what i made for dinner in november

this is so dumb. who cares about what i had for dinner in november? i do! details below!

november 7: can i get a little commotion for the chef? and by chef i mean moi? this was a random "harvest salad" that i copied from instagram. it had maple roasted delicata squash, a honeycrisp apple, and a punchy balsamic vinegarette. i felt like the pinnacle of health with the pumpkin seeds. kale too? someone get me an ag1 sponsorship. maybe it had dried cherries? it was so long ago i honestly don't even remember. side note: delicata squash has a chokehold on the instagram food bloggers of my feed and it must know some dirt that i don't because it has blackmailed america into thinking it's a superior squash. hard pass. 6/10

november 8: sheet pan honey sesame chicken from dishing out health .

honestly, this sister slays. with the purple rice blend obvi. this made an enormous amount. it said six servings but i'm pretty sure my parents and i ate this for 7 and a half days straight. so many veggies. slightly bland? 5/10

november 11: in denver. eating more salad. this time i faced my fears with my two gal pals to tackle a justinesnacks recipe. why is she intimidating? she is so effortlessly cool and i feel like she would own some exotic cat breed and secretly be fluent in swedish? we had an #improv moment and used blood orange instead of the peach she called for but it was november okay? this recipe was more fuss than it was worth tbh, and i was irate that you had to open an entire can of coconut milk for a meager 1/3 c only to make it not taste like coconut. also it was very wet? i was, in fact, accosted by the denver tsa team on suspicion of it being liquid. 7/10 for freshness and surviving the interrogation over its moisture content.

november 14: another bas (bigg a*s salad). not sure what's gotten into me this month but it could be the sensory delight of rubbing oily kale between my mortal hands. this was a copycat sweetgreen bowl, and although i don't live anywhere near to a sweetgreen nor have i ever darkened the franchise's doorway, i would be mildly peeved if i paid $16 for a salad and received this. for $12 it would be decent, but 16 would be four (4) dollars too many. good dressing, but the red cabbage was clearly a hail mary for a punch of color that was fumbled and subsequently dropped. 7/10.

november 20: teryaki glazed salmon bites, purple rice, greenbeans, avo, spinach tossed in the leftover sweetgreen dressing.... my tastebuds were aroused. i had never cubed salmon before for fear of the fiddiliness of the task, but honestly it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. sometimes i can be brave. this was so easy and honestly one of the best eats i had this month (and that's saying something as the super bowl for chefs everywhere, thanksgiving, also falls within the month of november). so so good. yum. i want to make again. ooga booga. 10/10

november 27: okay the amount of purple rice this month is slightly embarrassing but when else can you eat something the color of beets that is not in fact a beet? these are thai-inspired salmon cakes with roasted brussel sprouts and a mayo based chili sesame sriracha drizzle. i know i said the teryaki salmon was one of the best things i made this month, but this is essentially the same gorl different font. it was so good, and even more important, so easy- which is saying something as we didn't have breadcrumbs and actually had to make our own with some frozen english muffins #innovative #womaninstem. 10/10 dishing out health really is that girl!

i did not photograph thanksgiving as i was too busy eating it. plus, it's none of your business what's on my plate.