Tahini Chicken Salad (Whole 30 )

I’m wildly excited to share this recipe for multiple reasons. 1. I’ve been meaning to develop a non-mayo chicken salad for a while. Spoiler alert - there is no mayo in this recipe #whole30approved! 2. I LOVE tahini, almost as much as almond butter. 3. I also love dates. 4. My family loves cooking from Yotam Ottolenghi cookbooks thanks to oldest sis and BIL Claire and Mike’s influence. We love his middle eastern style cooking and this recipe nods to those flavors.

Chicken salad is so easy to prepare and makes for a great tasting and filling lunch. However traditional chicken salads are typically loaded down with globs (yes globs, let’s all gag together now) of mayo (gag again). However once the mayo gets hidden, I truly love chicken salad. I love even more how this recipe ditches the mayo and adds in my fave - tahini. It makes for a killer Whole 30 meal too. I’m on day 21. The end is near, but this recipe will be in rotation post W30 for sure.

Whole 30 Tahini Chicken Salad
yields 3-4 servings

Rotisserie chicken, shredded - (should yield 21/2 - 3 cups)
1/4 cup tahini*
1 tbsp. aapple cider vinegar
3-5 tbsp warm water
juice of 1/2 a lemon
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup chopped dates (about 3 large dates)
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
dukkah, optional**

Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk tahini, apple cider vinegar, 3 tablespoons of warm water, lemon, salt, pepper and garlic powder and set aside. Shred your rotisserie chicken into a medium bowl. Add chopped dates, celery, green onion, and parsley. Pour tahini mixture over the top and stir to combine, add more water if necessary. Serve with extra celery on the side and top with parsley and dukkah.

*I love love love tahini, but I have a strong distaste for Trader Joe’s tahini. If you’ve ever tried tahini from TJ’s and didn’t like it, try buying at Whole Foods, Sprouts or a Mediterranean grocery store. TJ’s is much thicker than traditional tahini.
**Dukkah is an Egyptian seasoning made of nuts, seeds, and spices. It pairs perfectly with tahini and middle eastern dishes. You can find it in most Mediterranean grocery stores, but I actually found mine at Trader Joe’s!

I portioned the chicken salad into 3 of my favorite meal prep jars for lunches that I’ll have with celery on the side. Only about a week left of Whole 30!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Finishing up this post while watching the Emmy’s. Anyone else watch? It’s official I must start watching Marvelous Mrs. Maisel immediately. It was a busy, but long week. The days were back but I pretty much spent the whole week thinking it was Thursday. Can you imagine my feelings when it was only Tuesday?? Made it to the weekend to enjoy a relatively tame few days. I’m off at the end of this week to head to Vail for a bachelorette. So it’s head down and powering through another busy week before I get to enjoy mountain air and 35 degree temps!!

-My friend Meagan, The Baker Mama wrote her first cookbook Beautiful Boards. And it’s truly beautiful! It comes out on Tuesday, but she gifted me a copy pre-release. It’s such a great book full of so many ideas. I read it cover to cover and loved reading the BTS in her recent post. Order your copy here!
-LOVED this “harvest hash” I made for lunches last week. Wondering if my fam would let me slide it in for a Thanksgiving side dish?
-Topo, tacos on a Tuesday at Gardenuity with my “co-workers” from The Slate. Gardenuity is a modern garden project based in Dallas. Their main product is their garden box that gets shipped straight to your door, but they host events at their studio where you can build your own modern garden to take home. We built a “taco toppings” garden, so I know have tomatoes, parsley, chives and oregano growing out my back door.
-Again my “co-workers” as I like to call them think it’s hilarious to tempt me with carbs at our co-working space.
-Discovered the turmeric latte at Royal Blue this week and it’s a big reason RB made it on my faves list!
-On that bulletproof grind! Found these ghee + MCT combo packs at Sprouts that will be perfect while traveling this weekend.
-Extremely fun dinner at a new Dallas spot with the most fun group of Dallas KKGs!
-Hi it’s me! And I’ve lived in Dallas for 3 months. Shared my 6 favorite spots in last week’s post!
-Week 2 of church and a Whole 30 approved brunch with my girl Caroline!

Annie

My 6 Favorite Dallas Spots 3 Months In

Three months in Dallas? Hi? How? But also I feel like I’ve been here forever! I Three months seemed pivotal enough to document some of my favorite spots thus far. There are a couple repeats from this and this post that I wrote just one and two weeks in. Now three months later, many more places visited, still some of the same faves and still so many places to keep exploring.

Louie’s
If you live in Dallas, this probably wasn’t the first place you’d think would be on my list, but on the flipside, if you’ve been to Louie’s then you understand. Louie’s is a complete hole in the wall on Henderson known for their pizza and martinis. They are more than just a pizza place, with salmon, a burger, sandwiches, and a filet on the menu, but word from the wise don’t stray from the thin crust build-your-own pizza, big salads, meatballs and crab claws to start! As for the martini’s, they were so hyped up and I thought they would convert me, but even dirty I just can’t sip on gin and pretend like I like it. Louie’s has been on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so I’ll just leave you with that. Post-September Whole 30, I’m coming for ya Louie’s!

Central Market
One of my favorite past times is wandering the aisles at a grocery store. No really. If I need to kill some time or if I’m bored, or if I should be doing a million other things, I’ll often find a reason to end up at the grocery store. I love to do my big shopping on Sundays, but about mid-week I need a pick-me-up and will go stroll down aisles to pick up a little something-something. This is a long way of saying now that Central Market is in my life, this grocery store meandering has heightened. I still love TJ’s, Whole Foods and Sprouts, but Central Market has s a m p l e s. And I mean samples. The bakery section is 100% my weakness and just gosh awful temptation while on Whole30 right now. They have bread of plenty to sample with this whipped butter that should just be sued it’s so good.

My Central Market faves are their fresh verde salsa, homemade tortillas, these crispbreads, the crazy selection of bulk bin items and winding through their maze of a produce section.

Bishop Arts District
Bishop Arts is tucked away west of downtown and coins the phrase “the most independent neighborhood.” It is quint and has this little mountain town feel to it, reminds me of Colorado. Cute shops (hi All Good Things), and new restaurants are popping up left and right. I got to go to Paradiso last night and everything about it from the design, to the menu to the atmosphere was on point. Some other BA faves and places on my list are Melt Ice Cream, Tribal All Day Cafe, Serve, Lucia, Eno’s Pizza, Coco’s, Botanist and Good Companions. If you have a free Saturday or Sunday, spend it wandering around Bishop Arts!

photo via Katy Trail

Katy Trail Ice House
I know Katy Trail is a little cliche Dallas, but it truly is my favorite spot in the city. I already wrote about it here! It’s great in the evening, its great during the day on the weekends, fun for watching games, great drinks (Summer Beer) and good food. It’s all outdoors, but you’ll see people in workout clothes just coming off running the Katy Trail, people with their dogs, people dressed up having come straight for work. It’s really great for any time of day or event.

Honor Bar
Another cliche Dallas spot that I’ve mentioned before, but it’s just flat out good. The vibes, the food, the experiences I’ve had there have all been great. It’s in this corner spot of Highland Park Village with a patio that expands out a bit. It’s always crowded, but for good reason. The ahi tuna, the macho salad and their version of a ranch water make me drool just thinking about them. Props to the Hillstone restaurant group for finding what they are good at and sticking to it. Being in restaurants makes you really appreciate how others do it.

Royal Blue Grocery
No one should be surprised that two grocery stores made it on this list. Royal Blue is the most charming little grocery and specialty food store, one location in Highland Park Village and one downtown. If you didn’t know, my end goal in life is to open something similar. Think Barefoot Contessa or the bakery Meryl Streep owns in It’s Complicated. Catch me in my 40s or 50s and hopefully that’s where you will find me.

Royal Blue is my current fix to fill my daydreams. Their groceries are wildly overpriced, well everything in there is, but since it’s not my everyday spot (unlike the yuppie Highland Park moms) I feel ok treating myself to a Royal Blue visit every once and a while. My recent Royal Blue crush is their turmeric latte. Just turmeric, ginger, cinnamon (hold the honey #whole30) and steamed almond milk! They also have a vegan cookie butter gelato that is, well, I think you can imagine how amazing it is.

Honorable Mentions: Oishii, The Pilates Barre, Sachet, Parkhouse, Up On Knox, Javier’s, Highland Park Presbyterian, Eatzi’s, and Terelli’s.

It’s been a stellar 3 months in Dally. Here’s to the next however many months. ILY big D!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Just when you think summer is busy, fall reminds you it’s no calmer. Work has really picked up, weekends are full with football games, events, errands what have you and my week nights are finding ways to go from 5pm to 9pm in lightening speed. All this to be said it was a relatively low key weekend which was a much needed change of pace.

-Monday blues on blues on blues.
-Last week on W30 had me craving all the chips and snack foods. While these sweet potato chip ingredients are approved, downing them in almost one sitting probably was not…
-Breakfast for dinner just always wins: no sugar added chicken sausage, 2 pasture-raised eggs, tomato, and figs.
-I finished Where the Crawdads Sing last week. It definitely lived up to the hype, buuut it is slow to the start, keep chugging along if you are stuck in the beginning.
-With the influence of my friend Elyse, I got back on the bulletproof coffee train last week and only a few days in and I legit go to bed craving it for the next morning. I saved the recipe in my Whole 30 highlights.
-Wine (topo chico) Wednesday with friends who made sure the cheese board had Whole 30 approved snacks on it! PSA the verde salsa from Central Market is fire with plantain chips.
-A very chill Friday that included the Whole 30 bowl from Chipotle, a face mask and in bed by 9pm.
-Who else raided the Target 20th-anniversary designer collab early Saturday morning? More on this below.
-A W30 brunch date with my Whole 30 partner, Caroline, at Origin Kitchen. We both got the sweet potato bowl and I’m itching to recreate it.
-Boomer in Dallas cheering on our boys in LA!
-PUMPkin up the fall vibes.
-SO excited for this week’s lunch meal prep. The combination of spices and “autumnal” (cough Kathleen cough) ingredients in this recipe made my kitchen smell like it was straight-up middle of November.

Annie

Target bite: I had to elaborate more on Target Anniversary collection. I have shopped almost every collection since they started this at Target. Kathleen and I would wake up bright and early to shop the limited time collabs. You can read an old post here on TAB and here on Kathleen’s blog from back in the day about our shopping experiences for Philip Lim and Missoni.

Target didn’t come out with any new designs. They simply reproduced items from the original collaborations. I spotted a few John Derian platters my mom still owns, an Anna Sui dress I wore the heck out of, two Philip Lim bags I wore my entire junior year of college and so. much. Missoni. The knit midi skirt brought back all the flashbacks.

Kathleen took to our old Target collab shopping ways and got there right at 8 AM. She started sending me pictures and I quickly got in my car. I walked away with this and this from John Derian and this blouse from Rodarte. Any other Target crazies out there? I’ll leave you with this quote from a lady in the parking lot shoving bag after bag into her tiny car trunk…“I really didn’t think I was going to buy this much!” Same girl, same.

Bites of My Life

Not a proponent of short weeks after all, anyone else? Starting the week on a Tuesday is no bueno. I felt rushed and unorganized all week. Despite yesterday being a busy Monday, and this post coming to you on a Tuesday, I already feel better about how this week is unfolding.

I was back home in OKC (again), but for some really good friend’s and kind of family wedding. In Dallas this weekend and next for the first time in what feels like for forever.

-Favorite non-egg Whole 30 breakfast: 1 banana sliced and laid out, drizzle of almond or cashew butter, tahini and sprinkled with cinnamon.
-Ate this for lunch everyday last week. Swapped the potatoes for a purple and regular sweet potato and loved it with the tahini mustard sauce for a non-meat Whole30 meal!
-Barely slept last Thursday night and all the early morning workout classes I wanted to take were full. Groggy eyed I made it through this arm workout before leaving for the airport. Only 15 minutes and such a burnout.
-After a bit of a slow start I’m really getting into Where The Crawdads Sing and only have about 50 pages left.
-Weekend meals on Whole30 and at my parents were very makeshift, but I made it happen. Lots of snack plates with salami, avocado, fruit and either olives, nuts or plantain chips. Besides a glass of wine Friday and Saturday night, I held strong all weekend.
-Such a fun night celebrating the new Mr. and Mrs. Krenger. Chloe married my BIL’s brother so we are now just one big happy family!
-Honored that Chloe and Joseph asked me to make Perfect CCC’s for their wedding. They forgo dinner and did a massive desserts only table at their reception. Not to brag, but my cookies were easily the first to go.
-Shishito peppers. The EASIEST thing to make why I don’t do this more is beyond me? My parents started getting a farm fresh delivery of fruits, veggies and eggs, so we cooked these up as a snack Sunday. Just a little oil in a cast iron skillet, roast the peppers about 7 minutes until they blister. Sprinkle with flaky salt and lemon zest and you are done.
-Got home around 7:45 Sunday night and shoveled down some sweet potato chips with salsa for a very sad Whole30 dinner before unpacking, showering and falling into bed.

Annie