This afternoon I stumbled upon a description of the meal recently served to Prince William and his bride Kate at last night’s BAFTA gala:

“Will and Kate were served courgette and mint tian with a lemon and pine nut gremolata garnished with a courgettte blossom, followed by a filet of beef with creamed leeks and pickled garlic. For dessert, it was something William undoubtedly knows well: a good ol’ “Eton Mess,” an English rose meringue with strawberries and cream named after William’s boarding school.”

As I read through the description, I felt like was right back in high school, taking an SAT practice vocab test. (“Can I figure out the meaning based on context?” “What’s the root of the word?”). I’ll admit it—despite being a self-proclaimed foodie, I had to Google several words from the menu just to determine what exactly this elegant meal consisted of. Just in case you’re wondering, here’s a list of definitions:

Courgette: just another name for zucchini

Tian: layered baked vegetable dish with origins in Provence (sounds like ratatouille to me!)

Gremolata: chopped herb condiment with lemon and garlic.

How extensive is your foodie vocabulary? Am I the only one who had no idea what a “tian” is?

Let’s move onto the food that needs no definition or fancy names:)

Saturday

Many months ago during our vacation in Asheville, I saw a menu featuring “carrot cake pancakes.” I’ve had the idea in the back of my mind ever since, and I finally got around to making my own version.

For lunch, I kept things simple with a tuna sandwich.

Once dinnertime came around, I rolled up my sleeves and made Ellie’s Portabella Lasagna Roll Ups with Easy Tomato Sauce

My tweaks:

-For half the tomatoes in the sauce, I used fire-roasted tomatoes instead of regular no-salt-added.

-I used fat-free ricotta instead of reduced-fat…because I had a coupon:)

-I omitted the Parm and added more mozzarella.

First of all, this recipe is far more labor-intensive than I had anticipated, as it required preparing three sauces, cooking the noodles, filling them, rolling them up, and baking them. All that being said, it was a pretty fantastic dinner. Seth and I both loved it…and managed to eat the whole pan! I like the sauce so much that I might make a huge batch, just so I’ll always have it on hand…

Sunday

After a refreshing swim this morning, I came home and made a big batch of oat bran topped with a gob of sunflower butter.

Having spent the afternoon loading up on Wallflowers and new dishes, I re-fueled with more sunflower action.

Tonight’s dinner was far less exciting than last night’s—just a veggie burger wrap with a few crunchy accoutrements.

Alright, I am off to prepare for another busy week!

Filed under: Meals