06 Thursday Mar 2014
Posted in Food, Places We've Been, Restaurant Review
Tags
It’s a weird thing about writing this blog – sometimes I eat at restaurants, take my sweet time writing a review, and then by the time I do it the entire menu is changed. 
SO THEN I wonder….do you care? Do you want to hear about the experience anyways?
I’m going with yes today. Indulge me.
05 Wednesday Mar 2014
Tags
cooking, eating, food, how to cook, recipes, soup, vegan, vegetarian
I am so over this weather. 
I know I go on and on, but REALLY. It’s South Carolina. I do hot yoga. I’M A WARM PERSON. Working at home also makes me colder, somehow – no matter what I do, if I’m sitting and working at home I’m just COLD. Big socks and hot tea are sort of my thing.
I want warmth. I want walks at lunch that don’t make my eyes burn. That is NOT too much to ask, Mama Nature. Make it happen.
This works for me sort of like hot tea does – warms me from the inside out. It’s soup made with mushrooms. That’s really kind of it. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated save for some dried mushrooms, and the FLAVOR. I love it. Jay does not. Mainly because he hates mushrooms. He claims to like the flavor, but didn’t in this soup so…it’s mushroomy, is what I’m trying to say.
Don’t be like Jay. Be like me. Let’s make soup!
04 Tuesday Mar 2014
Tags
animals, dogs, funny, old people, pets
It was warm on Sunday.
It’s freezing now, of course, and was 25 effing degrees last night, but SUNDAY it was 70 whole degrees.
It was glorious.
I was photographing some food and the sun was going in and out, so I kept stepping on the deck to see what the dealio was so that I got the shots I wanted. I do that sometimes, but this particular day the dogs pushed through me every time to go outside.
They’re labs. They pee about twice a day. So this was weird and annoying. Finally I wandered off with the door open to let them come back in on their own, but they didn’t come back for a few minutes. When I cam back to look out the window to be sure they hadn’t wandered off (our neighbors LOVE us), this is what I saw:
03 Monday Mar 2014
Tags
cooking, eating, food, how to cook, quinoa, recipes, vegan, vegetarian
OMG let’s eat lunch. I’m starving. 
How was your weekend? I was HOME for the first time in 7 weeks and it felt so good. Laundry was done. Food was prepared.
Also Jay sang as an Elvis impersonator on Friday night – any interest in that story?
It was a great weekend, and of course today it’s cold and rainy and MONDAY but that’s totally OK because we. can. do. this. week. 
We’re going to start this week with a healthy lunch, too. Or dinner! This meal could be for anytime of day.
It’s HEALTHY, delicious, and takes REALLY as long to make as it takes to cook quinoa. I’d suggest making quinoa in advance and keeping a bunch of it in the fridge, then you’ll have it for quick and delicious recipes like this one!
28 Friday Feb 2014
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Friday!
Finally!
Weekend!
I mean, WHAT A WEEK. For me, at least. Work and cooking and clients and class and TOO MUCH. The house is a disaster. The dogs refuse to clean up after themselves, and it’s getting pretty ridiculous how much they mooch off us.
It’s gotten cold again here the past few nights, and so this shepherd’s pie is perfect for the end-of-winter HURRY UP AND GET WARM blues. I made it yesterday and we had it for dinner last night, and I’m not lying when I say I kind of just wanted to eat it directly out of the dish for approximately 3 hours while watching TV.
Luckily for the future of my bottom I only ate one serving, but still. I thought about it.
27 Thursday Feb 2014
Posted in Food, Healthy Eating, Recipes
Tags
cooking, diet, eating, food, healthy, how to cook, recipes, weight loss
I hear so many people talk about weekends where they claim to gain 10 pounds and then “make up for it” during the week.
Are you one of those people?
I kind of always eat the same, so it’s a little weird for me.
I do get, though, that sometimes you’re just FEELING HEALTHY and dang it you don’t want to eat something massively heavy. Totes.
26 Wednesday Feb 2014
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….no, I did not stir herbs and garlic into butter and call it homemade. 
I made butter. In my food processor.
And really, is there ever a time in your life that you need homemade butter more than a cloudy Wednesday in the middle of tax season? 
In unrelated news, I couldn’t sleep this morning so I got up at 5:45 and worked on our taxes until I had to leave to go teach yoga at 7:45.
Two hours of tax prep! YES, I deserve the butter.
25 Tuesday Feb 2014
Posted in Food, meal planning, Recipes
Tags
chicken, cooking, dinner, eating, food, how to cook, meal planning, recipes
It’s dinner for Tuesday!
I know sometimes I send you around this here website looking for old recipes to make into a new meal, but today I thought I’d show you a new meal AND write it for you all in one place. 
Full service, people.
I made this last week for dinner of the week for Linen&Spice, and it was a hit! Lots of orders, and Jay got to have it for dinner one night when I went out with friends. It’s simple and delicious: smashed potatoes (these are purple!), zucchini tomato cream sauce, and chicken grilled in butter, salt, and pepper. So easy, but the flavors together are GREAT, and the components are accessible and cheap.
So, let’s have dinner together.
24 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in Funny
You know how sometimes you get off a plane on a sunny Sunday afternoon and then you hang out with your mom for 2 hours and then go for an early dinner with your husband that you haven’t seen in 3 days and end up staying out until 10?
And then you wake up Monday morning really just THIRSTY and realize that you have 2.5 hours to make salad, bread, ziti, and brownies for 20 and you also need to do all of the shopping for that?
In completely unrelated news, I need help with the dishes.
21 Friday Feb 2014
Tags
cooking, eating, food, how to cook, recipes, weekend potluck
FINALLY IT’S REALLY FRIDAY. 
And we’re having torrential downpours and tornados in the area, but whatever! Who needs good weather to fly out of a teensy airport?
I do, that’s who. Check twitter and Instagram later today to see how delayed I am over a storm 6 hours prior to my flight. I mean, really.
So when you have a hunch that your flight will be cancelled or delayed you just really might need some comfort food, right? This risotto will fit. the. bill. You don’t even know. This is super simple, but we get a TON of flavor from parmesan rind and the good parmesan. The kind that you only need a teeny block of to impart HUGE flavor. So, splurge.
Also, breaking arborio rice news. You know those big plastic square-ish containers that they sell fancy rices in, and they’re totes expensive? Look right below those. Where the bagged rice is. My super cheap store now has a brand of arborio rice in bags, and per ounce is about half the price of the plastic box stuff. So, look around for cheaper stuff before you whine to me that arborio rice is expensive. It’s not that bad!
Creamy risotto can make everything better, really. Let’s make it!