Planning ahead for the work week... for once.

Every week, I say to myself that I'm going to plan my lunches. I'm going to make a batch of something delicious that sits well in the refrigerator, that isn't a plain ol' salad. Every week, I fail to do this. I don't know why. The extra work on Sunday pays off for extra lunch break time! This Sunday, I committed to making something tasty that will last a few days to make my midday break a breeze.

When Matthew is on tour, I typically go vegetarian. I was actually a vegetarian as a teenager for nearly 6 years until we got together. As a steadfast carnivore, it didn't take long for him to pull me to the dark side, but alas, vegetarian recipes call my name 9 times out of 10.

We have a fantastic cookbook library at home, however, I find that the best vegetarian recipes come from amazing bloggers on the world wide web. Of course it's pretty easy to come up with dishes of veggies and greens, but I'm not at a point where I feel very inventive with healthy dishes, especially when it comes to lunch. My absolute favorite go-to when I'm hankering for a bright and fresh vegetarian dish is Cookie + Kate. If you haven't checked out her blog before, you're missing out! 

The Peanut-Sesame Slaw with Soba Noodles called for brussels sprouts, however, I didn't find any at the market that looked good, so I went with shredded broccoli. Also, in the essence of time and a lazy Sunday, I went with pre-shredded organic slaw veggies to cut out some time. 

One of our favorite things to collect while on tour is kitchen goods. When Matthew was on tour in Cleveland, Ohio recently, he visited one of our favorite restaurants The Greenhouse Tavern and picked up some of Chef Jonathan Sawyer's fantastic handcrafted vinegars from Tavern Vinegar Co. I highly recommend these vinegars! Tasty enough to taste from a spoon... that's my kind of vinegar. Definitely took this slaw up a notch.

Pretty excited for lunch this week! Now... to keep up with this every week.

Meanwhile, Matthew played Download Festival today and they had fireworks on stage... fireworks! You can check it out on his instagram.

Stinky cheese makes everything better.

We love to host Sunday brunch. It's the best day of the week to get your favorite people together and have a potluck. Our group of friends is filled with people who know their way around the kitchen, so we always end up with an amazing spread.

I have my usual go-to's that I like to make: Spicy Baked Grits, anything from the Bubby's cookbook, a blood mary bar. But since I have been on a kick cooking my way through David Lebovitz's new My Paris Kitchen, I decided to give the Ham Pear and Blue Cheese Quiche a whirl.

I've never made this more French-style "deep dish" quiche, which definitely requires more cook time, but comes out with a much more impressive presence than using a shallow pie or tart pan. I originally thought I had done a crummy job with the crust, but not much, if any, of the creamy goodness leaked out. David made a great tip to cover the sides and bottom in foil, just in case you have any leaks. Avoiding oven messes is always a good idea! To my surprise, I ended up with a pretty perfect, nicely browned crust. All around, this was so flavorful and an amazing combination of flavors. Heavy cream, a touch of nutmeg, salty ham, pungent cheese. The pear added just a touch of sweet to a stinky cheese that can easily overpower your palate. I am definitely planning to make this again, but vary the ingredients -- the possibilities seem endless! And that excites me. 

Parlez-vous French cooking? Not really, but we can try.

Saturday usually means spending the day making something more laborious than we would normally have time for on a weekday. Matthew gifted me the latest cookbook from my favorite food writer, David Lebovitz, for my birthday (My Paris Kitchen), but I waited until he was home so we could dig into our first recipe from it together.

French cooking is no joke. I'm not a big rule follower, and French cooking requires a lot of line-by-line instructions to be followed exactly. David Lebovitz manages to create recipes that infuse French culinary traditions while not being overly obtuse. If I can follow it without the itch to stray, anyone can. And lucky for me, Matthew is a big rule follower, so he keeps me in check.

We are huge fans of meat pie dishes as we both grew up with Southern grandparents. Naturally, the first dish we had to attempt was the Chicken pot Parmentier -- a French-style chicken take on a beef pie. 

The recipe called for two little tablespoons of white wine, so we had to open something we wanted to drink. We still had one bottle of Sauvignon Blanc left from Matthew's recent travels to Fairview Winery in South Africa. We know very little about wine and food pairings, but it actually worked beautifully.

One issue we had to troubleshoot through was ricing the potatoes. We don't have a potato ricer, and David Lebovitz explicitly states not to mash them with a beater to make sure the potatoes stayed light and not gluey. We made a shot-in-the-dark call that the KitchenAid mixer with the grater attachment would be the best shot... and it worked! Perfectly riced potatoes.

During the final step of piping the potatoes on, I couldn't for the life of me find my metal tips, so we winged it with a pastry bag with a small cut opening. 

This recipe took some time, so by the time it came out of the oven, we were starving and dug in before photographing the end result! (Picture the final photo with a crispier brown edge).

SOUNDTRACK: French Gypsy Jazz. Listen here.

COOKBOOK: My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz

I couldn't resist these beautiful peonies at the market. They match my tattoos!

Shout out to our friends at our fave ramen joint, Ramen Tatsu-Ya!

Baie Dankie. Buy a Donkey? Adventures in South African Pizza

We love pizza, especially pizza that isn't traditionally American. One of our favorite things to do is recreate flavors from the road. Matthew recently ventured to South Africa for the first time. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the trek. On top of bringing back amazing chocolate, coffee, and wine, he came back gushing about a flavor combination that he knew I would love. Sometimes I miss out on great culinary experiences, and that's where our kitchen conquests begin.

If you've never made pizza dough, you're missing out. It's not as daunting as it sounds and it's very inexpensive to make. The taste is incomparable to store bought, and you can always freeze the extra for standby pizzas. After trying out quite a few, the best recipe we have found is Jamie Oliver's.

In preparation, Matthew cooked 3/4 lb. of bacon (natural, no-sulfites-added!) and cubed 2 Hass avocados. After rolling out a thin crust, he sprinkled 8 oz. of feta cheese and sprinkled on all of the bacon. The big twist here is the egg addition. The pizza he had in South Africa didn't have an egg, but in Matthew's mind, everything is better with a sunny side up egg on it. After cracking two eggs on top, he placed it in a 500 degree oven for 10 minutes. We use a baking sheet - after many swearing episodes with pizza stone fails. During the last minute, he evenly spread the avocado across. From previous experience, it gets mushy when cooked too long.

Tangy feta, creamy avocado, salty bacon - simple, yet a perfect pizza profile.

Baie Dankie is "thank you very much" in Afrikaans which is kind of hilarious. Thanks for reading our first post!