Since I didn’t cook dinner today, I figured I’d go through my photo archives and see if there are recipes I made (and photographed) that I haven’t shared with you yet. Lucky for me and you, there were quite a few… and after picking my favorites, I realized they were all Asian. Cool, we even got a themed blog post after all. Let’s pretend that was all planned. K?

BANH MI

This is one of our absolute favorite sandwiches. In fact, when Adam says… “You know what you haven’t made in a while…” I know it’s either a banh mi sandwich or a steak & cheese sub. I love recreating these at home because I can use humainely raised pork from our CSA and it really is quite easy (the veggies marinade for only 1 hour, the rest gets prepared during that time).

I stuck to the same recipe for the veggies and spicy mayo as last time, but instead of turkey meatballs I followed this recipe for the pork marinade. The result was delicious (and more like the traditional banh mis we’ve had) but we both agreed the meatballs felt a little more special. Next up, I’m going to try beef or pork meatballs for a slight variation on our favorite.

EDAMAME LO MEIN WITH SEITAN

Have you ever tried seitan (btw, how the heck do you pronounce that? I always want to say satan, lol)? I decided to give it a go a few months ago and while the flavor was definitely tofu-like, I thought the texture was reminiscent of chicken. Kind of fun for a change! I really enjoyed the edition of seitan to this simple recipe of edamame lo mein from Eating Well.

This tasted light and fresh. I remember really enjoying the dish.

HOT AND SOUR CHINESE EGGPLANT OVER BROWN RICE

When I saw these creatures cute eggplant, I was immediately brought back to high school when my favorite dish at Chinese restaurants was Chinese hot and sour eggplant (I thought it was healthy, ha!).

This of course led me to a little googling for a recipe and I came across this one. It wasn’t as saucy (or greasy) as my old favorite but the eggplant did soak up all that lovely soy sauce, vinegar and sugar.

It didn’t convert Adam to an eggplant lover but I was loving every bite.

And that’s all I’ve got for tonight!

PS – I have a bunch of Stonyfield/oikos coupons for free yogurt to giveaway. You’ll have to enter on Facebook.

PPS – There is still time to win a cookbook, if you’re interested.

See ya manana!

I did “force” myself to take pictures of my breakfast and dinner today. Lunch was yesterday’s dinner leftovers.

BREAKFAST

2 multi-grain waffles with Maranatha almond butter, fresh local organic strawberries (amazing!!) and strawberry rhubarb jam. Good stuff.

After writing my previous post, I actually did end up making a virgin bloody mary to-go. It was gone too soon. I was dreaming of having another one all day. And I did when I got home. Yes, I’m addicted.

Snacks throughout the day included an orange, a banana bread clif bar, some cookies, cheese, bread with baba ganoush and I feel like there was something else but I really can’t remember.

DINNER

Grilled lemon-soy mahi-mahi with noodles and snap pea-radish salad (based on this recipe from Cooking Light)

This dinner had so many components, I was pretty proud of pulling it together in roughly 40 minutes. It was pretty yummy but nothing extraordinary. I actually think the leftovers will taste better (I doubled the recipe) since the sauce will have time to absorb into the fish, noodles and veggies. The noodles were definitely my favorite part. The mahi-mahi is also a great meaty fish.

Local snow peas and radish

Mmm, noodles. I felt pretty fancy making the carrot ribbons.

No workout today but I do have a pilates session scheduled tomorrow morning (eek, I am NOT a morning person) that I have to attend, otherwise they’ll charge me for it. Hopefully starting the day with exercise will put me in the right healthy mindset. Plus it’s farmers market day. That always makes my day.

See you later, alligators. I’m hoping my next post will be a lot more upbeat.

So we are back to semi-regular food journal blogging. After a weekend away, I jumped back on the cooking wagon right away. That’s the best way to ensure that I’m eating nutritious foods. Here are the highlights:

I dug deep into my freezer and found an old box of Holy Donuts, which made an appearance in Monday morning breakfast.

I don’t know what kind this was. It was a bit stale but still filled me up.

I added something new to my green smoothie – sprouts. They made the smoothie taste a bit “healthier” but the almond milk + banana + peanuts still added a good amount of sweetness. Not bad. Not bad.

Lunch was a grilled veggie + Samira’s Homemade jalapeno hummus + Foxboro Cheese fromage blanc wrap. Yummy. No picture.

Dinner was AMAZING! Adam mentioned he was craving Chinese food over the weekend. Before I even had a chance to say: “I’ll make some” he added: I want it to be authentic and greasy. No can do on the greasy part. Sorry. I still made a Chinese dish for our Meatless Monday dinner and it was authentic tasting.

Pineapple tofu stir-fry (recipe from Eating Well can be found here)

The sauce was sticky, sweet, sour and a little spicy (I added chile-garlic sauce). This was seriously perfection. I HIGHLY recommend this recipe.

TUESDAY…

started on the right foot. With brunch! Well actually breakfast since it was 8am but it tasted like brunch.

Grilled eggplant, tomato and bacon egg & cheese

+ a bloody mary (virgin don’t worry, I don’t drink before work )!!!

I picked this McClure’s bloody mary mix up in Brooklyn before we left and I’m so happy I did. This mix is spicy and super pickly (not a word, but you get it, right?) – just how I like ‘em! I actually had another glass after dinner. This time I used about 1/2 mix and 1/2 water and it was a little less “I’m drinking tomatoey pickle water”… even though honestly I totally could. Yes, I am obsessed with everything-pickle. I may just make a quick one right now to take to work.

Conclusion: if you see this mix, buy a case!

LUNCH

Leftover pineapple tofu stir-fry in a wrap + carrots. Yep, still amazing.

DINNER

I picked up some grass fed beef at the farmers market the other day and decided to make Lauren’s beef, potato and root vegetable stew for dinner last night (recipe can be found here).

Yes, I know it’s basically summer but I don’t care. This was made in my crockpot (I just threw everything in after browning the meat) and was delicious. I did add a whole bunch of hot sauce, extra salt and pepper and garlic powder to flavor the broth a bit more. After about 6 hours in the crockpot, the meat was tender and the broth thickened up around the veggies.

Summer or not, I still enjoyed this inside our air-conditioned condo.

In other news: I tried a pecan pie larabar yesterday and thought it was incredible. Have you tried it yet? You should.

Oh and of course I promised a giveaway. This one is mostly to Boston readers. Remember the Healthworks event I attended at Alibi? Remember that crazy awesome swag-bag? One of the things included was a free cut + color from a new hair salon on Newbury Street – Rock Paper Scissors. I’ve tried enough salons to know that I can’t cheat at my girl Amanda at Jerel 119 but maybe you’re up for a free hair-do? Sues and Colleen really loved the experience there and have some pretty awesome cuts to show off.

So here are the giveaway rules:

1) Leave a comment if you are interested in entering the giveaway.

2) For an extra entry, blog or tweet about this giveaway (and come back here and let me know you’ve done so). If you don’t have a blog or a twitter account, tell a friend about this giveaway and after they enter, come back and tell me you’ve referred them here.

I’m going to have this open for a few days. If you win, please take some before and after pics and share them with us. Cool?

The rest of you are welcome to comment on anything else in this post. I think there is some good material here, no?

All right, it’s time for me to make my bloody mary and run to work. Happy hump day!

Everyone has their own reasons to “go meatless.” I believe that one can maintain a healthy body on a carnivore diet (with lean meats, omega 3 rich fish and of course portion control and a balance with veggies, fruit and whole grains) but I strongly believe in incorporating more meatless dishes into our weekly repertoire because of the impact this has on the environment.

From the Meatless Monday site… Why Meatless?

• REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide . . . far more than transportation.[3] And annual worldwide demand for meat continues to grow. Reining in meat consumption once a week can help slow this trend.
• MINIMIZE WATER USAGE. The water needs of livestock are tremendous, far above those of vegetables or grains. An estimated 1,800 to 2,500 gallons of water go into a single pound of beef.[4] Soy tofu produced in California requires 220 gallons of water per pound.[5]
• HELP REDUCE FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE. On average, about 40 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed lot beef in the U.S.[6] Compare this to the 2.2 calories of fossil fuel energy needed to produce one calorie of plant-based protein.[7] Moderating meat consumption is a great way to cut fossil fuel demand.

Every single person can help reduce the demand for meat (especially inhumanely raised meat) by going meatless more often. I knew I was already doing my part (I know I could always do more by becoming a vegetarian but it’s just not realistic for my lifestyle – we can only do our personal best) but committing myself to a Monday seemed limiting. Well, I’m taking on the challenge!! I like that I can plan a whole day of meatless eats (not just a random meal here and there). I think it happens by mistake once in a while but being more conscious about it made it fun. And you know what? I had some kick-ass eats today. Let’s review them!

BREAKFAST

Breakfast pizza + coffee

Ww tortilla, Barney Butter, nonfat yogurt, mango, Kashi golean cereal, shredded coconut + choc chips

So yummy!

MID-MORNING SNACK

LUNCH

Star ingredient #1: Ellie Krieger edamame “hummus” (recipe can be found here)

It was super galicky and very delicious. I used my vitamix so it was super creamy too. Love it!!

Star #2: grill… well a grill pan for now

Whole wheat Tuscan pane with edamame hummus, heirloom grape tomatoes, grilled zucchini and goat cheese – all pressed together

OMG – seriously I couldn’t get over this deliciousness. Goat cheese + grilled veggies is seriously the best combo on earth. Love <3

MID-AFTERNOON/PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

Clif mojo mountain trek mix bar

WORKOUT

I’m still getting over (or into?) a mild cold so an intense cardio workout was just not in the books. I attended a Body Pump-type class and it was tough. I sweated like crazy and loved every minute of it. What else is new?

DINNER

A little snack while prepping dinner: Doctor Kracker “flatbread” with edamame “hummus”

+ a meatless dinner – ma po tofu with steamed broccolini (recipe can be found here)

I used light tofu, omitted the beef and rice and added broccoli to the broccolini to bulk it up. This made 3 good servings with these lighter substitutions.

I LOVED this meal. It was quite spicy (I used 1T of sriracha) and tasted super authentic. I could see myself ordering it at a Chinese restaurant and being a very happy camper. Some brown rice would have been great to soak up some of the sauce but I thought we’ve been eating too much rice lately so that’s why I omitted it this time. I wouldn’t hesitate to make it again… and you shouldn’t either!

A lovely super charge me cookie to end a lovely day of meatless eats

What do you think of the Meatless Monday movement? If you’re interested, you can pledge to go meatless on Mondays here.

I’m going to be honest. I wasn’t sure about these guys. Fresh basil and mint scares me in large amounts and the herbs were sure to stand out with such a short ingredients list. Furthermore, right before heading home to make these for lunch, I read Liz’s less-than stellar review of these and got scared even more. I am happy to say everything went without a glitch!

I cut the amount of rice vinegar in the sauce by half (saw the too-vinegary complaint in several reviews) and the sauce was perfect. Nice and spicy (and a little sweet), well balanced. The rolls were an ease to roll too – way easier in fact than I thought they would be. I made sure to soften the rice paper one at a time, and then quickly stuffed it with all the cut-up veggies, shrimp… and noodles?

Oh yes, noodles! After taking the above 3 photos, I realized I forgot about the noodles. I made them, but they were on the other side of the table and totally escaped my mind. So now that I caught this little mistake, the other 3 rolls had their noodles. See the 2 rolls on the left in the pic below? Yes, much better!

Last thing I forgot to mention, I used my mandoline to finely cut the carrots and decided to do the same with some fresh zucchini I had in the fridge. It was a good call, I’d do that again. And yes, I would make these again. Go light on the mint, heavier on the shrimp (1/roll is not enough!) and definitely keep the zucchini addition. Adam’s only complaint was that there weren’t more of these. Success!

I can’t wait to make other types of summer rolls too since I now have about 300 rice paper rounds left. Any filling ideas?

****

After work, I got back to my kitchen to bake some cookies. Adam and I are attending 2 parties this weekend. What better gift to bring than some freshly made vegan cookies!

First party – all ready for travel!

Dreena’s super-charge me cookies

I used a combo of raisins and cranberries as dried fruit. I’d add even more dried fruit next time – maybe some tart dried cherries? Mmm, cherries.

And Dreena’s “you got peanut butter in my chocolate” cookies (also from Eat, drink & be vegan; recipe can be found here)

.. and then I went a little crazy with the photo-shoot.

So here is the verdict on these 2 recipes. I liked the super-charge me cookies. I enjoyed the oats and the combo of the choc chips with dried fruit. I really think some tart cherries will be perfect in these. I’d even add more than 1/2 cup as per the recipe. Load ‘em up!!

The choc/pb cookies came out pretty flat and tasted a bit burnt to me. I cooked them for exactly 11 minutes as per the recipe, so I’m not sure if this was the intended taste or if something went wrong in my kitchen. I *may* make them again. We’ll see. Everyone at the first party we went to liked my cookies. We’ll see what the other reviewers will say tonight.

Have you ever made vegan cookies before?

Any fun plans for this weekend?

I love leisurely Sunday mornings. Today I was craving a special breakfast that involved NUTELLA. I am certain this would not be BFL approved. It was, however, Elina approved.

Whole wheat wrap with 1/2 banana and nutella

Gooey… mmm (I ate 3/4ths of this because it was too good not to share with Adam).

Oikos + 1/2 pear

Yum! This delicious breakfast fueled me for some yard work. Ok, more like patio work. We had some serious brick work on our hands. Hi, Adam!

That’s quite the pose.. I know you’re digging the outfit too.

What am I doing here?

Ok, seriously – who’s taking these pictures?

We did need to eat at some point.

LUNCH

I threw together every veggie we had in the fridge, sauteeing some spinach, mushrooms and chickpeas first.

Sauteed baby spinach, mushrooms and chickpeas, fresh bean sprouts, carrots and avocado

+ 2 cookie dough balls for dessert (this pic x2)

My sister-in-law also stopped by with the kids. They’re growing up so fast!

Oh yes, back to the yard work….

How do you like our new steps?

We worked for hours and hours but it looks awesome now! I’ll take some pictures once we’re done with the entire space. The next project will involve planting some flowers.

SNACK TIME

Ww Tuscan Pane with baba ganoush. I can’t get enough of the stuff!

And as much as I wanted to just veg on the couch, it was then time to make dinner. I had big plans!

DINNER

I’ve been planning on making Adrienne’s turkey meatball banh mi sandwich for nearly 3 months. I mean she said this was the best sandwich she’s ever had. How could I not want to make it? This weekend it had to happen. I’ve waited long enough and I knew I’d get some brownie points from the hubs for this one.

I followed the recipe carefully but omitted the onions and scallions, and used 1.5T of dark soy sauce + some lime juice instead of fish sauce (I thought we had it but I couldn’t find it). I also kept my portion a bit smaller (smaller baguette piece, way less spicyt mayo, 4 meatballs out of 30).

This was FANTASTIC!!! So many layers of spicy – our mouths were on fire but we were smiling while chugging water. It was actually quite simple to make but I was so proud. I can’t believe I made something so complex tasting and delicious. It’s going on our “favorites” list for sure!

Great dinner, major progress on our patio. I’d say this was one successful day. How was your weekend?

Oh – I also wanted to mention that since I’ll be away in Aruba this Friday-Tuesday, if anyone would like to write a guest post, I’d be happy to post it during this time (or any time if you can’t meet this short-ish deadline). Let me know!

[Edited to add: Just as an FYI, I had some chocolate covered edamame + roasted almonds a little while after dinner since I got hungry again.]

Somehow, we ended up at Myers + Chang. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised – maybe it was my one-track mind lately on everything-Asian, or maybe I know my husband all too well. Regardless, when he asked that we make our way towards the restaurant, I didn’t hesitate. I had a latish breakfast and wasn’t too hungry, but the second we stepped in the door, I knew I had to order something.

The giant windows bring so much light in – perfect on such a sunny day. The atmosphere is clean and fun – lots of cute “grafitti” all over the windows and mirrors. Love it!

Adam was definitely doing most of the ordering. I decided to get a few lighter things, just to taste. The Asian pickles first caught my eye. I’m obsessed with pickled veggies. Thank you, Myers + Chang for a whole dish of them!

Asian pickles are sweeter than “regular” pickles. My favorite of the bunch was the cauliflower, with shredded carrots being a close second. The jalapenos were nice as well – most of the seeds were taken out so they weren’t too spicy. The cabbage on the far right I think had onions it in. Not my thing. Adam loved the pickled veggies as well, and he’s not as pickle-obsessed as I am. Great “starter.”

Next up, a few of Adam’s dim-sum dishes came out.

Braised short rib with asian pear

He said it was the best thing ever. I had a bite and thought it was tiny bit too sweet but still yummy.

Mama Chang’s fried pork dumplings

I didn’t try these – too many scallions. Adam said they were too fried for his taste and next time would ask to have them steamed, if at all possible. They look pretty mouth watering, though, don’t they?

Garlicky and spicy chicken wings

I had one. The description is really off. They are kind of sweet wings. I’m not a huge wings person so I thought they were fine but nothing amazing – Adam loved them!

Finally my dim-sum dish came out – the green papaya slaw

Green papaya salad is one of my favorite thai dishes and this one was great! The menu indicated it was extra spicy. I didn’t taste the spice at all but that’s fine with me. Just the memory of the crazy-spicy green papaya salad at Montien makes my eyes water a bit. I like to be able to enjoy my food without tears. Loved the crushed peanuts on top as well!

This was a great little brunch. Many other things on the menu looked great…too bad I wasn’t hungry enough for a bigger lunch. I think Adam and I would like to try Myers + Chang for dinner next time. I’m sure their dessert is amazing, since Joanne Chang is also the owner of Flour Bakery and we all know how much I love it.

And just for good measure, here are the rest of my eats yesterday. I was kind of snacky all day so that’s why there is no picture of a real dinner. I pretty much ate all night long.

Breakfast in bed… I love weekends!

Bloody-Mary replacement

Add 2 more crackers to this (6 in total) – combo of the artichoke antipasto with hummus – mmm, good stuff! Plus, some roasted almonds, walnut halves, chocolate covered edamame and Barney Butter out of the jar (a few tablespoons probably).

I was hoping all this food would at least be good fuel for my long run this morning. I’m happy to say that it was! More on that in my next post. What are you up to on this lovely Sunday afternoon?

After way too much time spent looking for parking, we finally decided to just stay in the restaurant’s parking lot and wait for someone to leave. Luckily, we didn’t have to sit in the car for too long before someone finally moved their car. The whole parking situation was quite stressful, but a beer (or a glass of Riesling in my case) was the perfect way to take the edge off and mark the beginning of the weekend.

J. Lohr “Bay Mist” Riesling

This was a sweet fruity wine that paired perfectly with the spicy food.

All five of us were shabu-shabu virgins but the waitress kindly (and patiently) explained the concept and the menu to us. I think at the end we did a great job ordering!

A picture of the room we were in, probably 1/4 of the restaurant – it was huge!

I started with the squid salad, which tasted exactly like the squid salad I had at Samurai a few weeks ago. The portion was small, but it was so delicious. I loved the marinated squid – so much flavor!

We got half a pot with Spicy Chinese broth and half with Shabu-Zen’s standard chicken broth. Can you guess which one is the spicy one?

Both were great, although the Spicy Chinese broth had one spice that I wasn’t crazy about. I think next time I’d order the tom yum broth but I was out-voted this time.

Each person got a little dish with soy sauce…

… to which we could add any of these extras – garlic, scallions, red pepper flakes and Japanese bbq sauce

I added all but the scallions. It was the perfect flavoring agent for the veggies and fish. I loved that each person could customize their own dipping sauce.

All meal combos came with a plate of veggies which included 3 types of mushrooms, broccoli, radishes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, tofu and tofu skin

+ a choice of udon noodles, rice or vermicelli noodles. Adam and I choice the udon noodles (they were individual size portions so we actually ended up ordering another one of these – one each)

And we went with the surf & turf combo – scallops, prawns, salmon, cod, squid, clam, and fish cake + a choice of beef, pork, chicken or lamb. We went with pork. As soon as the food arrived, we started throwing stuff in the hot pot. SO cool!!

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Our seafood plate:

The pork (thinly sliced for quick cooking)

SO MUCH FOOD

Working hard for our food

Clearly, we all hated it.

All right, all right – we were all very happy campers

I forgot to mention that the waitress mid-way also brought 2 nice dipping sauces for the meat – a peanut sesame sauce and a thai sweet and spicy sauce. Both were indeed fabulous with the meat.

This was a really fun interactive dinner. We all loved playing with our food and the service and the quality of everything at Shabu-Zen were great. Have you ever been to a shabu-shabu restaurant?

For other restaurant suggestions, check our my Restaurant Reviews page.

BREAKFAST

Part I – 1/2 cup 4% cottage cheese + 2 kiwi fruits

Part II – office coffee with Agave nectar + bran muffin

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

1/2 banana with a packet of Barney Butter. I forgot how much I love this snack!

WORKOUT

As mentioned, my workout today rocked! I planned on doing 5 miles on the treadmill and believe it or not, I haven’t done that in months. I was actually nervous before going to the gym today, something I used to experience before super long runs. My game plan was to start out easy to conserve some energy. It worked like a charm – this run was fantastic!! Here is what I did…

• 0.15 mile walk at 4.5 mph, 0.35 miles at 6.5 mph – warm-up. Then the 0.2 mile intervals began…
• 0 incline at 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0 mph
• 0.5 incline at 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0
• 0 incline at 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0
• 1.0 incline at 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1
• 0 incline at 6.9, 7.0, 7.1
• 1.5 incline at 7.0, 7.1
• cooldown at 4.5 mph – incline 1.5-4.5

Total distance = 5.5 miles (5 mile run, 0.5 mile walk), total time 50 minutes – it was awesome!!!

I did an additional 10 minutes on the elliptical after that, just because I like round numbers. Total workout time = 1 hour.

LUNCH

Baby spinach, carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower, black beans and Annie’s balsamic vinaigrette

+ 1/2 FFL english muffin with laughing cow cheese

All together…

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

I was hungry all afternoon so I couldn’t help but snack away. Healthy and Sane YouTrailMix:

The dried apricots in it are waaay too hard. Quite disappointing. The rest of the mix is awesome (of course it is – it’s a combo of my favorite stuff! )

Reese’s snacksters

DINNER

I promised Nasoya I’do a video of how to use their wonton wrappers, so today was the day since our kitchen will be gutted soon. Here is the video for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think!!

[A special thank you to Adam for being the videographer. ]

To make the dumplings, I used this recipe from Cooking Light. I couldn’t find ground chicken breast, so I took an organic chicken breast and processed it in my food processor, then cooked the ground mixture on the skillet before mixing it with the rest of the filling ingredients (since I didn’t bake my pot stickers, the filling had to be pre-cooked). They were delicious, dipped in TJ’s gyoza sauce. I had quite a few while filming. Yum!

Dessert – Bridget’s chocolate almond orange macaroons – SO good!

Great day all around. I had a really fun time making the video. Tomorrow I plan on doing the video tour of our apartment because the construction on the kitchen is starting this week!!! So exciting.

Are there any videos you’d be interesting in me doing? I think I’m on a video kick now.

BREAKFAST

Banana oatmeal with PB&J + coffee

The “J” was actually cranberry sauce from last night’s Thanksgiving dinner. I could really taste the dried cherries in it today. Delicious!!

DINNER

For dinner, the turkey leftovers were transformed into Asian wontons, based on the tip from page 74 of the November 2009 Cooking Light issue. I made a mixture of minced turkey, ginger, mushrooms and soy sauce, then Adam stuffed them in Nasoya wonton skins and boiled them in some chicken broth for a few minutes. They were really delicious with TJ’s gyoza sauce (I had about 4 or 5)!

We took the Asian theme a little further and decided to make some hot and sour soup. I followed this recipe from About.com, omitting the pork, the dry lili buds (what are these anyway?) and scallions, used dehydrated black trumpet mushrooms instead of black fungus, 2 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of water, and a little more rice vinegar than the recipe called for (based on reviewers’ suggestions). I also finished it with 1 teaspoon of chili oil for the whole batch.

This picture doesn’t look like much, but I really felt like I was in a Chinese restaurant, except I’m sure this was way healthier! It tasted very authentic.  The whole meal really hit the spot and took care of my Asian food craving that I didn’t even know I had. SO good! I can’t wait to have it again!

DESSERT

Tonight’s dessert was not Turkey day inspired, but is my CEiMB entry for the week. This week we were allowed to pick our own Ellie Krieger recipe to feature, and I decided to finally make this recipe for cherry almond chocolate clusters my sister told me about nearly a year ago! Chocolate, roasted almonds and dried cherries are probably my 3 favorite things in the world, so I can’t believe it actually took me this long to make these. I’m glad I did, because both Adam and I thought they were incredible and I think will be a great treat to have around when that sweet tooth kicks into high gear.

The key is to definitely use high quality chocolate (I used a mixture of organic Green & Black’s espresso chocolate and Scharffen Berger semisweet chocolate) and I guarantee you’ll fall in love. They’re even pretty healthy (dark chocolate has lots of antioxidants!), as long as you can stop at just 1 I’ve been a good girl so far.

I’m loving this super long weekend! What are your favorite ways to enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers? I’m thinking there is a turkey sandwich and maybe cranberry sauce muffins in my future