Cheers For 6 Years!

Written by on in Breakfast, Dessert, Dinner, The Lazy Chef, Tidbits and Treats

Yesterday was one of the best Mondays I’ve had in a while – November 16 is a very special day around here. Last year, it involved a 5k for the Special Olympics. Perhaps you remember this goofy video? It just so happens that this date is the anniversary of when Bobby and I first decided to become a “couple.” Granted, it was high school back then, so take that for what it’s worth 😉 But seriously, we’ve come a long way and six years have felt like six minutes.

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The picture on the left is from homecoming our senior year of high school. The picture on the right is from Bobby’s brothers wedding during the summer before our junior year of college. Who knows what the next year will bring? It’s going to be a busy one, but I’m ready and excited 🙂

Happy Anniversary, Bobby!!

***

I was fortunate enough to come home to this last night:

He’s creative, ya gotta give him that 😉 I loved the orange roses – such a great color for fall! Plus a delicious fruit salad with all of my favorites: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes and a honeycrisp apple. I actually surprised him by coming home earlier than usual, but it looked amazing!

Gorgeous flowers and someone who is quite pleased with himself:

As if you’ve never seen what’s coming next before, we decided that the best way to celebrate would be to make our favorite “team” dinner. You know what that means…

Omelettes!

These omelettes had all the fresh fixins: chopped mushroom, tomato, onion and red pepper with wilted spinach and a 2 egg + 1 egg white combo. As usual, they hit the spot.

Success! I’d also like to point out that I ran — completely by coincidence — 1.16 miles in 11:16. Not my fastest time because I wasn’t going for speed but I was quite pleased with this time! I realized when I got off of the treadmill that I sound a lot like Kath 😉 I’m all about those lucky numbers, too! It’s no coincidence that we picked 10.16.10 as our wedding day.

***

Backing up a bit here, the work event I mentioned in my last post turned out to be a lot of fun. It was a beautiful location – the Art Institute – and Bobby’s co-workers are all very nice. We even found out that one of them worked with us over three years ago when we volunteered with autistic kids for the Special Olympics. Too cool!

For breakfast, I made a bowl of oats. But again, this was not just any bowl of oats.

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Remember that secret peanut butter I found at the market? Here it is revealed!

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Although I’ve tried nearly every other flavor, I never have been able to find Peanut Butter & Co.’s Mighty Maple variety — until now! This version totally lives up to the hype and tastes great over oatmeal. It’s sweeter and creamier than usual, which pairs perfectly with Coffee Cocoa :mrgreen:

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For some reason, I was more tired than usual yesterday morning. Call it a case of the Mondays, but I was definitely lacking in the energy department. I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to try something that promised to make me more…awake.

Angela is not messing around with these bars. This was, in a word, perfect! She infused the bar with organic dark roast coffee, among other great ingredients such as oats, natural peanut butter and coconut. I am officially a big fan and see a very successful future!

Can’t wait to try the other one!

Speaking of baked goodies, I attempted to create my own masterpiece in the kitchen on Sunday. Remember, I said attempted. I found a recipe for Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies and decided to try them out. As usual, my computer took the place of a typical cookbook.

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These cookies had so much promise. They were easy to make and looked pretty going in…

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They looked even prettier coming out. A little squished, to be sure, but ready to eat and enjoy…

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I used chocolate chunks instead of chips because when it comes to chocolate, bigger is better 🙂 After letting them cool on the rack, I picked one of the best looking ones to sample.

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The result? Ehh…I think my problem was the sugar. I substituted organic white cane sugar instead of turbinado — are some of you cringing right now? — and it produced a very gritty, crumbly taste. They aren’t bad — Bobby is still willing to eat them, which is a huge plus — but I wasn’t as happy as I was hoping to be. I can handle baked breads, but still haven’t mastered the art of the cookie!

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Until next time, my crumbly friend.

Good thing Sunday’s dinner made up for it!

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We combined whole wheat macaroni and cheese (Annie’s) with two huge bags of stir-fry vegetables and broccoli. There was also a bit of edamame in there with teriyaki marinade as the sauce. The result was a flavor masterpiece — have you ever tried teriyaki with macaroni cheese? It may sound strange, but I thought they complemented each other quite well. Let’s call it…CHEESIYAKI? 😉

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Humbecue, cheesiyaki…I’m sensing a new dictionary section.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Abrazos,

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92 Comments

  1. You two are so adorable! Happy Anniversary 🙂 Matt and I have been “a couple” since high school, too, but I know how fast time flies!

    Cheeseyaki has got to be the ultimate combination of two of my favorite foods. I bow to your geniusness.

  3. high school sweethearts – I love it.. I hope Gingie and I end up like you one day :)! Have a fabulous celebration with your honey!

  4. So many exciting things in this post! First off – congrats on six years- that is so awesome! You guys are adorable (then and now!). What a guy- the roses are beautiful. Your cookies look yummy to me- I love using chocolate chunks instead of chips (or I use the ginormous chocolate chips). They always get rave reviews when there is more chocolate haha. Have a good day girly

  5. Awww happy 6 years sweetie!!!! Those roses are so beautiful. 🙂 You guys have a very similar story to Eric and I…we met when I was 17 and he was 18.

    Im so happy you enjoyed the Awake bar! 😀

  6. Congratulations and Happy Anniversary!!! How sweet that he surprised you with those GORGEOUS roses and fruit salad!!!
    I stink at baking. It’s something about having to MEASURE ingredients instead of just winging it, and one little mess-up results in a cookie fail… that i usually end up eating anyway.

    WHERE did you find Mighty Maple?! I look EVERYWHERE!!!
    Love you girlie! Talk soon?

  8. Cheeseyaki? I love it! I’m glad you liked the Awake bar – I think the dark chocolate one is even better 🙂

    You and Bobby make (and made!) quite the gorgeous couple. Happy 6 years (and a day)!

  10. This is my first time commenting but I am glad it is on this entry! Happy (belated) Anniversary!! I knew that the 16th was something other than my grandpa’s birthday. All of your dishes looked great, even the crumbly cookies. And I just love the “cheesiyaki” concept! So you! 🙂

  11. Wow – you guys are just babies in that first picture! I love reminiscing. Congrats on six years!

    Bobby, if you’re reading – nice job on the flowers 🙂

  17. Congrats on 6 yrs!!!!
    Vegan cookies…I am such a mix of cooking but if I am doing a vegan recipe and omitting all kinds of “key ingredients” then the ingredients I do use, like sugar for instance, I use basic grocery store white sugar. There’s only so “natural” or holistic you can go before you end up with less than ideal results. Well for me at least 🙂 But your cookies look so good, I’d happily eat them all for you!

    xoox

  18. Aww, happy Anniversary. There is no better way to celebrate than to make a great meal together. 🙂

    Enjoy the roses, they are beautiful!

  22. Congrats on 6 years! Coincidentally, my boyfriend and I just celebrated 6 years on Nov. 8! Time really does fly- we went to our senior prom together too- eek!

  25. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JENN AND BOB-D!!!!! One of my favorite couples, easy. Fruit salad and flowers!? What a hunka man. I love it. That is so cute.

  26. aaww…so awesome! flowers are beautiful as well as that bowl of fruit! I havent tried the mighty maple …yet…is it super sweet? Im just wondering if it would be good on crackers or fruit!

  28. congrats babydoll! i am so happy for you guys! looks like your anniversary night was really fun and romantic! love flowers!

    xoxo
    Lo

  31. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Six years?!? That’s amazing and awesome. I only hope that someday I can find someone that I’m in a great relationship for that long 🙂 (Beautiful flowers and eats by the way!)

    I love your hybrid words. Or shall I say Bender-brid?

    Even though I don’t eat cookies all that often at all, I love making them. Maybe I can be a cookie fairy for you and Bobby this spring? 😀

  32. What an awesome post Jenn!!! I love that there’s so much in it, particularly the “look back” picture to high school. Congratulations on your anniversary!!! I’m totally a lucky numbers person too! hehehe

    We have to do brunch since you seem like an omelete person! hahaha I went to Yolk and wasn’t impressed. 😛

    Sorry the vegan cookies didn’t turn out the way you wanted them to, but they definitely look delicious! I agree..w.hen it comes to chocolate in cookies, the bigger the better! 🙂 hehe

  36. Awww – HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! You guys are too cute and I’m so happy you have each other 🙂

    Glad you finally tried Mighty Maple! She’s the best!! Sorry the cookies didn’t turn out very well. Boys will eat just about anything though, won’t they?! 😉

    Cheesiyaki!? I like the sounds of that! You’re a master with the mixing!

  38. Do you mean to tell me you’re marrying your High School sweetheart!?!? That’s too cute!!!

    I on the other hand, thank God every day that I didn’t marry mine! lol We dated for eight and a half years . . . Crazy times!!!!

  39. Congrats on your anniversary, Jenn!! You two are SO cute together!!

    Did you use the dark chocolate chunks from WF… I think they come in the red package? I just tried those recently instead of the usual vegan choc chips (in the green bag) that I usually buy, and found that they were NOT as good in baked goods. They taste great but don’t melt well and just don’t seem very chocolately!

    • I should correct the recipe by saying no, I did not use vegan chips. I used Nestle chunks…haha. I really do want to try using them though, so perhaps I will be on the lookout for the green bag next time!

  42. CONGRATS ON 6 YEARS!! That is so exciting! LOL Isn’t highschool funny?

    Yum I can’t find PB and Co here at all, but I’ve heard great things about that tall, dark man.

    Cheeseyaki great name!

  43. Awww Happy Anniversary!!! You two are so cute I just wanna squeeze ya! A-freaking-dorable.

    Shooo, now I need to order some Glo bars! I have not read one negative thing about them!

    Have a gorgeous week, sugar! xoxo

  47. Awww, how sweet. My hubby and I were high school sweet hearts too! 🙂

    Congrats on 6 years. Truly awesome.

    I had a major baking flop this weekend too. It was such a tragedy because mine looked amazing but tasted awful. Don’t you hate that?!?! But much like you, I had a perfect dinner to compensate. Thank goodness!

    Hope you are having a great week. 🙂

  48. Congrats on 6 years!! I love that Bobby gave you roses and bowl of fresh fruit- what a sweetie.

    I hate it when something I make doesn’t turn out as I had anticipated, but at least your cookies are still edible- I’ve had some doozies before! 🙂

  50. Whoa those flowers are gorgeous! Lucky girl 🙂 You two are a pair of cuties. Love to hear more about your wedding plans as they come up!

    xo

  54. Omelets are totally my boyfriend and my “team dinner” Only we usually make two separate ones and each stuff it with our fillings of choice. Happy belated anniversary.

  55. You guys are so cute! Congrats on 6 years 🙂
    I’ve been wanting to try Mighty Maple forevvverrr but can’t find it and definitely don’t want to order online!

  59. Hmm I just left you a comment but don’t think it went through. Sooo, sorry if there’s a repeat in here!!

    Just wanted to say that you two are absolutely adorable! And Congratulations!!

    Your omelets always get me craving one, and I am SO jealous of your mighty maple find!! I’ve also tried several pb & co flavors but neverr the mighty maple!! Enjoy it!! xoxox

  60. Hahaha cheesiyaki, can’t get over that one. New award winning combo you’ve come up with right there.

    So SIX years!!! That’s amazing. Huge huge CONGRATS Jenn. Happy Anniversary! Bobby’s little flower/fruit treat is too sweet, literally AND thoughtfully 🙂

  61. Congrats on your anniversary! That’s really fun and exciting. I LOVE that he got you the flowers AND made the fruit salad! 🙂

  68. haha omgggggggggggggg! Bobby is such a swooner!!! I adore you two!! Seriously make my heart warm and smiley! Yes, my heart. My face too.

    YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY happy anniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

    cheesiyaki!! I LOVE IT. you never fail to make me laugh, Jennboo.

    and gurl, i always make the WORST subs with my baking. Nothing is ever good, thus no recipes posted! haha

    HAPPY WEEKEND BEAUTIFUL!

  69. Congratulations. My sister married her high school sweetheart and they’ve been together for 10 years now. Wishing you much joy and good eating for many years to come!

  75. Cheesiyaki eh? I don’t know how I feel about that 😉 But I figure anything with cheese has to be decent, so I’d give it a go.

    Happy Anniversary as well 🙂

  76. love the pics and have to add it only gets better.
    15 years together here (!) and it truly feels like five minutes and forever (uh, in a great way).

  78. that peanut butter with maple syrup! whhattt? awesome combination! I’ve never heard/seen it before. Definitely not in TJ or Whold Foods. Can you get it at any normal grocery store?

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