In honor of our 7 month anniversary...

I decided to get back on the blogging saddle. Last week we didn't get much quality time with the kitchen, so this week Mark and I vowed to make at least three dinners at my apartment. Last night we made a grilled tilapia with wild rice and broccoli. It was one of the best fish dishes we've made and so delicious.

While in the produce section at Central Market on Sunday (my new favorite place) Mark and I spotted some delicious looking green peppers and inspiration struck as I was instantly reminded of my mom's famous stuffed peppers. The giant bright green guys pretty much sold themselves.

We began the pepper party by cutting the tops off the peps and dicing them so that they could be added to the meat and rice mix later on. I also diced about 1/8 of a yellow onion to add to the mix.

While I was working on the veggies, Mark manned the meat station. In the meat mix, we added brown rice, the remainder of the green peppers and the chopped onions, tomato sauce, taco seasoning and worcestershire sauce.

After the meat had been cooked, we stuffed the peppers and put them in the oven to bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Because Mark and I decided to run before dinner today, I was starving while we waited for the peppers, so I downed quite a few giant Central Market grapes and Mark watched sports...

Finally after 20 minutes of grape-eating, the stuffed peppers were finished!!

Since I had no idea what sides you make with stuffed peppers, I decided to throw the rest of the grapes on Mark's plate as a side (they were so good, they only lasted two days, whoops). With the melted cheese on top, these stuffed peppers were everything we'd been craving and more. It was a perfect meal to ring in seven perfect months of dating.

More to come (maybe) :)

M&m

Rule #71: No Excuses

Okay, I admit it. I've been slacking on the blog front. So I'm (wo)manning up and saying it, I have no excuses.

Except... it is Shark Week. Mark and I have been pretty glued to the Discovery Channel, not going to lie. It's just so educational. So far, Jaws Comes Home has been my favorite find this year, but the week is young.

I mean come on, what's not to love about that?

Anyway, I will also admit that Mark and I didn't do much cooking last week, so any blog posting I would have done wouldn't have involved food. And, let's be honest, the food posts are always the best.

Last night, we got back in the kitchen finally. Since this past weekend was a food fest of sorts, we decided a light dinner was probably our best bet. So we went with salad. Since I am a fruit freak, Mark was nice enough to agree to a chicken salad absolutely covered in fruit. We did throw in some feta cheese also. The result was nothing short of perfect.

I basically just put every kind of fruit in my fridge onto this salad while Mark worked his magic on the George Foreman grill. While Mark manned the grill, I cut up (and ate as a pre-meal snack) lots of strawberries, blueberries and black grapes. (side note: Market Street has the best produce) 

We used the chicken seasoning I have to add flavor to the chicken and, let me tell you, it was some of the best chicken we've had.

Mark snapped a shot of me adding the chicken to our salad.

Of course I had to add in Mark's artistic shot. My boyfriend is such a good photographer.

I promise to take better care of this blog. Nobody likes a slacker. Live every week like it's Shark Week.

M&m

It's Not Delivery, It's Mark and Megan's

I know every post I say that meal is the best, but this may have really been the best. Mark and I have been talking about making homemade pizza for awhile, so we finally busted out the big guns tonight. We bought a whole grain pizza crust at Whole Foods yesterday and just to spice things up a bit, decided to divide the pie in half and make our own creations on each side. Being obsessed with vegetables, I naturally decided to go with a veggie pizza. I may have gone a bit overboard on my veg purchase (as seen below). However, I was able to be more than generous with my toppings.

I cut up green peppers, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, onions and mushrooms for my veggie pizza. I also used part-skim mozzarella cheese and the leftover mushroom spaghetti sauce from our turkey spaghetti. Mark went with the classic margherita style pizza. He cut fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes and put it on top of the spaghetti sauce we used as our base.

All in all, we were more than happy with the results. The crust was much better than either of us expected, and we only ate half of this giant pizza... which means leftovers (aww yeah)!

More posts to come :)

M&m

Lets Put Another Shrimp On the Barbie

Tonight Mark and I got back in the kitchen and created what I believe to be our best dinner yet, shrimp kabobs. As I type this, I have a belly full of kabob.

After work we went to Whole Foods to pick up our ingredients for dinner. I may or may not have fallen prey to every single samp they offered while we were there (it's my weakness, sue me).

We decided to go with shrimp, cherry tomatoes, pineapples, onions, mushrooms, zucchini and squash on our kabobs. 

We also ventured down a path we'd never been before: quinoa. Being the avid food blog reader that I am, I've heard a lot about quinoa and we'd been wanting to try it for awhile, so we decided tonight was the night. It turns out, quinoa is basically just a healthier version of rice.

On a completely unrelated note, I got to play in a softball game last night. My friend Alycia asked me to play for a team she's been on all season. They needed girls to play and I love softball so I said yes. It was fun to be out on the field again. I took the liberty of throwing in this video that Mark so lovingly filmed while I was at bat.

We won our game.

More posts to come :)

M&m

Four Months and Counting

This weekend Mark and I celebrated four months of dating. To celebrate, he took me out to dinner and then we went to visit my friend Tara at Rockfish. It's always so good to catch up with old friends. :)

Stole a candid of Mark at dinner ;)

Saturday night we cooked dinner at home. Chicken on the grill with broccoli and rice, mmm.

Today my sister played in a Chili's softball tournament, so Mark, my mom and I went to watch her final game of the day. In true Duron fashion, she got a base hit.

It's crazy to me that we have been dating for four months. Given the circumstances at the beginning of our relationship, there has never been one day where I've questioned whether or not Mark was meant to be in my life. It's still amazing to me the way God timed everything out in our relationship. Everyday I thank God for placing this relationship in my life when I needed it the most. It's amazing what patience will give you.

More posts to come :)

M&m

Dad

As most of you know, my dad passed away three months ago. It was not only sudden, but a complete shock to anyone who knew my dad. My dad was both healthy and young… two things that don’t typically foreshadow a heart attack. While my dad was never a fan of sharing information online, writing is one of my biggest releases and the best way I can express myself. Sorry, Dad.

You always hear “you never know what you have until it’s gone.” I never fully understood that statement until the last few months. The little things that I always took for granted are now the things I want the most. I want to hear my dad coming home from work and my mom cooking dinner, I want to walk upstairs and see my dad passed out on our couch watching whatever sports game was on TV that day, I want to roll my eyes again as my dad feeds our dogs table scraps, I want to see that look on my dad's face when you could tell a joke was coming and more than anything I want to ask my dad advice and have him kiss the top of my head like he’s done millions of times before.

I had a lot more typed out after this, but I decided to erase it and let the pictures speak for themselves. These pictures show exactly what a devoted dad and loving husband my dad was. He was a spiritual leader to our family and a giver to anyone in need. His generosity and humility is a constant goal for me, although I know I will never achieve what he did. His sense of humor still makes me laugh. He was my "twin" and my best friend and I am so thankful for every trait of his I was given.

As my mom, sister and I said last night... he really was the best dad and husband. I could not be more proud or thankful for the 24 years I had with him, but I am so glad to know where he is now. I love you and miss you every single day, Dad.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Philippians 1:3

M&m

Spaghetti, spaghetti and more spaghetti

Last night was a lot of fun in a relaxing, stay-at-home kind of way. Mark and I successfully attempted our first spaghetti dinner. We had two turkey burger patties left over from our turkey burger dinner, so we racked our brains to find a meal that would incorporate the turkey meat when... voila!.. spaghetti with turkey meat in the sauce.

In an attempt to make this mound of carbs somewhat more nutritious, we used whole wheat spaghetti to cash in on the extra fiber. Plus, we both really like whole wheat pasta anyway. While I kept watch over the whole wheat pasta, Mark cooked the turkey meat in a pan pre-sprayed with Pam. After the noodles were soft enough to cut easily with a fork, we added the most amazing Prego mushroom tomato sauce to our pasta then let it cook a little bit longer in the pot so the sauce could heat up. Since I didn't want very much meat in my sauce, I scooped my noodles and sauce into my bowl and grabbed a little turkey meat to throw on top while Mark dumped the rest of the meat into his sauce. In retrospect, his way was probably better because the meat was able to mix in with the sauce instead of lay on top like mine. You live and learn.

We also made a salad to go with our pasta. We less "made" the salad than poured a pre-made salad into a bowl and chopped up tomatoes to add to it. The nonfat balsamic vinaigrette we used was one of the best dressings I've ever had though!

All in all I'd say our first attempt at a spaghetti dinner was a complete success. The whole wheat pasta is so filling we couldn't even finish our bowls and the salad was amazing.

After our carboload, we ran for an hour in an attempt to run off all of the pasta we had just eaten. It's always difficult to run after you've taken a few days off, but once you're back in the game, it makes the next run so much easier! This morning Mark proved his title as "Best Boyfriend Ever" by bringing me chicken minis and fruit from Chick Fil A, my favorite breakfast ever. So now, I'm blogging in a chicken coma and thinking I may need another one of those runs tonight.

More posts to come :)

M&m

Spaghetti Dinner Recipe:

-4 Oz. Whole Wheat Pasta
-1 Cup of Prego Mushroom Sauce
-1 Package of Prewashed Salad Mix
-Nonfat Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
-2 Tomatoes
-Pam or Other Cooking Spray
-Salt

1. Fill pot with 2 quarts of water and 2 tsp. of salt until water comes to a boil.
2. Add 4 oz. of whole wheat pasta.
3. Spray pan with Pam and add turkey meat. Keep meat moving so it doesn't stick to the pan.
4. Pour salad mix into a bowl and add sliced tomatoes.
5. Once noodles are limp, drain water and add 1 cup of mushroom sauce.
6. Stir noodles and sauce. Add turkey meat.
7. Enjoy!