Sunny Sunday

Yay!  A breakfast I didn’t have to think about!

I started Sunday off with this lovely vegan, gluten free pumpkin pecan muffin from Temple (made by Sugar Plum). It was the perfect size and the texture was light and fluffy but hearty (for a gluten free baked good).  I would definitely get it again.  And it’s inspired me to get baking!

Lunch was a quickie salad because I had things to do (kale massaged with the rest of this dressing, avocado, carrots, and salty almonds).

I spent way too much of the gorgeous day inside – going to THREE stores over the course of the day – oof!

Kyle and P were off on a father/son bonding day date, so it was just me and my gal.  And since I was gone all Saturday skiing, I had major time to make up accomplishing my weekend tasks.  Baby girl was fine with tagging along because she was getting ALL. THE. SAMPLES.  At a certain point I just decided to call it lunch because there was no way she was going to have anything at home after cheese, deli meat, crackers, cheese, cheese, more cheese, and whatever else she was getting.  Oh, and the apple slices I had packed for her!  Living the sweet life without allergies…it allowed us to stay out longer at least.  She took a fantastic nap afterwards and I got so much prep done.

I took her to Jamba Juice after she woke up (because we still had one more store to hit up) but didn’t let her finish that whole thing because it was too close to dinner time.

She was pissed about that, until we got home and she got distracted by Kyle and P being back.

They played in the backyard while I made a recipe from this new cookbook, Just Add Sauce.

Remember back when I told you guys it was coming out in late Feb?  Well, I was hemming and hawing over whether or not to buy it on amazon and then I saw it at Costco!!  Obviously that was a sign from the heavens telling me to get it, right?  So I did.

I had it in my hands a mere hour and already had to make dinner that night from it.  THAT is the sign of a good cookbook.  But let’s be real, it’s from America’s Test Kitchen, so I have no doubt it’s going to be nothing but hits.

I decided on the tex-mex wheat berry and chicken bowl with chili-lime sauce (because the chili-lime sauce sounded fabulous and I was still thinking about the special sauce from In ‘n Out the night before).

I bought chicken for Kyle to grill and seasoned it lightly with salt and TJs 21 season spice blend.  And while he did that, the kids played outside and I got the rest of the bowl’s ingreds in order.

I made some tweaks though – swapping the wheat berries for hominy (time saving decision because I was still shopping at 5 pm – the time change really messed us up) and adding watermelon radishes (because they caught my eye at the market).

No surprise here, but the sauce MADE THE DISH. It was SO good.

The kids were iffy on the radishes, but loved everything else.

Anyway, I cannot wait to make more things from this cookbook.  Sauces can transform the same protein and veg combo into so many different meals and that’s precisely the way the book is set up.  I love it.

Bon Appetit!

Sadly it’s back to rain all week for us, but at least we got a glimpse of the season ahead…ugh.  Can we please be done with Winter yet???  Sunshine makes my whole body float through the day with happiness.  I really felt like I was bouncing around all day.  Living in California is worth every $$$$$ penny.