Yummy Things I Ate This Week
It’s been a very delicious week, and a busy one even for us. We’ve had 2-3 engagements each weekend day, from a costumed Seder (we went as pestilence), to a double header Easter brunch and dinner, birthdays, long bike rides, and a crawfish boil. We had not one, but two weekday double dates where we got to try yummy new restaurants I’d never been too.
It’s been decadent, but luckily, I’ve been also been running with two running groups and worked in a early morning spin date with a girlfriend and a Solid Core class (so sore!). Also, I said goodbye to my bike after one last 50-miler yesterday, as she’s headed out West to wait for me – crazy to think the next time I’ll ride her will be Chef Cycle! I have to admit, I’m not super sad to be off the hook from long bike rides for the next couple weekends, but she’ll be missed on my commute.
Here’s a look at some of the yummy recipes I made and some of the best dishes we tried:
Cucumber & Honeydew Salad with Honey Dressing
I made this for Easter brunch, and accidentally made a *GIANT* batch. I’ve been eating leftovers literally all week, in a wide variety of ways. I did manage to polish it off without getting sick of it! The jalepeno, mint and lime juice are lovely.
I could eat this recipe pretty much every day I think. In fact, I ate it three times this week! Each time a little differently. It’s really simple and really easy to make. Start with a base of rice noodles, and then add pretty much whatever veggies you want. I recommend a mixture of fresh and pickled. I actually used day-old cucumbers from the salad above. For the tofu, I tried both sriracha tofu and a plain extra high protein tofu in chili garlic sauce. The biggest change I made was the sauce. I was craving a peanut-style sauce rather than the sriracha mayo. These reminded me of a deconstructed spring roll, so that only seemed appropriate. Plus it’s a bit healthier, there’s some protein not just empty calories. So I subbed sunflower butter for the mayo in the sauce recipe and also used mirin instead of rice vinegar because I find it to be nicely sweet and savory. I highly recommend!
If you can’t tell, I’m very into vegetarian/vegan tofu bowls right now. I don’t know why, but I love black rice. Everything about this dish was healthy and satisfying!
Raw Vegan Orange Dreamcicle Cheesecake
Can you really call it cheese cake if it doesn’t contain any animal product? Probably not, but nut cake doesn’t have much of a ring to it. Regardless, I’ve long been a fan of raw vegan desserts, and this one is no exception.
Eating fun things along the way is pretty much what motivates me to bike, let’s be honest. Last week, we did a 75 mile bike ride with two brewery stops. We ate Indian tacos, a cheese plate, bacon popcorn, and lots of beer. This week, we almost made it through the ride without stopping for snacks, but impulsively found ourselves at Toastique as we were nearing home. It’s way overpriced, but so good – really quality ingredients, and decently healthy.
Maydan has long been on my bucket list, and I’d had to make reservations way in advance. I certainly went in with some very inflated expectations. It’s a beautiful restaurant – not a single detail has been overlooked, and the ambiance is happy and cozy. The four of us tried a wide variety of the menu, with many refills of the warm bread straight off the wood fire downstairs. For me, the standouts were the specialty dip – an onion, spinach and yogurt blend, and the condiments – the toum, chermoula, and tomato jam were all exquisite!
Chloe has also been on my radar since opening up in our neighborhood, and friends had told me good things. But it was actually a bit of a game-time decision to go there. We snagged seats on the patio for a double date, and I was really impressed! We’ll most definitely be back.
