Bites of My Life

A few virtual happy hours, learned a new skill, live streamed workouts, supported local restaurants through take-out, went on about 10 walks and started watching Tiger King. Am I a quarantine queen yet? In all seriousness the gravity of coronavirus gets more real by the day as people nearer and dearer are being effected. It’s looking like the next few weeks/months will be spent at home, and I’m just really thankful for technology, and being under the same roof as loved ones. Staying in and counting my blessings.

-Forever thankful for my wild bunch of Kappa college besties. We are spread out amongst Oklahoma, Texas and London, and it somehow took quarantine to get us to do a group video chat for the first time. Realizing this needs to keep up even after Covid-19.
-When you gave up chips for lent and order tex-mex take out. Cucumbers don’t replace tortilla chips let me tell you that.
-Under-eye patches all morning is a work from home luxury I’m leaning into!
-Spoiled spoiled spoiled by quarantining at my parents! Amazing meals every day.
-Hooked on these protein banana pancakes! Indulgent but healthy and the recipe is saved in my highlights!
-Spent 9 hours on Friday learning how to edit videos. Check out my amateur handy work here.
-Finally got around to making the famous “Clayton’s Margaritas.” Despite adding too much egg white, for not liking margaritas, these were great.
-Prepping for another Instagram LIVE Sunday by flat laying my ingredients, but also taking this as a moment to show off my new leggings that I’m obsessed with (which are giving me Carol Baskin/Tiger King vibes but I’m going with it).
-These IG Lives are just too fun to be honest! Blueberry Banana Muffins were a hit with everyone who tuned in! This recipe is a few years old and I forgot how dang good they are.

Annie

Meals of Corona: What I've Been Eating, Making and Plan To Eat/Make

A positive of self-distancing is seeing all the fun things people are baking and cooking during the quarantine. This time has brought on a lot of anxiety and uncertainty for people. I know cooking and baking can be scary for some, but I also know I’m not alone when I say that cooking and baking is a stress release. Even if you aren’t the best cook or baker, I’ve seen so many people via social media, getting out of their comfort zone and getting into the kitchen. So if you are stress-baking or cooking like me, I thought it would be fun to share what I’ve been making and plan to make!

Perfect CCCs: This is a no brainer and maybe obnoxious by this point if you follow me on social media. On Sunday, I filmed an Instagram Live making my coveted cookies and it was the most fun I’ve had of all quarantine. You can watch the live recording on my IGTV!

The Cookies: This Alison Roman recipe went viral on the internet over a year ago, so good chance you’ve seen these before. However, I never got around to making them. I feel accomplished after checking these off my baking to-do list. I even have another Alison Roman recipe planned for #coronoacooking.

Avocado Toast: Lot’s of avocado toast. I’ve been on a big avo toast kick in 2020 and corona hasn’t stopped that. When I was packing to come home for a friend’s wedding shower before all this happened, I knew I would likely be home a few extra days. Along with my dress for the shower and some lounge clothes, my bag of Ezekiel 7 Grain Bread also got packed to come home. Avo toast for breakfast and lunch have been on rotation. I top mine with turmeric, a pinch of cayenne, salt and pepper. A drizzle of olive oil when I feel fancy.

Non-Dairy Yogurt: It’s been a little luxurious quarantining at my parents. Access to their fridge and groceries is a blessing I’m not blind too. They always have Whole Foods granola stocked, so I equally stocked up on non-dairy yogurt to enjoy with it. I love Lava and Siggi’s new coconut yogurt!

Loaded Salads: I ate this salad everyday for my WFH lunch last week. Prepped chicken, avocado and pickled red onions made for a filling and colorful lunch in the midst of scary, sad, confusing coronoa work from home reality. Grab some frozen chicken breasts and grill or cook in a skillet 2-3 of them to have in your fridge. If you can score a rotisserie chicken at the store, that would be something great to have in your fridge. Slice up a red onion to make quick pickled red onions (the key for upping any dish), I then added celery, avocado over greens and drizzled with just olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Quarantini: While virtual happy hours are becoming more frequent and a drink to end the day is becoming the norm to warm off the stress of the situation, I bring you my under 70 calorie “quarantini.” It’s essentially a Ranch Water, but using La Croix instead of Topo Chico.

1-2 oz of Casamigos Tequila
A hefty slash of lime juice (I like my drinks really limey)
1/2 of a Cherry Lime La Croix (my favorite flavor)
ice

Wannabe Bibimbap Bowls: I love bibimbap and when Alex posted these easy bowls she made from just some ground beef, I quickly made plans to make them. The store was out of kimchi so I got this pickled cauliflower from the olive bar. I did cauli rice and made jasmine rice for my parents, the full recipe is posted in her feed!

What Is on My Covid Cooking List:
No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread
The Stew
2-Ingredient Shakshuka
Lemon Loaf (so good for Easter)
Teddy Bear Snickerdoodles
Basically anything by Half Baked Harvest
A killer pasta, we have some fettuccine ready to be used, any recipe suggestions?
An epic cheese board for dinner (because there are no rules in quarantine)

I had way too much fun filming an IG Live making my Perfect CCC’s, I asked what I should make on IG Live next. Here are a few follower requested recipes I wanted to share if I don’t get to filming them live!
Zucchini Bread
Banana Bread
Blueberry and Banana Streusel Muffins
Banana Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Sugar Cookie Pizza with Strawberry Icing
Brownies
Homemade Oreos
Campfire Cookies

Happy corona cooking!
Annie

Bites of My Life

How are you doing? How are you holding up? How is working from home? We are now at the start of official self distancing week two. While it feels like we are all falling into a rhythm it’s still just so strange. Conversations I’ve had often go like this, “I just can’t believe this.” or “I feel like we are in a movie.” and the worst “How long is this really going to last?” The truth is we don’t know. We are not in control. We can all do our part to help, but God will get us to the finish line. While I’ve struggled to make that my guiding principle through this, I’m confident it’s the truth.

-Very lucky to be at my parents during all of this. Their stocked fridge has me feeling very thankful.
-Lots of hugs and kisses from my nieces before we all decided it would be best to stay 6 feet apart for a while :(
-Walk then wine with my bestie Maddie. Last week was hard for a gajillion reasons, but especially for Maddie after having to reschedule her wedding.
-Wannabe Bibimbap Bowls being made in the #quarantinedkitchen.
-My go to “quarantini” has been a combo of tequila, lots of lime juice and Le Croix.
-Wondering if wearing plastic gloves at the grocery store will be the new normal even after Covid-19?
-Finished this book last week and highly recommend for a mind escape!
-Sunday morning avocado toast, Pioneer Woman and a side of Calm gummies.
-Perfect CCCs went live on Instagram yesterday, did you watch?

Bites of My Life

Let’s talk about the stages of last week. Monday was business as usual with work and part 1 of The Bachelor finale. Tuesday was normal until I got home from work, had a snack, went on a walk and then got a wave of feeling so weak and nauseous (this same thing happened two weeks ago). Friends came over for part 2 of The Bachelor finale and I got sick the second they left. Wednesday was weird trying to feel better after a long night.

Thursday I spiraled out after working from home, watching way to much news and unrealistically convincing myself that I had coronavirus. Like full on spiral, taking my temperature every hour, calling my parents bawling, it was terrible. I was already planning on driving home Friday for another shower I was hosting, but it couldn’t come soon enough. Woke up early Friday to drive home to OKC, in the pouring rain the whole time might I add), and headed straight to work to do recon on the effects of COVID-19. We had a concert planned at work Friday night and a big St. Patrick’s Day party Saturday that we had to cancel. Being in the hospitality industry right now is wild.

Saturday I attempted to go on normally with two events I had, but came home after the day and showered, rested and tried to recover after the crazy week. Needless to say life is weird and scary and uncertain right now. I’m staying with my parents for moral support to help get through the next few days of unknown. If you are anxious right now, I feel you. I keep saying it, but we are all in this together and everyone’s feelings, emotions, concerns and decisions are all valid.

I’m also working on a Self-Distance To-Do list to help get through the next few weeks, hoping to throw them all in a blog post to share this week. Here’s to utilizing the extra time we have!

-Chugged this pedialyte Wednesday after a second hit of the stomach bug Tuesday. ElectroLIT made me LOL.
-Amazon find! These little pearl huggies are only $23!
-My friend Annie, yes Annie, posted her recipe for these Vegan Blueberry Muffins last week. I’ve been craving. muffins so I had to make them. I made a few substitutions, like using GF flour and almond milk. They turned out great.
-The new Siggi’s dairy free yogurt is SO good. One of the lowest in sugar dairy free yogurts I’ve found. Bought at Whole Foods. Made a yogurt bowl for lunch last week with vanilla yogurt, this fiber cereal that I love (and found at TJs), frozen raspberries and chia seeds.
-Another weekend another shower for one of my best friends! Starting to really get this host thing down. By nature I typically get designated the food, but it’s been so fun. We did a “Sarah Brunch” theme for Sarah Beth and it was perfect. Mimosas, coffee bar, mini chicken and waffles, deviled eggs, donuts, fruit and a cheese board of course!
-Bestie since 1st grade!
-Finally tried “the cookies” as my first social distancing baking project. They were great. Hype is real. It’s like perfect CCCs and shortbread cookies had a baby. And I love shortbread. Started baking to find out my parent’s were out of vanilla so made these with almond extract and added some sliced almonds to the dough. They came out so light and good.
-Going to try really really hard to not only eat cookies and carbs during the next month, but being home so much makes me crave comfort food and cooking indulgent dishes. Here’s a salad to try and stay on track.
-Read this book cover to cover by the fire Sunday night. SB gifted the hosts of her shower this book and it is actually a really great book. I fear cooking for large groups and this book walks you through how to do it seamlessly.

Annie

I Tried Every Trader Joe's Salad Kit and Want You To Know My Favorite

Okay so maybe not every salad kit. I suppose Caesar salad and coleslaw would fall into the “salad kit” category, but those seemed like a cop-out. I also omitted the saute kits. I limited this research to the tall skinny (do you know what I mean?) salad kits intended to be more of a meal or hefty side. I tried a majority of their current offerings. The only one I didn’t try was the Peanut and Crispy Noodle Salad Kit, because of #peanutallergy.

First, a few tips for eating Trader Joe’s salad kits. Tip #1, I recommend tossing the pre-packaged dressing. They give you way too much to dress the amount of the salad in the bag. Salads are typically a healthy option, but the salad dressing can make a salad go from good to bad, quick. Every dressing I saw in these kits had sugar in them. Not that I don’t eat sugar, but I don’t want to expend my sugar consumption in a salad dressing. A little olive and vinegar is all you need. I noted how I dressed each salad as I reviewed them.

Tip #2, beef them up with extra greens. I brought these salads for lunch most days and they are the perfect amount to get 2 servings out of one bag. At $2.99 to $3.99 a bag, a $2 or less lunch is a win. However, I would add to their volume by buying an extra bag of spinach to make the salad a little bigger.

Tip #3, add protein/healthy fats. These are all great with avocado, some shredded rotisserie chicken, chopped up turkey burger, chicken sausage, shrimp, salmon, you name it.

Sesame Crunch Chopped Salad Kit
bok choy, savoy cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, sesame sticks, cashews and nori seaweed flakes with toasted sesame ginger vinaigrette

This kit was surprising. The flavors were bolder than I thought and the nori seaweed flakes gave it an interesting kick. I would buy again, but it wasn’t my favorite. It would be a good green addition to an Asian meal. For instance, paired alongside TJs coveted Mandarin Orange Chicken or potstickers.

I added avocado and used coconut aminos to dress my salad.

Southwestern Chopped Salad Kit
green cabbage, romaine, cotija cheese, roasted pepitas, tortilla strips, green onion, cilantro and a southwest avocado dressing

This salad is a Trader Joe’s staple and comes up on several lists for the top items to try at TJs. My friend Maddie who inspired this whole blog post told me it was her favorite, but wanted me to research the other options out there to help her break out of her routine of buying this same salad every time. For good reason, it’s great and would make for a great side dish to Tex Mex or barbecue.

I added avocado and used salsa for the dressing! It would be great with shredded chicken, grilled shrimp or taco meat.

Tahini, Pepita & Apricot Slaw Kit
shredded carrots, broccoli stalks, green cabbage & kale with a tahini orange dressing

You had me at tahini. I stinking love tahini. Even though the only tahini part of this salad was in the dressing…which I threw away. The apricot was also the subtle star of this salad show.

I didn’t have any tahini but I 100% would have done a drizzle of apple cider vinegar and tahini if I had it. Instead, I did apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, and olive oil. With it being a slaw and having stiffer vegetables, it needed a thicker creamier dressing to break through them, than just a vinaigrette. I added avocado too of course.

Veggies & Greens Salad Kit
crisp & crunchy blend of veggies including cauliflower & Brussels sprouts with radcchio, kale, dried pear crumbles, pistachios & honey ginger dressing

This salad was an underdog that came out being one of my favorites. It seemed underwhelming with a name like “veggies & greens,” but I was pleasantly surprised. I had forgotten about the dried pear and thought it was dried ginger (which I love). Either way, it was the perfect sweet note. The pistachios were salty and roasted. I wish there were more.

I ate this with avocado and made a simple dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. This is my go-to dressing. Like I mentioned above, this too needed a thicker dressing with all of the stiff greens. I even heated this salad up for 30 seconds in the microwave. May sound weird, but I kind of enjoy eating salads warm and it too helped break down the stiff greens a bit. This would make an excellent easy side dish or with a piece of grilled salmon over the top.

Organic Mediterranean Style Salad Kit
Romaine lettuce, shredded broccoli stalks, radicchio, celery, seasoned flatbread strips, feta cheese, dried tomatoes and roasted chickpeas with a red wine vinaigrette.

This is in rotation as one of my favorite Trader Joe’s Salad Kits! I love greek salads and Mediterranean food in general. The dried tomatoes were a fun surprise and the seasoned flatbread added just a little crunch without being carb-heavy.

Yellow Curry Chopped Salad
Mixed cabbage and carrots with naan chips, cashews, golden raisins & yellow curry ginger lime vinaigrette.

I love a curry moment and had bigger expectations for this salad that what delivered. I actually didn’t toss the dressing that came with this salad, but I did only drizzle a tiny amount. I wanted that good curry flavor, however it lent way more sweet than rich and spicy and savory like I want from curry. The naan chips were also hard as a rock and not quite what I was wanting.

Lemony Arugula Basil Salad Kit
Arugula, rainbow ribbon carrots, almonds and parmesan cheese with a basil lemon vinaigrette.

This is one of the more versatile TJs salad kit. It may be my all time favorite. It’s the perfect base for an entree salad if you beef it up with avocado, and more veggies. I love it as an easy side dish for pan seared salmon.

Buffalo Ranch Chopped Salad
Green cabbage, romaine lettuce, cauliflower stalks, celery, kale, carrots & blue cheese crumbles with a buffalo ranch dressing.

I am not usually a buffalo or a ranch girl when it comes to flavors, but I wanted to give all salad kits a fair shot. I tried the dressing on this salad and it was not for me, so I set it aside and drizzled this with a little barbecue sauce. Delicious honestly, but I love barbecue sauce. Some shredded chicken, extra carrots, and chopped celery would be great added to this salad. If you are a buffalo aficionado, some crock-pot chicken shredded with buffalo sauce would be awesome here.

Suggestions on what my next Trader Joe’s quest should be? Chips? (after lent of course because I gave up these little kryptonites) Dip? Frozen food?

Annie

updated 8/24/20