Out of the Rut

Hey, guys! Sorry I haven’t been updating much lately. I found out that I need to pay to upgrade my space AGAIN! Clearly, I post an awful lot of pictures. So I’ve been flip-flopping back and forth again to see if I want to continue the blog and, thus, haven’t been taking many pictures lately.

Last weekend we celebrated Davy’s 28th birthday and Arion’s 6th birthday. I love my boys! Dave and I spent one of our days off baking a three layer cake: brownie bottom and two layers of banana cake covered in chocolate frosting. I probably don’t even need to tell you how amazing it was.

We had a bunch of people from near and far over to celebrate and this beast got devoured piece by piece. We even gave Ari a little slice.

In other news, I’m starting to break out of my meal rut!

Monday, I made a really delicious spicy quinoa bowl. The base was a spicy quinoa mix that I get from our local market which I combined with chickpeas and diced tomatoes. I topped it with diced avocados, Greek yogurt, a poached egg, and some Sriracha.

I love the spicy quinoa mix because it’s already chock-full of delicious and healthy ingredients and spices and can so easily be made into a meal.

On Wednesday, I received a $10 gift card from my workplace for one year of service, so after work I stopped at the grocery store and spent it all on lamb.

For some reason, I was craving meat, and since that is a rare craving, I gave into it. I used the lamb to create a beautiful lamb and vegetable coconut curry served over rice. Dave loved it so much, he even heated it up before he ate it! (Dave is notorious for eating everything I cook cold, so this was a compliment in itself).

Last night, Dave and I tag-teamed dinner. We are getting so much better at cooking together. The key is to each work on a different component and no backseat cooking (ie, Did you oil the pan? I would cut the onions a little smaller. I think you need to turn the heat down to cook that properly).

Dave took over the baked trout, and I handled the sides: cheesy spinach orzo with smoked mozzarella and aged cheddar and roasted winter vegetables with sage and thyme.

Everything was amazing: the trout wonderfully juicy, the orzo creamy and smokey from the cheese, and the vegetables perfectly roasted. Maybe we can make this cooking together thing work.

Dave and I are looking forward to a visit from his parents this weekend to celebrate his birthday one last time!