What I’ve Been Eating (And Cooking) Wednesday

I am feeling accomplished this morning. I trained clients at 5:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. (and tested an awesome new workout that I’ll be sharing with you soon!) and then headed over to the studio to take the 8:15 a.m. hot class. I will admit that I am really bad about planning to take a class (or to go to the gym or for a run) and continuing to postpone it because I get busy with work and I end up either doing it way later than I anticipated or skipping it all together. It felt good to get my practice done early and to take some time for me! The rest of the day looks like lots of computer work for blog and studio, a blog meeting and teaching yoga.

Okay, can I just tell you that my morning was MADE by reading all of your responses on the ALDI gift certificate giveaway post about your holiday baking and breakfast traditions. The stories you shared warmed my heart. I can’t tell you guys how much I enjoy hearing about your lives and reading your comments. So THANK YOU for sharing. If you missed the post, you have until midnight tonight to comment for a chance to win so don’t miss out!

Let’s look at recent eats today (love it when this post falls on a “What I Ate Wednesday!”).

The Silk Almond Nog banana egg white oatmeal I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

Day after party detox smoothie (needed) with spinach, avocado, cucumber, pineapple, mango, ginger and cashew milk.

Snacking plate with party leftovers.

Sweet potato apple soup from our new cafe menu at Y2.

And a beet burger. We just added this to the menu and it is to die for. Multi-grain bread, kale pesto hummus, sprouts, housemade beet patty and bibb lettuce. SO GOOD.

Holiday brunch with girlfriends at Vivace. We picked Vivace for their amazing patio and enjoyed an outdoor holiday brunch in the middle of December. We started with these roasted brussels sprouts and potatoes with a poached egg, shaved parmesan and bacon.

And three out of four of us ordered the caramelized onion, spinach and goat cheese quiche. It was so tall and fluffy. One of the best quiches I’ve had in Charlotte! This was my first time trying Vivace’s brunch menu and it was great. Will definitely return.

Back to meals at home…this was the birthday boy’s surf and turf. I used a Blue Apron dinner that was chile-rubbed steaks over tomato rice with quick kimchi and added seared sea scallops. It’s been WAY too long since I’ve cooked scallops at home.

Our favorite fig and prosciutto flatbread.

Another Blue Apron dinner…tamarind glazed cod over lime rice with a cucumber relish.

Another Blue Apron (note: this is not a sponsored post…I paid for these deliveries from my personal account!). We held off on making this one for almost a week because it seemed kind of weird but we ended up loving it! It was a sweet potato and kale casserole with egg noodles and a coconut ginger sauce. I added some sauteed and chopped turkey bacon to it that really helped tie everything together. What really made this casserole unique was a berbere spice blend (that is apparently commonly found in Ethiopian cuisine) that was spicy and very flavorful. The coconut milk sauce complimented the heat of the spice so well. Another note: this was supposed to serve 2 and we got 4 servings out of it! Two dinners, one breakfast (him) and one lunch (me).

Last dinner to share was a big pan of roast chicken thighs, celeriac, savoy cabbage and onions.

Served over homemade latkes with a apple mustard relish. This was also from Blue Apron. It was a really interesting but good combination of foods and flavors. I think this was my first time ever making latkes on my own and they were wonderful! The roast chicken was incredibly crispy and I loved the roasted cabbage and celeriac. My dad has been telling me about roasting cabbage and I hadn’t tried it yet. I see why he likes it. Also, I shared that I wasn’t so sure about mashed celeriac last week but we loved it roasted!

I’ve been doing a lot of Blue Apron over the last couple of months. I’m taking a break during the holidays and in January to get back to my own cooking and creating. I think I’ll end up doing Blue Apron like once or twice a month. It’s nice to make amazing meals like the chicken over latkes and to learn about new ingredients and spices like the celeriac and berbere spice but I also miss my local farmers and creating my own recipes.

How do you motivate yourself not to put off your workout and to make time for you?

Favorite thing to order at brunch?

Best dinner you’ve cooked recently?