I hope Friday has been a good day for you guys so far. I couldn’t sleep last night and found myself thinking of my brother and today the sadness has stuck around. I don’t really know what to say other than that grief definitely seems to come in waves.
I skipped last week’s recent eats post due to Thanksgiving so I’ll jump back in this week. Let’s begin with food burnout.
Dear scrambled egg, smoked salmon and sauerkraut toast….we are officially on a break. It’s been a fun run but we need to take some time apart. I ended up picking all the smoked salmon off of this as it just wasn’t tasting very appetizing and I still felt like I was choking it down. I also added chopped artichoke hearts. Possibly I’m overcomplicating something that should stay very simple.
This is a great transition into my next topic…food blogging behind the scenes.
Dinner is usually plated nicely and a nice, balanced meal. And then sometimes it’s buttered sourdough with mashed avocado and scrambled eggs. I ate this at 10:30 p.m. after getting home from an event. I can safely say that the stripped down version of my favorite toast was delicious. I ate a sugar cookie with frosting after that was in my goodie bag from the event.
I have received so many comments over the years about how my smoothies are always so pretty and you guys feel like yours are ugly and brown. MINE TOO sometimes! How about this army greenish brown concoction we’ve got here?
What spaghetti night (recipe) really looks like in our house…complete with soupy spaghetti squash and grated parmesan all over the table.
And finally, I have a lot of help in the kitchen and Zoey gets especially excited when I decide the light is best to photograph my food on the floor under the window. So far we haven’t had any incidents but I watch her like a hawk and I’m waiting for the day her snout ends up directly under my lens and in my food!
Now, here are your normal “pretty” photos. I really strive for something between what you see above and unrealistic. I don’t think that magazine quality, stylistic food photos are super relatable on a day to day basis, ya know?
Breakfast
How’s this for a non-brown smoothie!? The key here was no spinach and lots of berries. This smoothie bowl was incredibly think and so yum. Here’s what went into it.
1 frozen banana
About a cup of frozen mixed berries (with some strawberries added in)
4 frozen figs (small)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 scoop Premier Protein Chocolate Milkshake Whey
Big spoonful of almond butter
Granola on top
Two scrambled eggs, fruit and a paleo pumpkin banana muffin with cashew butter.
Sweet potato breakfast bowl with almond butter and granola.
Lunch
I mixed my brussles sprout and kale salad with quinoa and topped it with avocado.
Soup and salad. Lentil soup and a salad with arugula, pears, avocado, artichoke hearts, cranberries and roasted pumpkin seeds.
Lunch at Namastay Kitchen. Salad topped with a homemade beet burger. (<– obsessed)
Salad with spinach, bibb lettuce, sun drop cherry tomatoes, radishes, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, avocado, pine nuts and falafel.
Another lunch at Namastay Kitchen. I’ve been at the studio a lot this week. This is our Namastay Bowl with a brown rice/quinoa salad, cucumbers, shredded cabbage and a carrot tumbleweed. I topped it with pan-seared salmon and it comes with a ginger dressing.
Dinner
Leftovers from La Shish Kabob. I took the soft pita they gave us and made chips with it. I cut the pita into strips and then arranged it on a baking sheet. I sprayed it with olive oil and sprinkled it with a mix of spices. Baked for about 10 mins on 350. Made for a great dip for the remaining hummus and babaganoush.
This was the best pork chop I’ve done in a long time! I bought bone-in pork chops and seasoned them with a mix of a rosemary-basil sea salt and Dizzy Pig Raging River. I browned them in my All Clad stainless steel deep saute pan and finished them in the oven at 400 (just stuck the pan in there). I pulled them at 140 and let them come up to 145. I served the pork chops with leftover spaghetti squash with salt, butter and a bit of parm and a mix of sauteed peas. I call this side dish “peas on peas.”
This dinner should probably move up into the food blogger outtakes dinner. This was called I had not been to the grocery since before Thanksgiving and assemble whatever you have on hand for dinner. I roasted acorn squash and added some chicken sausages to the pan. I made sauteed Tuscan kale on the side that I cooked with a little olive oil, white wine, garlic, salt and bacon.
That wraps up the highlights of what I’ve been eating lately.
Last time you burned out on a food? And what was it?
What kind of food photos do you like to see on blogs? More styled or real life?
Your sweet potato breakfast bowl looks DREAMY. Mashed sweet potato is totally my comfort food. I love the realness and normalcy you show in your not “staged” food photos-even though they aren’t as pretty they still look mighty delicious!
Have a wonderful weekend. Sending you warm thoughts and support, especially on the days that seem more difficult to get through.
Love seeing your weekly eats! Definitely helps me get inspiration and it always looks so good-want to come to my house and cook for me ? How do you get such great lighting?
We were eating cheeseburger soup (sounds weird, but it;s good) a lot. We both loved and it comes together pretty easily. One night, we were both just DONE with it.
We did start eating it again, but we needed a break
And can I just say thank you. A big huge genuine thank you. My food rarely looks like yours and it was so sincere of you to post a “get real about the food photos” post.
Thank you so much!
I love to see everyone’s styled photos because it’s really inspiring to me! I’m working on my food photography for my blog right now and it’s fun to get ideas from others!
I do like real food photos! Sometimes the constant recipe styled looking pictures can get a little o much not real life, you know?! I do go through food burn out. lately I just don’t want oatmeal or my favorite apple with peanut butter! some I want salads and some days I cannot even look at a vegetable.
I loved this post! I think your honesty about the back scene of your food photos is awesome:)
Where did you find frozen figs?!?! I really miss the beloved frozen figs from Trader Joe’s that I know you also loved. Please tell me where you found some!
i get food burnout easy. often at breakfast but really its the only meal i eat the same of mostly. i had total chicken burnout late this summer. i was just done with chicken. almost anyway it was prepared. its just so blah to me no matter what you do to it and always leaves me wanting more. at least when it comes to chicken breasts. so i guess that was my burnout food !