Bites of My Life

Colorado in the fall, does it get any better? I’ve been lucky to visit the last weekend of September once before and to be there when the Aspens are turning yellow is truly unbelievable. It’s a scene that I kept finding myself just staring at the trees. I’m not a treehugger by any means, but you can’t help but relish in the serious beauty this time of year.

This Colorado trip was to celebrate my oldest friend marry one of my dear high school friends. They have been together for 10 years and their time finally came! There were a lot of tears, laughs, old memories shared and new memories made. Before dipping out of town I officially added pumpkin flavored things back into my diet, got a baking bug and celebrated two friend’s birthdays! I hope you all had a great week.

-First Pumpkin Green Smoothie of the season.
-On that note, you’d think I’d be diving into pumpkin bread, but I had some ripe bananas and a special request for my banana bread!
-Birthday twins (unknowingly by Caroline, planned by Kate - ha).
-Landed in Vail and got to hiking the rocky mountains with my momma. Photo cred/proof he was there: Dad!
-Mountain Standard, more specifically there warm pimento cheese with bacon jam, is a MUST on any trip to Vail.
-Found the bride kicking off the wedding weekend at The Red Lion!
-It’s so weird how life takes you in different directions. This is a reason I love weddings, because it brings so many special people back together, old friends and new friends. I loved getting to form friendships with Anna’s law school and DC friends through her wedding season.
-It doesn’t get more picturesque than this. Wade and Anna knew what they were doing when they chose this late September weekend and Piney River Ranch for their wedding.
-MOH for my bestie since birth.

Bites of My Life

Home after such a great Labor Day weekend in the Colorado with some really great friends. We booked this trip on a whim over the 4th of July and I’ve been looking forward to it since. We stayed in Beaver Creek, but ventured to Edwards, Minturn and Vail. This part of the mountains is an area I have such fun memories from growing up and it’s always a blast to revisit. Our weekend was the perfect mix of eating, drinking, hiking, shopping, seeing, doing and relaxing. Coming home to a short week is the perfect cure, and then I’m off again this weekend to spend time on Lake LBJ with my best college friends. Feeling very thankful for friends and family lately.

-Have you seen the Slim Aarons documentary? I recently caught wind of it, even though it came out a few years ago. It’s fascinating to learn more about his life. You can watch it here.
-A go-to meal that always hits the spot is spaghetti sauce with meat sauce. It feels indulgent like spaghetti, but is healthy and light all things considered. I bought an extra squash and froze some leftover sauce to have for a healthy meal after getting home from my trip. It was the best to come home to.
-When the tortilla chip craving HITS. These restaurant-style Beanitos are my absolute fave grain-free chips.
-This was my first plane ride since the pandemic. While our American Airlines flight was booked at full capacity, I did feel safe and healthy with zero fears.
-First night in Beaver Creek called for cozy Italian at Ti Amo. I split the chicken and sausage scallopini over angel hair.
-Traded in our Tini Tuesdays for a full weekend in the mountains!
-If you are headed to the Beaver Creek/Vail area, I highly recommend Mountain Standard in Vail for lunch or dinner. We lucked out with walking in, but a reservation is a good idea. You must get the pimento cheese with bacon jam, grilled bread, and pickled celery.
-Already missing morning coffee and evening wine and cheese hour on the beautiful patio at the house we stayed at in BC.
-We had bought produce at the farmers market and had planned on a homecooked Sunday night dinner, but after indulging on dips and crackers and cookie dough, we called that dinner and saved our ingredients to make for a healthy lunch before hopping on our plane ride home.

Annie

Byte Bites: if you missed Friday’s new post style, check it out here!

Kale Quinoa Salad

While in Aspen, CO last week for our family trip, I found myself ordering kale salad after kale salad. Our dinners where indulgent, as they should be, so I tried to counteract them with a salad here and there for lunch. And I’d be lying if I said every time I ordered, said kale salad, it wasn’t also followed by a handful of french fries. The amount of kale salads and fries eaten on that trip…

Anyway, the kale salad hoopla was a must recreate situation the second I got home. 1. because I love some good travel inspiration for my meals and 2. because how better to slide back into healthy eating post vacay than with a kale salad? It has me being healthy and reminiscent!

Kale Quinoa Salad
serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side

1 large bunch of lacinito kale
1 medium sweet potato
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked
1/2 cup pecans
1/3 cup dried cranberries
olive oil
cinnamon

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tbsp. grainy mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Chop your sweet potato into 1/2 inch cubes. Place on a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil, salt and cinnamon. I love love love roasting sweet potatoes with cinnamon, but you can omit. Toss together and roast for 25 minutes. Check halfway through and toss around if needed. *When 5 minutes are left on the sweet potatoes, place the pecans on a roasting sheet and roast for 5 minutes making sure to watch that they don’t burn. Take out at the same time as the sweet potatoes. Roughly chop the pecans and set aside.

Now to de-rib your kale. Rinse and pat dry your kale. To de-rib, run a knife alongside the stem to detach the leaves. You can get a visual here. Layer all the kale leaves on top of each other and chop the kale into small pieces. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

In a mason jar or small bowl, add all dressing ingredients. Shake or whisk to combine.

To the bowl of kale add the cooked quinoa, roasted sweet potatoes, cranberries, and pecans. Drizzle with a good portion of the dressing. Using a pair of tongs, give everything a really good toss until everything is coated in dressing. Kale is not a lettuce you can just pour dressing over the top. Your have to mix and toss and coat it with dressing.

Plate and serve with a bit of salt and pepper on top.

Another favorite fall kale salad is my Fall Panzanella with Cornbread Croutons!

Annie

Bites of My Life

This post combines the past two weeks into one big bite. I got home from vacation late last Wednesday and quickly had to jump right back in to work and social life as I knew it. A big work event, busy playing catch up, a besties birthday and a personal to-go list that is becoming miles long has me typing as fast as I can to get through this post to continue tackling the others. A full round up of our trip to Aspen is in the works! It was too good of a trip not to devote a post to. Catch a glimpse in the snapshots below and stay tuned for the whole shebang!

-Channeling “back to school” vibes with my new work bag/backpack - that I can’t get enough of!
-Aunts do Aspen! And Elle does Aspen really well. #gimmethosemoccasins
-We were lucky to get to stay in a big house on our trip. We played to our strengths and cooked a few meals at home. After some delicious nights out, we all agreed our dinners at home were the best!
-The reason that brought us to Aspen, Pop’s 60th birthday! His birthday was actually in June, but there are many reasons to celebrate 3 months later!
-The whole fam damily! Not often does the whole crew get to be together, but I sure love when we do!
-I went on a kale salad kick while in Aspen. It seemed that just about every menu had their own rendition, so I took it upon myself to test them out. Like this kale caesar from Ajax Tavern
-I’ll follow up my kale salad note by mentioning that I washed down my healthy salad with fries at pretty much every meal. It’s called vacation! The infamous truffle fries from Ajax Tavern could not go without ordering.
-Just like one of the beautiful trees around me! We had a successful hike through the Maroon Bells.
-Book 12 out of my 12 in a year goal. Went out with a bang with this one. Can’t recommend it enough.
-The best breakfast casserole returns. Might I add, this is always a crowd pleaser. I brought it to a morning tailgate were it was aside donuts and bagels and many people reached for the casserole over the other options.
-Played cowgirl for the day to celebrate our favorite OSU Cowboy’s birthday in Stillwater!
-After a the kale salad craze on vacation, I knew I was inspired to recreate one at home. This kale quinoa goodness is coming your way later this week.

Annie