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Don’t forget to enter the LG SideKick giveaway. It ends Thursday at 11:59 p.m. EST! 

Happy Wednesday. This short week has been really nice. I am in the process of cutting back on the personal training hours I do and creating more space for uninterrupted blocks of writing, working and down time. So far it feels really good. Lately I’ve been feeling a pull to do more personal and introspective writing in addition creating time for meditation. I don’t know what that’s about but it’s something I want to explore.

While chilling out my schedule has been good this week, the last few days have been a little challenging at home. Our kitchen sink started backing up on Saturday on we couldn’t get anyone in to fix it until today due to the holiday weekend (and why do these things always seem to happen on weekends and holidays!?). I did my best to work around it but it definitely kept me from doing any real cooking. We couldn’t even use the dishwasher or the guest bathroom sink because of the clog. Tanner tried snaking it but the plumber ended up having to go into the attic to get to it. Crazy old houses!

In other news, I did CrossFit for the first time in forever today. I went to Metro CrossFit for open gym during my lunch break today and decided to do the WOD since a few people were starting it after I finished my warm up and it was only 7-8 minutes long. It was 21-15-9 of hang squat cleans and wall balls and it was terrible. I haven’t done a full barbell squat clean in…I don’t know…years? Can’t wait to see how that feels tomorrow. After the WOD I did my normal thing with lots of pull ups, slam balls, kettlebell deadlifts, squats and more.

Now for food!

Breakfast

Sourdough toast with mashed avocado, sauerkraut and scrambled eggs

Egg, avocado and sauerkraut toast with mango, peaches and heirloom tomatoes.

Chia pudding

Post-early morning workout chia pudding topped with almond butter, blueberries, raspberries and peaches.

Lunch

Tuna salad in kale leaves

I whipped up a tuna salad with grapes, walnuts, blueberries, mayo and relish one day and served it in lacinto kale wraps.

The Mayobird Charlotte

Lunch date with a friend at The Mayobird. Scoop of chicken salad, pita chips and side salad.

Salad with arugula, spinach, kalamata olives, pine nuts, avocado, dried cranberries and canned salmon

Loved this salad combo of arugula, spinach, kalamata olives, avocado, pine nuts, cucumbers, dried cranberries and canned salmon. Dressed with olive oil and balsamic.

Open faced tomato and avocado sandwich on sourdough

Open faced sandwich with sourdough, Dukes mayo, mashed avocado and tomatoes. Fresh fruit on the side.

Avocado and egg toast

I really can’t get enough of the sourdough toast as well as the egg and avocado combination.

Rice cake with avocado and scrambled eggs

Yesterday I even put it on a rice cake (and ate another rice cake with sriracha hummus while putting this one together). I also need to make a special note about how amazing cherries are right now.

Dinner

Blue Apron steak dinner

Blue Apron dinner of seared steak with a delicious tarragon sauce, roasted sweet potatoes and peas. They sent us the pea pods and I added the green peas for more veggies.

Turkey burgers in kale wraps with roasted okra

Turkey burger topped with guacamole in a kale wrap. Roasted okra and tomatoes on the side. I also made a sriracha aioli for the okra.

Blue Apron Hoisin Meatballs over cauliflower rice

We loved this Spicy Hoisin Turkey Meatball Blue Apron dish! I highly recommend recreating it at home. I served it over cauliflower rice.

Turkey burgers and stuffed mushrooms

Very random dinner of things assembled from the fridge. Leftover turkey burgers with sriracha aioli, sliced tomatoes and stuffed portobello mushrooms. I made a filling out of onions, artichokes, spinach, mayo, parm, garlic and lemon juice.

Elotes from Sabor Latin Grill

While I couldn’t cook in the kitchen we ordered Postmates for dinner. The first night we had Sabor Latin Grill. We started with Elote. This was corn with mayo, cotija cheese and chili powder.

Sabor Latin Grill

And I had the avocado, veggie and quinoa bowl, add grilled chicken.

La Shish Kabob Veggie Entree

Night two was an AMAZING feast from La Shish Kabob. This may be my new favorite restaurant in Charlotte. We ordered the veggie plate and it came with hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, greek salad and dolmades. Pita on the side. It was $7.99.

La Shish Kabob Mixed Grill

We also ordered the mixed grill kebab entree that came with mountains of rice, grilled chicken, kafta and lamb. In addition to everything you see here, we also got to pick two sides. It was $13.99.

La Shish Kabob Take Out

I told Tanner this should be our new Friday night tradition. The food is some of the best Mediterranean I’ve ever had. The falafel, dolmades and baba ganoush are especially wonderful. I want to go and eat in the actual restaurant too. The owner looks kind of awesome.

Finally…

Trader Joe's Cashew Butter

All the cashew butter. I think I need an intervention.

Date and cashew butter

Every afternoon I eat some on a date…and then eat about 3-4 more spoonfuls. The Trader Joe’s Creamy Salted is life changing. You must try it.

What’s on heavy rotation for you lately?

Favorite Mediterranean dish? 

Have you tried cashew butter? 

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