High Five Fridays: Weekly Meal Plan (10.26.12), Orange Octoberfeatured
This week’s High Five goes out to the Giants and their hunt for Orange October. Also, a second spirited High Five to all the Halloween festivities going on this weekend. Boo!
Have a fun one this weekend, kiddies!
Five of my favorite shades of orange:
- Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Sage and Gingersnap Pecan Crust. One of my favorites from the LMS archives! The flavors are all comfort and fall and drop dead delicious.
- Healthy Butternut Squash Soup. Mmmm nothing cozier than a creamy bowl of butternut squash soup. And, with just 3 ingredients, how can you go wrong?
- Butternut Squash Risotto. This dish always reminds me of my year abroad in Italy. It was one of the first things I learned to make, and it’s still a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
- Butternut Squash Thai Curry with Coconut Rice. Laced with fragrant Kaffir lime and lemongrass, this curry is layered with flavors, spices, and aromatics.
- TREAT YO SELF: Chewy Pumpkin Cookies with Toffee Bits. This cookie recipe was a long time coming. Totally worth it.
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Thirty, Gratitude, and Strawberry Shortcakefeatured
Hi friends, today I turned the big 3-0 🙂
Birthdays usually inspire a bit of self reflection, and I’ve found that especially so on this milestone one.
I’ve learned a few things in these past 29 years. I’ve learned about food and the joys it can bring to people. I’ve learned a simple smile can go a long way. I’ve learned that there is no place in my life for non-fat cheese and crappy chocolate. More than anything though, I have learned how lucky I am.
I am so grateful for the incredible people in my life. I’m grateful for a supportive family and parents who gave me every opportunity to succeed.
I’m grateful for loyal friends who would do anything for me, who have my back, and tell it like it is.
I’m grateful for my health, and all the adventures, fun, and hard work it has allowed me.
I’m grateful for you. Thank you for visiting and indulging me.
And I am especially grateful for being lucky enough to have met the love of my life. Hua, what can I say…you keep thing interesting :). You believe in me, you push me to believe in myself, and you are so good to me.
Case in point, I am writing this poolside at the spa right now…Thanks to you, I am starting off this new decade of my life relaxed, beautified, and aromatherapy rose-scented. The future is looking good.
So, 20s, I bid thee farewell. We’ve shared a lot of good times, great times even, but it’s time to look ahead. 30s, watch out. I’m coming for ya.
And with that, I leave you with some other things I’m grateful for: butter, sugar, flour, eggs, and cream.
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High Five Fridays: Weekly Meal Plan (10.19.12), Run to Eatfeatured
So, remember when my dear husband signed me up for a half marathon? Yep. I was notified via Google calendar invite that I would be running 13 miles in the near future. Umm…
I hate running, but I do love that awesome after glow. And I love feeling like I’ve earned my meals for the day. I haven’t been as on top of my training as I should be, but this past week it’s been put into high gear since the big race is in two short weeks. (Note the self: bring cash in case I need to catch a cab home mid-race). Basically, I’ve been training out of fear at this point.
At least SF is so darn gorgeous…running isn’t soooo painful when you have some beautiful scenery to enjoy.
Have a beautiful weekend, friends! I’ll be spending part of it cranking out a 9-miler. Giddyup.
This Week’s High Fives:
- Honeycrisp Harvest Melt. Grilled cheese with extra-sharp cheddar, honeycrisp apple, and sage butter on ginger-molasses bread. Give me now.
- Sweet Potato and Ricotta Gnocchi with Buttermilk Mornay, Fresh Figs, and Pancetta. I die. Beth, can we be friends so you can make this for me?
- Chicken Broccoli Cobbler. Love the sound of this savory cobbler. Really, anything that involves a cheddar biscuit is ace in my book.
- Maiale in Agrodolce. Pork chops go Italian in this honey and balsamic vinegar glazed beauty.
- TREAT YO SELF: Butterfinger Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars. I run so I can eat ridiculous things like this.
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Chewy Pumpkin Cookies with Toffee Bitsfeatured
October means pumpkin mania. Have you been to the grocery store lately? It’s everywhere. Big jack-o-lantern pumpkins, cute little baby pumpkins, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ravioli…it’s a little out of control. Good thing I like pumpkin.
I came across a jar of pumpkin butter (which doesn’t actually contain any butter, mostly just pumpkin and sugar), which made me think of my major pumpkin fail last year: pumpkin cookies.
What I wanted, what I desperately craved, were wonderfully chewy, slightly crispy pumpkin cookies. What I got were pumpkin muffin tops. Ugh. Remember that? Well, I guess it wasn’t a total loss because I turned them into Pumpkin Toffee Whoopee Pies, but oh, the sting of failure…
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