Foodie Adventures

Happy 4th of July! Today is always a really fun day and special one for Brian and I. This is the day that 3 years ago Brian proposed to me. It was a really beautiful day, and one that I will never forget.

Planning meals can sometimes be a trouble for us. We find that it's pretty easy to get stuck in a routine of eating the same meals week after week. Eventually, Brian and I started to bore of our dinner routine. We needed a change. Not only that, but a cheap one. We aren't able to travel anywhere exciting this summer, and we both are definitely missing that. Therefore, for a few meals, we decided to "travel" to different countries. We decided to set a few rules for these meals to make them more fun.

1. Food must be as close as we can get to an actual meal in that particular country.

2. It had to be cheap.

3. Throughout preparation and dining, music from the country must be played.

We had so much fun with these meals. It was like our dinners turned into mini date nights at home. Some of our meals were über creative; others as simple as popping something in the oven. So, here we have for you our adventures with food!

Destination #1: France

Meal: Crepes with Raspberry Coulis (pronounced cool-e)

This is a pretty common meal around our house. Brian used to work at a crepe shop, so he knows all of the tricks when it comes to crepe making. The raspberry coulis on these crepes takes the cake, though. Since the crepe originated in France, the crepe was an ideal dish for our evening.

Destination #2: England
Meal: Fish & Chips

What an easy meal! This was probably one of the most simple meals we cooked. When it comes to simple, cheap, and filling, this meal has it all. 

With this meal, we decided to add another rule: accents. We tried to speak in a British accent the whole evening--harder than you might think. We tried to imagine how stupid we would seem to an actual Brit if they were sitting in our kitchen at the time. It didn't matter-we were having fun.

How can you have an English evening without indulging in some of the most well-known British pop culture? Sorry all of you Dr. Who fans, I'm not talking about the tardis. To top of the evening, we jammed out to music from the Brits, including, but not limited to, The Beatles and Spice Girls. Brian is reading all 7 of the Harry Potter books right now in preparation for a class he is teaching with The Coterie Theatre, so we had to toss that in as well. Finally, to top off the evening, we watched the 2nd Harry Potter Movie. Now that Brian is knee deep in the books (currently reading the 4th one), we have put a pause on our Harry Potter movie watching until he is finished. I can't even talk about the books out of fear that I will expose something he does not want to know yet.

Destination #3: Germany

Meal: Schnitzel with Spaetzle

Our German night was a big deal in our house. Brian lived in Germany for a while growing up because his father was stationed there with the US Army. It had to be perfect. I stepped out of the way for this meal and let Brian do the cooking. It was delicious, and probably one of the best meals Brian has made.  Spaetzle with Schnitzel is a classic German meal. Usually you will see lemon with the Schnitzel, but we were too eager to eat that we forgot it. Oops. Our wine for the meal is a sweet Riesling from the banks of the Mosel River in Germany. Our Blüfeld Riesling was a great paring for the meal.

Destination #4: Italy

Meal: Lasagna

Sorry, no pictures here. All we did for this one was pop a Stouffer's lasagna in the oven. We were pretty lazy that night. I think we ate dinner around 10pm. Oops....

Destination #5: Mexico

Meal: Chimichangas with Rice & Beans

I love chimichangas. This is definitely a delicious and easy meal. I found the recipe for the chimichangas on Pinterest. Click here for a link to the recipe. What I like about these chimichangas is that they aren't fried, but baked instead. It makes them seem a little bit healthier. The taste is light and the cooking is easy.


This was a really fun couple of weeks and a great way to mix things up a bit. Brian and I truly enjoyed coming up with creative meals and making an evening out of it. Some of these meals we have started to incorporate into our regular meal schedule. Someday (far, far in the future I hope!), this kind of tradition will be one we look forward to sharing with our kids (but seriously, not for a while).

If you have suggestions for cheap, easy, meals to continue our tour around the world, feel free to share in a comment!