Weekend Wins

It was another cold weekend, so cozy warm food was on the brain.

Friday night we had a good 'ole standby - Chinese from Great Wall. It's warm, spicy and full of flavor. My in-laws joined us, which was great since we could order lots of dishes to share. Our favorites are the spicy peanut wonton noodles, soup buns, chicken with eggplant in hot pot, twice cooked pork and bok choy with mushrooms. It was just what we needed on a cold Friday night.

Although I love Chinese, healthy eating was in order for the rest of the weekend. Saturday night I went with the best roasted chicken by IowaGirlEats. If you haven't tried this recipe, you should. SO easy and never disappoints. I paired it with some leftover black eyed peas, arugula salad and chickpeas with pancetta. We discovered chickpeas with pancetta in Spain, and it is now one of our favorite quick sides. Just cook some diced pancetta and throw in a can of rinsed chickpeas. It's delicious, quick and easy. And if it's good enough for Catalonia, it's good enough for me!

Since all the posts on Instagram in the Birmingham area were about the opening of the highly anticipated Farm Bowl (by Urban Cookhouse), I had to check out the menu for myself. It looks amazing and my mouth was watering as I read about the Oatmeal bowls. Since they were closed for the night and not opening again until 11am on Sunday, I took matters into my own hands and decided to try my own farm bowl.

I started Sat night by combining some oats, chia seeds, coconut, mashed ripe banana and almond butter. Then I poured over some coconut milk, stirred and put into the fridge. The next morning, I heated it up, poured into a bowl and added some coconut sugar, vanilla, fruit, flax seeds and nuts. Talk about a bowl of warm goodness! It was so filling it kept me sustained while teaching Sunday school to a bunch of toddlers! I think I'll try some other combos soon.


Oatmeal "Farm Bowl"

Layer in mason jar:
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 tsp chia seeds
1 Tbs coconut (unsweetened)
1 Tbs almond butter (my faves are Traders Joes and Costco)
1/2 mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup coconut or almond milk

Coconut Sugar or raw honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs flax seeds
1/2 banana
Fresh fruit
Nuts/Seeds (I used sunflower seeds, pistachios and cashews)

Stir and let sit overnight.

The next morning, heat for about a minute, then stir in honey or coconut sugar, vanilla and heat for about a minute more. Add more almond or coconut milk depending on consistency and stir. Once ready, add sliced banana, other fruit, nuts and seeds. Feel free to drizzle with a little raw honey or almond butter. Enjoy!!!