Everybody's doing it: Quinoa Style

I still remember my first quinoa experience, circa Memorial Day 2009, a lovely quinoa and summer squash salad at a winery in Sonoma, served by a nice hippy wine owner as part of her "tasting experience".

I swear we were asked 35.456 times if we were on our honeymoon and we weren't even engaged...I was so discouraged, but its cool because we are now happily wed!

The salad was delicious, but honestly I got home and sort of forgot about using quinoa again....fast forward 3.5 years later and now its is ALL THE RAGE!!!  At my first Costco trip of the year I decided to jump on the band wagon and over ambitiously bought a 20lb bag of the stuff.  Ok, its probably more like 2 pounds, but still, for just 2 people it will probably be a year supply.  I have used it twice already so we have made a small dent in the giant bag, and both times it has come out well so we are on our way!  The first time I cooked the quinoa in some chicken stock, simultaneously sauteed some onions and mushrooms and at the end added a little balsamic vinegar, then mixed it all together - easy and delicious, just my style!  Yesterday I made The Novice Chef's Cheesy Broccoli Quinoa Casserole and it definitely did not disappoint, with a crunch on top, cheese and relatively waist line friendly - winner!  I am looking forward to creating some more quinoa recipes to share with you and would love any suggestions for how you use this new, all the rage, super food!
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

For 2: Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Dumplings is one of my favorite comfort foods; more hearty than a soup, but still warm and creamy; it is really a great thing to sit down to after a long, hard, cold day.  I was inspired to make chicken and dumplings in the crock pot after seeing this recipe from Bubble Crumb.  That recipe is great, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't change it up a little, and I gotta be me, ya know?  Truth be told that recipe is a true chicken and dumplings, it is pure unadulterated chicken and dumplings, but I like to add a few veggies to make it a more well rounded meal, or at least make me feel better for eating thirds seconds...whatever you want to do is up to you...whatever sets your panties on fire (what up Duck Dynasty?).  Sorry, if you don't watch Duck Dynasty, in which case imagine I just said whatever makes you happy.  Back to the point - make this chicken and dumplings, it is good, really good, quite easy and when you get home from work it will be sitting there on the counter waiting for you to dive in.
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

For the Love of Greek Food

Last night after work I hurried from work to tennis practice, which starts at 6pm on the other side of town.  reminder I don't actually live in a town I live in a pretty large city called Atlanta, so by the other side of town I might as well mean the other side of the moon, especially in the 5 o'clock hour on a weekday...anyway...I left my office at 5:20 knowing full well I wasn't going to make it on time, but none the less dedicated to going, wearing a super cut tennis outfit, despite the cloudy skies, because of the 65 degree temperature actually looking forward to it.  Well, wouldn't you know, 55 minutes later, when I pulled in the parking lot 15 minutes late I saw the team walking off the court.  Apparently the slight drizzle had become enough of a problem that the courts were slippery and practice was cancelled.  Isn't that freaking great!?!  55 minutes in stop and go traffic to travel 12 miles all for nothing...except for my fab hubster and his awesome idea of trying a new place to eat on the way home.  I knew there were tons of reasons I love this dude!  So we stopped at Athens Pizza near the intersection of Clairemont Rd and North Druid Hills.  We had a 10 inch Mediterranean Pizza and a Spanakopita, hubs drank a beer and we got out of there for right at $20 with half the pizza for leftovers!  The spanakopita was quite good: crunchy filo, creamy spinach and just salty enough, covered with feta cheese crumbles.  The crust of the pizza was divine, chewy in the middle and crunchy on the outside covered with perfectly cooked gyro meat, salty kalamata olives and  thickly sliced tomatoes.  We will definitely be going back to try the extensive menu: gyros, pasta dishes, more pizza (they come in 6, 10, 14 and 18 inch sizes), and the FAMOUS Greek salad.  I love the "cornerstones" of Greek food: olives, lamb, feta...such divine ingredients, it would be hard to do bad things with those...If you live in Atlanta I would encourage you to try this place out, it is so good and very reasonably priced, and has enough options on the menu to make the whole fam damily happy! 
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey
Disclaimer: Athens Pizza doesn't know me, they probably don't even know I was there last night, I was not compensated for this post in any way.

For 2: Tilapia Fish Tacos

I made these fish tacos for the first time about 2 months ago, and they have already made 3 repeat performances.  They are that good, and thankfully that easy.  This is a fantastic weeknight meal as it really does come together in about 30 minutes, it is new years' resolution friendly a.k.a. not super fatty, not that I believe it that stuff - see here, and won't kill the budget - pretty perfect meal, huh? 

The first time I made some baked parmesan zucchini fries as the side, recipe to come, and I have also done black beans - both are delicious but really you could serve whatever you wanted; chips and salsa would also get the job done.  I hope you try these and enjoy them as much as we do!
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

13 in 2013

You know what I say?  Forget resolutions, you never keep them anyway and personally, I am always trying to loose some where between 5 and 35 pounds so let's just sweep all that new year new me stuff under the rug.  What I am into though is goals, especially when those goals are fun!  The Mister and I decided to come up with a list of 13 dates in 2013 - so these goals include entertainment, sports, restaurants and drinking - my kind of goals.  We are up to 7 items...I didn't know coming up with 13 would be so hard.  So please comment with anything you think we should add to our list.  We are trying to do things that are a little different, or we haven't done before...I am so excited!

13 in 2013 for the 3 of us!

1. Plan a trip to Chicago for our 30th birthdays.  Yes, birthdays plural.  Ryan is 16 days older than me, haha old man, and this year we turn 30...so this isn't exactly a date, more of a weekend get away, but we listed it as it is the top priority for this year.  I would love to hear of any specific suggestions of things to do in Chicago.

2. I can't believe I/we have never done this, but apparently it is an Atlanta tradition: getting dressed up, drinking over priced drinks and watching a semi-educational movie on a GIANT screen: Martinis and IMAX at Fernbank Museum

3. It might be high schoolish, but we are looking forward to a night of fun and games at Dave and Busters

4. Thanks to my awesome sister for her awesome Christmas gift we will be having dinner at Local 3

5. I love gardening, and I have done this with friends but not the hubs, this was my addition to the list: Cocktails in the Garden @ the Atlanta Botanical Garden

6. A movie and drinks at Movie Tavern whatever movie we want when a good one comes out...

7. Braves Opening Day, yes we have done this before, but this year w e are going for the good seats!

So 7 down 6 to go!  This is going to be a fun year!

Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

HAPPY 2013

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

In my opinion, an evening spent at home with great friends and delicious food is the perfect way to celebrate!