Monday, June 30, 2014

the weekend


in no particular order
game of thrones watching
brunch cooking
brunch devouring
spending hours meal prepping/fermenting/cooooooking
bike riding.  mtn and road
bbq'ing
beer'ing
baby holding
cards against humanity playing
laughing
beer'ing
beer'ing
cloud watching
cooking
game of thrones watching

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

we made this! (and this and this and this)

If there has been one constant in our lives since moving to Steamboat, it has been cooking!  And cooking, and cooking and cooking.  We typically enjoy a home cooked dinner with Hunter and his dad about 5-6 nights out of the week.  Sometimes it'll be a 10 minute meal while others can be up to 2 hours worth of prep time (homemade pasta how we love you so!).  We've made note of how complex and well we eat night after night, but it wasn't until we invited some of Bob's friends over and cooked for them and hearing them discuss over and over the "gourmet" dinner we prepared for them that we noticed that hey! we do pretty well for ourselves on a nightly basis.  Two of our guests asked if they could come over for cooking lessons from Bob and I.  Ha!  I tend to keep a well stocked (understatement) vegan recipe Pinterest board, so it's pretty easy to come up with dinner ideas in a pinch.  We are also faithful Door to Door Organic (yay for Steamboat delivery!) & Bountiful Basket customers, so fresh vegetables and fruits are always in abundance in the Madfield Casa.  Below are a small tasting of recipes we've tested out.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: Thank You Vegetable Gods for allowing Hunter and Bob to be so patient and kind with my vegan cooking!

1//tofu lettuce wraps + red quinoa taco salad
2//shiitake & napa cabbage gyoza + spicy orange tofu and peppers
3//spinach & artichoke wonderpot
4//vegan stuffed shells/lasagna
5//poblano and portobello mushroom fajitas
6//sweet potato vegetarian chili
7//thai coconut curry soup
8//portobello burgers w/spicy slaw & pickled onions + paprika hashbrowns
9//black bean burgers
10//lime cilantro portobello tacos
11//homemade falafels
12//quinoa & black bean salad
13//baked southwestern egg rolls + quinoa chili
14//pan fried pork dumplings 86 the pork
15//hummus vegetable pizza + stuffed mushrooms + zucchini rolls
16//green detox soup
17//veggie quinoa enchiladas
18//vegan pho + tofu spring rolls


Our simple dimple dishes that require no recipe (or thought for that matter) include:

//flatbread pizzas using boboli as our base and a variety of toppings/sauces including buffalo sauce, barbecue sauce, red sauce, pesto, tofu, onion, peppers, cilantro, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, black olives, spinach
//salads for days and days using any variety of spinach, aragula, romaine lettuce, cabbage (red and green), peppers, chickpeas, mushrooms, basil, tomato, avocado, tomato, roasted sweet potatoes, corn,
//risotto we keep arborio rice stocked at the house along with a bottle of white wine + vegetable stock, so risotto is pretty easy for us to throw together at a moments notice mixed with some asparagus, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions.
//stir frys served with a quick peanut sauce along + lightly sautéd onion, peppers, carrots, mushrooms enjoyed on a bed of rice or solo.
//homemade pasta The best/worst decision we made was purchasing pasta attachments for our Kitchen Aid.  Best because the flavor and love that goes into homemade pasta is simply unbeatable.  Worst because the time that goes into making the pasta is beatable.  Ha!  But so worth it.
//curry using the same idea as our love for stir fry above but with an added kick of spice and heat.
//frozen burritos are quite popular with us for breakfast, lunch and dinner..  My first frozen burrito inspiration came from Budget Bytes.  I use that recipe as a base but add quinoa, refried beans, tofu, tempeh, plethora of vegetable combinations...really whatever we have left to use up in the fridge.

I really miss writing my I Made This series from last summer - I'm hoping to slowly bring it back to the blog throughout the summer.  Bon appetit, friends!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Camping makes me so happy.

We've logged one night of camping so far this Spring and Mother Nature tried her damnest to play a trick on us. She gifted us with a massive rain + thunder + wind + lightening storm but we managed to outsmart her with a dinner of chips and salsa in the tent (forgoing our planned dinner of fajitas on the grill) and a very, very early bedtime.  We had plans of mountain biking the next morning, and mid storm Hunter says to me "We'll be able to tell the second we unzip the tent tomorrow morning if we'll be able to bike or not."  And sure enough, this was our view the next morning.  Biking...game on!


We have a few camping adventures planned in the upcoming week and I could just tinkle I'm so excited.  It's time to get dirty ya'll.

::a few snaps from a sliver of our camping/backpacking adventures last summer!::

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

*My body is a wonderland.

Over the past few weeks, I feel that I've accomplished quite a bit as far as physical activity goes.  I won't bore you with my most recent round of knee pain/injuries but about 3 months ago I was in so much pain, couldn't even run a mile.  Heck, I had a hard time walking on the treadmill!  I went back to my trusty PT office here in Steamboat and was matched with a therapist + student therapist who I truly felt understood my injury and pain miles over any therapist/chiropractor had in the past.  Since seeing them, I am so proud of myself with the big and little goals I've reached.  Like...

...biking 20+ miles while volunteering for The United way through work.

...setting out on a mountain bike ride with 9 extremely advanced { and amazing } riders and feeling so proud of myself for my ability to keep up to the best of my ability and while not giving up { dang you hills! }!

...turning around the next day and biking 6 miles through the desert of Utah with Hunt.

...committing to 3 runs/week in preparation for a 10k!  My biggest accomplishment during my training was running 5 miles after work one evening with minimal pain + struggle without stopping!

...completing a 10k last weekend under the time I had set for myself to run it in and again, without stopping the entire 6.2 miles!  

...getting to the gym at least 4 mornings a week before work.  It's the best and most relaxing { yes, relaxing! } way to start my day.  There are no photos to accompany this one because aint' nobody got time for that at 6am.


Some of these might not sound like much, but I am celebrating even the smallest accomplishments. When you struggle to complete one mile of running, you celebrate the heck out of those 6.2 miles when you can!  I'm really excited about keeping this momentum going while growing my mountain bike skills + keep up growing my running mileage a few nights a week! 




*Sorry I'm not sorry for the blog post title.  I've had that line stuck in my head whenever I would think to sit down and write this post.  I just had to let it flow, yo.