May

Lemon. Butter. Garlic. And pasta.

My, oh my, this dish was good.

I was out surfing the recipe filled interwebs looking for a pasta side dish when I came across this one from MagnoliaDays.com. I think the image that Renee posted of her pretty flower shaped pasta is what caught my eye. Then…one by one…each and every ingredient sounded so delicious, I could have started drooling. {Seriously, I’m nine months pregnant. So I’m allowed, right?} Although I do have to say, I have never been a fan of cooking with nuts. I don’t even like them in ice cream because it angers my ‘texture buds.’ But we decided to try the recipe with the pine nuts and my goodness I am SO.HAPPY.WE.DID. The toasty flavor and the added crunch gave the dish the extra ‘oomph’ it didn’t even really need! I loved, loved, loved this dish and plan to make it many more times again! {Pine nuts are crazy expensive. I highly recommend purchasing them from local grocers who sell foods in bulk (Sprouts and Whole Foods). That way you’re only paying for what you need right now.}

Pasta with Lemon Butter Garlic Sauce
Click HERE for the recipe!

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Apr

21

When Justin and I were in Florida last month, we were given the most delightful opportunity to eat some authentic Turkish food. One of my oldest and dearest girlfriends married a wonderfully funny Turkish guy who apparently has an incredible cook for a mother. His mom teamed up with the bride’s to cook for their rehearsal dinner {or groom’s supper}, a low key and amazingly fun dinner at their home with homemade Turkish fare. The food was unbelievably amazing and this preggo lady was in absolute heaven. Justin and I absolutely loved the dolmas, lentil wraps, and baklava {and there was a damn good pasta salad too}!

When we got back to Colorado, I spent a good hour trying to Google all of the ingredients of what we’d eaten and to start us off, I decided to try and make these lentil wraps. {In Turkey, these tender delights are called “mercimek köftesi” (mare-juh-MEK’ kuf-tay-SEE’).} They came out very well and we were pleasantly pleased! They were delicious and lasted us throughout the week {the recipe makes a lot}. I can’t wait to make these for a party we’re going to in May! They’re vegetarian, naturally low-fat, and full of protein and fiber. Oh and inexpensive too.

Turkish Red Lentil Lettuce Wraps
Click HERE for the recipe!

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Feb

27

Charlito’s Cocina and The Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop

Have you ever heard of Fab.com? I looooooove this site. My first purchase from Fab was this super fun Explore America poster by the Anderson Design Group. It lives in a lovely, vintage gray frame in my living room. A few of my other purchases include a 2 year subscription to Clean Eating Magazine {for 13 bucks!} and this amazing sausage that arrived in the mail this past Friday!

It’s a dry cured black truffle sausage called Trufa Seca. It came from Charlito’s Cocina, a charcuterie based out of Long Island City in New York. I love their food ethics in that they “strive to create delicious, shelf stable foods using the cleanest, most well raised ingredients possible.” All the meat they use is 100% pasture raised, heritage breed pork and the salt they use is all hand harvested fleur de sel. {Good stuff!}

Now, one of the millions of things that I love about Justin is how willing he is to try new things with me. So, off we went to find a new delicious cheese to go with our new sausage {which we had no idea if we’d even like}. We headed to a little cheese shop that we found through a friend’s Facebook post {hello, social media!} called The Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop.

It was absolutely wonderful! They work with other local specialty and food shops so that you can purchase and enjoy crafted cheeses, charcuterie, chocolate, crackers, and wine! It’s a cute little shop with tables to sit at and lots and lots of yummy cheeses to try. We sampled a few goat’s milk cheeses {my favorite} and we ended up buying a few ounces of Garrotxa! It’s a goat’s milk cheese produced in the Catalonia region in northern Spain and it has definitely become one of my absolute favorites! {We all know I love cheese…from here, here, and here…so to be an absolute favorite of mine means a lot!}

So…together {and separately of course}, the Garrotxa and the Trufa Seca were DELICIOUS!!! It took everything we had not to eat all of it in one sitting! Sometimes these little adventures really pay off {thanks Fab.com}. So, if you ever find yourself in Long Island City, New York, visit Charlito’s Cocina. Then buy some Trufa Seca sausage! {Or buy it here.} And if you’re ever in Old Town Fort Collins, Colorado, visit The Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop. And buy some Garrotxa cheese! Then enjoy them both with some yummy crisp crackers and someone you love…

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Nov

15

Some of my favorite memories from growing up in Florida are of weekends spent hanging out with my brother. We’d go to the movies, play {really bad} racquetball, lounge on the beach, waste money in arcades, and eat out. A LOT. I remember this great Italian place that we loved {although of course I have no clue as to the name anymore} and they had the best calamari appetizer I’ve ever had. We’d go there just so that we could order it. What’s better than seafood straight from the ocean thirty minutes away? When I moved across the country to landlocked Colorado, I sadly missed my fresh seafood and amazing calamari dishes. And up until last week, it had never occurred to me to make my own fresh calamari at home {as fresh as previously frozen calamari steaks can get}. But my lovely and wonderful Sprouts {local farmers’ market/grocery store} “fish guy” orders the best wild seafood and I was drawn to the calamari steaks with the eager excitement of a chubby kid in front of a birthday cake. $5.99 for a pound?! “Umm, ten pounds please!” Okay, not really. I bought three individual steaks for about 3 bucks and proudly pranced up to my husband with my new treasures. He was nervous, but fully committed himself to the task of making incredible calamari. Boy did he deliver. TRY.THIS.RECIPE. I know fried foods are a no-no, but if you indulge yourself on anything this week/month/year, let it be this calamari.

Breaded Calamari
Click HERE for the recipe!

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Nov

7

I have a new favorite dish! I can’t take any credit because Justin made the entire thing but I am, of course, the genius that pinned it to my Food Love board on Pinterest and picked it for dinner a few nights ago. We bought a massive bag of quinoa {keen-wa} without ever having tried it before and I was secretly worried that it might never get opened. {Click HERE if you’re like, “What the heck is quinoa?”} A good friend of mine is always cooking recipes from her Pinterest boards and I thought, “Why don’t I ever do that?” So this week, we chose several recipes from my board and this quinoa recipe blew us away. I had hoped it would be tasty but I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually extremely delicious! I LOVE this stuff! We served it as a side with a small steak soaked in a Whiskey-Vinegar marinade. This quinoa recipe works perfect for guests who are gluten-free and/or vegetarian too!