WIAW - Typical Spokane Tuesday

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I’m back on the road to Spokane this week after an awesome weekend in San Francisco! Having Alice visit was a lot of fun, and the weather was divine. We did everything from explore vegan Mexican restaurants to take a super playful yoga class to birthday picnics in the Presidio to (accidentally) going to an raging club on Saturday night. Whoops.

I’m linking up with Jenn to show you Tuesday’s eats!

BREAKFAST

Upon waking, I ate a couple of almonds/cashews to get my metabolism revving. Then I walked to breakfast, where I ordered a 3-egg omelet filled with veggies, with berries on the side! (Pro tip: when eating out for brunch or breakfast, always ask for the cooks to use less oil/butter when cooking your eggs. Restaurants tend to use a TON if you don’t request otherwise). I also had a little hot green tea with lemon.

WIAW

I rabbed a cold brew iced coffee from Atticus coffee shop - a super cute coffee shop that is To Kill a Mockingbird themed. This coffee was DELICIOUS. It was so smooth and velvety and almost like chocolate. I think I’ve found my new go-to in Spokane!

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LUNCH

I stopped by Trader Joe’s once I landed on Monday and picked up essentials for the week. I’ve started to get really bored of all of the food options around our client site, so I’m enjoying making my own salads in the little office kitchen. Today was kind of an extravagant affair. Everyone in the office kitchen (where they were having an ice cream party) watched me massage kale with lemon juice, and then sprinkle on some pumpkin seeds, avocado salsa, a little tempeh, slice up some red bell pepper and zap some tempeh in the microwave. This one lady jokingly went “want some ice cream with your kale?”

salad

SNACK

Small green apple with a packet of PB from Justin’s. Like I said before, I’m trying to eat smaller lunches so I can have room for a hefty snack in the afternoon. Overall, it has had an amazing impact on my digestion in the afternoon, which is when I tend to feel the most bloated and uncomfortable. I’ve then been able to have smaller dinners, which has allowed me to go to bed not feeling full and weighed down. I also grabbed an iced green tea from Starbucks.

pb

I went on a super nice long walk in the evening, and even stumbled upon this beautiful area near my client site.

spoke

But it’s been super hazy and smokey around downtown Spokane, with forest fires raging galore. They’ve been issuing lots of warnings to not spend that much time outside. It’s made for some epic sunsets. Check out all of the haze below!

fire

DINNER

I grabbed salmon and veggies from my favorite spot - Mizuna. Sorry if this to-go box pic is kind of unappetizing. (Another pro-tip - ask for the restaurant to use light oil/butter when the chefs cook your vegetables and proteins. They will likely still use more than you would for your own cooking, but at least they will be aware of their portion!)

fish

DESSERT

Three squares of dark chocolate, plus lots of E! News. (Combination that’s good for the mind, body, and soul!) Gosh I love that show. Sometimes the hotels I stay in don’t carry the E! channel, and I am always absurdly disappointed when I realize that. Thankfully, I’m getting my fix in this week!

chocolate So there you have it! I’m looking forward to next week’s biz trip to Olympia!

 

Last Week I Did a Sneaky Juice Cleanse!

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Last week I kind of secretly did a two-day juice cleanse! If you noticed from my Instagram, there weren’t any food photos last Monday/Tuesday, since, well, six juices and two specialty waters is just not all that interesting. I’m a bit late to jump in on the juice cleansing trend, though.

Why did I do a juice cleanse?

Well, first of all, I had really been feeling “off”, and I opened up on the blog about that last week. My arthritis was popping up in places that it hadn’t before, I felt kind of unmotivated throughout my workouts. I wanted “re-set” (even if it was all mental), after a month of vacations and visitors and lots of drinking and eating. Also, my roommate was feeling the same way, so we decided to do it together! Oh, and on top of that, I had never done a successful juice cleanse! The last time I had started a juice cleanse, I came down with some food poisoning after our trip to Turkey and it was just bad timing. Last week was also the perfect situation for me to do a cleanse - I was traveling up to Spokane and didn’t have any outside commitments besides work.

Which juice cleanse did I choose?

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Suitcase + juice cooler

I chose the Pressed Juicery’s Cleanse 2 - their “mid-level” cleanse. It contains 5 juices, one nut milk, chlorophyll water and aloe vera water. I had my taxi driver stop by Pressed on my way to the airport, and packed my juices into a cooler and then into my suitcase. I then checked my bag and they stayed cold until I reached my client site! Since I didn’t prepare for the juice cleanse and cut out caffeine, I did have one cup of coffee in the morning.

What did I like about the juice cleanse?

  • All of the juices were super tasty
  • It was nice to have all of your meals prepared for you, no thinking required
  • I like the uber-healthy mindset it put me in, and how committed I felt to only putting good things in my body after the cleanse was over
  • I liked how light and lean I felt throughout it all. I hate feeling over-full and weighed down

What didn’t I like about the juice cleanse?

  • I found myself counting down the (hours, minutes, seconds) until it was time for my next juice
  • I didn’t like that I couldn’t work out and couldn’t go out to eat dinner, so there wasn’t much for me to do once I left my client site in Spokane
  • I feel like I drank less water, since I spent so much time drinking juice! That was certainly my own fault though
    20150811_110410

    Slurp slurp

DAY 1

Day 1 started out super strong. Juice after juice tasted GOOD. They were delicious! The chlorophyll water was a bit funky, but I liked the look of it. Like a clear emerald water. Around 3pm I got a little shaky and the “Roots 3” came right in time, and totally filled me up. I really didn’t feel all that hungry, but it was nice to have the nut milk as the “dinner” with 12g of protein. I also didn’t work out, but I went for a light walk and a little shopping in the evening. Before sleeping, I chugged the aloe vera water. I had a great night’s sleep.

DAY 2

I woke up feeling super energized and awesome on day 2! I wasn’t hungry at all throughout the day! It was kind of amazing. My energy felt good, although I found myself a little irritable at times. But that could have just been me being irritable on a Tuesday. I took it easy and just did some light walking again. I looked forward to each juice. The day was easy, and I took myself to see a movie in the evening! I went to bed excited to eat real food in the morning and keep it super clean.

DAY 3 and beyond

Cleanse is over! Unfortunately, my arthritis was RAGING like crazy when I woke up that morning, which surprised me because I figured the juice cleanse may help tame it a bit. I woke up with no hunger, but was refreshed after another great night’s sleep. I ate clean, real food the rest of the day. I enjoyed eating warm food again and also felt super committed to only putting clean, healthy things in my body. After Day 3, my arthritis was almost completely gone!

To summarize, I feel pretty neutral to my whole juice cleansing experience! I enjoyed the juices, but I definitely prefer eating more. I felt really good, but no better than I do when I eat a clean diet. I also did feel “re-set” after the juice cleanse, so I’m glad I tried it out. So there you have it! Wish I could have had an climactic epiphany that my mind and body experienced but hey - its just juice, and it’s just two days.

Ultimate Breakfast Bars

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These healthy breakfast bars are packed full of the stuff that is going to power you through your day - quinoa, oats, almond butter, chia seeds - just to name a few. Keep these around for grab-and-go all week!

Ultimate Breakfast Bars | danicaliforniacooks.com

My poor boyfriend laments about his uphill battle of him versus the DCC fridge every week. I leave on Monday morning to travel for work, and he must work his way through all of the leftovers before they go bad, or before I restock the fridge with more creations! I don’t think he has had to buy groceries since we moved to San Francisco. Fortunate for him that the fridge is stocked full of healthy goodies. Unfortunate for him is that sometimes the recipe experimentation lead to some serious misses, and sometimes they are just not man-friendly. Thankfully Nate has the appetite of a bear who is about to go into hibernation and he seems to do a pretty good job with whatever I whip up! And thankfully, the recipes lately have been more hits than misses - like these breakfast bars.

Ultimate Breakfast Bars | danicaliforniacooks.com

I saw Nate eating dog food AKA fiber one cereal a couple of mornings before he went to work last week and I went all “BUT HOWEVER SHALL YOU GET YOUR PROTEIN” and then I realized that I’m not his mom. So I decided to just sneakily make him some breakfast foods that were packed with proteins and healthy fats and whole grains that he could bring to work. And I guess these got a thumbs up too by some of his colleagues (score!!)

Ultimate Breakfast Bars | danicaliforniacooks.com

I had seen Lindsay from the Lean Green Bean make these for her husband a bunch of times, and I loved the way they looked. I just am not a fan of baking with applesauce! I know it’s a great lower-calorie swap for oils, but for some reason, it just has never been a texture or flavor in baked goods that I’ve been a fan of. Although one of my earliest posts of Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Harvest Quickbread did have applesauce. My mom usually has tubs of applesauce in her fridge leftover throughout the year from our Hannukkah latke parties. So these breakfast bars do have coconut oil, but feel free to go more towards Lindsay’s recipe and use applesauce if you so choose.

Ultimate Breakfast Bars | danicaliforniacooks.com

I call these the ultimate breakfast bars because they are just packed full of everything you would need to get your day started. Everything from cooked quinoa to rolled oats to almond butter to chia seeds to a bit of sweetness from dates, it all somehow comes together in harmony! I also had all of these things in my pantry already, which made pulling these bars together a breeze. No trip to the grocery store required! And I used a very heaping teaspoon of cinnamon and my whole kitchen smelled amazing. I think cinnamon is my favorite of all spices!

Ultimate Breakfast Bars | danicaliforniacooks.com

I can see myself making these throughout the rest of the year, and if I was still a student, I know these would be awesome to have around on my way to class. I didn’t have a toaster in college, so for breakfast I would “toast” a slice of whole wheat bread in the oven and smear some PB on it on my way out the door. Sometimes I would have iced tea in a red solo cup. If only I had known about these bars back then (and the beauty that is black coffee)!

5.0 from 2 reviews
Ultimate Breakfast Bars
 
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These healthy breakfast bars are packed full of the stuff that is going to power you through your day - quinoa, oats, almond butter, chia seeds - just to name a few. Keep these around for grab-and-go all week! (Adapted from the Lean Green Bean)
Author:
Serves: 1 dozen
Ingredients
  • ½ cup cooked quinoa
  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • ½ cup whole wheat flour OR oat flour OR 1-1 gluten free flour
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon (I used a heaping tsp)
  • 2 tbsp almond butter
  • 3 tbsp melted coconut oil
  • ½ cup chopped dates
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • ¼ cup almond milk
  • Optional: ¼ cup sliced almonds, to press into top of bars
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
  2. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl
  3. On a piece of parchment paper, spread dough until forming a large square, about ¾ inch thick.
  4. Optional - sprinkle and gently press the sliced almonds on top of the dough
  5. Baked for 15-20 minutes, until the edges begin to brown
  6. Remove and let cool completely before cutting
  7. Store in fridge and enjoy!

If you like these, you’ll love: Coconut Almond Energy Bars

Raw Coconut Almond Energy Bars | danicaliforniacooks.com

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free)

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First of all - I really, really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on yesterday’s post. The support and advice that I get from our virtual blogging community is something I never expected, and that I truly appreciate.

**

These healthy burrito bowls are layered with spicy shrimp, hearty black beans, avocado, on top of a bed of cauliflower rice. It’s a highly flavorful and filling dinner that’s still low in carbs!

bur This is one of the best things I’ve made in a long time. I mean it. It was the most lovely meal to have on a Sunday evening after a weekend of drinking on a boat - full of vegetables and lean proteins and fiber and flavor. And I absolutely cannot believe this is the first time I am ever trying cauliflower rice!! I love cauliflower mash, but cauliflower rice really takes the cake. I plan to make a large batch of it raw and keep it in my freezer, and use it whenever rice is called for. There are some healthy swaps that don’t stand up to the “real thing”, but I found the texture of cauliflower rice to be a lot like fluffy couscous, and with such a mild flavor. And I love that you can just eat it in volume!

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) On a completely different note, my little from my sorority is visiting San Francisco this weekend! We actually call her Little Alice and the nickname has stuck. I am super close with my sorority family - four years up and four years down - and I truly think joining a sorority was one of the best decisions I made in college. I can’t wait to have you with me soon, Little Alice! Look at us, so many years ago…

2015-08-10_20-37-32 We’re cute. But, back to the food.

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) I also used fresh black beans (not canned!) for this recipe, using a local brand that I’ve begun to love. Rancho Gordo has a space in the Ferry Building where they sell their beans and their corn. One day, I stumbled in there and bought some heirloom corn tortillas, not knowing what a GEM I had just come across. I was all upset one morning that I was out of something, and then made breakfast tacos using these tortillas and had like a euphoric experience. I’m never going back to plain tortillas again! Their midnight black beans have such a depth of flavor and texture, and they don’t require any soaking time since they are so fresh. I seriously can’t imagine going back to any other beans than their fresh ones. I’ve heard that people have the same experience when using soaked chickpeas instead of canned. I’ll have to give that a try and let you know!

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) | danicaliforniacooks.com This recipe is simple, fresh, and easy. And all of it can be made ahead of time and re-assembled throughout the week. I made it for me and Nate, but he had to work late (on a Sunday!!) so I ate alone and he was able to throw it together for himself. If serving cauliflower rice to a hungry man, I recommend serving in volume - lots of cauli-rice, lots of beans, lots of shrimp, lots of avo. Pile it on! And know that you can have a large serving too, because all of the ingredients are clean, clean, clean. And yummy, yummy, yummy.

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) | danicaliforniacooks.com This is the kind of dinner I would happily eat every night if I could. I don’t think I would get bored of it! But, obviously, swapping in salmon every once and a while. I could never give up on that love affair!

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) | danicaliforniacooks.com

5.0 from 4 reviews
Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free)
 
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These healthy burrito bowls are layered with spicy shrimp, hearty black beans, avocado, on top of a bed of cauliflower rice. It's a highly flavorful and filling dinner that's still low in carbs!
Author:
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ lb shrimp, peeled and devined
  • 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
  • ¾ cup black beans, cooked
  • ¼ cup salsa
  • 3 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp hot sauce (I used Tapatio)
  • Half an avocado
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • Juice of half a lemon, plus additinoal lemon slices
  • Olive oil (or use a little butter for the shrimp)
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. In a food processor, pulse the cauliflower florets until into couscous sized pieces
  2. In large saucepan, heat the chopped onion in some olive oil until translucent
  3. Pour the cauliflower rice into the saucepan with the onion, and cook through. This will only take 3-5 minutes
  4. In another saucepan, pour a little olive oil and add the shrimp. Add in cumin, chili powder, and hot sauce. Flip once
  5. Squeeze some lemon juice over the shrimp
  6. In two shallow bowls, make a layer of cauliflower rice
  7. Divide the shrimp over each
  8. Spoon the black beans in each bowl
  9. Place some sliced avocado and divide up the salsa
  10. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lemon wedges
Notes
I used dried black beans which I cooked over the stove, but if you use canned, make sure to heat them through before serving!

If you like this, you’ll love: Salmon Bowls with Miso Dressing

Salmon Bowls with Miso Dressing | danicaliforniacooks.com

Life update: Being gluten/dairy free + food relationships

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Hi friends! A personal post coming your way today. Back in March, I went gluten and dairy free again to wipe out the inflammation I was experiencing in my joints - that ol’ rheumatoid arthritis. Once again, it was truly amazing the immediate reduction I felt in pain. The first summer that I changed up my diet, I begun to recognize the power that nutrition had over my body, beyond just weight loss/gain. It’s actually when I got really involved in reading blogs, and just inhaling all books and articles out there on nutrition and food. I started incorporating gluten/dairy again after a couple of months, and was pain free for like over a year! When it started up again this past February, I blamed the fact that I was traveling every week for work and traveling globally to visit Nate and feeling overall kind of overwhelmed with work and with life. But I also was battling with very controlled eating, and now that I reflect back on it, I think the fact that I was spending so much time stressing and planning around my food - I’m sure that had an effect on the arthritis. So anyways, I cut out the gluten and the dairy back in March, and bing, bang, boom - pain is gone. It also coincided with Nate’s return - I’m sure that had something to do with it, now as I look back :).

In June, I decided that it was time to try eating gluten and dairy again and it was almost immediate the effect that it had on my joints. You can actually see the swelling in my right wrist from the arthritis, which kind of freaked me out because it had never been visible before. It’s hindered my ability to do anything from a chaturangas to open a jar, which was just really frustrating. I started taking more Aleve again, because honestly - it was so nice to have some gluten and dairy again! But I came to terms with the fact that I’d rather be able to do tricep dips and open doors properly, and giving up my beloved feta cheese and whole wheat wrapped breakfast burritos is worth it. So while you may have seen some gluten and dairy full recipes on the blog in June, you’ll see me back to sticking to gluten and dairy free foods.

On another note, since June I’ve put on like 2-3 lbs! And I feel like I’m retaining a ton of water and feel kind of sluggish all of the time. On my small 5’1” frame, every pound certainly counts and let me tell you, I feel it. Granted, I’m sure I look the same to you and my clothes still fit, but I just feel more weighted down. Throughout the end of June and July there was a lot of eating and vacationing, and I think I was drinking more than I normally do. Even us health-freak food bloggers can eat (mostly) healthy and still put on weight! We go out to eat a lot in San Francisco - on double dates, hosting visitors - so it’s really important to me that I can still enjoy going out to eat at all different kinds of restaurants. There was a time in my life where I would avoid going out to eat or always make sure I picked the restaurant so I could be in control of whatever I was putting in my mouth, and that’s just not sustainable or enjoyable for me in the long-term.

I feel like I’m still learning what works for my body, and what kinds of foods make me feel good and what don’t. I honestly was really just surprised that just a couple of weekends in a row of overindulging could really impact my weight so much, but maybe it’s just that my metabolism has changed a bit over this year. I certainly could do that in the past and I would just bounce back! I wish I knew my “limits” a little more, but I think that just comes with experience. And I think that the minute I become a little preoccupied with my weight again my arthritis flares up. So I’d like to take off the weight - healthfully - and hopefully take my mind a little off myself and the way I look and feel. Sometimes it does feel a little selfish, the amount of time I spend thinking about ME.

So there you have it. A little weight gain, a little rheumatoid arthritis pain, and that’s all it takes for me to get a wake up call that I wasn’t on the greatest path of taking care of myself. I’ll keep you posted throughout the next month or so! And as always, thanks for listening :).

Weekend Sailing on the SF Bay

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The birthday celebrations for Nate continued with a weekend of sailing on the bay! We left from Sausalito on Saturday morning and sailed around Angel Island, Treasure Island, right next to AT&T Park, under the bay bridge and then docked at the Embarcardero for dinner. We had a beautiful night sail back to Sausalito, where we slept on the boat.

As the crew arrived, I had brunch set up, plus a few silly decorations. Mini bagels, mini muffins, lots of fruit and champagne.

happy We then packed up and set sail, with mimosas in hand!

alca boat sail sam 11825928_10153526437037277_7831788147300070206_n

We had dinner at MarketBar in the Ferry Building, which I don’t really recommend. But it was awesome to pull up in a boat, hop off and and just walk to dinner. We had a beautiful night sail back, with views of the city that I had never seen in the dark before. I had no idea the Ghiradelli sign lit up at night! I may have fallen asleep - I was all snuggled up in a blanket and it was so peaceful!

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We woke up in Sausalito and cleaned up the boat, and we out for brunch at the cutest little cafe - the Lighthouse Cafe! I love when Nate orders a full size breakfast, and then a pancake on the side. These pancakes were HUGE! I ordered the breakfast scramble special, which had garlic artichoke sausage, spinach, mushrooms, and onions. It was so. good.

natebreak breakfast breakfast2

I was absolutely wiped out the rest of the day. It’s kind of remarkable what a day in the elements (plus drinking) can do to you. Sunday was spent blogging and getting my nails done and going for a detox run!

 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Muffins

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Your favorite oatmeal raisin cookie - in a lightened-up muffin form! Packed full of whole grains, walnuts, and raisins, AND with no refined sugars, these may just replace your beloved dessert.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Muffins | danicaliforniacooks.com

Whew - this past week was a whirlwind! And when you’re reading this, I’ll be in a different kind of whirlwind. We’re going sailing on the bay again this weekend to continue Nate’s birthday celebrations! This was one of those weeks where I felt particularly scatterbrained and all over the place. When I’m on the road and traveling for work, I feel like I have a very exact schedule - workout, work at client site, dinner, and then park my butt in my hotel room in front of the TV and keep working. It’s not very exciting. When I’m remote and working from home, I feel like I try and crunch so much into the week because I want to take advantage of being at home and in San Francisco! So every day there was a lot going on, from work to double dates with friends to demo-ing to becoming a Spinning instructor again (!!) to dealing with my computer crashing to blogging to celebrating Nate’s birthday to all of the errands I can’t get done while I’m on the road. And Nate started his new job this week, so there was just a LOT going on!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Muffins | danicaliforniacooks.com

After his first day at his new job, it became apparent that the snack selection at the start up was insufficient for my ravenous, health-conscious boyfriend. So a lightbulb went off in my head and it is now my mission to supply him with healthy and filling snacks that he can bring to work, because he’s been shoveling the dry-roasted edamame like it’s his job and avoiding the pop chips and pretzels. Enter - these muffins. They take the best flavors of the ultimate oatmeal raisin cookie - walnuts, plump raisins, cinnamon - and put it into a whole grain, no refined sugar, dairy free snacking muffin. Perfect for his breakfasts on the go or to munch on throughout the day. I can’t wait to supply his colleagues with a never-ending supply of snacks! Better to send them off to work than to keep them around the house with me, that’s for sure.

oatm2

On a completely random note, our family dog LOVES oatmeal raisin cookies. Sally the labra-beagle enjoys Trader Joe’s oatmeal raisin cookies almost as much as she loves a good crispy fish skin. It probably just goes back to the fact that these are just such a classic. Dogs and humans alike love a good oatmeal raisin cookie. That’s why I decided that these would transfer over well to healthy muffin form - it’s such a tried-and-true mix of ingredients, you can’t screw it up! These made my kitchen smell amazing. Too bad Sally doesn’t live with me in San Francisco, she would have been a happy pup.

oatm

5.0 from 1 reviews
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Muffins
 
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Cook time
Total time
 
Your favorite oatmeal raisin cookie - in a lightened-up muffin form! Packed full of whole grains, walnuts, and raisins, AND with no refined sugars, these may just replace your beloved dessert.
Author:
Serves: 6 muffins
Ingredients
  • ½ cup rolled oats, plus a couple extra pinches for dusting on the top of the muffins
  • ½ cup whole wheat flour (or sub 1-1 gluten free flour, or use oat flour. If you use oat flour, the texture will be denser but that's how I like it!)
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup almond milk
  • ½ cup raisins (I used golden and regular raisins)
  • ¼ cup chopped walnuts
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • Coarsely ground salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
  2. Line your muffin tins
  3. In a medium mixing bowl, mix all ingredients thoroughly
  4. Fill each muffin tin almost all the way to the top
  5. Sprinkle a little additional rolled oats over each muffin, and press gently
  6. Sprinkle a little salt over each muffin
  7. Bake for 20 minutes, until a knife comes out clean
  8. Let cool and enjoy!
  9. Store in the fridge

If you like this, you’ll love: PB&J Muffins

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins (gluten free, dairy free) | danicaliforniacooks.com,

One-Pan Baked Fish Tenders and Vegetables (gluten free)

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This easy, gluten-free dinner packs in vegetables, whole grains and lean protein. And what’s more fun than finger food AND no clean up on a Tuesday?

corn Some of the most “kid-friendly” foods are so fun (and crazy delicious) when they are adult-ified! I think I won Nate over when I had him for dinner at my apartment back when we lived in DC, and I made tomato soup and fancified grilled cheeses. I used huge, thick pieces of sourdough bread and gouda cheese and avocado and yup, that was definitely when I won him over. Too bad nowadays he gets to be the taste tester for all of my healthy recipes. I bet he wishes that my food blog was more dedicated to, you know, grilled cheeses. So I always think he’s happy when I whip up a dish without any sort of “just so you know…it’s vegan” warnings and it’s something that I knowhe will enjoy. Like these fish tenders!

fishn I had once made a similar recipe back when Nate and his cousin had caught some flounder and we did “flounder two ways”. I thought it would be fun to transform that into a healthier, weeknight meal that still retained all of the fun. And better yet, let’s make it all get baked in the same dish so more time for TV watching in the evening and less time for clean-up! This is a super simple “breading” that is just cornmeal and spices. It becomes very crispy and I loved the texture of it. I’ve found that there’s no need to include any flour. However, given that cod is a mild fish and the breading is only lightly spiced, I highly recommend providing some dipping sauces to go with the meal. I served these with ketchup, salsa, and BBQ sauce for lots of different flavors to dip into.

fish

The key to breading any fish/chicken is the DOUBLE BREAD. It sounds counterintuitive. First, you bread the protein in the cornmeal. Then, you dip it in the egg. Thirdly, you recoat with cornmeal. I know you’d think the first thing to do would be to coat with the egg, but trust me, this gets a niiiice thick breading that all stays together really well. Sure, it gets a little messy and sure, at this point you may have knocked fish juice all over your laptop so I am writing this to you from a brand new laptop, but once you have everything all laid out on your baking sheet, you’re good to go to pop it into the oven, only needing to flip once. While everything is baking nicely in the oven, you can clean up any mess, set the table, panic about your wet computer, and then sit down to a healthy and fresh meal. Yum!

One-Pan Baked Fish Tenders and Vegetables
 
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This easy, gluten-free dinner packs in vegetables, whole grains and protein. And what's more fun than finger food on a Tuesday?
Author:
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • Dash of red pepper flakes
  • 1 egg
  • 2 filets of cod, sliced into "fingers"
  • Sliced vegetables of choice (I used squash)
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 lemons, cut into wedges
  • Salsa, ketchup or BBQ sauce to dip!
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
  2. In a shallow bowl, mix the cornmeal and spices
  3. In another bowl, whisk the egg
  4. Press one fish "tender" into the cornmeal, making sure to get all sides
  5. Then dip into the egg
  6. Press the fish tender back into the cormeal for its second coating
  7. Place on a prepared baking sheet, and repeat until fish is done
  8. Slice your vegetables and toss in the olive oil
  9. Place on the baking sheet next to the fish and sprinkle with basil
  10. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, flipping once through
  11. Serve with lemon wedges and your dipping sauce of choice!

If you like this, you’ll love: One-Pot Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod

One-Pot Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod | danicaliforniacooks.com

WIAW - Birthday Eats

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SO SORRY for the delay in posting! I was cooking near my computer on Tuesday night (of course) and spilled a bit on the keyboard…panic ensued and IT support saved my computer this morning. Phew!

Monday was Nate’s birthday, and I’m so excited to share our fantastic day of eats with you! Linking up with Jenn for this What I Ate Wednesday. I was lucky enough to be able to work from home this week and not travel, and Monday was a perfect example of making great use of my kitchen AND taking advantage of the San Francisco food scene.

BREAKFAST

No birthday is complete without pancakes! I made my gluten-free Banana Oat pancakes which are so simple, healthy, and SO GOOD. I topped mine with PB and more bananas, while the birthday boy went for the good maple syrup. Sightglass french press coffee on the side! This picture is of Nate’s big @$$ stack of pancakes..looked much better than mine which I kind of burned.

20150803_092830 LUNCH

Nate swung by Chino’s Taqueria for some pretty amazing looking tacos. This place is a real find in the Richmond district - a great local and authentic vibe. He had three tacos which each could honestly have been their own burrito. I came home and whipped up a salad of mixed greens, chicken, and roasted eggplant and sweet potatoes. I made the tahini lemon dressing from my Mediterranean Salad which I honestly can’t get enough of!

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SNACK

Thoughts on my water/lemon ratio?

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Pink lady apple sprinkled with cinnamon and a little PB for a snack. While I generally like to stick to 3 large meals a day, I’ve been trying to snack a little more in the afternoon to encourage less eating at dinner. I hate feeling overly full when I go to bed. However, we feasted this night so the snack certainly didn’t help because we ate and drank to our heart’s content for Nate’s birthday!

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DINNER

I made this reservation exactly a month ago - we finally got to go to Nopa!! Nopa is one of the most famous restaurants in San Francisco with lines always out the door. It’s also super casual and not pretentious at all, which I love about it. Nate started with the little fried fish (anchovies) and I had their corn soup. So good. We also shared this plate of warm marinated olives…

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For my entree, I had the Moroccan vegetable tangine which was delicious. Nate enjoyed a bun-less burger with broccoli on the side!

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I also enjoyed a glass of wine and this really great cocktail. This one had lime and grapefruit juice and honey and gin - perfect mix of tangy and sweet. We must have taken this photo like 100 times but Nate kept saying that I looked like I was in pain..this might have been the best one and it’s still not great. 20150803_200947

And no birthday would be complete without ice cream for the birthday boy, and then a scoop of vegan coconut berry ice cream on a gluten free cone for me from Bi-Rite next door. And then we waddled our way home.

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We Ate Everything in San Francisco This Past Weekend

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I’ll keep this post short on the writing and full of pictures. Mama and Papa Dani California Cooks drove up for a weekend to see our new place and explore SF! And by explore San Francisco I really mean just eat everything. The weather couldn’t have been better, and we had so much fun. Come again soon, please!

Dinner at Nopalito on Friday night was awesome. We shared totopes (already salsa-fied chips) and some ceviche, and then I had fish tacos as my entree. Great tequila cocktails too. Nate’s carnitas definitely stole the show! (Tip for this restaurant - you can place your name on the waitlist over the phone!)

dinna20150731_204751 As if we weren’t stuffed enough, we got our hands on some Bi-Rite ice cream! We were the last ones allowed into the store before they closed, so we didn’t even have to wait in the line that normally clings around this store. I had a delicious vegan strawberry coconut ice cream on a gluten free cone. Happy camper!

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We took a great run through the Presidio on Saturday morning, dodging golf balls left and right. Lunch at Radish was pretty meh. Everyone around us was ordering the French toast and the pancakes and the chicken and waffles so I think we just made poor ordering decisions with going for the salads. Even the homemade root chips left something to be desired. This place was super popular though - we waited an hour - so I think we just ordered wrong!

rad Wandering through the colorful Mission neighborhood.

danimo Took a couple of naps in Dolores Park watching this dancing robot. We thought it was a costumed human for a solid hour before realizing it was remote controlled.

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Modern Vietnamese dinner at Out the Door (the more casual sister restaurant of the Slanted Door) on Fillmore. The ribs were amazing! But I think my spring rolls are better :).

nate shrimp tof Ice cream at Smitten, where they make your ice cream to-order using these nitrogen freezing machines. Seriously - you watch your ice cream being made right in front of you! I went for the vegan valrhona chocolate popsicle. It was amazing!! (There may have been a second trip back to Smitten on Sunday…)

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Sunday morning started out with lots of oatmeal and then a great run through Crissy Field. Great for people and dog watching! Healthy (unpictured) lunching at the Plant in the Marina topped off the weekend before the parents headed on their road trip to Big Sur. The Plant’s menu is awesome in all ways. And I love that they have kombucha on tap. The food frenzy continued into the work week - make sure to check out tomorrow’s What I Ate Wednesday post!