Beer Me

My friend Laura had a free tasting coupon for Holy City Brewing, so we headed over with her siblings and significant others to check it out! Turns out there was a festival going on, so we instead of a tour we enjoyed some live music with many, many samplings of their brews.

Oh My Gorgonzola Pasta

My brilliant husband picked up a wedge of Gorgonzola cheese from Trader Joe's and the first thing that popped in to my head was pasta. Yummy, gooey, creamy pasta. This was to die for.

Ingredients
Gluten free pasta (corn and quinoa seem to be the sturdiest)
Roasted red peppers (jarred, chopped)
Fresh spinach (several handfuls, stems removed)
Sundried tomatoes (handful, chopped)
Roasted garlic (8 or so chopped cloves)
Cream sauce (3 cups heavy cream + 1 container shredded Parmesan + salt + 1/2 stick butter + gorgonzola)
Gorgonzola crumbled on top, then mixed in
Salt and pepper to taste

Black Bean

Was feeling quite virtuous after a workout at the local high school track with my husband, so while running errands I stopped at Black Bean for a salad. I got the 'Spring Street' which was pretty good and consisted of cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts, tofu, hummus, greens, and Green Goddess dressing. Felt good after eating it.

Butterfly Baby Shower

Better late than never! Earlier this month I hosted a butterfly-themed baby shower for one of the expecting coaches I used to work with. It was a lot of fun having the kids and parents over to help celebrate, and we timed it just right--her baby was born two days later!

Johns Island Farmer's Market

My sleepy little island community has a farmer's market! A pretty good one at that. There were people selling crafts, local wine, butter, cheese, honey, cookies, flowers, everything. Beautiful weather and lots of local goodies. I'll be back!

Hotlanta

Oh Atlanta, how I love to hate you. Maybe it's the traffic. Maybe it's the dirty slushy snow and cold. Maybe it's the crowds. Whatever it is, I always find driving through downtown ATL to be a hassle (except at 5 a.m. when this was taken).

But I love my cheerleaders, so I'm willing to deal with the city, and the five hours it takes to get there. Luckily the roads were safe and I left early from work so I could take my time getting in. I went to the World Congress Center before the hotel to get familiar with parking and the building layout. Apparently so did thousands of other people. It was PACKED. CheerSport Nationals brings 1,000+ teams from all over, and it's a dizzying array of athletics and glitter. Our kids kicked butt during the two day competition, and despite the 4:30 a.m. wake-up call the first morning, it was an amazing trip. Go WolfPack!

Sweet Potato Hash

It was one of those 'make enough for the entire week' kind of nights. Started with an old favorite, sweet potatoes steamed in veggie broth, with some kale and black beans added at the last minute (along with some chilli powder, garlic salt, and red pepper).

While this would have been good on it's own, I also added in some wild rice, a big container of pico de gallo, and leftover cheese cubes to stretch it a little further. Topped it off with a dab of Greek yogurt (my faux sour cream) and it was good to go!