Month: March 2017

Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

I almost started this post yesterday, in which case, it was going to start with something like: I’m just going to say it — this weekend felt like spring!  But today it is cool and cloudy and windy as hell, so maybe it’s still winter.  Womp, womp.  But that little taste of spring — sunshine skies, warm temps, actual flowers popping up in our neighborhood — has me excited nonetheless.  And the spring preview made for the perfect backdrop this weekend, which I’m rolling out for you highlights style!

Ate All the Good Things!

Starting with happy hour at The Way Back on Friday — the ricotta gnudi was lifechanging, and to think we almost didn’t order it.  We may also have made a “Gnudi Magazine Day!” joke because we’re still children of the 90’s and Billy Madison is king.

Afterwards, ice cream at the new Sweet Cooie’s.  It’s an ice cream parlor straight from a Wes Anderson movie.  Which means everything is pastel, old-timey and somewhere between completely adorable and entirely creepy.  I dug the vibe and my peanut butter Oreo ice cream.

Best of all, my mom cooked us breakfast on Sunday and everything was so so good!  My mom and I are totally on the same page about chilaquiles.  She sent me over the recipe and I see breakfast for dinner in my near future.

img_5403img_5372img_5405

img_5402

Why can’t the light be this good in my house??

Had All the Mom-Time!

Not only did she feed me the best meal but she gave me a massage on Saturday and we took a little mother-daughter trip to Home Depot post-breakfast feast on Sunday.  I was singing a little “I get to see my Mama on Sunday!” song in the car on Friday and Joey made fun of me then reminded me that I actually got to see her on Saturday too.

Bonus: I also got to see my little sissy, a sunshine-seeking pup and that gorgeous pot rack/new set of pots my mom just got.  Joey hung it and then we spent something like 20 minutes arranging them JUST SO.  Worth it!

img_5401img_5409img_5410

How crazy cool are those lids??

Watched All the Good Movies!

Friday: Sing Street — we loved it so much, because: Irish accents!  Catchy 80’s-style songs!  A cute feel good story line!  And just to give it some validity, Aidan Gillen is totally in it.  I think it’s the first role I’ve seen him in where he speaks with his actual accent.  Also, I like all the songs more than anything in La La Land, so there’s that.

Saturday: Tallulah.  Joey picked this one for us and he chose well!  We felt like something was off/missing but couldn’t place exactly what it was.  Also, I pointed out that this is the second movie Ellen Page and Allison Janney star in together.  They make a good team.

Sunday: The Fundamentals of Caring.  I’ll pretty much agree to watch anything with Paul Rudd in it.  Joey also picked this one for us and I guess I’m just going to let him pick every movie we watch from now on because he was three for three this weekend!  I think my favorite part was Paul Rudd saying “I’m getting a patty melt, I don’t give a shit!”

Did All the Relaxing!

I forwent formal exercise this weekend, in exchange for warm weather walks, backyard hanging and lots of reading time.  Felt good, felt right.  Joey spent some time working on the drywall in our living room so I set myself up on the couch, just on the other side of his homemade dust barrier and dug into my book.  I’ve got about 100 pages left of The Eyre Affair and I really really like it!  As an English major who took courses on Shakespeare, Victorian literature and detective fiction, I feel like this book really gets me on so many levels.  Plus, I just love a badass female main character  🙂

img_5406img_5407img_5414

What did you do this weekend??

Make This Now

Lauren2 Comments

(MOM, AVERT YOUR EYES — MANY FISH PHOTOS LIE AHEAD!) 

Guys, I’ve been so into fish lately.  Roasted salmon salad, tuna with bacon-cauliflower purée, cod foil packs with chile butter.  Yes, I will (did) have all of that, please!  I think Joey is starting to get worried, because we are not normally fish people and I’ve been putting it on our meal plan week after week.  I dunno, I’m not questioning it, I’m just going with it.

Totally unrelated, but it’s recently come to my attention that dressing can make or break a salad and seeing as we eat a lot of salad, I know a good one when I see taste it.  So please enjoy this edition of recipe favorites featuring fish AND salad dressing, sometimes together, but mostly separate.

img_4921

Roasted Salmon with Kale-Quinoa Salad

I was kind of on the fence about this salad but I had no reservations about the salmon or the dressing, because those were both a major hit.  A major plus about fish, is that it’s SUPER SIMPLE to make and more often than not, SUPER SIMPLE to clean up.  Of all the easy ways to cook it, this olive oil, salt and pepper method was the easiest I’ve ever tried so I was extra surprised at how good it tasted.

Secondly, the All-Purpose Citrus Dressing that goes with the salad is mega-delicious!  We used it on a bunch of things besides this salad so not only does it taste incredible, it’s also extremely versatile.

IMG_2586

Almond Honey Mustard Dressing

File Under: would drink this.  That’s how good this almond butter dressing is.  I got sort of really really excited when I realized we had feta AND almond butter at home so we could easily make this salad but as good as the feta is, the dressing is the star of the show.  Sometimes you just need a dressing that’s not olive oil/lemon based, ya know?  And this is the one you go to in those times.

P.S. Apologies for the horrendous picture.  May it speak to how impatient I was to dig straight into lunch.

img_5070

Halibut Foil Packs with Chile Butter

Pro Tip: it’s totally fine if you eyeballed the butter amount and maybe made a liiitle more than the recipe calls for, because it’s the secret to this amazing dish.  We served it over rice, to soak up all of those flavor-packed juices and I stand behind that decision 100%.  I wanted to make this again as soon as I finished eating it!  Also, we totally used cod instead of halibut because ain’t nobody got time to go searching for halibut and cod is cheaper anyway.

img_5135

Smoky Maple Balsamic Dressing

Pretty pleased with myself when I discovered I had Liquid Smoke on hand and thus had everything to make this salad dressing that tastes pretty incredible on its own but causes taste bud exploding levels of deliciousness when paired with goat cheese and roasted butternut squash.  I easily dressed eight lunch salads with one batch, so a little goes a long way with this one and I happen to think that’s a GREAT thing!

img_5342

Parmesan Pesto Tilapia

We made this once a few years ago and I don’t know how or why, but we hadn’t made it since.  Well we had leftover pesto (tried this vegan miso one for the first time and was majorly pleased with it!) and parmesan so it seemed like a no-brainer.  I took the picture before adding the pesto (because refrigeration had turned it from pretty green to unappealing gray…), but just know it made for the perfect quick and easy Monday night dinner.

IMG_2848

Classic Vinaigrette

It is my very serious and important opinion that you should have a go-to vinaigrette in your cooking arsenal.  For quick side salads (with croutons and shaved parm) or lunch salads that you love everything about EXCEPT the dressing.  Swap it out and problem solved!  This is that recipe.  Memorize it and you’re good to go for the rest of your life.

P.S. Please note the cherries, the sunshine, the bright beautiful colors of that salad.  Ugh, is it summer yet?

Wishing you all a Happy Friday, Perfect Weekending and Sunshine Vibes 🙂