Tag Archives: home

Two Marvelous Homes

This past weekend was spent in both of my marvelous homes – Boston and Connecticut. Even before I made my move I knew I’d be coming home for Penelope‘s first birthday party, which was on Saturday (the same day as her actual birthday). So I spent Friday night in Boston and Saturday night in Glastonbury. I told friends in Beantown that I would be “going home” Saturday, but then I told friends in CT that I was going “back home” on Sunday. I haven’t stopped calling Connecticut home, but I’m already calling Boston home too. Who says I can’t have two?

This link up of marvelous is brought to you by Katie!

Marvelous was…a date with a blend. Annie and I have hung out several times in a group setting but we’ve been wanting to get together for a heart to heart for awhile now. Finally, Friday night, we made it happen. She suggested what ended up being a great spot, City Landing. The restaurant was so extremely accommodating for both vegan and gluten-free diets, but also offered plenty for those following no specific diet. Our bartender was so awesome – when we asked her to take a picture of us she took several, did the “above angle”, and positioned our drinks (which were amazing) so that they showed in the photo. I will definitely be making a return visit to City Landing; Annie and I especially want to bring Greg!

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Marvelous Dinners at Home (MIMM)

Today I’m partaking in the beautiful mama-to-be Katie‘s Marvelous In My Monday linkup, and sharing more daily-life stuff!

I had a couple of great dinners out this weekend (which you may have seen on Instagram) with friends and family, but on most weeknights you will find me at home enjoying my mother’s wonderful cooking and my father’s excellent grilling skills. Here’s a look at five of my favorite types of meals to have for dinner at home in front of the DVR, cozy on the couch! NOTE: Wine is included with all, even if not pictured 😉

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Blogger Recipe Pairing

Tina of Carrots N Cake (a healthy living blog I’ve been reading for several years, since I first discovered them) posted a recipe at the end of last month in a post titled The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Obviously I was immediately intrigued. You would be too, right? Well, I’m pleased to report that Tina is a truthful blogger.

The recipe was for sweet potato quesadillas. YUP. If the post’s title had grabbed me before, I had now been…snatched?…by the recipe’s title. Tina’s version used black beans, sweet potato, and a whole wheat tortilla – all of which my mom used when she made these for her and I two Sundays ago. But Tina also used Babybel cheese and chopped kale, which my mom and I replaced with goat cheese and edamame for extra protein! Mashing the sweet potato was easy thanks to Ore Ida’s frozen sweet potato steak fries. The edamame was also a frozen variety that we simply heated up in the microwave. For the tortilla, we used Flat Out Healthy Grain Harvest Wheat wraps.

How amazing does that look? I have to tell you that it tasted even better. My mom and I did a lot of moaning and groaning – foodgasm-ing, if you will. We paired our quesadillas with Columbia Crest Two Vines Merlot-Cabernet blend. I really loved it – and it’s such a cheap wine! Definitely recommended if you’re on a wine budget.

The beginnings of a great side.

Because that one quesadilla each is NOT enough food for us, my mom also whipped up a second blog-based recipe: Jenny’s refried black beans from Tofu SwagMy mom was doubtful that she’d pull this one off, but it came out AMAZING. The only change my madre made was adding the onions in the beginning (see photo above).

Fabulous AND healthy. This entire meal was protein-packed AND vegetarian! I may eat meat but there’s no denying that it’s totally possible to get enough protein from plants. The refried beans were drool-worthy and we can’t wait to whip them up again.

Thanks for sharing the recipes, Tina and Jenny! Thanks to you two, my mom and I dined like queens on a Sunday evening.

I also just have to say that I had the most kickass workout yesterday. I went to my favorite class at my gym, a Step class with awesome choreography broken up by HIIT drills. The combos were filled with kicks, knees, and “basketball shooters” (for da glutes). I worked most of the moves to perfection and even had the energy after class to rock a 4 minute #plankaday!

#PROOF

Also, check out what I hung up in my work cubicle today…a recap of my Color Me Rad experience is coming to the Fitfluential blog soon! I’ll let you all know when it’s up!

Have you ever tried making your own refried beans?

What’s the best recipe you’ve ever gotten off of a blog?

What’s the most innovative way you’ve ever used sweet potato?

March Foodie Pen Pals!

Lindsay‘s Foodie Pen Pals program continues to impress me each month. Not only is she doing a great job running the growing exchange, but this month I was matched with someone much older than me, which I thought was fabulous because I am all about meeting new people of all ages, especially since I entered the working world and started this blog.

Previous Foodie Pen Pals posts:

My pen-pal was Loy of From Grandma Loy’s Kitchen. She is almost 70 and really is a grandmother! So I completely trusted her taste before I even opened the above box. After all, she’s got tons of food experience! The recipes on her blog look amazing.

What an amazing package! The pink notepad is my favorite color (Loy asked me what that was before she put my package together) and I can’t wait to use it at work to make lists (I’m a chronic list-maker). The yellow cloth towels that the goodies are resting on were another piece of the package that Loy picked out with a specific color in mind. She asked for the color of my kitchen wallpaper, and it’s yellow with flowers. Turns out she wanted the towels to match the kitchen – so sweet! My mom appreciated that too.

She also appreciated the sweet chili dipping sauce, savory roast rub, and garlic & herb mix. Why is that? Well, we are having an Easter party with our usual group of formerly-Florida-resident pals, and all three of these items are DEFINITELY going to be utilized in both appetizers (garlic & herb dip with crackers and veggies, along with the dipping sauce for shrimp cocktail) and dinner (the roast rub for our chicken and pork tenderloin). Can’t wait to share how it all turns out!

Heather was visiting the night I received and opened my box, and she squealed with delight when she saw the salted snapea crispsApparently they’re awesome – I can’t wait to break into them! Side note: the company that makes them, Calbee America, also makes baked shrimp-flavored chips. Um, baffling, and yet I REALLY want to try them?!

I’ve been dying to try the Thomas’ 100% Whole Wheat Bagel Thins! I usually stick to their english muffins with my daily dose of Laughing Cow, but now I can try something new, ESPECIALLY since I discovered just yesterday that Laughing Cow now makes Light Cinnamon Cream Cheese wedges – um, yes please, thanks. The Cranberry Nut Goodness granola is honestly not my thing – I’m just not into cranberry, or granola for that matter. However, no food goes to waste! I passed it on to a good friend who loves granola!

Thank you again to Loy for putting together such a great package for me, and customizing it so well! If you want to sign up for Foodie Pen Pals, check out Lindsay’s info page on The Lean Green Bean to find out more!

Also check out what I got my pen pal Brittany of Go The Xtra Mile!

Have you ever tried any of these products? Which would you most want to try?