Veggie Pockets

Hi friends! Happy (?) Monday!

Jeremy and I had a productive weekend! On Saturday we cleaned out our basement and donated 2 carloads of stuff to the Salvation Army and now have 7 bags of trash waiting to be hailed away. It feel SO much better! We can actually move around without dodging random things now!

On Saturday night we went to the rollerderby! I had never been to a roller derby bout before and it was awesome! Our friend, Jen, aka Rachel Slure (that is her roller derby nick name) was just coming back from having the most adorable baby ever and she did an amazing job! I’m still a little fuzzy on the rules of roller derby, but it looks like tons of fun, not to mention a great workout! Our local team is called the Dutchland Roller girls. We had a really great night watching our them trample the team from Hanover, PA.

I wish I had gotten better pictures. They just skate so fast!

Ok. I have a confession. I dont like mushrooms. The way they grow kind of freaks me out and the texture makes me want to… well, you know.

I was bothered about my tumultous relationship with mushrooms. I like almost all other vegetables (eggplant is the other one I cant stomach, also because of the texture and probably because I was forced to eat fried eggplant when I was a kid. Ugh, I get chills just thinking about it.) and I want to enjoy mushrooms as well. So, I realized that if I cut mushrooms small enough, and include them with other vegetables, I dont notice their texture. Perfect! I am happy to report that the past 3 weeks or so, I have used mushrooms three times! Now I guess I need to work on eggplant…

Yesterday I decided to make vegetable pockets. Which are basically just a variety of vegetables, any will do, tucked in a little dough pocket.

First I made a standard whole wheat pizza dough and while I was waiting for the dough to double, I sauteed shallots, red peppers, zucchini and MUSHROOMs until soft… added a little salt, oregano, and basil

Once the pizza dough was finished rising, I rolled it out very thin and cut it into pieces. Then I spooned some of the vegetable filling onto the dough and folded it onto itself.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes (until the top is golden).

I decided to serve the veggie pocket with a little tomato sauce and rice pilaf. It was delicious! A fun meal for when you want something different, but with familiar tastes.

This is what Maci’s Sunday was like:

Hanging out in the sun. Ps — those wicker chairs are not ours…

Veggies Pockets
Makes 4 pockets

3 T shallots
1 T olive oil
1 red pepper, diced
1 cucumber, diced
1/2 lb mushrooms (!), diced (any kind will do)
1 T oregano
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Whole wheat pizza dough

Prepare the pizza dough. While it is doubling, begin to cut and prepare veggies.

1. Saute scallions in oil until soft at medium heat
2. Add red pepper, saute until soft
3. Add zucchini and mushrooms, saute another minute or two
4. Add 1/4 cup tomato sauce and basil, salt, and oregano
5. Turn heat down  to low heat and simmer until most of liquid is absorbed
6. Once dough has doubled, punch it down and transfer to a flowered surface.
7. Roll the dough out very thin and cut into 4 squares
8. Divide vegetable mixture evenly between squares of dough
9. Fold sides of dough in and place on a greased baking sheet seam side down
10. Sprinkle basil on top of each pocket
11. Bake at 350 for 20-30 or until the tops are golden brown

Trader Joes Blues

Last night was another meal made from goodies we picked up at Trader Joes! Whole wheat Gnocchi, three cheese pasta sauce, and a french baguette (which was also used last night with our roasted red pepper artichoke tapenade).

This meal was simple and both the Gnocchi and the pasta sauce were delicious. I almost wish we hadn’t stopped at Trader Joes because now I’m going to be even more sad that we don’t have one close to us 😦 I definitely have the Trader Joes blues.

We have been loving eating outside in the beautiful weather PA has been having lately. Our pretty flower are even starting to bloom!

Maci is still a bit timid in our backyard. She doesn’t quite know what to do. We keep a leash on her, however, just in case she gets freaked out and runs out of our backyard. Which she actually did the other day. Luckily Jeremy was able to catch her before she ran out into the street!

AC Baby!

Jeremy and I decided to take a mini vacation to celebrate the end of my semester and because we wont have a chance to take a true vacation this summer. We settled on Atlantic City for a few reasons: we wanted to go somewhere in driving distance, we got a great rate at the Harrahs Casino, and we wanted  find a hotel that had a “resort” feel, which the Harrahs does because of their AMAZING pool

I mean, HELLO! It was amazing.  The pool is indoor and they keep the area at a constant 82 degrees. It was great, and perfectly relaxing.Our room was nice, nothing spectacular, but nice. We really enjoyed our stay!

I had never been to AC before, Jeremy was there once for a bachelor party. I really didn’t think that I would get into gambling. And, in the grand scheme of things, I didnt. We only spent $20 on the slots. By “we”, I mean me. Jeremy did not gamble at all. I can see how people get really in to it, there were a few times when I thought to myself “maybe the next one I’ll get lucky!”

When I was a kid, I loved “I Love Lucy.” I’m sure it was partly because I felt like I could relate to her because she is a red head. When I saw this slot machine, I knew it was the one for me.

I definitely had the best luck on this slot machine. I was up by $3 at one point! Jeremy told me to cash out, I didn’t annnnd then I lost it all. If only I had listened to him! We hung out and watched some craps, poker, and roulette. It amazes me the kind of money people drop without blinking an eye!

Yesterday we took the Jitney from Harrahs up to the boardwalk to “walk the boards” (as those of us who have grown up going to the Jersey shore (not THAT Jersey Shore) say).

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to the Shore without getting some boardwalk pizza! I got a slice of tomato, broccoli, and spinach pizza. It was delicious and humongous!

Last night we went to the McCormick and Schmidts in the hotel. Jeremy and I try to avoid chain restaurants as much as possible, but our options were pretty limited. We had a great meal! It started with some delicious buttery rolls.

Look at those buns!

For my drink I ordered the Sangria Lemonade. It was absolutely delicious! I loved it and it was quite pretty, too!

The night before, I had an unfortunate encounter with a plate of nachos, and since I had a big ‘ol slice of pizza for lunch, I was craving salad. The house salad was exactly what I was looking for: mescalin mix, dried cranberries, blue cheese, candied walnuts, and a white balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Perfect!

Jeremy got the wild salmon in a chipotle sauce with swish chard, mushrooms, and onions. His meal was REALLY good. I was also really surprised/happy that there were 4-5 options of WILD caught fish. I feel like this is somewhat surprising for a chain restaurant.

This morning, we basically just woke up, checked out, and headed home. Another highlight about our trip is that we had the chance to buy some groceries at a Trader Joes on the way home! I love Lancaster, and there are many great things about living here, but the one thing that this area is missing is a really GOOD grocery store. AKA, a Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Wegmans, etc. The closest TJ and Wegmans is an hour away and the closest Whole Foods is over an hour and a half away. Not cool! So we got a few fun things.

We used this tasty roasted red pepper artichoke tapenade to make some bruschetta for dinner

Half topped with feta, half topped with mozzarella=perfect snack-y dinner!

Being that tonight is our “Sunday,” we are keeping up the tradition of movie Sunday. Playing tonight: Black Swan. I’ve been dying to see it!