Sam's 31st Birthday: Eating Good!

For Sam's birthday this year, he asked for me to cook for him with real whole foods. If I was going to buy something from the grocery store that was processed, it had to have less than 5 ingredients in it. I did great for the first few days, but we had some dorm events and other outings later in the week so I didn't get to cook every meal for the whole week (I made it up to him by buying him a new tv, though, so I think he forgave me!).

Here are some of the things I made him for his birthday.

This is the real whole food I started with.

And that's what real wheat looks like.

And this is what I look like as I grind my own wheat. Which is the easiest thing in the world to do. And the loudest thing in the world to do.

And there is my beautiful wheat flour!

Now to make some bread!!!

Breakfast for the first morning - whole wheat bread with local honey and fresh fruit!

Lunch on the first day - brown rice, the best black bean recipe ever, and toppings of sour cream, tomatoes, and avocados. Yum.

Day 2 breakfast: homemade granola and yogurt (I loved this granola recipe, but Sam doesn't like coconut so he wasn't a huge fan).

Working on dessert for dinner... Lemon Pound Cake This was delicious, but very lemony!

Dinner time! Corn salad (this link is close to what I did - just add 4 c. halved cherry tomatoes), lemon pepper grouper, bread, and pound cake.

Dinner the next night: fresh steamed broccoli and the best frittata I've ever had in my life. Giada De Laurentiis does it right, y'all.

On Sunday, we picnicked in the park, and I brought homemade tortillas, homemade salsa, and made tortilla rollups with cheese and salsa. I also brought fresh fruit and homemade oatmeal cookies.

I splurged for Sam's birthday and went to Margot's Cafe aka the. best. restaurant. in. the. world. Margot's serves all local food and their meat, although not local, is either grassfed beef, fresh caught fish, or pastured chicken from sustainable farms. This night we had flank steak with grilled peppers, onions, and potatoes.

Happy birthday, Sam!

I was exhausted and made a box cake. So embarrassing.

31 years young!

Did I mention I made 9 cakes and had a dorm event so all the guys could celebrate Sam's birthday? I was for real exhausted!

Sam and his RAs, past and present.

It was a great birthday week with lots of good eatin'!