Perfect weather plus being kicked out of our house still somehow made for a fantastic weekend! All that was missing was our favorite Muhammara Chicken Panini to make it super-fantastic. We sadly ran out of time!
Alright so being “homeless” doesn’t have a good connotation but in our case, it was kind of nice and made the weekend feel like a long vacation. Does that make any sense at all?
Basically after putting our house on the market Friday, we had around 20 showings scheduled throughout the weekend. How crazy is that? Our little old house is really turning on the charm. What this meant for us was simply “get lost.” Plus keeping a home emaculatiely clean is way easier when you are not there to mess it up. Am I right? So we spent the weekend, kind of living out of our car, enjoying our own city.
Starting with a classic, we hit up Kramarczuks. Sausage, goulash, some on-point Czech beer that made me miss Prague like crazy, and some fun outdoor people watching. Baby Poppy had beef for the first time and loved it. She ate about ¼ of my goulash. Our little foodie baby ❤️
We followed that up with one of my favorite spots, Rustica. Yes I know I always mention this place, but I just love it. Love the coffee, love the pastries, love the neighborhood (my old neighborhood), and love the people. Another baby update, Poppy likes to steal our pastries. Even worse, she likes to steal the doughy fluffy buttery inside of the pastry. If she wasn’t my daughter and slap-you-in-the-face cute, I would not be sharing.
With our bellies full and a nice coffee buzz we headed floor/appliance shopping. Ok this part is not a vacation activity but shopping for a new house kind of feels like a vacation to me because I loooove it. We are thinking about Bamboo flooring for part of the house. It’s gorgeous, environmentally friendly and actually reasonably priced. Super excited! Has anyone out there had any experience with bamboo flooring?
What’s better than floor shopping, um, furniture shopping, duhh. Ha… this post makes me seem old! I get exciting for floor and furniture shopping. Woot woot don’t care. Doing my old lady happy dance over here 💃
With our minimalist mindset and mission to only get things we really love/need, we are not buying anything yet but simply surveying what’s out there, and getting ideas. Additionally we plan on tackling some kickass DIY projects including some tables, desks etc. Doubly excited for these. Much like cooking, making things with your own 2 hands is so exciting to me. And lucky for me, I have the hubs who loves wood working. Go Hubs!
After our first long day, we returned home to our own little “hotel”. The house is looking the best it has ever looked and with a fun movie, popcorn and watermelon margaritas, it totally felt like a hotel movie night.
We rounded out our away-from-home weekend watching the UofM Men’s tennis battle against Penn State, going for some pretty walks, munching on springy asparagus tartines, sipping on Americano cocktails and giving Poppy her first ever push on the swing! Her giggles were the cutest and most intoxicating thing I have ever witnessed. So much joy from that little girl. Seriously couldn’t even handle the cuteness. I almost cried.
Ok back to this picnic food. One of our favorite picnic foods are Muhammara Chicken Paninis. My goal was to sneak a picnic in this weekend with these scrumptious paninis but since I didn’t have access to my kitchen, I only dreamt of them. Lucky for me I have a frozen batch and will be making some this week woot woot!
What the heck is Muhammara? Until recently I had no clue. I owe this great sauce revelation to the [amazon text=Sprouted Kitchen: Bowl and Spoon&asin=1607746557] book.
It is a Middle Eastern awesome-sauce. Yep that’s the best way to describe it. Made with roasted peppers, walnuts, garlic, dates and spices, this rich spread provides an insanely complex burst of flavors to anything you put it on. It is often used as a dip but I prefer it as a spread on paninis or dolloped on top of my big nourish veggie bowls.
All in all, this weekend definitely had the potential of being stressful but instead it felt like a vacation in our own city.
Muhammara Spread {gluten-free, vegan ,vegetarian, make-ahead}
Recipe from [amazon text=Sprouted Kitchen: Bowl and Spoon&asin=1607746557]
Makes about 1.5 cups of spread. Sandwich serving = 2
Notes: *The hubs loves potato bread and it holds up well in this recipe. Another great choice is crusty white peasant bread or a hearty whole grain or multi-grain loaf sliced.
Spread
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 roasted red bell peppers, jarred or fresh
- 3/4 cup toasted walnuts
- 3 Medjool dates, pitted
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Paninis
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 boneless chicken thighs (breast work too)
- 4 slices crusty white bread*
- 6 oz or 1 handful spinach
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Olive oil
Spread
If you are roasting fresh peppers, I like following these instructions. Note I have a gas stove top so I followed the 3rd method. However feel free to do it in the oven too!
In a food processor, pulse the garlic to mince. Add the red bell peppers, walnuts, dates, vinegar, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and olive oil. Process until smooth. The spread can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 weeks (if you can control yourself for that long), and frozen for several months.
Paninis
Grill the chicken on the grill or on a skillet. Once cooked, shred into large chunks.
Preheat griddle on high. Add about a tablespoon of butter to the griddle. Take 2 bread slices and add enough muhammara spread on each to cover the whole slice. Once griddle is nice and hot, turn heat down to medium-high and place the 2 slices with the spread on the griddle over the melted butter. Layer on the chicken, spinach and half the parmesan cheese on each sandwich. Spread butter on the last 2 slices of bread and on top the sandwich.
Carefully flip each sandwich. Now that you have the toasted golden side up facing you, grab another skillet, plate, or bottom of a pot to press down on each sandwich and flatten them a little. Making them paninis! Let the sandwiches sizzle for a minute or 2, remove from griddle once they are golden on each side. Slice in half and enjoy!
For to-go paninis, let them cool and then wrap them in aluminum foil.
Originally posted 2016-04-18 14:47:03.
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