Tag: home-cooked

What I’m Loving Lately: It’s spring!

Lauren1 Comment

Spring in Colorado is a wild ride.  It can be sunny and warm and lovely, or rainy, cold and wet.  Or worst of all, it could be snowy.  NO THANK YOU.  While, I KNOW snow in April (or May even!) is a definite possibility, my brain always seems to block that out so that I can feel completely shell-shocked when it happens every year.  I really treasure spring, but right now, I just really want summer.  So this post is an attempt to stay in this moment, recognize the things I love about this season and feel happy for this time.

Cashew Creamer

I already told you guys I made cashew ice cream from this post on Wholefully, but since I bought a big bag of cashews, I figured I might as well try the cashew creamer as well.  Fact: It straight up tastes like melted ice cream!  I asked my in-house ice cream aficionado to confirm this and he agreed 100%.  But when you put just a splash in your coffee, it gives it that perfect hint of sweet creaminess.

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This is actually a picture of the cashew ice cream but shhh, it looked mostly the same.

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats Radio 

I think I might be all in on Nathaniel Rateliff because while “S.O.B” is fun and I really loved “I Need Never Get Old” when I first heard it on the radio, he actually has a lot more non-radio hit type songs that are GOOD.  Really into “Mellow,” “How to Make Friends” and “Howling at Nothing.”

Nathaniel Rateliff

Champagne Mangoes

Way cuter and yellowier and mangoier (really pushing it with these fake adjectives right now) than regular mangoes.  I used one to make this salsa for fish tacos a couple of weeks ago and I couldn’t decide if the mango or the avocado was the most buttery, I just know they both tasted amazing.

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April Rockies Games

Okay, so Monday night’s game was a little chilly for my taste, but the Rockies like to be a huge tease early in the season, meaning we’re winning lots and it’s fun to watch!  Will it last?  Who knows!  But let’s love it while we can.  Also, cooler April weather means I get to wear my Rockies jacket!

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My Office

I bought a bunch of cheap-o decor when I first moved into my new office, but decided I should wait until the entire renovation was over — aka all the dust had stopped flying — to actually hang/set up anything and MONTHS AND MONTHS later it’s finally up/out!  Joey hung that little gallery wall for me and I love it and him the most.  Now I need to get a succulent for that glass terrarium.  Anyone want to wager a guess to how long that will take me?…

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A Little Bit of Balance

My truest life struggle* will be to find the balance between wanting to try all the restaurants and also cook all the recipes.  This week is a bad example because I’ve barely cooked, but lately I’ve felt like we’ve fallen into a very good and healthy balance between these two things.  As in, we’ve got Tuesday date nights and Sunday breakfasts set (mostly) in stone and I’m genuinely excited to get in the kitchen and make awesome home-cooked things on the days in between.

*But not really, because if that’s the hardest life ever got, I’d be the luckiest person on Earth.

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Tuesday tacos at Dos Santos

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Our favorite kale and mushroom quesadillas

Tell me what you’re loving right now 🙂

Best Tastes of 2016: From Our Kitchen

Lauren1 Comment

Nothing like writing all these year-end recaps, then cramming them all in during the last few days of December, right?  2016 was the year of pancakes, LOTS of summer grilling, salads-in-a-jar and adventurous meat cooking, but there was also a lot of amazing stuff in between.  Here’s the best of the best!

Best Family Recipe:

Red Beans & Rice from my uncle’s recipe (February 9)

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Best Pizza:

Cast-Iron Pan Pizza from Bon Appétit (March 2)

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Best Baked Recipe:

Mini Vegan “Brioche” Buns from Take a Megabite (March 29)

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Best Side Dish:

Creamy Chive Potatoes from Bon Appétit (April 4)

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Best Burger:

Spinach Goat Cheese Burger from Eat, Live, Run (June 9)

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Best Grill Meal:

Grilled Lamb from Cooking Light (July 4)

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Best Summer Pasta Dish:

Spaghetti with Tomato and Walnut Pesto from Bon AppĂ©tit (August 9) — made 110% better by the fact that Joey made it for me ♄

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Best Pancake:

The Easiest (Vegan) Pancakes from Oh, Ladycakes (October 15, but also many times after that)

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Best Salad:

Fall Squash & Fig Salad with Maple Mustard Balsamic Dressing from Yummy Beet // thanks to our salad-in-a-jar habit, we ate a lot of salads this year, but this one was my favorite.

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Best Winter Pasta Dish:

Garlic and White Wine Pasta with Brussels Sprouts from Minimalist Baker (December 15)

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 Best Cookie:

Two-way tie between:

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Displaced Housewife (October 13)

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And The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies from Pinch of Yum (February 25)

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Best Granola:

Pumpkin Maple Pecan Granola from Edible Perspective // If you had asked me my favorite granola prior to this fall I would have told you nothing could come between me and the Lightened Up Summer Granola from Oh She Glows but then I decided to give this one a try and it instantly became my new favorite.  I think it’s those dates.

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Best Cooking Success of the Entire Year: Christmas + Our First Turkey!

Don’t get me wrong, I was blown away by the lamb we grilled ourselves for the 4th of July, but that was so low pressure compared to cooking a 20-pound turkey for 15 people on Christmas.  The days leading up to it, I kept wondering if this meal would end up on this list or on the other list.  Thankfully, it’s here.  The turkey was juicy perfection, the rolls were puffy mini cloud status, the rice/sweet potatoes/mashed potatoes/gravy/cranberry sauce all went off without a hitch and people went mad for the raw Brussels sprout salad (?!).

In other words, this meal was the crowning glory of my culinary life thus far.

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Food forecast for 2017?  Hopefully more pizza!  In all seriousness, culinary growth (even if it’s just in my own kitchen) is one of the biggest, most fun and most unexpected joys of my life.  Here’s to its continuance in the new year!