Welcome to Friday Favorites! I don’t have much to share this week – mostly food. It seems like my entire life continues to revolve around food right now. I’m trying to eat really well, but I’m also trying to come up with healthIER treats that I can still have and make for my family, so I don’t feel like I’ve lost such a huge piece of who I am. This week has been a bit more difficult because the treats have been so dang good that’s all I want to eat. I’ve also eaten out almost every day this week. And Christmas is days away. I’m trying not to be too harsh on myself, but I worry these couple of weeks are really going to set me back. I don’t have willpower. But anyway! My favorites this week are most definitely worth sharing.
EAT
- HuHot has been one of my all time favorite restaurants for many years. Maybe in part because I could only get there once or twice a year, so the experience was always so memorable. It probably would have never become my favorite restaurant, though, if it hadn’t been for finding a stack of “recipe cards” during my first trip there. I landed on THE MOST DELICIOUS combination of sauces and that’s all I’ll get every single time I go because it’s so good. If you adore spicy food, go to HuHot and try this out. You’re welcome. Technically, the real recipe is one ladle less of each of these sauces, but I like my food to be super saucy. The “Bomb Burner” recipe includes three ladles of Samurai Teriyaki, three ladles of Burn Your Village, two ladles of Kung Pao, and two ladles of Hot Chili Oil. It is SO GOOD.
- I’m definitely noticing that as soon as I eat one type of food that I probably shouldn’t be (ahem, HuHot), I’m almost immediately craving another bad food. Saturday night I was DESPERATE for a cookie. Which is kind of weird because while I’ve made thousands of cookies in my life, I’m almost never that excited about the end result. But, I needed that mouthfeel, so I found this recipe for Life Changing Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies. And guys? These really might be life changing. Holy cow. I LOVED them. I made a different flourless peanut butter cookie recipe a few weeks ago and they just tasted so much like straight up peanut butter I had no interest in eating them. These, though. SO GOOD. I used 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 coconut sugar. And regular chocolate chunks, because I don’t care about trying to be dairy free. Coconut sugar isn’t really any better for you – it only has a slightly lower glycemic index. But I’m kind of obsessed with the flavor of it now that I gave it a shot in a couple different recipes. It really enriched these cookies – I think – making them delectable, but not overly sweet. Even if you’re fine with eating flour, give this recipe a shot.
- I recently read that your taste buds regenerate every 10-14 days so anyone is capable of changing the way foods taste to them. I’m wondering if this is why these slightly healthier goodie recipes have been tasting like THE BEST THINGS I’VE EVER EATEN. I’ve gone two months now eating very little processed foods, refined white carb filled foods, or fried foods. I’ve expected to be bored to tears with how bland everything would taste to me, but the opposite seems to be happening. Everything suddenly has so much flavor. Which is maybe why this recipe for Amazing Gluten Free Banana Pumpkin Bread is literally the best tasting sweet bread I’ve ever had. But it’s so good that I’ve eaten almost the entire loaf by myself in just two days. NOT good. I used 1/2 brown and 1/2 coconut sugar again, and only coconut sugar for the streusel. And I’m not sure how much difference it made, but I was too lazy to go to the basement to get a container of almond milk (one of my more recently weekly purchases), so I subbed in Califia Farms Toffee Tidings Almond Milk Creamer since I keep pushing it to the back of the fridge at coffee time (lol). I also found last week that I love the taste of oatmeal so much more with almond milk, so it’s definitely turning into a staple for me. I might have to use the creamer the next time, though! (The seasonal flavor isn’t on the website, but I found it at Target. I don’t think I’ve seen that brand anywhere else.)
- Okay, I won’t claim these to be the best tasting thing ever, but I did really enjoy this recipe for Mint Brownie Energy Bites. It mostly satisfies that dessert craving, while actually being legitimately healthy. I didn’t get medjool dates because they were so much more expensive, but now that I know I like energy bites like this I’ll probably pick them up next time.
READ
- So if you don’t know already, Colleen Hoover is my favorite author. I believe she announced her upcoming book Regretting You way back in March when I immediately preordered a copy. But then at Book Bonanza in August she kept hiding ARCS of it around the hotel and I was insanely jealous of all the people that found them and have had the chance to read it early. I’m honestly so angry at one BB attendee from Columbus who I kind of know because she found one of the ARCS, but didn’t read it until THIS WEEK. I read it before her – after the release date. I would have never sat on it for five months!!!! Anyway, like always, Colleen did not disappoint. This book was really, really good. And it was definitely more on the tame end of things. You never know what you’re going to get with her!
BE COZY
- It’s so cold in our house in winter. Mostly because SOMEONE refuses to let the thermostat be higher than 67 for our downstairs furnace and 63 upstairs. And when I wake up before 5, like every single morning, it’s on an overnight temp of 60 and doesn’t “warm up” for a few more hours. Anyway, I was on the lookout for some new slippers this year (and I needed to use some Kohl’s cash), so I gave these Dearfoams Fluffy Pile Bootie Slippers a shot. I got them in plum a size bigger than the instructions tolds me because I have such wide feet. They’re a little bit big, but not enough to bother me. I really like them! I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with slippers because I want them to feel cozy, but there’s nothing cozy about wearing shoes in the house. But I can never just wear the thick sock types because they’re too slippery on my wood floors. These have a hard sole, but the rest of the slipper is so soft and warm that they still feel cozy.
That’s about it! Our super long string of Christmas festivities already started last night and we’re about to head out again. Happy Friday!
