Remember when the blog world discovered sunflower seed butter? Nut butter fanatics everywhere went gaga. It was my favorite drizzle for over a year, and I barely ate peanut butter at all.
I think the trend went like this:
all kinds of crazy peanut butter –> almond butter –> multi butters –> sunflower butter –> –> Cookie butter –> full circle peanut butter
When Mazen started preschool, I had to pack nut free lunches for years. He ate so much sunflower butter that he stopped eating it. At the same time, I started buying the Sunbutter brand at Whole Foods so I didn’t have to make a second trip to Trader Joe’s. On my recent trip to TJs I picked up a jar of the original TJs sunflower butter and OMG I FELL IN LOVE AGAIN! It is NOT the same as Sunbutter – it’s way better! Drippier and not as earthy. SB is back.
Also on the breakfast train…
Smoothies galore. And peaches out of our ears. So summery good!
Lunches This Week
There was also a time, I think before I was even pregnant with Birch and into first trimester sickness, where I had lost my taste for salads. I totally lost my salad groove, which was sad because a salad bowl is my favorite kind of lunch.
Smoked Chicken Salad
Well that taste is back! We had really good smoked chicken that Thomas grilled on the egg on Sunday. I put that over a salad with honey almonds, TJs Unexpected Cheddar (you guys were right – it’s awesome!), and a simple homemade dressing with EVOO, dijon mustard, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper. Extra honey drizzle on top! Plus corn chips on the side.
DIY Roots Bowls
Another day Hillary + Ellen came over for a lunch date. We made DIY Roots bowls! Hillary brought BBQ roasted tofu and sweet potatoes, I made the salad base with greens, avocado, cheese, and tomatoes, and Ellen brought chips, drinks, and cookies! I think dried cranberries and honey roasted chickpeas were also involved. It was an epic salad!
Chip buffet!
Dinners
We generally have been ordering two Plenty entrees each week and having those on our busiest nights and then doing simple recipes the other nights. Life with two kids is no joke! Especially during the summertime when the neighborhood pack of boys is still running through one door and out the other at 6:00pm.
Ravioli with Peas + Leftover Smoked Chicken
Simple homemade meal. This was TJs lemon ricotta ravioli and it was AWESOME! Especially since I’ve been digging all things lemon zest this year.
Plenty Salmon Kebobs with Couscous Salad
Greek yogurt on the side!
Workout Highlights
Two treadmill runs, two soccer games! All sweat.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
I’ve never tried sunflower seed butter before! Sounds intriguing… I wonder if I can get it where I live!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Lindsey says
Thanks for lots of great meal inspo in this post!
Jll says
I LOVE sunbutter and TJ’s is the best. I have a peanut allergy so was so happy to learn about sunbutter! It tastes so much like peanutbutter to me that I don’t miss it anymore.
Sarah F says
Oh man- the flavoured peanut trend! I totally forgot about that- but was certainly obsessed with all of the flavours for a while there! I haven’t tried sunflower butter (I think I lost interest in the nutter butter trend around the almond butter stage) but may have to give it a try!
KathEats says
Haha! You have so many more to try then!!
Sara says
Thanks for encouraging me to go on a Trader Joe’s run Friday 🙂
Mary says
I love the TJ’s lemon ricotta ravioli! I add peas, sometimes fresh mint from the garden and a squeeze of a lemon from our tree.
Jeanie says
I love salmon, and we have it often. Must try the sunbutter soon. Also, I enjoyed the update on Birch yesterday. What a cutie!
Rachel says
Sunflower butter and peaches is one of the BESst combos ever. Definitely went through a stage where that was the ONLY breakfast I craved ever haha. What is your favourite smoothie recipe? Looking for a new one 🙂 thanks!
Ellen says
Any guidance on how to make the BBQ roasted tofu? It sounds good!
KathEats says
Hillary made it, but I have an older recipe here. You can use a pre-made BBQ sauce though, and just marinate it for a bit and then bake and add more sauce at the end! Pressing the tofu first can help make it a bit crunchier like a fried texture.
eliz says
sunflower seed butter is so good with apples! I’ll have to try with peaches.