The Next Food Network Stars!

My wonderful roommate and I are lucky enough to have the living situation that we do. Our little living space is quite cozy and we have really established a quaint little home. Much to my liking, Ashley and I have the same love for food and appreciate the time and effort that goes into preparing a delightful meal. We might be considered nerdy for being so domestic but I think our peers could really learn a lot from us. Grocery shopping together is twice the fun and very budget friendly. Because we are busy young professionals with fairly active social lives, we aren't able to make something exquisite every night but two to three times a week we put on our aprons and get creative in the kitchen.

Monday night's dinner was what we call a perfectly balanced meal. Tuna medallions were on sale at Harris Teeter and we picked up some fresh brussels sprouts over the weekend as well. (I know, not typical on the favorite vegetables list but we LOVE these little things and found a great recipe that called for roasting the sprouts with garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil) Normally, we marinate our tuna in teryaki sauce or some sort of lemon concoction but I decided it might be nice to try something different. I mixed some low sodium soy sauce and brown sugar and let the medallions sit for 10 minutes before searing them. The sauce created perfect glaze and just the right amount of salty/sweet combination. The brussels sprouts turned out better than we could have ever imagined and we added a side of our favorite Harvest Grains mix from Trader Joe's that includes red quinoa, lentils and israeli cous cous. You can't help but feel so healthy after eating fish and it was the perfect little meal to wind down with on a crazy Monday.

Tuesday did not fail to disappoint as we continued with our seafood theme. Harris Teeter's frozen shrimp is something we always keep in the freezer as it is easy to cook with on the fly and there are so many ways you can fancy up some shrimp! We marinated our shrimp in a caribbean jerk marinade with lemon pepper and roasted them in the oven. This was served over brown basmati rice which we tossed in with some minced green onions and cilantro...served with a wedge of lime on the side for a citrus burst that added a nice freshness to the meal. Once again, a nice balance of flavor and ingredients to make for another healthy meal.

And while Wednesday night's meal was nothing fancy at all, I can say that we enjoyed a glass of wine on a patio in Ballantyne Village after work, and ate chocolate pudding while listening to Mossimo & Jane from http://www.learnitalianpod.com/ give us Italian lessons on my iPod. Molto, molto bene!

Ciao!