Lots of Recent Eats + My Favorite Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Good morning. I am sitting here in a quiet house drinking coffee, eating a yogurt bowl and baking sourdough bread. Finn took off for his weeklong vacation with his dad yesterday but we squeezed in lots of fun and snuggles before he left.

We spent our first Friday evening at the pool since it opened a few weeks ago and it was a blast! We ran into some old friends and neighbors and made new ones. The pool was hopping with so many families and kids. We ended up staying until almost 7p! Finn’s favorite thing was watching the big kids jump off the diving board (they were doing flips and all sorts of crazy things). He told me he wanted to jump and when said he had to be able to swim without his life vest, he replied “take it off mommy.” I explained to him that he had to wait until he was a little older and could swim by himself to go in the deep end and he looked at me and said, “okay mommy, okay.” Sweet thing.

I have some recent eats to share with you on this Sunday morning. Maybe it will spark a meal idea for the week ahead!

BREAKFAST

Speaking of yogurt bowls! Here’s one with plain greek yogurt, honey, mango, strawberries, raspberries, Purely Elizabeth granola, Wild Friends Peanut Cashew Super Butter and hemp hearts.

Sesame Ezekiel Bread toasted with butter, cream cheese and scrambled eggs with a mango on the side.

This breakfast was eaten in parts while I was feeding Finn breakfast. I made him Cinnamon Oat Kodiak Cakes and ate one standing at the counter while dipping it in his leftover maple syrup and then ate another with peanut butter and maple syrup, along with some fruit. I also ate Finn’s scrambled eggs because he didn’t want them. This flavor of Kodiak Cakes is super hearty and very oaty.

LUNCH

Mixed greens tossed with olive oil, sea salt and balsamic and topped with a Wild Harbor Lemon Dill tuna packet, dried cranberries, pistachios, cherry tomatoes, avocado, chickpeas and hearts of palm.

I’ve found that if I use high-quality olive oil and balsamic, I don’t need anything else for a delicious salad dressing. When I buy cheaper balsamic, it tends to be super acidic and sharp so end up mixing it with honey and dijon and a little more olive oil (sometimes even some water too) to tone it down.

Here is the olive oil and balsamic that I’m using right now. Madhava Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Batistini Farms Balsamic Vinegar. This balsamic is SO delicious. A little syrupy and perfectly balanced between sweet and acidic. It’s wonderful for dressing greens or drizzling over things to finish/garnish. I got it at Whole Foods. Note, I would not cook with this in a recipe that calls for larger quantities of balsamic. I keep the cheaper stuff on hand for that.

Back to lunch!

Sesame Ezekiel Bread toasted with butter, avocado and one half with Wild Brine Green Kraut and the other with cherry tomatoes. I was feeling the kraut toast on this day. It was so good!

Broccoli Cheddar Cottage Cheese Quiche with cantaloupe and sea salt kettle chips. (I eat soooo many chips y’all. I’m on a major sea salt kettle chip kick.)

Spinach and arugula tossed with the same olive oil, balsamic and sea salt as above and topped with quinoa, hearts of palm, chickpeas, avocado, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, tomatoes and cottage cheese. LOVED this for a meatless lunch salad.

Chopped spinach with avocado, deli turkey, sunflower seeds, feta, cherry tomatoes and ranch.

DINNER

Grilled chicken thighs that were seasoned with a creole seasoning and I had barbecue sauce on the side. Steamed green beans with butter and sea salt, steamed jasmine rice with butter and salt and corn on the cob. Very summery dinner!

Frozen mushroom and cheese tortellini tossed with a mix of sautéed Italian chicken sausage, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and marinara sauce. Topped with some shredded mozzarella.

Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken roasted on top of a mix of brussel sprouts, onions, carrots, mushrooms and yellow potatoes. It had been way too long since I roasted a chicken and this one was crazy good. Virginia came over and joined me for this dinner.

Loved this bowl. Leftover shredded chicken from the chicken above, roasted white and orange sweet potatoes, sautéed spinach, avocado, goat cheese and hummus over quinoa.

Takeout sushi from Koishi. I love the Grasshopper Roll that you see on the left. It’s a shrimp tempura roll topped with seaweed salad.

Shrimp and veggie couscous bowl. I took the leftovers from our Memorial Day cookout and turned them into a dinner bowl. The base was Near East boxed parmesan couscous. On top:  grilled shrimp with butter herb sauce, roasted squash, zucchini, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, onions and eggplant, steamed broccoli, a spoonful of Cedar Foods hummus,  a drizzle of ranch and a dash of hot sauce.

One night I wasn’t very hungry and it was late so I just heated up some leftover quiche, sliced half of an avocado on top of it and called it day.

Veggie burger bowl with quinoa, roasted white and yellow sweet potatoes, sautéed spinach, avocado, Wild Brine green kraut and a Quinoa Crunch veggie burger from Aldi cooked in the air frier and spread with goat cheese.

ETC

For whatever reason, I had been craving a cinnamon roll for weeks. All of my cinnamon roll dreams came true when I finally got an Amish Cinnamon Roll from Lavender and Honey Kitchen. I seriously wish you guys could come through the screen with a fork and dig into this because it was magical. I ate it for lunch and dessert, haha.

Okay, that’s all from me. I’m off to take a yoga class and then sub a yoga class. My afternoon will be spent in the kitchen cooking and photographing an enchilada recipe to share with y’all next week!

Have a great day!

QUESTIONS

What are your favorite salad dressings? Both homemade and in a bottle. 

What’s your favorite base for a grain bowl? 

Do you like sushi? Have you had it lately? I am so on and off with sushi but I’ve had it twice in the last two weeks!