Monday Tuesday Munchies: Purple is Power

It’s always nice to have a Monday off to get to catch up on things, like folding massive amounts of laundry or allowing our dinner table to see the light of day again. True confessions: I’m the messy on in the house. I’ve grown accustomed to coming home and dumping everything down, and sometimes it’s just good to get everything all spic and span and restart the process of putting things back when you’re done. It’s refreshing and makes me feel like such a better person!

This weekend was also marked by good fellowship. I was beyond blessed to spend time with a handful of dear friends. I even got a chance to use a new online app I have to call my friend in Mozambique! As someone who gets beyond busy often, it’s good to slow down and make time for some good ol’ heart to hearts.

This week saw an increase in the color purple on our plates. I bought purple potatoes to make a steak salad (inspired by Real Simple – we’ll talk about that soon!) and was able to incorporate them into two dishes. I also brought home some purple cabbage for another dish. Needless to say I fell in love with the coloration. I get so amazed by the brilliance of raw food sometimes! Take a moment and revel in this with me ….

WOW. Am I right!?!

Alright so now to the meals I actually made them with…

1. Remember this lazy Sunday casserole? I made it this time with purple potatoes instead of red. The purple potatoes are softer and creamier, almost as if they were buttered. Combined with sausage, bell pepper, conion, and carrots, and all topped with a delightful chicken broth and balsamic dressing marinade/this stuff is super savory and tasty!

2. This chili-garlic shrimp noodle bowl from Real Simple was amazing! The recipe called for soba noodles, which are made with buckwheat, but my grocery store didn’t have these so I just used rice noodles. The shrimp are tossed in a chili-garlic sauce that you can find in the Asian section at the grocery store, but I decided to make my own. I used this recipe and cooked it with jalepenos. You can use pretty much any chili pepper, but I was glad I used one with a lower heat because this sauce packed a punch! The noodles are tossed in soy sauce and toasted sesame oil and then topped with the shrimp, shredded cabbage, snap peas, and carrots, with a lice of lime. YUM!

3. This is not the steak salad recipe from Real Simple. Yes, it has purple potatoes and steak and it is a salad, but it’s different and I’ll post about it later this week. But I wanted you to have the link to their salad as well because it sure looks tasty!

Hope you’re having a great Tuesday and that you enjoy everything on your plate this week!

Monday Munchies: When you want to indulge…

Happy Monday! Yesterday Brandon and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary, which meant that we spent the weekend celebrating by adventuring and eating really good food. So today I thought I’d share with you a little bit of our weekend, a tasty entree we cooked up the other night, and one of our favorite local restaurants!

A couple years ago, Brandon and I decided to cook our own Valentine’s Day meal together. In our search for the perfect menu, we happened upon one of the tastiest things I think we’ve ever made….this filet mignon. It’s wrapped in bacon and plated over a pile of caramelized onions and mushrooms and is DIVINE! You sear the meat over the stove and then transfer it to the oven, where it cooks to medium rare (or more if you prefer). So juicy and savory and, well, perfect!

So for our Saturday night meal, we decided to have a remake of this tasty steak, and we added steamed broccoli and hot caprese salad as our sides. Phenomenal. I slept like a rock after this meal.

Sunday, we woke up and ventured over to Amicalola Falls. If you’re unfamiliar with the North Georgia area, this state park is beautiful. There is a trail of staircases up to the top of the falls, and let me tell you, it is a workout! But it’s completely worth it. And the weather was perfect yesterday for a strenuous hike!

This is what the falls look like about 175 steps up. To get to the top, there are another 425 stairs! Yikes!

But we made it! We went field trip style and had a picnic of sandwiches, chips, and apples on the top of the falls. So much fun!

Last night, we finished our adventuring at one of our absolute favorite spots: Yahoola Creek Grill. I could seriously eat anything on the menu here, and I’m not exaggerating. The chef uses creative flavor combinations and twists on Southern flavors – basically everything I love!

We had Fried Green Tomatoes for a starter. The crazy thing about these were they were in a balsamic barbecue glaze and had dollops of goat cheese in between the tomatoes. It was a collection of very powerful flavors, but the combo was incredible! Brandon had the Southern Burger, which had a fried green tomato and pimento cheese on it. I had the steak salad, which also has sauteed onions, tomatoes, and potato croutons, with a house fig vinaigrette. Can you tell how incredible this place is yet!?! It is foodie bliss! Next time you’re in Dahlonega, you have GOT to try this place!

All in all, we had a terrific anniversary weekend, and look forward to many more! Happy Monday and happy eating!