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

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

Homemade Oreos

I originally published this post in April 2013. It was my second post in the history of Take A Bite. Nostalgia! This recipe was originally not my own. I first saw them on my favorite blogger’s site back in the day and she too was sharing them from another blogger I used to love. Along with updated blog copy and photos, I also updated the recipe making them even more quintessential to the classic Oreo flavor. Enjoy!

My cousin Clay loves these Homemade Oreos. Like brings them up about every other time he is with our family. For good reason, they are great. We were altogether about a month ago and they came up in conversation. I hadn’t made them in forever, and I’ve been loving updating old TAB archive recipes (see here and here so far), so this was a must on the “to bake” list.

Switching gears a little, but does anyone else watch Bon Appetit’s YouTube series Gourmet Makes? Being the food freak that I am, I fall asleep to Claire Saffitz episodes remaking nostalgic junk food dishes. Her episode on Oreos was one of the first few episodes she filmed, but still one of my favorites. Long story short, but I felt like Claire Saffitz for a second while I re-made these! Maybe I should be calling them Gourmet Oreos?

Homemade Oreos
yields 40 sandwich cookies

Wafer Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened 
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp. salt*
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa (you can use Hershey’s Extra Dark cocoa to resemble the dark color of a true Oreo wafer, but regular dutch process cocoa works great)
½ tsp. baking soda

Filling Ingredients:
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature,
¼ cup shortening, room temperature*
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Wafer Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, and baking soda and set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream softened butter, sugar and salt on high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Scrape the sides down and then beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.

With the mixer on low, slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix until the dough is combined.

Turn the dough onto a clean surface. Divide into two and form flat discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to an hour. 

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. To roll out the dough, take one disc of the dough between two sheets of parchment paper (the dough can be rolled out on a lightly floured surface, but the parchment prevents any additional flour from altering the color/appearance of the dark cookies). Roll the dough between the two sheets of parchment to ¼-inch thickness.

Using a 1½ inch round cookie cutter, cut out each wafer. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet leaving only ½ inch between each (they don’t spread much). Repeat until all dough has been used. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Filling Directions:
In an electric mixer, beat the room-temperature butter and shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. 

Assembly:
Using a pastry bag full of filling or a dinner knife, add a dollop of filling to one cookie. Top with another cookie and lightly squeeze together. 

Serve with a glass of milk and enjoy. 

Notes:
*When it comes to salt: Oreos cookies are not that sweet when you think about them. It’s the filing that makes them sweet. Don’t be alarmed by the low amount of sugar and a high amount of salt. It’s the balance you need to make the perfect bittersweet cookie to stand up to the filling. 

*When it comes to shortening: you can easily use ½ cup unsalted butter instead of the butter/shortening combo. However, I think the shortening really gives you that nostalgic Oreo cream flavor.

My favorite part of these updated posts are sharing the original photography. Let’s all just take a moment to observe the Instagram filters being used here. I think these were maybe Amaro or Lof? What a time to be alive.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, I couldn’t help but make a pink cream-filled version! I cut a little heart out of a few “tops” so more pink was revealed. Xoxo!

Annie

Shaved Cauliflower Salad

I had this salad at Americano last week and knew immediately I had to recreate it. My friend Jordan and I walked down to the restaurant at The Joule after meeting Serena Wolf at her book signing downtown. It only made since to have Jordan back over for dinner to test out my recreation.

Y’all. This salad is just great. Despite just being cauliflower it’s filling and satisfying. Would be killer with some salmon on it or as a side with barbecue or anything grilled. It’s heavy on the lemon which I personally love for the dead of winter (citrus is so good for you in cold months), but will be just as good this summer.

The key to the salad is the shaved cauliflower. You can use a mandolin, but if you know me, you know my experience with mandolins has not been pleasant…However it will work. I suggest using a food processor fitted with the slicing attachment. It makes this salad incredibly easing by just forcing the cauliflower florets through the food tube. To be honest I had actually never used the slicing attachment, until I made this. I’ve had my food processor for mmm 4 years now and had to take the protective sticker off the slicer. It has now ben christened and I plan to use it far more.

Shaved Cauliflower Salad adapted from Americano
yields 3-4 as a main or 6 as a side dish

Ingredients:
3 cups white cauliflower florets (about one small head of cauliflower)
2 cups of purple cauliflower florets
2 cups of orange cauliflower florets
½ cup raw shelled pistachios
½ cup plump golden raisins
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1¼ salt, divided
¼ tsp. red chili flakes
1 tbsp. chopped chives, plus more for serving

Directions:
In a cereal sized bowl, pour hot water over golden raisins and let set aside to “plump" for 10-15 minutes. While the raisins are plumping, add pistachios and ¼ tsp. salt in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Toast your pistachios, stirring them around often for about 3-4 minutes, keeping a close eye on them as they can burn easily.

Thinly shave your cauliflower in your food processor with the slicing disk attached or on a mandolin. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and toss with lemon juice and 1 tbsp. of salt. Let sit for 5 minutes to marinate.

Drain your raisins. Into the cauliflower, stir in the olive oil, pistachios, plump raisins, chives and chili flakes. Garnish with extra chives and salt.

Best if made at least 30 minutes before serving so the flavors have time to come together. Will stay good in the fridge for up to 5 days.

TBH cauliflower is hard to measure. The recipe calls for 2-3 cups of florets that will then be shredded. Don’t stress, just eyeball what looks like about 2-3 cups and you can adjust seasonings as needed.

Annie

Annie's Brandy Ice (Dairy Free)

This recipe is a long time coming and one I’ve wanted to develop for a while. If you know me or have been around the blog for a bit, you know my love of Brandy ices. I even wrote a post devoted to the best one in OKC! Brandy Ices are a steakhouse staple in Oklahoma that makes for the perfect “after-dinner drink.” The most well known, and thought by many as “the best” can be found at Juniors.

Outside of Oklahoma, I’ve come to find that brandy ices are near extinct. Brandy Alexanders can be found here and there and espresso martinis are on about every menu these days, but no brandy ices. They barely exist on google I came to find out when I was doing recipe research. Who here has never heard of a brandy ice? You poor things.

A brandy ice is essentially a spiked milkshake. Need I say more. When testing the recipe, I knew I wanted to dry it with dairy-free ice cream. I’ve had many o’ nights at Junior’s that led to a few too many brandy ices. That amount of dairy + alcohol isn’t good for anyone. Much to my surprise, the dairy-free ice cream held up great in the blender. However, use your favorite brand of vanilla ice cream and it will be just as great!

Annie’s Brandy Ice
yields ~6-8 drinks

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon of your favorite vanilla ice cream (for dairy-free I use Nada Moo)
1/2 cup dark creme de cocoa (light is fine too)
1/2 cup brandy
fresh nutmeg

Directions:
In a blender, blend ice cream, creme de cocoa, and brandy until combined. If you have a high-powered blender, blend on it’s lower speeds. If you happen to over-blend and it turns out too thin, pop the mixture back in the freezer for a few minutes to thicken to your desire.

Pour into brandy glasses or martini glasses and top with freshly grated nutmeg.

*If you are making in advance, you can simply blend everything together, pour the mixture back into the pint containers and pop in the freezer. The alcohol will prevent the mixture from fully freezing, so when it’s time to serve, simply pour into glasses.

*This recipe doubles easily for a crowd by

Annie