It's not an activity I take lightly. Likely due to the vigor and frequency of my cooking at home, I have probably higher than average expectations for a restaurant. If I'm going to pay for a meal out at a restaurant, it should be something special that's either new, or something I can't make at home - and hopefully at a spot that's relaxed and not too toursity. While traveling, finding healthier options is also a passion! I love trying local foods and dishes, but after a meal or two of heavy things or tapas, I'm in the mood for a big old SALAD (or any other veggies usually).

So many traditional foods and dishes in France are inherently a bit heavier - cheese, cream and butter based. Not the best for the lactose intolerant folks such as myself :). BUT, there are also some great options popping up, including more recently, some vegan restaurants! The variety of food in cities is definitely increasing across the board, but I have been especially excited to see this in France, where I'm spending almost half of this year! The suggestions below for restaurants (and a few coffee/bakery spots) is certainly not an exhaustive list, but some great options I've found this year. I'll be continuing to update as I try new ones!! Enjoy if you go!!

Restaurants

Kitchen Garden

22 Rue Sainte-Colombe
My first vegan experience in Bordeaux!! The bowl plates are filling enough that you won't even need the side of bread - that's saying a lot in France. They serve full meals, as well as snacks and drinks such as fresh pressed juices and lattes if you're looking for an afternoon pick me up. Try the Mediterranean bowl for a delightful and refreshing mix of flavors.

Sel et Sucre

5 Rue du Palais de l'Ombrière
If you're looking for a solid crepe experience, this is it. The restaurant has cute decor from Bretagne all around, and is located on a quieter street. The prices are affordable (including drinks), and the savory crepes (gallettes) are correcte, as the French would say.

L'Autre Petit Bois

12 Place du Parlement
This quaint restaurant did not disappoint on the food or decor front! The menu is strong, with some stellar tartines and salads at affordable prices. Snag a table out front for a view of the square, or inside upstairs to enjoy the cute interior decorations.

Mokoji

13 Rue du Serpolet
Small, cute spot for good Korean food near Place Camille Julian. The glass noodles are filling, and the bibimbap looked great, too!

Cafe Saigon

21 Rue Guadet, Saint-Émilion
This one is actually outside of Bordeaux, in a small town called Saint Emilion, known for its location in the heart of Bordeaux vineyards. Cafe Saigon is a Vietnamese restaurant off the main drag, just secluded enough to feel a bit more local. Expect high quality dishes paired with a strong Bordeaux wine menu!

Bakeries

Louis Lamour

7 Rue Ravez, and 157 Rue Judaïque
Amazing bread and unique pastries, including croissants of different layered flavors (raspberry, chocolate, etc!). Lots of good classics, as well as new favorites. The Rue Judaique location is out of the center, but cute enough that it's worth the walk. Be prepared to order quickly as the line move fast!

More to come as I keep exploring. Let me know if there is anything else I should check out!

The post Non-Touristy Restaurants in Bordeaux appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

There are so many temptations to splurge when you're traveling or out and not used to your routine, so it's *extra* hard to manage when it's week after week. I thought I'd put together this list to share as inspiration for you guys!

What is healthy?

Eating "healthy" means something different to everyone. For me, it's eating wholesome, minimally processed foods with lots of veggies and limiting dairy because that's what makes me feel the best. Your definition may be different and that's totally cool, but this post is to share my perspective with you, hopefully for inspiration.

While traveling for work, I don't let this definition of healthy change much. One change that I do make is that I try to snack less (since I'm not as active). This can be hard because there are always so many temptations around, so instead I focus on having filling meals and staying hydrated throughout the day.

If I'm traveling with others I find that it's even harder to portion control and eat healthy because everyone wants to eat out, so instead of restricting myself while eating out, I just focus on getting as many veggies as I can! This usually translates to big salads, but also great dishes like fish/steak/chicken with roasted veggies and potatoes. I will indulge in a homemade pasta at a good Italian restaurant though!!

Anyway, let's do a *visual* walk through of some of my other tips for eating delicious, healthy, beautiful food on the go 🙂

BYO toppings.

This is my favorite tip for making decked out oats for breakfast! This is one of my favorite tips because I feel a little more at home with just a few small items that I pack from home. You can bring almost any pantry item to make a plain cup of oats more exciting, nutritious and delicious. Most hotels (and of course Starbucks) serve a water based oatmeal with a toppings bar that's sugar heavy (sweetened dried fruit, sweet coconut, brown sugar, syrup, etc.), so doing your own toppings can also keep it much more balanced. My favorites are berries (if I can grab them somewhere close by), nuts or nut butter, protein powder, chia seeds, flax seeds and hemp seeds. The healthy fats + protein addition helps keep me fuller longer - avoiding sugary drinks or mid-morning snacks. I use small tupperware like these mini containers to pack in my carry on.

Starbucks oats with berries, nuts, granola + hemp seeds added:

A BYO oatmeal cup with maca. Added nut butter and granola on top:

Hotel oatmeal updated with berries and granola (walnuts from the hotel!):

Hotel oatmeal with cinnamon, hemp + chia seeds mixed in. Dried + fruit and granola on top. Sensing a trend?

Another hotel oatmeal with granola, hemp, chia, cocoa nibs and chocolate chips on top:

Same thing with banana!

Okay, but do I eat anything than oatmeal? Why yes! Read on 🙂

BYO Snacks.

Not only do snacks on the go add up, they probably have a lot more sugar and added ingredients than you though. You can make a snack like granola bars for yourself before traveling that will store well, or throw some nuts in a bag for an easy to grab snack. Try out these hemp bars!

Just BYO Meal!

Some weeks I just want *my* food. And I don't want to waste what I have at home! So I pack up a little lunch like I would at home and carry it in an insulated lunchbox. Yes, my coworkers make fun of me. No, I don't care because I'm eating something delicious and healthy! I usually do this for breakfast or dinner at the airport, and sometimes even for a lunch when I leave in the morning. Check out this curry I packed from home (note: it only had veggies, curry broth and tofu so I thought it would be easier to transport. Wouldn't recommend for fish/chicken/other perishable foods).

Hit up a grocery store.

If you're near a little market, Target, WalMart or grocery store, you'd be surprised what healthy meals and snacks you can come up with!! If you're with co-workers and they want to eat out, you could offer to cook, or at least grab some things for a healthy breakfast. I find if I have a good veggie filled breakfast, it sets a better tone for the rest of the day. Less temptation later if you fuel right to begin with! A fridge is usually necessary for this, though, and a microwave is helpful. My favorite ideas are:

• Breakfast: Grab some berries, hard boiled eggs, hummus and/or easy to eat veggies like spinach, bell peppers or carrots. If you have a microwave you can heat up some veggies to wilt them slightly. Save a little salt + pepper packet from a fast food restaurant to season it.
• PRO TIP: Most hotels will have a plate or something you can ask for to heat up your food (even if the hotel doesn't serve breakfast sometimes the hotel restaurant will give you one).
• Snack: Grab some berries or nuts for a snack rather than pre-packaged bars. Hard boiled eggs are also great!
• Lunch/Dinner: Heat up a good soup with some greens for a quick and healthy meal. Tomato or lentil soups are my go to's! Plus you can usually heat it up in a coffee mug if needed.

Save (veggie) leftovers.

Portion control, but also ensuring you have veggies for tomorrow! Sometimes my hotel has happy hours with good items, so even if I'm planning to go out to eat, I'll grab some to save for later (see the awesome Mexican plate below!). Other times I'll take home dinner leftovers for breakfast. This helps me not overeat because I don't feel like I have to finish it all at once.

This was dinner one night (for four...)

Turned into breakfast the next day:

And check out this stellar happy hour taco plate from my Marriott hotel!! Skipped the tortillas, sour cream and cheese and opted for lots of cilantro, tomato, guac, meat and a little rice:

Make it a salad!

I've been loving the salads that I've found the last few weeks on my trip!! I haven't been afraid to ask a restaurant to modify, or even ask the cafeteria chefs at the office to switch up a main entree and just add lettuce instead of bread. It can still be simple but delicious!

Here's a great (and easy) kale salad with citrus dressing and grilled chicken. Red onion + apple on the side. So good!

Revisit old classics.

Ever since doing Whole30 I'm more in tuned to healthier options that you can make - anywhere! Eating at Chipotle? Make it lighter than usual by skipping the heavy toppings (sour cream, cheese, rice) and stick with a veggie centric meal with a salad base. Panera? Opt for a salad and fruit instead of pastries and bread bowl options. Burger place? See if you can add a side salad or get a base of greens!

Here I asked for lettuce instead of a bun, then added all the veggie toppings. Basically a salad with extra delicious protein hiding underneath 🙂

Chipotle salad FTW

That's all for now - hope you have some good ideas for next time you're traveling!! Any other tips for eating well while on the go?

The post Healthy Eating While Traveling for Work appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

I think the closest I had come until last week was at Falafel, Inc. in D.C. but a friend recently introduced me to Cook for Syria (more about it here!), and I was immediately intrigued by the effort. It's a "supper club that became a global movement," centered around fundraising money for those in need in the Syrian refugee situation. The main idea is that you can host a dinner, bake sale or event in a restaurant and ask for donations or a portion of proceeds to go towards Unicef's humanitarian work to help children in Syria - plus, you're raising awareness.

I never know how best to help in such situations, i.e., if I just donate, will my money be spent well, does it make a different. BUT I liked this effort because I felt like I could make a bigger difference by opening the conversation more with friends and doing so in a casual environment with good food. A girlfriend of mine have talked about hosting a dinner together, so I was inspired to browse through some of the free recipes! I decided to go ahead and practice some as a date night surprise for Pedro. I liked that the recipes were approachable with not too many unusual ingredients, but contained lots of spices and herbs for lots of flavor.

I settled on this green frekkeh salad with smoked almonds and pomegranate, onion bread, and a roasted red pepper dish called muhammara. I didn't make it to a middle eastern store to find all the ingredients so I made some substitutions: pearled couscous for frekkeh, red pepper flakes for aleppo chile and roasted almonds for smoked almonds. Next time I'll find all the ingredients!! Grape leaves for an appetizer. How great are all these colors?!

We loved everything, but especially the flavors of the roasted red pepper dish. I roasted the peppers the day before to meal prep a bit, and this made the dish super easy to come together. I roasted them plain on 400 until slightly blackened, then removed the skin once cool. Everything else just goes in the blender! Perfect with pita or a simple bread. Olive oil, pomegranate, walnuts and parsley on top!

The frekkeh dish was also great - loved the use of so many herbs in one dish (mint, parsley, dill). I'll definitely be using this grain + herbs technique for leftovers going forward!

And one more day - inspired by leftover herbs. I made the same frekkeh dish with rice and subbed some raisins for pomegranate. Served on greens because veggies.

I can't wait to try more of these recipes! Hope you're inspired by the food, but especially the cause this time. Let me know if you try another recipe!!

The post Cook for Syria appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

Last week we ate out a lot more than usual while we were moving!!!! It was fun to change things up a bit, but I didn't love the feeling of having to search for food at every meal, ha! We got through the stress with some Thai food at a local joint, Korean bibimbap and various leftovers, including some of my cranberry walnut bread! And of course, a little help from a caffeine boost.

I'm back on the food shopping + cooking bandwagon, though, and I have the Trader Joe's cart to prove it. This is my second ever purchase at Trader Joe's ABOVE $100. Not an easy feat for two people! I think the first time was for a party, so it makes sense that this trip was up there since we just moved and were restocking a bit. The most expensive items were beef, chicken, bacon (!) and smoked salmon. All good things, worth it in my books. As you can see, we don't get much processed food - mostly fresh veggies + protein. Here she is:

Even though this looks like a lot of food, it will last us all week for almost all of our meals - about 28 meals between the two of us! I'm a big fan of meal planning these days because it organizes us at the beginning of the week and of course, saves money because we're not eating out due to lack of food prep.

My strategy was shopping for 2 full recipes, adding in other produce for breakfasts + ad hoc meals. We had some Korean sauce leftover from a few weeks ago and Pedro was craving salads, so the two recipes I picked out were Korean bibimbap bowls with slow cooker beef and a copycat Sweetgreen salad - Spicy Sabzi. I've made Korean bowls before and knew my base would be rice + kimchi + meat + veggies. I had made a copycat of the Sabzi salad before, too, but decided to go with the Trader Joe's carrot ginger miso dressing that I found pre-made and use chicken instead of tofu to  be a bit more filling. Recipe to come!

Interesting and/or notable finds of this trip: Coconut chunks, carrot ginger miso dressing and harissa salsa! I have some refried beans in the pantry I can't wait to use with the salsa.

So how does this shake out for the week for us? Here's our meal plan!

Meal Plan

Monday: Eggs + Turmeric Cabbage + leftover homemade bagel // Korean bowls for lunch // Trader Joe's kale + veggie stir fry + smoked salmon for dinner

Tuesday: Eggs + bacon + brussels for breakfast // Korean bowls for lunch // Spicy Sabzi salad for dinner

Wednesday: Granola bowls for breakfast with flax seed, hemp + collagen // Spicy Sabzi salads for lunch // Freestyle dinner (leftovers probably!)

Thursday:  Egg bagel sandwiches for breakfast // Korean bowls for lunch // Freezer veggies + tofu for dinner

Friday: Oatmeal or pancakes// leftover lunch // dinner out!

Sweets + Treats: Lattes with almond milk (duh) + collagen peptides, batch of paleo chocolate chunk cookies

Happy cooking this week!

The post Eats This Week & Trader Joe's Finds appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

Breakfasts.

I have been craving veggies and all the greens since my trip to dinner, so green bowls have been my go-to. I recently go some big, shallow "pasta" bowl (similar to these) and have been loving them for leftover meals. They're conducive to adding lots of greens and just layering all the things on top. Case in point: a 5 minute breakfast salad of cooked quinoa + spinach + chicken sausage + runny egg! Filling + nutritious.

More bowl food, this time a breakfast salad with some paleo waffles cut up on top:

The bowl theme continues, but in a different way! I recently inherited a semi-broken but still manageable spiralizer from a friend (thanks Christie!) and was determined to spiralize a sweet potato in it ASAP. The vision was to make tasty looking hash brown inspired haystacks with eggs!! Way easier than I thought, and a fun way to change up the texture of our breakfasts (normally I'd just roast or sautee diced potato).

And finally, a few days of my leftover cranberry walnut bread. It's SO good, guys!! I posted the recipe for the no-knead goodness last week and it continues to be great toasted straight from the freezer. Runny egg scramble and tea on the side.

Dinners (Lunch Leftovers)

Most of our lunches end up being dinner leftovers, so I combined them! We started last week by picking two vegetarian/vegan recipes to make from cookbooks, starting with a tahini goddess bowl from Oh She Glows. It's not the most beautiful dish but it's so tasty. Lots of grains + veggies cooked slightly in a lemon tahini dressing.

A reappearance as leftovers (in the bottom left of the next picture)! Leftover squash + extra bulgur + chickpeas along with some Fakin Bakin aka tofu bacon on the side. (I was so intrigued to try the fake bacon...definitely not the same at all but an interesting taste.)

Next up on our cookbook recipe tour was Brazilian inspired feijoada from a Jamie Oliver recipe. Basically cooked black beans with roasted bell peppers + butternut squash on top of rice + greens (we added the those :D). A little salsa + plain greek yogurt on top.

Finally, two super easy dinner and/or lunch ideas!! I saved this pasta recipe on my Instagram highlights, but it's my go to when I need something quick without a recipe to make. I incorporate as many veggies as I have on hand (onions, carrots, peppers). I'll usually have it with just greens or more veggies and it's delicious and filling, but Pedro's been asking for pasta lately so we did that!! Look at the cute swirls.

Aaand the second one - this super easy dolled-up take out!! Pedro was out one night and I was too tired to cook (what?) so I picked up some Indian food from the Whole Foods hot bar. The fish + rice + spinach clocked in at around $10, but I knew I could stretch it to two meals with a little extra veggie power. I also thought it would make the rest of my squash leftovers look more appetizing since I had been eating them for a few days already.

I made a base of my veggies, then added the Whole Foods goods on top. This is a great approach if you want to get something take-out ish and fast but want to keep it veggie filled and healthy!!! Also, Whole Foods budget hacks.

Desserts + Treats

And of course...something a little sweet! I was inspired to bake last Sunday and remembered that I had some hazelnut flour I wanted to use. I didn't want to make anything too complicated (read: minimal ingredients, 1 pan) and Pedro requested something light, so I settled on this hazelnut citrus torte. I loved this recipe and would try it again with almond flour!! It was super light, bright from the citrus and moist from the nut flour. I would reduce the sugar a bit next time, but thought it was great as is as well. A homemade whipped cream would be SO perfect on it. No final picture, but I loved this shot while mixing it up (egg white swirl!)

We ate that most of the week as a breakfast dessert (that's a thing, right?). This week I'm thinking cookies to help alleviate our packing stress...What's on your menu for this week?!

The post Eats Lately + Weekly Inspiration appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

If you've ever been to Washington, DC and eaten at Le Diplomate, you know what I'm talking about. Everyone is served a basket of what I consider the best bread in DC (granted there are more I have to try!) - including this hearty, crusty cranberry walnut bread. It's my favorite bread out there. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, earthy from the nuts, and a tad sweet from the cranberries. It's so good on its own I could just eat it for breakfast every day with a little butter and a latte. Perfection.

After talking about it with a few friends recently, I was craving it and determined to make some myself!!I knew I wouldn't be able to achieve *quite* the same results without a levain (sourdough) starter, but I figured I could get pretty close with the standard no knead bread recipe that I've used in the past.

Like all no knead recipes, I LOVE it because it requires less than 10 minutes hands-on time, but you end up with a truly amazing bread at the end. It doesn't require a lot of ingredients, and is also quite forgiving - I've never had a bad loaf despite my many alterations! The only tough part is having to wait so long for the yeast to do all the work 😉

The Crazy Easy No Knead Bread Method

So how does this work so easily?! Basically, the yeast does all the action for you. There are just a few simple steps:

1. Mix all your ingredients.
2. Cover + wait it out (12-20 hours!)
3. Turn out the dough into a ball, cover with cornmeal, wait a little more (1-2 hours).
4. Bake.
5. Let rest for an hour or two. Then devour!

Really, that simple. The main actions are stirring once, then just waiting. I'll even prove it in picture format!

No Knead Bread In Photos

The dry ingredients before mixing (I measure with a scale):

After mixing in the water:

After 14 hours of rest (See those bubbles? The yeast is working!):

In its tea towel home for the next two hours:

Post Bake!! Not enough time to do a pre-bake photo since you want the dutch oven to stay super hot when you put the dough in.

The only required kitchen component for this is a dutch oven - you need one with a lid so that the heat + steam stays inside the container to create the nice, crispy outside. I've read that to create the perfect baguette (outside of France), one technique is to bake in a stone oven and splash a little water in the oven when beginning the bake. This is a similar concept. This Lodge cast iron is perfect! I have a stone pot with lid from Le Creuset which is actually not a dutch oven, but a similar stoneware that works the same (it's just not stove top friendly).

Did I mention this bread freezes super well also? If you don't eat it all in the first sitting...You can slice it up after the first couple of days, wrap it up well (I do saran wrap and then ziploc freezer bags), and toast when ready to eat. Tastes as good as the first day!!

Okay, have I convinced you yet?? Go try this!!

Print

Crusty No Knead Cranberry Walnut Bread

Adapted slightly from The Kitchn. Originally from Jim Lahey

Course Breakfast, Side

Cuisine American

Keyword Bread, Cranberry, No Knead, Walnut

Prep Time 15 hours hours

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 1 large loaf

Author Andrea | French Pressed Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3 cups 400 grams bread flour*
• 1 ¼ teaspoons salt 8 grams
• ½ teaspoon 2 grams instant or active dry yeast
• Dash of cinnamon
• ¾ cup 75 grams chopped walnuts
• ⅓ to ½ cup about 60 grams dried cranberries
• 1 ½ cups about 350 grams water
• 3-4 Tablespoons cornmeal

Instructions

• In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients. Add in the water and combine using your hands or a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. This will take 30-45 seconds. If it seems dry, add a spoonful of water (it should be sticky when you touch it). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature (~70 degrees F or 21 degrees C) 12-18 hours**.
• Cover a flat surface with more flour or cornmeal (I prefer the latter). Scrape the dough out of the bowl and place onto the surface area. Fold it over once, forming into a rounded ball.
• Prepare for the second rise: Place a tea towel or other thin cloth on your work area. Dust with additional cornmeal. Gently place the dough ball onto the cloth and cover loosely. Let rise until doubled in size, 1-2 additional hours.
• Preheat the oven to 475 F (246 C). Place the dutch oven with the lid in the oven so it also heats up at the same time (you want it to be super hot when you put the dough in).
• When the oven is fully heated, remove the dutch oven (with oven mitts or a towel!!). Remove the lid, quickly place the dough inside and recover. The faster you work the more heat will stay inside.
• Bake for 30 mintues with the lid on. Remove the lid and bake for another 15-30 minutes until the bread is a deep brown color (or sooner if you like it not as done).
• Let cool for an hour before slicing (the hardest part!).
• The bread stores well at room temperature for 2-4 days. I cover mine with a tea towel - a bread box would work as well. Slice any unused portions and freezer for later if needed - it reheats beautifully! Also great for French toast.

Notes

*I've used a combination of all-purpose, whole wheat, oat and other flours and they all seem to turn out well!! The less all-purpose you use, the more dense it can get but still delicious.

**If you start this in the morning first thing, you can bake it that night. It will have to cool, but you'll have a fresh loaf the next morning for breakfast!

Bon appétit!

The post Crusty No Knead Cranberry Walnut Bread appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

I did just that last weekend, hosting a brunch for 6 girlfriends with the theme of Swapples! What are Swapples, you ask? If you're following my food-stagram you've probably seen them pop up a few times. They are the most delicious, wholesome pre-made waffles that I've found / ever had (not being dramatic) :). They're paleo - which I love because that means no dairy, yay! and contain no grains - also yay because that means more veggies and plant power, and come in sweet and savory options. I'll heat them up any time of day, add a little protein, extra veggies and toppings and call it a meal. Kinda like a pizza bagel meal but way healthier. (P.S. D.C. friends - if you're local you can find these at Mom's, Yes Organic and a few other places.)

Okay, so how do we take said waffles and turn them into epic mounds of deliciousness, as shown below? Follow along.

1 - Make a list of savory ingredients + toppings.

Eggs, bacon and sausage were the first things that came to mind for me! You could also do a vegan option (like coconut bacon). We poached, fried and scrambled a few eggs for everyone. I also had sliced avocado, pepperoni, a tomato salad and sauteed spinach. Kale would be great, as would any other leafy green! I totally forgot about my pickled onions but that would be a great savory waffle topping.

2 - Make a list of sweet toppings.

I included: dairy free whipped cream (here!), cooked apples (chopped apples cooked with a splash of water and cinnamon!), wild blueberry jam, toasted walnuts, homemade granola, whipped hazelnut honey, regular honey, banana slices and honey. Like I said, all the stops. See where the sweet and savory toppings can overlap. In my case this was bacon and mint 🙂

3 - Make ahead a couple of unique toppings.

I made the cooked apples the day before, and the tomato salad earlier that morning. Onion jam or tomato jam would also be excellent additions. I also found a vegan nut based savory topping that you could totally DIY with nuts // nutritional yeast // spices.

4 - Add fancy garnishes.

I put out fresh basil // mint //oregano // olive oil // salt // pepper //Earth Balance // maple syrup // Trader Joe's everything seasoning // cinnamon // sesame seeds. A fun one I threw in the mix was some peanut butter pretzel M&Ms we had a small bag of because #noflavorleftbehind. Other ideas I had were candied nuts, berries, fruit slices....really just endless possibilities.

5 - Have a bunch of small and medium serving utensils ready!

My favorite are cute little spoons and mini tongs.

6 - Set out all the toppings together and waffle!!

Also, because weekend, consider adding mimosas (with Grapefruit juice! Orange juice! Passion fruit juice!) Or even better...spiked coffee?

Here is the topping bar in action. Note the hand reaching in for the bacon...so perfect.

A vegan swapple!

Are you inspired yet? Okay fine, one more. Double plate, that's wassup.

Go forth and brunch, my friends. Bon appetit!

The post Swapples and How to Crush a Toppings Bar appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

In addition to all the lovely summer produce and flowers I've been enjoying, I wanted to share my favorite things that I've been loving in our kitchen this month. When we got back from our Europe trip I realized how much I missed these!! Oh the comforts of home. I picked these 6 things to share with you because:

+ I use all them nearly every day

+ They're super durable and clean well

+ They've passed the small kitchen test (worthy enough to take up valuable space)

+ I would gift them to anyone and be super excited to be gifted them as well!!

So here we go!

Cast Iron. Our Lodge cast iron had a bit of a vacation but is back in full force. It’s just the best for searing meats (fish, steak, scallops, chicken, anything!), and fried eggs. It can take a little while to build up the seasoning (read more about that here), but it’s totally worth it! Nothing beats the crispy texture of a fried egg or seared steak in it. Or bacon. Or a burger. Or a frittata. You see where I'm going with this {anything flies}. I also have a mini cast iron that I use for cookies and that’s also amazing.

Hard Anondized Nonstick Pan. The opposite of a cast iron! I’ve always been wary about the chemicals in non-stick pans, but understand that the newer “hard anodized” ones are supposed to be better. I love this big saute pan we got for our wedding because it cleans SO easily and holds a good amount of food as well. Perfect for scrambled eggs or a quick veggie stir fry. Thinking about getting another one when we have a bigger kitchen!The Perfect Spatula. I picked this "Kaiser Perfect Spatula" up recently after I took a few chunks out of my favorite orange spatula in our food processor (oops). I love that this, like my old one, is narrow enough to get in smaller places. Key locations include nut butter jars, sauce jars, bowls of frosting, and pots of coconut rice.. Plus, the 100% silicone washes so easily. Given the name of the brand and performance experienced thus far, I’m tempted to try some more.

Over the Sink Strainer. One reason: berries. We’ve had a lot of blueberries and blackberries this summer and we’ve needed a big over the sink strainer to wash ‘em all!! I love that I don’t have to hold this colander and can just dump things over it without worrying if it will fall or slip. Other great uses: pasta, potatoes, beets…basically loose produce that you want to rinse en masse. I also just discovered this COLLAPSIBLE strainer that I would probably get since it seems way more space efficient! #utility #engineering

Anthropologie Bowls. These bowls (search "latte bowl" on Anthropologie's website) are perfect for oatmeal, yogurt bowls, curry, rice bowls…anything! Super cute colors and not expensive in case you break and need to replace 😊 I love them for my food photography, but of course they're quite functional as well.Peugeot Salt & Pepper Grinders. Your pepper will never be the same again. Seriously, freshly ground sea salt and pepper makes a HUGE difference! With summer produce at its peak, you can make some great meals with veggies + good olive oil + good salt + pepper (caprese salad! tomato salsa! fresh pasta!). With these Peugeot ones you can control how thick or thin you want the grind, too. These were a gift from my aunt many years ago and I adore them! I have the red ones, which you can find at Williams Sonoma, but there's also an Amazon option pictured here which I also like!

Hope you find these links helpful, and inspirational for some easy eats 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions, and if there are kitchen things YOU love! And of course, bon appétit.

The post 6 Kitchen Things I'm Loving Right Now appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

We ate so well in Europe this time around. Working budget stretched farther than our college budget and we ate at some many good places! More to come on my favorite healthy spots in Spain and Madrid. But for now, a quick recap of what we've been eating since we got back!! No surprise here, lots of paleo leaning / egg breakfasts.

Tuesday: Right back at it with eggs // salsa // sauteed spinach // gluten free crackers

Savory oats: steamed kale, roasted onions, carrots and egg with everything seasoning

Thursday - surprise croissant on the side!!

Wednesday night I had pesto inspiration so I swung by Trader Joe's on the way home from work and got basil, tomatoes, chicken tenders and SIX yes six zucchinis to make into zoodles. Pesto pasta with fresh tomatoes and grilled chicken was the inspiration. We don't (yet) have a spiralizer so we used this juienne slicer to cut the zucchinis. Takes a little time but I have the best sous chef 🙂 Made this vegan pesto sauce on the side and tossed the zoodles with it. It was good, but I kind of missed the real thing with Parmesan!!! Next time.

Next I pan fried the chicken in salt, pepper and a little avocado oil, then tossed tomatoes with garlic olive oil, salt and pepper on the side -

Then put it all together 🙂 Delicious! Leftovers for lunch.

Final inspiration of the (work) week was - bread!! I was inspired by the tasty things we had in France and Spain but wanted something more homemade / healthier and settled on this recipe.  Thanks to my friend Meghan who supplied most of the ingredients after her pantry clean out 🙂 I added a little honey to the batter and seeds on top to give it some more texture and crunch. It sliced beautifully! Definitely making again. And it looks great, too! 🙂

As for this weekend, things on my cooking ideas list include chocolate cherry waffles (!), tart cherry oatmeal crisp if we go berry picking, and maybe some homemade granola. Maybe just maybe I should include something savory in there. Potentially our favorite salmon / coconut rice / greens meal.

To be continued, but in the meantime, bon appétit 🙂

The post Post Vacation Eats appeared first on French Pressed Kitchen.

We found ourselves here again on vacation, meeting up with friends from all over the world for our big summer vacation 🙂 Pedro and his tennis teammates (and college rommates) planned to meet up and we chose Paris as the most central place (between London, Amsterdam and Itay!). Couldn't have asked for a more fun weekend with friends and good food! Quick recap here, along with some of the food places we made it to!

Keds for days

We arrived Friday and went straight to Roland Garros on the western side of the city. It was very crowded but surprisingly well organized! Tickets are normally quite expensive (and we waited until the last minute to buy them...) but we were able to get some evening tickets for 15 euros - a good deal if you get there early and are able to get into some matches!! Fun to experience it all.

After watching a few matches we headed back to the AirBnB where we were staying (here!) and met up with the first couple. We had a tasty dinner out - I got a vegetarian Poilane tartine at Le Petit Cler with good (and cheap) wine 🙂

The next morning two more friends came in and we met up for breakfast - an assortment of pastries, fruit, and the best juice EVER!!! Most people got their pastries around the cornet at Other Douceurs et traditions Boulangerie Nelly Julien (85 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris). I happened to see another place, Notre Patisserie, slightly fancier :), where I decided to get my almond chocolate croissant (chocolatine aux amandes). Did not disappoint. This was one of the best ones I had, ranking quite high on the flakiness scale (the most important for a croissant in my opinion).

Look for dark, crunchy croissants. None of that fluffy, all butter crunch

Breakfast/meals were of course the highlight of the day....afterwards we walked over to Notre Dame and visited for a bit. I had been before but it's always impressive to see again. I saw that they have a crypt you can visit - I want to go back for that! We were headed back to Roland Garros for the evening so after wandering a bit more in the rain and visiting the famous Shakespeare bookshop (very cool history!), we snuck around the corner for some crepes. I had a smoked salmon one but couldn't help lusting after this sweet one.

Tennis was less exciting the second day since the good matches had already finished, but we had fun anyway. We ate at another restaurant that night near the AirBnB which was also pretty good. I got a salmon and veggie dish but didn't great a great pic sadly!

The next morning, feeling like I wanted something more substantial than flour and butter ;), so I searched out some avocado and eggs to go with my fruit. I ended up having a few bites of Pedro's patisseries but enjoyed the more balanced breakfast 🙂 When you're in Paris you can't *not* get croissants (the good ones) but you can balance it out with some healthier options like salad throughout the day as well as lots of walking. I am always able to find the most amazing fruit - see cherries below!! The apricots and cherry tomatoes were also delicious.

After our big breakfast the boys headed out to tennis for the morning (they had free tickets) and the girls out to wander 🙂 We ended up walking through the Luxembourg gardens, staring at the line at the Louvre and then deciding to go somewhere a little more quiet, Sainte Chappelle. We stopped for a coffee before heading in because we all had to use the restroom quite badly at this point!! Good coffee + tea break at Les Deux Palais.

I had been to Sainte Chapelle before but it was breathtaking to revisit again. I got goosebumps when we walked in! The visit is only 10 euros, so a bit cheaper than some other touristy attractions, and more manageable time wise (side note: if you're looking for a great but smaller museum, I recommend the L'Orangerie. It houses Monet's water lily paintings which are HUGE! You get to view/experience them how he wanted viewers to see the art - immersed in it rather than staring at it. It's close to the Louvre.) Okay back to Sainte Chapelle - you can hardly imagine this from the outside but inside it's really glorious:

So beautiful! After our visit here we headed over to the Marais to window shop and grab a quick bite to eat. I love the quirky nature of the neighborhood and enjoy looking around at everything immensely! A different kind of art for the eyes :). Oh, and a little Nutella crepe to tie us over until dinner 🙂

I picked up my favorite tea from Mariage Freres - I recommend stopping in for a visit if you've never been! It's so fun to smell all the great teas, and even more fun if you can stop in for tea service with all the accoutrements 🙂 Really special. We wrapped up the evening vising Montmartre and enjoying a nice long dinner together at a nearby cafe. We stopped at the "wall of love" for a few pictures 🙂

Sunday!! I draaaagged myself out of bed to fit in a little workout - I needed to stretch and wakeup some muscles after a few days off even though we had been walking a ton (>20,000 steps/day if you have a fitbit!). We worked out in front of the Eiffel Tower...no complaints there 🙂 If you're looking to work out while in Europe, I recommend trying to stay close to a park or green area where you can do some easy body weight workouts - transportable and flexible! Here is Pedro with a great jump (you can see a zip line that was put up for Roland Garros!!):

Our group had another great breakfast this time picnic-ing at the Eiffel Tower with all our treats we had picked up at Le Champ des Delices (145 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris). Again, suuuper delicious pastries. It's hard not to get everything, but it's one of those places I would return for anything, even as simple as a baguette!

Two of our friends were leaving that afternoon so we just had a leisurely stroll around the Seine, stopping for a coffee along the way. The quai or sort of board walk area was great! Plenty of room for biking or running - I'd definitely do that when I return 🙂 We tried to go the catacombs that afternoon but the line was waaaay too long so we enjoyed a nice lunch (with wine, duh) nearby instead (a creperie on Rue Daguerre - lovely outdoor garden!). Look at that beautiful salad! Shared with Pedro's galette on the side (galette = buckwheat savory crepe. Naturally gluten free!)

We took the metro over to the Luxembourg gardens and chilled some more after that. All the French people could be found here, just relaxing, eating and drinking! La dolce vita. We wandered more around the Marais that evening and tried to go to l'Avant Comptoir for dinner but there was also a long line (sensing a trend here?). The food looked AMAZING though, and I want to try to go back.

Just a gratuitous pastry shot because they're everywhere.

We had a great weekend, eating good food and staying active while walking lots. Here are some of my other tips for staying active/balanced while in the city of delicious food!!!

• Stay near a park so you can go for a jog, do yoga or do a bodyweight workout. It's the easiest option in Europe since gyms are bit harder to find and get into!
• Stay in an AirBnB or hostel so you can cook and prepare some healthier (and cheaper) meals - fresh produce will go a long way and it's a lot better in Europe where things are more local!
• Stay near the center so you can walk or bike different places! I found that I end up walking more so I don't end up buying metro passes (just single tickets here and there).
• Look for places that look more local and have big salads 🙂 I ended up getting salads most meals and takin bites here and there of other things I wanted to try.
• Check out what free things are going on - it was free museum day on the first Sunday of the month that we were there, and many things like Notre Dame, Montmartre are free entrance all the time. I think strolling around Paris and just sitting at cafes is my favorite part so you don't have to feel pressured to "do" all the things.

We were off to La Rochelle for a night and then Bordeaux to visit with some more friends. More adventures to come!

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