Morning! I was happy to see that my post about living in Charlotte was well received yesterday. I look forward to sharing more about this city with you! I’ll also be posting a lot of scenes from around the city on Instagram so don’t forget to follow me there.
My Wednesday mornings have taken a turn for the awesome since I reworked my schedule. I now get up early Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and leave Wednesday mornings unscheduled with classes and clients so that I can sleep and get work done on the computer and around the house. I slept until 8 a.m. this morning! (That’s mostly because I didn’t go to bed until after midnight because I got sucked into watching Damages…so obsessed!) This whole schedule rework was really necessary and I’m feeling so much better and well rested.
Lots of recent eats to share with you so I’ll play along with “What I Ate Wednesday” but more like “What I’ve Been Eating” since this is a big round up.
Mostly smoothies for breakfast. This is a) because they’re my go-to breakfast and b) because it’s been 95+ degrees every day for over a week! It’s been 80 degrees by 8 a.m. and 90 by 11. Crazy! I ran out of spinach for this smoothie so I named it “pretty in pink.” The combo of frozen figs, bananas and strawberries with plain greek yogurt, vanilla almond milk and protein powder was amazing…super thick and fluffy. It was more like frozen yogurt than a smoothie.
I baked a loaf of zucchini banana bread yesterday because I had lots of over-ripe bananas on hand a fridge full of farmers market zucchini.
I enjoyed it for breakfast this morning slathered with peanut butter.
Grab and go lunch salad from the yoga studio with spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkin seeds, grilled chicken and a tahini dressing.
Kale salad from Earl’s Grocery with roasted beets, feta, pumpkin seeds, farro, currants and fresno chile vinaigrette.
My own kale salad with massaged tuscan kale, roasted beets, turkey, almonds, feta, dried cranberries, avocado and pears.
I am hot and cold with kale salads but they’ve been tasting good over the last week. Sometimes I feel like they are too much to ask my body to digest but in general I find the tuscan kale is a little gentler and easy to eat than the curly green kale.
Turkey sandwich on my smuggled home sourdough with grapes and sweet potato pop chips.
So many dinners to share…homemade spaghetti sauce over zoodles. I don’t think I’ve ever shared my homemade sauce recipe but I’ve been making it for almost 10 years and love, love it!
Roast chicken over mashed cauliflower with roasted potatoes and broccolini. I am working to perfect this recipe to share with you. It’s the best roast chicken I’ve ever made!
Baked tofu (tutorial in this post) with sauteed spinach and roasted parsnips, turnips and mushrooms with melted cheddar and goat gouda.
Another chicken dinner…”perfect chicken breasts” seasoned with Dizzy Pig Ragin’ River with green peas and a homemade farro risotto with sauteed onions, mushrooms and goat cheese.
Leftover farro and tofu topped with an egg and served with sauteed zucchini and onions and sliced tomatoes. I am firmly in the “add an egg” camp to increase the deliciousness of many dishes!
One last chicken dish…marinated and baked chicken quarters over mashed sweet potatoes with roasted broccoli. I know this is a chicken-heavy post but I had a lot of red meat last week at home and for my birthday and then I’ve been eating so much sushi at the studio that I haven’t been cooking fish at home.
Kale salads? Love or leave them?
What’s your “go-to” dinner protein?
How do you get your mashed cauliflower so smooth and creamy?!? Mine is always lumpy!
the vitamix!
Smoothies EVERYDAY with this heat…I am either doing smoothies or yogurt parfaits…I want that zucchini bread. Can I come over? 😉
What recipe do you use for your zucchini banana bread?
tried a new one, wouldn’t recommend. need to make some changes!
Delicious photos! But I’d eat that whole loaf…
Seriously, your eats are amazing. I do love kale salads, but only when properly massaged. And I’ve been eating far too many sweet potatoes lately — like one a day! Enjoy your catch-up day! 🙂
have you ever tried roasted sweet potatoes on kale salads? that is a winning combo! 🙂
I love Tuscan kale and have tons in my garden, it goes in my daily salad, finely chopped, along with lots of lettuce greens, beets and other veggies. I don’t find it hard to digest.
What kind of granola is that on your smoothie? I make your pb granola every week and love it on smoothies. I’ve made a few changes and usually sub unsweetened coconut for the chia seed. Just made a smoothie with sweet potato, banana, fig, strawberry, ice, water, almond milk and stevia, delicious!
i love that your kale salads are garden fresh. i am jealous! i like the ideas of mixing it with other greens.
thanks for sharing the changes to the granola. what i’m eating on my smoothie in this post was made by a friend!
I love a good salad! Lately I make mine with spinach but love kale salads, especially when I order them in restaurants.
love love love kale salads! Probably a little too much – I have to pace myself with it! Eggs are my go-to protein for dinner. I’ve been doing a little better lately about making chicken ahead for the week though and it’s such a nice change!
Did you just start Damages?? If so, you have so much to look forward to. Some of the best writing/acting on television. I so miss it.
Eats look great! Have you tried Corkbuzz yet?? If not, you will love it! Food is outstanding!
we are on season 2 i think…it’s so good! am meeting girlfriends at corkbuzz tonight!
You always blow me away with your regular dinner plates! So beautiful!
Oh I would LOVE to have that homemade sauce recipe! Looks super delicious. And the farro risotto recipe, too! Haha. I’m sure it takes a lot of time to type those out, but if you get around to it, I would love to make them.
What an awesome week of eats! Now I’m hungry… 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Jen – this always inspires my food ideas!
DELISH! Have you been to The Butcher’s Market in Ballantyne? I’ve heard that they have amazing beef and meats – wasn’t sure if you’ve tried anything from there, but would love to hear your thoughts.