Food Porn: Rye Bar & Southern Kitchen

A few weeks back we tried  Rye Bar & Southern Kitchen in downtown Raleigh for the very first time! Timmy and I had seen it multiple times but had never actually tried the food; we have been to the bar there many times - it is actually connected to the hotel where we stayed for our wedding and our  anniversary! So we were excited when my best friend said that was where she wanted to go for dinner on her birthday!

Food Porn: The Pit

The Pit Authentic Barbecue

Type of Food; BBQ
Price: $11-30
Address: 328 W. Davie Street Raleigh, NC
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I have been here 2 times and have yet to have a bad experience! Both times I have looked forward to eating there! It is in downtown Raleigh, so you can go out to dinner with friends then out on the town!

Parking: Parking is pretty bad wherever you go in Downtown Raleigh, so don't be shocked when you will have to circle the block a few times trying to find a spot. If you want to avoid that bring a few dollars in cash and Valet park your car. Unfortunately we did not know they had Valet and parked about 2 blocks down in the parking garage, but unfortunately we had to pay $3 for that as well.

Customer Service: Everyone was very nice. We went on a Friday night at about 6:30 and were seated right away (we only had 2 people) but by the time we were leaving an hour later there was a large amount of people waiting for tables. We had a few servers, which was nice but sometimes annoying because one would come and ask us if we needed anything and then 5 minutes later another server would ask us the same thing. But it was nice because it was always easy to get something pretty quickly if we did need something. Also, the table next to us got the wrong side item brought with their meal and they quickly fixed that mistake.

Food: If you are in the mood for some BBQ this is the place to go! When we went I had been wanting BBQ all week and was planning on grabbing a plate at Smithfield's before going home from work but my fiance said let's go to The Pit and boy am I glad we did!

They have a huge menu, so it might be a little overwhelming at first but take your time and look over everything before deciding what you want to get.

While you are waiting you can enjoy some DELICIOUS hush puppies and biscuits, which you will devour and need a second basket of.

Next comes the food you have been waiting for. Each place comes with 2 sides. I got the Pulled Pork with Mashed Potatoes and Mac-n-Cheese and Timmy got the Double Combo: chopped BBQ and brisket with mashed potatoes and Mac-n-Cheese. We both enjoyed our meals, especially the Mac-n-Cheese. Empire Eats is catering our wedding and The Pit happens to be one of their restaurants and the mac-n-cheese will definitely be at our wedding!

If you are ever in downtown Raleigh and looking for some good homestyle cooking, The Pit is definitely worth a try!

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(This month's advertisement)

Loaded Chicken and Potato Casserole

Loaded Chicken and Potatoes Casserole...just saying it makes my mouth water.

You will need...

1 lb bonesless chicken breast, cubed

6-8 medium skin on red potatoes, cut in cubes

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp hot sauce

2 cups fiesta cheese blend

1 cup crumbled bacon (optional)

1 cup diced green onion (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray

3. In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and hot sauce

4. Add cubed potatoes and chicken and stir to coat

5. Carefully scoop the potatoes and chicken into prepared baking dish

6. Bake the potatoes and chicken for 55-60 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes, until cooked through, crispy, and browned on the outside

7. While the potatoes are cooking, fry your bacon

8. One potatoes and chicken are fully cooked, remove from over

9. Top the cooked potatoes with the cheese, bacon and green onion

10. Return the casserole to the over and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted

Today, I am linking up with Emily and Kate for Recipe Swap.

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(This month's advertisement)

BBQ Cups

You will need...

1lb ground beef

3/4 cup barbecue sauce

1 tbsp dry minced onion

1 (16.3 oz) Grand Biscuits

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Separate biscuits and place in muffin pan.

3. In large pan, brown and crumble ground beef. Drain grease and put back in pack and add in BBQ sauce and dried minced onion. Stir well.

4. Divide meat mixture between muffin pans. Sprinkle each with shredded cheese.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes until biscuits are golden brown and cheese is melted.

Today, I am linking up with Emily and Kate for Recipe Swap.

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Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole

If you like hashbrowns - this is the recipe for you! I absolutely love Cracker Barrel's Hashbrown Casserole (minus the onions), so I decided to make it for my family on Christmas morning. I followed the recipe exactly how I found it on Copy Kat but without the onions, oh and I had to use Southwest hashbrowns because that was all the grocery store had.

You will need...

Cooking Spray

2lbs frozen hashbrowns, thawed

Salt & Pepper

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup minced onion (optional)

1 8oz sour cream

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

• Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x113in pan.
• Spread potatoes in the pan and season with salt and pepper.
• Melt butter and add onions, sour cream and soup and mix together.
• Pour mixture over potatoes and sprinkle with cheese.
• Bake for 45 minutes.

:::linking up with Emily and Kate for Recipe Swap:::

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Chicken Pot Pie

It is cold out and nothing beats a nice hot comfort meal. Chicken Pot Pie is one of my comfort meals and I made it last week and it was delicious. I used my moms recipe which called for no vegetables! Score! I hate vegetables. 

You will need...

Chicken Breasts (I used 2  large chicken breasts)

1 can of Cream of Chicken

1 can of Cream of Celery

1 cup of self-rising flour

1 cup of milk

1 stick of butter, melted

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cut chicken into bite size pieces and cook in pan

• While chicken is cooking, in bowl mix together cream of chicken soup and cream of celery
• When chicken is cooked, pour into buttered dish. Pour mixture of soups over chicken.

• To make the topping - mix together butter, milk and flour and then pour over chicken as well.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

My fiance dug right into the cooked chicken pot pie before I could take a picture!

Today, I am linking up with Emily and Kate for Recipe Swap.

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Food Porn: Another Broken Egg

So lately Timothy and I have been trying to try out some new restaurants around our area. We live in Raleigh but are close to Fuquay-Varina, downtown Raleigh, Garner, etc. I wanted to start a blog post about the restaurants I have tried out and give my opinion in hopes to get some of y'alls suggestions of some good eats!

Another Broken Egg

Type of Food: Breakfast
Price: $10-15
Address: 160 Park at North Hills St #127, Raleigh, NC 27609
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I absolutely loved this place! My grandparents took Timothy, my sister Caroline and myself out to brunch one Sunday after church. When we got there, there was a wait but it was totally worth it. As you can tell by the name, the little restaurant focuses their dishes on eggs and breakfast items. All of us ended up getting some sort of omelette and no one was disappointed - the best part was the fact that their potatoes were the best kind - they weren't the shredded potatoes but the little square ones (come on...I know y'all know what I am talking about!). This is a place I would definitely return to and my grandparents have already twice since we went there in June!

Here are those yummy country potatoes!

All the little ceramic pieces were so cute -
even the coffee mugs reflected their theme.