Our good friends, Dave and Marie, moved to the other side of the world next town over. Instead of a 5-minute walk, they’re now a solid 8-minute drive away. (I know, it’s tragic.) Obviously, I’m bummed, but now getting together with our friends is even more of a special occasion! 
Plus, Murphy really likes the car ride to their house! 
Dave and Marie moved into their new home yesterday, so I offered to bring dinner to their house tonight. Initially, I was thinking take-out pizza or chinese food, but then I decided to cook something at home and bring it to their house. It was a cheaper option and perhaps a more nutritious one too!
Rice, Beans & Veggies
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
- 10 oz brown and/or wild rice
- 1 15 oz can of chickpeas
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- Sauce of your choice
First, I cooked the rice according to the directions on the package.
Then, I chopped the veggies and sauteed them with about 2 tbsp of olive oil.
Meanwhile, I drained and rinsed the chickpeas.
Once everything finished cooking, I packed it up to take to Dave and Marie’s house for dinner.
After a quick tour of their new digs, our friends broke out some crackers + cheese and some white wine for us to snack on.
A little while later, we dung into dinner. It was “make-your-own-plate.”
So delicious!! Everyone loved the Cashew & Cream sauce!
For dessert, we enjoyed some Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were a hit too! I gave Dave and Marie a huge batch of them– so I don’t eat them all!
Mal and I have a 7-mile run in the morning. Better hit the hay.
G’night!
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Good luck on the run!
For some reason, your posts keep showing up in my reader really early before all the text is in. It wouldn’t be a problem except then it doesn’t show there’s a post there when it’s actually put together. Just thought you should know.
Good luck on your run! I agree with Evan, it publishes TOO fast!
And the fading pictures make your page load a lot faster, but when I go to load your page beforehand to read somewhere without internet access, I can’t instant-download the photos while reading. I’m probably one of the few people who does that, but just a thought!
That looks SO good! Murphy is adorable as always:)
Great idea — so great having a homecooked meal after days of moving. I love the ‘assemble your own’ idea, too. We had a party with friends last night and everyone could make her own pizza, which was delish!
so nice of you to bring dinner to your friends!
Oooh, I’ve never made anything like that cashew cream sauce… will have to give it a go, I think!
what a lovely dinner idea – i like the idea of putting together your own plate andpiling on the sauce!
Looks like a quick, healthy dinner! That’s fun you guys had a friend get together–and you brought dinenr?! lucky them!
this wouldn’t load for forever
i love that you guys took this over to a friend’s house for dinner…i always put pressure on myself to make something fancy, but this looks like it would definitely hit the spot!
How much fun!!!!
Those cookies sound delicious too!
I hate when friends move away, but thank goodness it was only the next town over! I’m 22 so my friends are dropping like flies.
Good luck on your run tomorrow! I’m sure Mal will be done in what, a half hour?
Dinner looks easy to make and must have tasted great. I’ll be happy to take some of those cookies off your hands though!
that dinner looks really awesome!!!
yummy!
Looks like a great dinner! I love sharing meals with friends :-0
Murphy is so adorable!!
Hope you have an awesome 7 miler tomorrow!
I literally smile every single time you post a picture or story about Murphy because I have 2 pugs and they do every single thing he does! They chase their tails and insist on sleeping with their butts on the pillow. I love that you share him with us!!
I love Murphy. He’s such a day brightener.
And you are so creative to be able to whip together such a wonderful meal. It looks great!
looks like fun! good luck with your next big run
I wish my Murphy loved being in the car. He hates it and we have to coax him inside.
I am NOT a runner and never have been but I really wanted to work up a sweat last night, so I did 2 miles on the treadmill.
My 9:30 pace felt blazing fast to me so I walked for a minute and then cranked it up to 8:30 for 2 minutes. The whole time I’m thinking, Mal went way faster than this for half an hour…. so I recovered for another minute and then tried a 7:30 pace! I felt like my legs were flying!
Kudos to you guys for keeping up the good runs and your hubby is a machine.
That looks like a yummy quick dinner I’ll have to try that. I always do black or soybeans.
That’s a great dinner idea to bring to a friend’s house. I like how everyone can assemble their own!
oh, that is some dinner! Although I love hummus, I recently tried a chickpea-based dinner that was pretty…bad. It included banana pepper rings. I should have known better.
That looks like such a delicious dinner!
Haha, our BF’s live a mile away right now and I always think how sad its going to be when we move 3 miles away!
lol.
Sounds like a great night!
Dinner looks yummy. What a great idea to bring dinner to a friend’s house.
What a fun dinner idea! It looks delicious! So do those cookies
that’s sad your friends moved but it will make visiting that more enjoyable.
Look’s like you had a great evening! Good luck with your run today… It has been a beautiful day so far!
I love the combination of rice, veggies, and beans – it’s a staple at my place during the winter months. I like topping it with Bragg’s or nutritional yeast flakes
Wine + cheese + crackers is such a happy mixture.
Murphy is so cute
I’m still in love with your new blog layout and how the pictures are managed, fun!
Murphy needs his own TV show. “Travels with Murphy” or “See the World with Murphy”! AHHH SO CUTE.
Also, yay for making healthy food to share with friends!
How sweet that you brought dinner…it looks delicious! I really enjoy the new layout as well.
Ohhh I like the sound of that really simple, but nutritious dinner!!
Tina, not to be rude but I can hardly read your blog anymore!! It used to be so comfortable and reader/user friendly but now I just dont visit that often because its so reader confusing! Im sorry, I dont like the new format at all
Oh my goodness, they moved such a long way away!
It was nice of you to make them dinner. And it looks delicious! 
Personally, I LOVE your new layout. It makes clicking on the individual blogs so much easier. MUCH less scrolling for me to do to see how many new ones have been posted.
The meal looks fantastic! I used to the live in the same apartment building as my best friend and whenever I wanted to see her I would just walk down and around the corner. Now she lives a 5-8 min. car ride away and when her phone is dead or missing (she has 4 kids, so this happens a LOT! lol) I never know if she’s home or not. It was so much easier to be able to just do a quick walk to see, but now the drive? Ugh…
I guess I’ll just get used to it
Maybe it will grow on me
that picture of Murphy looking out the car window is crazy cute! I have always always wanted a pug, but we have persnickety cats right now, so pictures of Murphy will have to do for now.
I cannot wait to make those zucchini chocolate chip cookies with my 4yo. He is going to love them!
I posted this on our Stonehouse 27 facebook page. Thank you for trying our sauces. It looks delicious and nutritious.