Pizza? In and Out

 

D and I met up with friends for dinner last week at a great pizza place, Iggie’s.  It’s a bus yourself, serve yourself,  BYO (no corkage ) with awesome salad and pizza (and gelato!). It’s a great option if you want to meet up with friends to go out to eat without going way overboard on spending.  And there’s something for everyone to eat, and share; with toppings like pancetta, roasted duck, sopressatta, smoked mozz, fresh mozz, goat cheese, and alllll kinds of veggies.  Lucky to have this in the ‘hood.

 

the water station with glasses for bevs

where the magic happens

Annnnd, who knew that eating pizza could double as your good deed for the day? From their website…

 

“Here’s Our Deal…

We are basically self-service. That’s right; no wait or bus staff. (No tipping either!) In lieu of accepting tips we select a different charity each month and donate any gratuities to them. Info regarding this month’s charity may be found at the front counter (or at the Charities page on this site) along with a donation jar. Donations are at your discretion and not an obligation at all.”

 

Cool right? Now…the good stuff

salami, ricotta, roasted garlic, arugula

goat cheese, mozz, mushrooms, pepperocinis

the final pizza on the end- ricotta, smoked mozz, sopressatta, tomato ragu and tomato

 

I had a slice of the first 2 (love goat cheese on anything and arugula too!) and they were awesome.  We shared a couple bottles of wine and lots of laughs.  We hadn’t seen the crew in too long and it was great to do it and not sweat the price tag too much.  Since I was in Rome, I got some gelato with the group.

See that death grip I have on that frozen cup of espresso caramel awesome? D’s probably reminding me that my stomach will not take too kindly to a dairy bonanza, but I am clearly not tryin to hear that.  Just a few bites did the trick and the group helped us finish the rest.  No overkill, no upset tummers

 

 

The whole gang! Happy and stuffed

It’s fast becoming our go to place for big group dinners. No fuss, just good eats and good times!

 

Speaking of pizza, I can’t believe I’m just discovering Trader Joe’s pizza dough.  I mean one dollar for a bag of whole wheat pizza dough? Slap me. We ended up with some janky looking pies but I just saw Justine’s awesome pies with TJ’s dough and now know that the secret is no rolling! Guess I’ll just have to try again… 

tastes better then it looks

We made his n hers, you can tell D was one of those “stay-inside-the-lines” kids.  (I kid, D, I kid) I like to just fit as much food into as little space as possible. 

D-za: pepperoni, mozz, black olives, red pepp flakes, arrabiata sauce

me-zza: eggplant, spinach, basil, black olives, arrabiata sauce, goat cheese, onion and garlic

 

I don’t know when this love affair with Trader Joe’s will end…I’m cool if it’s never. 

Have you:

1. Been to a restaurant like Iggie’s?

2. Topped a pizza with anything interesting lately?

3. Ever listened to The Reason? Please do it’s a great song (and samples Boz Scaggs!)

 

Food Family Football Festivals Fun

Mondays don’t seem so bad when you’re coming off a great weekend and you have a short week ahead .  Right? Sometimes? OK.

A recap…

Friday I headed over to the gym after work to keep up with my non existent 5k training schedule.  Then, D picked me up and we stopped by to have a beer with friends that were out on a bar tour. I had a Flying Dog Snake Dog IPA.  Lighter than most, which was great that night.  With an early morning and long day ahead, we headed home after an hour (plus I was probably offending people out in my gym clothes…classy). 

my how Friday night activities have changed

Saturday morning, despite chances of rain, it was nothing but sunshine and blue skies!  Having to leave the house for work at 7:30 meant no morning gym trip with D, so that was a bit of a bummer, but Pops, StepMa and Sam (lil sis) were coming down for the day so I was really excited to see them.  I like that my family can come visit while I’m working and have a fun day too.  The day started off like most others. 

does the shadow make the ever-present oat bran bowls more exciting?

I had oat bran with pumpkin, coconut butter cinnamon and some vanilla chia mock cream cheese frosting type stuff I made in my attempts to clean up this recipe I got from Maggie.  The frosting still needs work, but the pumpkin bread part came out pretty good.  I’ll work on it again soon. 

Perfect weather for the game and my fam got to be involved in our gameday promotions…

on the big screen- they are cracking up

on the field for the coin toss with players and refs

After the game we headed back up to Baltimore and over to the Fells Point Festival…the camera was left behind in the car.  Pops took pics but I never know if I’ll see them  so I’ll just recap and hopefully post later.

We sat outside V-No and had snacks and some drinks then headed to Miss Irene’s (where D and I had stopped on Friday) for dinner.   I did take some action shots in the car though…booooring.

loading D and his bike in the back

 

 

We got up early to go to the farmers’ market on Sunday. There was a sponsored farm to table tour that brought local chefs to the market, cooking and serving up dishes with ingredients found right there in the market.  After getting D his first round of coffee, we headed over to Jesse Sandlin of Abacrombie…you may know her from Top Chef! She made a delicious broccoli cheese soup that I will try to replicate this week.  It was delicious even at 8am! I got all starstruck and nerdy so D asked her the ingredient list for the soup.

D cheesin it up with Chef Jesse

human coffee shop- he had a tap to fill up your cup- so cool

I wanted something different for breakfast- something ‘brunchy.’  I saw this…

and made this…

mmm. southwesty!

Ezekiel english muffin with the beans, avocado, fakin’ bacon tempeh strips, poached egg and some hot sauce (used to cover the plate after pic was taken).  This, my friends, was a spot hitter.  Don’t you love putting things together at home that end up being 100x better than if you had gone out to a restaurant?

For the afternoon, I dropped D off at a park so he could do some hiking (jealous ) while I ran some errands.  I scored a new pair of Mizunos for 40% off at DSW so that made it worth it.  Shopping for clothes and stuff just isn’t my thing. I wish I had a guide.  Grocery stores are a whole other thing, though.  I tend to make a special trip to one whenever I have to go clothes shopping to get me back to a happy place.  After this trip, I went to Wegmans All better!

Last night to end the weekend, we met up with K&T at Ra for a roll (that counts as our seafood sunday) and to greet some of her family that arrived for the wedding this weekend! The wedding’s on Friday, so I’m off Thursday and Friday to help out and do bridesmaidy stuff.  This is going to be a great party.

sake bomb for the bride!

Sorry for the randomness- but I wanted to fit the whole weekend in.  The 5am wake up call was one of the easiest today after such a relaxing weekend.  Hope yours was great too!

Have you:

1. Had one of those moments where you stop and think, ‘this is EXACTLY where I want to be?’

2. Ever listened to The Underdog?

Pick a Pear

So on one of my many recent trips to Trader Joe’s I picked up the big paper bag of pears with no real plan for them other than juice and ice cubes from leftovers.  There were lots of ice cube varieties in the freezer over the summer

clementine cubes in sparkling water with lime

Halfway through the sack and the pears were getting soft- I needed a plan.  I decided to cut them all up and simmer in water to break them down with the intention of making pearsauce.  I wish I could just create a walnut-pear-tartlet or something off the cuff but at 6:30am- into a pot with some water they went.

except this half- under the broiler then onto the oat bran with AB and Cin

They simmered uncovered until the water was gone, then I stirred in some unsweetened vanilla Living Harvest hempmilk (just a smidge) and jarred them up instead of blending until I got home.  Since the nighttime chill has set in, I’ve had soup on the brain.  After running errands after work I knew I’d be getting home late. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time making anything.  Enter TJ, he knows what I’m looking for and always delivers…

dairy aversions out the window! it's cold outside

Here’s grilled cheese made with goat cheese and cheddar from grass fed cows on Ezekiel.  I grated some parm on the outside for some extra crunch and nuttiness on the bread.  That mess in the foreground there is a mix of the stewed pears with dijon mustard.  I ended up opening my sandwich and putting them inside.  There was also some tomato soup that I half-a’d paid attention to because I was into the flavors in this sandwich.  I felt surprisingly ok in the GI department after, which was awesome. 

The rest of the pears have been blended into sweet potatoes and eaten over oat bran.  Nothing too thrilling.  Next time I go buying enough pears for a family of 8 I’ll have a better plan, or I’ll be trying a juice feast.

Have you…

1. Tried the Lemisoni (lemon/miso/tahini) dressing that you may have seen on Heather’s site?

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp rice vinegar

1-2 TBSP tahini

1 tsp miso paste

1 tsp raw honey (or agave or stevia, whichever sweetener you like)

1/8-1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil

1/8-1/4 tsp guar gum

 

2. Ever listened to Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa? I’m listening to it now

Dear Food Network/Travel Channel

I selflessly volunteer myself to take on the task of validating each claim made on this list…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/13/best-foods-in-the-world

Just sayin

Soup and Some New Vehicles!

I’m a huge fan of dips- hummus, babaghannoush, etc you name it, star of the show.  The vehicle that delivers it to my mouth is always second.  I love Mary’s Gone Crackers, blue corn tortilla chips, brown rice crackers, and now I have something new to add- raw sweet potatoes!

maybe a little thinner next time

I got 3 massive sweet potatoes at the market last Sunday and mashed 2 and made ‘chips’ with the 3rd.  I remember my friend Kate told me she tried and liked- so why not? It was a good excuse to use the mandoline! The key was to scrub the outside like crazy so you didn’t get that dirt taste.  I cut into squares and had with some Sabra hummus and they were great- mild, crunchy, delicious…better for you than salty crackers and flavorless rice cakes.  I thought they have an edge over carrot chips too- denser, not as watery… Give it a shot…

If salt’s your thing I tried making kale chips too.  I found the recipe on vegweb.com. You just destem, tear and wash and spin your kale, then massage 1TB apple cider vinegar and 1TB oil (I used EVOO) and whatever seasonings you like (I chose S&P and chili powder). 

relaxed and ready for the oven

Pop into a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes and you get a light as air delicious snack that satisfies that chip craving.  I’m a big fan of these. 

light and crunchy

They aren’t very sturdy so they aren’t the best for substantial dips, but I don’t think you’ll mind eating them plain. 

Then it was on to dinner which was just some black bean veggie soup made in the crock pot (I couldn’t wait to get it out for the chilly weather) and a piece of ezekiel toast with avocado.  Not too exciting…

avocado in the soup too

I had a soup/sammy earlier in the week too that I’m looking forward to sharing shortly- what’s your favorite soup and sam combo?