This is how we do it!

Whoa, June is already over half way over! Summer is flying by, and shows no signs of slowing down. In case you haven’t noticed, we have big plans this summer.

On Friday, our friend Bethany had us over for dinner, drinks, and lady-time. She made an amazing gluten-free pasta meal complete with gf appetizers, too! She's the best. Check out her recipe and blog here!

This week, I’m thrilled to be a bridesmaid my friend Kathryn’s wedding. We’ve been buds since 8^th grade, and I can’t wait to be a part of her special day. Seems like not so long ago that we were playing snake on our Nokia brick phones, prank calling boys, and having sleepovers.

Saturday was Kat’s Bachelorette Party, and we did things up right. A-town style. We started things off at the W in Midtown, had an amazing dinner at South City Kitchen, had a little lingerie shower, then hit the town. Things didn’t wrap up until about 4:30 AM. It was awesome.

Kathryn’s got some great friends, and I had a fabulous time getting to know them. At dinner, my being gluten-free came up in conversation when I asked our waiter for a gluten-free menu (yep, they had one). I, of course, love to talk about it, so I filled their ears. That conversation got me thinking about the FAQ’s I get on a consistent basis, so I’m going to address a few of them for those of you that are dying to know.

So this is how we do it...

1.     What do you eat for lunches?

·      Nope, I don’t eat sandwiches, you’re right. During the week, I try my best to bring dinner leftovers from home. Thanks to our handy dandy Google doc meal plan, this usually works out. When it doesn’t, I go grab a quick bite to eat at some gluten-friendly establishment near my office. My faves are Whole Foods, Chipotle, and Farm Burger.

2.     What do you do for dinners?

·      Meal planning. It’s probably the best thing we’ve started doing, not only my dietary needs, but also for our wallets. Every Monday, we plan out each dinner for that week by scouring Pinterest and the weekly ad at Kroger. We plan for things that have ingredients that  are gluten-free, and also happen to be on sale. We also take into account what we already have at home. No food-wasting here! Some of our favorites are Stir-Fry, Red Beans & Rice, and Mexican. A typical weekly meal plan looks like this:

3.     Aren’t gluten-free products expensive? How do you afford them?

·      Yes, they are, and no, I don’t. For the most part, I stick with naturally gluten-free things like rice, corn, quinoa, fruits & veggies, meat, etc. We buy the fresh stuff mostly. It really doesn’t cost that much more (especially when its on sale), and we avoid the preservatives and overly processed nonsense. As far as snacks go, I really love these.

4.     What do you miss the most?

·      Pizza and beer. Boom. I love(d) pizza, but I will say that we’ve found a few great gf pizza places in Atlanta, like Cameli's and Do. Mellow Mushroom’s gluten-free crust isn’t bad either. I also miss fast food, but strictly due to the convenience of being able to eat on the road.

5.     Do you ever cheat?

·      Not intentionally. It’s not worth it, believe me. I’ll try bites of things, or sips of things, but never more than that. It’s not as hard as it seems, I promise.

6.     How do you go out to eat?

·      I really hate being a burden when I go out to eat, so I try to be as flexible as possible. I can pretty much find something anywhere. After a year, I’ve gotten really good at it. I can decode a menu pretty well. And I will say that when dinner is up to me, I frequent places that I know have gluten-free menus. No thinking required. Also, I can always count on Mexican places to have plenty of options for me. We eat a LOT of Mexican.

There you have it. How I do it in a lazy nutshell.

Anyway, it had been a while since we tried something new, so Chris and I were both on the hunt for new recipes. My mom inspired me to look into cooking in aluminum foil. Since summertime is so busy, we haven’t had as much time (or desire) to clean. 

We like pork, especially our Teaspoon Tenderloin, and we've ventured into fried pork chops, but this time we opted for something different. Foil cooking is great because all of the mess stays in the packets, then you just throw them away. I wanted a good, filling, balanced meal with minimal mess, so these Pork Chops in foil were just the ticket. We adapted our own little version of this recipe.

BBQ Pork Chops in Foil

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup ketchup
• ¾ cup BBQ sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp canola oil
• A pinch of Cajun seasoning
• A pinch of Italian seasoning
• 8 small red potatoes, cut into quarters
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 boneless pork chops

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Chop the veggies.

 

In a large bowl, whisk together ketchup, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce, oil, Cajun seasonings, Italian seasonings, chili powder, and pepper.

Dip the pork chops into the sauce, coating both sides. Then place aside on a plate.

 Then add the veggies to the remaining sauce and toss until coated.

Tear off a large sheet of aluminum foil. Place one pork chop in the center of the foil. Then scoop 1/4 of the veggie mixture onto the piece of pork. Repeat 2 more times. Then fold the foil into packets and place on a large baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the pork is done and the veggies are tender.

The pork came out super moist and tender, and the veggies were perfect. We really liked the sauce…it had a sweet and spicy punch to it. I ended up being stuck at work until super late that night, so my sweet little wifey took this recipe over. She’s the best. 

We want to try grilling with foil soon! We’ll share Chris’s recipe choice next week.

Bacon is good for me.

Well everyone,

Last week, I celebrated a few exciting milestones (since they’re few and far between nowadays) in my almost 24 year old life…

It’s been about a year now since I graduated from Clemson, found the best first job a girl could ask for (a couple days shy of graduation, I might add), moved back to Georgia, and last but not least, joined the GLUTEN-FREE ranks!

BBDO Anniversary balloons!

That’s right, it’s been a grand year, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the transitions. Admittedly, change is not one of my favorite things. More than a few times this year, I missed college (and all of the great things and people I left there), and brownies, and NOT having so many bills, and beer and pizza. And my long hair. 

With all of that being said, I love my new, grown-up life. I feel super settled in my gluten-free city life, and I’m excited to start year two!

City girls

 A year ago, I was struggling to understand why I couldn’t stomach some of the most basic staples in everyone else’s diets. Read more about my pre-GF life here. I felt like this:

After making the decision to live and be gluten-free, I’m still 100% satisfied with my decision, and I’m never going back. And I’ve gotten pretty damn good at it! I know how to order at restaurants, and with Chris by my side, I kinda know how to cook (in an easy, cop-out way, of course).

Today I thought I’d share one of our absolute FAVORITE Pinterest finds that we literally use all the time.

If you know anything about us, you know that we love breakfast food. If you know anything about Chris, you know how much she especially loves bacon. Almost as much as this kid:

We both enjoy our bacon crispy, but we do NOT enjoy the messy, greasy skillet process. Luckily, we ran across this pin, straight from good ol’ Martha Stewart. We tweaked it a little, but to each her own. We made it at Whitney’s the other day for lady brunch. We’re awesome.

How we make the best bacon you’ll ever have:

Preheat the oven to 350°

Line a cookie sheet with foil

Place as much bacon on the pan as desired, making a single layer. *

Bake for 20ish minutes, or until it reaches the right crispiness.

*We like center-cut bacon for less fat (when it’s on sale)

Seriously, this is our favorite FAVORITE Pinterest find. What did people do before such a great website?

While bacon may not be the healthiest of options, we get it as a treat when the good stuff is on sale. It’s fine. In the words of Curtis, "BACON IS GOOD FOR ME".

Bicycles & Bubbly

Summer is HERE! It's felt (temperature-wise) like summertime since March, but Memorial Day this week marked the unofficial start of all things hot and humid. And believe it or not, it’s my favorite season. We kicked things off right with a little cookout tour with some of our favorite people, and our June and July weekend plans are filling up quick. 

Last weekend, my Dad and I went to a local “ciclovia” called Atlanta Streets Alive. It’s a super cool concept happening internationally where neighborhood streets are closed to cars and opened to biking, skating, walking, or really any form of human-powered movement. Atlanta Streets Alive incorporated a few of my favorite ATL neighborhoods by shutting down a two-mile stretch of Highland Ave. Dad and I rode the whole thing (on our bikes, that is), and there were tons of things to stop and do/see along the way. There were food trucks, impromptu foursquare games, street hockey, belly dancers, live music, etc. It was basically a moving festival…so awesome. It was super hot that day, so we stopped at and had a drink at one of our favorite bars.

My favorite part of the whole thing was the crowd. It was a little tricky maneuvering around the swarms, but it was great to see so many people out and about, being active in a physical way, but also in a supporting the community way. I love Atlanta.

The weekend before that, Chris and I celebrated our Moms on their special day by making and hosting dinner for them, along with our brothers. We made our pretty much famous tacos (added ground beef this time), and our homemade taco shells have never turned out better. We had a great time with our main mamas.

To spice things up a little, we decided to make a little Pinterest-inspired drink. It was cute and girly and just for Moms.

Mother’s Little Helper

2 small containers of Frozen Lemonade (lemon flavored)

1 bottle Pink Moscato champagne

 Place one scoop of frozen lemonade into juice-sized glasses. Next, pour the desired amount of moscato on top, until the glass is about half-full (never half-empty). Enjoy with your favorite lady friends and moms alike.

Spring couldn’t have been better, but we’re so excited for summer, we can hardly stand it. Get ready for greatness such as my gluten-freeniversary, grilling galore, camp time, Braves games, weddings, gel mani/pedis, and who knows what else. It’s gonna be a great one.

Summer will never be summer to me without Ween, so in the wake of their "break-up", I leave you with one of my favorite Ween songs, because we all hoped they'd (Ween and summer) stay forever.

 

Adventures in Bahamia

Get ready to be jealous.

So I’m finally getting around to sharing about my dear friend Kate and I’s amazing Bahamian adventure. Here it goes:

The weekend we left was a whirlwind for me. I saw my Chris graduate, hosted a Bridal shower for my sweet friend Kathryn, and celebrated graduations and Cinco de Mayo with a party at our house… all of this leading up to a 7AM departure from our house to the airport.

We initially decided on The Bahamas for our little adult spring break because of the amazing airfare! We got direct flights, round trip to Nassau for $290, which was way less than the cost to fly to any of the other destinations we’d looked at (in the US of A). Lucky for us, my dad upgraded both of us to 1^st class for the flight to Nassau. We were exhausted, hungover, and looking rough, so sitting in a big comfy seat and enjoying complementary adult beverages was the best thing ev-er. We decided the shampoo effect was our best option, so we continued the celebrations from the night before. We ended up waiting on the runway for over 2 hours because the air conditioner in coach was broken. Like I said, lucky us.

Anyway, we got there finally, and easily found our way to a cab, and before we knew it we were checking in to our hotel. We stayed at the Wyndham Nassau Resort on Cable Beach. We found a great deal online back in February, so with resort fees, taxes, etc, we ended up spending about $150 a night, so for 4 nights, we each paid about $300… Not bad. I will say that our room was AWESOME, resort amenities were not so awesome, BUT we had access to the resort next door, which was much nicer.

Our lovely view from the room

So all week, we enjoyed the ridiculously perfect weather, rum drinks galore, the bluest, clearest water imaginable, and the best part…no cell phone signal for miles.

We spent one day in downtown Nassau, and quickly realized it was the Myrtle Beach of the Caribbean. There were endless amounts of tacky gift shops filled with awesomeness, and I made sure to bring some goodies home for Jfal and Chris. We steered clear of Senor Frogs, per Chris’s request, but we spent a little bit of time by the Port of Nassau. I was super impressed by the size of the cruise ships. I’d never seen one in real life…man they were huge!

Round-a-boots everywhere

HUGE!

Queen's Staircase. Most visited attraction in Nassau.

On the ol'bus.

This was my first big vacation since moving to Atlanta, starting my job, and being gluten-free, so there was a lot to be excited about. Kate and I went in to it with a somewhat plan, but nothing concrete. We pretty much decided to wing it once we got there, which made everything that much more of an adventure.

Our daily daiquiri stop

The most challenging “adventure”, probably for both of us, was the quest to find food that we could a) afford, b) get to easily, and c) at least somewhat attempt to make gluten-free friendly. Our first issue was simply bad timing. On the Monday we were there, our first full day, The Bahamas was holding elections for their next Prime Minister, so that meant that almost every food establishment was closed until 6PM. It was actually pretty fascinating to be there during such a time to see how a different elections were there as opposed to the ones at home. We learned a lot about the Bahamian political past through talking to different people. It was so interesting.

We ended up having to eat lunch at our hotel, which we quickly realized we should avoid at all costs. We paid $18 for a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and fries, which we split, and I of course did not eat the bread. We both left hungry and disappointed, but nothing else was open in Nassau, so we did what we had to do. That night for dinner, we attempted to go to a restaurant a little further down the beach towards Compass Point, away from Nassau. Well, after a $22 cab ride (because the $1.25 city bus stops running at 6PM), it was closed. Luckily, our cab driver knew of another place a little further down that was definitely open. The setting was absolutely beautiful…we felt like we were on a honeymoon, ha! We looked at the menu and gasped, but at that point, we were ravenous and we’d just paid $22 to get there, so there was no turning back.

I had a delicious pork chop stuffed with sausage, spinach, and goat cheese. It also came with grilled veggies and chunky mashed potatoes. It was so great to have an actual meal! So I cut it in half, and took the rest home for breakfast the next morning. Can’t say that I was in the mood for it the next morning, but it was free, so it was GREAT.

As the week went on, we got much better at finding good food. One day, we took the bus to the Fish Fry, which is basically a shopping center of food shack-type places. We ate at a place that someone recommended called Oh Andros. We got Grilled shrimp with peas n’ rice, fried plantains, and fries. It was more than enough for Kate and I to split, and it was only $14!! I can speak for both of us when I say that was our favorite meal of the trip.

We had another great lunch on our last full day, when we went on a Booze Cruise! If you’re ever in Nassau, I highly recommend going on this little outing. It was $60 a person for a 4 hour cruise, lunch, bottomless rum drinks, snorkeling, a private beach stop, and a ragin’ dance party. It was awesome! We had BBQ ribs and chicken with peas’n rice and corn. YUM. It was a good thing we had such a big lunch, because the drinks were flowing…and yeah…

Crab!

Hermit crab

 So now that we’re back, fried plantains and peas n’ rice are my new favorite foods. I’m determined to make a Bahamian feast for my roommates, so as soon as I have the time, I’ll make it happen.

I had my doubts as to where a few of my next meals would come from on this trip, but I learned a lot for next time:

1. Maybe an all-inclusive resort is the way to go. You pay more initially, but I think you’d save time and money in the long run. Our hotel food options were mediocre and insanely over-priced.
2. Places like these are tourist traps. Be prepared to spend more money on food than you do at home, because options can be few and far between.
3. Definitely hit up liquor stores. Drinks are expensive, and add up quickly. There was a liquor store in our hotel, so we ended up buying our own rum, a fifth for $8, then a can of pineapple juice for $4. Such a great idea.
4. Bring your own breakfast! Kate brought us some snack bars and such from home, and they were serious money-savers.
5. Don’t be scared of the public transportation. Cabs were infinitely more expensive. The only downside is that the city buses stop running around 6PM…another conspiracy to make tourists spend more money and take cabs if you ask me.
6. No, Bahamians have never heard of “gluten-free”, so don’t bother asking them because you’ll just get a confused face. Stick to what you know.

There you have it! We had an amazing time being grown-up lady travelers and unplugging from real life for a few days. Thanks Kate, adventuring with me and putting up with my gluten-free needs. xo

Back to the A.

 

Lasagna for real.

I’m baaaaaaack!!

Thanks, Chris, for taking care of blog-business for me. xo

But before I share my Bahamian adventures, I figured I better back it up before I forget…

…that I made an ACTUAL lasagna! If you’ll recall, I tend to use the word “lasagna” loosely, and interchangeably with the word “bake”. For example, our Saving Daylight Breakfast Bake, or the Mexican Lasagna. Or I just avoid any sort of defining adjective whatsoever, like Cheesy Corn Quinoa _______. I can’t/won’t, say/eat “casserole”. Ew. We’ve all got those words we hate…that’s mine.

So as we mentioned, Jfal moved in a couple weeks ago! We’re excited to have him, and so far so good! He even likes Grey’s Anatomy now! As far as we can tell, he’s not tired of Chris and I yet. We still don’t think he knows what he’s gotten himself in to. Shhh.

A while back, when we visited Haley in Charleston, we went to Earth Fare, and I stocked up on some gluten-free sales! That place is awesome! Wish we had one in Atlanta. One of the things I got was a box of GF lasagna noodles. My mom and my aunt make amazing lasagna, and I miss it all the time and have been meaning to make some. I’ve never seen gf lasagna noodles at our normal grocery stores here in Atlanta, so I saw the ones at Earth Fare (on sale, no less), and scooped them up.

When I set out to find a recipe, I ruled my aunt’s out because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. She makes her sauces from scratch, and while I wish I had the time and patience to do that…I just don’t. So naturally, I turned to Pinterest. I started with this recipe, hoping to make rolls like this. 

 I liked it because it required just a few ingredients we didn’t already have, included spinach, and seemed pretty simple.

One problem. I realized the noodles I got where the no-boil ones, meaning they soften as they bake. Sooo, no rolling was going to happen. Instead, I decided to make the old-school way. I pretty much stuck to the recipe other than that little adjustment (and a few others).

For real this time Lasagna

• 9 gluten-free no-boil lasagna noodles. I used these.
• 1 10oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
• 1 15oz. container Part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings
• salt and fresh pepper
• 1 package of Italian chicken sausage. I used these.
• ½ jar of your favorite pasta sauce1 ½ cups part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, parmesan cheese, egg, garlic, Italian seasonings, chicken sausage, and salt and pepper in a medium bowl. 

 Pour about 1/2 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 9 baking dish.

Break and piece together the lasagna noodles so that they make 3 rows in the bottom of the baking dish.

Take 1/3 of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over the dry noodles.

Repeat with remaining noodles and mixture until the dish is full. It should make about 3 layers.

Pour sauce over the top layer of noodles in the baking dish and top with mozzarella cheese.

Cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts.

Bake an additional 5-7 minutes to brown the top. 

 Serve with parmasean cheese, preferably on Wedgewood china.

The good news: the spinach + ricotta + sausage mixture was awesome! It was so good, I could have eaten it by itself.

The bad news: the noodles were kiiinnnnnda hard. I’m stumped. No-boil noodles just don’t seem normal. I’m getting regular boiling ones next time.

All in all, our meal was a success because Jfal got seconds, and we all ate it for leftovers a few days later. I really liked it with spinach in it, because I like spinach in/on/around everything. I’d love to try it with more veggies next time.

Despite a few crunchy bites and puzzled looks, I’d say my first actual lasagna was yummmayyy.

Smile and say Cheesy Corn Quinoa!

 Hello again! 

So the last time I guest blogged, I was cooking up some delicious Preacher’s Wife Pot Roast. 

So much has changed since then...

BIG NEWS: I GRADUATED FROM GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY’S ANDREW YOUNG SCHOOL OF POLICY STUIDES WITH MY MSW.   

Get busy living.

Thanks Morgan Freeman, for the title inspiration.

The past few weeks have been a little bit (a lotta bit) crazy. We’ve been on the go pretty much non-stop, with little time to stop and cook dinner! Our little lady friend, Chris was up to her tiara in grad school stuff, I had some later nights at the ol’ j-o-b, and we managed to sprinkle in a good bit of fun in between.