Hey y’all! Sorry I’ve been a little M.I.A. this past week, things have been a little hectic. I’m not gonna post my eats/events from the rest of last week, but I did want to share what went down this weekend.
First, in honor of yesterday being Father’s Day, I wanted to share this song with you. This is the song that me and my dad danced to at my wedding and it’s super special to me. Hope you like it.
SATURDAY:
Saturday, we got up to hit the Peachtree Rd Farmer’s Market where we picked up delicious salsa that my hubby loves so much because they use real chilies from New Mexico. We also picked up fresh goat cheese – a sweet assortment with fig, strawberry, cranberry and plain. We also bought gourmet popsicles to eat since it was soo HOT out there! I had peach chipotle and the hubby had lime mint. Yummy!
Breakfast: Goat cheese, egg, spinach and tomato crepe – made by one of the vendors at the market – so yummy
Then we headed to scope out the Dekalb’s Farmers Market. This place is awesome! It’s huge and they have a huge variety of international foods. It was super crowded when we got there Saturday morning, so, we had to make our way through the crowds, but we got to check out almost every isle. We bought a lot of produce and they have really good prices. I will definitely be shopping here more often. We even found my favorite new beer – Triple Karmeliet and another type of Belgium beer – score!
After returning from the Farmer’s Market, I had to stop by Publix to get ingredients for my father’s day menu that I intended to make – just a handful of things and then I had to finish getting my dad his gifts. His birthday is next week as well, so I went ahead and did shopping for both. Before heading home I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a bag of vegan chocolate chips for my sister. It was a busy morning/afternoon.
Then I got to work on the menu:
- Vegan Lentil and Walnut Loaf
- Haricot Verts, Edamame and Toasted Walnuts
- Tomato, Cucumber and Avocado Salad
- Almond Cake
VEGAN LENTIL WALNUT LOAF
The Vegan Lentil and Walnut Loaf is from this recipe from Eat, Live, Run. I really wanted to make something a little different and something that I knew everyone could eat – my mom is a vegetarian, my hubby needs to eat wheat free, etc. So, I thought this would be a good dish to try – it’s hearty enough for my dad, but fits other criteria as well. The only change I made was substituting a beet for the carrot, which made it turn pretty red, but tasted awesome.
I started cooking the lentils since they take about 25 mins to cook
Lentils Cooking
Next, I prepared the “flax egg” to bind the mixture together
Flax Meal + Water
And set it aside to work its magic
Flax Egg
Next, I grated my beet and chopped up the other veggies
Grated Beet
Then I cooked the veggies
Cooking the veggies
Adding Toasted Walnuts
Then it’s time to combine the ingredients into a large bowl
Combining flax egg + bread crumbs
Mixing Lentils
After mixing all of the ingredients together, I poured it into a small pyrex dish and packed into the dish with my hands.
Walnut Lentil Loaf
Then I mixed up the sauce for the top
Tomato sauce added
I then baked this at 350 for 40 mins
HARICOT VERTS, EDAMAME + TOASTED WALNUTS
This recipe is based on the one from the book Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser – I also added a handful of edamame to change it up a bit.
Haricot Verts, Edamame + Toasted Walnuts
TOMATO, CUCUMBER + AVOCADO SALAD
I just threw the veggies together and added a little olive oil, salt and pepper to the mix. I also added a couple of sprigs of Thai Basil I picked up
Tomato, Cucumber + Avocado Salad
ALMOND CAKE
This cake is also from Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser. This cake was AMAZING and I recommend you make it ASAP. This cake is dense and full of delicious almond flavor. This cake was a hit with my family
Almond Cake Ingredients
I prepared the springform pan by lining the bottom and the sides of the pan.
Prepared Springform Pan
Then, it was onto the cake – I started out by cracking and separating 4 eggs to use the yolks only and then set them aside to get up to room temp
Eggs
Next, I cut the Almond Paste into smaller pieces
Almond Paste
Next, I combined the baking soda and sour cream and set aside
Almond Cake - Sour Cream
Next, I sifted the flour and then measured it.
Sifting Flour
Flour measured out
Next, I creamed together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Added the egg yolks one at a time and then added the almond paste and extract.
Creaming Butter & Sugar
I then added the flour in a few batches until well combined
Adding the Flour
Then I poured into the prepared springform pan
Poured into Pan
Almond Cake - Before going into the oven
Baked in a 350 degree oven for 60 mins
After Baking
After completely cooled, I dusted it with powdered sugar
Almond Cake
SUNDAY:
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Green Smoothie
My green smoothie contained a large handful of fresh spinach from the farmers market, 1 frozen banana, and 1 Tbsp Almond Butter – this tasted amazing – the frozen banana really made it creamy and sweet.
The hubby and I drove up to my parents to have lunch with my dad. I brought all of the food that I had prepared on Saturday so we could eat early because my dad had to go to work later on. So, I brought the ingredients for the tomato, cucumber & avocado salad and made up at my parents, but everything else we just unpacked once there.
My dad also picked up a watermelon for our lunch – it was so yummy!
Watermelon
Here’s how the table looked
Table Setting
I had a little of everything. It was so yummy! My entire family really enjoyed it, even though it was a very different meal than they were used to.
My Plate
After eating our meal, we sat around the table chatting and catching up on things. Once our food had settled a little bit, we sliced up the Almond cake – it was awesome!
Almond Cake - Sliced
After dessert and cleaning up for my parents, we said good-bye to my dad and saw him off to work. Then we all sat around outside and talked for a while. Then me, the hubby and my sister said bye to my mom and hit up the outlet malls for a bit. The hubby was in need of work shoes and I love to shop. We found amazing deals and ended up working up an appetite. We were a little hungry and decided on Ruby Tuesdays.
I had the salad bar and some of the shrimp appetizer the hubby ordered. I had this big salad and then went back for a smaller one.
Salad Bar
Shrimp Appetizer - Shrimp 3 ways
Yummy! After dinner, we drove back to Atlanta and I cleaned up the kitchen a bit and then hung out with Bentley and the hubby by watching Law & Order! Then we crashed out. It was an awesome day. So much fun to be able to spend time and actually cook my parents a meal. I haven’t cooked for them since I got married and moved to Florida. So, it was great to take part in the things I love – family, food and shopping!
Well guys, gotta run. Hope you’re Monday afternoon is a good one – be back later!
