Sunday Prep: Meatballs

I officially discovered this amazing thing called Sunday Prep.  I don't do Sunday prep for lunches like you usually hear of people talk about, but I do it for dinner!  And it's awesome!  I usually try to pick a "base" that I can use in 2-3 meals and then dinner on Monday and Tuesday is completely effortless!

Heartwood Roastery

I'm a coffee fiend.  It's not just a "I-have-to-have-a-cup-in-the-morning-or-I-get-a-headache" kind of thing...it's a "I-need-to-have-3-to-4-huge-cups-a-day-in-order-to-feel-like-myself" straight up addiction!  But since I drink my coffee black, quality is extremely important to me.  And trust me when I say that it's pretty hard to find anything great at the grocery store, let alone from a dreaded Keurig machine!  So when I find a local coffee roaster that makes ahhhh-mazing stuff, it's a pretty big deal.  I'm officially professing my love for Heartwood Roastery.

Ham and Cheese Breakfast Bake

Great news!  The wedding planning is going great...which means a little time has cleared up in my schedule to return to blogging.  Phew!  I was missing it!  But planning the most epic wedding Cleveland's ever seen takes a lot of time!  Anyway, now I'm getting back into the groove of my normal food-obsessed self and doing things like making risotto on weeknights and hosting fancy brunches on weekends - my favorite things!  Last Sunday, Howie's parents were staying with us and I made them a Ham and Cheese Breakfast Bake that my family has been making for years!  This isn't just any old ho-hum egg bake.  It's my favorite egg bake!  It's just so tasty and different from the breakfast dishes you're probably used to making because you crush Corn flakes over the top and drizzle it with melted butter before you bake it in the oven.  It sounds strange, but it's an explosion of flavors and textures!  Try making it for your sweetie on Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Happy New Year, everybody!  I apologize for the lack of posts in the last couple of weeks, Howie and I have been diving head first into the wedding planning which is a lot more time-intensive than I could imagine!  Anyway, I hope you all had a happy and healthy holiday season filled with family, friends and traditions!  If you're like many of us (myself included), you succeeded in the happy but not the healthy part because of that lingering cold that seems to be going around!  Chicken Noodle Soup is always my go-to if I'm feeling under the weather, so I thought it would be a great recipe to kick off 2016!  But then again...it's also pretty perfect for the twenty and thirty-something degree days that have finally hit Cleveland!  Enjoy!  

We're Engaged!

Big news!  Howie and I got engaged on Friday night!  We are so unbelievably excited and have had a blast telling our closest family and friends/celebrating with these family and friends allll weekend long.  I think I've had more champagne in 2 days than I have in my entire life put together!

Sugar Cookies

If there's one holiday tradition that I couldn't live without, it would be decorating Christmas Sugar Cookies with my younger brother and my mom.  We've been doing it for as long as I can remember, and it's definitely evolved into my most cherished holiday memory, year after year.  We laugh, we make the biggest mess in our kitchen with sprinkles everywhere, we try to eat cookies when they're piping hot out of the oven and we play our Now That's What I Call Christmas CD from, ohhh probably 2001.  It's a total blast!

Holiday Shopping at the Cleveland Bazaar

Is your holiday shopping almost done?  If you haven't even made a dent in it (ahem, like me), be sure to check out the Cleveland Bazaar, an amazing indie craft show located in the 78th Street Studios that is happening this weekend only.  There's hundreds of super talented artists, food, drinks (a little liquid courage always helps you spend your money right?!), music and an eclectic, hipster crowd.  All of my favorite things!  I love how many Cleveland-based gifts some of the artists sell.  From funky jewelry to oil paintings of Terminal Tower to clocks made from reclaimed wood taken from demolished historic buildings around town, there's something for everybody.  I definitely got my history-loving, clock-collecting Grandpa that last gift from Rustbelt Reclamation for Christmas 2014 and he loved it.  So when is this happening?

Saturday: 10 am - 9 pm / Sunday: 10 am-6 pm @ The 78th Street Studios near Gordon Square
 (AND IT'S FREE, unlike The Flea which is apparently $5 admission now!)

See you there!  Probably tomorrow because I'm making my first turkey ever today for a Friendsmas dinner tonight.  A little intimidated but if it's super tasty like I'm hoping, expect a post for the recipe!