Food Lately // Week 14

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Cooking for one is hard. No, I mean, cooking for one is really hard. For a while there I was eating chicken and spinach for dinner 4 nights per week. Now, I’m not really the kind of person who gets tired of eating the same thing all the time, so when it’s just me I’m fine with it. Then after a long stretch of eating at home, I went to a friends house for dinner. I knew she was a great cook, but as soon as I had a bite of whatever she made, it’s like tastebuds woke up after being in hibernation- alive but in deep slumber.

That night I knew I had to do more, do better for me. Without changing my food budget, I was going to work to do more with the ingredients I was buying AND buy more strategically. And the accountability I chose for myself: my Foodstagram, or food instagram. I had been using #foodemilieeats as a hashtag on Instagram for while. (What can I say? My parents gave me a unique spelling name, so I’m going to take advantage of it! I also have #emilietravels and, for the most part, it’s just me.)

My friend’s delicious cooking inspired me to do more with the food I was going to eat anyway. That new requirement inspired me to make a Foodstagram, the name of which was inspired by a hashtag that I was already using on my Personal Insta. Still following? Great! Does this sound a little crazy, ridiculous? Yes, it does. And it should, but I do have to say: so far, so good. It is working.

Breakfast had always been the most exciting meal of my day. I always dedicated the most time to it, since I have a lot more energy in the morning. As a result, my eggs have actually gotten kinda impressive, especially when you consider that over six months of living in Baltimore I still don’t have a spatula. I know, I know. I’ve been using one of those icing-scraper thingies. As a result, I usually end up cracking the yoke at some point in the breakfast making process.

Silly, I know.

On the twentieth, I was really proud of myself for not having eaten out during the month and decided to reward myself with $30 of takeout from Akbar, my favorite local Indian place. I ordered Chicken Tikka Masala, regular Naan, and garlic Naan, knowing that I wanted to use some of that Naan to dunk in my eggs the next morning. Now, yes, $30 of takeout is a lot of food, but 1. Indian food is expensive, 2. I really like Indian food, 3. It’s a lot of food, 4. I was really tired, and 5. I hadn’t eaten out all month! I placed the order on Sunday night and practically inhaled all the Naan that night- all but one piece that made it into my breakfast the next day (and is pictured above). On Wednesday I was still eating my leftover Chicken Tikka Masala, after taking it to work on both Tuesday and Wednesday and having it for dinner on Monday and Tuesday! While it was still a lot to spend, I felt like I got a great use of that money, so no complaints here! This is the last bit I had on Wednesday night. There is never enough Naan!

My roommate left some rotisserie chicken in the fridge before she went away on vacation and told me not to let it go to waste! I picked what was left off the bone and moved it into tupperware, unsure of how to use it. Pairing it with these snap peas was a great choice! I sautéed the snap peas with garlic powder and balsamic vinegar and heated the chicken stove top. I added Vino De Milo Gorgonzola Pear with Riesling Dressing as a dipping sauce and it was perfect! We ran out of ketchup (what am I, five? Why do I need ketchup?) and I’m really pushing myself to use or make other things based on what we have. I am not planning on buying more ketchup!

I got an extra box of Vegetables from Hungry Harvest and was overwhelmed by vegetable, so I passed a ton of them off to my friend Snehal. In exchange, I joined her for dinner and these were SO pretty. So many colors, so much deliciousness!

I tweeted about this thing a thousand times. I’m not normally a baker, but I was inspired because I still had so much sweet potato here from my last Hungry Harvest delivery. I followed this sweet potato bread recipe that I found on Pinterest and it was so good! I’m only starting to realize what a tool Pinterest can be in my life not just for Burke Does. And the pictures didn’t come out too bad either! I took about ⅔ of the bread into the office where my coworkers could devour it and have been having it as a mid-day snack or for breakfast.

 

Here are some of the other delicious meals I’ve been eating! That gyro and pizza are from a paid-for outing to NYC, so they’re not cheating on my budget!

I’ll be sharing more about what I’m eating in the coming weeks, but remember you can always follow me live on my Foodstagram!

Let’s chat: Do you have any recipes you recommend? Post them in the comments!