Safeway deliver, or Wrongway delivery?

Review Wednesday!!! 

Yesterday I got a text from my neighbor/best friend to look outside. When I did I was amazed! Our neighbor has having all of their groceries delivered. THEIR GROCERIES WERE BEING DELIVERED!!! Right to their front door!!! I had heard of this service before, while vacationing with my family in the outer banks of NC. The Lowes food store just off the island will deliver groceries to the rental homes, and even put them away for you! So when you arrive at your sanctuary, you don't have to stress about having to go grocery shopping the second you unload you beach hats and flippy floppies. 

ANYWAYS,

So I see the Safeway delivery truck out front and am so excited! I don't know why it never occurred to me that this luxurious (HA!) way to shop would even be an option back home. So My BFF and I turned to our handy dandy computers to find out all about grocery deliveries. 

I honestly had no intention of ordering when I started this venture, but in order to find out how expensive this luxury was, I signed up and made a delivery account (for future possibilities), after all the side of the truck said "free delivery on your first order." What I wasn't told before signing up is that you have 24 hours after signing up to place your first order if you want free shipping. 

Luckily I had a small list of staples needed for this weeks menu. I filled my virtual cart while sipping a cappuccino, and it was bliss! Very simple to figure out, and nothing much to it. I get ready to check out and am THEN notified that a minimum order of $49 is needed for delivery. Back to the shopping I went. After filling my cart to $50.26, I was able to check out. This process was also very simple, and was over within a minute. I picked an hour time slot to have my groceries delivered, and I WAS SO EXCITED for them to arrive today. 

The truck pulled up, I swung open the door before he could even reach the front step! He went over my order, if anything had been substituted, etc. I unloaded my groceries, still excited, and it was kinda lackluster. I like the idea, but I'm not impressed at all with the quality of produce and meat that I received. Not only that, but the EVOO bottle was leaking all over the bag when I took it out. Some packages were a little squished, but my main concern is the meat.., it was just gross. 

So I guess in theory this service could be nice if you order simple things, small staples, or if you want groceries waiting for you when you arrive at you vacation home. Other than that I don't think I will be using this service again. It was fun to try while it was free, but not worth having gross pork chops and spilled oil all over my groceries. 

HOLY lemon blackberry cheesecake bars...

I swear the heavens opened up and the angels sang down upon me when I tasted my first bite of these heavenly treats.

I sorta stumbled into this recipe while trying to find a new lemon bar recipe to take to my family 4th of July BBQ, it was an accident miracle that I found this.. because it was loved by every person that tried them, which can be hard to do when feeding a big group of people! Everyone was mad that I didn't bring more, but lets be real here.. I tried one bite and ended up putting half the batch back in my fridge to safe for ourselves. #noshame

But as a fair warning: this is NOT a quick throw it together recipe. It is a process; one that promises to pay off though!

What you need:

For the crust

• 12 sheets graham crackers, pulsed until crumbled in a food processor (about 2 cups crumbs)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

For the blackberry puree

• 6 oz fresh or frozen blackberries
• ¼ cup granulated white sugar
• ¼ cup water

For the cheesecake

• 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• ½ cup sour cream, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ cup granulated white sugar
• 3  lemons worth of zest 
• ¼ish cup fresh lemon juice (just use the lemon juice from the 3 zested lemons)
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Here we go:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9"x9" glass pan. Using a food processor, pulse the cookies until they are completely broken down into a fine crumb and add the sugar and melted butter. Pulse a few more times until the mixture is like wet sand. Dump into the pan and press firmly into the bottom. Bake for 8-10 minutes for a nice golden color. Remove to cool.

In a small saucepan on medium low heat mix together the blackberries, sugar and water. Cook for 8-10 minutes until the blackberries are completely broken down. Place a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and with a silicone spatula press through all the liquid, disposing the solids.

Lower the temperature of the oven to 325ºF and bring water to boil in a teakettle or in a medium sized sauce pan on on the stove.

In the bowl of your stand mixer or using a hand mixer with a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese sugar and lemon zest until light and airy about 3-4 minutes. Then add the sour cream and eggs one at a time until well combined.

Scrape the bowl, making sure everything is completely incorporated. Add the lemon juice and salt. Mix to combine. Scrape everything together again and pour into the prepared pan.

Smooth the top of the cheesecake batter with a spatula and drizzle the blackberry puree on top of the cheesecake. With a skewer or toothpick, make a swirl pattern. Place the square pan into a larger pan and put both into the oven. Pour the boiling water into the larger pan so that it reaches about halfway up. BE CAREFUL, this is the scariest part of the whole process. 

Bake for about an hour and fifteen minutes or until the cheesecake is set but still slightly jiggly. Remove and let cool completely (about two hours) before removing from the pan. 

I fully owe my happiness to "The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen" I adapted the recipe slightly, because the original recipe wasn't quite as lemony as I wanted, but would have never know of such greatness if it weren't for her! 

There you have it my lovelies!

What is your favorite way to use lemons, sweets or savory dishes?

pasta oops!

So I bought a pasta machine and was SO excited to start making homemade pasta. It was the first thing on my list to do, and I had this plan to make the best homemade pasta ever! Well I've never made homemade pasta before, and I was surprised when my dough turned out... weird. It was lumpy, bumpy, and not anything like what pasta dough is supposed to be!

How is this possible? How can my first attempt at making pasta not be a huge success??? My mind was boggled. I had a pasta post scheduled, so I at least had to write about my failed attempt.

I tried to mix the dough "old school" on the counter with a fork.. so my next plan of attack will be using my stand mixer to achieve the perfect dough consistency. I shall keep you all posted, failures an all!!

What pasta dish should I make when I actually pull this off??