my valentine: part 1

hello lovelies. i read somewhere that the average person spent $140 on their valentine yesterday. w+i pride ourselves on being well below average. ;) if you remember last year we started a munday family tradition of making each other gifts (click here). this year, we continued the tradition.

it has been said "the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach". so true!

wade treated me to a scrumptious dinner ... chicken tikka masala! it was unbelievable. being the best husband ever, he googled "gluten free chicken tikka masala" and found this fantastic recipe via no gluten, no problem. we might have argued a bit over who got to take the leftover to work today.

and i made dessert. must work on my chocolate dipping skills. they didn't end up quite as pretty as i had hoped. BUT they were yummy as well. it has to be that amazing gfree sugar cookie recipe i mentioned last week (here).

so as promised, here's my gfree sugar cookie recipe:

preheat oven: 350º f

ingredients:
3/4 cup sweet rice flour                           1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oat flour                                        1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup potato starch                               1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1/4 cup tapioca flour                                1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp xanthan gum                                2 egg whites

directions:
cream sugar + butter. add egg + vanilla or almond extract. sift together dry ingredients (sweet rice flour, oat flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, xanthan gum and salt). add to wet ingredients little by little. refrigerate 1hr. separate into 2 halves. roll out to 1/4" thick and cut w/ cookie cutters. bake on non-stick for 10-12m. ENJOY!

last but not least ... one of my new year's resolutions was to take more pictures of wade and i and to be included in more pics (the problem w/ being the person behind the camera). my sweet husband agreed even if that meant he had to be a bit patient w/ my photography skills - a major work in progress.

happy valentine's day:



and of course, a hilarious blooper while i set up the camera. i asked him to put his hand out so that i could focus on it. "brick wall!" (remember that saying?) love him!

okay - tomorrow i share a little bit more about our valentine's festivities. until then ...

{ hello munday } our first anniversary

a bit of a different {hello munday} this week. instead - a recap of our 1st anniversary celebration(s) yesterday! celebration(s) - bc both wade and i were determined to plan the day. as a compromise - we split the day into 2 parts: i planned breakfast & wade planned dinner.

part 1: a sunrise breakfast picnic.

i kicked wade out of the apartment on saturday so i could do all of my preparation ahead of time. {it is after all almost impossible to keep a surprise when living in a 750 sq foot apartment.} thanks to some {PINspiration}, i prepared a little sunrise picnic for radnor lake:

* an old quilt
* a couple of books of poetry
* orange juice & champagne for mimosas
* heart-shaped honeydew & cantaloupe
* a yogurt, granola, dry fruit & nut parfait
* mini mason jar strawberry pies
* two warm mugs of jasmine green tea
* our wedding china & silver
* and these yummy cinnamon & sugar french breakfast muffins (via velvet lava cafe):

on sunday morning, i woke wade a bit after 6. we packed our picnic into the car and drove to the park. unfortunately nature wasn't aware of my picnic plans - another rainy fall morning in nashville, tn. nor was the park - plastered w/ big NO PICNIC signs. and then there was the incredible vegan indian food from the wedding the night before. ho hmm. glum but not defeated, we drove back to the apartment instead and picnicked at our kitchen table.

part 2: dinner & a movie.

unfortunately we couldn't dedicate a full day to our anniversary. we went to church and then drove to gallatin for wade's grandpa's 78th birthday party. and i ended the day w/ my high school girls bible study.

while i was away, wade prepared his dinner surprise:

* tons of candles.
* lemon rosemary chix
* smashed sweet potatoes & asparagus
* red wine
* our wedding china, silver & crystal
* the wedding blanket we brought home w/ us from morocco
* our very own private viewing of casablanca
* and a million sweet memories of our honeymoon.

he was even at one point determined to turn our living room into a tent - much like the one we ate under while on our honeymoon. note to self: must purchase more sheets for spontaneous tent building.

a very delicious and successful anniversary - if i do say so myself. :) i hope you had a lovely weekend too.

in other (very random) news ...

apparently we have a green(ish) thumb after all. despite our misfortune w/ fresh herbs earlier this summer ... we have our first crop of mushrooms:

a refresher: we received this little "grow your own mushrooms" pack as a wedding/anniversary gift a few weeks back. and wade has been all about it!

... still a bit odd to me. but now to find a recipe to incorporate these fellas. suggestions?

{ food for thought } crockpot apple pear butter

wade sent me a link to a groupon for honeysuckle hill. it's a little farm about an hour north of nashville complete w/ pumpkin patch, corn maze, petting farm, haunted hay ride, an apple orchard ... and a pumpkin cannon (say what?). we went there on a date about a year after we started dating 3 years ago. and i'm super thrilled to be heading there again w/ friends in just a few short weeks. truth is, people - i am already all about fall. bring on the crisp weather and the excuse to layer. bring on apple cider and bonfires.

last week, i mentioned this yummy crockpot apple/pear butter recipe from martha stewart that i just had to try. with wade out of town for the weekend ... i decided it was the perfect opportunity!

the recipe:

{source: martha stewart}

my friend ashley from sniff happens is the queen of all things scentsy. and she's been burning all sorts of lovely fall scents for the past month already! her home smells ah-mazing ... but let me tell you people (sorry, ashley) ... best fall scent EVER - a batch of this apple pear butter! it might not look pretty in process ... but yum! (haven't heard of scentsy or need to stock up, check out ashley's page - click here.)

and because these would make pretty "sweet" little gifts this fall, how about a some printable labels as a little freebie!?! download a PDF right here. these labels are 2" in diameter & fit perfectly on your canning lids. or print the labels on cardstock, punch a hole in the top and hang them w/ jute or baker's twine. don't forget to date them!

credits:

bebas - font squirrel 

marketing script - font squirrel

learning curve - dafont

paper bag texture - bittbox

recipe card - crafting a green world

blog bling - pugly pixel

{hello munday}

eat // mushrooms! we're meal planning, people! in an effort to grocery shop wiser, i sat down yesterday w/ the calendar and planned out this weeks menu. we happen to be eating 2 meals w/ mushrooms this week: portobello mushroom pizzas (yum!) and a new italian chix crock pot meal later this week.

but by this time next week ... we should be able to eat 1 very special mushroom meal. we'll be harvesting our first batch of oyster mushrooms. one of wade'sfriends from his stint in boston sent us 2 back to the roots' mushroom kits as a wedding/anniversary gift. have you heard of this!?!

i'm still a little shy of fresh grown mushrooms. but wade is sooooo excited. and carefully watches our crop daily! :)

wear // lace this fall w/ the perfect silk blouse or a little knit dress or the perfect little sweater. okay okay - it's true i'm a sucker for lace + ivory. so this is RIGHT up my alley! love.

{source: we heart it}

make // pretty little cake bunting w/ a bit of scrapbook paper + a glue stick, a bit of yarn or ribbon and 2 tiny dowel rods. this weekend we celebrated wade's big birthday. finally he and i are the same age again. ;)

*** inspired by the darling bunting on this yummy looking cake photographed by call me cupcake. now to learn to make cakes so lovely!

buy // an alphabet stamper like this one from sculpey. then ... take on this adorable diy catch-all plate via a brooklyn limestone in progress. a complete "ah ha" moment. and definitely a necessity for my upcoming pottery class, wouldn't you agree!?! :)

{souce: amazon & a brooklyn limestone in progress}

listen // the new jeff bridges album. i'm just going to admit that i find jeff bridges to be hot, hot, hot. i know he could be my grandpa. ha. so i'm pretty smitten w/ the new bluesy country sound of his album released earlier this month. have you had a listen? have one here!

{source: Dustin Cohen}

happy munday, folks! :)

{food for thought} meal swap: september edition

hey nashville peeps! it's that time again - time to round up meal swappers for september. we've had a bit of a slow summer w/ lots of people traveling - so we're hoping to get our meal swap to 8 swappers.

a few details about our group:

* our portions are perfect for a family of 2 (or 2 roommates).
* we live in the nashville area. pretty important!

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.

we'll most likely swap the weekend of september 3rd-4th - so i'll need to know who's interested by this friday (8/26) at the latest. that should give swappers plenty of time to prep! interested? email me ASAP here!

le menu:

1 // spanish eggplant
2 // buttermilk herb chix
3 // chix cacciatore
4 // chili con carne
5 // chix tortilla soup
6 // turkish pork chops
7 // apple cranberry pork loin
8 // moroccan hamburgers

how's that for variety!?! sounds yummy, eh!

{food for thought} meal swap: august edition

hey peeps! it's that time again - time to round up meal swappers for august. we're going to swap this time the weekend of the 13th ... so a bit of a mid-month swap. let me know if you're interested in joining! :)

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.
interested? email me here!

{food for thought} betty crocker?

i've been gluten free (except a minor slip up at bonnaroo*) for 3 weeks now!

instead of heading to whole foods day 1 and stocking up on all sorts of bread, cookie and pasta substitutes - i've pretty much kept my usual diet: oatmeal for breakfast - vegetables, chicken/salmon, rice for lunch/dinner - fresh fruit in between. i've opted for corn tortillas when we hit up mexican and icecream or a popsicle for dessert instead of chocolate cake.

i have however been missing donuts (i never really craved them before!) and i know it's only days before wade begs me to make my spinach feta lasagna rolls again. so it's time, people. time to start weeding through the "not so yummy" gfree items to find the winners.

last night, we tried out betty crocker's gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix:

i'm a little sad that it took me a week to build up the courage to bake these bad boys. you have to understand ... i'm gag-frequent. it takes a lot of convincing for me to try something i might not like, bc i know what the outcome might be. but wade, our friend ketric, and i agree - these were really really yummy. while i probably will try to find a gfree choc chip cookie recipe from scratch (to save $), i'm thrilled to have this last minute sweet fix.

kudos to betty for considering the dietary needs of 2 of her gfree employees and not only creating 4 gluten free options (white/choc cake, brownies and cc cookies) but also building a separate gluten free processing facility for these treats. find fun recipes based on her mixes here.

my friend faith has been telling me "no one can come close to udi's". and i plan to make a trip to trader joe's next week to pick up a loaf of bread and/or granola. ... now to find a good pasta substitute. recommendations?

after dinner and a ride around town in the back of ketric's jeep (feeling 16 again!), i found a few spare seconds to begin a little project!

a pile of doilies, hankerchiefs, and other random linens ...

... a few pins here and there ...

... and i have 1 curtain panel for our bathroom pieced together.

... now to garage sale for additional pieces to make a "mismatched" pair. and then while wade is traveling, i'll finish and hang.

have a wonderful weekend, blogosphere. :)
i needed this little "retreat" blog post today. thank you!

* to explain my moment of weakness, after 2 days of ordering gyros w/out the pita and buritos w/out the taco shell. i had a HOTDOG + the bun. yikes. i know. what a waste of my weak moment. i could have had banana bread or crepes. ugh. stupid me. of course then i woke up w/ another rash (not hives) but what i call "texture" on tuesday. maybe the hotdog bun? maybe the workload?

{food for thought} going gfree ...

well - i did it! a week ago today i decided to go gluten-free. last wednesday, i woke up w/ a fresh set of hives. and i decided something wasn't working. so i'm attempting an elimination diet starting w/ gfree - and if the hives continue ... i'll consider my stress level! (which is way above the norm this week! WAY ABOVE!)

so far so good ... however whomever decided the office needed krispy kreme doughnuts - you are a butthead!

super thankful for my sweet friend kristen (natrually free rd) and all her twitter followers. check out her journey to healing here.

i'm also super thankful that wade and i live in nashville w/ whole foods, trader joe's, gfree bakeries and more. oh and for betty crocker jumping on board - yum. no idea what my parents would do in rural illinois if they attempted to go gfree (as they should - my poor dad and his messed up digestive system!).

now about those doughnut cravings. any suggestions!?!

{food for though} meal swap: june edition

hi folks! we're rounding up meal swappers for june. and it looks like we're going to have quite a few openings because our regular swappers are traveling throughout the summer. you can read all about our meal swap here - and let me know if you're interested. (first come, first serve!)

a few details about our group:

* we pull recipes from the book "fix, freeze, feast".
* we do 1/2 portions - perfect for a family of 2 (or 2 roommates).
* we aren't a specialty group - that means we eat meat + grains. while we strive to be healthy, we aren't strictly organic either.
* we live in the nashville area. pretty important unless you're willing to commute! ha.

our past menus have included:

april
mango + cranberry stuffed chix
tequilla lime chix
chix curry
pork loin w/ apricot + apple sausage stuffing
chix brocoli bake
black bean + veggie chili
vegetable lasagna
mexi stuffed peppers

may
cashew chix stir-fry
dave's swap blues bbq chix
sweet asian chix
caribbean port tenderloin
feta/spinach lasagna rolls
basil-balsalmic pork chops
black bean vegetable chili

yum! interested now!?!

we'll most likely swap next weekend (the 4th or 5th) - so i'll need to know who's interested early next week! email me ASAP here!

gluten-free + vegan desserts ...

besides plain ol' fruit?!?
need suggestions ... STAT!

{food for thought} meal swap: may edition

hey peeps! it's that time again - time to round up meal swappers for may. we're keeping our meal swap at 8 swappers. we have 6 carry-overs from last month ... so that means we have 2 open spots. (first come, first serve!)

a few details about our group:

* we pull recipes from the book "fix, freeze, feast".
* we do 1/2 portions - perfect for a family of 2 (or 2 roommates).
* we live in the nashville area. pretty important!

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.

we'll most likely swap this sunday evening - so i'll need to know who's interested by friday at the latest so that you have time to prep! interested? email me ASAP here!

~*~*~*~*~* UPDATE *~*~*~*~*~

this month's menu:

cashew chix stir-fry
dave's swap blues bbq chix
sweet asian chix
caribbean port tenderloin
feta/spinach lasagna rolls
basil-balsalmic pork chops
black bean vegetable chili
beef fajitas

yum! (still looking for 2 additional swappers!)

{food for thought} meal swap: april edition

guess what people? april is TWO days away!

yikes. i'm a little late - but we've had a lot of interest in a freezer swap. so we're gonna kick this bad boy off this month. the book is in the mail - so we'll prob be ready to prep/swap next week. that means you have until friday to get in on april's swap.

not sure what i'm talking about? see here.
interested? email me here!

{food for thought} better body blair

one of my sweet friends suggested that i post more on being a newlywed. so here we go ...

confession: i swore it wouldn't happen to me, but i have put on "love weight" since getting married. grr. and let's face it - just giving up sugar for lent isn't going to cut it. time to take action!

here are a couple of FREE apps for my smart phone that i have found to be SOOOO helpful:

1 // my fitness pal - FREE diet and exercise journal

here's how it works:

download the app and set up a goal. w/ that goal in mind, the app automatically gives you the amount of calories you can eat a day.

after each meal, use the search to add what you ate. they have 800,000 foods currently included in their database - including restaraunts and specific t grocery store items (aldi, trader joes). and - how much does this rock: they have a barcode scanner! awesome.

add your workout. this gives you additional calories per day depending on your activity. it's really encouraging to workout when you can see the add'l calories you get to eat right there on the homepage!

finally, each day submit your progress ... and it will show you how much closer you are to your goal.there's a TON more involved w/ this app - including an online community. so dig in!

2 // my tracks - FREE performance monitor/GPS tracker

here's how it works:

use my tracks while you run, bike, hike, or do anything else outdoors. it uses the GPS sensor in your phone to record the path you took. it will also gather useful stats like time, speed, distance, and elevation.

{source: jon' journal}

you can review this data and save it for later. (this is sooo helpful when adding info to my fitness pal.) and if you're brave - it has a built in share option!

{i can only find this currently for android. but i'll let you know if i find something similar for iphone.}

3 // last but not least ... pandora radio - FREE personalized radio

here's how it works:

just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and pandora will create a "station" that plays their music and more music like it. then you have the option to skip ahead (if the song is too slow for your pace) or dislike/like the artist altogether. by disliking/liking, you help pandora further narrow in on your style!

so what are your most helpful diet apps?

NOTE: all of these are "free" - that is if you have an unlimited date plan!

----------------------------

of course ... all this healthy talk (and healthy eating - not to mention the 11.5 miles i've put in over the last 2 days) has me craving sugar more than ever!!! thank goodness wade ate all the samoas we had in the house. {by "all" i mean only 1 box.}

i can say "thank goodness" now after giving him haides the other day - because i found this AMAZING homemade samoa recipe. i will be making a batch post easter. how's that for evil temptation at the end of this healthy little post!

{happy list} boston inspired

wade and i had a wonderful time in boston over the weekend. we left bright and early on friday morning (taxi pickup at 4.00am to be exact!) - and then i returned last night. he's still there until weds for work. lucky.

i LOOOOVE that city! here's a little boston inspired happy list:

1 // senegalese food. friday night we had dinner @ teranga in the south end w/ friends mike and nicole. i had michoui - marinated roasted lamp served w/ camelized onion sauce and moroccan couscous - and a glass of bouye juice. wade had brochettes de poulet - skewered chicken served with fried sweet plantains, onion and sriracha sauce. what are the chances that nashville has a senegalese restaurant!?! :)

{courtesy: dan watkins}

2 // burdick's. i've mentioned burdick's before when i've posted about boston - but it deserves to be repeated. there's no better way to warm up on a cold day than with the B-E-S-T cup of hot chocolate in the city world! this trip i cheated lent a teensy bit to share a small cup of venezuelan hot chocolate. think dark chocolate w/ a bit of almond flavor ... yum! and of course burdick's has jumped on the macaron bandwagon with their own version, luxembourgers. (oh hey they're gluten free!)

3 // all this talk about food, it's a good thing that boston is know as ... the walking city. it's nicknamed the walking city because thanks to b-town's awesome public transportation system, walking is the cheapest and easiest way to get around town. plus - if you want to learn a bit about the history of our country, you can just hop on the freedom trail! i love how much we walk when we're in town - i don't have to feel as bad about enjoying the fine cuisine.

{source: we ♥ it}

ooh - since we're talking about food ... this is where i should also mention the paramount. we enjoyed a delicious brunch served cafeteria style at this little restaurant on sunday morning w/ our friend ashish. it opened in beacon hill in 1937 - and there's been a line out the door since! such a fun bit of yummy boston history.

4 // cozy winter fashion. it's true people. i'm not ready to give up my warm layers yet - despite the 74º weather outside today in nashville. so i felt particularly at home in b-town where everyone was still layering and wearing boots of every shape and size. i might have purchased 2 new pairs while shopping the clearance racks at uo in harvard square:

{click to shop}

i've been wanting black boots for a while ... but the brown pair was definitely boston inspired. now for some inspiration before i try to pull them off:

{source: suddenly darling & a merry mishap}

5 // and last but certainly not least ... much needed family time with my big sister, her husband and their little boys (dayton - 3, easton - 6mo). my brother-in-law brandon is currently posted in newport, rhode island - so they made the quick trip to boston to spend the day w/ us. the 6 of us took the city by storm:

* breakfast @ trident on newbury street
* urban outfitters to buy dayton an elephant piggy bank
* a tour of the uss constitution in charlestown
* the yummiest lunch @ parish cafe
* a quick tour of the commons and the very spot where wade and i got engaged
* hot chocolate @ burdick's in harvard square
* urban outfitters to buy a replacement elephant piggy bank (oops!)
* dinner in the north end
* and finally ... boston cream pie @ the omni parker hotel

by the end of the day, we were stuffed to the gills, a little sore from all our walking ... and we had 2 tuckered out - but perfectly pleasant - little nephews to say goodbye to. hopefully someday we'll be able to live closer to each other ... in the meantime, we treasure the quick trips we do get to share.

hope you had a wonderful weekend too.