Unsweetened Banana Chips

As I mentioned on Monday, last Thursday was the 1 year anniversary of Nathan proposing, otherwise known as our blingiversary. We decided to take that opportunity to celebrate with a nice dinner. It also helped that it was Baltimore Restaurant Week so that just gave us even more of an excuse to try out The Food Market.

[Breakfast]
Sweet breakfast scramble with unsweetened banana chips and peanut butter. Any surprises here? 😉

[Lunch]
A nice big kale and cabbage salad! I knew I would be indulging for dinner and dessert so I had to behave. I piled on the veggies and used some roasted garlic hummus as my dressing.

[Snacks]
Banana Chobani and an apple. Apparently I love fruit and the new banana flavor of Chobani is delicious. Find it!

[Dinner]
In our attempt to be fancy, we each started with a glass of the “house bubbles.” It was a nice treat to go along with the freshly baked foccacia bread that practically melts in your mouth.

For appetizers, I ordered the Spice Sliced Tuna with chiffonade romaine & crispy wontons, orange jus, & hot mustard. The tuna was perfectly seared and the orange and mustard sauces played so well off of each other. Nathan had the Pickle Juice Brined Pop Corn Chicken with sweet & sour sauce. Any chance he gets, he’ll opt for fried chicken!

For our entrees, I ordered the Seared Mahi Mahi with capers & raisins, cauliflower puree, & almond bubbles. The fish had the absolute best crust; just crispy enough to need a knife, but the rest of the fish flaked apart perfectly. The sauces were a little buttery but very light. Nathan ordered the Duck Breast with brussels sprouts, parsnips, & cherries in cider. This was my second choice, but I think we chose appropriately. The duck was tender and so flavorful; we both love duck and cherry together.. what could be bad?

[Dessert]
Once again, we were both pleased with our decisions. I ordered the Sweet Potato Pie with pecan brittle, torched marshmallow, & creamy maple. I’d never had sweet potato pie before [crazy, right?!] and I loved it! It was pretty darn sweet, I’m sure from the maple sauce, but it was so scrumptious. Nathan ordered the Heathbar Bread Pudding with condensed milk caramel & whipped cream. I thought this sounded amazing but too sweet.. turns out, this was amazing and mine was sweeter. Go figure!

The entire meal was fabulous and I’d love to go back again soon [hint, hint Nathan!]

Food for Thought

If you’re married or engaged, do you celebrate any anniversaries other than your wedding anniversary?

Getting my foodie penpal package in the mail is definitely one of my favorite fun things to receive each month. And once again, I was completely spoiled!

Lauren at Lawfully Wedded Wife sent me a package this month. I told her that I’m a member of Tone It Up and being a member herself, she absolutely rocked it! From the healthy ingredients to make my lean, clean, and green meals, to the yummy little bites, I couldn’t have asked for more. (Nathan jumped in on the food action this month, too!)

Left to right: Organic Spelt Sourdough Pretzels, Soba Noodles, Peach Preserves, Chick Pea Flour, Chocolate Covered Almonds, Unsweetened Banana Chips, Whole Wheat Flour, Wasabi Flavored Nori Chips, May’s Unique Vinagrette, Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta

So far, my favorite item has to be the banana chips. I’ve never had unsweetened banana chips before, in fact, I never realized that others were sweetened! These chips have gone into my oatmeal, protein cookies, and also dipped into a little peanut butter for a snack 😉

I also love the May’s Unique Vinaigrette! I have salads all the time for lunch, so this is a nice, new way to dress them up.

The peach preserves have also been thoroughly enjoyed! Homemade peach frozen yogurt quickly appeared.. and then disappeared even faster! Recipe coming soon, so check back!

I haven’t been doing much baking lately, but I’m super excited to use the chick pea flour to make a pizza crust! Nathan is a huge pizza eater, so I’m always looking for fun new ways to make it healthier and I’ve seen chick pea dough recipes all over the internet. Soon enough I’ll be eating my healthy pizza 🙂

Like I said, I was completely spoiled. And I love that so many of these ingredients came from Lauren’s local farmers’ market! It definitely made me want to take a closer look at my market next time I go. But in the meantime, I can’t wait to enjoy the rest of my goodies! 🙂

Thanks again, Lauren!!

Speak Up!

Do you participate in foodie penpals? If so, what has been your favorite item that you’ve received? If you don’t participate, what are you waiting for?!