Food is Photogenic
Holy cow Saturday is almost over and I can hardly believe it. This last week seemed to disappear without any warning, gone in the blink of an eye. It’s so true what they say about time going by faster as you get older. I remember the days when being bored was a nightmare and having nothing to do but sit around sounded grotesque. Too bad I can’t go back and give my 15-year-old self a good talking too, but what am I saying – I wouldn’t have listened anyways.
This week has actually been one of the good ones. Work was busy but not too busy, cooking didn’t feel like too much of a chore, and I got to have a bit of girl time last night by eating froyo with some friends and swooning over Leo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby. The movie was good but the frozen yogurt was my favorite. Ha!
This week also brought the addition of a new member to our family…. a new camera! I bet you thought I was going to say puppy or something huh. No way, puppies are crazy and pee everywhere people! No, this new little gadget is just as good, and seems to be providing Michael with as much entertainment as a new puppy ever would. We’ve been discussing a new camera for quite some time and finally decided to pull the trigger. Michael did A LOT of research so we felt comfortable dropping a good amount of $$ to pick up the Olympus E-PL5. Once we’ve learned the ins and outs of how to use the thing we plan to add a couple of lenses to our collection as well. I can’t believe the difference a nice camera makes – my food pictures are just not even comparable. Don’t get me wrong, my iPhone has done pretty well for itself, but this camera takes it to a whole new level. Who knows, maybe this will even inspire me to start styling my food for the blog more…. maybe.
Check out some of the pictures Michael snapped during our food prep this week:
Making Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice
In addition to fried rice and banana ice cream, we also chowed down on the following:
Zucchini Noodles with Meat Sauce
Sauteed Shrimp with Roasted Carrots and Asparagus
Kalua Pig with Roasted Baby Potatoes
Lastly, I can’t leave a blog post about pictures without including one of Tessie. Hope you all have a good Sunday!
Eating Clean
Happy Sunday all! Michael and I are busy doing nothing at the moment so I thought I’d post our menu for the week. You might notice that all of our meals are pretty much Whole 30 compliant, which is definitely needed after our trip last weekend. Our CrossFit box is also running a Paleo challenge, so Michael and I thought we would try to be a bit stricter with our eats in order to participate. Today will be our 7th day of eating clean with just a few exceptions – we’re eating white potatoes every now and then and using wheat-free tamari instead of coconut aminos. It turns out that coconut aminos really upsets Michael’s stomach. We’re guessing it has something to do with it being a fermented product because Kombucha treats him the same way. Weird I know. Since we’re not being completely strict we can’t really call this a ‘Whole 30′, but it’s close. If you’re wondering what we’ve been eating the past couple of days, then I’ll give you a quick rundown:
Chili with Guacamole
Chicken & Zucchini Noodle Phad Thai
Steak with Roasted Veggies and Green Beans
Grass-fed Beef Hot Dogs with Roasted Broccoli
Alright, now that you’ve been caught up, here’s a look at what will be on our dinner table this upcoming week…
Sunday
B: Egg Scramble
L: Leftover Hamburgers
D: Pot Roast (minus the wine) with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Green Beans
Monday
L: Leftover Pot Roast
D: Chicken Fried Cauliflower Rice
Tuesday
L: Leftover Rice
D: Zoodles w/Meat Sauce
Wednesday
L: Leftover Pot roast
D: Sauteed Shrimp with Aspragus and Roasted Carrots
Thursday
L: Leftover Zoodles
D: Kalua Pig with Guacemole and Salad
Friday
L: Leftover Kalua Pig
D: Chicken Wings with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Leeks
Saturday
B: Two Ingredient Pancakes with Bacon
L: TBD
D: TBD
Family Time
I can’t believe it’s been an entire week since Michael and I were with my family back in MO. Although the trip was 4 days long, it seriously felt like it was over in a day. I left feeling like I should have taken more vacation time, but it is what it is. It may have been short, but we packed a ton of stuff into those few days. It’s so refreshing to be able to see old friends, eat food you haven’t had in a year, and finally spend some quality time with family. Not to mention Michael and I got to meet the newest edition to my family, my niece Finley Morgan.
Our first meeting!
Finley and I just hanging out.
Isn’t she the cutest baby ever? Well, maybe not the cutest because she does face some stiff competition with her big sister. Oh babies… you are so adorbs. They make me want one of my own, but definitely not right now. Ha!
While we were visiting we took the opportunity to take some family pictures, which we very rarely do. I can’t actually remember the last time we had good family pictures taken. I think I may have still been in high school – crazy!
The Fam!
Michael and I
During our photo session (taken by my sister’s hubby, thanks Shawn!), April and I decided to take some ‘sister’ pictures. I guess we weren’t communicating very well because at one point April decided to kiss my cheek at the exact moment I was turning her direction. It definitely made for an awesome set of pictures… haha!
The rest of the weekend was spent eating some AmaZiNg BBQ (burnt ends = YUM), taking the kids to the science museum and relaxing in my sister’s living room. Needless to say I was really sad to leave and am already counting down the days until our next visit over Labor Day. Can’t wait!
Work, Food, Vacation
You know what’s nice? Having the ability to work from home every so often. There’s something about sitting at my dining table with the sun peeking through our big apartment window that makes me feel really productive. Plus, it’s always a good thing to be able to get a load of laundry done while you’re typing away. I ended up having to work from home today due to some poorly timed doctors appointments, one for my eyes and the other for my old lady hip. My eye appointment was just the basic 3 month check-up after Lasik and I’m super excited to say that I can see 20/15. I’m still amazed that it’s possible to completely fix your vision with just a quick 20 minute procedure – way worth the investment!
Other than a few appointments and some cooking, this week hasn’t been very exciting. I’m definitely not complaining, sometimes a good stretch of nothing is just the way I like it. I’m sure things will speed up once Thursday is through – Michael and I will be jetting off bright and early (6:00am!! Wah!) Friday morning to visit my family back in Missouri. I haven’t seen anyone in my family since Thanksgiving, so you could say I’m just a tad bit excited. I have a brand new niece to meet, some presents to sprinkle on the other, and some major shopping to do for items not found here in Cali. Hello Jack Stack BBQ Sauce and all clothing items inside of Maurices! Another thing not quite as exclamation worthy, but equally important, is that I finally get to have my hair cut again. That’s right, I’ve gone 5 months without a split end snipped off and I can’t express to you how bad it needs it. I refuse to get my hair cut in SF again… remember what happened last time??
Ugh, I’d rather forget… so on that note let’s move on to some pictures of what we’ve been eating this week:
Balsamic Beef Pot Roast with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
Stuffed Mushrooms with Parsnip Fries
Steak with Roasted Broccoli and Butternut Squash Puree
And that’s it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend – I’ll be back next week with some BBQ sauce in tow, a fancy new haircut, and a new suitcase full of sundresses! Yay for vacation!
Happy Anniversary!
Hello there! Happy Sunday to you all! Michael and I have some big plans that include a short hike up the mountain behind our apartments, some food prep, a little bit of cleaning action, and of course some couch time. Can’t get much better than that now can you? Actually I think you probably can because our Saturday was pretty awesome. We spent the day running some errands, relaxing, and then went out to celebrate our 3 year dating anniversary at one of our favorite restaurants in the city – La Mar. It just so happens that this weekend also marks the 1 year anniversary of our move to Cali, so there was a lot of toasting going around.
This last year has seriously been one of the best yet. Although moving so far away from family was a huge downer, I don’t regret a single decision we’ve made thus far. That’s what life is supposed to be all about isn’t it? Doing things that scare you because they’re worth it, and not being afraid to take huge leaps of faith. The sights we’ve seen, the memories we’ve made, and the people we’ve met will be with us forever, and I love it. I’m so thankful that we both have wonderful families who supported and encouraged us along the way. Thank you Mom and Dad for not telling us we were stupid for quitting our jobs, selling all of our belongings, and driving 1800 miles away from you. You knew that 20 years from now, we’d be telling our kids about that time when we were “young and crazy” and just how priceless that would be. We are forever grateful!
I can’t wait to see what the next few years bring our way. I’m not sure if you can quite beat the excitement of this last year, but I know we can try.
With that, I think it’s time to look forward at least one week with our meal plan. I tried to pick some easy and tasty recipes so I wouldn’t have to worry much about it this week. We’re planning to go visit my family next weekend (can’t wait!) so I didn’t want to make things too complicated. Enjoy!
Sunday
B: Microwavable English Muffin Egg Sandwich
L: Hot Dogs with Veggies
D: Balsamic Beef Pot Roast with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
Monday
L: Leftover Pot Roast
D: Stuffed Muchrooms with Parsnip Fries
Tuesday
L: Leftover Mushrooms
D: Steak with Roasted Broccoli and Butternut Squash Puree
Wednesday
L: Leftover Pot Roast
D: Marinated Pork Tenderloin (Paleo-ized version) with Roasted Green Beans and Cauliflower Rice
Thursday
L: Leftover Tenderloin
D: Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs with Frozen Veggies and Whatever-is-Left-in-the-Fridge
Friday
Vacation
Saturday
Vacation
Plantain Fritters
I can’t believe tomorrow is already Friday! I don’t know if it has to do with the fact that I’m getting older, but time seems to go by so quickly these days. Of course, it doesn’t help that my days have been jam-packed full of work, CrossFit, and cooking. When will there be some time to relax? Alright, enough with the complaining, I can just hear my dad say now “You gonna play you gotta pay!” Ha! Oh Daddio… how I miss thee!
So, last night I had my first physical therapy appointment to correct the pain in my hip. I didn’t really know what to expect, and to be honest I didn’t really want to go, but man I’m glad I did! Turns out that running a 5k without any training is definitely not a great idea because I caused my hips to jump out of alignment. When the PT was examining me, you could actually see that there was an inch or so difference between the height of my hip bones. It was crazy! We did a few exercises to help push my hips back into place and I can already tell it’s better. That, coupled with a few exercises to strengthen the muscles around my hips, and I should be back to 100% in no time. WOOT!
Moving on to a more exciting topic, I have a new recipe for you! A couple of weeks ago Michael and I were shopping in Whole Foods and noticed they had some plantains, which was incredibly exciting. The Whole Foods by our house never has them, so we had to buy at least 3 for good measure. We normally just slice them up and fry them in coconut oil, but I wanted to do something different for a change. I decided to blend them up with an egg, cinnamon, and salt, and then fry them in coconut oil – best. idea. ever.
Plantain Fritters
2 – 3 Ripe Plantains (the riper the better)
1 egg
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
3-4 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
Blend the plantains, egg, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor until almost smooth. Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat until it’s melted and hot. Spoon 1 – 2 Tbsp. of the mixture into the skillet and let cook until bubbly (2-3 minutes). Flip and cook on the other side. Enjoy that crispy cake of delicious goodness!
