Weekday Rice Bowl

I don’t tend to look to the airport restaurant options as inspiration for recipe posts, but I’m 2 for 1 on recipe recreations for a particular spot in the Denver airport. Have you tried Modern Market, there is actually a location in Dallas, but I’ve only ever eaten here in the Denver airport after two stints in Vail, CO. Peep my Wintergreen Salad recipe. A recreated menu item that I loved finding in the airport a couple of years ago after an indulgent bachelorette trip.

I think most can agree you feel a sense of creativity, emotion, and recharge after a trip. As a food blogger, this is particularly true. I love being inspired by travel eats. A few items on my mental list to recreate are the warm pimento cheese with bacon jam from Mountain Standard in Vail, and the Nutella Stuffed Banana Cookie from Thoroughbread in Austin.

Today I’m recreating a dish my sister actually ordered for breakfast after our trip to Vail. In no other place other than….the airport. I can’t find it on the current Modern Market menu, but this breakfast rice bowl really fits the bill for a satisfying and healthy meal before a flight. I gathered all the ingredients on my post-vacation grocery run and quickly made it for lunch. I hope you enjoy!

Weekday Rice Bowl
yields 1 serving

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cooked rice (I use brown basmati)
1/4 cup cooked quinoa
1/4 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup frozen fire-roasted corn, thawed (I like to buy this veggie hash at TJ’s for optimal veggie content. If you don’t like corn, chopped yellow bell pepper would also be great.)
1 sunny-side-up fried egg
Pickled Red Onions (I love to make my own)
Cojita cheese
Verde Salsa
Hot Sauce
Salt & pepper
Olive oil

Directions:
In a small saute pan, lightly heat rice, quinoa, black beans, and corn over low heat until warmed through. Oil is not needed in the pan for this step. If things start to stick, add a small amount of water to loosen it in the pan and continue to warm everything through.

Remove the rice mixture from the pan and add to your serving dish. In the same pan, add a small amount of oil. Fry your egg over medium heat until the whites are set and the yolk is runny.

Add the fried egg to your rice mixture. Top with cheese, pickled red onions, verde salsa, and a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and hot sauce!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Colorado in the fall, does it get any better? I’ve been lucky to visit the last weekend of September once before and to be there when the Aspens are turning yellow is truly unbelievable. It’s a scene that I kept finding myself just staring at the trees. I’m not a treehugger by any means, but you can’t help but relish in the serious beauty this time of year.

This Colorado trip was to celebrate my oldest friend marry one of my dear high school friends. They have been together for 10 years and their time finally came! There were a lot of tears, laughs, old memories shared and new memories made. Before dipping out of town I officially added pumpkin flavored things back into my diet, got a baking bug and celebrated two friend’s birthdays! I hope you all had a great week.

-First Pumpkin Green Smoothie of the season.
-On that note, you’d think I’d be diving into pumpkin bread, but I had some ripe bananas and a special request for my banana bread!
-Birthday twins (unknowingly by Caroline, planned by Kate - ha).
-Landed in Vail and got to hiking the rocky mountains with my momma. Photo cred/proof he was there: Dad!
-Mountain Standard, more specifically there warm pimento cheese with bacon jam, is a MUST on any trip to Vail.
-Found the bride kicking off the wedding weekend at The Red Lion!
-It’s so weird how life takes you in different directions. This is a reason I love weddings, because it brings so many special people back together, old friends and new friends. I loved getting to form friendships with Anna’s law school and DC friends through her wedding season.
-It doesn’t get more picturesque than this. Wade and Anna knew what they were doing when they chose this late September weekend and Piney River Ranch for their wedding.
-MOH for my bestie since birth.

Bites of My Life

A great last week of Whole30, leading up to an indulgent game day weekend in Oklahoma. Spent the week make a few more delicious W30 meals, started a new bible study I’m very excited about, and played a few rounds of tennis. Got to Oklahoma City Friday for pickle ball with friends. and then game day in Norman onSaturday. Now its a speedy week before heading to the mountains for my oldest friends wedding! BRB, off to write my MOH speech.

-The Defined Dish Enchilada Stuffed Acorn Squash, a huge favorite of mine. Super satisfying for lunch and easy to reheat at work.
-Early mornings with Ina as opposed to the news. Best (most relaxing) way to wake up.
-Lamb kofta from Central Market, can’t.get.enough.
-GT’s Kombucha is always the booch brand I reach for but their Fall Edition is a must purchase.
-Still tailgating together 10 years later.
-Big BOOMER weekend!
-Not a trip to OKC without one ;)
-One last glutenous moment was stopping for fried pies on the way out of Oklahoma. I’ve driven past the notorious Arbuckle Fried Pies in Davis, OK maybe 200 times, and stopped for the first time yesterday.
-Peter pies first OKC trip!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Whole30 is still kicking in per-usual Annie fashion. 90% Whole 30 10% weekend freebies. The highlight of last week was getting to hold my nephew Jack for the first time. He is such a little cuddle guy and after 7 weeks in the NICU it was so special being with him in person. I had a relatively relaxing weekend, but as I’m writing this on a Monday morning I can’t help but hold my eyes to keep them open. 😴

-Long story short when I first got the Starbucks app I set my birthday as the next day to get a free birthday drink, the day was September 7th. So now every year on September 7th I get a free drink and it’s truly the most fun mid-year non-birthday free treat.
-Did a riff on these bowls for lunches last week. I swapped the ranch for mustard. Team mustard for life.
-Pizza night in Austin, TX. We love the Ooni in my family, both of my BILs have one. We made three different Gjelina recipes and all were amazing. Also p.s. it’s called whole30ish ;)
-Finally got to meet and hold my sweet baby nephew Jack. It was the perfect quick trip to see this little peanut!
-Insaaaane Banana Bread Nutella stuffed cookie from Thoroughbread in Austin. My sis has challenged me to recreate!
-Had an errand to run in Fort Worth, so I treated myself to a smoothie bowl from the newly opened Mamaka Bowls, and shopped around some FW boutiques. I love Fort Worth!
-A new york minute visit from our big city girl was just the best Saturday happy hour.
-Since my “birthday” latte last week, I’ve been on a latte kick. I can’t get enough of a creamy almond milk decaf latte. Doesn’t matter where it is from. Anyway I mobile ordered one from Starbucks and they made it iced. They remade my order and sent me home with both. Good thing they were decaf.
-The Defined Dish Spicy Cilantro Wings and grilled pineapple for a Sunday Whole30 meal.

Annie

Bites of My Life

Long weekends are just the best. After coming off the most relaxing few days in Broken Bow, I’m thrilled to only have a four-day week. I headed up to BB to meet some of my best friends. We rented the cutest cabin, went horseback riding, and paddleboarding, and just relaxed around the house. It has Colorado vibes near the cabins, and then feels like a cute lake town in some areas. There are a handful of good restaurants. We did pizza out one night and then made most meals at home. I went off Whole30 for some buffalo chicken dip, s’mores, and animal cracker indulgences but held relatively strong most of the trip!

-The most yum lamb kofta and chimichurri thanks to Central Market’s prepped options :).
-One of my favorite coffee shops in Dallas just went through some interior updating, but they also added this adaptogen mushroom latte to the menu. If you go to Ascension you have to try it. Tasted like a better turmeric latte.
-Eating out on Whole30 is possible, but tricky. When it came to needing to eat out for a few meals last week, I relied heavily on Cava.
-Last Thursday was a work from the couch in my robe all day kind of day. These type of days happen sporadically and I welcome them with open arms.
-Have you tried gum drop grapes? They are in most stores right now and are deliciously sweet and sour.
-Escaped to Broken Bow for the most relaxing long girls weekend. It’s 3 hours from Dallas and Oklahoma City making it the perfect meeting spot with my best friends from home.
-We played hours of Mexican Train with football in the background all day Saturday. I came in dead last but I’m now obsessed! It is such a good group game.
-Made a riff on Kit Keenan’s egg bake for the girls in Broken Bow. Minus the cheese, it was W30!
-Labor Day flattop cooking of homemade crab cakes and grilled okra, both Whole30 approved! We may have spent an arm and leg on the crab meat but they were worth it!

Annie

Fall bites: did you catch last week’s fall recipe roundup? Read up on it here!