This has been such a rejuvenating weekend and just what I needed. Hope I can get reservations at the KERF Spa again soon! From nourishing meals to fun exercises to relaxation, this weekend had it all (wish Matt and I could have spent more time together though!)

This afternoon I worked on an academic project for my internship for a bit and then did something I haven’t done in ages: lounged on the couch and watched TV in my sweats! Glorious. I never got around to packing up all my big dishes this weekend, but that can wait. It’s a sunny day project anyways.

Around 4:30 I knew there was nothing in the world I wanted more than some Great Harvest bread. My body is still weirdly hungry but not hungry. I have determined that my hydration must be the cause. But the bread did wonders for my legs – they felt so much better afterwards!

Flax Oat Bran topped with Nuttzo and Crofter’s Superfruit spread

While I vegged, dinner cooked!

Slow-Cooker Pineapple Chicken

Recipe here and for printing, here —> 

+ 4 hours =

SO SO SO easy. I served a heaping spoonful over baby spinach and leftover turmeric rice and garnished with cilantro, avocado and Cholula!

I’ve got a suuuuper early morning tomorrow – and overnight oats brewing in the fridge! Going to watch 30 Rock and then get in bed early. Nite!

Fun fun!!

We met Kate, Nate and Karen for a little movie action this afternoon. The Road was amazing. So well done and very true to the book. I think I appreciated it more having read the book than I might have otherwise. It was quite somber and a bit gruesome, but totally well done.

I brought a handful of bars to share with the group for snacking…

We nibbled on this Tropical Fruit Bear Naked bar on the way there and shared the rest with K+N. I liked it a lot – these bars are like oatmeal cookies!! But Matt and I both agreed this flavor would be better without the strong lemon flavor.

LOVE LOVE Fruition bars!!!

And then I tried this Vega Vibrancy Bar. I’m not sure what the flavor was but I think maybe just the standard plain one. It was kind of datey and had the most delicious chunks of what I think were almonds – it was like toffee!! However, there was this overpowering blech oily taste – essential fatty acids!? – that Kate, Nate and I all thought was quite gross. But the texture was so good I ended up finishing most of it. I’d give it a solid B.

We arrived home from the movie ’round 7PM for some soup + schmoozin’

I wasn’t in the drinkingist mood, so I made some POM Mocktails for us

Seltzer, a splash of Sierra Mist that Karen left here, POM and cherries. I think I had 2 of these.

Souuuuuuup!

We used Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean for the base. I soaked it last night in a bunch of water. Then today, we put it in a pot and brought to a boil (because of the KIDNEY BEANS) and then after it had boiled and simmered a bit and then put it in the crockpot with 1 can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

After we came back from the movies it had bubbled over the side!! But it did taste amazing. Very creamy!

Topping bar provided by Kate + Nate! Plus hot sauce + red pepper flakes

I had seconds on toppings midway through!

Ain’t nothin’ like dippin’ some tortilla chips into chili! Had a bunch of these guys..

Caitlin and Jason brought over this DIVINE local Cinnamon Cranberry Goat Cheese!!

It tasted like ice cream!

Loved these Back To Nature crackers as well

Annnnddd I realized I had the ingredients for a spinach salad and TOTALLY FLAKED OUT!! I completely forgot to assemble it and after dinner I asked if anyone wanted any and everyone seemed full so we moved into dessert. Obviously.

However, upon opening the contents of this Women’s Bean Project Peanut Buttery Cookie Mix I found evidence of some WORMS!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!! So glad I gave it a close inspection (I’d had this in the pantry for a long time.) Going to totally inspect the pantry top to bottom tomorrow. Very, very scared of the Indian meal moths now!

Back-up dessert plan came from the freezer! Dancing Deer Maple Ginger Cookies from homecoming and VeggieGirl Brownie Points!

We started a game of Apples To Apples and I nibbled my way through one of each – a giant cookie and a brownie. So delish!

Such a good game!

Red wine was opened and I had a little to go with dessert. x2

At the end of the game we counted up our points -

10 for Matt

TONS for K+ N

Winner Caitlin and Jason!

And only THREE for me! I am a sore loser

***

Guy Knife Winners!

I can’t believe how many of you like to chop ONIONS! I normally never hack with my Random Integer Generator, but I gotta admit I couldn’t give the prize to someone who was going to chop onions first thing.

So the random non-onion winner is…

Rebecca, send me an email with your name + address!

***

That’s a wrap!

My Fair Lady!? Anyone!?

Whew! Two classes complete. Two to go. One exam on Friday and another on Monday.

Had a delicious EarthFare salad for lunch with my friends.

Let’s see if I can remember….

Greens on the bottom….grapeleaf, garbanzo salad, penne pasta salad, blackberries + pineapple, granola (LOVE their buffet granola!), kale salad, snap peas, kidney beans, corn, blue cheese, a hidden piece of salmon….and a partridge in a pear tree!

Plus a yummy tea

I also brought my crackers to share. Had a few of those as well

I walked to the bathroom at EarthFare and stumbled up on a sampling of chocolate PEANUT BUTTER!!! You bet I ate that whole sample It was good, but not as good as Naturally Nutty Chocolate Vanilla Almond Butter. Gotta get me some more of that stuff! [But oh no, I don't see it in the store! I wonder if it's STILL in the trial stage!? The vanilla almond butter is just as good! Like frosting]

*Insert MNT exam here*

Once I got home dinner was almost ready! But I was not ready to eat! EarthFare was filling today.

On the menu: Crockpot Curry Chicken + Fruits

I put two FROZEN Greensbury Market organic chicken breasts in the crockpot this morning with a can of coconut milk and 1 tsp each of cinnamon and red curry powder

I set it to low and came home 6 hours later to find tender cooked chicken….and curdled coconut milk!? Not sure why the milk curdled since I’ve cooked with it many times, but it was still good.

So at 5PM I added a bag of broccoli + cauliflower plus 8 chopped apricots and about a quarter cup of raisins and they cooked for another hour or so. Was going to add eggplant, but I figured there wasn’t enough liquid for both.

Garnished with more cinnamon and greek yogurt. The dish wasn’t perfect, but it tasted AMAZING. The dried fruits were plump and sweet and the chicken shredded-tender. Loved it! Would have been good with some brown rice underneath as well.

I almost forgot – Matt‘s coworker, Kruti, send him home with a special fried dough treat for me to try!! It was awesome – sweet and spicy at the same time. Went well with the curry!

After dinner we watched the movie Chocolat. Loved it!!! I was captivated by the plot the whole movie, and I loved the characters.

Of course, one cannot watch a movie about chocolate and not partake. [If only I had a mug of that rich hot chocolate!]

I give you my Chocolate Chest

It is filled with all kinds of chocolates that I stash away

I even have a Cadbury creme egg from EASTER! I have no idea how I resist this stuff, but I will tell ya that I sneak chocolate from my chest at least once a week and it does not get blogged!! This with wrappers are saved for special occasions, hence the egg.

I made myself a nice tasting plate of chocolaty treats.

A Fleur de del Caramel by Recchiuti from the Foodbuzz Festival, a piece of Curry Vosges from Marathon Val, a bite of Brownie Points from VeggieGirl and some Scharffen Berger semi-sweet, almost from Foodbuzz Fest, which I think is the best chocolate in the world! DROOL!

I ate my chocolates in honor of MICHELLE‘S BIRTHDAY!!

Off to read Wicked!

Helllllll yeaaaaahhh

Dinner turned out awesome!! Back-to-back nights worthy of a recipe page!!

Cranberry Crock-Pot Chicken

More photo love -

I sipped on POM + Tonic while I cooked

Two ingredients are worthy of a second mention:

First, the chicken was from Greensbury Market, which is an online source for organic chicken if you have trouble finding it in your area. It arrived packed on ice and frozen in nice packages for ease-of-weeknight-use. It is quite expensive though, so I’d probably only use it for special reasons, like low availability or lack of quality in my local area.

This was the third time I’ve had the Tribal Moose BBQ sauce. (See Cran-Tastic and Haircuts + Limericks!) I honestly think it’s one of the best BBQ sauces I’ve tasted, but y’all know I love the sweet/savory combo and this definitely has it. In the slow cooker tonight it got all smoky and I even tasted hints of cacao nibs in the charred edges! Doesn’t look like it’s in many stores, but it’s not too expensive to order online. It was pretty darn delicious!!

However, I’m authorized to give some away!! THREE winners will get some shipped to their doorstep. Just leave a comment to enter!

***

We licked our plates clean!! This was one of those meals where we “mmmmed” our way through. Matt made several funny comments about how he didn’t know cranberries could be good (he’s not into all the seasonal foods like pumpkin, cinnamon, squash and cranberries like I am )

***

Just learned about an AWESOME opportunity for you guys on December 1st! Mark your calendars!!

***

I’m going to celebrate being done with classes for a full 7 days with a snack and a movie: Marie Antoinette. (Or at least the first half – it’s late!)

I’m trying out another flavor of TEMPT – the vanilla bean. I really disliked the mint chocolate and the chocolate biscotti was just OK.

‘

Sadly, this one isn’t much better. It tastes rather fake I REALLY wanted to like this flavor, but I can’t give it 26 stars. I had it with a cup of yogi tea and some butterscotch chips!

Goodnight!

Class was uneventful and before I knew it I was back at home. I’ve been slacking and haven’t been planning my dinners out and also skipped a grocery store trip this weekend since we had enough stuff to get by, so we’re in "dinners on a whim" mode.

Things I had:

• Leftover chicken
• Leftover squash goo "broth"
• A sweet potato
• Huge thing of spinach
• Carrots
• Lentils
• Rice
• Spices

=another crock pot meal!

At 4:00 I prepared the dish and set it to high for 3 hours.

First a nuked a tiny sweet potato and 2 carrots so they were slightly tender.

Then added half a cup each of rice and red lentils plus 1.5 cups broth

Then leftover chicken (only about 1/3 cup) pulled from the bone and our congealed squash broth from the chicken + squash dinner.

Then 2 tsp of red curry powder, 1 tsp yellow curry powder, salt and pepper.

I think this deer in our yard was rabid – he was dancing and doing weird things. I stayed inside.

And I ate this KIND bar for a snack. Don’t think I’ve ever tried this flavor and I loved it!!!

I got some research done with the help of my Twitter scholars Julie and Alicia who helped me locate some articles!

And at 7PM it was time to eat!

Curry Chicken + Squash Lentil Dal

[I'm not sure what the definition of a dal is, but I'm calling this one because it was goopy and had red lentils!]

Topped with cinnamon, yogurt and red pepper flakes and served on a bed of wilted baby spinach drizzled with EVOO

I thought it was appropriate to have curry for dessert too

Trying to motivate myself to do more research. I am good at finishing small projects, but I despite research papers

GOSSIP GIRL TONIGHT!

Hey guys! We had such a fast-paced day that ended with a slow-cooked meal

I took your suggestion and rolled up my placemats into a basket (that used to have laundry supplies that have been re-assigned to a shelf)

Works quite well! I just hope they don’t get too rolly in there and not lay flat when I need them.

Around 11 Matt and I went on a 5-mile run. The weather was perfect and I had a good running day [meaning I could keep up with Matt )

While I showered, he prepared our very first crock pot meal!

I saw Robin Miller make Maple-Orange Chicken with Acorn Squash and Sweet Potatoes on the Food Network a few months ago and knew if I ever got a crock pot, this would be the meal I'd make first. And so it was!

With the exception of the fact that we didn't have all the ingredients, so we made our own version, of course.

First Matt cut up a squash - only half - and a large sweet potato and filled the pot

Then he butchered an organic whole chicken from Costco into pieces to fit inside

And since we didn't have orange marmalade like Robin, we used this Fortnum and Mason Game Relish preserves instead. I've been wondering what I'd use this with for a long time! I didn't taste it plain, but it had chunks of cranberries and orange peel - perfecto! We used the whole jar...

For liquids we also realized we HAD NO BROTH!!! So we used about 1/2 a cup of water and a splash of POM! Plus salt + pepper and 2 glugs of Worcestershire sauce. Lastly, we garnished with thyme from the garden, 3 cloves of garlic and about 6 sage leaves.

Set on LOW for 6 hours = done!

After making dinner, we headed to lunch!

Up to Cabo Fish Taco in NoDa

Where I met Kate, Danielle and Jessica!

Cabo is totally "cool"

New friends [if they liked me!]

We were greeted with some delicious crunchy chips. I probably had a serving or so throughout the meal.

I always gravitate to the salad section of the menu and almost got one, but I decided that in a taco restaurant I should get tacos!

I had the blackened mahi-mahi tacos, which were filled with cabbage and tomatoes (I got them without cheese, which gets lost in the mix, and the sour cream sauce on the side).

Unfortunately the tacos themselves were super oily and I only had some of the outsides. I don’t care for vegetable oil flavor! I ate all of my filling though!

The refried beans were awesome! Excellent for some chip dipping. I had about 1/3 and Matt finished ‘em off.

Matt‘s lemon tuna tacos with jalapeno cheddar mashers – I had a bite of each.

NoDa is a pretty far drive from my house and I knew it was now or never to try out Charlotte’s ONE AND ONLY frozen yogurt joint: Tasty Yo!!!!!

And I was most pleased to hear they are opening a location in South Charlotte by the end of the month!! ‘Bout time!

We noticed info on the nutrition – only 110 calories for a small. Pretty impressive!

Also impressive was the flavor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I liked this the most out of all the tart yogurt samples I’ve tasted.

I’m a chocolate crunch kinda girl, but I went with kiwi, strawberries and granola today. It just seemed appropriate for my first tart yogurt. Loved it! Matt helped me eat – we probably split 60/40.

It was like summer out today!

We said goodbye to the girls and headed out to run a handful of errands.

First stop: Costco.

I think we won the prize for the least amount of purchases. All we got was spinach, bananas and PERSIMMONS!!! Can’t wait to eat one again! Thanks to Chelsea for introducing me

Next stop: Lowes!

For a wrench, which is the wrong size and we have to return, and lightbulbs. I hated the bulbs that were in our living room lights – they were SO YELLOW – so today we picked up two "bright white" CFLs that emit a much prettier glow. Bright white on the left; yellow on the right:

I also paid a happy visit to my favorite aisle:

Next stop was Bed Bath and Beyond for a new space heater! They didn’t have the one I had planned on getting, but we got this $50 (+ 20% off) Lasko one and so far I am very happy. I wanted a vertical one that blew heat with a remote control and this so far is excellent.

So is the remote, which I can use from my desk

Last stop: Target!

I got in a mini workout on their big exercise balls!

I have been looking for a replacement Method OMop for WEEKS now with no luck! [My old one's handle broke and the company sent me a replacement voucher] The same with Noxzema with Moisturizers. I can’t find it anywhere, and I’ve looked in about 10 different stores. They all only have the original (which I ended up buying today but I like the pink one more) I see they have it on Amazon though. What doesn’t Amazon have!? But only 2 left in stock!?

Once home and unpacked and sorted, we checked on the chicken – the whole house was starting to smell good!

It was a’bubblin’ away!

Angela, I found this sticker on my mouse and squealed to Matt "Have you been reading Oh She Glow!?" He didn’t know what I meant and unfortunately he has not been reading but just put it there so I’d know the name of the squash for my post, but I got a kick out of it anyways!

Serve me some chicken, crock pot!

Well I have to say, it was delicioso!!!! The roots were SUPPPPERRRR tender. Melt in your mouth!!

My chicken breast (skinless before we put it in) was as good as chicken breasts get, but Matt‘s thigh meat was so succulent (he shared). The breast wasn’t bad at all though. Just not melting.

The Great Harvest sourdough was the perfect dry accompaniment

And my splash of Black Box Sauvignon Blanc turned dinner into Saturday Night.

During dinner we were discussing all the things we could make in the crock pot and I mentioned that some people make baby food. And then this conversation happened:

"You know some people even make baby food purees in a crock pot."

 Matt enthusiastically said, "That’s genius!!" 

Me: "What’s genius? The crock pot?"

Matt: "No, making your own baby food. I will HAPPILY take on that task when the time comes."

Me: "Seriously!?"

Matt: "Are you crazy? A time-consuming scientific food project sounds fun to me!"

Um, that would be awesome! [But no, we're not even thinking about having kids yet!"]

Going to listen to more Xmas music and take a bubble bath!!