What I Ate Wednesday #102: Bubbly

I cannot believe the my Orioles clinched the AL East last night and we weren’t there for it.

Top of the 9th, 2 outs. I stopped cooking dinner so I could watch the final out. As soon as the O’s got that out, Nathan and I popped the bubbly. Hey, they were doing it at the stadium so we needed to participate too, right?!

I also sent a text to my dad. He’s been my Orioles partner-in-crime my whole life and with all of the terrible games we’ve been to over the years, I was so freaking bummed to not be able to celebrate with him. We so would have been there [Nathan was cursing California the rest of the night because of it!] and quite possibly would have gone into work late today. Like we say though, you should always have a bottle of bubbly in the fridge.. you never know when you’ll need it! Also, don’t be jealous of our extra large champagne flutes 😉

Now back to the rest of the food.. which is actually from Monday. I’m still in the “eat all the food” mindset, possibly because I most likely need more sleep. Do you get super hungry when you’re lacking rest? I know I definitely do!

[Pre-Workout]
I’ve been really rationing my coconut vanilla latte bites. I don’t want them to end [even though I can always make more..] but sadly my stash is just about depleted. I’m thinking I’ll need to create a new bite recipe soon though!

[Breakfast]

Because clearly we can never get enough oatmeal and nut butters. And repping the Orioles every morning..

[Morning Snack]

You know when it’s just about lunch time but you’re not hungry enough for lunch? Boom! Greek yogurt saves the day. And this stuff fo realz tastes like Pina Colada! That said, I’m not usually one for the flavored yogurts anymore, but darn their fun limited edition packaging.. gets me every time!

[Lunch]

By the time I got home from work, I was ravenous! I’m surprised I actually made myself a full salad instead of just eating a head of lettuce with veggies on the side. Ha! I had just enough time to shove this beauty in my face before heading to another meeting.

[Dinner]

Speaking of saving the day, that Costco rotisserie chicken was definitely the right plan for a day that I was running around. I just popped it in the oven, chopped my brussels, and with a tiny amount of effort, dinner was ready! I tossed the brussels with maple syrup, sriracha, and a little smoked paprika. They were pretty delicious but I have to admit, I’m definitely one for regular old EVOO + S&P brussels. Some ketchup made it’s way onto my plate too.. still going strong!

[Dessert]

I recently got a jar of Peanut Butter & Co’s Old Fashioned Crunchy and I just. can’t. stop. It’s so good! This plate was topped off with a carrot cake energy bite. I like to sandwich my day’s eats with some bites 😉

Food for Thought

What’s your favorite condiment or spread at the moment? [Nut butters are always at the top of my list!]
What’s your most convenient go-to dinner?

What I Ate Wedneday #86: Wine Country or Bust

Have you entered my Peanut Butter & Co. giveaway?

Remember when I talked about my pre-retoxing last week? Let’s just say I’m glad I did that because I very well could have undone all of that with the damage I’ve done over the past few days! That’s what anniversaries are for though, right? Just agree with me here. It was a really great trip and we did our part to eat and drink our way through wine country.

This is before we even started drinking!

There was a breakfast that started with sparkles and complimentary scones..

..and finished with perfectly poached eggs over smoked salmon.

There was a picnic lunch with a bottle of chardonnay..

..beautiful views and a smoked duck salad.

There was a wonderful anniversary dinner complete with amuse-bouche..

..a colorful plate of seared ahi tuna, fava beans & puree, artichokes, and crispy fried noodles..

..and a decadent devils food chocolate cake dessert with vanilla gelato and bruleed banana slices.

There was even more chocolate and cookies..

..though the cookies didn’t make it to picture 😉

There were huge roses and gorgeous sunsets.

And the most appropriate ending to the anniversary trip—a beer sampler, vegan pizza, and baked buffalo wings.

It really was a perfect getaway. And we might have been sad to have to get back to real life, but this is just in our backyard now. Maybe another trip next weekend? Ha!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with some egg whites, smuices, and salads 😉

Food for Thought

What is your favorite way to celebrate a special occasion like an anniversary or birthday?

What I Ate Wednesday #74: Our Valentine’s Feast

One of the reasons I love Valentine’s Day is because everyone loves showing off their “best meal ever.” Certainly I’m no different and I can guarantee you our dinner and dessert.. and drinks.. were all fabulous! We always make an effort to come up with a menu together, Nathan takes over the protein, we work together on the sides, and I’m in charge of dessert. It’s my favorite. And when everything comes out perfectly, it’s that much better!

I got dressed up.. right down to the shoes 😉

Nice angle, yes? Haha

Appetizer

We cheers-ed to our 10th Valentine’s Day together with Lagranja sparkles.

Don’t be fooled by the small pour. We smashed that bottle!

I love their red wines and figured I couldn’t go wrong trying this. We also demolished an awesomely tasty plate.

Truffle gouda, grapes, balsamic jam from Italy, smoked almonds, & nut thins.

The chunks of truffle in the cheese took us right back to Italy. That cheese is really something special!

Entree

To make the crust, we threw pistachios, rosemary, and garlic into the food processor. I think we both could have polished off a plate of the crust by itself. That’s always a good sign!

We hit the pan.

The flip. Check out that crust!

The final product! Pistachio-crusted lamb with cherry port sauce, Moroccan wheat berry salad, and roasted carrots & butternut squash.

The flavors of each pieces blended so well. I love the bite that the wheat berries have, the carrots and squash were roasted just right, and the lamb. Ooooh the lamb. Nathan couldn’t have cooked it more perfectly. It was medium rare and the crust had such a nice crunch. The cherry port sauce was flavorful and not sweet at all. I could have eaten more!

Dessert

More to drink? Beer goes well with dessert, right?

One of our faves.

What wouldn’t go with bourbon banana cheesecake?

Bourbon banana cheesecake with bourbon coconut cream, cinnamon,
and dark chocolate shavings.

I thought that amount of chocolate looked nice for my picture but I immediately added more before I actually sat down to eat it. It was so creamy and I’m happy to report that it’s actually not so bad for you either! I’ll be sharing the recipe this week 😉

My valentine.

After just a few drinks [ha!] and with full bellies, we cozied up on the couch to watch the first episode of House of Cards [holy moly!] I hope you had as great of a day as we did. Perfect way to kick off the weekend!

Food for Thought

What were your plans for Valentine’s Day?
Do you stay in or go out to celebrate?

What I Ate Wednesday #33: Happy Blingiversary!

As I mentioned on Monday, last Thursday was the 1 year anniversary of Nathan proposing, otherwise known as our blingiversary. We decided to take that opportunity to celebrate with a nice dinner. It also helped that it was Baltimore Restaurant Week so that just gave us even more of an excuse to try out The Food Market.

[Breakfast]
Sweet breakfast scramble with unsweetened banana chips and peanut butter. Any surprises here? 😉

[Lunch]
A nice big kale and cabbage salad! I knew I would be indulging for dinner and dessert so I had to behave. I piled on the veggies and used some roasted garlic hummus as my dressing.

[Snacks]
Banana Chobani and an apple. Apparently I love fruit and the new banana flavor of Chobani is delicious. Find it!

[Dinner]
In our attempt to be fancy, we each started with a glass of the “house bubbles.” It was a nice treat to go along with the freshly baked foccacia bread that practically melts in your mouth.

For appetizers, I ordered the Spice Sliced Tuna with chiffonade romaine & crispy wontons, orange jus, & hot mustard. The tuna was perfectly seared and the orange and mustard sauces played so well off of each other. Nathan had the Pickle Juice Brined Pop Corn Chicken with sweet & sour sauce. Any chance he gets, he’ll opt for fried chicken!

For our entrees, I ordered the Seared Mahi Mahi with capers & raisins, cauliflower puree, & almond bubbles. The fish had the absolute best crust; just crispy enough to need a knife, but the rest of the fish flaked apart perfectly. The sauces were a little buttery but very light. Nathan ordered the Duck Breast with brussels sprouts, parsnips, & cherries in cider. This was my second choice, but I think we chose appropriately. The duck was tender and so flavorful; we both love duck and cherry together.. what could be bad?

[Dessert]
Once again, we were both pleased with our decisions. I ordered the Sweet Potato Pie with pecan brittle, torched marshmallow, & creamy maple. I’d never had sweet potato pie before [crazy, right?!] and I loved it! It was pretty darn sweet, I’m sure from the maple sauce, but it was so scrumptious. Nathan ordered the Heathbar Bread Pudding with condensed milk caramel & whipped cream. I thought this sounded amazing but too sweet.. turns out, this was amazing and mine was sweeter. Go figure!

The entire meal was fabulous and I’d love to go back again soon [hint, hint Nathan!]

Food for Thought

If you’re married or engaged, do you celebrate any anniversaries other than your wedding anniversary?