Quinoa & Black Bean Salad

Tonight our beloved Denver Broncos are playing Monday Night Football. As such, I don't have time to make dinner before we head out to our neighborhood bar to watch the game (that's right, we don't have cable...we're trying to save money here and the lovely grey matter in my husband's brain that makes him the witty delight that he is). We are also trying our best to save money and calories by eating in more, so no taco night for us, sorry Bear Paw.

We have fancy grown-up plates...from the 70s

Mom's birthday dinner

It's hard to believe it's been a month since I posted. The month of August brought many fun events, like my in-laws visiting, camping at Olallie Lake, and a week-long vacation to Priest Lake, Idaho, where my uncle has a cabin. I did a ton of cooking while we were there, but managed to be very lazy when it came to writing about any of it. So, here we are a month later and I'm finally getting around to this whole blogging thing again.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. For those of you who don't know her--I'm sorry. She's pretty amazing. Since her birthday is on a Friday and I actually have to work (boo), I wanted to do something simple, but still special. It also hit 95 degrees here, so we also had to keep things cool.

I overheard mom say she enjoyed a tomato salad with fresh mozzarella and basil sometime over our vacation, and found this delightful looking dish on Epicurious. After our birthday drink at Meriwether's, I was really happy I chose something so easy to prepare. I bought a London Broil because it's an economical cut and with the right prep can be made very tender and delicious on the grill. We paired the steak with an Argentinian chimichurri sauce, rounded out the meal with a baguette from Little T, and bam, great birthday dinner. Oh, the champagne didn't hurt either...

Perfect Flaky Croissants

It's official. I have baking street cred. On the 4th of July this year while everyone else was getting BBQ side dishes prepared (I did mine the night before), I was on a 10-hour mission toward a major baking feat...homemade croissants.

Grilled Chicken Banh Mi & Hoisin Glazed Corn

There's only one problem with the following recipe: you're going to want to make it immediately. So, do yourself a favor, read this post, then get yourself to the store. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. It's soooo good. And while there is a lot of chopping, thanks to all the toppings, it's so worth it, and a perfect meal for these lovely summer evenings we've been having in Portland.

Again, strangely enough this recipe is from Sunset magazine. My grandma gave me a 2-year subscription last year and while I occasionally flip through it and see things I might want to try, actually motivating me to go back and shop for one of those recipes often eludes me.Chalk it up to laziness and my online subscription to Cook's Illustrated (a gift from my aunt, her daughter...what good gift givers they are!)

First, you start off with a crap load of ingredients....

After running to 4 stores earlier that afternoon and being ready to take on all this chopping, I realized I was out of hoisin and had to go back to the store....sigh.

Peanut Noodles and Tofu Salad Rolls

This past week I was lucky enough to host one of my favorite travel bloggers, Hannah from Further Bound. She was here for the annual World Domination Summit held in Portland and needed a place to stay for a night. In short, I'M SO FREAKING GLAD SHE ASKED!  It was such fun to finally have a conversation with someone I've admired for so long for her writing, honesty, and amazing accomplishments.

Strawberry Rhubarb Fools

The Hood Rivers are here! The Hood Rivers are here! I speak, of course, of the Hood River strawberries, available to us Oregonians for a short period at the beginning of each summer.

Sriracha Ranch Popcorn

My friend emailed me this popcorn recipe from The Curvy Carrot on Friday just in time for my movie weekend with the hubby. How did she know I was tired of the same old butter and salt routine? Her quote..."our popcorn love is just in sync with each other." That it is.

I finally took a picture