Week 53: Bowl Lickin’ Good

My brother and I learned fairly good table manners growing up but weren’t expected to practice them every night at the dinner table. So long as we could discern between habits that were acceptable at home with just family and those that weren’t to be taken out to eat or when company was present, we were good to go. As most of you know I love food, particularly maple syrup. It was standard and completely acceptable practice in my family growing up to lick your plate after pancakes, waffles or French toast to get every last drop of syrup. My post-breakfast plate could have passed for a plate just having come out of the dishwasher rather than the other way around. I took my job very seriously. This strategy has now been extended to desserts and any good meal really. Travis knows it is a compliment to the chef, most often myself, if I lick my plate after dinner. It was bowl lickin’ good! Stella of course watches everything we do and has started mimicking some of our habits for better or for worse. I think you can guess where this is going. The other week she finished her bowl of yogurt, picked it up and started licking it. So proud! “Wonder where she learned that?” said Travis. So far yogurt is her maple syrup since believe it or not she hasn’t had the opportunity to try maple syrup yet, and I couldn’t agree more, it totally is bowl licking material. She alas doesn’t have the ability to know when it is “ok” to lick her bowl, but I think so far those who dine with us would forgive her manners pretty quickly.

Monday: Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage and Gnocchi

• I had both sage and a pack of pre-cut butternut squash I needed to use up so this recipe seemed like a simple solution.
• I added some gnocchi to make it a full meal, nothing fancy, but plenty tasty with enough parmesan cheese.
• I prefer to brown my gnocchi in a pan rather than boil them to get them crisp rather than mushy. Particularly with roasted squash I think you need some texture variation.

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken and Kale Salad with Tahini Lemon Dressing

• I didn’t grill our kale, mostly because my grilling confidence isn’t amazing, but I did grill the chicken which is kind of a big deal around here.
• If you don’t feel like grilling the kale you can either massage it with some of the dressing or oil, or sauté it for just a few minutes to soften it up.
• I didn’t have any dates on hand but any dried fruit substitutes well.

Wednesday: Healing Bowls with Turmeric Sweet Potatoes, Poached Eggs, and Lemon Dressing

• So tasty! Again with my bowl obsession, I know, but they all seem so quick and easy which is probably another reason I’m hooked.
• We used quinoa and fried our eggs since poaching is not something either of us is amazing at (tips welcome!).
• I also added roasted green beans to the which takes about 5 minutes. I had originally thought I’d do chard but we had a lot of leafy greens in our meals this week and I didn’t want Travis to think he’d done something wrong.

Thursday: Roasted Veggie Enchilada Casserole

• This recipe is super flexible for whatever root veggies you have on hand and as always, more is better.
• I tossed the cauliflower and potatoes with salt, 2 Tbsp chili powder and 1 Tbsp of cumin. I used more veggies than the recipe called for, so adjust the seasoning to your liking.
• Instead of doing a lot of layers of different things I just made a big ol’ bowl of veggies, beans and cheese and alternated it with the tortillas. Way easier than having to roll individual enchiladas too.
• And since all the veggies were already hot it didn’t take long for everything to be nice and warm and melted.

Friday: Peppery Shrimp with Grits and Greens

• This was a fun and different meal for us. I sometimes get overwhelmed by having 3 dishes going at once, and I’m not going to lie I did overflow some milk on the stove at one point, but since each piece was really quick it all worked out just fine.
• The grits are super quick so that was easy. Lots of cheese of course!
• I couldn’t find mustard greens so I used collards instead adding them to the sauce while it was reducing since they are a bit tougher and take longer to cook than mustard greens.