Weekend re-cap!

Friday night (or was it Saturday...) after having had a really crappy week, Matt and I decided to make a good ol' Southern meal for ourselves and our roommates.

From scratch, double battered fried chicken and from scratch (well, kinda, ok I'm lying from a mix) cast iron skillet cornbread with bacon.

 

I wish I had a recipe for this chicken that my boyfriend made because it turned out so incredibly full of guilt and delicious. Our other roommates were munching just as hard as we were!!! Holy crap, y'all.

THEN to cap off our bad week turned to great weekend, Matt and I went to Monticello for the day to check out some history and stopped at Bodo's Bagels for breakfast. Unnnf I can't even process how good their bagels are. They boil the bagels before baking and who knows what else they throw in because they are perfection.

Look at those seeds! I will actually drive 45 minutes out of my way to Charlottesville just for this place. Anyways, we had a really great time! I wish I had some treats to show but I started a diet this week and am giving myself a 'free' day on the weekends so I came up with a whole wheat waffle recipe and Matt and I are doing crepes on Friday so I will  have some soon! I promise.

 

Have a great week, guys!

This and that

Ipanema. The vegan caesar wrap. One of my best friends. The nicest kind of Friday lunch date.



For some reason it's only on Saturdays when I'm at work that I stay on a strong craving for sweets, and snacks, and anything that's not a real meal. Today that craving was met with these lovely bites.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
Rolls:

• 2 cans crescent roll dough
• 6 tbsp Earth Balance light, softened 
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar 
• 1 tbsp sugar 
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice) 

Icing:

• 2/3 powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp organic unsweetened vanilla Almond milk
• 1/4 tsp Simply Organic brand vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 8 inch cake pan with non-stick spray.
Mix together butter, brown sugar, sugar, and spices in a medium sized mixing bowl. Set aside.

Unroll dough with long side facing you. Spread half of butter mixture over your crescent roll dough. Roll up starting with long side in a jelly roll fashion. Using a serrated knife, cut your dough log into what should result in 12 slices. (This clearly varies depending on your cutting abilities.)

Repeat with other can of dough. Place into your cake pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown. Cool 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir together icing ingredients and drizzle over warm rolls. Enjoy!!!! Preferably with a soy dirty chai as you see I did today.

Some days

You forget to bring a lunch, have a really terrible morning, show up to work down in the dumps and then your boyfriend surprises you at work with your favorite drink from Starbucks and then comes back a few hours late to pick you up for a Chipotle lunch date. It's always the litte things.

Serious food porn

(and major kitchen envy)



Ladies and gentlemen,

Pizza night was a total success. Look at that crust! Mmm.
*In case you're a stickler for details this pizza crust was topped with organic extra virgin olive oil, organic crushed tomatoes, pepperoni, cheese, and freshly cracked black pepper and pink Himalayan sea salt. In the photos you can see Matt doing all the layering as he's a bit more picky about sauce than I am (and by picky I mean he doesn't really like too much of it or condiments at all, to be honest, but that's a topic for another day).

Here's to hoping this venti iced coffee can get me through today!



Snacks on snacks on snacks

First order of business, I made all my recipes printer friendly!!!! Underneath each recipe you'll find a "Printable Recipe" link. This is exciting news, guys.

Secondly, work can be really slow in the evenings and this sometimes results in heavy snacking and over consumption of non-water beverages.

1. I was aimlessly walking around (well kinda, I was looking for dried fruit) and I stumbled upon this little gem in the natural foods aisle in the Carytown Kroger. WHY did this have to happen. I ate the whole bag in two days. I love them. I want to try every combo they sell. So. Good. And the 'vegan, gluten free' labels force me to believe I'm eating something healthy.

2. Turkey Hill is the bomb. I typically go for the diet green tea with mango selection but this diet white tea did not disappoint. This is my go to summer-time-hanging-by-the-river drink.

3. Let's all go ahead and agree here that Pepsi sucks. It is literally the worst thing I've ever tatsed. Coca-Cola products are the only products that matter in the soda world. And Coke Cherry Zero? YES PLEASE. Everytime my boyfriend and I go grocery shopping we always pick up a case of Diet Coke so we switched it up last night and I'm a happy babe. (I'm also drinking one as I type!)

4. This just isn't a snack at all but it is the best cereal combo in the world. Who doesn't like cereal? Sometimes the best part of my day is cereal and deciding which kind I get to have in the morning. This particular mixture is peanut butter Cheerios, Special K low-fat granola, and Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk. Yum. Throw a banana in the mix and I'm smitten.

Matt and I are diving back into pizza night this evening so keep your fingers crossed we aren't embarking on another failure!! I'm hyper and happy and it's Tuesday. Only three days until the weekend!