While on a freezer deep dive for breakfast I found this batch of carrot cake muffins in the WAY WAY back. Hooray! I was in the mood for a muffin with nut butter.
I got cashew butter all up in there. See the lovely chunks of carrot and walnuts inside? The best combo was when the cashew butter united with a plump sweet raisin. Mmmmmm…I am proud of myself for stopping at two.
For lunch I had leftover salmon with kale massaged in balsamic vinaigrette, plus candied walnuts and roasted Brussels sprouts.
All tossed together! Probably could’ve used a sweet something something too, like dried cranberries or cherries. Next time!
Thanks to my prep work I have extras of everything.
For dinner I made this beauty, which I already discussed here.
I haven’t told you guys but I’ve been slipping back into my old habits of desserts. I’m not quite back to EVERY night like I used to be, but it’s definitely 4-5 nights a week…I’m trying to find a balance? Or something.
P and I made Kyle a strata! He was so proud of how much he helped. He cracked all the eggs and de-stemmed all the tomatoes and ripped up the bread and poured in all the cheeses, and scooped in all the yogurt, etc.
Kyle says it’s so good he wants to eat the whole pan every morning.
Guess what is hidden in this bowl of oats!? Shredded zucchini! I made some for the kids, but then ate the rest myself because it looked so good. I used coconut milk instead of water and barely sweetened it with maple syrup. With the walnuts and raisins, it was basically zucchini bread in oatmeal form. 🙂
I doubled down on walnuts when I had them again in my vegan Winter salad for lunch.
Dinner’s theme was tarragon. Aka use up this tarragon before it goes to waste.
A few days before, I had made a vinaigrette dressing with EVOO, sherry vinegar, champagne vinegar, dijon mustard, fresh tarragon, and salt and pepper.
But I STILL HAD MORE TARRAGON to use up, so rather than use the dressing as a marinade for the chicken, I made another (similar) vinaigrette with red wine vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, tarragon, and salt and pepper. Basically I just swapped out the type of vinegar I used.
Kyle grilled the chicken that evening after they’d had all day in the marinade and you could definitely taste the beautiful flavor of the herbs.
I used the dressing for a simple salad with spring greens, cherry tomatoes, and avocado. I don’t know why I don’t use herbs more frequently in my cooking?! It’s such an easy way to change up ingredients without much effort. Despite having so few ingredients, the salad was so unique thanks to the dressing.
In addition to the chicken and the salad I made a cauli salad. It was like a faux potato salad with avocado oil mayo, mustard, and chives (from the garden).
Such a delicious meal!
Oooh…Great idea to put zucchini in oatmeal! I am going to have to try it for G. I love these posts—thanks for the inspiration!
Do you find eating Brussels, kale and nuts for lunch and then cauliflower for dinner bloating? I battle bloat when I eat too many veggies in one day🤔🤔 btw, the meals look fresh and summery and delicious😎
I used to think about dessert as needing to get it under control and it drove me crazy. I always felt guilty when I ate it and then just ended up craving it even more. I started thinking about it a little differently and it helped a lot: I like dessert and eat it every night unless I’m too full. By accepting that I was going to have dessert every night, it took away the feeling of restriction so I don’t really want to go crazy with it anymore. I am going to have dessert again tomorrow! When the guilt does start to creep back in I remind myself that food is meant to be enjoyed as well as fuel our bodies. Having dessert every night is not going to ruin my health, it actually makes me happy and satiated which is a huge determinant of health!
Also, that oatmeal looks fab and your salads always make me jealous. My guts do not enjoy a ton of raw vegetables and I miss the days when I could have a giant bowl of greens and dressing 🙁
I have a similar struggle only my problem is that I am not actually hungry when I want it. If I’m hungry I FULLY ALLOW MYSELF to eat dessert (or anything really) because I know my body gives me signs that I should listen to…but the struggle for me is that I want chocolate even when I know I am not actually hungry and I know it will make me feel yucky after. But at the same time (to your point!) I am all about the YOLO approach. Why not enjoy food if it makes me happy!?! [Except that afterwards I feel less happy]. Thus, my conundrum. I miss my days of breastfeeding when my appetite was insatiable and eating 6000 calories a day was just to keep me alive.
That makes sense! I struggle a lot with rituals and routines (OCD tendencies are a constant battle). I’m not the greatest at this this, but something I want to work on is coming up with new routines to replace the ones that aren’t really working for me. Maybe it could be sipping some of your kombucha while watching a show, or doing a crossword. It sounds kind of lame, but I think with dessert especially we look for a way to comfort and take care of ourselves. These are just ideas that have been rumbling around in my own brain recently. My own dessert of choice tends to be a mix of white, bittersweet and peanut butter chocolate chips with a chaser of black licorice jelly bellies. My husband looks at me in horror every time I eat the jelly beans 😂
It’s not lame at all, you TOTALLY GET ME and we obviously share OCD tendencies. I think a crossword or another non food thing could be a cool replacement idea…anything to feel like I’m treating myself…thanks for the ideas 🙂
Sometimes it is…and sometimes it isn’t. I kinda go by what my gut is feeling like in the moment…although sometimes by the end of the week I don’t have very many options for food left since I’ve menu planned for the week and there’s only so many things left! 😉
I feel like you must have the most amazing treasure trove of a freezer ever!! Totally amazing to just poke around and find some homemade muffins.
I love that P loves to help cook with you! That’s so wonderful:)) And i do swear that food made with love just tastes better as cheesey as it sounds. But apparently kyle has already verified my theory.
Fresh herbs are one of those ingredients that can just take a dish from meh to memorable instantly- i think they’re a big part of why restaurant meals are just somehow better. I’ve been using random odds and ends of herbs for chimichurri or green goddess dressing lately (i like thug kitchen’s version with tahini)