Recent Eats: Lunch Bowls, Dad Dinners, Cake + Ice Cream

So many delicious meals to share with you this weekend! I’ve got lunch bowls you’re definitely going to want to recreate and four dinners cooked by my dad. Cake and ice cream to round it all out. 🙂

Let’s get right to it!

BREAKFAST

I’ve been loving the turmeric smoothie blend that I bought at ALDI this week. The mix includes orange, papaya, mango, ginger and turmeric and I’ve been adding frozen banana, peaches, pineapples and spinach and blending it with coconut water. It’s so fresh and light. One morning I drank one with a leftover biscuit that I toasted and buttered.

Two boiled eggs, fruit and buttered sourdough. Don’t mind my mangled eggs. I swear, sometimes they are nearly impossible to get out of the shells. I haven’t tried the shaking the egg in a cup method of peeling yet so maybe I need to do that next time!

LUNCH

This grain bowl features Trader Joe’s Multigrain Blend with Vegetables. It’s a frozen item that I like to keep on hand for easy lunches. I quickly heated it in a skillet with some avocado oil and then served it in a bowl with sautéed spinach, avocado, tomatoes, hummus and Cedar’s feta dip. I like to serve it with pita chips for scooping up the mixture.

Veggie burger bowl with coconut lime rice, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, melted colby jack cheese, salsa and avocado ranch. The veggie burger was a Dr. Praeger’s black bean burger that I cooked in the air fryer. The rice was leftover from the previous night’s dinner that you’ll see below.

This was a fun and different salad bowl! Chopped romaine with lemon pepper tofu bites from Whole Foods, chopped beets, sungold tomatoes, pepitas, dried cranberries, feta, hearts of palm, avocado and a lemon vinaigrette. Love all of the colors, flavors and textures in this salad.

Lentil soup with carrots, sweet potatoes and kale and lots of warm spices. You can find the recipe here. Served with toasted sourdough and grapes.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup. My dad’s homemade sourdough, a mix of cheddar and havarti cheese and lots of salted butter.

Turkey sandwich with mayo, colby jack and sweet pickles. I stuck it under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Picnic lunch with Finn at the park while we were in Florida. He had a grilled cheese and veggie straws. I had a chicken and avocado pita with grapes.

DINNER

Eggplant parmesan, spaghetti and homemade tomato sauce. This dinner was made by my dad. He baked the eggplant parmesan slices instead of frying before layering it all in the baking dish and baking again. I love eggplant parm and he did a great job with the presentation of this!

Homemade chicken and dumplings and a side salad. This meal is so simple but so comforting and delicious. I have the recipe on my blog and it only has five ingredients!

Southwestern shrimp taco salad. This is a dinner that my dad serves a lot. It’s pretty simple:

• Lettuce of your choosing – we like romaine for the crunch
• Grilled or sautéed shrimp
• Grilled or boiled fresh corn
• Black beans (my dad cooked the corn and black beans together in a skillet)
• Green onions
• Avocado crema – mashed avocado and sour cream
• Lime-cumin dressing

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons chipotle hot sauce (or whatever hot sauce you have)

Serve with tortilla chips! You can find a similar version of this recipe on my blog. We’ve just kind of simplified it over the years.

Last meal from my dad…his homemade pizza! Kept this one simple with homemade tomato sauce, cheese and basil.

Back in my kitchen we have this bowl of coconut lime rice topped with Kevin’s cilantro lime chicken, steamed broccoli, salsa and sour cream.

Here’s how I made the rice:

1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 can of full fat coconut milk (13.3 ounces)
1/3 cup water
1 cup white basmati rice, rinsed
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon salt

Melt coconut oil in a saucepan. Add coconut milk, water, lime juice, lime zest and salt. Bring to a boil. Add rice. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook covered for 20 minutes. Let stand 5-10 minutes. Fluff, adjust salt and lime juice, serve.

This falafel bowl features air fried frozen falafel from ALDI. I found them a couple of months ago and haven’t seen them since. They are good! Served over steamed basmati rice with sautéed spinach, zucchini and sungold tomatoes. Topped with Wildbrine red kraut, hummus and Cedar’s feta dip.

Veggie burger bowl with the same Dr. Praeger’s black bean burger you saw above, sautéed spinach and arugula, steamed basmati rice, Wildbrine red kraut, fried egg and sriracha aioli.

ETC

I strayed from my Jeni’s obsession to try Milk Bar ice cream because it was on sale at Whole Foods for half the price of Jeni’s. I got the Pie flavor which I really liked!

And also the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Crush which is delectable.

A stop at Villani’s for a slice of Italian Cream Cake for me and macrons for Finn.

My dad made a homemade carrot cake during our visit. He makes really great carrot cake so I’ll share the recipe this fall!

And that wraps up this edition of my recent eats. 🙂

QUESTIONS 

Any tried and true hardboiled egg peeling techniques you swear by? 

Favorite veggie burger brand? 

Have you made a pot of soup/stew/chili yet?