All the meals

This week has been granola week.

I’m a clusters girl, so I picked out all the big chunks, but had to fight the kids for the rest.  They polished it off by Thursday and requested more asap, but I don’t think I’ll get a chance to make another batch until Sunday.  It’s REALLY a good recipe, guys.  Like an oatmeal raisin cookie in granola form.  Mmmmm.

In any event, I ended up eating this Sun & Soil granola over the rest of the week because the kids claimed the home made stuff.  Santa put it in my stocking. 😉  It’s gluten free and packed with all the same stuff I love in my granola – sunflower seeds, pecans, almonds – but uses sesame oil (!!) which is so intriguing.  It doesn’t taste very sesame like though, so who knows.  It’s still delicious.  Obviously.  I had it all week (the bag is now gone).

Both kids begged for “benz n chez” for lunch (OVER PIZZA LEFTOVERS).  Like, wot.  They are both nooch lovers.  It’s the easiest lunch to make ever so naturally I said yes.

Here’s another super random kid lunch.  It was small on purpose because they had both had all kinds of treats at their respective activities that morning because of Valentine’s Day.

It doesn’t matter if she’s eaten breakfast an hour ago, she will always clear her plate at “school” snack time.  Always.  And then ask for seconds.  I think people are starting to wonder if I feed her…

How else is she ever going to grow some hair????

PONYTAIL!!

He is my special person every day, but this week was his week at school.

Lunches for me looked like this:

Elise’s Winter vegan salad! Duh.

I cracked and bought a six pack of avo from Costco last week after trying to keep my $$$ avo habit in check over the off season.  But a life without avocado is not a life worth living.

TJs broccoli slaw salad (which I bought on a whim last week but didn’t really feel like because my vegan winter salad is so good and much better than anything store bought).  I can definitely quit it now.

This salad was a new combo and really good. It had kale massaged in TJs spicy peanut dressing, leftover pulled pork, (a super perfect) avocado, and marcona almonds.  Plus a bunch of baby carrots on the side.

Loved it.  I’m v happy peanuts are back in my life. Kinda.  I mean, they are in my life when P is nowhere near and I’m still super scared and don’t touch anything while eating.  I imagine that habit will take a while to shake.

I had two of these bowls because they were SO GOOD.  Highlights include: Brussels, bacon, and candied walnuts.  100% perfection.

I could eat this for every meal I think?  Do I say that about 28 different meals?  Probably.  I like food.

Before I move on to dinners from the week, let me just say…cayennade is awesome.

I’ve been looking forward to cooking from this guy!

I don’t know what took me so long, but Kyle said he was craving a lemony chicken dish and I immediately thought to look in Ottolenghi and boom – dinner was decided.

Kyle got me this cookbook for my birthday but he has a bunch that get rave reviews…Plenty, Plenty More, Jerusalem, etc.

I marinated the chicken over night so the next day it was super easy.  All I did was pour the contents of the bag out onto a baking tray and roast it.

I roasted cauliflower along side it (and served it with leftover tricolor quinoa).

It smelled RIDICULOUS in our house as it neared the end of the cooking time…

Mmm.

I’d never think that lemon, red onion, cinnamon, all spice, za’atar, and whatever else would work together, but that’s the magic with Ottolenghi.  He is so brilliant.

The kids even loved this dish.  I think it was their first time having za’aar (? maybe, maybe not?) but I wasn’t sure how they’d receive it. Per usual, they surprised me and loved it and P even asked for seconds.

Kyle got the (very minimal) leftovers for his lunch, but it was a big hit all around.

My parents and sister came to Davis (on Valentine’s Day!! Ha!) to celebrate this guy turning FIVE.  We went to Chipotle because he wanted tacos.

I got a bowl with rice, carnitas, pinto beans and guac plus chips and green salsa on the side.  The kids split three tacos – steak, barbacoa, and carnitas.  The balbarcoa and carnitas were the winners.

Happy birthday and happy V day!

For another dinner I made the barley and kabocha squash bowl from Gena’s new cookbook Power Plates.

I got to test recipes for this book – some of which I showed on the blog, but most of which I did not.  It was a while ago, so I had forgotten how awesome they were!!  The dressing for this is a miso mustard blend that really should become a staple in my kitchen.  It is SOOO good.

I used avocado oil in place of the vegetable oil called for in the recipe, but otherwise left the recipe untouched.

P helped me make the barley (by measuring the grains and the water and adding it in the rice cooker and starting it).

This was my first kabocha of the fall/winter season!  What the heck is wrong with me!?  It’s the best squash ever and I somehow let it get to February before making a dish with it???  Hippie fail.

The red onions got a little bit too done.  Oops.

This cookbook is great and I’m not just saying that because she is a friend.  The kids LOVED the meal and Kyle was super enthusiastic about it as well.  Barley for the win!

The book is packed with simple vegan meals that are well balanced covering all the macros – fat, protein, carbs – without expensive or fancy specialty ingredients.

They are whole foods meals that taste great, that you can still cook on week nights, without laboring for hours on end.

My favorite lentil salad from the Vegetarian ATK cookbook.  It’s always such a hit – time after time – and Kyle’s parents were in town, so I wanted something that I could make in advance so I could hang out with them and socialize rather than be in the kitchen.

I paired it with roasted broccolini.  I ran out of olive oil so I used coconut oil.  It seemed to make it crisp up way more.  Usually the kids don’t like it as much that way, but they both liked it fine this time.

Dessert time…

Similar plates with TCHO salted almond dark chocolate bars and chocolate covered almonds, walnuts, cashews, caramels, barnana bites, and candied ginger.

I had kombucha on the nights off chocolate.  GUYS! I ordered all the stuff to brew my own and have been bottle collecting ever since.  The count is high my friends.

Oh and I baked a cake!  60th birthdays demand cake.