Eating, its good for you.

About a month ago, Aaron and I were lucky enough to catch a stomach bug.  It was a 24 hour sort of thing that my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew all went through (and were kind enough to share with us).  I'll spare you the details, but suffice to say, two people getting the stomach flu on the same night while residing in an apartment with one bathroom?  Not pleasant.  The real unfortunate part of this whole thing was the fact that before we got sick, we had a big delicious meal of eggplant cutlets, pasta and goat cheese.  Now you know how when you throw up you don't want to eat the item that you threw up for a very long time?  What happens when you're vegetarian and you throw up vegetables, pasta, and cheese?

I'll tell you what happens.  Your food pyramid starts to look a lot like this:

After lethargy and irritability took us over, and my skin started to break out like it did when I was 13, we decided it was time to get back in the saddle again.  The kitchen saddle that is.

Our triumphant return to the kitchen happened last weekend when we celebrated Aaron's mother's birthday.  We overcame our fear of the newly dreaded eggplant to make Eggplant Meatballs (which I had made before, and I still stand by the fact that if you don't accidentally forget about them baking away in the oven, they're quite delicious - Sorry, Jody & Henry).

But, you can find that recipe and many equally delicious ones at the Veggie Table.

Aaron made probably the most delicious thing he's ever made, which was Goat Cheese and Chive Gnocchi.  Oh. My. God.  I want more.  Aaron, are you reading this?  Get back in the kitchen.  Thanks.

that is a giant goat cheese log you're seeing

We didn't take a final picture, because, well, we ate it too fast quite frankly.  But here's the general idea, as photographed by The Kitchn, where he found the recipe:

our dinner was sans flowers, however.

Our renewed love for cooking and eating like decent human beings has continued this week.  Thank Jeebus.  Speaking of....lunch time.

Valentine's Day, Part Une

For obvious reasons, we tried to keep Valentine's Day a little low-key this year.  Since Aaron had to work all day yesterday and I, well, didn't....I decided Monday night would be my turn.  It all started when Design Sponge posted this article in their series leading up to Valentine's Day.  Of course, changes would have to be made, I'm pretty sure our landlord wouldn't appreciate me hanging hooks in the ceiling in order to drape paper cut out hearts and lanterns.  So here's what we ended up with instead:

 

You can't see the top, but if you could, you'd see that the drapes are hanging from curtain rods dangerously thrown over our hanging light.  What can I say?  We live on the edge.


Also, can you ever really beat a tapas meal?  Who doesn't love a good appetizer?  And wine.

Whats in that weird dish, you ask?  A tasty little recipe called Rosemary-and Balsamic-Roasted Grapes and Olives from Vegetarian Times:

Ingredients:
2 1/2 tsp. olive oil
2 1/2 tsp. chopped rosemary
1 1/4 cups walnut pieces
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. agave nectar
1 1/2 cups large red seedless grapes
1 1/2 cups unpitted black and green olives

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 2 shallow baking dishes with oil.

2.) Warm 2 1/2 tsp oil with 1 tsp rosemary in skillet over medium low heat 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove fro heat; stir in walnuts and salt.  Spread nuts in 1 prepared baking dish.

3.) Whisk together vinegar and agave nectar in a bowl.  Stir in grapes, olives, and remaining 1 1/2 rosemary.  Spread mixture in a separate baking dish.

4.) Roast walnuts 9-12 minutes in the oven, or until golden brown.  Remove, sprinkle with more kosher salt, if desired, and cool.  Increase oven heat to 400 degrees.  Roast olives and grapes 20-25 minutes, or until sauce is syrupy, stirring occasionally.  Sprinkle walnut pieces over grapes and olives and serve warm.

Tasty indeed.  Aaron has some Valentine's Day plans for me on Wednesday, so part deux will follow!