Hello from rainy Charlotte. We are feeling the effects of Hurricane Sally here today but it’s nothing compared to what those on the gulf coast went through yesterday. My family was spared a direct hit but my dad said it was the worst storm that they’ve had since moving to the Florida panhandle.

The structures of their condo development are fine but the beach is a wreck. The water came up over the dunes and washed so much of them away.

Here’s a photo for comparison.

I am hoping that all of you who were impacted by Sally as well as those of you dealing with wildfires are safe.

I have a collection of recent eats for you today.

BREAKFAST

This is actually the only breakfast photo that I have for this post and it was more brunch/on the verge of lunch. My appetite has been a little weird in the mornings the last couple of weeks. This was freshly baked sourdough with butter and mashed avocado and two hardboiled eggs.

LUNCH

Baby spinach, hardboiled egg, avocado, Trader Joe’s Melodious Blend, tomatoes and cottage cheese. This was a really good salad combination.

Still loving smoothies for lunch.

DINNER

Trader Joe’s cauliflower and cheese ravioli with Rao’s marinara sauce. Roasted brussels sprouts and baby portobello mushrooms on the side.

Roasted chicken thighs with a baked potato and green beans. My baked potato has butter and Good Culture 4% cottage cheese on it. It is my favorite cottage cheese of them all!

Mozzarella-stuffed turkey meatballs over spaghetti squash with Rao’s marinara.

Panko crusted black cod with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. This cod was so thick, flaky and delicious!

Frozen pizza + salad. This was a rising crust pepperoni pizza from Whole Foods and I do not recommend. The crust never fully cooked through and was a little doughy. I will stick with their thin crust pizzas moving forward.

And the award for weirdest meal of the recap goes to this dinner. It’s a rice bowl with Wild Brine kraut, avocado, hummus, sautéed spinach and a veggie burger topped with melted fresh mozzarella. The veggie burger is from ALDI. I did a poll on Instagram to see who would eat this and a whopping 80% said that they would! (My dad most certainly would NOT if anyone was wondering. Haha.)

I’ll redeem myself with this one. I had dinner at Cafe Monte last night with Dorie and ordered their vegetarian crepes. They were delightful! We shared an order of fries. They have some of my favorite fries in Charlotte at Cafe Monte. They are thin and crispy.

ETC

A piece of chocolate peanut butter cake from Villani’s Bakery. Washed down with a glass of whole milk.

Also, give me all the jelly bread! That’s what we call it in my family and it often serves as dessert at the end of dinner. 🙂

QUESTIONS

How are you doing if you live on the gulf coast or in an area with wildfires? 

What’s your favorite topping for freshly baked bread? 

Do you like crepes? I order them out occasionally but have never made them at home. Let me know if you have a good recipe!