You know how when you’re sick, you don’t want to think about food for a while – ESPECIALLY the food that you had before you were sick. Well, that’s been me for, uhhhh, let’s see, a month now?? Ok, not really that long, but it feels like it’s been that long.
After I got the flu, I was forced to slow down for a bit, but then I was a really bad patient and after two days, figured I was well enough to get back into the swing of things. Spoiler alert: I wasn’t.
So then I wound up with pneumonia too.
V was already on abx by then for her pneumonia, so then our house officially turned into a full on pharmacy. I’ll tell you what. The z-pack may have helped the most in the long term, but the robitussin with CODEINE was the real hero.
After a few days I was feeling decent, but I still wasn’t ready to look at food photos…and next thing I know it’s been weeks since I turned on my computer!
I’m so glad it’s artichoke season. I love artichokes. How do you eat yours? I use heaps of mayo.
I pulled this out of the freezer for breakfast one day. It was a raw bar from Cafe Gratitude that I got a while ago. The ratio of chocolate to bar was a little off, and it tasted more like coconut oil than anything else so it wasn’t everything I hoped it would be.
I had a real fennel thing going on for a few days. I have been getting them in the CSA for months and months without any clue what to do with them…nobody in the family likes them but me. And I’m only barely lukewarm on it. But now, at long last, I found a way that I LOVE it.
Of course, this will come as no surprise but the recipe is from my beloved Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow cookbook, which I renewed from the library as many times as possible.
In addition to the fennel, it has feta, dates, hazelnuts, and apples with a simple apple cider vinaigrette. I prepped it in advance and just added feta the next day before serving. And some chicken to make it a one-dish meal.
So good!
At this point, I’ve been cooking from RFCFES almost daily.
We made the coconut banana breakfast cookies one afternoon.
They were incredibly easy – the perfect cook-with-your-kid recipe.
I swapped in maple syrup for honey and added chocolate chips just because. 🙂
It made a lot (this is only half the yield!) so I froze the rest to have on hand.
On the left: a beet salad with pistachios and chevre. On the right: leftover fennel salad.
Kyle was out of town so I fed the kids something else and was happy to just have veggie sides for my meal.
I usually use the beets from our CSA in my juices, but I decided to cook them this time around. I may try them in a smoothie next. I think there’s one in RFCFES. Hehe. I’ll let you know…in the meantime, buy the book for all the other recipes I’ve been showing off!!
This is the Southwest salad, also from the same cookbook.
The yogurt dressing was a stellar change up from the vinaigrettes I usually make and the kids loved it as well.
I used Green Valley organic lactose free plain yogurt.
And goat cheddar for my bowl (but cow milk cheddar for everyone else).
P is basically freely eating dairy at this point, which is especially nice since we have been to approximately 830 pizza parties in the past few weeks. These back to back birthdays on the weekends are a delight to the kids, but I am SO over it. <–scrooge
Anyway. The Southwest salad got eight thumbs up.
And I didn’t even add crushed chips on top! I didn’t think it needed it with the crunch from the pepitas. I’m sure it would be awesome either way.
Oh hey, it’s the grain salad. AGAIN. I loooooove this salad!!
This time I added snap peas instead of radishes, and used wheat berries instead of brown rice.
Our CSA has been hooking us up with fresh wheat berry grains every week and we all adore them. And my gut seems to be super random and unpredictable now, so I’m just saying ^&*% it and eating what I want.
And here is the Thai quinoa salad. Also AGAIN.
I don’t know how this salad is so good for being so simple, but it is.
I used cashews instead of peanuts this time and topped it off with sautéed shrimp.
How long until I make everything in the book you think??
I made a double batch of the orange miso vinaigrette because I had a box of oranges and figured why not. The kids have been chugging fresh squeezed OJ for a week (trying to fight things off with Vitamin C?!) and yet we still have more oranges. And we’re all sick.
Soooo…vinaigrette!
I made a simple salad to pair with some Thai style meatballs. I’ll post a recipe later. They were legit.
My favourite way to have fennel is to chop it up and roast it long and slow with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle of salt. Eaten warm with a squeeze of lemon juice;))) YUM!
Oh noooooo…..!!!! I really hope the worst of it is behind you all now, i’ve never had pneumonia myself (thank goodness) but my sister did and she was not good about resting and taking care of herself so it took a really long time to totally kick it. Of course all your meals look amazing, that thai quinoa salad is exactly what I’m going to bring to a bbq this weekend! I already have vegetarian fish sauce. I hope you’re getting as much rest and sleep as possible!