Cooking with the Bradleys

Since my blog title is Breakfast with the Bradleys, I figure I should mention food every once in a while. Before moving to our new apartment, I did most of our grocery shopping at Super Target. I love Super Target! In my experience, it was always far superior to Walmart, though I know people who will point out that Walmart is cheaper. Maybe sometimes, but it was always more crowded, stinkier, dirtier, undecorated, and had fluorescent lighting. So I generally refused to go to Walmart.

After moving, Super Target is not really an option because it is too far away for a grocery trip. I have settled on this. I started shopping at Walmart but was proven right in thinking that even though its cheap, part of the cheapness is due to quality. Especially with fruit and vegetables. So yesterday Ryan and I took a date to Central Market! I was expecting it to be outrageously expensive and maybe it is depending on what you buy, but we purchased produce on sale for the same or cheaper prices than Walmart.

I know that Walmart is more practical for weekly use, but its nice to know that an occasional produce excursion to Central Market won't break the bank!

One fun thing we got at Central Market was filet mignon. Yes, it was a little pricey, but we actually got 4 small filets for a much cheaper price than going out to eat. We spent our Saturday night enjoying a fine home cooked meal of steak, potatoes, and golden glazed beets and carrots. It was amazing and way cheaper than it would cost us to go out to eat even at a cheaper place like Chili's. I was super happy with the way this meal turned out!

Another thing I made this week was sugar cookies that were shaped like cupcakes. I saw these cookie cutters at Crate and Barrel a few weeks ago and was super excited when my mom surprised me with them as a gift! I decorated them using Betty Crocker rainbow chip icing (so much better than Pillsbury's funfetti!) and made it so that a rainbow chip was always right on the top of the "cupcake"

I made the cookies because we had some church friends over that night. Okay, I actually made the cookies because they seemed cute and delicious, but it was fun to share them with other people! Since they looked like cupcakes I served them on my cupcake tier. They look awesome for about 1 hour in the afternoon. Sadly, they were too heavy (or not as crunchy as they could have been), and after a while they started drooping and falling apart. Oh well, they still tasted great!

And my last creation from last week was the "potato-tinis" that I made when my best friend Erica joined us for a Bacherlorette viewing. I made mashed potatoes and served them in a martini glass, topped with sour cream, cheese, and chives! I stole this idea from my friend Kathryn's wedding reception but it was very easy to recreate and entertaining to serve and eat!

I love that I have more time to cook in the summer!