Now before you jump to any conclusions, you’re not going to find the word “tofu” anywhere in this recipe. Nor will you find any other supposedly-tastes-like-meat-but-looks-gross-to-me meat substitute. Now if you’re a tofu loving, tempeh tasting maniac, more power to you. It’s just not my thing. The day I walk through my front door with tofu is the day my husband will send me packing. Seriously.

If it weren’t for my husband, I’d probably be a vegetarian. (That eats steak on occasion.) (And a bite or two of fried chicken just to remind myself of what I gave up.) Basically, I’d eat a lot less meat if I wasn’t cooking for a guy. I do think roasted chicken and turkey sandwiches have a place in our diet, just in moderation. I try to eat vegetarian for lunch, and have at least two veggie only dinners during the week. Sounds hard? It’s really not.

The key to eating more vegetable is to find new ways to make them. I know I say it every time, but it really works! When I made these “meat”balls, Justin actually had to ask me if there was meat in them. There’s so good, you won’t even miss the traditional version. They’re salty, cheesy and have a kick from the crushed red pepper.

I serve them over brown rice pasta with lemon and zucchini. The beautiful thing about this recipe is you can make the meatballs, and change up everything else. They would be fantastic served with marina sauce and a nice side salad, or piled into a pita topped with tzatziki sauce. The options are endless.

Spinach “Meat”balls w. Lemon Zucchini Pasta

Adapted from { this recipe }

{ Serves 4 }

{ Meatballs }

1 lb. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp. lemon zest

1/4 tsp. crushed pepper

3-4 cracks of fresh black pepper

1 TBS coconut oil

Preheat oven to 325.

Place all ingredient in a large bowl and mix until well combined. (Best to use your hands.) Using a 1″ ice cream scoop, form meatballs. Make sure to firmly pat each meatball into a ball.

Heat coconut oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Place one meatball in the pan. If it sizzles, the oil is hot enough. Add remaining meatballs to the pan and cook for 1 minute on first side, or until well-browned. Using a spatula, carefully turn over each meatball to brown on all sides.

Once browned, remove meatballs from the pan and add to an oven-proof plate. (Leave pan sans meatballs on the stove.) Place in oven, uncovered, until pasta is finished cooking.

{ Pasta }

1 lb. brown rice pasta

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped

2 zucchini, cut into thin strips

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

juice from 1 lemon

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Meanwhile, using the same pan you just removed the meatballs from, add olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add crushed red pepper, garlic and thyme to the pan. Cook for 30 seconds.

Add zucchini to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until zucchini has just begun to soften. Stir in parmesan cheese, lemon juice and cooked (and drained) pasta. Toss well to combine.

Serve meatballs over spaghetti for a delicious vegetarian dinner!

I’ve been MIA, I know. House-hunting and trying to find a new (used) car have been consuming my life right now. BUT, I’m back this week with a fun party and a delicious new recipe!

Today I’m sharing a serious want…this gorgeous sofa from West Elm. I don’t like the $800 price tag, but I do love the tufted back and the soft muted color. It would add instant class to any space. Lovely!

What’s on your wish list?

P.S. Please tell me that someone else under the age of 30 grew up on Nick at Nite when they were a kid. Welcome Back Kotter anyone?

Today my husband woke up at 3am to order me the new iPhone. Talk about love.

I. Can’t. Wait.

Have a great weekend!

For some reason, October is always our busiest time of the year. I blame it on the fact that football kicks into overdrive and our birthdays book-end the month. This year we’ve decided to take it from simply busy, to insane.  I’m excited to share that we are starting the house hunting process! I can’t wait to finally have our own home to decorate. And grill out. And host lots of family holidays and dinner parties. We are SO ready for the phase in our life.

We are also currently in the process of trying to buy a new (used) car, host/attend several baby/bridal showers in the next month and a million other small things that add up to one crazy busy month. I think the paperwork alone from trying to get pre-approved for a mortgage is going to do me in!

With all that said, I’ve been too busy to cook more than a couple nights a week. Enter, this salad. Not only is it incredibly delicious, but I can have all the ingredients ready in the fridge and throw it together at the last minute. It combines juicy chicken, crisp apples and salty bacon with a quick and easy toasted pecan vinaigrette for a great quick meal. Don’t have apples, use pears. Don’t like Gorgonzola, try feta. The beauty of this salad is that it’s easy to adapt to your specific tastes.

I served this salad to my mom a few weeks ago for lunch and she raved about it. It was nice to be able to sit with my mom over a great meal and talk about our lives and the future. To take a break from all the craziness and simply connect over a leisurely lunch. Now every time I make this salad, I think of her. Ladies, invite your moms to lunch and make them this salad. And talk about all your dreams for the future. Life is all about making delicious memories together.

Chicken, Bacon and Apple Salad

{ Serves 2 }

2 hearts of romaine, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 slice of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 chicken breast, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 small apple, chopped

1/3 cup Gorgonzola

Mix all ingredients and toss to combine. Add a few tablespoons of dressing (recipe below) and lightly toss to dress salad.

Pecan Vinaigrette

Adapted from Tupelo Honey Cafe

{ Makes 1 cup }

1/4 cup pecans

1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/4 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 1/4 tsp. whole-grain mustard

1 TBS honey

1 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

few cracks fresh black pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

Set oven to 350 degrees. Place the pecans on a small baking sheet and roast in the oven for 15 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Once cool, coarsely chop pecans.

In a blender or food processor, blend together vinegar, garlic, both mustards, honey, sugar, salt and pepper. While the machine is still running, slowly add in the olive oil. Blend until combined. Stir chopped pecans into mixture.

Remove mixture and pour into an airtight container. Keep dressing in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

When I started planning this surprise trip to Raleigh, I would pull up a map and just stare at it for a while. I knew we could take a direct path to Raleigh, but where is the fun in that? I wanted to find THE best places to stop along the way. Enter, Asheville. Remember when I posted the { mashed cauliflower recipe }? Well, I adapted it from this book…

I LOVE this cookbook. It’s a great resource for upscale Southern comfort food. When I saw that we could detour to Asheville, I knew we had to try this place out. I mean, it would have been wrong to miss it. Seriously, wrong. We knew when we first walked in the restaurant that we were going to be happy customers. The place itself had a really neat vibe. They used old screen doors and windows as partitions. I would SO do that if I had a restaurant.

And as if the decor hadn’t already begun to win us over, they brought us a basket of biscuits and homemade blueberry jam. O.M.Gosh. I have a weakness for fluffy, salty biscuits. I’m not a jam girl so I went for the good stuff…Tupelo Honey. Good gracious…

Fluffy biscuits with Blueberry Jam.

These were some of the best biscuits I’ve ever had, which is saying something since just a few weeks ago we went to the Loveless Cafe. The Loveless Cafe supposedly has the best biscuits in the world and let me tell you, Tupelo Cafe gave them a run for their money.

For my main course, I didn’t have much of an option for what to order. As soon as I saw they had fried chicken with a mushroom Marsala sauce, I couldn’t even think of ordering anything else. It was good. Like, so good you don’t want to share. The sauce was rich and creamy and the chicken crunchy and cheesy. Is there anything more you could want in life? The chicken came with a side of mashed cauliflower…the recipe I adapted and put on this site. Justin and I both agreed that we actually liked the texture of my version more. If you haven’t made it yet, you can find the recipe { here }. It’s delicious!

Fried chicken w/ country ham and mushroom Marsala sauce. Side of mashed cauliflower.

Justin ordered a catfish taco with salsa and a lemon aioli. I think we both agreed it was the best fish taco we’ve ever had. Light and fresh, it was a complete opposite of what I ordered. I managed to sneak two bites of his taco and would have eaten more if he wasn’t paying such close attention. Guys can’t hear 100% of what women say, but they can guard a catfish taco like it’s their firstborn child. Go figure.

Catfish taco with salsa and lemon aioli.

The morale of this story is to take a trip to Asheville and eat at the Tupelo Honey Cafe. It’s ridiculously good food that will haunt you for days. Luckily, I have the cookbook and can recreate some of these dishes at home. Tomorrow I’m sharing a recipe inspired by the restaurant. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it! Have you been to Asheville? Do you have a favorite restaurant that you’ll drive two hours just to eat at? I’d love to hear!

This past weekend I surprised Justin with a trip to Raleigh, NC to see Georgia Tech play on his birthday. I’m still not quite sure how I kept it a secret for the past month or so, but I did! He was so shocked, it took him a full five minutes before he even understood what I was telling him. I got him good!

Since we were there for the weekend, we decided to check out the many college campuses that call the area home. The first one, and most beautiful by far, was Duke University. It was so pretty, I was frantically snapping pictures as we drove through the campus, hence the blurriness of a few of the pictures. The architecture of the buildings was absolutely incredible. See for yourself…

Do the pictures remind you of a castle? That’s all I could think about. I would have LOVED to get to snoop around more and see what the insides of the buildings looked like. I’m curious if they match the architecture of the outside, or if they’ve been modernized a bit. On a completely different end of the spectrum, there was the Law building below. It’ so modern! If you look closely, you can see dozens of hanging light fixtures inside. I loved the them and so I snapped a pic.

And the houses. Oh, the houses! I would have jumped at the chance to see inside any of them. I have a deep love for Tudor style houses. They remind me so much of the English countryside. (Sigh.)

And this quaint little house was just too cute to not take a picture. These Duke people really know how to make me want to live here.

Duke has such a pretty campus and I’m so glad we got to do a little exploring! Tomorrow it’s all about the food we ate. We found a couple great hidden gems…one that was decorated like the inside of a genie’s bottle! For a sneak peak, follow me on twitter { here }. What about you guys, do you have a favorite college campus? Do you like to explore college towns?

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday to my amazing husband. I’m so glad I got to surprise you with such a fun trip!

Here’s are a few quick and easy tips to help better organize your house. (I’m telling you, Pinterest is a beautiful thing.)

Use plastic bread clips to organize cords. {  Tip Found Here }

Use PVC piping to organize curling irons and straighteners. { Tip Found Here }

Use bins from the Dollar Store and tags to organize your freezer by food type. { Tip Found Here }

Use towel bars as racks to organize your pot lids. { Tip Found Here }

Use towel bars along with baskets and hooks to create customized wall storage. { Tip Found Here }

Use pant hangers and jewelry pouches to easily store ribbon in one place. { Tip Found Here }

What are some easily solutions you use to keep your house organized? Any fun tips you can share?

When looking through thrift stores and flea markets, you really have to search through a lot of junk to find something that’s awesome. Sometimes that junk is really funny, or just plain weird. Today, I’m sharing the weird stuff…

Most Confused Panther on the Prowl.

Most Likely to Have Been From the 80's. (And Ugly.)

Most Likely to be a Picture of Someone Else's Grandma.

Most Un-Heavenly Delirama of Food on a Poster.

Voted Safest Decorative Accessory for a Toddler's Room. (Not.)

Most Likely to be Michael Jordan's Home Phone.

Creepiest Man Head Statue That WILL Give You Nightmares.

World's Toughest (Bobblehead) Rodeo Cowboy. (It Even Labeled Itself.)

Most Likely To Have Been Originally Bought From The Renaissance Festival.

There you have it, my weird finds. What have you found that’s been weird? Did you ever want to buy it for someone you know as a joke? This girl { right here } did just that and I have to say it’s one of THE funniest stories I’ve ever read! Has that ever happened to you?

Santorini, Greece is one of THE most beautiful places in the word. When Justin and I went there last year, we didn’t ever want to leave. Gorgeous views, friendly people and incredible food makes it the perfect place to relax for a week. Or a year. Whatever.

After a late night flight to Athens and a short early morning flight to Santorini, we were ready to eat! There aren’t many restaurants in Oia (the town we stayed in) that don’t have incredible views. Pretty much everything in town looks out onto the caldera (volcano) and the endless blue waters. What more could you want?

The first thing we ordered in Greece? Tzatziki dip. If you’ve never had it before, it’s delicious. Creamy, tangy, garlicky, fresh. It’s one of my all-time favorite dips. This tzatziki dip was THE best we’ve ever had. It was so thick and creamy, we could have just eaten that for the rest of our trip and been happy.

Here’s Justin with his first  Greek meal…it was some kind of pork. Mmmmm.

Santorini is know for it’s beautiful sunset. Everyone in town gathers in one spot to watch the sun turn bright orange and dip into the deep blue water. Oia is such a small town that you really feel welcome. After a romantic sunset, you meander along the curvy main road and poke in the numerous shops on your way to dinner. If you’re anything like us, you end the night with a trip to the local bakery and dessert on your balcony overlooking the city. (Sigh.) I wish every night could be like that.

Whenever I’m missing Santorini and feel like I need a vacation, I make this dip. It takes me right back to sitting on a balcony watching the sun start to set. Try this as a healthy alternative to serve at your next football party or as a low-fat afternoon snack. It’s also delicious served alongside grilled meats for a fantastic light meal!

 Tzatziki Dip

Adapted from How To Roast A Lamb

{ Makes 2 cups }

16 oz. greek yogurt

1 shallot, diced

1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

1 TBS dill, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 cup distilled white vinegar

juice from 1/2 lemon

salt to taste

cracked black pepper to taste

Place a coffee filter in a strainer and set the strainer over a bowl. Put the greek yogurt in the filter and place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least two hours to drain.

Discard water accumulated in bowl. Take the thickened yogurt and dump into the bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the yogurt and season to taste.

Serve with toasted pita bread and fresh vegetables as an appetizer, or with grilled meat for a delicious light meal.

{ Tips }

- I use the Trader Joe’s Organic Greek yogurt. I actually like it better than several of the name brands.

- An easy way to seed a cucumber is to peel it, cut in in half length-wise and then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.

- If you have a fine mesh strainer, you can skip the coffee filter step and just put the fine strainer over a bowl.

- The longer this dip sits, the better it gets. I usually make it and let it sit in the fridge for at least a few hours before eating to let the flavors meld.

Remember this recent post? A few weeks ago you could find lots of great bedding at target for 30% off the normal price. If you thought that was good, you better take a seat.

Target has marked down aisle after aisle of bedding to 75% off! Yep, that’s right. Now’s the perfect time to give your bedroom a mini-makeover. Here’s what I picked up for a couple projects I have in the works…

I’ve wanted this gray and yellow quilt for a year. A YEAR. I first spotted it in a Target last fall but couldn’t get past the $90 price tag. I wanted to use it as a “throw” at the end of our bed, so I couldn’t justify the price. (It would have been a different story if we were going to use it as our actual bedspread.) I waited patiently, and snagged it for under $20!

I also picked up this bedspread to possibly use in a guest room I’m working on. It’s a really pretty light turquoise color but reads more of a dull gray on screen. (And ignore the black bow…it’s just holding it together.) This quilt was also regularly $90 and I got it for under $20.

And remember this bedspread from the other post? I got it as well for $18! I’m not sure what project I’m using it in, but it was too great of a deal to pass up. I love that it’s reversible.

 Do you have any bedroom make-overs in the works? Or did you fall in love with any of the quilts I found? Don’t forget to send me any great deals that you find! They don’t have to be from Target or 75% off…just something you thought was a great price and were excited to find. As always, happy shopping!