The Weekend Starting with Thursday

Hi, hi. I woke up at 5:40 a.m. when Tanner’s alarm went off and figured I might as well get up and get started on my Monday. Also, I was hungry and really ready for breakfast. One big bowl of oatmeal (this recipe) + some coffee later and here I am with you guys.

I’m going to back up my weekend recap to Thursday, which was my first full day back in town after my visit to Florida last week.

THURSDAY

Thursday was a big day around here. First, I had my anatomy scan. Full details on that in my 19 week recap tomorrow.

Second, I did one of my favorite things…made a meal for someone else! One of my closest girlfriends just had her fourth (!!!!) baby and I jumped on the chance to bring her a home cooked meal. Her family has been trying to cut back on meat consumption lately so I made a big hearty soup, which was perfect for the cold, dreary weather we were having.

I made a variant of the Oh She Glows 10-Spice Soup. I say a variant because I have a hard time leaving any recipe alone and following it to the T. I also made kale and quinoa salad (this recipe minus the chickpeas), chai-spiced banana bread muffins and cranberry, pistachio and chocolate blondies. Yum, yum!

Look at this sweetness! I can’t believe there will be one of these in my house in May! (My friend also told me that I must get one of these My Little Lamb infant seats. She said they’re great for moving room-to-room around the house and that all of her babies have loved it.)

Tip: when making a meal for others, make a double batch so that you have leftovers for your own dinner. This really came in handy because Tanner’s mom and niece came over for dinner on Thursday night to celebrate Tanner’s birthday. His mom brought a cake and I served up soup and salad.

FRIDAY

It was SO cold and rainy in Charlotte over the weekend (although I was grateful we missed the snow). It was nice to have this leftover soup on hand. One of the things I love about this recipe is that it’s vegan/dairy-free but made super creamy with a cashew cream made from soaked cashews and vegetable stock. It really adds a lot of richness and staying power to the soup.

Have I convinced you to try the recipe yet?

Tanner’s birthday was on Friday. My original plan was to have a few people over for dinner but some of our close friends were out of town so I ended up scratching that. I’m SO glad I did because a) my pregnant self was so tired and not up for entertaining and b) the weather was so bad.

We had a quiet celebration at home instead. I cooked a nice dinner at home and then we did dessert, gifts and a movie on the couch. Perfect. I got Tanner an Apple Watch Series 3, which is a hybrid birthday/Christmas present since we’ve decided to keep Christmas low-key this year and focus on things we need for the house and baby instead.

Excuse the #1 candle…I think it was leftover from Zoey’s first birthday and the only one we had in the house! 

I kicked off dinner by opening a nice bottle of wine for him that we’d saved since a couple birthdays ago and making a cheese plate. I haven’t been doing a ton of cheese for the past couple of years but I’ve been loving it in pregnancy and realized that the Friday night cheese plate needs to make a comeback!

And dinner was seared scallops over pureed cauliflower with roasted asparagus. This is one of the easiest “fancy” dinners ever and was ready in under 30. A loose take on my scallop recipe is posted here.

We watched Home Alone on the couch before heading to bed pretty early. What a wild and crazy (but perfect) birthday.

SATURDAY

I enjoyed a super low-key start to my Saturday (I stayed in bed until 9!) before teaching at 11:15 and then having lunch with Tanner.

Post-lunch tea and cupcakes back at home. These were a birthday gift for him from Gigi’s and so good.

We were lazy the rest of the afternoon and then had a gym and movie date night. We packed clothes and went to the Y to workout and then showered and went to see Daddy’s Home 2.

My workout was awesome, the movie…not so much. It was entertaining but definitely stupid humor. The best part of the movie was the big bag of popcorn Tanner went and got about half way through.

Back at home I had more soup along with leftover rice with avocado.

SUNDAY

I woke up with a bagel craving on Sunday and when Tanner came downstairs to ask how “my belly was feeling,” I said “it wants bagels.” Not 60 seconds later he was in the car and on the way to Poppy’s where he got a sack full of bagels.

We each had one with a grapefruit, eggs and bacon. One of my friends asked me once why I only eat one piece of bacon a lot of times. It has nothing to do with fat/calories and more to do with that I actually don’t really like bacon all that much. I like it in things/on things more than I like to eat a piece of it plain.

I wrapped the rest of the bagels tightly and froze them so it will be great to have them on hand!

The rest of the day passed in a blur of blogging, house straightening up, dog walking, teaching and taking yoga and grocery shopping. I think we all felt like this at the end of the day. I laughed at Sullie when I walked in the bedroom to find her on top of the pillows that Tanner had tossed off the bed. She looks quite cozy!

Did you get any snow over the weekend? 

Did you watch any movies at home or at the theater this weekend? 

What’s your all-time favorite holiday movie? It had been years since I’d seen Home Alone and it was so good! I can’t believe Macaulay Culkin was only 10 when he filmed that!