Early January Flick Finds

I finally got around to watching two movies I’ve been meaning to see for quite a while now.

The first, Lone Survivor, was an intense Peter Berg work based on the book by the same name. This is a tragic, sad film, and I don’t feel like I need to say “spoiler alert” when I say this, because the title pretty much says it all. I’ve been told the book is even better than the film, and I plan to read it because the film was crazy good. (For those who enjoy Lone Survivor, I highly recommend Peter Berg’s The Kingdom.)

I also finally got around to seeing Dallas Buyers Club, and what an amazing story that was. Now I finally get what all the Oscar fuss was about!

Lastly, while it’s not technically a “flick,” I just watched the first episode of VH1’s new scripted series Hindsight. Oh. My. Goodness. I thought I was obsessed with the 80s, but this is the first time I’ve felt a pang of nostalgia for the 90s! Hindsight has the charm of 13 Going On 30, but set in the Friends era. And speaking of the best sitcom ever, the entirety of Friends is up on Netflix. If you haven’t ever seen it, drop everything and watch it now, particularly Season 5, which IMO is the best season of them all.

Happy watching!

Early January Food Finds

We eat mostly vegetarian around here, and the first week of this new year was no exception. Here’s what I made for dinner. Since I’m only cooking for two, most recipes yield either enough for leftovers the next night, or enough for a hearty lunch (for me) the next day.

I got the recipe for Cauliflower and Fennel out of Cooking Light magazine November 2013. I was worried about the meal not being entirely filling for my husband, so I added a can of cannellini beans to the recipe (drained, then heated them in the ‘wave for a couple of minutes before adding to the whole shebang at the end). I also forgot to boil the fennel, but it turned out fine anyway.

This Mushroom-Lentil Tacos with Tahini Yogurt Sauce recipe was procured from Food52. I tend to view recipes as jumping off points and modify as I see fit, so for this I subbed hummus for Tahini (didn’t want to buy a whole jar of something–Tahini–I hardly ever use), and I used Naan rather than pitas and made them open face. I also meant to cheat and buy a can of lentils, but I forgot, so I used this recipe from The Kitchn to cook the dry lentils I had on hand. The next day there was enough left over for two pita sandwiches for me and my husband.

I was excited to try this recipe for Beef Goulash with Blue Cheese I found in Rachael Ray Magazine recently. I thought I could get away with some major modifications, subbing Yves Meatless Ground Round for ground beef, and completely leaving out the sour cream & blue cheese (to be healthy) and the dill (because unless it’s a pickle, why does it need dill?). I also used two red bells and veg stock instead of the beef or chicken stock. Being a fan of smoked paprika, I thought it turned out fine. The husband was less impressed. Since I have tons of recipes we both like, I’m fine with dropping this one altogether.

And because it wouldn’t be a week without pizza at our house, I made pizza one night. I always cheat and use fresh (they refer to it as “frozen”) Nugget pizza dough, and this time I topped it with black olives, sundried tomatoes (used the oil from the jar to drizzle on the pizza), capers, and a light dusting of parmesan. I made two medium-sized pizzas, and even had enough leftover for lunch the next day.

Enjoy!