Lately: Favorite Recipes

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.

photo

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?

Weekend Things & 10 Grammy Thoughts

Happy Monday!

Did you know last Friday was National Peanut Butter Day?  I was obviously prepared, but somehow managed to go the entire day without eating any.  I promise I’m as disappointed in myself as you are.

IMG_0719

I was all set to spend Friday night at home, cooking dinner and watching a movie, then Joey mentioned going out to see a movie and I was suddenly all “Happy Hour, movie theater, spend lots of money!”  Root Down did not disappoint and we are pretty pumped for summer when we can walk there!

IMG_0721

Joey played an alumni basketball tournament on Saturday.  He played 5 games in a row then took a 3 hour nap, but his complaining of being sore has been surprisingly minimal.  This is progress.  Meanwhile, I try to avoid anything that involves the word alumni.

IMG_0729

Sunday involved brunch downtown with Hannah and Josh.  We hadn’t really seen them since before Christmas so it was especially nice to catch up over Bloody Marys, Bellinis and brisket.  Justin Timberlake is part owner of the restaurant we ate at so everything was all Southerned out.  I just created a verb there.

 IMG_0735

Other weekend tidbits included Captain Phillips, designing our Save the Dates, bottling our beer and of course, the Grammys!  The older I get, the more I question the talent of the nominees.  And I had a lot of thoughts about the whole thing.

1. Pharrel’s hat!  Okay, he took that right off Smoky the Bear, right?  It totally stole the show and I’m so glad he won so many awards because it meant seeing him on stage in that thing so many times.

2. Did anyone else notice it looked like Lorde had black ink all over her hands?

3. If you haven’t heard my Robin Thicke rant, consider yourself very very lucky.  I’m sorry but I can’t take someone talking about women that way seriously when they have been married to their high school sweetheart for 10 years.

4. John Legend was incredible.  His voice is the definition of magic.

5. We could’ve down without at least 8 of those head whips Taylor Swift did.  She also RUINED that Kendrick Lamar/Imagine Dragons performance.  “Down in the front!”

6. WHERE WAS JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE??

7. Paul McCartney & Ringo on stage at the same time makes my heart happy. 

8. I’m not sure I really like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (what is that hair cut??), but the message they promote in “Same Love” is one of the most heartwarming things I’ve ever heard and despite Madonna being dressed as a 1970’s pimp, that wedding ceremony was so touching.

9. Did anyone else see that guy spit on the stage during the Nine Inch Nails/Queens of the Stone Age performance?  What is it with men and spitting?

10. Honestly, as much as I love award shows, the Grammys seemed SO long this year.  Did anyone else find themselves begging for it to end?