Hello from rainy Charlotte. We are feeling the effects of Hurricane Sally here today but it’s nothing compared to what those on the gulf coast went through yesterday. My family was spared a direct hit but my dad said it was the worst storm that they’ve had since moving to the Florida panhandle.
The structures of their condo development are fine but the beach is a wreck. The water came up over the dunes and washed so much of them away.
Here’s a photo for comparison.
I am hoping that all of you who were impacted by Sally as well as those of you dealing with wildfires are safe.
I have a collection of recent eats for you today.
BREAKFAST
This is actually the only breakfast photo that I have for this post and it was more brunch/on the verge of lunch. My appetite has been a little weird in the mornings the last couple of weeks. This was freshly baked sourdough with butter and mashed avocado and two hardboiled eggs.
LUNCH
Baby spinach, hardboiled egg, avocado, Trader Joe’s Melodious Blend, tomatoes and cottage cheese. This was a really good salad combination.
Still loving smoothies for lunch.
DINNER
Trader Joe’s cauliflower and cheese ravioli with Rao’s marinara sauce. Roasted brussels sprouts and baby portobello mushrooms on the side.
Roasted chicken thighs with a baked potato and green beans. My baked potato has butter and Good Culture 4% cottage cheese on it. It is my favorite cottage cheese of them all!
Mozzarella-stuffed turkey meatballs over spaghetti squash with Rao’s marinara.
Panko crusted black cod with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. This cod was so thick, flaky and delicious!
Frozen pizza + salad. This was a rising crust pepperoni pizza from Whole Foods and I do not recommend. The crust never fully cooked through and was a little doughy. I will stick with their thin crust pizzas moving forward.
And the award for weirdest meal of the recap goes to this dinner. It’s a rice bowl with Wild Brine kraut, avocado, hummus, sautéed spinach and a veggie burger topped with melted fresh mozzarella. The veggie burger is from ALDI. I did a poll on Instagram to see who would eat this and a whopping 80% said that they would! (My dad most certainly would NOT if anyone was wondering. Haha.)
I’ll redeem myself with this one. I had dinner at Cafe Monte last night with Dorie and ordered their vegetarian crepes. They were delightful! We shared an order of fries. They have some of my favorite fries in Charlotte at Cafe Monte. They are thin and crispy.
ETC
A piece of chocolate peanut butter cake from Villani’s Bakery. Washed down with a glass of whole milk.
Also, give me all the jelly bread! That’s what we call it in my family and it often serves as dessert at the end of dinner. 🙂
QUESTIONS
How are you doing if you live on the gulf coast or in an area with wildfires?
What’s your favorite topping for freshly baked bread?
Do you like crepes? I order them out occasionally but have never made them at home. Let me know if you have a good recipe!
So glad your family is safe. Hurricane Laura hit my parents’ city hard. Glad your parents avoided that! All your eats look delish! I love bread topped with almond butter, peanutbutter, or an egg. Avocado toast is yummy to with Everything Bagel Seasoning.
Oh Elisa, I hope your parents are okay. Can you believe that I’ve yet to try Everything Bagel Seasoning?
I ordered my King Arthur starter after you recommending it on IG. 🙂 My first slice will be toasted with butter or avocado 🙂 i love freshly baked bread.
PERFECT! I can’t wait to hear how your bread baking goes. DM me if you need anything or have questions!
It’s been rough here in the Portland, Or area. I’m grateful not to be dealing with the actual fires and having to evacuate, but the smoke is awful. We have been stuck inside for the past week because the air quality has literally been ranked as the worst in the world. That is insane! Our house has smelled of smoke and there is this gloom surrounding everything. Between that, the pandemic, rioting/police brutality, Portland is having a rough year. I don’t really know how to feel about everything. I also have an almost 14-month-old and am trying to get pregnant again (it took 2 years to get pregnant with my son due to anorexia/HA). I’ve had to give up exercise to try and get my body ovulating again, so not having that as a coping mechanism has been tough. Oof, 2020 is a doozy!
On a happier note, crepes are so fun! Find any old recipe (if you want to be authentic go with a recipe that includes some buckwheat) and be ready to throw out the first couple crepes. It just takes some practice, but once you get the technique down it’s so much fun to come up with different fillings both savory and sweet!
Hillary – thank you for taking the time to share this. I just cannot imagine what you have been going through in Portland. The news has been so crazy to read and I can’t imagine living through it. I am sending you a lot of love around TTC. I know how stressful that can be, especially during times like these and not being able to workout to deal with all that is going on. Thanks for the crepes encouragement! 🙂
Dang girl, I’m liking your recent eats!
Thank you Rachel! 🙂
All the food looks amazing! You always give me the best ideas, thanks for sharing. Glad your parents are safe!
-Kate
https://daysofkate.com/
Thank you so much Kate!
I look forward to your posts to see your recent eats! It’s so sad what the hurricanes and fires are doing to people’s home. Thinking of all you south easterners today.
I love how you put cottage cheese on so many types of foods…I started eating more of it and love the idea of using it as a baked potato topping. My favorite thing to put on bread it that thick salted European butter and I’ll sprinkle some sea salt flakes on it too!