Dinner with Brothersahn

Now that we are living in Lafayette, we are closer to San Ramon where Greg still works. We met up a few weeks ago for dinner like we did back in the day. Meeting up once a week for dinner was a regular occurence when I was still living and working in San Ramon. 

We would rotate between 4 restaurants: a Mediterranean or Thai place in Danville, or a bar & grill or sushi place in San Ramon. Since Baby is particular with what I eat and since sushi is a no no right now, we went to the bar & grill, The Hop Yard. 

What kept us coming back was the fried spicy mac & cheese bites. Since Greg is a fast eater, I have to make sure to keep up if I want my fair share!

Mac & Cheese bites. Oh so good!

Greg got adventurous and ordered the Impossible Burger. It is a meatless, plant-based patty he had read about. While he didn't hate it, not sure he will order it again. Since we were living it up he got it with garlic fries.

The Impossible Burger

I think there were only 2 times I didn't order the cheesesteak and had order's remorse each time. It comes with either chicken or beef, onions, mushrooms, banana peppers and melted Swiss-American cheese. Also feeling fancy, I ordered it with onion rings. 

Beef Cheesesteak

With the pregnancy, the whole gluten-free thing has gone out the window. Baby wants what Baby wants! I can tolerate it more than before so it will be interesting to see how my body reacts to it after I give birth.

 There's a Cold Stone not far from the restaurant so we walked over and each got a scoop. He likes cotton candy flavored ice cream with gummy bears and I ordered strawberry with Kit Kat bar.

 Mother always appreciates a picture so we snapped a few after dinner. (We did not plan the stripes.)

Chicken & Apple Sausage and Veggie Bake

For those that haven't heard, at the end of March we found out we are expecting! Those first 3 months I basically woke up to go to work and slept when I got home. No one ever told me how exhausting it would be in the 1st trimester! Thankfully morning sickness hit me more in the afternoon/evening so getting ready for work wasn't made more difficult.

Isn't he cute?

Needless-to-say, I didn't do a whole lot of cooking as I couldn't tolerate meat and could only stomach a bite or so before feeling full. Foods I usually enjoy no longer were appetizing. There are still a few things I love that he doesn't, yet.

I haven't had too many cravings but he does love his veggies. The first few months all I wanted was broccoli or corn. Scott would laugh when we ordered Chinese food so I could get an order of broccoli in bean curd.

Before Little One, I would make one pan meals often. It's super easy, healthy and tasty. You can customize it to your liking with a different combo of veggies, changing up the protein and seasonings. Kielbasa is tasty in this but I made it last night with a chicken sausage.  

Sausage and Veggie Bake

Ingredients

• 4 Aidells Chicken and Apple Sausages
• 1 large sweet potato, diced
• 1 bell pepper (I typically use red), diced
• 2 zucchinis, cut into thick coins and halved (To avoid overcooking)
• 1 cup button mushrooms (I quartered them since they were on the large size)
• 1/4 cup of oil (I used olive oil)
• 3 tbs of onion powder
• 2 tbs of dried thyme
• 1 tsp of red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to your liking 
• 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Start by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Proceed to cut up the sausage on the bias, dice up the bell pepper and sweet potato and place all in a 9x13 baking dish. 
3. Pour the oil over the veggies and sausage, sprinkle the seasonings on top, and mix together by hand. (Of course you can use any combination of seasonings and amounts you like!)
4. Place in the oven for 20 minutes.
5. While those begin to cook, proceed to cut up the zucchini and mushroom since we don't want to overcook them adding them in right away. 
6. When the 20 minute timer goes off, add the zucchini and mushroom and mix it all together. 
7. Bake for an additional 25 minutes.
8. In the last 10 minutes sprinkle the cheddar cheese on the top.

I let it rest for a few minutes before serving.

Baby approved!

I'm so glad Little One tolerates meat now as this meal was hitting the spot.