Hey, hey, hey. My father shared a fun factoid (obviously) with me this morning as we were discussing my upcoming trip to Portland, Maine this week. Apparently Portland has the most restaurants per square mile over any other city in the United States. For a foodie, this is perfect. Tim and I have already gotten so many restaurant recommendations on where to eat that we don’t have enough days to try them all! The next Weekly Eats post will be a good one, I promise you that.
Anyways, I wanted to share this week’s eats with you guys before I leave you!
Breakfast
Our best breakfast last week was hands down the blueberry and strawberry pancakes we made last weekend. Sundays are just the best pancake day, aren’t they? For these pancakes we used some Bob’s Red Mill mix that I won in a blog giveaway a while ago. If you have some of this at home, I just blended 2 cups of the mix with 2 eggs, 2 tbsp of coconut oil, 1.5 cups of coconut milk, and 2 tsp of chia seeds before mixing in the blueberries and strawberries. This recipe makes about 6 pancakes.
Lunches
At the beginning of the week, we used up some of our fruit and greens and ate fruit and barley salads. The greens were a combination of baby spinach, kale, and arugula.
Toward the end of the week, I tried out a new spin on quinoa. Quinoa tabbouleh! This was so incredibly simple to make – just combine cooked white quinoa with some halved cherry or grape tomatoes and diced cucumber, then mix all together with some lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. My group at work is having another salad club lunch soon, and I am considering bringing this as my dish! I thought the cucumber added a nice crunch to an otherwise “soft” kind of meal.
Dinners
Sunday
Broccoli tacos. Yes, I said broccoli tacos. These may sound a little gross, but they were actually really good! We have been closely following this season of The Next Food Network Star, and I am rooting for Nikki Dinki because I really like her viewpoint of “meat on the side.” Also, she started out as a blogger, turned her blog into a cooking show on You Tube, and now could potentially be the next Food Network Star! Anyways, these broccoli tacos are a recipe I found on her website and adapted for a different kind of Sunday night dinner.
Monday
It’s dinner like these that make me really appreciate my boyfriend that loves to cook! Check out Tim’s citrus pesto swordfish. The flakiness of the fish allowed for the pesto to really sink into every bite. We enjoyed this seafood dinner with a side of the same summer squash and zucchini ribbon salad that I loved so much last week.
Tuesday
Burger night! Double bean veggie burgers topped with avocado and sliced tomato, with leftover summer squash and zucchini salad on the side.
Wednesday
Tim stuck his hand into the chicken butt! Ewwwww. Having the beer helps to keep the chicken moist while cooking, but it still retains a crispy outside. We paired this with a side of sweet potato and beet hash. It was a pretty Thanksgiving-ish meal for July, but that’s okay. All we were missing was the cranberry sauce!
Thursday
On Thursday night, Slesh invited me over for a dinner date. I was bummed that Bridget and Karla couldn’t make it, but Slesh and I had a good time catching up. We ate marinated turkey tips with some quinoa and a salad topped with some of my farm share goodies.
The rest of the night was spent snacking and drinking wine! I just couldn’t resist picking up these Effie’s treats on the way over.
Friday
Friday night was much needed girls night with Ashley and Monique after the very crappy day I had. We met up at Russell House Tavern in Harvard Square. I had been to Russell House before, but only for drinks. Boy have I been missing out! We started out with some cocktails at the bar while waiting for our table to be ready. I went out on a limb and ordered the “So What,” which was a refreshing gin and cucumber and lime drink with soda water.
After we were seated, we split a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Also, Monique randomly knew the owner of the restaurant, so lucky for us we got three small plates on the house!
From left to right:
– The smoked pig’s tail pierogi with parsnip purée and an apple cider reduction
– The Fiore Di Nonno burrata, which included black garlic, heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, and thai and opal basil
– And a crispy soft poached farm egg which had pecorino aioli, toasted brioche, and pancetta
We decided we were having so much fun sampling all these cool small plates that we wanted to order a couple more:
-Crab cakes over a candy striped beet and apple salad and a sweet pickle tartar
-Braised beef tongue meatballs with roasted Tomato, taleggio, and crispy sage
Since we each only had a few bites of each small plate, we finished up the night with a pizza!
Half was the sprout pizza and half was the smoked chicken. Everything we ate was so delicious (the perfect foodie night), and I had so much fun with two of my favorite gym friends!
Saturday
Saturday was a throw together dinner, as we had SO many farm share veggies we wanted to use up before vacation. The solution? A gigantic veggie stir-fry. With a little teriyaki and served over couscous, it made for a good throw together dinner.
Some other fun things worth mentioning…
Favorite treat…
Definitely the ice cream we got for National Ice Cream Day!
Chocolate chip and almond. Yum!
Favorite beer…
The Cambridge Brewing Company’s summer hefeweizen. Perfect.
And one last favorite…
The pineapple mango peach smoothie that I enjoyed this morning at Cafenation with Liz, Emily, and Theresa after Emily’s 20/20/20 class. Hit the spot.
Okay that’s it! Make sure to check in this week for my guest bloggers’ appearances on F&F. They have some good posts coming your way!
Fitness & Feta 