Foodie Friday!

Happy Friday friends! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and is gearing up for the weekend with some fun plans! I'm here today with a roundup of my favorite recent recipes and one's that are on my must make list. What's been your favorite go to recipe lately?

[one]

Steamed Salmon with Garlic, Herbs and Lemon

By far my favorite current recipe. So easy! So good! Very much a weeknight meal! Wins all around. I've served it along side rice pilaf and homemade parmesan cauliflower rice.

[two]

Greek-Style Potatoes

If you love the lemon potatoes you get from your local Greek restaurant - look no further! These are amazing! The first time I made them I was concerned about the amount of liquid in the dish, but just follow the recipe. It does take 1.5 hour to get the perfect potato, but don't let that deter you!

[three]

Spicy Chicken with Chickpeas

This is a different flavor profile for our home, but it was really, really good! Delicious leftovers. I would say spicy is an overstatement. The first time I made this I let it marinate twice as long as the second time and I think that might have made all the difference.

[four]

Creamy Cucumber Salad

If you're like me you probably grew up on some sort of a cucumber and onion salad. We ate so much of it growing up and over the years it slowly lost its punch. So, I've been on the lookout for new versions and this might be it. This is definitely on my must make list!

[five]

Black Bean Burgers

If you've been here awhile you know Mr. B is a meat grilling lover, but let. me. tell. you. I made these black bean burgers and they were so good and Mr. B approved! I've been trying to incorporate 1-2 vegetarian dishes into our weekly meal plan and this seriously did not disappoint. So good and satisfying!

[six]

Cranberry Orange Protein Balls

I'm always looking for quick and easy things we can grab in the morning and this might fit the bill. This has been on my must make list for a while. Might have to try them this weekend!

What's been on your must make list? Cheers to happy cooking!

Whole 30 Week 3 Recap

Happy Monday everyone! We've made it through week 3 of our Whole 30 journey and man I can't believe we've made it this far. Lots of temptations and lots of vivid dreams about food. I think I dreamed about pancakes and french toast most of last night...

So, let's get into it! I've tried to link up compliant brands and recipes where applicable.

Day 15
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and Whole 30 Latte
Snack: Pumpkin Apple Bake
Lunch: Leftover meatballs and tomato sauce
Dinner: Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Day 16
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, avocado, coffee with almond milk and cinnamon
Lunch: Leftover buffalo chicken casserole
Dinner: Lemon roasted shrimp, roasted asparagus and rosemary red potatoes
Snack: Pumpkin apple bake

Day 17
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, bacon, Whole 30 latte
Lunch: Chicken sausage and sauteed spinach
Snack: Larabar
Dinner: Meatloaf - actually really good!

Meatloaf 

Day 18
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and bacon, coffee with almond milk
Lunch: Loaded sweet potatoes - my newest obsession!!
Dinner: Pan seared pork chops, green beans with cashews and stewed cinnamon apples

Day 19
Breakfast: Hard boiled eggs, avocado and bacon, coffee with almond milk and cinnamon
Lunch: Leftover loaded sweet potatoes fries plus pecans
Dinner: Burgers and leftover sweet potatoes

Day 20
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and avocado, Whole 30 latte
Snack: Smoothie
Lunch: BLTA (used lettuce as wrap)
Dinner: Grilled chicken wings

Day 21
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and chicken sausage, coffee with almond milk
Lunch: Loaded sweet potatoes - yes for the 4th time this week!
Dinner: Chicken kebabs and collard greens

Chicken kebabs

Final Thoughts!
-Lifesavers... ghee, Tessemae's ranch dressing, Primal Kitchen mayo
-We have produced sooo many dishes since doing Whole 30. Our dishwasher has been on nonstop!
-Still feeling great from the elimination of junk and the sugar that is actually in almost everything. I do think we've probably had too much fruit over the last 21 days, so we've committed to limiting that this week
-I do want to note that everything we've done so far has been to the best of our knowledge. I've checked every ingredient and asked questions if we've been out (which hasn't been much). I even took straight black coffee home from my favorite coffee shop to use our own almond milk.
-Last, one of the strictest rules of Whole 30 is to avoid the scale for the entire 30 days which is fine because ours is away in a linen closest never to be seen again... but I can definitely see a change in both myself and Mr. B. I will uncover the scale at the end and weigh ourselves because I think we both have a round about idea of where we were to begin with. 
-So, cheers to entering the last and final week of our Whole 30 challenge journey! :)

Recipe Roundup!

In my absence from the blog, Mr. B and I have been doing lots of cooking lately. Check out the recipes below that ended up being 5 stars!

[ one ]

Blueberry and Goat Cheese Buckle with Honey Glaze

made this for the 4th and highly recommend it for anytime of year! 

super simple and very yummy!!

via

[ two ]

Peach and Mozzarella Pizza with Jalapeno Honey

used the recipe below and modified slightly by adding goat cheese and basil - delish! please disregard the quality of this picture :)

via

[ three ]

Mocktail Time! Mango Mule

so good and refreshing!! modified this a little and used lemon lime seltzer instead of ginger beer and added jalapenos to the muddle - there's been a jalapeno theme around here lately!

via

[ four ]

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

had a craving for comfort mac and cheese and came across this NY Times recipe - will never use another mac and cheese recipe again!! that good and easy!

via

[ five ]

Beef Stroganoff

again with the comfort meals! this recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated and is quick and delicious. a great addition to a weekly menu!

[ six ]

Tomato Pie

you just can't get any more summery than tomato pie. i've also changed this up and made it with pimento cheese - yum!

via

[ seven ]

Linguine with Spicy Roasted & Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

this was a made up recipe that ended up being so, so good!

Spicy Roasted & Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Roast grape tomatoes at 400 with olive oil, salt & pepper until they burst and juices are running. Saute garlic and 1 chopped onion until pretty cooked down. Add roasted grape tomatoes including juices to saute pan and continue to cook over medium heat. Add red pepper flakes to your liking and about a cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes. Keep cooking! Once the mixture is at your liking, add in about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, plenty of chopped fresh basil and about 1/2 cup half and half. Continue to stir and cook a few more minutes. Serve over linguine and enjoy!

[ eight ]

Greek Tortellini Salad

perfect summer salad and makes great leftovers

via

Hopefully you've found something new and yummy to make for dinner tonight! What have you been making lately? I'm always looking for new recipes!

Thursday's Recipes

Happy Thursday everyone! I had to drop in and share with you two awesome recipes I've made recently! They are a must try if you haven't already planned tonight's meal!

First up, Pasta Sauce Raphael. This comes to you from the popular Silver Palate Cookbook. I also mean "popular" as in popular probably to your mothers. This cookbook has been our family's go-to recipe finder for decades, and they are all crowd pleasers! This particular recipe was really good. I originally did it over rigatoni pasta, but think it could also be really delicious over spaghetti squash for a healthier version.

Pasta Sauce Raphael
Serve this over your favorite pasta!

4 pounds ripe meaty tomatoes
2 jars (6 oz each) marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups coarsely chopped yellow onions
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup dried basil (I used fresh basil)
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano (I used fresh oregano)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 small dried red pepper, chopped
3 tablespoons whole black peppercorns (I used 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup grated romano cheese

Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop tomatoes into boiling water and scald for 10 seconds. Transfer to a bowl of ice water. Scald all tomatoes, then drain and slip off skins. Cut crosswise into halves, squeeze out seeds and juice, and chop coarsely. Reserve (Note: You can probably use canned diced with juices to replace this step). Drain artichokes and reserve marinade. Heat olive oil in large saucepan and saute onions, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley and dried red pepper over medium heat for 5 minutes. Crush black peppercorns and add them to the onion mixture. Add tomatoes to the sauce, season with about 1 teaspoon salt, and simmer uncovered over medium heat for 1 hour. Add reserved artichoke marinade and simmer for another 30 minutes. Stir in artichokes and continue to simmer until sauce is rich and thick, another 20 minutes or so. Stir in Romano cheese and adjust seasoning.

So yummy!

Second up comes from another favorite cookbook, Cook's Illustrated.  Too many good recipes to count. If you ask Mr. B he knows the best chicken salad recipe comes out of this one! I was looking for a good banana bread recipe to use up some bananas that were in need of some loving. I found the Ultimate Banana Bread recipe, and let me tell you this totally delivers. I've had a lot of banana bread in my day, and this is by far the best yet! Enjoy!!

Ultimate Banana Bread

1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 large very ripe bananas
8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 teaspoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf pan with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl. Place 5 bananas in separate bowl, cover, and microwave until bananas are soft and have released liquid, about 5 minutes (this step had my house smelling sooo good!). Transfer bananas to fine-mesh strainer over medium bowl and allow to drain for 15 minutes (you should have 1/2 to 3/4 cup liquid). Transfer liquid to medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir reduced liquid into bananas, and mash until mostly smooth. Whisk in butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients and stir until just combined, with some streaks of flour remaining. Scrape batter into pan. *Slice remaining banana diagonally. Layer banana slices on top of loaf in 2 rows, leaving 1 1/2 inch wide space down center to ensure even rise. Sprinkle sugar evenly over loaf (*I only had 5 bananas, so I skipped this step). *Bake 55 to 75 minutes (*I used a narrow loaf pan and only needed to cook mine for just under an hour). Let loaf cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out on wire rack and cool for 1 hour.

What recipes have you made recently that had you really thinking you were Giada?

Happy Friday!

We've made it another week, so here's another installment of Five on Friday!

one | Blog Love - Wedding Edition
Mr. B and I got a sweet surprise last week when our photographer, Five Copper Creative, posted a blog about our wedding. It was so fun to relive, and I love to see which pictures they chose to put up on their site. Especially since we're in the middle of creating our wedding album, I like to see what the professionals saw as their best work. Well, the surprises didn't stop there! Five Copper Creative notified us this week that our wedding will be featured on Tidewater and Tulle! It's a blog focused on Southeastern VA and the Outer Banks. So excited! 

two | Hello, Pizza
I have to give you a follow up to my last blog about morphing meals. I said we'd be making a pizza with Mr. B's leftover BBQ, and let me tell you! This did not disappoint at all. A definite repeat item! It consisted of: Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce, pepper jack cheese, caramelized jalapenos and onions, Mr. B's BBQ and to top it off Mr. B's eastern style BBQ sauce and cilantro. Hello, amazing!

three | Adult Life

I could talk about so many things here, but what I'm specifically referring to is the fact that we finally have a second nightstand. I know, I know. Mr. B was a package deal, and he only had one nightstand when we met. Little did he know I'd be the lucky one who would be using it all this time. Well, last night he finally got to fall asleep next to a real deal adult nightstand, and not his makeshift one that will go unnamed. So, cheers to that!

four | 3-0 WHAAT?!

2 weeks from turning thirty. That age clearly deserves the full word. THIRTY. Can we talk about that for a minute? This deserves its very own post. It's really crazy to actually think about. I'm married and turning thirty within a month of each, and to be honest I wouldn't have changed that timeline for anything in the world. 

five | The Fun Stuff

Let's get to what really keeps us up at night...

• Mr. B and I recently saw The Intern - a must see! Finally a feel good movie out there to enjoy. Plus, you can't beat a date night dinner of movie popcorn!
• Finished Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand in record time. Great and easy read for the holidays! Now onto Winter Stroll, as mentioned here. 
• Two songs I can't get enough of right now: Meghan Trainor/John Legend - Like I'm Gonna Lose You and Cam - Burning House
• I'm wayyy late to the party, but I just started watching Scandal. Tell me why I haven't started this sooner?!
• I've totally been into cozy winter sweaters, and I recently bought this, this and this from Loft. Clearly, now I need them in every color!

Enjoy your Friday!

If you want in on the fun, join Christina, April, Darci and Natasha every Friday!