This is an early post because it’s a short week – I am heading to Ohio today to visit my grandma! And my mom will be there too!
Pre-vacation highlights included…
This week’s coffee combo.
We brought home brigadero balls from Cafe Patoro and they were great. The caramel was my favorite.
I made a batch of milk crumbs and obviously put them on everything. Like an ice cream sundae with the last brownie.
And an insane yogurt bowl sundae with vanilla bean Greek yogurt, nut butter, and chocolate peanut butter granola.
Simple but great dinners this week. From the Trader Joe’s freezer section – veggie and sunflower seed bites and turkey corn dogs. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.
It was a very tasty week! Adam and I had a weekday off and a few evenings together (woo-hoo!) and we made the most of them. Some of the best highlights included…
I worked six of the last seven days so we’ve eaten a lot of take-out chicken nuggets but also managed to go on a few nice dates! Highlights from the past week include…
Mint pour-over with chocolate sweetened condensed milk.
Drinks and snacks at The Linwood. I had a cocktail with tequila, sage, honey, lime, blood orange, and grapefruit soda.
Plus housemade chips with onion ranch dip.
Caribbean-inspired food at Coastal. My jerk chicken rice bowl was great.
But we were there for the drinks! Like a painkiller made with Soggy Dollar Bar rum (aka rum from the place that invented painkillers).
I also had a lovely drink with vodka, butterfly pea flower, chamomile, guava, pineapple, lemon, and soda.
Homemade chilaquiles with Trader Joe’s guajillo salsa, tortilla chips, shredded chicken, sweet onion, and bell peppers. Topped with sharp cheddar, sour cream, hot sauce, and a fried egg.
We made the best salads. Local lettuce with dijon balsamic dressing / stir-fried/charred snap peas / crunchy mung beans / cheddar / bbq chicken – shredded chicken breast and thighs from the crockpot tossed with homemade bbq sauce and roasted in the oven.
A yogurt bowl with tons of fresh mango. Plain skyr with honey, granola, and chia seeds.
This week’s fizzy, fermented drink line up. Pineapple mint kombucha (too sweet – I prefer other flavors from this brand) / strawberry ginger prebiotic soda (too ginger spicy) / grapefruit lime tepache (just right!).
I made a mule at home and it was delicious. I tossed in a splash of pickled jalapeno juice too.
This Trader Joe’s cinnamon dragons are good but not quite strong enough for me.
We made a batch of simple but tasty chili with black beans and shredded chicken. Topped with sour cream, TJ’s sweet and spicy jalapenos, and sharp cheddar.
The chili was even better leftover (duh!) on loaded baked potatoes. With tons of cheddar, sour cream, and hot sauce. Plus roasted baby cauliflower on the side.
In my ongoing quest to turn every dish into fries and/or nachos – bagels with lox. This was fries and roasted cauliflower topped with TJ’s smoked salmon dip, hot smoked salmon, capers, quick pickled red onion, and chopped cucumber and tomato.
I spent 99.9% of the weekend cuddled up with the dog eating take-out sandwiches. Aka the last few days have been perfect aka I have very little to share in this post. Some non-sandwich highlights included…
And I did cook one dinner! Sautéed Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Crunch mix and green onions / nuac cham sauce / smoked turkey breast / dried cherries / toasted almond slivers.
No one is surprised that I am at an 11/10 for the new Starlight Diet Coke. It is pink and it tastes like space if space tastes like marshmallows!
Cookie dough remains my favorite perfect bar flavor.
An eclectic but wonderful yogurt bowl. Plain skyr, strawberries, dried hibiscus, Luxardo cherries, chia seeds, nut butter, and cookies and cream granola.
It was a low-key but tasty weekend! Highlights include…
Iced matcha lattes. I can’t believe that I wasn’t a matcha fan until so recently.
(P)Pb&J toast. Toasted whole wheat bread with mixed nut butter and a mix of strawberry jam and poppy seed filling.
An almond-y yogurt bowel. Vanilla skyr, fresh strawberries, maple almond butter granola, and chopped marzipan.
S’morenola! Aka granola s’more nachos aka my new favorite snack. I broiled vanilla bean marshmallows and chopped chocolate on granola. It was wonderful, and yes, I ate it with milk.
This single-sheet pan dinner was so easy and so filling. I roasted Seemore chicken parm sausages with Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi and kale gnocchi, then tossed with red sauce.
Buffalo chicken casserole. We baked together whole-wheat rotini pasta, ground chicken cooked with buffalo sauce, sautéed onion and celery, roasted cauliflower rice, cheddar, and blue cheese.
And I used leftover poppy seed filling in a yogurt bowl with lemon skry, granola, blackberries, and cinnamon.
For dinners this week we made some old favorites (and got a lot of take-out!). Buffalo blue cheese black bean burgers. With roasted cauliflower and broccoli.
Eating Chalk 