Stay-cation week!

This week is my spring break, so I treated myself to a REAL break! I used some vacation time this week to recharge. I did cover some work related tasks on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, but it didn’t require going into the office. This is how my week began:

Monday was my 25th birthday, and Shane surprised me last week by telling me he’d be taking the day off AND had an adventure planned for us! Here’s what we did:

Cycled over to a local food pantry to help with produce distribution
 

Look at those HUGE carrots!

Between the bike ride and heavy lifting we had an excellent workout!

Before the surprise adventure began, we made a stop at Chicago Bagel Authority for some delish bagel sandwiches: egg, cheese, and avocado - yum!
 

Then we hopped on the brown line and headed into the loop, and as soon as we got off the train I just KNEW this must be where we were headed, and I was right: The Art Institute of Chicago

Shane succeeded in making this a budget day: we used our work IDs to get a student discount PLUS we got Chicago resident discounts. Total savings of $16!!


Afterward, we made our way to a nearby starbucks so that I could redeem my free birthday drink: Venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte!


Then we headed to dinner... since Shane had told me that my birthday adventure had a “theme” to it, I had my guesses where we might go, and as we headed in the right direction, I knew I was right: Yu Shan Yu Choy Restaurant (we ate here the first time we visited Chicago together, after a visit to the Art Institute! And it apparently changed its name)
 

It was a gorgeous day, the first time I can remember wearing shorts on March 19th! To take advantage of the last bit of sunlight, we decided to head to Hackneys for some outdoor seating ½ priced wine bottles (their Monday & Tuesday night specials)!
 

Then it was off to our last spot, dessert! When Shane told me we’d be heading north for this stop, I had a feeling I knew exactly where. But the real surprise was WHAT we’d get: Oreo Ice Cream Pie!!! OH. MY. YUM.



It was a great day. I am truly surprised at how much we were able to squeeze into one day! If only the rest of my week could have been so productive ;) And thanks so much for all of the birthday wishes via facebook, text, email, phone call, and cards. They made my day that much better!

On Tuesday morning, I made this to-do wishlist:

• Recipes: hummus, peanut/almond butter, salsa, shampoo, deoderant
• DIY Projects: Spray paint picture frames, order some photos to fill said frames, super-size our Christmas card image to 8 x 10 (for a new welcome sign!)
• Thrift Shopping
• House Keeping

Making that to-do wishlist was my biggest accomplishment on Tuesday, haha. I fully intended to write this post that day, too. Clearly, this task was put off!

Stay tuned for an update on which tasks I actually accomplished.

We want to hear what you're up to! Do you make to-do lists? If you had a week (or day) off, what tasks would you like to tackle?

Oh! Hey again... and a recipe!

Hello there!!

Let’s just dive right into the awkwardness and admit that we have no real explanation or excuse for our “disappearance,” which has actually delayed our reappearance because we just weren’t sure whether or not we should address it.

So now that it’s been addressed, I'll dive right into a new project that we’ve started. It’s a food project! I’m sure you’re not surprised, I’m aware that I talk about food a lot.

In an effort to try and maintain our unusual food budget (which we actually re-vamped at the end of January: $150 bi-weekly, to align with our paydays, instead of $300/month) we wanted to challenge our creative minds in the kitchen. And the best way to do that is to center each week around a main ingredient. Last week, our main ingredient was pinto beans... and most of our meals ended up being Mexican inspired (tacos, nachos, quesadillas + refried beans etc) plus a re-vamped pasta + beans recipe from a blogger I admire (we subtracted the pancetta and added a can of rinsed, diced tomatoes).

This week is chickpeas! We have so many favorite recipes for chickpeas, so I hope we have chickpea week often. Unfortunately, we had to narrow down our options to things we could consume in a week, here’s our list: pasta + beans (very similar to the one from pinto week, but we used chipotle black bean tagliatelle pasta instead), PPK’s chickpea cutlets, PPK’s chicpea picatta, a crockpot veggie satay (plus chickpeas, of course!), and an impromptu, new recipe!

Now, let me just say in advance that I don’t really measure my spices when I toss a new recipe together, and here’s why: I don’t really plan ahead. I worked funky hours yesterday, and decided at the last minute to cook some brown rice and saute chickpeas to take with me for dinner. So once the rice was done I ran to the pantry, grabbed my favorite spices, and dove right in. Here’s what I needed:

Rice:
1 C Brown rice
2 C Water
A splash of olive oil
A dash of salt

Cook according to the package directions

Sauteed Chickpeas:
Butter/margarine (I used Earth Balance, and I’m not sure how much, but enough to provide a thick layer to coat the skillet)
2 Garlic cloves
Spices: Chili Powder, Curry Powder, Onion Powder and Cumin
Flour (I used whole wheat)
Water
1.5 - 2 C Chickpeas (I didn’t actually measure, but it almost filled a 2 C Tupperware so...)
Handful of baby spinach

Forgive me again on not being too accurate with measurements, I just eyed it. So I heated my skillet then tossed in my “butter.” Next, I sauteed the garlic for a bit, just to get it lightly browned. Then I doused the skillet in my spices (I use them so often that I don’t need to measure, I can tell by looking if I’ve used enough). At this point, I noticed that it wasn’t really runny enough to add flour, so I put more butter in the skillet. I just reached into my flour canister and added flour to the skillet until I had a pretty thick paste. Then I splashed water into my skilled until the past turned into a nice smooth, but a slightly thick, sauce. And finally I poured my chickpeas on top along with my spinach and stirred until they were coated and warm. Serve chickpeas on top of the brown rice, YUM!

I took this picture with my phone at work, please excuse the poor quality



I promise that next time I make this dish I will try to have REAL measurements to provide, AND photos from along the way (not phone photos either!)

So tell us about the way you cook. Do you follow recipes, or make your own? Or do you use recipes as more of a guide/suggestion, and take creative liberties?