Tag: food

What's for Dinner? Vegetarian {Giveaway}

Posted on by jplatt27

While Mike was away, I had to fend for myself when it came to meals.  (I realized how much I rely on Mike for things like meal planning, grocery shopping, and laundry. Boy, I am grateful.) Without meaning to I ate vegetarian for Monday through Wednesday lunch.

Instead of eating pancakes for every meal like I usually do when Mike’s out of town, I took this opportunity to make a meal that Mike doesn’t really care for: black bean soup in the crock pot.

This soup is super easy, super cheap, delicious, and filling. It makes a ton and yields leftovers. (Believe me, it’s better than it looks in the picture!)

Enjoy!

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Crock Pot Black Bean Soup

4 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained

2 14.5 oz cans of vegetable or chicken broth

1 cup of salsa (not pico de gallo)

optional toppings: monterey jack cheese, cilantro, lime

Combine beans, brother, and salsa in crock pot. Cook on high for 2-4 hours or low 4-8 hours. Puree with an immersion blender. Top with cheese, cilantro, lime juice.

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My First Giveaway!

In honor of my vegetarian meals, I’m giving away the cookbook How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.  I’m giving away my copy so it’s slightly used (slightly just because we don’t often cook vegetarian) but it’s in very good condition and is a great resource for people looking to make vegetarian meals on a more regular basis.

There are three ways to enter:

1) leave a comment telling me your favorite vegetarian meal

2) Tweet about the giveaway and leave a comment telling me you did “@thingsafterings is giving away a vegetarian cookbook. I want to cook vege!”

3) like Things After the Rings on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did

I’ll pick a random winner on Sunday at 6pm.

Game Change

Posted on by jplatt27

Just dropped Mike off at the airport and I’m happy to report that I held it together last night and this morning! Dropping him off and driving home I was a little sad and wanted to cry but the tears didn’t come. And when I remembered I had this cupcake to comfort me at home, that didn’t hurt either. Writing this post also helped me move past my sadness so thanks for reading!

We had a really nice night last night.  Our plan to lay low was a good one.  I ended up getting out of work an hour early yesterday so I met Mike at the gym (he always gets out early on Fridays, lucky). Then we used a Groupon and picked up a pizza from Potomac Pizza. If you live in the NW DC area or Montgomery County, I highly recommend Potomac Pizza.  It’s the closest pizza to the Philly/SE PA pizza we’re used to that we’ve found in the 3 years we’ve been here. We came home, showered, and settled in on the couch with a few slices.

After flipping through the channels a little bit and watching a few segments of both Khloe & Lamar and SVU that’d we seen already, I decided we’d watch Game Change, the new HBO movie about the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign. Mike had already seen it completely through once in addition to bits and pieces randomly throughout the week.  He said he likes it more every time he sees it.  Since I have a hard time making it through a whole movie in one sitting and I didn’t have much interest in it and I didn’t want my separation anxiety to flare up during a long, boring movie, I was skeptical about watching this last night.  But I figured we’d at least start it.  At this point Mike knows we’ll have to view a film in multiple sittings anyway so no trouble if I got bored.

Well let me tell you, I couldn’t stop watching.  It was really good.  It’s all about how the McCain campaign chose Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate and how they prepared her for the campaign trail. It was fascinating! And Julianne Moore played a great Sarah Palin. I kept asking Mike “did this really happen?” and “is this true?” or “do you think she actually did that?” I don’t want to get into a political discussion here because to be honest I’m not super interested in political debate, and that is not what my blog is about. What I am interested in and what the movie focuses on is the behind the scenes of politics: what goes into a political campaign, the many layers of decisions made, and the relationships (or sometimes lack thereof) between the people involved. These things are fascinating to me.  I’d highly recommend Game Change if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s been playing pretty regularly on HBO since it aired on the 10th so I’m sure you can catch it again in the next week or so.

We didn’t make it through the entire movie without taking a break.  We had planned to take a walk and get some ice cream so we did that about an hour and a half in. We popped over to Something Sweet, a small bakery/ice cream shop in our neighborhood that we visit a little too frequently, and took our ice cream on a little stroll and sat on a bench in front of the National Cathedral.

We had a really nice night and I’m glad it was tarnished by my anxiety.  Mike hasn’t mentioned anything, but I’m sure he’s glad too.

I’d love to know:

What’d you do last night?

Have you seen Game Change? What did you think?

Breakfast at the table

Posted on by jplatt27

Yesterday morning, Mike took his breakfast (my favorite pancakes) and coffee to the kitchen table.  “Sitting at the the table this morning?” I said, hopefully. We always eat breakfast at home during the week but usually while watching The Today Show, Morning Joe, or Mike & Mike. We hadn’t really seen or spoken to each other for two days while Mike was working an event for his job and when he got home at 11pm and greeted sleeping me with a kiss my 1/4 awake response was “What, you’re not even going to tell me you’re home?” Welcome home, huh? The next morning, I was excited to chat, had so many things to share and Mike sitting down at the table told me that he was open to some conversation.

I love when we eat at the table together but it’s a rare occurrence.  We usually eat dinner eat on the couch at the coffee table while watching TV. But recently we’ve both realized that we should eat at our table more.

It’s amazing how much more we talk when we’re sitting across the table from each other–we’ll actually have a conversation. Not like we don’t chat when we’re on the couch but the conversation is much more engaging, much more of a dialogue when we’re sitting at a real table. On the couch, it seems like we’re just reporting out.

If you ever feel disconnected from your significant other, I suggest sitting down to dinner.

I think it’s really important for couples to sit across the table from each other and talk and listen.  Honestly, this is important for any people that are living together, family members, friends, roommates, whatever.  It’s easy to go about your business and not really talk. And doesn’t it feel so good to really talk?

I’d love to know:

How often do you eat at the table? Do you agree that sitting at the table facilitates better conversation?

Simple delights

Posted on by jplatt27

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My day started off on the right foot after wobbling on the wrong foot momentarily.  Mike had to leave early for work this morning so we set our alarm for 5 am to go to the gym. It went off and Mike decided that he wasn’t going to make it and I was laying there debating about whether to go or not.  I got out of bed to get ready and got kind of annoyed that we set the alarm so early and Mike didn’t even end up going to the gym.  Washing my face I realized that I was still really tired and could use like another half hour of sleep, wishing that we had just set the alarm for 5:25 or 5:30.  Though it’s just a half hour, there is a big difference between 5 am, 5:30 am, and 6 am. I got back in bed and said to Mike “I wish we would’ve set the alarm later, I could use another half hour of sleep” and then turned to see the time was 5:28.  I could still get a half hour of sleep and then get up and go to the gym. So that’s what I did.  And the extra half hour was amazing. I felt very different when I woke up. I love when things like this happen.  I would’ve hated to start my Valentine’s Day (and Mike’s) on the wrong foot.

But that’s actually not why I’m writing this morning.  I’m writing to share some simple, delicious foods I’ve been eating lately.

First, last night’s dinner and this morning’s breakfast.

 While I was making a smoothie yesterday morning, I noticed a recipe on the side of the Chobani container for gorgonzola and yogurt crostini. Gorgonzola is my favorite cheese and we just happened to have some in the fridge from a gorgonzola cream sauce we made a few weeks ago. We also had this delicious loaf of bread I bought at Trader Joe’s to go with dinner on Sunday night. So I thought, yep, this is what I’ll have for dinner tonight. (Mike has class on Monday nights so we do our own thing for dinner.)

I whipped it up pretty quickly: toast some bread, mix yogurt and gorgonzola in a 2:1 ratio in a bowl with a fork and spoon to mash the cheese and spread the yogurt mixture on the toasted bread.  I topped mine with fresh blackberries (BOGO this week and we needed some for tonight’s dessert) and a drizzle of honey.  Delicious!

Another simple, tasty breakfast I’m in love with is this apple cinnamon oatmeal (in the crock pot, no less!) from Cooking with Jax.  My boss shared this recipe and I tried it late last week.  I made a batch on Thursday night, brought it for breakfast on Friday morning and shared with two co-workers, had more Friday afternoon, and finished it up for yesterday’s 10 o’clock snack. Clearly it made a ton, and it stayed perfectly fine in the refrigerator.  I topped mine with some brown sugar.  Mmm, Mmm, Mmm.

And last but not least, my go-to snack this week is chocolate pudding with crunchy peanut butter.  I mentioned this here before but haven’t had it in quite some time. I take a Jello pudding cup, pour the pudding in a larger dish and add about a tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter (for some texture, crunch and protein). So quick, so easy, so delicious.

I have some more delicious food coming my way today and I can’t wait to share our Valentine’s Day date here later this week. Until then, Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’d love to know:

What delicious things are you eating lately? 

What's for Dinner? Wednesday: Risotto

Posted on by jplatt27

Back with another What’s for Dinner? Wednesday! Tonight I’m sharing one of our favorite meals to make together and eat together: red wine risotto with peas!

Risotto is a great meal to cook with someone.  Not because it’s extremely complicated (it’s not really at all) but because it’s a time consuming meal and gives you time to chat in the kitchen (without the distractions of phone, computer, TV). It’s pretty much just stirring constantly for 25-30 minutes and it’s nice to have someone to keep you company.  Oh, and you put like a cup of wine in the recipe and drink the rest 🙂

Mike and I love to make risotto together because it gives us time to connect. We’ll take turns stirring and sitting, talk about things that are on our minds, and drink wine. Sometimes, though, much of the conversation is “mmm, this is going to be so good” or some variation of that statement.

Risotto is really just a fancy comfort food.  It’s warm, creamy, and you eat it out of a bowl with a spoon. What’s not to love?

Our go-to risotto is Giada’s red wine risotto with peas.

I’d love to know:

Do you like risotto?  Share/link up your favorite risotto recipe in the comments!

Are there any meals that you bond over with your significant other/family/roommates?

What's for Dinner Wednesday: Date Night

Posted on by jplatt27

Back again with another What’s for Dinner? Wednesday and tonight happened to be date night! We haven’t had date night in quite some time: either since my birthday date or when we went to the Nationals’ game. It’s one of my 2012 resolutions to go on one date night per month so tonight not only did I have a nice dinner with my husband but I also got to check a box on resolutions spreadsheet. Win-win!

Mike’s trying to “get into sushi” and we had a Living Social deal for Sushiko in Chevy Chase (Friendship Heights) that expires at the end of the month so we decided to go to Sushiko for our first date night of the year.

We started with some drinks: a rum and Coke for Mike and a mangotini for me.

Then I had a house salad with ginger dressing to start (which I pretty much inhaled and then had to tell myself to slow down, that I’m not in an eating contest, I’m on a date).

Don’t you love how vibrant and fresh that looks?

Next we ordered two rolls to share: the rock shrimp cilantro and the crunchy spicy salmon.  Mike chose both of these and I was happy to oblige.  Sometimes it feels so good to just trust your partner’s judgement. And it paid off.  Both rolls were delicious. The cilantro in the rock shrimp cilantro roll was so bright and fresh, it was awesome!

We topped off our meal with a soft shell crab roll.

Good meal.  I imagine we’ll be back again soon.

I’m glad we both enjoy sushi now.  Sometimes if we need a quick dinner we’ll stop at Whole Foods and grab some out of their pre-made case. It’s so funny how tastes can change.  If you would’ve told me 3 years ago that I’d like sushi by now I probably would’ve said you’re crazy.

I still kind of struggle while eating it though.  I feel like it’s a lot to put the whole thing in your mouth at once but it’s really poor sushi etiquette to not take it all in one bite.  (I learned that on a Bobby Flay Throwdown I think).  And honestly it just looks bad if you don’t. But I feel like it’s a lot to get down and I start to swallow it before I even get to taste it. Does anyone else have this problem?

I’d love to know:

Are you a sushi fan?  

What did you have for dinner?

What's for Dinner? Wednesday: How Sweet It Is edition

Posted on by jplatt27

Happy Hump Day! Aren’t long weekends great?  Having an extra day or two to relax and unwind is a wonderful thing.  But long weekends are a gift that keeps on giving: a short work week before or after.

But after two short weeks of work, the last two days in my office have had me feeling wiped out by 3:30. All I wanted to do when I came home today was take a nap.  After my 15 minute power nap on the couch, I was still pretty drained so I was happy to see that the meal we had planned for tonight was actually pretty speedy.

Me, as we sit down at the coffee table to eat: “Wow, this is going to be soo good.”

Mike: “Yeah, where’d you get this recipe?”

Me: “Where do you think?”

Mike: “How Sweet It Is?”

Me: “Uh, huh.”

[I get most of my recipes here so this is no surprise. Like the sangria and cookies I made for NYE, the fish sticks we had for dinner earlier this week, and the crockpot recipe we’ll have tomorrow or Friday.]

Me: “Don’t you love Jessica?”

Mike: “Yeah, is she single?”

What?! Isn’t my referencing her blog and bringing her delicious recipes into your life enough? I mean, I know she has a good sense of humor but come on!

So anyway, this is what we had for dinner:

BLT Salmon Tacos

These were really good, though I think I’d have much more to say if I hadn’t literally inhaled my first one.  Yeah, I kind of felt overwhelmed after that.

After Mike wolfed down his tacos in like four bites: “Mmm, yeah, that’s a keeper. I’d definitely have that again. That would be good in the summer too.”

Remember when I told you to make “try one of Jessica’s recipes” one of your new year’s resolutions? Yeah, I meant that.  Have you?

For dessert, we shared a Karen’s Birthday cupcake from Baked and Wired that I picked up on a lunch walk with my friend Allie.

And, I just put in the last 5 loads of laundry from our bed bug situation.  Good. Day.

 

 

Day One

Posted on by jplatt27

January 1, 2012 was a good day.

We got up and relaxed and then picked up breakfast items at Starbucks.  We came back and made coffee in the mugs Mike got me for Christmas and had breakfast.

Then we had our money conversation where we figured out our budget, made some goals, and came up with a plan to monitor our variable budget lines: the tracker below.

Our current goals: allocate money each month for life events (i.e. friends’ weddings, Christmas) so we don’t have to put those things on our credit cards, and pay off the lowest of my student loans by the 4th of July. In addition to those two joint goals my goal is to pay off my American Express by April 1. (You can read more about our various accounts here.)

Our other new plan is to chat each time one of us gets paid about upcoming expenses so that we can stay on top of things and continue to be on the same page. Usually we’d just chat when the accounts were getting low, or after one of us randomly checked our online banking. This often left us frustrated and feeling like “we have no money.” But that’s a reactive way to deal with things and we don’t want to be reactive, we want to be proactive. Being reactive leaves you feeling out of control but being proactive will leave you feeling on top.

After our talk, I got in bed to read Catching Fire (the second in The Hunger Games series). I love laying in bed reading especially when it’s sunny out and the sun shines through the window. Of course I fell asleep.  Then I woke up to our neighbor talking on the phone and wishing someone a Happy Birthday! Like not OK. This happens pretty regularly (mostly at night when I get in bed at 9pm) so I figured it was a good opportunity to knock on the door and tell her.  She didn’t answer the door.

We had lunch and did laundry.  Folded it while listening to an old episode of the Dave Ramsey show.  Have you listened to this show? It’s crazy how much debt these people have paid off. Mike and I find it inspiring.

Then we headed down to the National Mall to throw the frisbee around. It was a warm day for winter, Mike was wearing shorts, and when my heart rate started to get up after a few good throws and catches, I took off my jacket.

Sometime in the last two years, Mike and I started throwing the frisbee around. I’m not sure why but I’m so glad we did. Mike really likes to play sports, any type of sport, and when we throw the frisbee around I feel like his buddy.  It’s also exercise, I can get a pretty good sweat going and feel my heart pumping. And it’s a good time for us to chat. When we lived in our old apartment, we’d walk up to the mall and toss it around on the lawn in front of the Capitol. Now that we live further from the Mall, we’ll have to make more of an effort to get down there to do but I really hope we do that more.  Why not take advantage of the great city we live in?

We stopped at Pinkberry on the way home for a light snack.  And then hit the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner.

We made a butternut squash calzone , using the filling from Jessica’s stuffed shells, with a gorgonzola cream sauce on the side. OMG was this good.  I think Mike almost died of satisfaction.

Then we watched Crazy Stupid Love.

January 1, 2012 is reflective of a lot of things I hope the rest of the year will be filled with: productivity, fun, quality time together, creativity in the kitchen, and relaxing time. We were out and about but also home. We were productive but also had time to play.

I’m really hopeful for 2012.  I think it’s going to be a great year.

I’d love to know:

How did you spend January 1, 2012?

What's for Dinner? Butternut squash stuffed shells

Posted on by jplatt27

I just finished my last bite and had to share this meal with you immediately.

Butternut squash stuffed shells.

We made Jessica‘s Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Whole Wheat Lasagna a month or so ago and absolutely loved it.  So I was excited to try the stuffed shell version and it didn’t disappoint. You take a bite and the squash is creamy and buttery and garlicky. Delicious. If you’re more of a penne person, try the penne version.

I think this is going to be a go-to recipe in our house.

catch up at kitchen

Posted on by jplatt27

mike was out of town for work this weekend so to catch up we went to kitchen 2404 for mac and chicken and a couple beers when he got home last night.

kitchen is one of our favorite restaurants in the neighborhood and one of the few restaurants we went back to after having a living social deal. it’s a small, comfortable restaurant serving delicious southern comfort foods at super reasonable prices. we’ve been a bunch of times and have really enjoyed almost everything we’ve had: the BBQ gulf shrimp, the crabmeat + corn chowder, the ribs, the hushpuppies, and the fried pickles.  but last night, we were there for the mac and chicken.

we had been talking about going to kitchen for beers and mac and chicken for a while. it’s the kind of place that’s perfect for comfort food and conversation on a crisp fall night. luckily there wasn’t a need for comfort food but it was a nice fall night and we wanted to catch up. i find that sometimes if we stay home, i get easily distracted and don’t give mike my full attention. so when mike texted early in the day “beer and mac and chicken tonight?” i replied “yes! great idea!”

we started off with some beers and fries

and then shared the mac and chicken.

everything was great.  my favorite beer–magic hat #9–was nice and cold, and the mac and chicken was hot and creamy.  it was a great way to catch up after a few days apart.

so tell me

what’s your favorite way to catch up with someone?