Our Fabled Nest

As a husky mama, wifey, foodie and creator behind the blog, I had a beautiful week celebrating all of my favorite things with some of my favorite people! My week starts on the second and runs til the eighth – sweet Forrest’s birthday week runs until the first and I don’t want to take any attention from his wonderful soul so mine is a little different. Not a biggie – still a week of all of those things my heart adores. For the whole month of March, I am challenging myself to make as much from scratch as possible. A thing a day I say! Whether it’s a condiment like mayo, what about butter, or oat milk, maybe even bagels – ooh baby wipes for Forrest?! As you can see, I have a million ideas on things I’d love to try my hand at so we can be more sustainable and a little more ready for our homestead when the time comes – practice makes perfect! There may be a future blog detailing all the fun things we tried – pass or fail – it is going to be a fun adventure!

Food. I love feeding people. I love creating nourishing delicious, homey, cozy meals that make others feel loved. Food is how I love people. For me, my kitchen is the heart of our tiny home. For my week of food, it was hard to decide what to make since I usually am cooking for everyone -if their happy, I’m happy with what’s on the menu. I love Thai and Asian inspired dishes that led me to making caulli-wings with a Thai “Pnut” Sauce for dipping. Subbing in either sun butter or almond butter works phenomenal! Chicken nuggets are equally as good, but cauliflower and this Thai sauce go together so well! I also wanted sushi, homemade, of course. We realized we don’t need the fancy rolling bamboo mat. It is easier but we wrap the nori sheet on the outside, so it contains the mess a little easier. My combo is crab and cucumbers tucked in sushi rice and rolled nicely in the nori sheet – can’t go wrong with a classic! Hubs always goes for the crab, cucumber and cream cheese, then tops with a bit of chili sauce for a spicy kick. I also found gluten free pot stickers at a local market, and we steamed edamame. That was probably my favorite meal – cue the happy dance!

Food needs to tell a story, for me Smash Burgers do just that. We had a drive-in diner in town when I was a kid. Some of my favorite memories are with my family going for a Set Up and a burger. This took me back and made my inner child estatic. The key to a good Smash Burger is a relatively thin patty. You’ll want it to crisp up – we grilled ours on our blackstone and that made it perfectly nostalgic!

As a Southern girl, I have a love of BBQ. I don’t enjoy it often, but I knew it was something I wanted to celebrate. I’ve never made BBQ Sauce before, but knew I wanted to give it a shot. I wanted that thick, sweet as molasses, smokey campfire kind of sauce that all southern grandmas write about in their church cookbooks. I found one and it’s good, but we need more details from the sauce! I personally, want it a bit smokier but it has a nice rich Carolina BBQ vibe going on! Let the chicken slow cook all day, shred it, toss it with some of that beautiful sauce. Pile it on homemade buns. Can’t forget the slaw and shoestring crispy fries! Geeze, another beautiful meal for my soul. This is what food is about. Memories, happiness, good times!

I was not a huge fan of pizza -there I said it. Gluten free pizza is meh. We have tired countless recipes – many are okay, but I want it to resemble a traditional pizza. I think we have found a solution! King Arthur came out with a Gluten Free Pizza Flour blend. It is not pizza crust mix but a flour similar to their regular pizza flour. I thought this is the perfect week – why not – let’s try it! Ooh and I am so glad we did! We went for a classic supreme pizza. I don’t like spicy, so we made a mild Italian Sausage, added olives, sautéed peppers, mushrooms and a threw together a quick marinara. Keeping it traditional, we topped it with our farmer’s cheese – similar to mozzarella. I am really happy with this one – I love that the crust holds up nicely and actually mimics traditional pizza. Fun find!

Another fun item that made the menu is NY Spiedies. While I didn’t love our stay in Upstate NY, I found a new food I couldn’t get enough of. Spiedies are similar to Gyros. If you’re short on time, Wegman’s has a commercial version of the marinade available. I have never tried it – I’ve always made it from scratch. We throw together our quick garlicky herby lemon marinade for our chicken to soak in overnight. Pork is also quite good – just not as easy to shred unless you’re using a boston butt. Discard the marinade and grill the chicken. It can be served in a multitude of ways. Our go to is similar to Gyros wrapped with feta, lettuce, tomato, onion and topped with fresh tzatziki sauce. I love the freshness of spring I get when we make these! So good.

Breakfast is always pancakes on the weekends – or weekdays – time depending. It is for the kiddos, our favorite thing ever and I love seeing them happy dance while I prepare them. I wanted to change it up and hopefully not make a husky mad. Lavender Pancakes with lemon whip cream was the first thing – close enough to spring! Fresh bagels with lox are Magda’s favorite -a quick strawberry jam for everyone else on those fresh bagels. Pretty good for the first-time making bagels! Pumpkin Pancakes are also a crowd favorite- especially with sauteed apples, whip cream and a drizzle of maple syrup. Lastly, I made a batch of London Fog Muffins with a honey lemon sauce drizzled over. Beautiful and scrumptious!

I am also not a huge fan of desserts. I love our one dessert we create weekly, but I don’t crave chocolate or sweets. Birthday week for me is about being creative and trying out new things. I don’t work with cherries a lot. I like them – yes, but I never really make anything with them. Well, I wanted to try a cherry dessert. Something simple, classic and relatively easy. Cherry Cobbler for the win! A slightly sweet cherry filling tucked underneath a buttery crust baked until golden and bubbling. Add a bit of fresh whip cream – can’t get much better than that!

Cheers to 34! Cheers to whatever beautiful adventures come my way!