So October is over and we're already halfway through November. Holy crap!!
Sorry about my lengthy absence! I spent a week in Vegas at the end of October for my beautiful, life-long friend Katie's wedding. She and her now-HUSBAND (that sounds so weird!) have lived in Vegas for years. The wedding week was pefect. We spent some time staying at Katie's house with them, and a couple nights at a hotel. (By "we" I mean Delilah, her fiance David, Jesse and her b/f Will.)
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| Katie and I recreate a 20-year old classic |
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| Delilah, Jesse, and some equally awesome person |
During the week, Delilah and I accepted there would be some serious food-cheating. Alcohol, penis-shaped cake pops (a bachelorette-party must in my book), and some wicked good tapas at this amaizng place called Firefly on Paradise. Soooo.... we started the week off well, and our breakfasts were always clean and delicious.
Tuesday night, Katie and I went grocery shopping before Delilah got to town. We picked up ingredients to make Clean Eating Lemon Zucchini Chicken (recipe to the left!). Katie, Oscar (her now hubby) and I had a great dinner, and had plenty of leftovers for Delilah when she got to town.
Katie has this magical amazing food slicer known as a Mandoline (I kept calling it a Magellan, which I feel is cooler). Have you seen these things? They are brilliant!!
See that little thing that looks like an air hockey piece? That's what you're supposed to use to protect your hands when the vegetable you're holding gets sliced so much that you're getting dangerously close to the blades.
Here's what I did:
*slicing zucchini super fast*
"YOU GUYS THIS THING IS AWESO--"
*slices straight up through my fingernail and into my finger which starts bleeding a lot*
"-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
So. That was fun.
Lesson learned: own a Mandoline, call it a Magellan, and USE THE FINGER PROTECTOR FOR GODS SAKE. I spent the rest of the week awkwardly in bandaids and having to tape rubber glove pieces over my finger so I could shower, because (TMI warning) the blade literally cut THROUGH my fingertnail and into the skin underneath. I was messed up. Thank goodness Katie's mom is a doctor, so Katie has gotten very good at first aid throughout her life. She patched me up and Oscar kept my attention so I didn't faint. Hooray!!
Moving on. This is a food blog, not a gruesome finger-slicing blog!
We had some amazing food this week. I won't spend forever going through each individual day because this post would be 19 pages long. So here's the highlights.
As you can see, there was SOME cheating. But all in all, we did well. I only had a few glasses of wine and some beer throughout the week. The food I ordered was meat and vegetable based, although I admit I did have a few pieces of bread at the 107 Lounge at the top of the Stratosphere, because we got it with some kind of amazing cheese fondue or something and it was AMAZING. Like I mentioned earlier, breakfast every day was eggs scrambled with fresh tomatoes from Delilah's garden, nitrate-free organic bacon, and coffee. I must say, I NEED A KEURIG IN MY LIFE.
The whole week was wonderful and perfect. :)
Since then? I flew back on a Monday, took the next day off work, and kind of ate really random, minimal things the rest of the week. I hadn't gone grocery shopping yet. (Lazy and jetlagged!) Lunch and dinner that week was pathetic, a mix of hummus and black bean/quinoa chips, random Lara Bars, stovetop steaks, and Udi's frozen gluten-free pizza.
I finally went shopping the following Sunday and spent four hours cooking. I was listening to a book on tape, and got so wrapped up in that ("The Innocent" by Harlan Coben....SO GOOD) that I forgot to take pictures. But honestly, I only made meals I was already extremely familiar with and have already posted about. I just wanted to have REAL FOOD in my life again, so I made the following:
1. Chicken Salad w/ Grapes
2. Spaghetti Squash Bake
3. Lemon Zucchini Chicken
4. Stuffed Bell Peppers
I have been doing a different thing with the stuffed peppers recipe. Instead of actually stuffing whole peppers and cooking them in the oven, I've been just cutting up the peppers into small pieces and sauteing them in a tiny bit of olive oil, then mixing the pieces up with the beef mixture. This is a little less time consuming and makes for a very easy-to-pack lunch for workdays.
.
.
.
What else?
OH YES THE GLUTEN-FREE GALA!!!
(Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted I forget what all has happened, food-wise!)
So before Vegas, Delilah stopped in Omaha (crazy woman DROVE from Iowa to Vegas!) and we went to HyVee simply so she could introduce me to a tasty gluten-free beer known as O'Mission Lager (IT'S AWESOME BUY IT NOW).
However, we walked in and they were having a GLUTEN-FREE GALA!!!!
No, seriously! There were tables set up with free samples, and gift bags, and you could sign up to win more free stuff. Delilah won stuff! I just ate stuff. :)
This was so unbelievable. We met a woman who makes Cracked brand Nut Butter, in various flavors. I tried one flavor called Cookie Dough and IT WAS THE MOST DELIGHTFUL THING EVER. So naturally I bought some. Not cheap, but so worth it. She suggested a fantastic recipe, which I tried, and of course didn't take pictures of:
Cracked Nut Butter - flavor of your choice
Bananas - peeled and frozen
Almond Milk
(I think that was all - I'm actually not at home right now but I'll check when I get home)
Mix all together in a food processor until you create an ice-cream like consistency.
SO TASTY. It was a little thinner than normal ice cream, but the effect was the same: Happy taste buds!
Another thing I saw and bought without sampling (they were out of samples, and now I know why) is a brand of gluten-free bread mix: Breads from Anna. I bought banana bread and pumpkin bread.
I am not ashamed to say that I ate the entire loaf of banana bread in like 3 days. All you do is mix together 3 eggs, coconut oil, and nuts (optional). Then stir in the bread mix, and bake for an hour.
Both loaves were perfect. Just the right crumble of the crust, warm and moist inside. I took the pumpkin bread loaf to a party at a friend's house and it was a huge hit!!
Okay, that's gonna do it for now! I'm sorry this post is so dis-jointed, but I'm actually sitting in the backseat of my sister's car as we travel back home. I've got my internet through my personal hotspot on my phone, but it's not the greatest connection. I'm in the backseat because a furry little dog didn't want to sit in the back seat by herself and so I had spent the first hour of the drive holding her on my lap in the front passenger seat. :)
But I bought her an owl sweater, so, she's cute and gets to do what she wants.
Alright kiddos, have an excellent night! I'll have some new recipes to post next time, I promise. I found some really tasty-looking paleo Thanksgiving side dishes and I still have other gluten-free desserts I still need to try making!
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| Fear not, I am here to help. |
See that little thing that looks like an air hockey piece? That's what you're supposed to use to protect your hands when the vegetable you're holding gets sliced so much that you're getting dangerously close to the blades.
Here's what I did:
*slicing zucchini super fast*
"YOU GUYS THIS THING IS AWESO--"
*slices straight up through my fingernail and into my finger which starts bleeding a lot*
"-AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
So. That was fun.
 |
| Hey girl that's a nice manicu-WHAT THE HELL |
Moving on. This is a food blog, not a gruesome finger-slicing blog!
We had some amazing food this week. I won't spend forever going through each individual day because this post would be 19 pages long. So here's the highlights.
 |
| At a local Thai place - chicken satay. YUM. |
 |
| Because it wouldn't be a bachelorette party without penis-shaped cake pops. |
 |
| Instagram-aproved. Tapas from Firefly on Paradise. |
 |
| And Jesse's bf |
As you can see, there was SOME cheating. But all in all, we did well. I only had a few glasses of wine and some beer throughout the week. The food I ordered was meat and vegetable based, although I admit I did have a few pieces of bread at the 107 Lounge at the top of the Stratosphere, because we got it with some kind of amazing cheese fondue or something and it was AMAZING. Like I mentioned earlier, breakfast every day was eggs scrambled with fresh tomatoes from Delilah's garden, nitrate-free organic bacon, and coffee. I must say, I NEED A KEURIG IN MY LIFE.
The whole week was wonderful and perfect. :)
 |
| Tipsy backseat bachelorette party selfie! |
Since then? I flew back on a Monday, took the next day off work, and kind of ate really random, minimal things the rest of the week. I hadn't gone grocery shopping yet. (Lazy and jetlagged!) Lunch and dinner that week was pathetic, a mix of hummus and black bean/quinoa chips, random Lara Bars, stovetop steaks, and Udi's frozen gluten-free pizza.
I finally went shopping the following Sunday and spent four hours cooking. I was listening to a book on tape, and got so wrapped up in that ("The Innocent" by Harlan Coben....SO GOOD) that I forgot to take pictures. But honestly, I only made meals I was already extremely familiar with and have already posted about. I just wanted to have REAL FOOD in my life again, so I made the following:
1. Chicken Salad w/ Grapes
2. Spaghetti Squash Bake
3. Lemon Zucchini Chicken
4. Stuffed Bell Peppers
I have been doing a different thing with the stuffed peppers recipe. Instead of actually stuffing whole peppers and cooking them in the oven, I've been just cutting up the peppers into small pieces and sauteing them in a tiny bit of olive oil, then mixing the pieces up with the beef mixture. This is a little less time consuming and makes for a very easy-to-pack lunch for workdays.
 |
| not beautiful, but tasty. |
.
.
.
What else?
OH YES THE GLUTEN-FREE GALA!!!
(Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted I forget what all has happened, food-wise!)
So before Vegas, Delilah stopped in Omaha (crazy woman DROVE from Iowa to Vegas!) and we went to HyVee simply so she could introduce me to a tasty gluten-free beer known as O'Mission Lager (IT'S AWESOME BUY IT NOW).
However, we walked in and they were having a GLUTEN-FREE GALA!!!!
No, seriously! There were tables set up with free samples, and gift bags, and you could sign up to win more free stuff. Delilah won stuff! I just ate stuff. :)
 |
| Come for gluten-free beer, leave with ALL THE GLUTEN-FREE GOODNESS. |
 |
| duh, winning |
This was so unbelievable. We met a woman who makes Cracked brand Nut Butter, in various flavors. I tried one flavor called Cookie Dough and IT WAS THE MOST DELIGHTFUL THING EVER. So naturally I bought some. Not cheap, but so worth it. She suggested a fantastic recipe, which I tried, and of course didn't take pictures of:
Cracked Nut Butter - flavor of your choice
Bananas - peeled and frozen
Almond Milk
(I think that was all - I'm actually not at home right now but I'll check when I get home)
Mix all together in a food processor until you create an ice-cream like consistency.
SO TASTY. It was a little thinner than normal ice cream, but the effect was the same: Happy taste buds!
Another thing I saw and bought without sampling (they were out of samples, and now I know why) is a brand of gluten-free bread mix: Breads from Anna. I bought banana bread and pumpkin bread.
I am not ashamed to say that I ate the entire loaf of banana bread in like 3 days. All you do is mix together 3 eggs, coconut oil, and nuts (optional). Then stir in the bread mix, and bake for an hour.
Both loaves were perfect. Just the right crumble of the crust, warm and moist inside. I took the pumpkin bread loaf to a party at a friend's house and it was a huge hit!!
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| NOT MUSHY-CROCK-POT-DISASTER BREAD |
 |
| ACTUALLY DELICIOUS AND FANTASTIC |
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| AND STICKY. |
Okay, that's gonna do it for now! I'm sorry this post is so dis-jointed, but I'm actually sitting in the backseat of my sister's car as we travel back home. I've got my internet through my personal hotspot on my phone, but it's not the greatest connection. I'm in the backseat because a furry little dog didn't want to sit in the back seat by herself and so I had spent the first hour of the drive holding her on my lap in the front passenger seat. :)
But I bought her an owl sweater, so, she's cute and gets to do what she wants.
Alright kiddos, have an excellent night! I'll have some new recipes to post next time, I promise. I found some really tasty-looking paleo Thanksgiving side dishes and I still have other gluten-free desserts I still need to try making!
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