Andrea: Semi-Homemade

3 12 2009

I don’t watch the Sandra Lee show, but I hear she makes cocktails – lots of them.  I really need to check it out.

Last night’s dinner was a re-purposing of leftovers and a box of this:

and a bag of this:

While a cup of channa dal beans were simmering on the stove and the Vegetable Korma was in the microwave, I added some Tumeric Root & Garam Masala spice to my leftover mashed cauliflower.  I usually roast cauliflower when I make these Indian packets, but I think I prefer it this way!

The result was a quick, easy meal completely different than the night before.

I’m off to watch the DUCKS eat some BEAVER.  Civil War, Baby!





Andrea: These boots are made for…

2 12 2009

…showing off!

What, you thought Erin was the only gal on this blog with fab footwear?  I scored these at the DSW clearance rack – 40% off, baby!

Fact:  My shoe size is bigger than Erin’s.  These boots are 7.5.  She’s 5′9″.  I’m 5′1″.  I choose to believe that she has freakishly small feet – NOT the other way around :)

Yesterday was a pretty good eats day.  I’ve been wanting to juice lately, but our sink is always full of (clean) dishes.  I still haven’t perfected my no-dishwasher routine when it comes to washing the previous night’s dishes.  I don’t mind washing by hand, but it does make for lots of dishes drying in the rack at all times.  Since I didn’t juice, I had the next best thing for breakfast:

Oatmeal in a jar.  I don’t like adding nut butter to my oatmeal, but I love adding oatmeal to an empty nut butter jar.  Something about scraping the sides and getting every last bit of Almond Butter is really satisfying.  Especially when you do it while driving.

Lunch was uninspiring, although I did feel a little bit like HEAB with all the Almond Butter I consumed yesterday!

AB sammies on DKB, organic Fuji, and a smores cluster.

I ran some errands after work so didn’t get home until late, again.  I started to make something quick, when realized I had a Quorn Turk’y Roast defrosting in the fridge that I needed to make.  Then I saw the head of cauliflower in the fridge and instantly craved fake mashed potatoes.  So, I scrapped my dinner plans and at 8 p.m. started making a Thanksgiving-esque dinner.  An hour later, I was eating this:

Ok, I admit that “turkey” looks kind of gross on the plate, but I swear it tastes really good.  It looks much better on the box:

If you make this at home, FYI – the outside doesn’t get golden brown like the picture or the directions claim.  Just close your eyes and eat it and you’ll be fine :)

The mashed cauliflower turned out soooooo good!  If you season them right, you can barely tell it’s not potatoes!  It was my first time trying it, and I very loosely recreated Erin’s recipe found HERE.  Instead of water, I used some soy milk and instead of vegan boullion (which I didn’t have), I used this:

These little tubs are nice to have on hand.  If you’re not a vegetarian, Penzeys makes meat versions too – it’s great for making broth in a pinch!  I even added a little bit of the paste to my pan when I was sautéing my veggies in some water.

I may have been eating dinner at 9 p.m. but at least I got what I wanted!

Ok, all this talking about last night’s dinner made me hungry.  I’m going to go eat a “turkey” sandwich now!





Andrea: The eating never stops

1 12 2009

If you saw our very mature video post or read Erin’s Thanksgiving recap, then you could see that I ate a LOT this Thanksgiving weekend.

It was love at first sight when I saw you, Nutella cookies.  I’ll always remember those days we shared at the beach and how good you tasted in my mouth.

That’s what she said.

When the holiday festivities ended, Chris and I headed back to Portland and continued eating like king and queen we think we are.  Saturday was my Mother-in-Law’s birthday and we took her out to dinner at a restaurant near our house, The Country Cat.  This place is known for their brunch, but we have only been there for dinner.

Chris and I shared a salad (not pictured) of butter lettuce, green goddess dressing and a soft boiled egg.  They only had a couple of vegetarian dishes, and I settled on the potato lasagna with lemon ricotta.

So good!  Although, there was a root vegetable I couldn’t identify that had a nasty taste (in my opinion) to it, so I just ate around those :)

Dessert was equally as good:

Jonagold apple crisp with buttermilk cranberry ice cream.  I had two cups of coffee after dessert and ended up staying up until 2 a.m. catching up on some of the blogs I missed over the past couple of days.  My Reader is still 400+.

Sunday was kind of a low-key day.  Chris and I did some furniture shopping – we’re looking for a sleeper sofa for our home office so that we can actually have guests spend the night.  After visiting a couple of stores we stopped for lunch at Qdoba.  I had never been to one before and was pleasantly surprised by my options.

I got a naked grilled veggie burrito w/guac – no cheese and no sour cream.  I inhaled this plate in about three minutes.  There were a ton of veggies and the salsa was really good.  We went during their “Happy Hour” menu pricing and I was half tempted to get a $2 margarita.  Next time.

After running a couple of more errands (i.e. going to Trader Joes and buying six bottles of wine) I came home and made these poop-like substances:

These are quite simply, da bomb.

Foodbuzz sent out an email last week about Safeway giving away the chance to win a $50 gift card to bloggers who recreate one of their Holiday Recipes.   Since a $50 grocery gift card will go a long way in this house, I decided to give it a whirl.  Of course, I was supposed to have completed the post by this morning, so I’m probably out of contention.  Oh well – these Rocky Road Granola Clusters were so good that they are prize enough!

Of course, I had to tweak the recipe a bit for my tastes.  First of all, I used REAL 72% dark chocolate – none of that candy coating chocolate crap.  I also used pumpernickel pretzel sticks since they didn’t have any regular, more “natural” pretzels at the store.  I omitted the caramels as it just seemed excessive and I couldn’t find the Brach’s bin of candy at the store – do they not have those anymore?  Am I dating myself by knowing what that is?

I also tried to make them vegan.  I did use vegan shortening, but the marshmallows had gelatin in them.  I looked for vegan marshmallows at Whole Foods, but even the ones there had fish gelatin in them.  I could have paid $4 for those or $.99 for the regular horse-hoof gelatin filled ones like I ended up buying.  Since the recipe only calls for a cup of marshmallows, I decided to be three bucks richer.

I will try to get a better picture of them tomorrow – seriously, the above photo does not do them justice.  I took them to Emily’s house last night as they invited us over for dinner.  It ended up being perfect because we ate them around the fire pit.

Emily and Andy hosted a dinner with some of our close friends and we had such a great time.  We decided to re-institute Sunday Dinner (we used to do it every week about a year and a half ago) – it’s such a great way to end the weekend and socialize before the start of the work week.  I think I volunteered to host this Sunday – after three glasses of wine, things were kind of hazy by the end of the night!

Dinner was simple – manicotti from Costco!  Emily had hosted Thanksgiving dinner at her house, so we definitely could not fault her for going “easy” on dinner last night.  It was actually really good and Emily put her special touch on everything by setting a nice table and having classy munchies for us when we arrived – pickled asparagus and garlic (so good!) and bruschetta.  Sorry, I forgot to snap a pic of those.  I did get these…

I also wasn’t able to get a picture of the homemade Tiramisu that Lee made – he even got the lady fingers from an Italian deli downtown!  I’m so glad my friends are into food and entertaining – it makes for a fun and delicious evenings!

This post is getting epic, so I’m going to stop now.  Today’s eats were very much back to normal – bowl of cereal, Subway sandwich, and salad and brown rice.  Although, I did try the new veggie patties that Subway is offering and it wasn’t too bad – I will definitely be getting it again as it kept me full until I was able to eat dinner tonight.  Work kept me out late and I didn’t get home until almost 8 p.m.!  I’m already ready to have some time off at Christmas!





Erin: Thanksgiving highlights

30 11 2009

Hi baby pies! :D

Robbie and I are back in Texas. Tears! :( Our trip home was rejuvenating. Just what we needed. It was so good to see our family.

Seriously. They are inspiring!

Here’s some pictures from the weekend. I hope you enjoy them!

Wednesday

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Blushing cauliflower soup, Tillamook cheddar biscuits, vegetarian soup

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Andrea’s parsnip apple muffins (!!!) and Mary’s brownies and cookies – NOMMMM! She was sweet (and talented) enough to make some vegan brownies, which I devoured! Once she told me they were made with half applesauce and a no calorie vegan baking substitute, I rationalized that as an excuse to eat even more!

Thursday

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Andrea takes meal prep very seriously :) She made a salad with balsamic dressing, pears, and roasted pecans! So amazing.

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Playing pincher pincher!

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Vegan brownies, ‘fu, and other snickety snacks

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Black and tans!

And now for the feast!

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Roast turkey, cran, apple salad, sweet potato casserole, cornbread stuffing, wild rice and cranberry stuffing (vegan option!), roasted root veggies, mashed potatoes, and grilled salmon!

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Puppers showing interest!

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Gravy from scratch. There is no other way to make gravy!

Here’s our plates!

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Dessert buffet:

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Pumpkin pie, apple pie, cookies (oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, nutella), berry pie and vegan berry tart!

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This represents about a third of the desserts I consumed that night :oops:

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My bro and daddy’s matching wedding bands – Jack had his made to resemble our daddy’s :)

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More puppy faces

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Playing Apples to Apples – look at my parents at the end of the table. Do we love my mom laughing or do we?!

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Basil was so sleeps :)

Friday

My little sissie Gliding Calm has reviewed these burgs on her blog. I can’t find them in Texas so I was super excite to see them at Whole Foods!

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They were definitely oilier than my hair on day four of no washing, so I did the GC blot and then doused them with ketchup.

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Andrea and I really liked them! They have a crunchy fried texture on the outside and an almost egg-like texture on the inside – yums :)

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Several of our family members have gotten on the Dave’s Killer Bread train (choo chooooo) thanks to Driz! We had a mayjuh stash at the beach. Mom and Dad bought the Good Seed just for Andrea. :) I loved the cracked wheat flavor – so good toasted.

I’ll end this monstrosity of a post with some pics of my cuzzy cuz, who I already miss so much!

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It was such a beautiful weekend. We have so much to be thankful for :)

P.S. While in Portland, I had a dream that I gave birth to a cat that was one inch in diameter! I had to carry it around in a small dish and could only feed it one kiblet per day! What could that possibly mean?





The Ladies: Vlogging our hearts out

27 11 2009

Hi pies!

Here’s the vloggy we promised y’all.

Plz enjoy.





The Ladies: We’re thankful for…

26 11 2009

…unintentional pornographic family photos :)

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Stud peen

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More stud peen

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She was waiting for wine to come out.

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Whipped cream - vegan of course! (NOT recommended)

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Bitches sleeping together.

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Thoughtfully considered lighting of the boobage.

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Vagina pie. No really, "V" is for vegan.

Can’t wait to see the Google Analytics from that one!

Happy Thanksgiving :) Hope you’re full of Tofurkey & booze!  We’ll be back tomorrow with a joint vlog!





Andrea: “I want to see where he poops out of!”

25 11 2009

This is an actual quote from a guest of ours on Sunday.  She is two, in the midst of potty training and very much into poop – her own and apparently our dog’s as well.  Unfortunately (for her) and fortunately (for everyone else), Basil did not perform for her.

We “officially” entertained in our new house for the first time on Sunday!  We had some friends and their two daughters over for breakfast.  I was a horrible blogger and took pictures of Chris and me setting up the table and prepping the food, but absolutely none of the actual meal.  Chris made pancakes using a family recipe and they are the best.pancakes.ever.  Seriously, if you’re looking for a good buttermilk pancake recipe, let me know and I will share.

What I will share with you now is a recipe I just tried out.  I actually baked something!  I’m planning on doing a few baking projects by the end of the week.  Something about being in the new house wants me to don an apron and emulate a 50’s housewife!

Spiced Parsnip & Apple Muffins from Whole Foods

I can’t recall if I’ve ever made muffins before.  I actually had to go out and buy a muffin pan tonight in order to make these!

All of the baking I will be doing this weekend will be veganized.  This recipe calls for eggs, so I had to make a change there, as well as some others:

  • Flax egg – 1 tbsp ground flax + 2 tbsp water = 1 egg.  This was the first thing I did as you have to let the mixture sit for a bit in order to coagulate before you use it
  • Rice milk
  • No ginger – can’t stand it, so I just omitted it
  • 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour & 1/2 unbleached white flour
  • Canola oil (didn’t have safflower)
  • 1/2 raw sugar & 1/2 granulated

Since I’m not very skilled at baking and this was a new recipe for me, I didn’t want to stray from the original too much.  Next time I will use all whole wheat pastry flour and cut down on the oil and sugar – it doesn’t need as much as it calls for.

The verdict?

So freaking good!  I LOVE parsnips, so when I saw this recipe come across my Google Reader (I subscribe to the Whole Foods Recipe blog) I immediately bookmarked it.  I’m so glad I wasn’t disappointed!

Added bonus?  I didn’t want to dirty my food processor, so I grated the parsnips with a box grater.  It wasn’t easy, so I got a little arm workout in :)

If you’re like me, you will probably be traveling somewhere for Thanksgiving.  BE SAFE everyone as you drive/fly/ride to your destination.

Chris and I leave for the Oregon coast tomorrow where I get to see my girl Erin!  So excited I can’t stand it!

 

 





Erin: It was the night before the night before I left for Portland

23 11 2009

Oh pies :) Happy eve of the eve before I leave!

Spittin’ rhymes like you thought I would!

Last time we spoke, I was consuming copious mugs of this:

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And having an early breakfast of raw cashews. :)

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I had some company.

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She actually was all over my lap and arms which made it hard to work, so I found that pillow and set her on top and she was set :) What a good little girl!

When I got home tonight, I was in need of some comfort food! I decided to try my hand at mashed cauliflower again.

Peep it out.

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Does that even look like cauliflower to you?! Oh my god, we thought it was potatoes. It was da bizness! SO GOOD ya’ll!

Here’s how I made it:

  1. Steamed two frozen bags of cauliflower
  2. Turned ‘em out in the food processor with:
    • one cube (vegan) bouillon
    • 1/2 cup water (same water we used to steam)
    • Spike seasoning
    • dried onion
  3. Add more Spike (me) or Smart Balance (Robbie)

I love :)

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I enjoyed it with a massive salad, then spent the rest of the night “working”: loosely translated as skyping with my love child and watching Sudanese rappers on youtube.

I also made some no bake protein bars, but I might have to throw them down the disposal (OR cover them with frosting and peanut butter) because they look dry and heinous.

Time to go sleeps. I have to get up early to exercise. :neutral: What we won’t do for beauty and peace of mind, right? Oh yeah, and health and longevity, blah blah.

:) Love you all!

P.S. Oh! Thanks for your sweet words on our Christmas decorations! I appreciate you. :) When it comes to the house our my taste is very simple and clean and a little bizarre. I put the flashy, gaudy stuff on my person. Maybe I’ll do a little house decor tour like Gina did someday! Ooh whee!





Erin: Last night’s dinnie and some Christmas decor!

23 11 2009

MORNING! Wow, I am caffeinated beyond belief. I have been drinking black tea since 4:00 am!!! :shock:

I’ve been using this time to get lots of work done. We leave for Portland on Wednesday and I want to do as little work as possible while I’m home! I’m only allowing for 30 minutes each day. That ain’t shit! Pardon my french, but not really.

So until I leave, it’s mayjuh convenience meals (which means salad and black bean burgs in my world) and no sleep. ;)

Black bean burgers are so dope diced into a salad!

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Combined with a couple spiralized zucchinis, a red pepper, celery, pickle relish, homemade balsamic and noooooochies:

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Mama said knock you OUT!

To those of you that humored me by requesting some Christmas decoration pictures: thanks. You know I wanted to share!

Welcome to our little casa :)

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Can you see the pussy...cat?

Let’s start with the mantle!

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Sorry, I didn’t realize these were so blurry! :neutral:

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My great-grandma made my stocking when I was born. :) And after we’d been dating a few years, my grandma made a really beautiful one for Robbie.

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And I definitely made those blinged out ones for the kitties, which put ours to shame! My sister-in-law, Megan, and I went all bananas on the crafts one year. It was so fun!

Now for the built-ins:

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In case it's not obvious, that head isn't Christmas decor

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Handmade coasters from Megan. She is so talented!

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Yankee holiday candles are da bizness!!

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Door jingle makers

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Centerpieces

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I just love this time of year! :mrgreen:

P.S. You my have noticed we have no tree. They’re fake here! I don’t mean to be a snob (but I am), but in Oregon, we always had a fresh Noble Fir and usually chopped it ourselves. So, no tree.

P.P.S. We also don’t have outdoor lights. Every year Rob asks for some and I go on and on about the cost and the fact that our country is in an energy crisis, thereby squashing his dreams. I think this year I’m gonna lose the battle!

Happy Monday!





Erin: I can’t stay away!

22 11 2009

Good morning :) Oh how I’ve missed ya’ll!

Thanks for your patience with me this past week! I’ve been swamped. But I’ve been managing it fairly well.

I’ve stayed organized with piles:

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(Like my Christmas centerpiece? Yes, Christmas decorations are UP! I might even show you the rest if you want to see them!)

I’ve taken lots of breaks with the kee kees:

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(I use our bathtub as a dry clean clothes hamper, and Henry uses it as a bed – so cute)

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Pure pleasure for the babies: dump a pile of this on the carpet and let get craze!

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And I’ve been eating lots of these:

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A part broke on my Breville juicer (NO!) so I’ve been sans juice this week. Oh the horror!

Here’s my sched for today:

  • finish cleaning
  • workout
  • write a report
  • read articles for work
  • read blogs (dreadfully behind on my bb’s lives!)
  • iron
  • manicure
  • catch up on five episodes of the Hills (!!!)
  • eat a lot

Nice plan, right? Have a beautiful day :)