Last night the hubb and I indulged ourselves with a decadent dinner at a local French tapas restaurant, Zinc.  We'd never been before, but heard from a friend that their food was delicious and we should really try it out.  We weren't disappointed.  We ordered 4 small dishes to share, along with 2 desserts (we were at a French restaurant...who can resist?!?).  The first to come out was a roasted beet salad.  Beautiful roasted beets tossed with gorgonzola and red onion in a tasty French vinaegrette over baby mesclun greens.  Delicious for sure, but easy enough to replicate at home.  Second up was the Endive Gratin, perfectly ripe endives smothered in a bechamel sauce and baked.  Good in concept, not remarkable in reality.  Third, Grouper with a Lemon Caper Beurre Blanc...oh.my.goodness.  Thats all I have to say about that.  And forth, Croque Madame.  At this point in the meal I almost melted under the table.  Yum.  For dessert, a Lavender Crème Brûlée and a Poached Pear filled with Mascarpone and smothered with Chocolate Sauce. Does anybody else hear angel's singing?!?  Both desserts were delicious, and I was excited to try the crème brûlée because I've been thinking about incorporating lavender into some of my baked goods.  It was lovely and subtle...just like lavender.  :)   Our personal favorite was absolutely the Croque Madame.  While thoroughly enjoying his cheesey, eggy, hammy, doughy dish, the hubb looked at me and said "why don't we cook like this at home more often?".  To which I replied "because its not very good for you, all the cheese, cream etc."  to which he nodded and said "yes but, its the way food should taste!".  :)   I woke up this morning still on a high from our decadent meal and feeling inspired to make crêpes for breakfast.   I received this little crêpe pan, along with a crêpe-making lesson, from my stepfather for Christmas many years ago.  Surprisingly, it hadn't been used in a few years and I decided that this was the morning to take it out of retirement. Crêpes are really quite easy to make and can be filled with either savory or sweet combinations.  We chose sweet this morning.  I'm inspired now to make one of my dinner crêpe recipes soon though...  I used this Alton Brown recipe for the batter. Breakfast: 2 french crêpes filled with PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter and beautiful sliced strawberries. After my lovely french breakfast I went to my favorite Vinyasa Yoga class at Studio 206.  Class was fabulous as usual, and I left feeling all gushy and dreamy.  :) Lunch:  the last of the leftover roasted squash + potatoes on bulgur, along with 3 Back to Nature Multigrain Flax flatbread crackers. The Back To Nature crackers are REALLY tasty...this was my first time trying them and I'll be buying them again. For dinner tonight we went over to our friend Amy's house where she had whipped up a fabulous pot roast.  We brought some homemade veggie soup (similar to this post) that my hubb made along with some hearty oat biscuits that I made.  At the end of the evening we traded leftovers so that we'll all have some variety instead of eating the same thing for days.  It worked out quite well! Dinner:  1 small bowl of pot roast, 1 small bowl of veggie soup, 2 hearty oat biscuits. I used Erica's recipe for the hearty oat biscuits, but made a few modifications. Hearty Oat Biscuits Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 2 cups of white whole wheat flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• I'll add 1/2 tsp salt next time too
• 4 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cups soymilk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 450*.
2. Grind oats in food processor.  Add the flour and baking powder and pulse for 10 seconds.
3. In separate bowl, dissolve the honey in the vegetable oil.  Add the milk and whisk to combine.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms.
5. Drop biscuits on a greased cookie sheet.  You should get 8-10 palm-sized biscuits.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

This recipe is really great and so fast to whip up.  Like I mentioned above, next time I will add a bit of salt.  I also think that adding rosemary or chives would be really tasty, and maybe a bit of sharp cheese.   Alrighty, I'm exhausted and have to work tomorrow.  :(  So sad.  I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!