Ta-Da!! As promised, here is the final product of the Spicy Baked Macaroni I made on Friday night for Eric’s mom’s birthday! It was actually REALLY good! I will definitely make it again. I made some minor adjustments to the original recipe (you can find it here), including adding sautéed prosciutto (yes, I know that’s meat—more on the vegetarianism later) and used up some different cheeses. I did not have any parmesan on hand when I made this, so I used mostly Romano, mozzarella and a tiny bit of cheddar.
- Pros: Flavor wise, it was fantastic. Super crunchy top from baking and all over great taste and not too heavy.
- Cons: Next time I will shred the mozzarella instead of using cubes. Some of the cubes didn’t melt all the way through, so every so often you’d encounter a big, chewy blob.
Also, in the future I will add more tomatoes and spinach and onion to bulk it up a bit.
And for dessert….
Makeover Peanut Butter Cheescake. YUM. (Recipe found here).
The evening was fabulous as we enjoyed cheese and fine wine.
This was a very great bottle of Laetitia Pinot Noir. Hands down one of my favorite wineries, so I was SOOOO happy to have some of this for dinner!
Overall we had a great night and Eric’s mom had a wonderful birthday 
When I woke up Saturday morning all I could think about was the 9 miles I had on my schedule. I just wanted to get out and done! When I took off I felt great (for about 1 minute) and then I got really winded and slowed it down for another 2 minutes or so, then I finally found my element and ended up covering just over 10 miles! My legs really started to feel it on that last mile, so I came home and drank some chocolate milk for recovery!
Eric thinks I look all 80’s with my new Lululemon headband. Yeah, I kind of do. Oh and excuse my grossness—no make up, sweat and yuck.
Saturday day whizzed on by as we ran around to Target, Whole Foods, the usual. We finally ended up at Cafe Epi!!!!
I was soooo excited and happy….
Eric and I split a glass of Malbec and ordered the cheese and fruit plate alongside a cup of butternut squash soup.
The cheese plate was good, but not great. I loved the brie but the other cheese (not sure which kind) didn’t really have too much of a flavor. Besides that—the plate was amazing!
The soup, on the other hand, was absolutely perfect. I loved dipping the warm bread into the soup!
The cafe itself was cute and quaint. You went up and ordered at the register and paid right then and there. You bring a number to your table and they deliver your food (Carls Jr. anyone?) and you leave when you are finished. Eric and I both agreed the music was a bit weird, but overall I would love to go back!
We came home and ate some more food. Oops.
Luckily it mostly consisted of veggies and cheese—nothing heavy, but then we followed it up with some sea salt dark chocolate. The best date night ever.
Sunday morning I woke up and got by butt out for a run. I had 6 miles planned, but only completed 5. My knee and hip started to act up (completely different than my prior injury), so I decided to take it easy and walk the last mile. I’m so glad I did because I couldn’t stand another overuse injury!
After I came back from my run I had a little “me” time and went to Nordstrom Rack, Bed Bath and Beyond and Marshalls. I was hoping to find some cheap workout clothes and WARM workout clothes for when we go to Europe—but I couldn’t find anything that I liked, or was willing to pay the price. Where do you go for discount workout gear?
I came home and Eric and I hoped into the car to a little restaurant called Astaria.
We met with Eric’s grandma, mom and boyfriend for yet another birthday celebration. This resturant was FABULOUS, and I was starving by the time we got there! I ordered the Roasted Beet Salad with a side of grilled chicken.
Now, I have only broken the vegetarian rule 3 times this month. I was by no means making a lifestyle of it, but most just to see how often I really do consciously eat meat. I was feeling sluggish from the 15 miles I logged in two days so I really wanted some protein.
This salad was so beautiful! There were red and yellow beets, arugula, crispy thin onions, grilled chicken and some roasted goat cheese. I got so excited because I noticed there was a beet in the shape of a star on my goat cheese!
So cute! This salad was so good. I licked my plate clean!
It kept me full (surprisingly) for about 5 hours. We also had some desserts and I tried my hardest to refrain, but I had some bites of brownies, ice cream, ho-ho’s (yes Drea you read that correctly) and sorbet. They were devoured so quickly that I couldn’t get a picture! But the pastry chef there is VERY talented. I found these picture in Google Images (a flickr account).
I love the chocolate stars that were on every dessert! So beautiful—but not enough to eat! Ha!
The rest of the day was kind of a drag and I found myself in my “Sunday Blues” mode. So—i took the bad route and ended up staying up late to prolong the weekend.
I woke up tired, but much happier for some reason! I quickly shuffled out the door to work and found myself looking at a gorgeous San Franciscan day!
I hated to be cooped up inside, but I was super busy all day at work and eventually tore myself away to eat some lunch. This weekend at Trader Joe’s I picked up some California Rolls, but instead of being wrapped in seaweed, they were wrapped in carrots!
I ADORE THESE!! This was my first time trying packaged sushi (shocker I know) and they were fantastic. Great flavor and came with wasabi, ginger and soy sauce. I know that’s pretty standard, but I was so excited! Oh, and I’m pretty sure these only cost $1.99 at Trader Joe’s. I will definitely be buying these on a weekly basis.
Now I’m off to do what I didn’t do this weekend: try and gather some recipes to cook throughout the week. We’ll see what I come up with! Oh and of course keep myself glued to The Bachelor. Guilty pleasures.
I will post the recipe and a picture of the final result this weekend!
