Christmas Dinner & a Farewell (for now)

This past Christmas was a strange one. We got to see lots of family, including my sweet little grandma, who I adore. We had some great food and reintroduced an old family tradition of doing cold cuts and deli salads for Christmas Eve. It was all very hard without my brother around, though.

Christmas day, my sister and her husband came over between their family gatherings with his family, who also lives in Seattle. The rest of the day, Shawn, mom, and I sat around in our pajamas watching TV and eating. We had delicious leftover sandwiches and munched on See's Candy. We planned a fancy dinner and ate it at 7:30pm. Basically, we did whatever the hell we wanted to. It was as good as it was going to get. I managed to take a few pictures of our feast before we devoured it.

Thanksgiving Recap

Just a few shots of some of my Thanksgiving day treats! I didn't take any pictures, I was too busy cooking for 14(!). Luckily my mom took a few. Thanks mom!

Appetizer: Spanish tortilla with aioli

Quinoa, black bean & sweet potato chili

Tonight's commute was a friggin' nightmare. We sold our one and only car last month to boost our  savings for a round-the-world trip next year. It hasn't been the easiest adjustment, but we've done well so far. Portland generally has great public transportation and since I get a free bus pass from work, it was a relatively easy decision. We take the same bus in the morning for about half my trip and it's a nice way to spend a few minutes together before heading off to work. Most days have been tolerable because I can walk the 4 miles home from work pretty easily.

Egg breakfast muffins

Oh breakfast. You "most important meal of the day" vixen, you. I know I need you, but sometimes, I really hate you. Oh sure, weekend you is great. It's all mimosas and eggs benedict and cinnamon rolls and frittatas. But weekday you...ugh. Nothing but yogurt and fruit and oatmeal and cereal. Occasionally, when I'm feeling naughty, a bagel will work its way into the mix, but then the guilt sets in and I go crawling back (because of all the unhealthy carbs I have no energy) to the old standards. Sigh.

Delicata Squash with Kale and Potatoes

Apparently no one has told Portland that it's fall now. Our weather has been in the 70s and 80s and sunny. It's definitely crisper in the morning, but has yet to have that real *fall* essence to it, or the rain to match. I'm trying not to complain, but boy am I confused. On Sundays, I should be watching football in my hoodie, clutching my coffee mug happy to be inside since it's raining cats and dogs outside. Instead, I'm inside watching football with my hoodie on because the glare on the tv from the sun is disrupting our game, so it's a bit chilly inside. It also makes me feel a wee bit guilty for sitting around all day rather than enjoying the last days of this Indian summer. 

This is only half of what the recipe made; I spread it out in 2 pans to make sure everything was browned

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...