Bites of My Life

Last week deserves more of a spotlight on the weekend! I don’t want to give away full details as I am working on a separate post to fully document the weekend, but Molly came to visit me in OKC! I had a blast crafting our weekend plans, and couldn’t wait to share my city with her! If you know me and Take A Bite, you know Molly and Bridget’s Own Diary. Catch a glimpse in this bites post and a full recap coming soon.

-Easiest way to come off vacation and ease into the week is to keep your food healthy and simple. I always overindulge in my diet and my wallet while on trips. So I kept my post-California dinners simple, cheap and healthy with roasted veggies and chicken sausages (with lots of dijon for dipping). How do you transition after vacations?
-If you love food and romance, I recommend Delicious, but esteemed chef and food writer Ruth Reichl. I was gifted this book by my sister’s mother-in-law, who clearly knows me well! Next up on my 2019 reading list is this one. Shop my reads on amazon.
-MB(now D) made her way to OKC this past weekend and our first stop was rightfully so at The Jones. Dips + Spreads extra dough was the highlight of our girls night dinner!
-A trip to Kitchen at Commonplace for the food and the perfectly styled photos.
-I geek out over a place where the space and food are equally photographable.
-OKC people, have you been to Salt + Water? We popped in on their last day in their temp space, but they are taking residence off Lee Ave downtown and they are your top shop for all things natural beauty.
-I love these wellness shots from KOR. I love to pick one or two up from Whole Foods when I’m feeling sluggish, on the edge of a cold or after eating all the things.
-You may remember this meal when I posted it after the first Sur La Table class I took with my mom and sister. Well, we recreated our ‘Tuscan Kitchen’ meal for family Sunday dinner and it was just as good as when we made it in class.

Annie

Super bite: With the Super Bowl this Sunday, I have agreed to bring Perfect CCC’s and this Bon Appetit French Onion Dip. Are you hosting or attending a SBLIII party? This Onion Souffle Dip or Avocado Verde Dip would be great (hellllllloo post from the archives). And for a sweet treat I recommend this or these.

5 Years

Hard to believe it's been 5 years. 5 years since Take A Bite staked it's claim in the interweb. I really can't beleive it. 

This little website has brought me the coolest experiences, some incredible friends, delicious eats, ups, downs, all-arounds. I can't thank you enough for reading my blog posts, for making my recipes, for snapchatting and texting me pictures labeled #takeabite. It's incredible to think that what started out of the dining room of the OU Kappa house has transformed itself into this. Whatever this may be. 

Take A Bite Quick Facts:

I've written 247 Bites of My Life Posts with another on the way this Monday. 

I've posted 200+ recipe posts. 

This post still remains as my most popular read post, thinking it is much due for an update, seeing as I wrote it 4 years ago. 

These bad boys have made their way to my second most popular post, just as they should. I feel like they are the mascot of TAB. 

You can see how TAB has evolved by reading my 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th birthday posts. 

And it wouldn't be a blog birthday/blogiversary without some Birthday Toast. The stupid easy recipe is linked here. 

Thank you for reading friends. It means the world. Here's to 5 more!

Annie

Goodbye To You

Michelle Branch said it best when she sang, "Goodbye to you, Goodbye to everything that I knew." Goodbye Take A Bite. It's been a stellar 5 years in this corner of the internet with you.

Today is my last day posting at Take A Bite. It took some serious thought and something I have gone back and forth on, then back and forth again, but I'm finally at peace with my decision to close the door on my little food blog.  

I've loved sharing recipes, bites of my life and the occasional fashion inspo post, but after five years I'm saying goodbye to you. 

I hope you understand. I hope you enjoyed the past few years. I hope you were able to make a couple of my recipes. I hope you still come back and visit (the site isn't going anywhere despite my posting coming to a halt). I hope you still following my life happenings on social media. I hope you keep on taking bites.

And I hope you aren't too distracted with all the Easter shenanigans to remember that it is also April 1st.  

Happy April Fool's Day! TAB ain't going no where!! ;) 

Annie 

photos by KGC Photography

Happy 4th Take A Bite

Four years later and I'm still annoying you with my recipes, grammatical errors and obsession with food. Take A Bite has gone through many phases of it's life as well as many phases of my life. From terrible Photoshop collages, to dim lit food pictures, from sophomore year of college, to graduation, to my first job, to my second and now we are here. Four years later and I'm prouder than ever of my sweet little TAB. 

Take A Bite has brought me incredible friends and incredible opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise. It has allowed me to share my passions for cooking, baking, being creative and sharing with others. Nothing fills me up more than when someone tells me they tried one of my recipes. I write these posts, and sometimes wonder if anyone is reading them. Your comments, pictures, #takeabite hashtags etc. showing that you do, means everything. So thank you.

I didn't mean to get so gushy in this post... Let's eat instead! In typical Take A Bite I'm celebrating with Birthday Toast. I have a traditional breakfast every year on own birthday (Belgium waffles with strawberries and whipped cream), so I thought TAB deserved the same. I've been making this almond butter and sprinkle toast the past four years, from the Kappa house, to rent house, to OKC house. Make you some birthday toast and let's take a look back at some favorite bites.

My first post...omg.

Favorite posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Most popular posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6

I've written 198 recipes and 198 Bites of My Life. (my OCD loves that)

TAB's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd birthday. 

Here's to many more blog birthdays!

Annie

Summer Shrimp Rolls

Chrissy Teigen you genius. If you haven't heard of her recent cookbook, Cravings, then you may be living under a rock. Chrissy is wife to John Legend, momma to Luna, hot model and now, a New York Times Best Selling cookbook author. 

Cravings came out last Spring. The book's tagline is "recipes for all the food you want to it." It's just that. Page after page of recipes your everyday person actually wants to eat and make. When I received my copy, I did as I usually do with a new cookbook. I sat down with a stack of stickies going through marking each recipe I wanted to make. I read the book cover to cover. Like actually read all the little blurbs and antecdotes that no one usually reads. Chrissy writes the book like she is talking to her best friend, texting her husband or ranting on Twitter.  She also has insane pictures of her in hot pink ballgowns, sitting on John's lap shoving hot dogs in his mouth as well as modeling bathing suits by the pool chowing down on chicken wings. She pulls it off, it's too good.  

After reading through the book I found myself with practically every page marked with a sticky. Yellow Cake Baked Oatmeal, Caprese Salad with Crispy Proscuitto, Mac and Cheese, Baked Pasta with Mozzarella Bombs, Steak Bites with Melty Blue Cheese Butter, Artichoke, Spinach and Buffalo Chicken Dip, Cheesy Guacamole, Chorizo Queso, Sh*t on Toast, and BTI (better than Ina's) Roast Chicken and Vegetables. SO much goodness in this book. 

The thing I couldn't wait to make though were these Summer Shrimp rolls. Those sticky rice paper fresh rolls you get before your meal at Thai places can now be made at home. I made these for dinner almost every night for dinner last week. They are so satisfy and perfect for a summer dinner. Kudos to you Chrissy for bringing the fire to the world of cookbooks. 

Summer Shrimp Rolls from Cravings
yields 8 rolls*

Ingredients:
4 to 6 red leaf lettuce leaves
8 medium shrimp, peeled (fresh or frozen (thawed))
salt
1 ounce Asian vermicelli or rice noodles
8 large or 16 small basil leaves
8 large or 16 small mint leaves
1 medium carrot, cut into 3-inch long julienne strips
1 avocado thinly sliced
8 (8-inch) round rice paper wrappers (you can find in most supermarkets with the Asian food)
Thai sweet chili sauce, for serving*

Directions:
Rinse the lettuce leaves and pat dry. Remove and discard the center ribs then slice in half so you end up with 16, about 3 inch long pieces. 

Fill a saucepan halfway with water and salt the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until pink, about 2 minutes. Turn the heat to low, take the shrimp out of the pot with tongs or a slotted spoon and rinse with cold water, pat dry. Cut off the tails and slice lengthwise.

Place the rice noodles in the pot of still hot water to soften. Cook until soft. Remove and rinse in a colander under cold water. 

Create a workspace lined up with lettuce, herbs, carrots, avocado, shrimp and rice noodles. Fill a clean skillet or shallow bowl with warm water to soak the rice papers. Arrange a damp towel on your workspace. One at a time, dunk the rice papers into the warm water to soften. Remove from the water and run under cool water. They easily stick together, so the cool water is a good time to unstick them from themselves. Lay flat on the damp towel.

To assemble: place 2-3 shrimp halves pink side down about 1/3 from the bottom, layer over mint and basil, then avocado, then carrots, rice noodles, then lettuce leaves. Roll up like a burrito by pulling up the bottom, tucking in the sides, then rolling till the end. The rice paper will stick together sealing it shut. Repeat with remaining rice papers. 

Serve immediately with the chili sauce. *If chili sauce is too spicy for you, you can tone it down by adding a little bit of lime juice and water. 

*The recipe says it makes 8 rolls, but it is easy to make less if you are cooking for one. I would eat 2-3 for dinner. The components last well in the fridge, so I would keep everything prepped, then just cook the shrimp, noodles and rice papers fresh each night and assemble just before eating!

Annie

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. If you are a also a blogger make sure to check out their site on how you too can start Blogging for Books!