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The Sharp Side on Mmm! MONDAY: When Out, Eat Local

It’s Monday. For many – me included – that means it’s time to get in the kitchen and try to recover from whatever you did over the weeke...
Centennial Bridge at night

It’s Monday. For many – me included – that means it’s time to get in the kitchen and try to recover from whatever you did over the weekend. I’m looking at you… donut at the gas station that I just had to have before driving 4.5 hours because “it will go so well with my coffee.” Lies. Do not treat coffee and donuts like a wine and food pairing… or should we? Note to self: New business idea…

The Sharp Side on Mmm! MONDAY: When Out, Eat Local

ANYWAY, since The Sharp Side was going under some re-design last week, I did not get a chance to post what my meals were, so I will post last week’s and this week’s for you today:

Monday was Leftover Night. Zach had ordered a Harris Pizza the night before (which he likes to do on Sundays, since I’m working and can’t have a say about it) so he wanted to eat the rest of that, so I cooked up some leftover chicken and poured buffalo sauce on it and munched on celery… real fancy, I know.

On Tuesday, I made Pink Parsley’s Spicy Chipotle Honey Chicken with Sweet Potatoes – Yum! It was the perfect recipe for me and Zach, because he loves spicy/smoky flavors and I love sweet flavors. The sweet potatoes turned out a little burnt, but I’m blaming our oven. Our house was built in the 1920s and I’m pretty sure our oven is almost just as old as the house, because the temperature is always off. For example, I can bake cookies at 350 degrees (ish) and they’re done in 4 minutes. No joke. Any longer than that – burnt to a crisp. Zach would still eat them though. He loves my Chocolate Chip Cookies, which is hilarious since the recipe comes from the back of the HyVee Chocolate Chips bag… Shh!

The Sharp Side on Mmm! MONDAY: When Out, Eat Local

Speaking of Zach’s favorites, I decided to make Skinny Mom’s Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff on Wednesday. I try to do a Crock Pot/Slow Cooker (Can someone please tell me the difference?) meal on Wednesdays, because I can prep it on Tuesdays, my day off. That way, all I have to do Wednesday before work is take the pot out of the fridge, plop it into the Slow Cooker, and let it do the work while I work. It would be awesome if I could that on Thursdays and Fridays too, but let’s not get crazy people.

Anyway, the Beef Strog was delicious, but not as delicious as Zach’s Mom’s. No matter what, it will never be as good and you know what? That’s totally okay. I actually really, really like that. Zach still ate it, so it doesn’t really matter in the end.

Speaking of Zach’s Mom, she had eye surgery last week (#ouch) so we brought her and Zach’s Dad dinner on Thursday night. We went to Grinder’s and got one of the Family Feasts… Wow. It’s right down the street and I don’t understand why we don’t go there every night, but it’s probably a good thing. No, it is a good thing. I could eat that bread forever… and ever… and ever.

On Friday, we don’t usually cook. We like to have an “out” night since I work on Saturday nights and we don’t see a lot of each other on the weekends. Last Friday, we went on a big group date with our friends to The J Bar. What a cool place! Everything from the drinks to the food to the atmosphere was very modern and chic, yet still really affordable and the portion sizes were right on. They don’t take reservations, but our wait wasn’t long at all for a Friday night. However, it was long enough for me to do some damage at the Banana Republic Factory Store nearby. Yikes.

I’ve noticed a little bit of a theme while writing this and I’m really excited about it. I’ve mentioned several local restaurants and it makes me smile because there are so many communities that don’t offer great local options like the Quad Cities does. It also reminded me of something I wanted to share and that’s that I’m doing something a little different on Fridays.

So, for many who know me – especially people at work since I work on Fridays – that day of the week is normally known as Fast Food Fridays in Angie’s World. It’s my cheat day where I get to go through whatever drive-thru I wanted to and enjoy my #1 or #3 Meal without guilt or shame.

Expect that there would be guilt and shame and that’s why I’m trying something new in 2015. On January 2nd – the first Friday of the New Year – I was all set to go drive-thru one of my favorite Friday spots, when I stopped myself and said… Do I really want to do this? Isn’t the New Year supposed to be a great opportunity to start anew, kick bad habits, be a better version of who you were last year? I thought… What if instead of having Fast Food Fridays, I had Eat Local Fridays?

Some of my dearest friends will understand how difficult it is for me to let go of Fast Food Fridays… specifically because of the alliteration. I love alliteration. However, I think it’s a fun challenge. On that Friday, I changed my mind – and direction, literally. I enjoyed a cup of excellent lobster bisque soup and a delicious chicken salad wrap at Cup A Jo in Downtown Moline. It was so good and you know what else was good? As I was leaving, one of the people who works there said… “Thank you for coming in, Angie.” They knew me from WQAD, because they support their local media. You don’t get that in the fast food drive-thru window. Local. Quad Cities. I love it. I should have been doing this a long time ago.

So anyway, Eat Local Fridays continued at The J Bar on Friday night and it was much better than any chain I’ve been to recently. Much better for so many reasons.

The Sharp Side on Mmm! MONDAY: When Out, Eat Local

Now, I should stop here for a sec and say that I’m not saying that I will never go through another fast food drive-thru again. Let’s be honest (Resolution #2!), Zach and I went through one for coffee this weekend. I am though going to work at making those situations a treat, not an every day or even an every week occurrence. I think it’s good to see going out at all as a treat, not an expectation or a normal thing. It makes it more special when you don’t do it all the time. Last year, I decided to stop drinking pop. More on this in another post, but it was life-changing and now when I do have a pop – it’s a total treat. It also takes me like 3 days to finish one of those 20 fluid ounce ones now, but again… more on that another time.

I should also say that I hope to get this way about candy… but that would just be irresponsible as a human being. Haha, I’m kidding. Seriously though, it’s almost Valentine’s Day and I’d be very much lying if I didn’t tell you I’ve already eaten through an entire bag of those little conversation hearts. It’s January 19th.

The Sharp Side on Mmm! MONDAY: When Out, Eat Local

Alrighty, so this week, what are we making. Let’s do something new from the “So Easy, Angie Can Do It” Board, a favorite dish, and then something old from the “Recipes I’ve Tried & Zach Loves” Board.

Something New: Skinny Taste’s Cajun Chicken Pasta.

Favorite: Tortilla Pizzas (I’ll share our recipe on this one next week!)

Something Old: I gotta get a crock pot one in here somewhere. Let’s do… BS Recipes’ Beef and Broccoli.

Yummy. All those leftovers will be perfect, too. I’m still eating leftovers from last week – munching on some Beef Strog right now – AND we’re doing a double date with our friends tomorrow at Brix in Downtown Moline… yes, let’s do this.

Have a great week!

– A

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