Choo-Choo Bar-B-Que & Grill

 

Today I'm spotlighting one of our favorite haunts: Choo-Choo Bar-B-Que & Grill in Chickamauga, Georgia. If you're not from around these parts, you may still be familiar with the name Chickamauga if you've studied American History. The Battle of Chickamauga was a major Confederate victory in the American Civil War. Choo-Choo Bar-B-Que is an easy drive from Chattanooga, and a great place to eat while checking out the historic sites of Chickamauga.

Our family visits Choo-Choo often, and I believe that between all of us, we have tasted every item on the menu. And we keep coming back for more! The servings are plentiful, the salad bar fresh and delicious, and well, the bar-b-que? I'm a bbq snob and I like it, so that is saying a lot. So here's a look at a few items we had at our last visit.


BBQ Pork: The sauce is on the table so you can add as little or as much as you like.

BBQ Ribs

Meatloaf

Grilled Chicken

Hand Breaded Chicken Tenders with Potato Logs and Corn Nuggets

Choo-Choo has many yummy sides, but my favorites are the corn nuggets and potato logs, oh my are they good!

Stop by Choo-Choo Bar-B-Que and I promise you won't regret it. If you leave hungry, that's your own fault!

The Menu

Click on menu to see it enlarged.

Choo-Choo Bar-B-Que & Grill
1015 La Fayette Road
Chickamauga, GA 30707
706.375.7675


View Choo-Choo Bar-B-Que & Grill in a larger map

Have you been to Choo-Choo? What's your favorite thing to eat there?

Happy Earth Day!!

Since today is Earth Day, I think it's a great time to introduce you to Sophie's project. I've told you of her great love of apples, but that is nothing compared to her love of tomatoes. You probably have never seen a child gobble up tomatoes like she does, at least we haven't.

It only seemed right that she should have her own tomato plant this year. She can help take care of it, and once the tomatoes are ready, she can help pick them and eat them! We bought a cherry tomato plant for her and on Tuesday we planted it in our Topsy Turvy planter.

She's very proud of her plant.

We have great expectations for this little plant. When we bought the plant, the cashier noticed I'm pregnant and said that I better plant it, it would grow. So I guess that one of the indicators of pregnancy is a green thumb. We'll see.

Sophie's "Uh-mato Pwant"

I'll keep you posted on this project's progress, and once we have some tomatoes, I will share a recipe or two as well. In the meantime, I need to go find something else to plant!

Nana's Buttery Cinnamon Skillet Apples

 

We've been going through apples like crazy at my house. In fact, Sophie is quite the fanatic to the point that she's almost insane about them. "Apples! Apples! Hehehehe, apples!" That's what I hear when she sets her mind to apples.

Unfortunately, we haven't been able to keep up with our produce as well as I would like. In fact, this morning I noticed a few apples that were close to going bad, *gasp!* I decided this would be a good time to try my hand at one of Nana's signature dishes, Skillet Apples. I guess Nana has made these all my life; they are included in my childhood memories. These apples are very easy to make and nice and sweet. If you don't have a great sweet tooth, you'll want to use some nice tart apples as well.

Nana's Buttery Cinnamon Skillet Apples

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 medium cooking apples; unpeeled, cored and sliced into thick wedges, (about 8 slices each)

Directions:
In a 10 inch skillet, melt butter or margarine over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in sugar and cornstarch; mix well. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook over medium heat, spooning sauce over apples occasionally until apples are fork-tender and sauce is thickened.

Click here for the printable recipe at Tasty Kitchen.

YUM!

A Little Bit of Sunshine

I received a blog award from The Art of Being Perfect yesterday. The Sunshine Blog Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspire others in the blog world. That was so sweet and I really appreciate it!

Today I am passing the Sunshine Award to the following bloggers:

Tricia-Rennea, Illustrator: Tricia has beautiful illustrations, but the best part is that her blog is full of free printables and giveaways! Her style is always cheerful and will put a smile on your face.

Food For Thought and Tummy: This is my dear friend Michelle's blog. She is new to the blogging scene, but she has already proven herself to be a creative blogger. She is a true Renaissance Woman, and I know that as her blog grows, we will be seeing many amazing posts. {Not to mention the tag-team blogging we did here and here.}

The Old Foodie: Although Janet lives on the opposite side of the planet from me, I have been inspired and encouraged by her. She gives nibbles of food history Monday-Friday every week. Using antique and vintage cookbooks, she offers a taste of menus of old.

Make It Do: If you don't walk away from this blog inspired to do something creative, there may be no hope for you. It shares glorious photography, helpful tips and LOTS of beautiful things to make!

If you have received this award please consider passing it along to others. Here are the instructions:

* Put the logo on your blog or within your post.

* Pass the award on to as many as 12 bloggers.

* Link the recipients within your post.

* Let the recipients know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs.

* Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

A Minnie Mouse Birthday

My baby is two now, and to celebrate we had a Minnie Mouse birthday party. I thought I'd walk you through some things we did to make give her a great party.

Balloons from Party City

The Minnie Mouse Mylar balloon couldn't have been more perfect. The other balloons are pink, white and black pearlescent to match Minnie.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mouse Ears and Toys

"Reach!"

Hot Digety Dog! If you have ever seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, then you are familiar with the Hot Dog Dance. We had hot dogs with the usual condiments, plus homemade chili and coleslaw from Captain D's. The hot dogs we grilled on our indoor electric grill: the only way we cook hot dogs at home! We kept them warm in a crock pot until time to eat.

The above photo shows Sophie trying to reach the chips and dip. I don't blame her, because we had Mayfield's French Onion Dip. If you don't have access to THE BEST French onion dip there is, I am so sorry for you.

You can also see our cute pinwheels we used as "flower" decorations. Each child got to take one home. Behind the chips you can see a tiny pink pail with white polka dots: perfect for Minnie. There are more balloons attached and for extra weight they are filled with jelly beans. Get it? They're "full of beans"! The pails and a few other things came from Hobby Lobby and were on sale!

Don't get mad at me...but I used a boxed cake mix for these cuppies. Actually, I don't care what people think about using boxed cake mix, because it's a no-brainer, and they tasted great. However, you won't find me buying canned frosting. No way! Not when making a homemade butter cream is this easy. I just added lots of pink food coloring and a tiny bit of purple to make this color. I had originally planned to cut small marshmallows in half to make polka dots, but the rosy swirls were just too pretty to mess with. The pink baking cups came from The Sugar Shoppe, here in Chattanooga. They gave me a great tip to prevent the cupcake pulling away from the paper. Use two baking cups when baking and then when they are cool, you can either serve them doubled or take the outer baking cup off and save for later use. It worked great!

Sophie had a surprise for everyone at her party. She got to announce what her baby brother's name will be. We asked her what her baby's name was and she said, "Leemom", (Liam). How cute!

Sophie had a wonderful birthday party. I want to thank all our guests for coming and having fun, and the family members who helped out too.

Go check out yesterday's post by Bakerella. She had a great post, just wish it had come sooner. Too cute!

Linked to Bear Rabbit Bear.