Food Talk – Page 119 – Life as Lauren

Part of starting a new blog — with a new less specific name! — was being able to expand the variety of topics I write about. I absolutely love the freedom to talk about more than just food, but the tradeoff is that a lot of weekday meals get skipped over. I have an easier time highlighting fun restaurant meals and fancier home-cooked weekend meals, but it’s the Tuesday dinner at 8 PM that misses it’s time in the limelight. Which is a real shame because we crank out some really delicious stuff during the week too! I thought I’d take a moment to show you some of our winter favorites this year.

Kale, Mushroom & Sun-Dried Tomato Lasagna Rolls

Am I the only one who’s intimidated by regular lasagna? The idea of mini rolled versions is much more appealing and these are so tasty. They’re a tad bit time consuming — I made them when I was home alone the other night and felt like it took me for.ev.er. to finish — but they made a whole casserole dish full so there’s plenty of leftovers, which re-heat beautifully.

Lighter Buffalo Mac and Cheese

I’m a sucker for anything mac and cheese, an obsession I no doubt inherited from my mom, and this recipe turned out SO GOOD! We ended up subbing Laughing Cow Swiss for the blue cheese (couldn’t find it) but the flavor was out of this world, nevertheless. I don’t know how I lived without buffalo sauce until this year.

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Soup

I adore this recipe! Not to get all cliché on you, but it’s like a hug in a bowl on a cold winter night. Plus it’s super creamy (thin soups are my idea of torture) without being chock full of unhealthy stuff. A word to the wise, triple the amount of veggies it calls for and keep extra broth on hand because the leftovers thicken up quite a bit.

Greek Quinoa Dinner Omelets

Is it omelets or omelettes? The recipe uses the former, but I usually go with the latter. Mostly because that’s the French spelling and it makes me feel très cultured. We made these on a Tuesday night and even though it was just a boring Tuesday night (and I had to watch Joey use the most questionable omelette-making techniques), this dinner was so fun and delicious that it felt like a special occasion. Bonus points for looking fancy but being super easy and fast.

The Best Shredded Kale Salad

Okay, so I already told you we made this one before Christmas but since then, I think I’ve made it five more times. In fact, I put it on our menu every damn week. Officially addicted. Joey thinks I need an intervention, but he doesn’t seem to be complaining while he’s eating it alongside me. If you have a True Food Kitchen in your area and love their Parmesan Kale Salad, this is exactly how it tastes. I don’t know about you, but I’m a fan of making restaurant-quality food right at home.

What have been some of your favorite recipes this winter?

Whew! Do you ever have a weekend where you end up feeling more tired than rested? Because I just had one. And I’m kind of excited that it’s Monday and I have to be sitting at my work desk. Emphasis on sitting. We did so much house work this weekend. But first! A fun Friday.

P.S. This is a food-heavy post. You’ve been forewarned.

Guys, I got contacts on Friday morning! I’ve had glasses with a minor prescription since college but I rarely wear them because I hate seeing the frames in my periph so I’ve just been squinting at the TV guide and missing turns because I can’t read the street sign until I’m passing it. I finally got contacts and life is easier now. I took my fully functioning eyes to a concert on Friday night to celebrate. Or because I was already planning to go to that concert.

To say I’ve been excited to see The Head and the Heart in concert would be a huge understatement. I adore this band and I’ve been anxiously awaiting the day I got to see them live. I’d like to pretend we got there early because we were that excited, but it was like 10% excitement and 90% wanting to get one of the few seats so I wouldn’t have to stand for 3 hours. And that’s what we call adulthood.

Anyways, they were every bit as good as I thought they would be. No, wait, even better! Call me a uninformed fan, but I had no idea they had two male singers. Totally thought it was just one voice on their albums. Oops! I’m so glad we got to see them. My heart was soaring when I got to hear “Shake” and “Rivers and Roads” in person. Chills just thinking about it 🙂 Also, some guy got on stage and proposed to his girlfriend, didn’t invite her on stage, then proceeded to celebrate and hug all the band members while she just stood there in the crowd. Dude, come on.

Saturday involved lots of house work — we picked paint, got to work on the kitchen and the living room and hooked up our new range! — and take out. We tried this pizza place down the street for the first time and despite not having stellar reviews, we actually thought it was really good. I’m a fan of anywhere that offers a bunch of veggie-licious whole wheat dough options so this was a win for me. Then the annual viewing of my favoritest Christmas movie. You think I would be sick of it but no. Not even in the slightest.

Sunday started with this bad decision.

Dear body, please have a more consistent reaction to caffeine. Love, Lauren.

This was my attempt at having a super productive day and don’t get me wrong it was super productive. It was also super jittery and anxious. I will never learn. After I had more than adequately caffeinated myself, we tackled more painting, a trip to Ikea, a trip to the grocery store, cooking in our so-close-to-being-back-in-one-piece kitchen, un-packing boxes of kitchen stuff and a shower where I’m fairly sure I forgot to rinse the conditioner out of my hair… Oh, and our Christmas lights are finally up. Yay!

Then my parents came over to see all the progress at the house and to take us to dinner for their anniversary. If that sounds backwards to you, then that makes two of us. I tried to encourage them to enjoy a night out on their own but my mom insisted and I’m not one to turn down dinner. Plus I suggested they make reservations at a restaurant we had tried to go to on Wednesday night, only to find there was an hour and a half wait. If that kind of traffic on a week night isn’t a sign of a good restaurant, I don’t know what is.

I think the popularity might have something to do with these little margaritas.

Turns out it makes more sense to order the large margarita and share it, rather than all order a small or medium for ourselves. Joey tried to convince both my sister and I to order a large and both share with him. Yeah, nice try. Mass consumption of chips, guac, enchiladas, rellenos, burritos and sopapillas ensued. And by the end of dinner, a majority of the table felt sickeningly full. Who ordered those sopapillas?! Oh, right…