Knowing I was going to a French bistro for lunch, breakfast was easy – 1/2 a bagel with 5 calorie butter!
It made sense to meet my Mom at the restaurant – we got there right at 11:30. At first glance it didn’t seem like the restaurant was even opened, but by the time we left almost every table was full!
We started out with a cheese platter – not sure exactly what cheeses we ate, the server (who was wonderful by the way!) explained that two were cows milk and one was goat cheese. I loved all three!
Served with toasted bread – so fricken good!
This was my favorite bite – goat cheese on apple!
I was kind of worried what Hannah would order – she is my chicken finger ordering girl, but she finally decided to get a ham crepe. Yep – no swiss cheese for her!
I got the quiche lorraine. I was kind of surprised about the tomato sauce on the bottom, but it was really good!
And all of our meals came with a small salad with a delicious Dijon mustard dressing:
Then it was on to my favorite store! Sur la table. We were greeted with tiny baked donuts! I didn’t have one, but Mom and Hannah said they were really good!
And then I drooled over the tiny Le Creuset pans – aren’t they so cute?!
I ended up getting a new spout for my olive oil and a covered butter dish. We normally leave butter on a plate at room temperature all the time, but Hannah doesn’t like the fact that it isn’t covered. So for $8, I made Hannah’s day!
Then this sign stopped us in our tracks!
We were offered to pick a chocolate off of a tray – I picked a hazelnut ganache – not exactly sure what it was but I ate half of it – it was insulin worthy!
Then on to Hannah’s favorite store – DSW! My daughter is a glutton for hand bags and shoes! This store was really big!
She was one happy camper because she bought these. Her intention is to buy a black dress for prom, so she wanted bright shoes – pretty sure these fit the bill! She was grinning from ear to ear!
Hannah had to go to work, so Mom and I went to a thrift store and then she dropped me back off at home. She saw I had a box of grapefruit from my parent-in-laws, and I gave her a couple. They were off to the side so I forgot they were there! I decided I needed to use them up, so I made grapefruit granita!
Grapefruit Granita
- 2 1/2 cups fresh grapefruit juice
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/3 cup sugar
You add the sugar to the juice then pour in hot water until the sugar dissolves. Simply put in a container with a lid and put in the freezer. This morning I took it out, used a fork to scrape the granita and it is SO GOOD! So refreshing, it’s like biting into a fresh grapefruit!
I had defrosted pork chops for dinner. I knew I was going to make twice baked potatoes on the side, but I needed a vegetable. I haven’t gone to the grocery store yet, but realized I had fresh broccoli that was still good. A look into my cheese drawer I remembered I had Parmesan cheese, and since BSI is Parmesan cheese I decided to make this my BSI recipe.
- 1 head broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 cloves of fresh garlic, sliced
- salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
- lemon zest
- juice from 1/2 lemon
Remove from oven and toss with lemon zest and lemon juice. I loved this! The garlic got nice and crispy and the lemon zest and juice really made this dish. Only problem is that it didn’t stay hot for very long!
My plate – don’t freak out about the size of my pork chop – I only ate 1/2 of it!
It was a great day! Thanks for coming out to lunch Mom!
Plans for today:
- meal plan
- grocery shop
- read Sunday paper
- bake bread!
Tony was flipping channels yesterday and stopped at America’s Test Kitchen show. He said they made an Almost No Knead bread that looked amazing. You make the dough in about 2 minutes, then let it rest on the counter from 8 to 18 hours. Then you bake it in a dutch oven! I have 20 minutes before I put it in the oven – he said the sound of the crunchy crust was amazing!
Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday! See you tomorrow! 😀
lol, i’m envious of your ability to eat goat cheese, i just posted about how i just can’t seem to like it!
your posts about your day with your daughter makes me so happy. i already have so much fun with my four year old girl, but i can’t wait until we can have fabulous days of shoe shopping adn lunches together!
haha, I love when you call things, “insulin worthy”. That’s too funny.
I really want to get ALL Creuset cooking pans, etc. in my kitchen one day. I just think the colors are awesome, and I hear they work really well.
Your broccoli parmesan dish looks FABULOUS. I wrote tit down to make one day. Nick loves broccoli, and so do I. It’ s the perfect food to pair with parmesan!
Wow, Hannah’s crepe looks awesome, but I just wish there were cheese in there, tee hee! She should showcase her handbag/shoes collection sometime, if she’s got one! 🙂
Biz- so many great things in this post!! Your french bistro lunch looks so so delicious- love the goat cheese on apple. Then, the mini baked donuts!! And the tiny Le Creuset dishes. I always want to buy them but they are so expensive. Probably a worth it purchase in the long run though.
And I love your broccoli and those twice baked potatoes- cheesy goodness. mmmm
Have a great night!
Looks like you and your mother had a great day!
Tomato sauce and quiche huh??? OK, why not and indeed, eggs and ketchup used to be a specialty of mine before I started trying
And as usual, love the variety of foods you are cooking and sticking with the calories
Thanks Dave!
I want everything in every photo in this post. Love the food, love the shoes, even like the Chocolate Tasting Sign!
What a fun day from beginning to end!
Michelle – that is the mall in South Barrington – have you been there yet??
What a fun day! That french bistro looks so delicious.
i just got a small Le Creuset pan/casserole dish type thing from TJ Maxx for superrrr cheap! i love it! yum, my fave combo is apples and cheese on bread of some kind 🙂
What?? TJ Maxx – never thought it would be there – I’ll have to check that out – thanks!
Looks like a fun day out! That meal looks awesome! 🙂 Hannah will rock those shoes with her black dress! 😉
The french bistro looks really good. I love cheese plates. Love the parm on the broccoli. We are totally making a quiche right now, with broccoli and your pics are making my mouth water and I still have 30 min until dinner.
What a great way to start a day……….and your meal looks amazing!! The broccoli and potatoes look REALLY good!
Lunch looks amazing! I’d been happy with just the cheese… Love DSW. Hannah’s shoes are awesome!
I love the broccoli dish! I’ll have to recreate it… 🙂
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
That No Knead bread sounds like what my mom makes – and it WAS delicious when I got to have some last October when we were visiting!
Like you, I am enthralled by the tiny Le Creuset items – and their new colors are so pretty! I love Sur le Table – again, that’s something I get to do when I visit my mom.
Your lunch meal looked great! Never heard of the tomato sauce for the quiche, but why not?
Hannah’s new shoes are so cute – love her style! They will give a great POP of color to her dress, and yellow is HUGE this year!
I absolutely LOVE that crepe place! I got something with an insane amount of spinach and prosciutto in it, and there was a dessert crepe with nutella… dangerous!
I swear, one day, I’ll go to Sur la Table and buy EVERYTHING!
Sounds like you and Mom had a great day! It was kind of weird that there was tomato sauce on the bottom of quiche lorraine!
I think I will also bake bread today. I have seen that bread recipe on America’s test kitchen, you cook it covered.
Hope it works out!