I’m so excited to share this recent eats post with you. I have several new, creative and fun meals to share with you…but also a word of advice (read on for more!). I have been having a great time in the kitchen playing around with summer produce. I feel like I waited so long for this food to come and it’s absolutely amazing to have things like squash and zucchini, peaches and nectarines, blueberries, tomatoes and more. My taste buds are doing the the happy dance.
Speaking of having a great time in the kitchen, I put down the deposit on my new granite install today and met with my contractor yesterday about a few kitchen projects that will extend my counter space and give me more natural light in the kitchen. Win, win, win! I can’t wait to share the whole process with you guys.
Here are the recent eats.
Breakfast/Brunch
I love blueberry season and have big plans to go blueberry picking soon. In the meantime, I picked up a big container of NC blueberries at Whole Foods last week. The extras were begging to be used in muffins. I whipped up a batch of straight up blueberry muffins on Sunday for brunch. They were simple but amazing…bursting with big juicy blueberries! I won’t be posting this recipe but I still totally recommend my Blueberry Banana Muffins.
So…this was supposed to be an omelette with basil, goat cheese, spinach and cherry tomatoes but it became an egg scramble when I couldn’t get it to flip for the life of me. I have GOT to invest in a new high quality nonstick pan. Let me know if you have one you love.
One of my sweet friends is due any day now with a baby girl and we met for breakfast on Monday. We spent two hours at Luna’s Living Kitchen enjoying breakfast, coffee and conversation. It is really amazing to see so many of my friends going through these big life transitions into marriage and motherhood. I am over the moon happy for all of them. 🙂
Lunch
I discovered homemade massaged kale salads this week and it’s been a blessing and a curse. When you start your day off with a green smoothie packed with raw spinach, it’s a lot to ask of your digestive system to further handle a bunch of raw kale just hours later. I did fine with this salad last weekend that featured kale massaged with lemon juice, salt and olive oil, chick peas, carrots, avocados, cucumbers, goat cheese, tomatoes and salmon.
But my stomach gave me a big N-O after this salad today of kale massaged in lemon juice, salt and olive oil, spinach, a Morningstar Chickpea Burger, avocados, tomatoes, almonds, dried cranberries and feta. After a fiber-filled green smoothie this morning, my stomach felt kind of off, bloated and gross for the rest of the day. Too much leafy green stuff to digest.
Word to the wise…be careful with the raw veggie consumption and for the record, I compensated by making dinner cheese and bread…just remember, ALL THINGS IN MODERATION! 😉
Dinner
Dinners this week have been AH-MAZING! This was my honey balsamic glazed chicken with a big portobello prepared in the same glaze along with copycat brussels sprouts from one of my fave restaurants here in Charlotte. I roasted brussels sprouts and tossed them with a vinaigrette of lemon juice, dijon and olive oil and then topped with sliced almonds and parmesan cheese.
This was the most seasonal meal I’ve had since last summer. I seared a local chicken breast in a cast iron skillet with a lemon herb seasoning and then topped it with goat cheese and a lemon slice and finished it off in a 400 degree oven until the temp was 160 inside. While that was happening I sauteed farmers market squash and mushrooms and served it all alongside a new green garbonzo and lentil blend from TJ’s and a sliced tomato.
And the raw veggie recovery dinner was a pita pizza with tomato sauce, sundried tomato chicken sausage, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil. I can honestly say that I don’t think I can ever give up bread.
Have you every had a “too much raw veggie” experience? Can you live without bread + cheese?
I can honestly say I eat 80% raw and my system does great , in fact it thrives! Cheese, bread and sugar (all things mt taste buds love), don’t love me
That pizza looks yummy 🙂 Balance is a good thing!
This is interesting. I have had a couple appointments with an acupuncturist over the last two months and he could tell, just by looking at my tongue, that I was eating too many raw veggies. He told me raw vegetables are great, but he recommended eating them with some cooked veggies as well. I don’t pretend to know about the science behind this, except that it’s common sense that this method of eating might be easier on the digestive system. 🙂 Thanks for posting about this. 🙂
I’m usually ok with my greens and fiber intake. But every once in a great while something just doesn’t sit right. Your blueberry banana muffins look so good! I’m going to make a batch for the long weekend roadtrip!
I overdo the veggies all too often. Some days I am fine but one extra serving and my stomach is miserable and bloated. I try to work in frozen vegetables to my meals which helps to alleviate some of the symptoms from occurring. Awful feeling!
Being the volume eater that I am I tend to love eating larger salads for lunch… and with that loads of raw veggies 🙂 I had a bit of a problem though last Monday after eating a large spinach salad.. I was in such pain I honestly thought I needed to lie down! So well, I guess the wholer raw food movement isn’t really for me 😉 when I pair raw greens with dairy it seems easier on my stomach, so bring on the goat’s cheese! yumm 😀 on that same day though I didn’t shy aways from some cooked kale later and a green smoothie in the evening.. I seem to handle that better than just eating greens straight up raw!
Bread, cheese, chocolate and wine – things I can’t live without! 🙂
Your meals look delicious! And yes, I have definitely had similar experiences with my stomach. I eat a fairly balanced diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains most of the time…but if I try too many new things in one day my stomach doesn’t like me much either! Crackers and bread always seem to calm my system a bit! 🙂
You always come up with so many delicious food combinations! I love these posts because they help inspire me to mix and match new flavors. I need to try the honey glazed balsamic chicken! And you have me wanting to make some muffins! Bread is my one thing I could truly never give up because I love it so much! I’ve found that everything in moderation truly does work and I’m so much happier when I’m mindful of what I eat and not restrictive.
Have you considered that the addition of the veggie burger may have upset your stomach? They do mine. Just a thought. Could you tell me how you seasoned your cast iron skillet? I just bought one…well it has been awhile now, but I haven’t seasoned it yet. Thanks!
I havne’t had anything like that lately, but instead too much fruits… Very upset stomach here! Loving the blueberry season too!
Raw Kale kills my tummy…I’ve actually taken a long break from Kale in general. I love bread and cheese…I don’t eat as much of it anymore, but could never get rid of it. I get cranky when I don’t have carbs. 😉
Regarding the pan, I never use and buy non-stick. I use cast iron for anything that would require a non-stick pan, like pancakes, etc. You can make eggs and omelettes in there easily.
Blueberry muffins are my absolute favorite! My mom and dad are from Michigan, so I am partial to Michigan blueberries…either way they are tasty and so summery! About the “too much veggies…” That may be my problem! While I am home and working my normal week, I eat lots of veggies. Like fruit with breakfast (maybe veggies), definitely veg for lunch and lots of veg for dinner…and my stomach often feels bloated and uncomfortable and I can’t figure out why…then I went on vacation last week and was much more relaxed and go with the flow for my meals and ate a few more non-veggie items and I thought my tummy couldn’t have felt better! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this on my own…strange!
We’ll at least you know how much fiber is too much for your system. I know my breaking point and have to be careful some days, since when you like veggies, it’s easy to eat too many. Gotta love those green smoothies though. I’ve been drinking them daily and love how they kick start my day.
I can’t imagine life without bread either. Now that I’m pregnant, I’ve been wanting BLTs with local tomatoes on sourdough bread and all the burgers I can get my hands on. Oh, and those big soft pretzels from whole foods pizza station. Those things are so good!!
FYI, if you are looking for a good sandwich bread, Harris teeter sells an ancient grain limited edition that is to die for.
I love raw veggies but definitely can over do it. That pizza looks so tasty!! Can’t wait to see the finished kitchen 🙂
oh my gosh! that yogurt parfait looks gorgeous! i need to get to Lunas! i haven’t been since they’ve moved locations. Oh, and bread and cheese is the main staple for me. One of my favorite things to do is to go to whole foods and choose 3 random cheeses that i haven’t heard of, find some fun crackers, top it off with vino and call it a day!