Before I get all the way back into blogging the current day (see yesterday’s post!) I have a few dinners to share from the week before.
First off – we sold our dining room table! We’re getting a new one from Restoration Hardware – their 1900s Boulangerie Table – aka a French bakery table!!! {How appropriate!} Until it comes, we have moved our porch table, which used to be our kitchen table when we had an eat-in kitchen in Charlotte, inside. I quite like it! It’s smaller and petite, but it fits the space so well. But I’m not sure how I feel about food photography on it! The color is just so different. But since our new table is lighter wood as well (to fit the beach house theme) I’m excited for the new look. Things will be better when the sun is out at 6pm!
Mystery Meat
When Karen was here right after our Dominican Trip we just picked up essentials at the grocery store (including a head of kale) and decided to use up some freezer meat until I could get back for a full grocery store trip. We pulled a random Rock Barn sausage from the freezer (Matt brings home meats that he trades for bread at the farmer’s market) and paired that with chickpeas, sauteed kale and whole wheat linguine. For a sauce, we used some tomato paste and chipotle peppers that were both frozen. Since you usually only need a little bit of each, we always freeze the rest and just break off a chunk to add to a dish. Served with some vino, this dinner was great!
Tasso Soup
The next dinner I have to share was a soup made with some tasso from The Rock Barn – another mystery meat! According to Wikipedia, tasso is “a spicy, peppery version of smoked pork made from the shoulder butt.” It sure took a simple vegetable soup to the next level! To our big pot we added a box of chicken broth, 2 cups of frozen peas and green beans, a few dried herbs and then the sliced tasso and let it simmer for 30 minutes or so. The result was a very rich vegetable soup!
Mona Lisa Lasagna
Mona Lisa Pasta is our go-to shop for anything pasta. Their fresh noodles and ravioli are divine, and their frozen lasagnas might as well been homemade. They taste super fresh, and they are – no preservatives here. I love picking up a lasagna for a new mom or friend in need, which is what I did last week. I got our family one too! The cheese lasagna was ready in an hour. Mazen loved it and called it “Anya” like our neighbor! We made a salad with avocado, red pepper and a homemade dressing on the side. Kombucha to drink! I find dinners served with just water to be so boring, so kombucha is my healthy cocktail.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KANZ!!
Kaila@HealthyHelperBlog says
Happy Birthday to Matt! Hope you two do something fun! 🙂
Linda @ TheFitty says
Speaking of mystery meat, May I share with you my secret for making any meat mixture more nutritious? Animal Liver! It’s packed with vitamins and minerals and in small quantities, you otherwise wouldn’t taste it at all:
http://thefitty.com/2014/12/09/why-you-should-eat-liver/
Tamara Dabic says
Mmmmm your meals always look so delicious! Can’t wait for the new posts 🙂
Hope says
Any tips for keeping food fresh in the freezer? Do you wrap and bag? I can’t seem to keep meat in the freezer for long without it tasting like it’s been frozen for too long.
KathEats says
A lot if the frozen foods I buy are already frozen (shrimp, lasagnas, salmon) and are packaged well. I would suggest the Zip lock freezer bags for things you’re freezing yourself. They are extra thick and designed for freezers.
Dana says
Speaking of freezing, I notice you freeze a lot! Is your freezer big? Mine is SO unorganized and small, and once something goes in there, it tends to get lost forever. HELP!? Blog post on fridge and freezer organization? 🙂 🙂
KathEats says
It’s not huge, and it is pretty well packed in! I try to keep veggies, meats/dinners and desserts all separate so that helps a little!
mollie says
saw a terrific episode some time back with alton brown. plastic wrap (or a baggie) first and then foil. works great for me!
Michele says
I wrap all my meats in Glad Press ‘n Seal first then put them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. I’ve never had freezer burn or freezer taste on my foods with it.
Jess @ The Baguette Diet says
Can’t wait to see the how French boulangerie table looks–how fitting!
Amanda @ Life To Table says
I have been wanting to stop at Mona Lisa for months! I’m afraid that I’ll want to buy everything and go into a pasta coma haha! And spend all my money too :-/
Elise says
Hi Kath! I know you’ve done a few posts about budgeting (like your old Home Neat Home posts) but I’m really interested in a update. I just graduated from college, and now I’m thinking about money a lot! I’d love some perspective about how you budget and save money for those big furniture purchases.
Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves says
Happy birthday, Matt! Wishing him a wonderful day!
Mmm I’m always dreaming of how awesome the fresh Mona Lisa pasta must be when you post photos of it. And I love how the porch dining table looks inside! Definitely a lovely, beach house feel.
Annie says
Off topic, but do you have posts on how you started your own business? How you find a retail space, etc.? I’m thinking of working on a business plan and wondered if you’d ever written about such things.
Love the look of the new table!
KathEats says
I have written some – check out posts with “GreatHarvest” as the tag here:
https://www.katheats.com/tag/greatharvest
You’ll want to go to the first page and read forward!
Megan says
Happy birthday Matt!
Could you do a follow up post on cleaning your new table (once you get it of course!). We need s new table and I love the RH ones, but the unfinished wood part is holding me back. With two little kids I’d like to be able to disinfect it, but wasn’t sure how that would work without a finish on the table.
Glad you are changing the blog to fit your lifestyle!
Ella says
Love that pic of Matt and mazen! Isn’t it just the coolest seeing your best friend/husband turn into such a great dad? Just the most amazing thing ever.
KathEats says
Yes! I always knew he would be a good dad, but he has exceeded any and all expectations!! (Not that I had expectations, but you know what I mean!)
Andrea says
We have that same RH table and we love it! To make it more resilient to our 2.5 year old we put a coat of monocoat on it per the recommendation of RH. Now it’s water resilient and super easy to clean. Enjoy!
KathEats says
That’s great advice thanks!! I just Google monocoat – did you really keep your kids off the table for 7 days while it cured? I’m wondering if we need to put it outside or something until it’s ready. I’m assuming I can find this stuff at Lowes?
KathEats says
Also it’s $126??! Yikes. I never thought we’d need to apply anything to the table. Might just call RH and inquire. Thanks for the info!
GCSk says
It says on the RH website under “Detailed Product Information” for your table that the table comes unfinished…that means no clearcoat, no poly, no stain, no nothing.
KathEats says
Right….but that doesn’t mean you have to have anything on top. I’d consider it optional. Unless there is fine print that I’m missing.
KathEats says
Guys, I just cancelled my table order. Thanks for bringing these issues up to me – I’m going to look for something else! I was OK with the surface until I realized that watermarks and oil stains were going to ruin my life.
Allie says
Random question – where is the rug in your dining room from?! does it have a rug pad underneath??
KathEats says
It was Karen’s so I’m not sure where. She had it cut down for her Cville house and believe it or not that was the scrap! No rug pad, but it should have one…
Julie says
Beautiful table. And happy birthday Matt!
Christina @ The Beautiful Balance says
Love everything at restoration hardware! I can’t go in there I end up spending way way way too much money.
Shannon says
I love the color of that table. What chairs will you use with it? Looking for a new dining set as we are doing a full kitchen/dining room remodel this spring. I am DYING to cook on the 36″ wolf range just sitting all sad like in my garage!
KathEats says
The Remy Chair in white!
Andrea says
That picture of Mazen with Matt is so cute!! Such a little gentleman.
kwabs says
I love Mona Lisa Lasagna. it is soo yummy