We bought a house!! + easy dinners lately

Phew!! Life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately! We have been saving up to a buy a house for the past few years and with our apartment lease ending at the end of October, we decided it was the perfect time to buy a house. Let me tell you, looking at homes is a blast, the process of buying a home is not. Talk about stressful!! And redoing a home...even less fun and more stressful. BUT, we own a home!! And when we are done with it, it will be a great place for us. I plan on doing several before and after posts for those of you who are interested.

This is it!! It needs some landscaping, but I think it has GREAT potential.

We bought a 1950s home that is 3 bed, 1 bath and in a pretty central location (I'm so excited about living 5-10 minutes from the majority of our friends, church, and delicious restaurants). With it being over 60 years old, it's got some quirky characteristics. Some of those characteristics give it charm and others give it "character" 😂. We are currently in the process of redoing the hardwood floors, painting all of the trim and walls, and knocking out the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Eventually we will have a completely redone kitchen (homegirl needs adequate storage and countertop space!!!). Unfortunately, when we move in, we won't have a working kitchen because the kitchen cabinets won't be ready in time. Yes, it's frustrating, and I don't like the idea of moving into a half-ready house, but it is what it is, so we're going to make the most out of it. 

In the meantime, we are getting as much done as possible before we move in. We've had pretty busy weekends with various family functions and weddings, so we've been forced to mainly work in the evenings after work. As a result, dinners have had to be easy. It's been a bit of a stretch, but it's good to get out of our food ruts and to try new things. So here are a few of the dinners we've had recently with varying degrees of prep time and difficulty. Thank goodness for tupperware, a microwave, and paper plates/plastic silverware!!

Deli bakery bread, avocados, and rotisserie chickens have been my best friend lately. You'll see variations of these ingredients throughout. The above meal was an Italian salad kit (that was SUPER delish!) that had greens, sundried tomatoes, parmesan, black pepper and a dressing. Topped it with rotisserie chicken and served it with a whole grain loaf topped with avocado.

Taco soup I made earlier that day topped with cheese and avocado and served with blue corn chips. I know this is weird, but I was craving taco soup mainly for the yellow hominy, and I didn't even end up finding any for this 😩 😂

Mac and cheese from Aldi (LOVE that place!) served with rotisserie chicken and veggies I roasted earlier.

A new Papa Murphy's pizza that was having a deal for $9. I wouldn't get it again...it wasn't all that filling and it just wasn't that tasty. Served with a homemade version of the Italian salad kit from the first picture.

Spring roll bowl: farro, cabbage, red bell pepper, carrots, mango, avocado, rotisserie chicken, shrimp, cilantro, green onion and a Thai peanut sauce. Suuuper fresh. Mmmmm.

This meal was not a win. These chicken sausages were on sale at Sprouts, but the casing got tough in the microwave. I served it with steamable vegetables that were HORRIBLE. No wonder people think vegetables are gross. Thankfully that everything seed topped bread was great. I definitely got seconds of it and we used it for multiple meals.

Farro and a pork and green bean stirfry that I made earlier in the day. Meh, it was okay. I don't plan on making it again anytime soon.

Cauliflower Italian nachos and the everything seed bread with more avocado. I happen to love roasted cauliflower and saw cauliflower nachos and thought it would be right down my alley. I think it would have been even more delicious with a meltier cheese and feta, but I used what we had. I really enjoyed it but will definitely need to make them more substantial in the future. 

Pumpkin chili 😍 with cheese, avocado, plain Greek yogurt, a squeeze of mustard, and fritos. Fall, frito chili pie, and me were all MFEO. This chili had red bell pepper, mushrooms, onion beef, tomatoes, canned pumpkin and a bunch of spices that included cocoa powder and cinnamon. It's SO fall and super yummy. 

So there you have it! I hope this gives you some inspiration for easy meals that can be made, transported, and reheated with minimal prep. When we're living in our new house without a stove, I'm gonna have to get super creative, so I'll be sharing what I come up with during that time. 

Hope you're enjoying this fall season!!