Happy Easter!! Starting of a New Tradition

Our first Easter together was a great day. We started the morning early for 10 am mass at St. Joseph's Cathedral with my parents. Mass was presided over by Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge. After mass, my parents wanted a picture of us, which worked out because we wanted an Easter photo as well. Unfortunately, Jesse hates this picture. In fact, she hates dresses and heels... how did I find such a girl?

We then headed over to the Hilton in downtown Baton Rouge to eat at The Kingfisher for brunch.

After over indulging in lunch that could have satisfied us until Wednesday, we headed home to change and fry the homemade boudin balls we started cooking for a party later in the day.

After frying the boudin balls and braving the cold rain, we drove over to my buddy Greg's house to hang out with some friends and enjoy a great traditional Easter dinner. When we arrived at Greg's, the power was out, which was ok since we all started playing card games and chatting. We enjoyed playing with Greg's new puppy, Sassy, and visiting with Greg, John, Ryan, and Jason. Being able to share the holidays with family and friends was a reminder to both Jesse and I of what we envision our holidays being each time they come around, year in and year out.

Food Prep Monday

Today, Stephen and I had a cooking marathon. We decided to prep food for the week. This is something I've done quite often before, but today was the first time we've prepped together.

So, what was on the agenda? Chicken breasts seasoned with a local spice blend and cooked on the George Foreman.

Sweet potatoes roasted in the oven with salt and chipotle chile powder. Our latest obsession, but that's another post.

And a few other miscellaneous items: roasted asparagus, brown rice, brown lentils, hard boiled eggs, black beans, steamed broccoli (to eat with dinner tonight).

Brown lentils, hard-boiled eggs, roasted asparagus.
Yes, that lid is too big for the pot...
We make do around here

We also had a kitchen failure, but that's another post.

What do we intend to do with all of this food? Well, we are Catholic kids, so that means no meat on Wednesday or Friday. For my part, I fully intend to have rice bowls with some combination of brown rice, lentils, sweet potatoes, and black beans... quite possibly topped with some Greek yogurt. Also, mashed avocado and alfalfa sprouts on whole-wheat toast, maybe with some tuna.

I can't speak for carnivore Stephen.

Of course, we couldn't have done all of this without quite a large grocery trip. We spend about $150 (which is ridiculous for two people, we know), but we were literally out of everything. Seriously... bare fridge and pantry. We forgot to take pics of our grocery haul (again, we'll get better at this whole "we are bloggers" thing), but a few highlights are chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, asparagus, avocados, hummus, tomatoes, broccoli, local whole wheat bread, cage free eggs, turkey sausage, alfalfa sprouts, cantaloupe... yeah, that list could go on forever.

Now, we have a beautifully stocked fridge.

Prepped fruit, veggies, and meals;
almond milk, nut butters, Greek yogurt...

What was for dinner tonight? Well, you'll see...

His and hers, anyone?

Guess which plate is mine? You're right; the top left: brown rice with sriracha, grilled chicken, broccoli with lemon--all with a delicious Passion Tea Lemonade. Stephen had grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, pretzels(?!), barbeque sauce, and broccoli with cheese (which, by the way, he didn't eat... I'm really trying with the whole "you have to eat your vegetables" thing). With a Coke Zero.

Do you meal prep? What are some of your go-to staples?