Good Eats: Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Over my long weekend, I got to do a little bit of cooking while I was visiting my parents. It sure is more fun to cook for other people when you're used to cooking for one. My mom and I spent a lot of the weekend running errands and I tried on a ton of wedding dresses. Before we left on Saturday morning I put together a big pot of Taco Chili for my dad to eat while we were out, and last night I tried something new. Over the summer, my friend Olivia shared with me that involved stewed tomatoes and lentils, which make a delicious pair. I wanted to make something a little more hearty and filling, but still simple and healthy, so when I ran across a recipe for lentil stuffed sweet potatoes, I had to give it a try. Originally I had planned to have grilled chicken tenders along with this recipe, but decided keep it simple.

Here's what you need:
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Dry Lentils
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Coarse Sea Salt
Cracked Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375. Scrub your sweet potatoes first, then rub them with a little extra virgin olive oil, coarse sea salt, and cracked black pepper. Place them on a foil-covered cookie sheet, then go ahead and put those in the oven. They'll bake for about 45 minutes, until they're nice and fork tender. After those are in the oven, go ahead and cook your lentils according to the package (I cooked 1 cup of dry lentils & we had a good amount left over after filling three potatoes). Next, the tomatoes. Slice them in half & drizzle with just a little bit of your olive oil, then place them on another cookie sheet and roast them for about 20-25 minutes, but keep an eye on them.

Once all your ingredients are done, put it all together. Slice the sweet potatoes down the middle and sprinkle a little sea salt in them before you fill them with about a quarter cup of lentils. Top each potato with as many tomatoes as you like, and you're done! These are filling and perfect for an early fall dinner. Let me know what you think!

Weekend Away: Bulldog Bash

This weekend was Bulldog Bash in Starkville, so of course we spent our weekend there. We drove over late Friday night and watched a little bit of The Black Crowes concert in the Cotton District and got to see a couple of people, but it was too hot to spend much time in the crowds. We really kicked off the weekend on Saturday morning with a hearty Southern breakfast, a few good friends, and lots of coffee at Starkville Cafe before walking around downtown.



Then we spent the afternoon tailgating in the Junction, visiting with family and some of our friends from college. We went out to the game—-our dear ol' State was playing LSU this weekend. Though it wasn't a pretty ending, it was a great night for a football game and the stadium was full of fans proudly wearing the maroon and white.



This morning we met up with MrLanke, as usual, for Sunday brunch before heading back to get ready for the work week. Today we went to Restaurant Tyler, filling up on mimosas and thoroughly unhealthy breakfast foods. Fried Green Tomato Benedict for me, Sausage Biscuit Benedict for the mister, and a French Toast Sandwich for Lanke.



On our way out of town, we stopped to get a big cup of Blueberry Cobbler coffee from Strange Brew to get us through the long drive home. I walked away for one minute and the mister had picked up a bag of The Great Pumpkin Spice for each of us. Then we drove home through the rain that's supposed to bring us some fall weather.

Three Ingredient Pumpkin Brownies

I'm a sucker for fall. I'm planning a fall wedding, I own too many pairs of boots, I decorate with pumpkins, and I love to bake things that involve pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. I came across a quick recipe for pumpkin spiced brownies last week, so naturally I had to try it. In the comments, they were described as really dense, fudge-like brownies.


All you need is a box of brownie mix, a can of pumpkin puree, and a half teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice. Mix all that together, and add more Pumpkin Pie Spice if you're feeling crazy or it's just not pumpkin-y enough. Spread the mixture in a baking dish (I used 8" x 11" and lined it with foil for easy cleanup) and bake it for 25-30 minutes, or until set.


In the end, I was not a big fan of the texture, and I'm not sure how to describe it. But it sure smells good in here!

Weekend Away.

This weekend I got to go over to Athens and visit the mister for a quiet, relaxing weekend. When I got to town on Friday, we went out for Hibachi and caught the end of Hocus Pocus on TV. Saturday morning was perfect early Fall weather, so we walked around most of the day on Saturday, around campus to downtown and back. We stopped by to see where they were having College Game Day and through the tailgate tents, then stopped to see the stadium.




A little while later we realized that we hadn't had lunch, so we walked over to a pizza place called Your Pie and got a couple of fancy pizzas and lemonade. We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing, I read while he watched football.

Mr. & Mrs. Nelson, y'all.

On Friday, two of my very dear friends got married. Sadly, Mr. Burton & I were not able to be there (both having new jobs, we weren't able to get off work). Anyway, I've since seen pictures and so wish I could've been there to share in their celebration. I know they're happy as they can be and I can't wait until the next time the four of us can get together!

I think this was last year, right? We all saw The Avett Brothers together.

Also, you should see Micah's bridal portraits, done by a fell MSU Art Department Alumni, Ashley Upchurch. They are stunning, and you can see them here.

One little thing I do want to share is Micah and Andrew's wedding invitations. My sweet friends gave me the opportunity to design their wedding invitations, and I am really happy with the way that they turned out. 

So, Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Nelson!

Insta-Lately.

Life has been crazy lately, between moving, the holidays, traveling, and work, there hasn't been much room to breathe...but it's been wonderful. 

Rainy days are for books and tea.

After spending practically the entire day reading, I finally finished The Night Circus. It was just as good as I hoped it would be when I read the first chapter. The story is written in such and interesting way, from different, intertwining points of view. It's magical in a wonderful way--I definitely recommend it if you're looking for something new to read. 

"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen. No color at all, save for the neighboring trees and the grass of the surrounding fields."

Then, after spending the dreary, rainy day with my nose in a book, Tiffany and I met at The Domain for tea and dinner at The Steeping Room. We each got a different kind of sandwich and tea. It was the first time I've eaten an actual meal there, but the food was just as good as I hoped. Obviously, it is a wonderful place for tea, too. And of course, we took a photo of the food before digging in (and our waiter arranged the teapots and cups for us). 

Monday Night Tapas

Tonight I met Tiffany downtown after work for dinner at Malgas Tapas Bar, where we fought the Monday blues with a glass of wine and some tasty tapas. We sat outside on the patio while the sun was going down, talking and laughing and I got to meet Tiffany's friend Mohan. And that's all I've got for you tonight.

For the Love of Fall

In honor of the [official] beginning of fall, I did a little bit of decorating around here. While I was out running errands this afternoon, I picked up a couple of precious pumpkins for the island in my kitchen. (It seems that in all of the packing that I did when I moved, I didn't remember to bring any of my seasonal decorations). And while it's still hot in Texas, but still, piles of pumpkins have been turning up all over the city and everywhere you look, so I'm still in the spirit of the season. 

So here's to fall. My favorite season, colorful and crisp. I'm glad you're here.

Brunch + Book Club

Last weekend I went to my first book club meeting in Austin. I got to have brunch at the Galaxy Cafe and chat about good reads with a few lovely ladies and we picked out our first book--The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy. We had a few to choose from, but the description of this one was just so appealing. I can't wait to get started, have any of you read it?

"In 1945, Elsie Schmidt is a naive teenager, as eager for her first sip of champagne as she is for her first kiss. She and her family have been protected from the worst of the terror and desperation overtaking her country by a high-ranking Nazi who wishes to marry her. So when an escaped Jewish boy arrives on Elsie’s doorstep in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, Elsie understands that opening the door would put all she loves in danger."

Best Friends.

You know how awesome it is to hear from your oldest and best girlfriends? Tonight was girls' night and these lovely ladies that I've known most of my life called me up and made my night! I can't imagine hearing from a more wonderful group of ladies. I miss y'all more than you know!

One of the last girls' nights we had before I moved, lovelies!

Also, I feel like this just needs to be shared because of how hilarious it is. Joy told us to pose like sorority girls, so obviously we couldn't stop laughing. 

Downtown Days.

On Saturday, I drove into downtown Austin for a little exploring. I finally went to see the capitol building--which is a pretty, pretty sight in the sunshine.

After I drove around for a little while, I decided it was high time I stopped at had lunch at one of the food trucks. Right after I moved here, I started a list of the ones that I really wanted to visit. So now I've finally crossed one off the list! I picked Conscious Cravings to try first. Their full menu is vegetarian, so I tried their Spicy Chickpea wrap and a mango smoothie. The wrap was delicious, the homemade sauce really takes the cake at Conscious Cravings. Yum. But the smoothie was a little depressing. I expected a deliciously cold, icy smoothie, but it was lukewarm blended fruit. I would stil go back for another meal, but I'll skip the smoothie next time.

And then I decided that I should try two foot trucks. Mostly because right next to Conscious Cravings is Holy Cacao. There's no way I'm passing up a food truck that serves delicious chocolates. I tried the Red Velvet cake ball--red velvet cake dipped in white chocolate. Obviously it was fantastic. So I crossed two of the food trucks to try off of my list last weekend.

I think I'm going to make a goal to try a new place every weekend until I finish my list--then maybe I'll have found some new trucks to try!

Back to the blog.

Looks like I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Bad, bad blogger. 

But now that I'm almost unpacked and settled I can get back into a regular schedule. 

Austin is huge and different and overwhelming and entertaining all at once. I've found a favorite spot for bubble tea, but I'm still on the lookout for a favorite coffee spot--working at Strange Brew spoiled me.

I don't have much of an update tonight, but recently I read an article about Kelly Clarkson. Now y'all don't hate me for it, but I've always liked her. I have every album she's released since then and I've seen her perform live. Her voice is ridiculous. I guess it's the part of me that's always wanted to be able to perform like that. Anyway, the point is that she's almost constantly been judged for her body by the media and she always comes back in a kick-ass way. Homegirl is looking fierce these days. I want her trainer.  

(source)

Also, Kelly Clarkson + Jennifer Nettles + John Legend makes for great tv. I'm hooked.

Catching Up on Shows.

Thanks to spending the last couple of weeks staying with my friend Tiffany, I've found a couple more television shows to be addicted to. Typical. Again. 

One of them is Scandal. Y'all. That show is ridiculously addicting. I watched the entire season on Monday and Tuesday while I was working. Plus, the actor who played Desmond in Lost is there. Score.

And the second is Revenge. This show is also ridiculously twisted and addicting. I'm still catching up on it, but the season finale was tonight, so I can't wait to get to the end of it. 

Today I got the technical stuff (you know, electricity and such) set up for the new apartment. I picked out a paint color for the living room and picked up the supplies for the painting of the living room. And tomorrow it's on to Sherwin Williams to buy the pretty paint I have picked out. I can't wait for Friday when I'll be able to get to work on the living room--maybe I'll even decide on a color for the bedroom. I keep going back and forth between a marigold-yellow or a nice cool gray.