Bites of My Life

Marathon weekend my goodness! It felt good to be in Dallas all week and weekend, but my weekend was packed to the brim. I’m surprisingly more energized on this Monday morning than I thought I would be. After a fun dinner and night out Friday, then a Farmer’s Market run, private afternoon concert, and a wedding Saturday, to go straight into a baby shower and another concert Sunday, I’m not sure how I made it through.

-No need to make your own, when Central Market’s Maryland-style crab cakes are so good!
-Jose’s Verde Pozole is back for the summer, so a weekday lunch date for Jordan and I was a must to welcome back our favorite menu item.
-Dinner with 3 of my favorite girls at my favorite restaurant. Switched up my order a bit and I know it will be my new go-to. Order this at Alamo Club -> Kale Salad, swap the dressing with for the Miso Caesar.
-Tried Sprezza for the first time Friday night. The bucatini and decaf espresso martini have me dying to go back.
-How good is this rainbow clutch. The perfect festive accessory from Rent the Runway.
-Celebrated our Britty bride and Will!
-The cutest baby shower venue tucked into the Dallas Arboretum.
-Dallas gal pals + some celebrating Libby and baby girl Poppy coming soon!
-Official Mt. Joy groupie status with this crew. Marks #5 and already have plans to see them a 6th time this fall.

Annie

Del Corazon Ensalada

When you’re trying to be healthy at a tex-mex restaurant, so you order a salad only to have it change your life. I had this salad from Mesero for the first time last Friday. It comes across very basic on the menu, but I literally couldn’t get enough of it. The Del Corazon reads: bibb lettuce, hearts of palm, avocado, heirloom grape tomato, house-made vinaigrette. I’m having a moment with hearts of palm and artichokes after finding out they are sneaky full of fiber. So when I saw them in this salad I said add chicken and call it dinner.

It was one of those meals that as I was eating I knew I would have to recreate it. I know it sounds strange to have such a draw to a salad, but your girl loves her an entree salad so go with me. I woke up Saturday morning ehhhh slightly hungover after a few too many ranch waters and wanted nothing but said salad. I could have had it delivered but we were looking at $20+ after fees, so I walked my booty to my neighborhood Trader Joe’s and bought enough ingredients to serve four people at the same price delivery would have been.

I’ll wrap it up now and you can keep scrolling for the recipe. Oh and because this is everything, del corazon translates to from the heart, and I love this salad with all my heart.

Del Corazon Ensalada
serves 4

Ingredients:
1 - 7oz bag of butter lettuce
2 cups of spinach
1 avocado, cubed in large chunks
12oz. can hearts of palm, drained and sliced
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes

Dressing:
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (if you don’t have red pepper flakes a few dashes of hot sauce works great)
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tbsp. mustard (dijon or whole grain works best)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Start by prepping all of your toppings and salad dressing. The chicken cooks fast, so I like to do it last that way you can add the hot crispy chicken right to the top of the salad.

In a large salad bowl toss the butter lettuce and spinach together. Add the avocado, tomatoes, and hearts of palm on top. In a small bowl or mason jar, add all of the dressing ingredients, reserving 1 tbsp. of olive oil. Whisk or shake to combine, then set aside.

Heat the reserved tablespoon of olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the cubed chicken and let cook on one side, without moving, for about 2-3 minutes. You want to get that good crispy crust. Flip and cook for 2- 3 minutes on the other side. From there sprinkle a large pinch of salt over the chicken and stir around in the pan to make sure it is fully cooked through and crispy golden brown. Add the hot chicken to you salad. Pour on the dressing and toss to combine. Finish with some fresh ground pepper and cilantro leaves if you choose.

Annie

Bites of My Life

Valentine’s Day is a holiday I’ve always loved. I have a playlist to prove it, and a handful of ancient posts on the holiday. Well, this year I wasn’t looking forward to it. With a little force, I switched my mindset, made some little Valentine’s to pass out to co-workers and friends, baked twice (always makes me feel better), listened to previously mentioned playlist over and over, invited some girls over for a little Galentine dinner and wine-drinking night, then spent the weekend bopping around Dallas with the OG valentine’s, mom and dad! Valentine’s day, you can stay.

-One of my oldest posts got a facelift! This Homemade Oreo recipe can be found here.
-My favorite leggings that are borderline obnoxious. Especially since I wear them every other day.
-Valentine crafting helping get me in the spirit!
-We had a friendly little chocolate chip cookie competition at my co-working space on Thursday. I wasn’t nervous until I tried everyone else's cookies. Some seriously good contenders, but my Perfect CCCs prevailed and won the popular vote!
-I’ve posted about these CALM gummies before, but I’ve been having some seriously good sleep taking 2 before bed. I can legit feel my body go into a relaxed state about 5 minutes after taking them. I also keep a few in my purse and pop 1 during the day when I get stressed or anxious.
-Spotted: Vday flowers at Foxtrot by local mom and daughter floral shop, Flower Gals Co.
-A last-minute Galentine dinner meant one thing, heart. shaped. cheese.
-Parents arrived in town Saturday with my cutie new end tables in tow. More on these this week!
-Ditched the original lunch plan and headed to my (our) favorite place. It’s never not amazing.
-Mid-day stop at the new Virgin Hotel. The style, the vibe, the furniture, it is all everything.
-Not a Dallas food tour without a stop at my #1. We will forgive them for being out of meatballs and crab claws because, well, just look at that pizza.
-After church brunch at Hudson House before sending them north on I-35. Love you mom and dad!

Annie

Work from home bite: Read this for tips on how to get out there!

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

Bites of My Life

Finishing up this post while watching the Emmy’s. Anyone else watch? It’s official I must start watching Marvelous Mrs. Maisel immediately. It was a busy, but long week. The days were back but I pretty much spent the whole week thinking it was Thursday. Can you imagine my feelings when it was only Tuesday?? Made it to the weekend to enjoy a relatively tame few days. I’m off at the end of this week to head to Vail for a bachelorette. So it’s head down and powering through another busy week before I get to enjoy mountain air and 35 degree temps!!

-My friend Meagan, The Baker Mama wrote her first cookbook Beautiful Boards. And it’s truly beautiful! It comes out on Tuesday, but she gifted me a copy pre-release. It’s such a great book full of so many ideas. I read it cover to cover and loved reading the BTS in her recent post. Order your copy here!
-LOVED this “harvest hash” I made for lunches last week. Wondering if my fam would let me slide it in for a Thanksgiving side dish?
-Topo, tacos on a Tuesday at Gardenuity with my “co-workers” from The Slate. Gardenuity is a modern garden project based in Dallas. Their main product is their garden box that gets shipped straight to your door, but they host events at their studio where you can build your own modern garden to take home. We built a “taco toppings” garden, so I know have tomatoes, parsley, chives and oregano growing out my back door.
-Again my “co-workers” as I like to call them think it’s hilarious to tempt me with carbs at our co-working space.
-Discovered the turmeric latte at Royal Blue this week and it’s a big reason RB made it on my faves list!
-On that bulletproof grind! Found these ghee + MCT combo packs at Sprouts that will be perfect while traveling this weekend.
-Extremely fun dinner at a new Dallas spot with the most fun group of Dallas KKGs!
-Hi it’s me! And I’ve lived in Dallas for 3 months. Shared my 6 favorite spots in last week’s post!
-Week 2 of church and a Whole 30 approved brunch with my girl Caroline!

Annie