Tag Archives: meals

A Progressive Dinner of Awesomeness

Posted in Love by

It’s been a while since my last post, and I miss you guys! Funny enough, despite the lack of new content on here, my site traffic continues to climb. It’s like you don’t even care that I’m not here anymore! Amsterdam & Beyond is thriving without me, which is both flattering and alarming. When did my baby go and get so grown up?!

On a more serious note, it really has been a while. I don’t want to make excuses, but real life has been pretty freakin’ awesome lately, and so that’s what I’ve been doing. Living. And my neglect isn’t focused solely on Amsterdam & Beyond – it’s all social media. I used to be a Pinterest queen and an Instagram junkie, with the occasional Facebook post just for giggles. Now, I rarely spend down time on my computer. I prefer to laugh, dance, kiss, talk, drink wine, eat sweets, run, and explore. I have a backlog of photos from the past few months, but have barely made a dent in editing them. My *goal* is to blog once a week. If I can keep up that pace, I will be happy :) So let’s see if I can get any better in April!IMG_4036These photos are a few snaps from a dinner the girls and I concocted last weekend. Have you ever heard of a progressive dinner? It’s a food tour through several houses, where one course is enjoyed at each stop! We thought it would be a fun idea for a Saturday night, as a prequel to some dancing :) And so we rallied eight ladies, four bringing beverages and four offering up their homes to host and cook! Read through to the end for some tips if you’re looking to throw your own progressive dinner party :) Continue reading →

Cheesy Breakfast Boats

Posted in Food by

Whenever we have a catered lunch at work, we order from the delicious Uliveto. I’ve literally had clients say, “Hey, can we have the meeting at your office so you can order that AMAZING Italian?!” The food from Uliveto is hearty, drenched in olive oil, and seasoned with fresh herbs. They have one dish – a sweet potato and ricotta pie – that is comparative mouth-crack. A crispy, flaky crust engulfs a cheesy mixture of broccoli, sweet potatoes and onions, all swimming in a soft blend of Italian cheeses. I would eat this addictive concoction for breakfast, lunch and dinner, day in and day out if I had the chance, however, I have NO idea how to re-create this delicacy at home. Next weekend I’ll probably march on down to Uliveto to pick the chef’s master mind, but in the meantime, I’m left craving soft broccoli with an abundance of cheese crammed into small, green florets. And thus breakfast boats were born – an easy, quick creation of mine that eliminates the need for a homemade dough or crust, but still captures all the delightful magic of vegetables smothered in cheese.IMG_9234This recipe takes about 10 minutes to construct, and a a mere 15 minutes in the oven. So in less than 20 minutes, you can have a delicious, cheesy bread boat meal, without hours of labouring over a hot stove. To get started, you’ll need a few key ingredients. Continue reading →