Happy long weekend Friday. Whether you’re gearing up for a low-key weekend or one full of adventure, I hope it’s safe and enjoyable.

I appreciate the thoughtful comments on my post about Charlotte. There’s just one quick thing I want to reiterate…the post was written from my personal point of view. Of course, what I perceive as a drawback might be a positive to others…that’s just the way the world goes round. It’s my wish that in both the blog world and the real world that we can respect and love each other despite our differing beliefs.

Okay, I have some good news. Many of you have asked how we get such a nice “crust” on the salmon at Namastay Kitchen and I got the answer for you.

Chef Stephen says get a pan really hot and add oil of your choosing. Place the salmon in the hot pan skin side up and cook for 1-2 minutes until you get that nice sear. Flip and place in oven (I’d say probably somewhere around 400 degrees) to finish cooking to your desired doneness. I love my salmon medium rare to medium and still pink on the inside.

Last Thursday night Zoey had an upset stomach. As you can imagine, golden retriever + upset stomach is not a good combination when it comes to how furry their little butts are. After getting Zoey all cleaned up I called Tanner with an SOS and told him I was officially not in the mood to cook dinner. He brought home two salmon entrees from the restaurant.

Lots of other recent eats for you…

BREAKFAST

Overnight oats made a one day only comeback this week. I used to eat these ALL.THE.TIME. but they just aren’t my thing anymore. I might try again with no yogurt and almond milk only for the soak. Topped them off with Trader Joe’s sunflower seed spread. FYI…they now offer an unsweetened sunflower butter that has nothing but sunflower seeds and salt. Yay.

Two eggs scrambled in salted Kerrygold, a paleo banana muffin with cashew butter and a peach.

Promptly after shooting this sweet potato breakfast bowl I walked through a spiderweb outside, threw my hands up in disgust and my bowl ended up on our front porch broken into two pieces with sweet potatoes everywhere.

LUNCH

I have been all about keeping massaged kale in the fridge lately for easy lunches. This bowl was kale, quinoa, hardboiled egg, carrots, avocado and pistachios.

Kale with cucumbers, tomatoes, canned salmon and spicy avocado hummus.

Wrap with fig preserves, brie, turkey, spinach and avocado. Check out my perfect pressed wrap tutorial in this post.

Kale, arugula, cucumber, tomato, avocado, pistachios and a veggie burger with Tessemae’s green goddess.

Soaking up the last of summer with a tomato and basil sandwich, a peach and a side of kale.

DINNER

One-pan roasted dinner with butternut squash and sweet onions, red cabbage and chicken thighs. Put it all on a baking sheet (place chicken thighs on top of veggies) and bake on 400 for about 30-40 mins or until veggies are soft and chicken is 160.

We’ve been burger crazy this week. I defrosted some ground beef from my favorite farmer Charlie at Windy Hill and we grilled burgers and okra. The burger had Chef Alyssa’s tomato jam, mushrooms, tomatoes and arugula.

The pound of ground beef made four burgers. They were so good we had them again the next night. This time I put a fried egg on top (never tried this, life changing) and served them with roasted potatoes and squash.

Also…you HAVE TO butter your bun and toast it. Makes all the difference in the world.

Spiced chicken (one of my favorite easy chicken recipes ever!) over rice with green beans. The chicken and beans were from Bluebird Farm and so delicious.

Finally, I roasted a big batch of hatch chile peppers yesterday and y’all…I cried tears and snotted and sneezed my way through rinsing and peeling them. Holy hot.

You can never go wrong with a big pan of enchiladas!

I used an organic tequila lime rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods for the filling along with chopped chiles and lots of other good things. I made a little salad on the side. We loved these!

Off to teach hot class!

Last time you dropped a meal on the floor? 

Favorite burger toppings? Have you ever tried an egg? 

Kale salad? Love it or not so much?