Yearning for Summer Fruit

This Week's Menu:

I got all of MJ's produce this week for $15!
(Disclaimer: I already had the bananas, but that's still pretty good!)

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Banana Pure

Tricksters!

Although it isn't even officially spring yet I saw some beautiful fruit at the farmer's market and I just HAD to buy these blackberries. Don't they look delicious?! Well surprise of all surprise they WEREN'T....what was I thinking buying blackberries in March....from a stand that just popped up this week with a wide selection of out-of-season fruit (side eye). They had samples! The sample blackberries were so sweet and delicious I had seconds! They were so tempting and I fell for it. Ugh. Lesson learned.

I initially though of blackberry mini-pies or tarts, but they just aren't sweet enough to stand alone and I didn't want to add unnecessary sugar. So I audibled. Popped them in the freezer to mix with smoothies. I'll just puree some of the frozen bananas I  saved from last week and pair it with oatmeal. Womp, womp.

Lunch: Eggplant Dip on Brown Rice Bread

I personally don't like eggplant, but I think it is important to give MJ the chance to enjoy foods even if I don't. This is my sesame oil-less take on baba ghanoush (which I also don't particularly like). BUT more important than that MJ liked it. I paired it with some Ener-G Brown Rice Bread that I found at the Harris Teeter.

I started with 1 large eggplant, rinsed & poked holes through it so it doesn't explode!

Broiled for 30 minutes

Let cool

Scoop out innards

Add 2 garlic cloves
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp chili pepper
chopped cilantro (I think I used about 8 sprigs, but we love cilantro)
Puree

Spread on toasted brown rice bread

Bite sized pieces

Dinner: Steamed Green Beans & Quinoa w/ Roasted Carrot Ginger Sauce

For dinner this week I decided to give Marley some time to practice his pincer grip...(or just an excuse for me to be lazy and let him feed himself) so I chopped up the green beans to finger food sized pieces and steamed them.

But....he probably needs more than just green beans for dinner. So I made some quinoa in vegetable broth and freestyled this carrot ginger sauce.

I couldn't find a recipe that suited us so I took a little of everything and came up with this:

Roasted carrots and grated ginger  in 1 tbsp olive oil for 25 minutes (until fork can easily go through)

Pureed with 1/2 can of leftover coconut milk and 1/4 tsp of rice vinegar

 Note: I think this turned out pretty well, BUT I think I'd add maybe up to 3/4 cup of coconut milk to make it a bit creamier.