me and this beer really hits the nail on the head.

Rating: A

 O, how I love thee.

This fall I plan to take on the challenge of trying as many pumpkin beers as I can (and review them of course!) to see if I can find Shipyard's match. I'll TRY to keep an open mind.

BONUS FUN

If you have Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale near you or a pumpkin beer you like, you should definitely try it in a glass with rimmed cinnamon sugar. A bar I went to in Mass served Shipyard to me this way and it was fantastic! When I looked it up later I noticed it was such a popular thing to do. Why didn't I think of this sooner??

Here's a little tutorial. The common way to rim glasses is with fruit, I decided to just use water and it worked exactly the same. I bet using an orange to do this would be great.

Start with a pint glass and your favorite pumpkin beer.

Fill two shallow bowls, one with water (or omit if using an orange slice to rim) and one with cinnamon & sugar. You could also add a dash of nutmeg!

Dip the rim...

...and roll it in the sugar.

Almost there! 

Pour using the side of the glass.

Enjoy! :)

[Hoptical Illusion]

I am now five days settled into hot, sunny Florida. I'm spending two weeks here and every day so far I've been getting up at the crack of dawn to briskly walk around my mother's community. While I'm not walking or swimming I've been perusing the surprisingly large beer selection east Florida has to offer. Maybe it was because of my past naive eyes but I definitely didn't remember the large variety Florida has. I thought Texas was so ahead of the ball game when it came to beer but I was totally wrong.

There is just SO much beer here.

Today I went to my favorite little mom and pop convenience store "Cobb's" to grab a birch beer (non alcoholic people!) because it's the only place in the area to get it. It's easily accessible in New England but absolutely impossible to find in the south. I excitedly opened the door to find a paradise awaiting me.

I didn't ever remember the store boasting so many beer choices. Or beer in general! The store has many soda varieties as well as freshly made sandwiches and candies, but I can confidently say I  don't remember the beer selection. I also haven't been inside the store for three years which may be why I don't recall the selection (I wasn't 21 yet).

This older gentleman who ran the store immediately sprang to help me while I was gazing at the selection. He told me about their mix and match deal where I could grab any beer from a six pack to make my own sample six pack. Needless to say I left with nine beers and three birch beers lol.

Tonight after dinner and swimming I sat down with "Hoptical Illusion" from Blue Point Brewing Company. I am guilty of being one of those people who judges a book by its cover, and because of this I had picked Hoptical Illusion because of its label.

I opened it and sat down and before I took a sip I was hit by the intense aroma of the ale. I am normally not big into IPAs but I'm a very forgiving person when it comes to trying a new beer. The first sip was strangely floral and citrusy. Some beers have a light aftertaste of floral citrus but Illusion hits you head on with its flavor.

Now this isn't a bad thing, but I do recommend drinking this beer ice cold, because I can't imagine this beer tasting great any other way. There is really no other way to describe the beer other than being intensely floral. It had a great bitter aftertaste which made the beer more forgiving to drink and was consumed pretty quickly by yours truly.

Would I recommend this beer? If you're into floral IPAs, this is your beer. I feel that it would be a better transitional beer than being a starter. I've been on a gigantic porter/stout phase, so while I'm currently not crazy in love with the flavor, I can see myself giving it another try in the future.

Rating: C-

Cheers :)

Black velvets and ramblings.

I'm currently writing this blog entry with a seriously overwhelming feeling of euphoria. You see, I had just mastered the art of a black velvet in the comfort of my (friend's) home.

What is a black velvet? A proper black velvet is made with Guinness and champagne, but the "poor man's" black velvet is where it's at and it substitutes hard cider for champagne. This is a favorite staple of mine at my favorite beer bar, The Flying Saucer.

Let's back up just a bit. I haven't written an entry in a long while because I had gotten fired a week and a half ago. (Cue sadness and tears) Eerily enough, my lease is up at the end of the month. It became a choice of "Should I make my boyfriend pay all my bills month to month and struggle until we find out which university he gets accepted to at the end of spring" or "Hey, you haven't been home in four years. You haven't seen your mom in three years. Take. Advantage. Of. This. Opportunity." Needless to say, the second choice was easier and saves my boyfriend and I a ton of money. I'm originally from Massachusetts and currently live in Texas. So I silently thanked my boss from hell for the opportunity of a lifetime to visit home for a while.

It has been an extremely stressful eleven days but now that everything is officially taken care of, I can sit back and enjoy a beer. A wonderful, glorious beer made by yours truly.

Let's talk about the Flying Saucer. It is amazing. It saved me and let me experience beer in a way all people who "hate beer" should be saved. People, not everything tastes like Bud Lite. If you live by a bar with more than five beers on tap, please run as fast as you can to that bar.

The Flying Saucer has more than 200 beers and over 60 on draught. They have weekly specials and are always getting new beers on draught to try. The one weekly special they have that I've been a regular at is their Monday "Pint Nite" where all beers on draught are only $3.00 a pint. Three dollars! From someone who went from $9.00 cocktails to learning how to take advantage of happy hour specials, this was certainly intriguing.


The second time I went to the Flying Saucer (almost two years ago!) my best-friend-now-boyfriend ordered a black velvet and I distinctly remember making a face. Guinness with cider? No thank you. I'd stick to my religious experience AKA Woodchuck Amber. But when I saw how he fell in love with that first sip, I had to try it and never looked back. In a way, this experience was the gateway to being open to trying new beers.


The wonderful thing about the Flying Saucer is how they will give you samples of draught beer upon request. This saves you from having to suffer through an entire pint of beer you hate. Even so, the first few months I spent at Pint Nite were spent solely on black velvets and Woodchuck. I eventually branched out with Blue Moon and Sam Adams, and I was satisfied, save for a few random "daring" choices like Abita Purple Haze and Pyramid Apricot Ale. I figured as long as I wasn't drinking Bud Lite (which is not offered at Flying Saucer!) I was being plenty adventurous.

SO WRONG!

Guys, there is such a gigantic selection of beers out there that it's just criminal to stick to five-ish beers. Open your minds!

Anyway, the point of this entire rambling is that yes, I have recreated my absolute favorite beer in the world and I'm extremely proud. Beer layering (the Guinness is dense and can float over lots of beers/ciders) is an art but not a difficult one! My favorite cider to layer with is Ace Pear. This is what they use at Flying Saucer and it's a perfect cider. I've tried many many ciders (girlie gateway to beer!) and it just has a perfect flavor that compliments the hearty Guinness without being too sharp. It's just a wonderful rich, sweet drink.

Guinness Rating: A
Ace Pear Rating: A-

How to make your own black velvet at home:

1. Get Guinness Draught and hard cider. I've learned from reading other tutorials that not all ciders layer underneath Guinness well, so just be wary. Ace Pear is wonderful. I've seen many tutorials recommend Strongbow but I am personally not a fan of Strongbow at all (sorry!). Grab any easily bent spoon and you're ready to start.

2. Pour the cider in the glass first and fill halfway.

 

3. Hover the bent spoon in the glass above the cider and pour the Guinness on the spoon gently. This will cause the Guinness to easily layer over the cider without it mixing into the cider. A more advanced bartender could use the inside of the glass to pour the Guinness on, but this method was easy and painless.

 

4. Enjoy! :)

This concludes my extremely long babble of an entry. Because I am moving I am seriously sad about leaving the Saucer but I know I will have many opportunities to kick back with a beer! The entries to come will mostly focus on my move but I'll find time to chat about beer as well.

Time to finish this beauty.

I am a beer goddess.

I never thought I'd live to see the day where the words "I love beer" would come from MY mouth. I love beer. I do. I love the light, crisp taste of a summer ale and the complex, rich notes of a stout. I've gotten to become best friends with the all-mighty "Happy Hour" because let's face it, budgeting = life.

Now that I'm all grown up and can appreciate that not all beer tastes like a cheap can of Bud Lite, I've hit a sad realization that beer is fattening. It's not like I drink beer all day every day. But when I do hit happy hour once or twice a week I can easily down five to six beers in one sitting. That is a LOT of calories.

Summer is coming. I'm still on the path of losing my pregnancy weight from (gasp) three years ago. I'm not going to blame my weight not budging entirely on hereditary factors, instead I'm finally making smarter choices with my diet. Does this mean I'm going to cut out beer entirely? Ha, hell no. Instead I'm going to enjoy a couple of beers instead of the usual bingefest every week. To make cutting back more fun, I'm going to try a new beer every week and blog about it, as well as my better eating choices.

I blogged about my journey with the Whole30.* It was amazing and really shed light on food in a different way. But soon after the challenge I finally got employed and making home cooked meals became a nuisance. I ended up going back to the ways of convenience eating and only cooked once a week. I'm finally trying to reverse those bad habits. When you work until 1am and your boyfriend is on an opposite schedule it gets hard to meal plan! But that's the challenge and I'm finally willing to embrace it.

Huzzah to a new blog.

-BG

*For more info on my previous blog (and some awesome recipes if I do say so myself), please visit Thyme Will Tell.