I've been feeling some pretty serious wanderlust lately.

I've traveled. Not like some people do, but I've been across the United States and to Canada and Mexico, the Bahamas, England, Italy, France. I've had my fair share of enlightening city and museum tours and mind-blowing pasta. It seems like a lot and then I look at a map of the world and my travels feel almost insignificant. I was a baby in Hawaii once.

But lately I've been thinking about Norway (these photos didn't help). And Ireland. I want to have tea in a foggy little mountain town where sheep roam about on really green grass. In May, I'll be Mrs. Peterson in the Dominican Republic, and after that I want to travel more.

I've been a couple of times before, but I want to get to know Seattle. Re-visit San Francisco (woops!--doing some research already) and eat really good sushi, and clam chowder out of sourdough bread bowls. And then I'd like to find myself in Europe and Scandanavia, drinking coffee and taking gorgeous hikes on unfamiliar trails.

Where have you been? Where do you want to go?

I have a confession: I don't own any fancy kitchen gadgets. I need one of those spiral things that turn vegetables into noodles, but I don't have one. While I want a juicer and an espresso maker with a steam wand and a food processor, I'm also in that weird liminal space between forgetting your kitchen things in storage and creating a wedding registry full of awesome stuff that other people will probably buy for you. Normal, right?

Whether you're with me or not, you can still make Paleo pasta with zucchini with just a vegetable peeler.

Ingredients:

Three or four zucchini

One pound of grass-fed beef

Half an onion

One can of crushed tomatoes

Garlic (fresh or powder), crushed red pepper

Olive oil, salt, pepper

1. Chop onion and add it to a large pan with some olive oil.

2. Once the onions are sauteed well, add beef. 

Season with salt, pepper, and a few shakes of crushed red pepper.

3. Brown meat and when it's cooked through, add can of tomatoes and reduce heat to low.

4. With vegetable peeler, slice zucchini into flat, long noodles (see image below). Don't cut yourself!

5. Transfer meat sauce from pan to a bowl and quickly saute zucchini noodles with some more olive oil and about a teaspoon of garlic.

6. To serve, plate the noodles and spoon meat sauce on top. Enjoy!

  

Alright you guys, I'm finally going to introduce you to my favorite place. Modern Times is the most amazing brunch spot in Minneapolis and I would go every day if I could. They have fantastic coffee and the best menu. The window outside says "Organic - Vegan - Vegetarian - Fair Trade - Carnivore" and they seriously mean it. They also have delicious gluten-free toast, so I just really do brunch while I'm there.

All of the food looks, smells, and probably is amazing, but we always order pretty much the exact same thing. Sometimes I get a latte with whole milk (the only thing they don't seem to have is almond milk), but most of the time I'm happy with their coffee (they serve coffee fresh out of a French press all day). Rob always gets the Deadwood Scramble and I get a gluten-free Croque John Paul (pictured below) without cheese.

As you can probably tell already, I can't recommend this place enough. We take everyone who visits us here at least once, and then I daydream about it until we go back again. If you're ever in the area, make sure you stop by for breakfast or brunch one day; but don't you dare go without me!

Modern Times Cafe

3200 Chicago Avenue South

Minneapolis, MN 55407

Food 5/5

Service 4/5

Atmosphere 5/5

Prices & Specials 3/5

Paleo-Friendly 5/5