Weekly Menu

Another pretty chill weekend soaking up the last weekends of summer.  Cleared out some of the garden to make way for some lettuce which should be ready by the end of September, just before any risk of frost... can't believe I'm saying frost already while it is 80 degrees outside.  :(

Have you heard about nitro coffee yet?  Cold brewed coffee put through a tap kind of like Guinness.  It gets this frothy head and tastes really smooth.  Also, twice as much caffeine (so it is served in a smaller cup)!  Try it over at Five Bean in Reynoldsburg...

   

Today was my fantasy football draft day... also known as the most stressful hour of this weekend.  Ugh... I don't even care about football... but for some reason I play anyway.  Then pop up showers for the remainder of the evening made the puddle behind Kroger officially lake status.  The sunset was reflecting in this mosquito breeding ground as I walked home with my groceries.  One of those moments you need to stop and smell the roses... :)

All of those habaneros in the first picture will eventually get made into jerk chicken... but I'll save that for the weekend.  So here is the plan for the week...

chicken caesar salad
shrimp po' boys
lamb burgers
chicken & sour cream enchiladas
creamy dijon chicken and potatoes

Cherbourg Bakery Review

Last weekend, while trying to find somewhere to go for lunch in Bexley, we found this little cute little bakery on Drexel.  I'm constantly on the hunt for the best chocolate chip cookie in town (currently a tie between Patty Cake Bakery and Sharon's cookies found at Lynd's Fruit Farm market).  Every time I see a bakery, I must stop and try their cookies!

We stopped in Cherbourg Bakery only about an hour before closing.  As such, there was a limited selection from their menu available.  Everything is gluten and nut free, so it's a great option for people with allergies but still have a sweet tooth... great find since we just found out my nephew is allergic to tree nuts.  The menu spans from muffins and brownies to donuts and cupcakes... a little bit of everything!  

They are known for their lemon bars, espresso brownies, and smores bars... luckily for us they still had one of each of them so we could try them!  Along with an iced pour over coffee, we nibbled on all three and saved some for later.  While I can't say they were the best brownies I've ever had (that includes some fierce competition), they are certainly high on the list.  Everyone has their different preferences when it comes to baked goods, so you may find that these top your list.  :)  They are a little drier than I normally make mine which makes it taste like the edge pieces.  And based on this pan, people really love edge pieces.

We will definitely be back to try some more goodies from their menu... the tiramisu cookies certainly caught my eye (but weren't available) and maybe a few breakfast items! 

 

Weekly Menu

While I hate that summer is "winding down" because that means winter is coming... it is basically the best weather of the entire year!  Not too hot with crisp mornings and sunshiny days.  We still have a month left!  So ignore those sweaters and boots at the store and the back-to-school/summer is over messaging (unless you have kids, please send them back) and go celebrate summer outside for another month!  :)

If you have a veggie garden, it is probably bursting at the seams.  Everyone always seem to have excess zucchini, but we always end up with excess hot peppers!  Habaneros, jalapeños, chilis, and now poblanos.  The trick seems to be having two plants, somehow one plant produces four peppers, but two plants produce 200!  So for the next couple weeks, Mexican food will dominate our meal plan... which I am totally okay with... 

            

Jeep hair, don't care moment with blue skies for days... summer, please don't ever go!

This week's plan is featuring everything nightshade (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) because it is all ripening at once...

verde pulled chicken and rice
zoodles and meatballs
eggplant parmesan 
bison burgers with tomato salad
enchilada stuffed poblanos with mexican corn

Weekly Menu

Summer harvests are in full swing at this point.  If you have a backyard garden, chances are that you're sick of zucchini, bringing in tomatoes every few days, corn on the cob is your side dish every night, and peppers are starting to spice up your dinners.  We're about to be overwhelmed with habanero peppers... which I only grow to make some jerk sauce at the end of summer.  We're going to have gallons of jerk sauce based on just two little plants!  

While we're talking about homegrown veggies... Reynoldsburg celebrated their 50th Tomato Festival this weekend!  I try to go most years since it is basically down the street and I really enjoy the history behind why Reynoldsburg has a tomato festival in the first place.  I even entered some of my own tomatoes to be judged one year... but I was only willing to part with a few yellow pears, which didn't win any ribbons.  Not wasting my purple cherokee on a contest rather than enjoying them right in the garden!  :)

Oh, remember the rainbow earlier in the week?  That was the brightest, most vivid rainbow I have ever seen!  First time I could actually see the distinction between all seven colors (roygbiv).  And how Midwestern of me to take a picture of the rainbow over a cornfield... just on my way home from work.  ;)

 

   

If you're in Cbus, hope you were able to make it out to the Food Truck Festival.  The thing I like most about food truck is the fact that the owners can be so creative.  No one is really expecting the same menu items every time... they want to be surprised and try new things.  

Good thing I'm not operating a food truck, because I'm not trying anything new this week.  Instead, summer vegetables are dictating what we're eating this week... and you'll hear no complaints from me!  :)  Here's this week's meal plan...

pizza night
spaghetti and turkey meatballs with homemade sauce from garden tomatoes
grilled caesar salad with corn off the cob
eggplant parmesan
sausage stuffed peppers

Weekly Menu

It was nice to have a laid back kind of weekend.  Totally chill with beautiful weather with hardly any plans.  Went to the Dru Hill and Blackstreet concert at the Ohio State Fair, took advantage of the tax free weekend, and a couple walks in Columbus' first metro park (Blacklick Metro Park).  How was your weekend?

 

 

  

 

 

And with the laid back theme of this weekend, here is this week's meal plan...

steak tacos and lime chili corn
crab cakes and salad
ravioli
coq au vin and mashed potatoes
creamy shrimp bowties

Weekly Menu

Can't believe it is already August!  Summer always flies by and it is already half over.  We're also halfway through the Columbus festival schedule, but plenty of fun ones yet to come!

   

The Dublin Irish Fest is a tradition for us... we have gone for ten years now!  Nearly every year we listen to Homeland, eats some fish and chips, drink a few Guinness, and buy a few things from the vendors.  One year we missed the festival and our summer just didn't feel complete.

   

Today we headed over to Seventh Son for the Columbus Flea.  Tons of vendors with adorable stuff including jewelry, soaps, baked goods, plants, leather goods, and clothing.  Then Challah and Native Eats food trucks were there, the crispy chicken sandwich was delicious!

  

My butterfly garden is in full bloom, although not a ton of butterflies (although the local hummingbird is starting to stop by).  I started pulling up some of the spent veggie plants from the garden and went to the local nursery to buy some kale seeds to sow (since I've been making kale chips every week while it is in season)... came home with $130 worth of houseplants and herbs instead... oops!  If my house didn't already look like a jungle, it does now!  

  

This morning I tried lamb bacon for the first time.  I used to only eat poultry and seafood from a meat stand point.  After learning about factory farming practices, instead of going vegetarian, I decided to eat less meat, but when I did eat meat, it was humanely raised.  Free range chicken, grass-fed cows, etc.  Sheep are one of those animals that haven't gotten caught up in the factory farming, as far as I know.  It's definitely a little pricier as a result.  I get ground lamb from the grocery about once a month and it is really delicious.  So when I saw lamb bacon through Green BEAN delivery (Smoking Goose), I wanted to give it a try.

The result?  Pretty good.  The strips are short (perfect for breakfast sandwiches) and well marbled (not too much fat).  They cook up in about the same time as regular bacon.  It is a bit saltier and chewier too.  But the flavor is really good.  I don't think I would cook with it (bacon dinner recipe examples here and here), but it is a good alternative for breakfast, especially since pork products aren't  as well labeled as chicken and beef.

Alrighty, here is this week's meal plan...
chorizo skillet breakfast for dinner
caramelized scallops with corn on the cob and caprese
pizza night
lamb burgers
creamy shrimp bowties
eggplant parmesan