I’m having one of those crazy spastic days where I don’t know what’s going to happen next with myself!
Take the KERF comments for example. I tested a new plugin, decided it wasn’t 100% perfect, uninstalled and am back at square one. Although I did green-up the admin comments so hopefully they are easier to spot!
My workout today involved carrying these giant ice-pack filled bins half a mile to the Relay Foods drop off.
Relay is an awesome grocery collaboration + delivery service that I tried out earlier this year. I’ve had these bins forever and needed to return them!
I met Andrea of Bella Eats for an afternoon walk as she picked up her groceries. We walked for a while – I covered about 3 miles.
I did more weight lifting when I took out the trash like a big girl [this is usually Matt’s chore 
]
Came home to this refreshment – only half left 
Then I did lots of things that sucked away my time in the house and on the computer. Soon enough it was 7PM and I was getting hungry!! Dinner is not going to cook itself this week..
I thawed out some shrimps for dinner. Matt and I used to eat frozen shrimp ALL.the.time. But then we realized that our shrimp from Harris Teeter came from Thailand and stopped buying it for environment reasons. I checked out Whole Foods this week for a more sustainable frozen shrimp source and was happy to come home with some that weren’t too, too expensive.
I turned them into a tomatoey eggplant + bokchoy + quinoa random dish!
The featured seasoning was a new jar of Nello’s Sauce. Blog reader Heather’s boyfriend, Neal, spend years living and traveling in Italy. Inspired by his grandmother and the food he enjoyed on his travels, he’s developed this new line of sauces made from real Italian plum tomatoes with fresh basil, Sicilian sea salt, fresh basil, garlic and thick Italian extra virgin olive oil.
I’ll be the first to tell you that I love it because it did indeed taste fresh from the garden [and because it was free of onions!]
For my dish, I sauteed the shrimp, then removed them and added the eggplant (1 small) and bok choy (leftovers – half a big head) and sauteed until they were brown. I added a splash of sherry some Italian herbs, 1 cup of cooked quinoa and about a cup of the delicious red sauce to bind it all together.
Enjoyed by the light of my Aveda candle
And in the company of a beer from the taps my basement. Because Italian food should not be consumed with water.
[Aren’t you jealous Kanz!?]
Somehow the night has carried away from me and I’ve got a Gossip Girl to watch!
{ 73 comments… read them below or add one }
What a fun dinner!
For being random, your dinner looks really tasty!
I love your placemat!
Love the Kanz mention in the beer pic
You all are too cute!
So jealous of your aveda candle! Aveda aroma is so so amazing delicious. Is the candle nice?
I have some super cute baby pics on my blog today
i love how candles can make any meal elegant!
i love random meals like that! you end up just throwing a whole bunch of great ingredients together and coming out with an awesome dish!
GG is so good tonight!!
Do you like the Aveda candle? I’ve had my eye on it for some time.
Love it!!
Ooh, that dinner looks absolutely delicious!!
Good looking dinner! And that grocery thing looks interesting, I’ll have to check it out. Do they provide organic or anything?
Yeah, lots of organics!
I am so impressed by your willpower–I can never save 1/2 of my kombucha because it’s just too delicious!
I get sucked into the computer vortex all the time. It kills my days!
Well I’m glad you kept busy, and remembered to cook yourself dinner. Hopefully it won’t last too long, and you’ll have the husband back soon enough.
I had an italian- inspired dinner tonight too, not as creative and spontaneous as yours, though
That sounds SO good! And I adore sauces like that.. that taste FRESH.
I am on an eggplant kick right now, so that looks extra delicious!
Oh wow that looks so good and now…
I am hungry!
That dinner looks fabulous! Gosh, on a day like that all I can muster up is a spoon, a peanut butter jar, and a block of chocolate…
do you like the flavor of that kombucha? since they changed it because of the alcohol content, i have been so unhappy with every flavor i’ve tried – i haven’t tried that one yet. the gingerade flavor is the one that i like the best since the change.
I did like it. My favorite of the non-green flavors
I am with you… they are just not the same in a bad way, and I haven’t seen the 21 and up old school ones for purchase yet!
I was a little scared to comment earlier cause the comments were all funky looking, haha! Glad all is worked out
Mmm I love shrimpies!
I just spent HOURS figuring out comment plug-ins. Major migraine right now that’s for sure. I love that even now you still do all the computer stuff yourself!
Well I definitely broke some things tonight in a bad way – thankfully I figured out how to fix them too!
Yum to your dinner! I may have to try this (with no shrimplets) sometime soon. I love everything if you mix it with quinoa!
I’m glad you are back with the WP comment. Intense debate is a little way too complicated on my iPad
Your dinner looks yummo! I hope you were not kidding about Gossip Girl…I am sadly addicted to cheesy teen shows and love this one!
You’re so creative in the kitchen! I’m jealous.
I’ve still not tried kombucha. I’m scared of it
Glad it’s not just me that is scared of Kombucha!
Jessica
Be scared b/c it is a very expensive habit…once you have one, you will probably be hooked! That’s what happened to me.
Wow what an active day! I love random quinoa dishes, they’re the best!!!
Hope you’re enjoying Gossip Girl
mmm that sauce sounds good. enjoy GG
Yumm! That shrimp looks good!
What a lovely dinner
I like that you make meals special by enjoying them by candelight and taking the time to make your food look pretty!
That looks awesome…I am on a shrimp kick lately!
So tasty!
I bet you are excited to get Matt back!
1. I love that you wrote onion free in small type! Was that to avoid offending people that like onions? I am with you Kath, the less onions in my food the better! I personally think tomato sauces without onion are fantastic! It allows for the tomato flavor to really stand out
Definitely going to try a version of this soon!
2. THis dish looks amazing, I love how you regularly make simple veggie packed meals! And only one pot too
I liked the new plug in, but the old one works good, too
)))
Shrimp & eggplant…I’m good with that
Looks fantastic! I’m trying to be creative in my dinner quests and you are a great inspiration!
That eggplant + quinoa dish looks fabulous! And that sauce sounds REALLY good! I love the wholesome ingredients; I’d totally buy it (if it weren’t too, too expensive!)
Haha, I love your philosophy that Italian food should not be consumed with water! You are so right, it’s definitely an understatement.
I always have concerns about shrimp too. Where is your Whole Foods shrimp from? I’m liking the comments so much better this way!
OMG – Thailand!!! I had no idea – WF advertised them as certified farm raised with their special “sustainable” seal so I of course didn’t do much more research. I’m glad you had me double check!
Although, I went to Seafood Watch where I do seafood research and they have Thailand farm raised shrimp as a “Good Alternative” so I don’t feel as bad, but they are certainly not local to the US. Darn!!
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=20
Wow, that’s frustrating. Thanks for checking. That Seafood Watch site is a great resource. I carry around a little card from them and pull it out like a big nerd when I order seafood in restaurants.
I had the iPhone app which was SUPER helpful but now they don’t have one for Droids!
Dinner looks delicious! I love that you are teasing Matt from a distance. I am sure he is missing you!
I like that your comments are in green – they are much easier to spot!
And although I love onions, that tomato sauce looks so amazing.
Oh wow! The shrimp bowl dinner looks really good. Amusing that water doesn’t complement Italian food. Agreed.
That shrimp dinner looks DELICIOUS! I might just have to attempt to whip it up at home
Randomly put together dinners are the best
I’m sure Kanz is jealous
I hate onions in my tomato/spaghetti sauce! I’ve just decided that I need to make it myself in order to fully enjoy it
Jessica
Me too
Dinner looks so good! I love quinoa! I wish it wasn’t so damn expensive! Your placemat is so cute! Love it! Gossip Girl is one of my fave tv shows!
I don’t think quinoa is very expensive?! Are you getting it in bulk bins?
You have beer taps in your basement?! So cool!!
The joys of homebrewing!
Dont you just love when you can build in weight training into your daily routine?!?
Also, I wanted to let you know that I never now if You reply to my comments. It never emails me to tell me… so I just assume that b.c. you receive so many comments you just choose a few to respond to, and mine are never them. Now i’m beginning to think that maybe you do/have responded to me (which would be so neat!) and I just never knew about it? Regardless, I’ll always comment because I love your blog, but i just wanted to let you know that I never receive notifications if in fact you do respond… aaaand I have no idea how to figure this out unless I come back and check my comment. Hrmph.
I respond to almost all *questions* but not always comments. I’m sure I’ve responded to yours before! I’m not quite sure the best way to alert people. I’ve thought about more plugins, but I hate plugins! They scare me. I just hope people will burning enough questions will come back and check
Ahhh, i see i see! Well glad to know that I’ve most likely just been missing out on your comments rather than you not commenting at all. Although, I know I wouldn’t mind getting an email letting me know that you responded!
(And yes you are right, I searched for this very comment just to see if you responded!! hehe)
I just bought a Shampure candle. It was insanely expensive but so worth it!! Have you ever smelled a better scented candle in all your life??
Why is it so bad to have shrimp from Thailand?
Over-farming? Or is it bad for you?
Just because it’s not very “eat local”
Dinner looks so delicious !!! If it was made with Nellos sauce it had to taste great. I love the combination of shrimp and eggplant. I’ll have to try it.
I’ve stayed away from buying shrimp lately too because of some news that my dad passed along to me about toxins and chemicals in shrimp from Asia. I wish I had a WF here to get local shrimp!
Do I spy a Newport Storm glass?!
Indeed!!
I really want to try quinoa and like it, but I can’t seem to get past the fact that the grain (?) looks like tiny little worms. *Sigh*
it’s not random — it’s spontaneous creativity!