a snoring cat and married life

For the first time since we got married one month ago, the mister and I actually had a weekend together where neither one of us had to work.  A lazy Saturday morning in bed for me with a snoring cat (ahem, Gracie) and some back issues of People magazine.  Followed by a breakfast I didn't have to make.  Glorious.

Now I am hunkered down for the Frankenstorm with two consecutive days off work and the mister is at work safe and sound (working for a hospital means no days off for silly severe weather).  Tofu slices baking in the oven for sandwiches in case we loose power.  Catching up on some laundry.  And a pile of thank you notes from the wedding that need to be written.

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to settle into married life.  Well, it's not really the married part that has been a challenge, it's more the co-habitating part - the part where we have twice as much laundry and dishes and the bathroom just won't stay clean.  I feel like I'm always doing laundry and know that when we have kids it'll get even crazier.  For the meal planning, I've started using our shared Google calendar, which is helping a lot.  We now have a sub-calendar called "What's for dinner" where I list web links or cookbook references for new recipes based on our seasonal produce and staples.  He can move things around or add in ideas.  Plus, I can set certain meals to repeat every third week or so, which makes it nice when I can't (or am too lazy to) think of new things to make.

Some of the highlights over the past couple of weeks:
~ Colcannon made with potatoes, kale, and sauteed veggie chorizo (perfect comfort food)
~ Chesapeake tempeh cakes (I baked them instead of frying and oh my goodness these were good!)
~ Maple sweet potato pecan burgers topped with cashew "sour cream" (cream recipe from Vegan Table)
~ Chickpea & rosemary baked fritatta (so simple)

All I have to say is thank heaven for Pinterest for gathering meal ideas.  Now if Pinterest only had some magical perpetual bathroom-cleaning solution, I'd be all set!