Month: July 2017

Weekend Things & Turning 28

Lauren8 Comments

Life gave me an eye twitch for my birthday.  And to that, I say NO THANKS!

But to everything else — an incredible dinner at El Five, a new cookbook that I’ve already dog-eared to death, soba noodles (don’t ask…), birthday breakfast at my favorite place, two bouquets of the prettiest flowers, a family BBQ, nail polish and a succulent terrarium, red velvet cake and so so many loving “Happy Birthday!” messages — I say YES, YES, YES!  I think I have a real good feeling about 28.

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I could say A LOT about dinner at El Five but I think those photos (mostly) speak for themselves.  THE FOOD, THE VIEW, THE EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY OF EVERYTHING.  Joey and I are now in a thruple with that lamb sausage and hummus dish.  It’s maybe too soon to tell, but I think, of all the Edible Beats restaurants, El Five serves the best food.

Definitely not too soon to tell that this guy is my favorite human ♥

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If you have leftover ricotta, you definitely make ricotta pancakes.  These are the rules, okay?  Post-pancake time, we biked to the Farmers’ Market and were disappointed in the offerings again.  Where the shishitos at, friends?!  We DID buy some corn tortillas and tomatoes for Sunday’s taco feast though, so I guess it wasn’t a total wash.

Oh and we had a totally weird run in with a guy who needed to borrow a cell phone on our way there.  Still not sure what was going on, but he was very desperate to use a phone to cuss someone on the other end out?  I don’t even know!

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Rockies had fun and exciting wins on both Friday and Sunday so of course we went to Saturday’s losing game.  WHOA with these super crowded games lately though!  Also, please know we spent the afternoon cleaning our house and completely ran out of grocery energy, so we laid in bed and ordered them online instead.  I feel very very good about that life decision.

IMG_0998IMG_0992IMG_0997This is what the start of 28 looks like.  Aka waking up to roses, eating an avocado tartine (so less nauseatingly trendy than avocado toast, of course :P) and multiple cups of coffee.  Not mad about it at all!

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After breakfast, we finished cleaning up our house and while Joey was outside mowing and whatever else he happily does in our yard, I was inside making quick pickled veggies, strawberry simple syrup, lunches for the week, pico de gallo and chimichurri for TACO DINNER!  Sometimes, when you have a group of six and every Denver restaurant feels small and loud, you just decide to host your own birthday dinner at home.  Plus we got to use my new grill and relax in the backyard with margaritas, grilled corn salad and homemade red velvet cake to complete the meal.  WAS SO PERFECT!

P.S. We let my sister pull a carrot from our garden and it was highly entertaining!

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SPOILED! ♥♥♥

P.S. I asked Joey if turning 28 means I definitely can’t pass for under 21 anymore and he said no 😦

Dorsey Bars

Lauren2 Comments

If only you knew the evolution of Joey and I’s nicknames for each other.  Actually, I would rather get a papercut on that piece of skin between your thumb and pointer finger (again!) than tell you any of the embarrassing things we’ve called each other.  But, I don’t mind telling you that Joey often calls me “Dorsey,” which is just my last name and therefore a pretty normal thing to call someone.

I’ve been making these little peanut butter/pretzel/oat no-bake snack bars and Joey has been lovingly calling them Dorsey Bars.  I love that so much and after sharing a few with my mom and sister and hearing they love the name and the taste, I thought I’d share (both) here with you!  They couldn’t be easier and I look forward to mine every afternoon 🙂

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I was on the phone with my mom while futzing with this parchment paper and she was like “what is that noise?!” so maybe don’t do that. 

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Still working on perfecting those corner pieces, but I used the bottom of a second 8×8 pan to make these nice and even on top and it felt really life-changing.

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Dorsey Bars

  • 1 cup pretzels (I use Snyder’s Sourdough Nibblers, which are salted)
  • 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup chunky peanut butter
  • heaping 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1. Line a 8×8 pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Use a food processor to crush pretzels until only very small chunks remain (see photo).
  3. Mix pretzels and oats in a large bowl.
  4. Whisk peanut butter, honey and vanilla extract together (do it quickly, otherwise things start to get thick!).
  5. Add peanut butter/honey mixture to pretzel/oat mixture and stir to combine, making sure the dry ingredients are fully coated in the peanut butter/honey mixture.
  6. Dump mixture into the 8×8 pan and use your hands (and/or the bottom of another 8×8 pan, if you have one) to spread/flatten evenly, especially in the corners!
  7. Place pan in the freezer for 30 minutes then remove and slice into squares (I do 16 of em).  Enjoy!

I wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap, then stick them all in a Ziploc bag and store them in the fridge (sometimes for 2 weeks), grabbing one for each of us every morning.

DORSEY BAR, DORSEY BAR, DORSEY BAR!

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In other news, it’s my birthday weekend!  Going to dinner tonight and BBQing on Sunday, for my actual birthday.  S’gonna be the best!