Monday, January 31, 2011

Sunday Funday!

I apparently love this title so much I have now used it twice!

My Sunday was fabulous.  As you can guess it started off with a nice little sleep-in and then church.  Mr. Kummerow and I volunteered with the babies in the nursery so we didn't actually get to sit in church...but all was well because we attended a second church service later in the day.  But more on that in a bit.

I fueled for church with this hearty bowl of oats.
This was just like my "Baked" Apple Oats from Friday, with a little dusting of coconut added.

Sunday filled me with so much joy.  The weather was perfect.  I think it reached 65* and it was sunny all day long.  My winter blues were no more.  The sun wiped them clean. 

Mr. Kummerow and I enjoyed lunch outside on the porch.
Gotta love the self-portrait!
Lunch was grilled portabellas, massaged kale salad and roasted potatoes and broccoli with onions.  It was a feast!
Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli:

3 medium potatoes
1 head broccoli florets
1/4 yellow onion diced
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Wash and dice potatoes.  Chop broccoli and dice onion.  Stir altogether with olive oil.  Place in baking dish or baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake at 375* for 35 minutes.
Massaged Kale Salad

3-4 stalks kale chopped
3-4 romaine leaves chopped
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 avocado
juice of 1/2 lemon

Chop your kale and romaine and dice the avocado.  Mix together in a bowl.  Squirt lemon juice into mix.  Now it's time to get your hands dirty.  That's right, dig right in.  Massage your avocado and lemon juice into the lettuce for several minutes until the kale begins to wilt.  Add the quinoa and mix together.

Grilled Portabella

2 large portabellas
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)

This time we didn't use any olive oil.  However, the tops were a little dry even though the mushroom itself was very juicy.  The olive oil will definitely make it look better and taste a little more succulent.  But if you are trying to cut down on fats you can certainly omit the olive oil here and just grill the portabellas.

Wash your portabellas by gently rubbing with a damp towel.  You can also choose to peel the tops of your portabellas as we did. 

Grill for 10-15 minutes until soft and heated through.
Gotta love sunny NC in the middle of January!

We topped our mushrooms with the other half of the avocado from the salad.
In the interest of full disclosure, I photographed the obscene amount of ketchup used to flavor my potatoes.  I told you I looove ketchup!
Our delicious Sunday didn't stop there.  Mr. Kummerow was feeling energized and requested we spend the afternoon putting off responsibility and cooking instead.  I eagerly obliged! 

On the list:
Salt and Vinegar Roasted Chickpeas
Black Bean-Quinoa Burgers
Black Bean Brownies
Stock pile of brown rice to use later in the week. 
Let's just say I owe you a few recipes!

We finished with our cooking/baking for the afternoon in just enough time to make our second church visit of the day.  Yesterday was the 5th Sunday of January.  Several churches in the area have a very special tradition of gathering on 5th Sundays for an afternoon worship service that brings denominations together.  This Sunday it was held at Clark's Chapel and the pastor from my church was giving the message. 

It was a very unique time of worship.  Men and women, black and white, gathered together and praised God in perfect harmony and unison.  Our praise team performed with Clark's Chapel's praise team.  For me, the service felt similar to a family reunion.  Many of Clark's Chapel women attended the Beach Retreat back in October.  And many of the others in attendance at the service from other churches also attended the Beach Retreat.  It was exciting to see so many familiar, friendly faces. 

As if that wasn't enough to round out a perfect Sunday, Mr. Kummerow and I had special plans for last night.  We took advantage of a Living Social deal and bought tickets to Billy Elliot for half price!  We darted out of church and drove to Charlotte for the performance. 

A few weeks ago we watched the movie on Netflix and I was very excited to learn the musical was coming to Charlotte.  We priced tickets but they were not in the budget.  You can imagine how thrilled I was to see them pop up on Living Social!  The performance was brilliant, and while I am no critic, I would have to say that it was an excellent show.  Billy Elliot was catchy and fun yet deep and emotional.  I enjoyed every second of the show!

You might have noticed we forgot something very important in between church and the show (ahem, Dinner).  Mr. Kummerow and I left the show at 9pm absolutely starving!  We had no time for dinner prior to, so we bolted out of the parking lot and headed to our favorite fast food establishment in Charlotte, the Penguin.

We knew the ownership of the restaurant had recently changed hands, but I was disappointed to learn they discontinued the vegan chili which was available for the tofu dogs.  They no longer had the falafel wrap either.  We settled for one tofu dog with mustard and ketchup and a black bean burger.  Unfortunately we either ordered incorrectly or the waitress messed up because we ended up with a normal hot dog and a normal burger.  Whoops! 

A few minutes later and our black bean burger and tofu dog arrived with a second side of sweet potato fries. 

So after our late night trip to the Penguin last night, it is officially off my favorites list.  I can cook a tofu dog at home with relative ease.  It was the chili dog that suckered me in.  Without the chili, I just don't see much point of eating a hot dog at a restaurant.  Furthermore, the sweet potato fries tasted way too processed for my liking.  I understand most sweet potato fries are not the freshly cut, homemade variety.  However, these hardly resembled sweet potatoes at all. 

Eating at the diner at 10:30pm made me feel so radical.  I felt like I was back in college and when Mr. Kummerow and I talked this over tonight we chuckled at the thought.  Yeah, right.  Like in college we would be sipping wine at the diner while eating a tofu dog and a black bean burger.  That is a funny thought and way too healthy for my college tastes.  It is ironic how last night was one of the least healthy meals I have eaten in a very long time, yet is a million steps up from where I was 4 or 5 years ago! 

Ok, now the day was finally over.  We made our way back to Mooresville and crashed hard.  We both had early wake-up calls this morning and slept like rocks.  What a brilliant day!  The warm, fresh air, church, and an amazing date night.  What more could a girl ask for?

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