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Loving Lately

September 19, 2013 by Erica

Loving Lately // Coffee & Quinoa

My new kitchen. It is small but pretty! This is a “before” picture, taken when we signed the lease. Will it ever be organized enough to show you “after” pictures? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime…

Loving Lately // Coffee & Quinoa

This cafe table that I trash-picked for our apartment during a walk at lunchtime yesterday. Not even kidding. One minute I was walking past a hotel near our office, drafting a blog post in my head (yep), the next I was racing my car back over to load this puppy into the back. It might not be the most beautiful, but we’ve been having a really hard time finding something small enough for our space. This table is 30 inches across. Perfect! Now to find an upgrade for those lovely folding IKEA chairs…

23 Signs You’re Secretly An Introvert. Um, all of these. But especially 7, 8, 11, 13, 14… OK yeah, all of them. I think this is why I like blogging.

These apple cider cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. Whoa. I wish I had the patience to make cinnamon rolls.

Loving Lately // Coffee & Quinoa

MixMyOwn muesli and granola mixes. I ordered a few of these recently to tide Nate over until my next batch of granola. You choose from all their healthy ingredients and build your own custom cereal! Pictured above is one of their premixes, the Antioxidant Mix. Love! Check them out.

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Friday Favorites

February 22, 2013 by Erica

Zion National Park

Breeeeeathe out. It’s Friday.

Thank goodness. It’s been a whirlwind of a week, and I am sooo ready for a weekend of kicking back, sleeping in, and concocting some new recipes! No 6 AM treadmill workouts, no stressful presentations, just me in my slippers making a big ol’ mess in my kitchen. Yessss please.

In the meantime, here are some of the things I’ve been loving this week.

1. This Penner-Ash pinot noir. Penner-Ash was one of the wineries we visited in October, and Nate got us this bottle for Valentine’s Day! It was deeeeelicious.

2. Susan Cain’s TED talk on the power of introverts. In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. I heard this on NPR the other morning and identified with it so much!

3. These roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potato quinoa bowls from one of my new favorite blogs, A Farmer in the Dell. (How awesome is she?!) I made these twice this week!

Sweet Potatoes

4. Sweet potatoes every which way, in fact. I’m really wanting to make this stuffed curry sweet potato and these stuffed sweet potatoes with white beans and kale.

5. Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I got these for Nate for Valentine’s Day, and I think he’s managed to eat 1. The container is almost empty. Oops.

6. Flossing. Random, right? But a good thing, given the peanut butter cups. I used to be much better at flossing, but I’m embarrassed to say how long it’s been since I flossed regularly. Back on the wagon!

7. Getting nominated for Employee of the Year at work. On Tuesday I had to give a presentation to our executive team on why I deserve to win, and it was NERVE-RACKING. (See number 2…) The winner gets a week-long trip for 2 to anywhere in the world paid for! We find out the winner in about a month – eek!

8. This vegan bouillabaisse from Post Punk Kitchen. How good does that look?! I really need to make a few more soups before winter ends…

9. Thrift Shop by Macklemore. Am I behind the times? I’m finding this song so hilarious.

10. Coconut butter in my morning oatmeal. Mmmmmm.

Well that’s all for now. Enjoy your weekend! Recipes coming up next week, promise :)

2012: The Year I Started Blogging

December 29, 2012 by Erica

It’s hard to believe 2012 is almost over. As someone who doesn’t like change very much, I’m never ready to let go!

As always, the past year is kind of a blur. But here are the highlights that come to mind of 2012:

I skied a lot.

Nate and I moved in together.

I finally caved and got an iPhone (now that Google no longer gives me free phones).

I ran my first races since 2004: a 5k, 10k, and half marathon. And Nate won a marathon… no big deal…

…and I was the proudest I’ve ever been in my entire life.

(Photos stolen from my friend Tamiz!)

I ate vegan for 6 months.

My little sister got married!

I traveled to San Francisco twice, Vegas twice, Moab three times, Seattle, Chapel Hill, Maine, Boston twice, Oregon, and Jackson. It was quite the year of western travel! I definitely plan on continuing that in 2013. Destinations (hopefully) include: Paso Robles, Zion National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Winston-Salem, and Miami, plus Pennsylvania, Indiana and Maine for more weddings.

Also, I had some visitors this year: my parents, my grandma, my cousin Erin, my friend Dani, and my friends Bill and Grant. Keep the visits coming in 2013!!

But most relevant here, 2012 is the year I started blogging.

And I’m so happy about that! There have been many years in my life where I wasn’t necessarily passionate about anything I was doing, and wasn’t sure in which direction my life was going to go. And now, I guess I’ve discovered that what I’m passionate about is cooking new foods and sharing them with others! Of course, I still can’t say that food blogging is going to determine the course of my life or anything like that, but it feels like a start. I have something I want to spend all my free time on… and for me, that’s huge! So maybe 2012 is the year I started to figure stuff out.

Speaking of figuring stuff out… I’ve been doing a lot of learning in the kitchen. Veganism, cooking for 2 people, blogging, healthy eating… I feel like I’ve constantly been tackling something new. Along the way I’ve cooked some pretty good stuff, too! I’ve only had this blog for about 3 months, so I don’t feel like I can pick 10 favorites, but here have been my top 5 favorite recipes of 2012 in chronological order:

1. Autumn Harvest Quinoa

This warm quinoa dish is made with apples, onions, cranberries, walnuts, and cinnamon. It is soooo good that you will eat it right out of the pan! (Not that I ever… routinely… do a think like that.) I like to make this in huge batches, and will probably make a more wintery version soon.

2. Farro Risotto with Butternut Squash and Kale

This risotto is one of those can’t-believe-it’s-vegan dishes. Using pearled farro makes it relatively quick-cooking, and it’s so worth the little bit of stirring. This restored my faith in homemade risotto!

3. Sweet Potato Sushi Bowl

I absolutely love cooking Asian food, and this sushi bowl was probably my #1 favorite dish of the year because of all the different Japanese flavors happening here. I did a happy dance every time I took a bite of this meal! One to bring back in 2013.

4. Noodles in Spicy Lemongrass Broth

Again, the Asian thing. This broth was so spicy it made Nate cry. (OK maybe not really, but it was pretty spicy!) I love spicy broths, and this won’t be the last one you’ll see on here. This post was also the first time I got a picture accepted to TasteSpotting!

5. Christmas Chili Crostini

And last but not least, these little holiday toasts. I went on a serious colorful food kick in December, and these were my favorite. They will be in the regular Christmas rotation going froward!

So that’s it – my 2012 in review. Thanks so much for reading and supporting me as I learn how to be part of this crazy blog world! I appreciate it so much.

Here’s to 2013!

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