Strikes My Fancy Saturday #2

Hello there, beautiful readers!

The sun is shining in Charlotte -  a welcome sight after 24 hours of total gloom and rain and cold. It has been many moons since I shared some of my favorite things with you, so I thought I'd pop in and do just that!

Speaking of weather (because everyone loves talking about the weather), just LOOK at the icon for the weather tomorrow.

I'm not holding my breath for snow [but actually, I am].

Two highlights here! First off, I made another batch of my Baked Honey & Banana Oatmeal this week. I love having breakfast ready for four days of the week and how can you resist that brown sugar banana caramelized goodness?! Secondly, my spoon! I was lucky enough to unwrap this spoon on Christmas morning and it makes every breakfast brighter. It is also entirely accurate. 

In the midst of holiday madness, I *may* have forgotten to cancel my Blue Apron for this week. So (surprise!) one arrived at my doorstep on Wednesday. The first recipe was this Seared Salmon & Salsa Verde and was super easy and delicious and would be a cinch to make at home. PS - I have a few free Blue Apron meals to give to friends - if you're interested leave a comment! 

New year, new planner! I've completely switched over from my iPhone calendar to a good old-fashioned paper calendar and I'm not looking back. I've also upgraded to a jumbo sized planner so I have plenty of room for to-do lists and doodles. I snagged this Sugar Paper planner from Target for $10! 

As I mentioned, the weather last night was truly atrocious. Torsten and I ventured out to Crepe Cellar in NoDa and split Malbec, pesto fries (!), burrata, a savory crepe and an outrageous brownie sundae concoction. It was the coziest.

And I'm leaving you with this picture from a tiny beach in Kauai, just because.

Have a great weekend friends! 

Recipe: Pantry Pasta Primavera

I should begin this recipe with a few caveats. 

1.) All of the ingredients for this recipe do not, in fact, originate in the pantry. You will have to open your refrigerator and freezer, as well. [If you're keeping your frozen broccoli in your pantry though, you probably have bigger problems than the title of this recipe.]

2.) This is by no means a fancy, blow your mind recipe. This is a recipe for those nights when you're not inspired in the kitchen, did a bad job grocery shopping and meal planning, and want something healthy and pretty tasty.

Now that we've cleared the air, how about that recipe?!

This recipe is inspired by a dinner that Torsten made last week -- Giada's Pasta Primavera. If you have all of the ingredients for her recipe, *by all means* make that instead. It is wonderful and gets 5 stars on FoodNetwork.com, which is unheard of. Giada is a goddess and I will not pretend that this recipe is half of hers. BUT! I can almost guarantee you have the ingredients necessary to make this recipe lying around.

I got home from campus last night around 8pm. I had attended a Campus Dining Forum with Aramark last night (repping the Nutrition department!) and an hour of talking about what kind of food I would like to see on campus left me Hungry with a capital H. This recipe was ready in 20 minutes and hit the spot!

Pantry Pasta Primavera

Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

1 large carrot, peeled

Handful of grape tomatoes

2/3 cup broccoli (I used frozen broccoli that I defrosted in the microwave - desperate times)

Fresh thyme

1 clove of garlic

2 glugs of basil olive oil

2/3 cup whole wheat rotini

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1.) Preheat the over to 400 degrees

2.) Cut the carrots into long chunks, halve the tomatoes, and mince the garlic.

3.) Put the carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, fresh thyme, a glug of olive oil and salt and pepper on a baking sheet. Toss. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the minced garlic with 3 minutes left.

4.) Cook the pasta according to package directions. 

5.) Toss the pasta, vegetables an additional glug of olive oil and a dash of S&P.

6.) Serve! (bonus points for topping with freshly grated parmesan)

Note: the best part about this recipe is its flexibility. Any roasted vegetables would be great here. Butternut squash, onion, asparagus, squash, mushrooms, eggplant, etc. Additionally, any fresh or dried herbs can be substituted for the thyme (basil would be great!) and a plain olive oil would work just fine. Of course, I won't be offended if you happen to use penne or rigatoni instead of rotini. 

Hope you enjoy!

Recipe: Roasted Cauliflower, Farro and Chickpea Bowl

Greetings friends!

I hope you all had a summery and relaxing Labor Day weekend! I spent the long weekend in Atlanta with my family (with a pitstop in Greenville, SC which I will fill you in on this week!).

If you're anything like me, the weekend involved lots of ice cream, rose, burgers and treats. As it should be! After a sad "there is nothing in my fridge" lunch upon my return to Charlotte yesterday, I was craving extra veggies for dinner last night in a big way.

I put together this yummy bowl of whole foods (not the grocery store) for dinner last night and proclaimed it a "great success."

After dinner I eased back into this whole "week" thing with a batch of these Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies which Torsten said "didn't even taste healthy" (!!!). If that's not enough to urge you to make these cookies ASAP, I don't know what is.

But I digress... This bowl of goodness would also be great with more roasted veggies, rice or quinoa instead of farro, or even a fried egg, feta, or chicken added in for more protein!

Roasted Cauliflower, Farro and Chickpea Bowl

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1/4 farro (I used the Trader Joe's 10 minute farro)
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1/3 cup chickpeas
1/3 cup cucumber, chopped
2 Tablespoons walnuts
1 lemon
EVOO
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Toss cauliflower with a glug (<1 Tablespoon) of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes until there are some golden brown edges.

2.) Heat chickpeas in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes.

3.) Cook farro in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain!

4.) Mix cucumber, farro, cauliflower and chickpeas in a bowl with the juice of 1/2 of a lemon and another small glug of olive oil (2 teaspoons), salt and pepper.

5.) Top with toasted walnuts.

6.) EAT!

Let me know if you try this recipe! 

Cooking in my Blue Apron

Hey there - it's Friday!

I hope you'll forgive me -- instead of a cookbook this week, I changed things up a bit and had my first ever Blue Apron delivery! I gifted my mom (Hi mom!) a subscription to Blue Apron for Mother's Day and she had a free week of meals to bestow upon one lucky recipient as a result.

This worked out quite well for me as she picked me for the week of free meals! This Thursday I got my first box - my first HEAVY box.

It's worth noting for all of you out there who might try Blue Apron that the Blue Apron boxes are unbelievably well insulated. There was a *snafu* with my apartment's package system and I was unaware that the Blue Apron box had actually been delivered on Wednesday afternoon. By the time I realized this, the front office was closed. I was apoplectic! And I don't use that word lightly. I truly was that excited for my three Blue Apron meals. But low and behold, on Thursday morning at 9am (after I stood eagerly awaiting the opening of the front office to acquire my package and immediately tore it open) everything inside was still chilly and fresh! Hallelujah!

So after a rocky start... The first supper of Blue Apron occurred on Thursday evening!

The packaging for all of the ingredients was so detailed and neat. Organization!

First up... Summer Corn & Vegetable Chowder.

There was quite a bit of chopping involved, but nothing that a glass of vino (Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc - the best) and a lil Pandora (Carolina Beach music station!) couldn't handle.

Cheers!

 

There were 9 radishes in the bed and the little one said ROLL OVER, ROLL OVER!

Vegetables, CHOPPED.

 

After some sautéing and some simmering, voila! Dinner is served.



 

The chowder was delicious and healthy (and also hearty) and so much fun to make! I'm already excited for meals two and three this weekend.

 



 Have you ever tried Blue Apron? Plated? Hello Fresh? Any favorites? Spill!

Friday Night at Kindred

Last Friday night, I made the 25 minute trek up to Davidson for dinner at Kindred. Kindred is a relatively new restaurant but has been on my "I really want to eat here soon" list for several months.

Spoiler alert: It was so. darn. good.

We got to Davidson a little early (possibly on purpose so we *had* to grab a drink at the bar).

 

 

The restaurant is really cozy inside (although there is a whole second floor I didn't even explore!). Charming dinner vibes = on point.

 

We asked to be seated outside because it was actually a tolerable temperature with a slight breeze... and the birds chirping... and the sun setting... and unicorns prancing... okay, I'm getting carried away. But if someone brought this milk bread to your table with salted butter and a glass of chardonnay, you would get carried away too. Trust me. 

 

 

Plates at Kindred are meant to be shared but aren't as tiny as tapas style plates. I appreciated this because tapas style plates tend to stress me out. What if my favorite dish is gone by its second trip around the table!? Kindred-sized portions didn't require as much aggressive food hoarding.

 

We ordered:

• Corn soup with lime, buttermilk and corn
• Heirloom tomato tartine with burrata
• Gnocchi with basil, parmigiano and garlic
• A fish that I'd never heard of and cannot for the life of me remember but was locally caught and delicious, pictured here. I'm afraid it wasn't very photogenic :( Edited to add: I found it! It is Wild North Carolina Cobia, cracked bulgur wheat, baba ghanoush, and tahini kefir sauce! Yum.
  

And last, but not least, the peach cobbler with sweet corn gelato.

 

Everything was delicious, we never felt rushed, and the whole experience was delightful.

 

 

Twinkly lights are the way to my heart. Also rose.

 

I will 100% be back to Kindred and highly recommend that you go as well if you're in the area! If you come to visit me in Charlotte, you probably won't have a choice.

 

I shall leave you with this sign I found in the bathroom at Kindred. If they hadn't already won me over with their good looks and dashing smile... this would have done it.

 



Cookbook a week: A Homemade Life

Very exciting things happening over here -- I've officially made it to TWO WHOLE WEEKS of this cookbook challenge! Going strong!

I was pretty excited about this week's cookbook: A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. While *technically* a memoir, her book has drool-worthy recipes at the end of each chapter.

This book is one of my favorites of all time (read it!) and I've made her recipe for Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger twice (do it!) and it was so very good.

I'm cooking for one this week and rather than fall prey to Microwave Cooking for One, I opened up Molly's book and picked an approachable recipe to kick-off the week.

Photo Source

The winner? Bread salad with arugula, cherries and goat cheese. 

The recipe was a cinch - toast some white bread (Trader Joe's baguette) in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper and then toss with garlic. 

Ugly photo alert - ripped baguettes just don't photograph well.

Add in semi-crushed cherries, balsamic vinegar, arugula and goat cheese and voila! A most delicious dinner.

+ Picton Bay Sauvignon Blanc and Bachelorette Men Tell All = Swooon.

Molly Wizenberg also happens to be the woman behind Orangette - a blog with so much food and writing goodness - and Spilled Milk - my go-to podcast lately.

So essentially, Molly is to me like Beyonce is to most people. And she certainly didn't disappoint with this salad. This recipe is a keeper!