Favorite desserts

Continuing food clean out mode.  This dinner was made with pesto from the freezer and sausage from the freezer.

The main difference with cooking now, having quit our Costco membership, is that the amount of meat we have on hand is limited.  Whereas before, our freezer always had chicken breasts/thighs and ground beef, it’s not something I stock up on now.  I’m fine with it.  It means we spend less money on meat and eat less meat, even if I have to be slightly more on top of it with planning ahead.  The loss of convenience hasn’t been much of a factor yet, but that’s probably because we still have a few more random odds and ends left.

Like these grass fed beef sausages which I bought because they were made with organic and grass fed beef.  They were super salty, but the pesto pasta was meant to be the main part of the meal so that kept it balanced.

I made wheat pasta for the rest of the fam, but cauli gnocchi for me.

I can’t stop with the cauli gnocchi!  I just want it always.  It’s so good.  I’m so glad I made a bunch of jars of nutty pesto to freeze.  I’ve been going through them a little faster than I anticipated though because of my gnocchi obsession!  I’m not usually such a pasta girl.

I had a moderate (for me) serving of dessert that night.

Chuao is climbing the ranks in my chocolate standings and may be on the same level as TCHO.

Skipping ahead to the next dinner (because I always showed all my Thai lunches for the week)…

I roasted some walnuts.

Which were the topping for my kale salad.

Instead of dressing I just added a full cup of sun dried tomatoes with their lovely seasoned oil and worked it into the greens.

Then I added some pecorino romano and walnuts and called it a day.  So perfect.  Kyle was out of town, so I have no clue what the kids ate.  Probably a version of this but with leftover noodles too.

THIS BAR!!!

It tastes every bit as good as it looks fun.  And unlike some of the other chuao flavors, it’s exactly what you expect when you bite into it.  It tastes 100% like a sprinkle chocolate waffle cone with hazelnuts.  Almost like a marriage of chocolate wafer cookies and nutella.  It’s bonkers.  SUCH A FAN.

The final dinner I have to share is a short rib instant pot meal.

I have made the nom nom paleo korean short ribs a handful of times and they never cease to wow me.  I always think I hope it’s as good as I remember, and then I lift the lid off the pot and smell heaven and realize it’s even better.

I added green chard after it had cooked for a bonus minute under pressure.

The bones actually fell off the meat.  I know the phrase is supposed to be the reverse, but in this case it was the opposite.  Literally.  They just slipped right out and sunk to the bottom of the pot and the ridiculously tender meat was left there to serve.

Ohhhhh, baby.

Over a bed of white rice.

There are no words to describe this meal, so just get yourself some short ribs and do it.  If you don’t have an IP you can do it in the slow cooker.  No excuses people!

And as if that wasn’t already truly decadent, I went the extra mile to make myself a dessert that would top all desserts.

These gluten and dairy free cookie brownie WHATEVER things were made by my sister’s mother in law.  Did you catch that relation?  It’s a little far removed.  My sister’s husband’s mom bakes for us every time we see her.  Which is kinda often thanks to all the wedding and baby showers going on in my life.  No complaints here!!  She’s a fabulous baker and she loves that she gets to tackle dairy and gluten free things for me.  How lucky am I!?!?!

So these cookie bars were studded with chocolate chips and were just soooo gooey and good on their own.

But then I went and warmed them up and added them to a bowl of almond milk mocha almond ice cream.

Like.  WUT.

Yes I did that.

Perhaps I should revisit that whole dessert detox conversation again?