Restaurant Review: Colton's Steakhouse

Colton's Steakhouse

St. Robert, MO

2 out of 5 stars

St. Robert and Waynesville are very small towns around Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. When we moved here all there was to eat in town was a Cracker Barrel, and a few mom-and-pop places. In this past year, we got a Panera Bread, and a Colton's steakhouse. We never went when it first opened, I knew to give the staff time to get in their grove--and I kept hearing bad reviews with food and service.

So my husband has been gone for 3 weeks for a TDY trip, which was also over his birthday. He got home today, so to celebrate his homecoming and birthday, we decided to try Colton's out.

We went at 4:30 to beat rush hour and to be done in time to catch the 6:30 movie on post. We got in, warm welcome from the staff and got seated immediately. No complaints there, what-so-ever. Our waitress was sweet, knowledgeable, kept checking/refilling our drinks. She was even sweet and friendly to the kids, asking their names ect and noted how good my daughter was doing with her cursive.

My complaint goes towards the food. Not the timeliness, that was just right, nothing wrong there. The peanut buckets were fun and a big hit with the kids. The hot rolls were amazing, and actually hot when brought out.

But then it came to dinner. I liked to order steak at a steakhouse (kinda like ordering pasta at an Italian restaurant) and ordered their 10oz Ribeye with fried okra, hubby ordered a hamburger with sweet potato fries, kids got sirloin steak bits with green beans. Right off, visually, it didn't look professional. This "expensive" cut of meat was less than 1/2-inch thick, with no flavoring...not even salt/pepper. I ordered it "medium," but with such a thin steak, there is no such thing other than "rare" or "extremely well done." I took a few bites and that it, couldn't do more. So gross, really...it makes me shudder to think about it again.

Luckily the fried okra was good and crunchy. The hubby's hamburger was fine, nothing special about it. But he ordered the sweet potato fries that came with this great marshmallow dipping sauce--that was extremely good--can't wait to try to make that at home.

And then it came to the kids' food. Their sirloin bites where 10 times better than my Ribeye. Typically, ribeyes are a better cut of meat than sirloin because of the marbling of fat that breaks down during the cooking. It looked like the chef switched up the steaks. The sirloins also had a wonderful seasoning on all sides. BUT, when it came to their green beans, I couldn't have been more shocked. On my daughter's plate, it looks like green beans out of a can, and my son's plate had "the right way" cooked green beans. Made at the same time, why so different?

Even my daughter (who is 7) knows the difference, and didn't eat more of 2 of hers. And for a restaurant of any size, I don't think this is anything acceptable.

So, overall, I don't give this place more than 2 stars (out of 5). And the 2 stars come from our waitress, the hot rolls and the peanuts. I will not go back to this place. If it was just one thing, I would try, but this was too much for me to even want to go back.

Superbowl Treats

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Treat yourself with little football brownies!

Very simple to make! I just used "boxed" brownie mix and follow directions baking them in 9x13" pan, lined with parchment paper. When they are done, let them cool for a few minutes in the pan, then lift the brownies up holding onto the paper and place them on wire rack to fully cool. When they are, invert them onto a clean surface and peel away the paper. I used a football shaped cookie cutter and cut out the shapes. I put a thin layer of chocolate icing (since brownies are...well....brown....you can skip this step if you prefer) and then piped the threads with white icing. Put into cupcake holders and serve! Simple as that!

Did you make any special treats for the superbowl?

T&T: Waffle Iron

Have you ever wanted cinnamon rolls but not have time to cook them in an oven for 20-25 minutes? I have come to that situation several times. So I made waffles the other day (with the waffle iron) and got my wheels spinning. What would happen if I put the cinnamon rolls IN the WAFFLE IRON? Sure enough....GENIUS. My kids ask for them this way more than they to the "right" way!

T&T: Cook cinnamon rolls in the waffle iron.

• Make sure you spray the iron really good with cooking spray, or it will stick (believe me).
• Spread the icing on immediately after you get it out so it can melt in all the little squares.
• Don't like cinnamon rolls? You can do it with canned biscuits too! Top it will butter/jam/jelly!

February: Month of Tips with Recipes!

So this year, I have a new "direction" to take my blog. Each month, I will have a new "theme" to focus on. So THIS month, February, is my "month of cooking tips"! Of course, I will have recipes to go with them, no worries! At the end of each month, I will have a special feature that lists each one of them. So, sit back, relax, and learn some new things!

First "Tip and Trick" starts tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday {{linky}}

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Look what I got!

And look what my Daughter did!

My daughter finally mastered her "back-hip-circle"!! Its taken her a while for it to actually "click" with her...but she got it!!

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~Please follow Cookin' for my Captain via GFC!

~Leave a comment if you're a new follower, so I can return the follow!
~Grab the WW button if you want to...

...and add your "Wordless Wednesdays" up below!

Do you wear Eyeglasses?

As I get older (I'm almost 30--EEEEK!) I've noticed that not only does my metabolism decrease, but my eyes are slowly getting worse. So, now I need to wear glasses to work on the computer (and I'm on it a lot!).

This is me and my glasses:

Aren't I just soooo cute? Ha! Something else about me: I'm a penny-pincher. I never buy things at full price, especially when I know it will eventually go on sale. So I'm constantly looking for steals and deals. It took me 3 months to find eyeglasses that I wanted that were actually affordable on my military budget.

I was contacted by GlassesUSA.com to tell about the deals and what  this company is about and I was very happy to share, especially since I wear glasses myself and always looking for deals.

They have great quality discount eyeglasses that is incredibly easy to pick out. Not sure which ones are for you? They have a tips guide to help you choose which frames are best to suit you! Amazing!

You might ask, "How on earth can you buy glasses online?" I sure did! But Glasses USA offers guarantees that stores you would walk-in don't.


Besides our high quality frames and lenses, Glasses USA offers a 110% lowest price guarantee and a 100% satisfaction guarantee along with a generous refer-a-friend program. Additionally, you can stay up-to-date on all GlassesUSA happenings through our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/glassesusa) and our Twitter feed (@GlassesUSA).

Right now, take advantage of their SPECIAL OFFER!
Take 20% off your entire order of $80 or more and get FREE US shipping with the code: FS20
Take 10% off any order of prescription glasses. Code: Blog10

So after going online and following the tips and guidelines, these are a pair I picked out.

Cute, right? They have so many to choose from, you'd be amazed! Don't miss out on these special offers, you can't go wrong with Glasses USA!

I'm curious to hear from you, please take the poll below!

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If there is a link listed on this site which takes you to another site where you can purchase something, chances are it is an affiliate link, and I am making money off of it. The FCC requires that all websites with affiliate connections inform their viewers about this.  I want to let you know that I only recommend a great product, and chances are I use this product on my site.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at cmclain0517@gmail.com.

Basic Biscuits

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

BASIC BISCUITS

The images are mine, but the recipe is from the Daring Kitchen Challenge

Click HERE to see entire recipe/instructions for more variations and/or more detailed directions

Ingredients

1 cup plain all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons fresh baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons frozen grated butter [I froze a batch and it was hard to combine with flour. I tried a batch of just cold butter and it worked better, for me anyway.]

Approximately ½ cup cold milk 

Optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F. 

2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.) 

3. Rub the frozen grated butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones. 

4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!

5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.) 

6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick. Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough).  Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.

7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden color on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.

8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes  (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly colored on the tops [mine took more of 12 minutes until started browning]. The scones are ready when the sides are set. 

9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.