With Jon having just returned from Ukraine, and me about to head off to Austria, we decided that some spicy food was in order. Although the Tandoori Chicken was a bit of a flop, the menu overall worked really well. We had good variety, got a lot of lunches, and had the perfect amount leftover for an easy Friday dinner.
As a follow-on to Week 1 of the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse, we did a New American-focused menu. Again, we really only incorporated a few of the cleanse recipes, but those we did were really delicious this week! Also, by the end of these two weeks, I have taken off the ~4 pounds of holiday weight I had gained. Hooray!
So, I definitely felt the pounds go on this holiday season. In an effort to get those off quickly, and jump start our healthy eating for the year, we incorporated some meals from the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse into our meal plan for the week. We by no means went all-in. Breakfast and lunch remained largely unchanged, and I did fudge some of the recipes to make them more delicious. All in all, it was okay. None of the recipes were really winners, though I recorded many of them because they are healthy.
Jon and I have found a great rental "cabin" about 1.5 hours outside of DC (not giving our secret away!). We go there about once or twice a year to unplug and relax. We invariably have a great time.
Each time we go, we plan a menu and bring everything we need to execute it. To help with future planning, here are menu options and shopping lists.
Jon and I first had fresh roasted chickpeas about a month ago when spring first appeared in DC. At the suggestion of our waiter at Zaytinya, we ordered this dish which neither of us had had before. And it was delicious!!!
Today, for the first time ever, I saw fresh chickpeas for sale at Safeway (of all places), and so we got some and tried to replicate that delicious dish. The result</a href> was delicious.
Last week was New Orleans week ... not my favorite week. The food is growing on me (and last week's gumbo was pretty delicious), but its still more of a "Jon-week." So this week was an "Audrey-week." I'll call it "California ethnic." I focused on four of my favorite California ethnic cuisines - Iranian, Jewish (...sort of a cuisine), Asian (broadly), and Mexican (also broadly).
We decided to add a second "trial month" to our Arganica membership. We repeated some favorites from earlier weeks and tried new things too. This week we received:
Plain Yogurt (with "yogurt cream" on top ... delicious)
Cucumber
Red Onion
Fresh Parsley
Avocado
Hydroponic Lettuce
Croissant
Lemon Poppy Scone
Granola
Polyface Farms Delmonico Ribeye Steak
This week we received our third Arganica delivery (apologies for forgetting to take a picture and post about our second delivery, which included locally milled flour).
This week's delivery includes:
Farm Eggs
Pizza Dough
Roasted Garlic Linguini
Cremini Mushrooms
York Apples
Hydroponic Lettuce
Avocado
Parsley
When this 1-month trial is done (next week), expect a longer post on our overall experience.
Today we received our first delivery from Arganica, a DC-based local farm foods delivery business. Basically its a cross between a farmer's market and a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farmshare. They carry a broad list of produce, breads, cheeses, and prepared foods from a variety of local farms. They send you a list of products and prices on Monday, you choose exactly what you want to order, and they deliver it to your door on Thursday evening.
