I love to cook, though technically I love baking even more. I don't think baking is a very good idea when there are only two of us. It creates way too many opportunities for some serious sweet snacking. So instead of trying out new dessert recipes, I am trying very hard to fulfill my resolution to try out new dinner recipes. It is part of my effort to be more health conscious. Since most of you haven't sampled my new skills, I'll continue to post about my efforts... with photos. (Cue saliva.)
My bravest endeavor thus far...
lemon pasta with roasted shrimp.
I substituted whole wheat noodles for regular,
they have more protein and fiber, which keeps Amit fuller, longer! This is definitely his favorite dish thus far.
I love my slow cooker.
Soups are fantastic and leave us with great leftovers for lunch.
Smashed potato soup was one of the first I tried.
I just found this new soup recipe.
Quick and spicy tomato soup, from Giada's
Food Network site.
It is fantastic!! (And has quite a kick to it!)
It's amazing that it starts from a jar of marinara sauce.
We are having a great time finding and trying out new recipes, even though Amit isn't usually home to help me cook. I guess I'll just save my dessert recipes for when he's around on family dinner nights... That way we can send extra desserts home with our friends!
So I technically started this New Year's resolution before 2010 came around, but I haven't done a very good job of blogging this January. I can't believe it is almost February now! I do have a good reason for not blogging though, we have spent the beginning of 2010 with several trips and fun outings. I promise I will make up for my blogging laziness!
I'm not really one to make New Year's resolutions. I'd rather make a well-planned decision to make a change whenever I decide to do it. That being said, I figured January would be a good month to let you know some of our plans for 2010.
One fun resolution that we have is to blog more about what Amit is learning and doing at BU. Hiking story after hiking story is only fun for so long. I'm going to relinquish (a little) control and let him fill you all in on what his classes are all about. (Expect a very interesting blog in August about the first time he works on my teeth in the clinic!!)
Amit's personal resolution is to hike Mount Washington. We got about half-way there this summer with Mom and Nate, so he is planning to get to the summit by this summer. The boys have been talking about doing some smaller mountains during the winter, so all of us girls will enjoy some down time in the warmth of somewhere else!
My resolution? It is made up of a lot of little ones. Besides wanting to exercise more often, I want both of us to eat healthier. I'm making Amit cut out deli meats and canned soups (both have way too much sodium for him). We try to cut down on the number of premade dinners we buy; it is much healthier to make everything from scratch when you can control what goes into it. I also want to cut out high fructose corn syrup entirely, which so far we're doing a decent job of. My biggest vice is artificial sweeteners, so it is going to take a lot of dedication and effort to cut those out. I hope that by next year I will be sweetener free! (That will mean giving up my diet coke, yikes!)
The biggest diet change for us is a rather lofty goal, but one that I think I can meet. By next year, I hope to only be buying free-range beef and chicken, with no added hormones. I'm not sure how easy or affordable it will be, but it is part of my hopes to "go natural," at least in terms of food.
I think that's enough blabbing for now. I will definitely blog about our progress, hopefully all good blogs. Any one else have any interesting resolutions?
So we've been back in Boston for almost a week now. Our visit was great, we spent so much quality time with family. Family time is the biggest thing missing in Boston. It was a super busy visit, we bounced from family to family, house to house, got up early and stayed up late, ate and ate and ate. It was exhausting!! Maybe next time everyone can take turns coming out here and then we can just spend our time chilling on the beach??
It was really great to see our friends and family. I was bad though, I ended up forgetting my camera most of the time. Some fun memories that I didn't get photos of - Matt's basketball game, his dad freaking out at the fact that he spent 75% of the game on the floor, eating some fried alligator at lunch, sitting around and talking with the guys until 2 AM, and all of the delicious food we ate! I wasn't camera-less all the time though... These are some of the highlights from our trip, ones that I actually caught on camera.
Nate came home on Friday after practice...
showing off his National Championship tattoo that he got the night before.
I was so excited I grabbed my camera and took a picture!
I love spending time with my little brother...
I just wish he'd let me take a nice picture of us!
We miss my cousins when we're out here...
so there's nothing like Nate inspiring us all to spend a little time close together.
Poor Melanie got the brunt of the weight.
Oh, how I love my girls!!
If only Nate and Amit could take a nicer picture!
I think this is after a good 3 minutes of posing.
One of the biggest highlights of the trip... Having fun on the homemade ice rink at my Uncle and Aunt's house! The boys had a lot of fun.
One thing Amit learned on this trip... Backyard skating rinks are fun. He wants one. ;-) It was a great trip and we had so much fun. We were sad to leave, but we needed to rest. I think we are finally fully recovered. Thanks everyone for the very fun times!
So I'm not going to say that Boston doesn't have great food. It does. We love all the fresh seafood options out here and there is an abundance of Chili's, which makes me happy. But there are certain foods that Boston doesn't have, that can never be replaced. One of which is Portillo's, which on last Thursday, was the site of our best meal ever!!
The table looked like this...
I didn't even get Amit's italian sausage in the photo!
We've been craving Portillo's for months now. On Thursday we landed, were picked up at the airport by Ron, grabbed Mom from home, and headed straight for Portillo's. It seemed like we almost ran to the counter. Of course, Amit and I had already planned out what we were going to order (there is no such thing as sharing a Portillo's meal), so we tried to get Ron and Mom to hurry up and decide. Once we got our food, there was no more small talk. We savored each and every bite, until there was nothing left. (Yes, I was nice and spared you from pictures of shoveling food in our faces!)
It was fantastic. It fed our souls. We knew we had to get some Portillo's, but we were surprised at just how much we missed it. If you are ever in Chicago or the surrounding burbs... You have to go to Portillo's, we highly recommend it. There is nothing quite like it.
