Recipes for Tuesday #34
Best Things I Ate in May
May absolutely flew by this year between Mother’s Day festivities, weddings, bachelorette parties and the start of absolutely beautiful weather. With that, I had a lot of great meals, snacks and dishes this month and wanted to share the best things I ate this month to wrap up our first month back in the blogs. If you all like this, I will make it a staple blog post to finish out each month.
Also…the audience has grown a bit since the relaunch earlier this month. We are getting close to 100 subscribers which is CRAZY. Thank you all for the love and support you have shown this creative project of mine. To celebrate, once we reach 100 subscribers I will be doing a giveaway of some of my favorite snacks, ingredients and kitchen tools! So please spread the word with anyone you think might enjoy this content.
Best things I ate this month:
Snacks/Store-bought
Drizzilicious Mini Rice Cakes - Birthday Cake Flavor
I won’t lie, I have loved these for years but wanted to gatekeep them because they already sell out all the time. However, the TikTok foodies and health-conscious influencers have taken note and started spreading the word about these, so I guess the cat is out of the bag. These are so delicious and absolutely satisfy my sweet tooth after dinner. I try not to talk too much about macros and dieting and things like that on here, but I will say that these are a great dessert option for me when I am wanting to eat something sweet and filling but a bit healthier.
These are not like eating those big Quaker rice cakes, these are light and crispy and have sweet, fun toppings. My all-time favorite is the s’mores, but this newer birthday cake flavor is so good and has adorable rainbow sprinkles. The flavor reminds me of the filling of birthday cake Oreos, so if that is your jam, check these out!
Favorite Day Sour Mini Peach Rings
My friend Mel turned me on to these in the full-size version. For whatever reason, the Target store brand of candy has perfected the peach ring. They are super soft and the flavor is one of the more realistic and not overly sweet peach flavors I have had in a candy. On a recent trip to Target I saw they had the mini version out for the summer (in the summer section, not in the candy section) and they are even more fun and bite-sized!
Restaurants/Eating Out
Shawarma Salad Bowl - Beet Box in Columbia
I am sure most of my CoMo followers are familiar with the wonderful food available at Beet Box, and we started coming here more after their parent company catered our wedding and we really enjoyed some things they’ve had. I have had their shawarma before as a bowl and as a wrap, but this time I got it as a salad with the pita on the side and that is absolutely the way to go. Unlike in the wrap, you can kind of build each bite to make sure you get all the sauces, a bit of the crunchy apple and some picked carrot along with the chicken. The flavors of this dish are so good because all of the homemade sauces and toppings incorporate the seasonings and herbs on the chicken, so it all goes so well together. If you aren’t so sure if you’d like all the sauces and the apple slaw, this really helps you try out everything individually and build your perfect bite. I already really liked this dish, but getting it as a bowl made it a 10/10. Also, in case you don’t know, you can’t go to Beet Box without getting an order of the Za’atar fries, so make sure to bring friends and get some for the table.
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes - The Farmhouse in Kansas City
I was in Kansas City recently celebrating my friend Mackenzie’s bachelorette party (shoutout to the beautiful bride to be). For brunch on our last day, her made of honor got us a reservation at The Farmhouse, which I had already heard great things about. This was such an adorable spot with a small, flavorful menu. I actually ordered their Eggs Benedict on challah bread which was incredible, but when Katy offered me a bite of her Lemon Ricotta pancakes, I knew that was the star dish from this place. The pancakes were fluffy and airy, but the whipped lemon ricotta butter added the richness to make it feel like a real treat. It was topped with beautiful blueberries and maple syrup and a bit of lemon zest to brighten things back up. They absolutely nailed it on this one, and next time I will be getting it with a side of bacon or sausage to go back and forth between sweet and savory.
Dippin’ Dots - Anywhere, but these were from Kauffman Stadium
At that same bachelorette party, we enjoyed a Cardinals game at Kauffman Stadium (go Cards!), and among other ballpark favorites, I got a nostalgic craving for Dippin’ Dots which I used to eat all the time as a kid when my grandma would take me to the mall or the zoo since we did not have them anywhere close to Fredericktown. Every once in a while I get them at a sporting event like this and it instantly takes me back. Nothing groundbreaking here I suppose, but if you liked Dippin’ Dots as a kid and see them as an adult, I say go for it. They are just fun and good.
Recipes/Homemade
Brioche French Toast Casserole
I made this lovely French toast casserole as part of a mother’s day brunch we hosted for my wonderful mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. Like many of the things I cook, I start with a recipe then make my own tweaks until it is something way different, but that is okay! I started with this Ina Garten (the queen) recipe but swapped out the Challah for Brioche and omitted the raspberries. I also made a streusel topping that I added just before baking by combining:
½ cup of flour
½ cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
½ teaspoon of salt
1 stick of cold butter (cubed)
I baked it at 350 degrees for about an hour and then topped each piece with fresh berries and syrup once it cooled a bit. This was super good and just a reminder that you don’t have to follow any recipe (even mine) to a T if you want to make adjustments, cater to different tastes, or just be creative.
Honey Mustard Salmon Bowls
I just whipped this up for dinner using some things we had at the house and it turned out so good. This isn’t much of a recipe, more just meal inspiration. I marinated the salmon in mustard, hot honey, chopped garlic and lemon juice for like 30 minutes before air frying it. Then I roasted some sweet potatoes, red onion and brussel sprouts with some seasonings. I served the roasted veggies and salmon filets over a bed a spinach tossed with lemon juice and olive oil. And then I topped with with feta, balsamic drizzle and a bit of a honey mustard sauce I made with Greek yogurt for some protein and creaminess. I won’t lie, this meal made me feel like a fitness influencer, but it was so so good. Maybe after a bit more workshopping, it can be a recipe for the blog.
I hope you all have had a wonderful May! And thank you again for all the love and support on the return on the blog. It means so much to me that people read and enjoy this side project I do to flex a little creativity. Thanks for being here!
And happy almost June from my boys, who are absolutely exhausted from all the plans their parents had this month:
