salad-in-a-jar – Page 23

Nothing like writing all these year-end recaps, then cramming them all in during the last few days of December, right? 2016 was the year of pancakes, LOTS of summer grilling, salads-in-a-jar and adventurous meat cooking, but there was also a lot of amazing stuff in between. Here’s the best of the best!

Best Family Recipe:

Red Beans & Rice from my uncle’s recipe (February 9)

Best Pizza:

Cast-Iron Pan Pizza from Bon Appétit (March 2)

Best Baked Recipe:

Mini Vegan “Brioche” Buns from Take a Megabite (March 29)

Best Side Dish:

Creamy Chive Potatoes from Bon Appétit (April 4)

Best Burger:

Spinach Goat Cheese Burger from Eat, Live, Run (June 9)

Best Grill Meal:

Grilled Lamb from Cooking Light (July 4)

Best Summer Pasta Dish:

Spaghetti with Tomato and Walnut Pesto from Bon Appétit (August 9) — made 110% better by the fact that Joey made it for me ♥

Best Pancake:

The Easiest (Vegan) Pancakes from Oh, Ladycakes (October 15, but also many times after that)

Best Salad:

Fall Squash & Fig Salad with Maple Mustard Balsamic Dressing from Yummy Beet // thanks to our salad-in-a-jar habit, we ate a lot of salads this year, but this one was my favorite.

Best Winter Pasta Dish:

Garlic and White Wine Pasta with Brussels Sprouts from Minimalist Baker (December 15)

Best Cookie:

Two-way tie between:

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Displaced Housewife (October 13)

And The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies from Pinch of Yum (February 25)

Best Granola:

Pumpkin Maple Pecan Granola from Edible Perspective // If you had asked me my favorite granola prior to this fall I would have told you nothing could come between me and the Lightened Up Summer Granola from Oh She Glows but then I decided to give this one a try and it instantly became my new favorite. I think it’s those dates.

Best Cooking Success of the Entire Year: Christmas + Our First Turkey!

Don’t get me wrong, I was blown away by the lamb we grilled ourselves for the 4th of July, but that was so low pressure compared to cooking a 20-pound turkey for 15 people on Christmas. The days leading up to it, I kept wondering if this meal would end up on this list or on the other list. Thankfully, it’s here. The turkey was juicy perfection, the rolls were puffy mini cloud status, the rice/sweet potatoes/mashed potatoes/gravy/cranberry sauce all went off without a hitch and people went mad for the raw Brussels sprout salad (?!).

In other words, this meal was the crowning glory of my culinary life thus far.

Food forecast for 2017? Hopefully more pizza! In all seriousness, culinary growth (even if it’s just in my own kitchen) is one of the biggest, most fun and most unexpected joys of my life. Here’s to its continuance in the new year!

It’s official — Great American Beer Fest is my new favorite holiday! I was like a kid on Christmas morning all day Friday and when 5:30 (okay, more like 5:45) hit and I was walking my little beer loving heart up to the first booth, I think I was the happiest I’ve ever been. I recounted something like 30 beer samples and though it all became one big (mostly IPA) blur halfway through, it was seriously the best time ever. Good thing I have lots of other fall-time events to look forward to, otherwise I think I’d have the post-GABF blues real hard.

Now please enjoy some badly taken photos from the festival. It’s hard to juggle your phone and your sample cup while not entirely sober 🙂

The best way to prepare for GABF is with an Illegal Pete’s burrito, duh.

Festival entry was so much better/smoother this year! First, they herded us like cattle into separate corrals then a real life bagpipe band marched down the main aisle, then they unleashed us corral-by-corral.

Made a beeline for Black Project Spontaneous since they were out by the time we got to them last year. It did not disappoint! Joey got lost at some point and posted that last photo asking people to let him know if they saw me. We eventually reunited and yelled “HUSBAND!” and “WIFE!” to each other from across the hall. Normal stuff, nothing to see here 🙂

Couldn’t pass up a brewery serving from an RV, plus they had blueberry gose! “Cannabis Beer” is a thing, apparently and guys, it does not taste good. Got a pin with that smiley face on it. The volunteer handing them out asked if he could put it on me. Um that’s a major no.

In all seriousness, I tasted some really bad beers but also some really good ones. Mainly, Elsewhere from Black Project, Field to Ferment from Fremont Brewing, that Blueberry Gose from Destihl Brewery, Head High from Kane Brewing, Art Car IPA from Saint Arnold, Hop Drop N’ Roll from NoDa and even though everyone gave me a hard time for going to a local brewery that I could visit anytime, the Codename: Superfan from Odd13 (Louisville, represent!) was incredibly good! Cannot say the same for the mushroom beers from Scratch Brewing…

I happened to schedule a facial AND a massage for the next morning, so after walking to grab a pumpkin spice latte from Cherry Bean (serious yum!) and snapping a quick pic of Joey, in which I’m pretty sure he was still “under the influence,” I headed out to enjoy some major relaxation. Spent the rest of the day brewing beer with Bobby and Becca then we started Stranger Things. Not gonna lie, I’m a baby and it’s really freaking me out so far. Getting some serious Slender Man vibes.

Went on a nice long run Sunday morning then refueled with breakfast at Duo that, while toasty because we were right in the sun, was impressively good. From the French Press to the freshly baked chocolate chip muffin with perfectly softened butter to my bacon scramble and crispy potatoes, I had zero complaints. Afterwards, we had a birthday party to attend then I hit the grocery and prepped our salads for the week. This one but with this dressing. Is it lunch time yet?

What did you do this weekend?

Any locals who also attended GABF??

Life as Lauren

Tales from the life of Lauren

Tag: salad-in-a-jar

Best Tastes of 2016: From Our Kitchen