Make This Now: New Summer Favorites

Hi, hi!  I’m currently in a stage where I only want to try new recipes and that’s okay.  Old favorites can wait till I feel inspired to make them again — lookin at you, Summer Squash and Basil Pasta! — and in the meantime, I’ll be delighting in burrito bowls, grilled chicken, punchy salad dressings, creamy desserts and elevated BLTs.  I really hope you find something new to try here and feel as inspired by it as I did!

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Spicy Black Bean Burrito Bowls with Cashew + Hemp Seed Chipotle Sauce

If you have black beans already cooked and waiting in the freezer (or heck, just a can of beans in the pantry), this recipe is such a breeze to make!  We took it up a notch by making Cilantro-Lime Rice and assembled with the beans, corn, salsa, cabbage slaw, cilantro, avocado and most importantly, THAT CHIPOTLE SAUCE, this was damn delicious.  I worship at the shrine of Illegal Pete’s but at first bite, I was like “Illegal Pete’s who?”  It was that good!

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Peruvian-Style Spatchcock Chicken with Creamy Cilantro Sauce

I pledge allegiance to the recipes of Jeff Mauro!  The directions for this chicken tell you how to do it in the oven but look, the last thing I need in my air conditioner-less home, is to have the oven on for an hour so we made this on the grill — just put the cast-iron straight on there — and it worked perfectly!  Also, it tasted incredible.  Super juicy, super flavorful and really extra good dipped in that cilantro sauce.

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Corn & Chickpea Bowl with Miso-Jalapeño Tahini

Not to dismiss this salad, because it is very good, but the shining star here is the miso-jalapeño tahini dressing.  It’s flavor-packed, creamy, and very ginger-forward.  So if you’re not that person just straight eating the pile of fresh ginger that comes with your sushi, maybe this isn’t for you.  But I AM that person, so I found this dressing to be just incredible.  It’s such a bold and bright note to contrast with the rich goat cheese and avocado in this salad and Joey and I both really really loved it, so we hope you do too!

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No-Churn Ice Cream

Raise your hand if your house is tiny and you just do not have room for yet another kitchen appliance.  I am raising my hand high.  Even though an ice cream maker sounds fun, it’s really a question of where I’m going to store it.  So, when I saw a recipe for no-churn ice cream, I was VERY VERY EXCITED.  I didn’t even know this was an option.  Turns out, you just have to make some whipped cream, fold it into some sweetened condensed milk, toss in some mix-in and let the whole thing chill for a few hours and you are rewarded with thee absolute creamiest ice cream I’ve EVER tasted.  The recipe post includes lots of flavor combination suggestions but I’m here to tell you mini chocolate chips and peppermint extract is DELIGHTFUL.

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Egg-in-a-Nest BLT Sandwich

I’m hesitant to share this recipe because, well, it’s a BLT.  But it’s better than a BLT because there’s also an egg cooked into the bread!  What a perfect mashup!  Also, you basically make a mayo-bacon guacamole to spread on the bread and it tastes pretty incredible.  Joey and I were very impressed by what seemed like a quick and easy dinner but ended up tasting like something special.  Also, I was thisclose to buying regular white bread instead of sourdough but am so glad I didn’t because it tasted extra good!

Happy Friday!

Memory-a-Day in June

Friday, June 1st: Spending half my lunch hour at the grocery store and feeling a bit frantic/impatient standing in line at the self-checkout.

Saturday, June 2nd: Biking to the Farmers’ Market for the first time this summer and feeling like we were back in our summer Saturday morning groove ♥

Sunday, June 3rd: Having the oven on for 2 hours to roast two giant beets, that I definitely should have cut into smaller pieces.

Monday, June 4th: Carrying two Spicy Black Bean Burrito Bowls outside to eat dinner in the back yard and feeling extreme happiness about what was just a regular old Monday, but made better because it was summer and we could eat outside and still have time to walk our pup afterward before the sun went down.

Tuesday, June 5th: Going for my usual Tuesday morning run but instead of pushing myself, I took it at a snail’s pace and then felt really good by the end.

Wednesday, June 6th: Wanting an exact repeat of Monday, then deciding to let Wednesday night unfold on its own terms and hey, we still got to eat dinner outside!

Thursday, June 7th: Laughing really hard with Joey as he told me a story about the chaos that had unfolded at his basketball game the night before.

Friday, June 8th: Feeling my pup’s head resting on my leg when I woke up and realizing his BFF Joey had already gotten up and he hadn’t followed him out of our room for once!

Saturday, June 9th: Feeling proud of myself for going to a social event solo and actually enjoying it!

Sunday, June 10th: Sitting in my car in the Nordstrom Rack parking lot and giving myself a mental pep talk to head to the mall to dress shop when I felt like I had zero energy.

Monday, June 11th: Feeling that “oh shit, I’m leaving for vacation on Thursday!” angst that had my brain creating a to-do list that I couldn’t actually tackle at work.

Tuesday, June 12th: Feeling crabby and on edge all day.

Wednesday, June 13th: Discovering an almost bloomed bud on my sister orchid.

Thursday, June 14th: Eating a homemade burrito in the car on our way to Iowa.

Friday, June 15th: Singing “All I Want for Christmas is You” with a bar full of people.

Saturday, June 16th: Eating a cold piece of Little Caesar’s pizza at a wedding at midnight.

Sunday, June 17th: Watching a low hanging cloud unfurl as we drove through Nebraska.

Monday, June 18th: Taking 8 friends to the Rockies game and feeling like I got to spend time with them all.

Tuesday, June 19th: Feeling rushed and overwhelmed while trying to make lunch salads for the week and dinner all at once in a hot house.

Wednesday, June 20th: Being blown away (again! still! forever!) by Kaleo.  This time (like the first time!) at Red Rocks (and with Hannah and Josh), so it was extra good.

Thursday, June 21st: Back to eating dinner al fresco after a few days off and feeling like it was the best way to celebrate the first official day of summer.

Friday, June 22nd: Being in a bad mood for a reason I couldn’t place, then miraculously feeling better once the sun was out.

Saturday, June 23rd: Petting our dog with a shaky hand while we waited to see a new vet for the first time and wondering how Andi would react.

Sunday, June 24th: Thinking pizza sounded good for dinner and just going with it instead of trying to talk myself into cooking something at home.

Monday, June 25th: Making it out of the house, everything in hand, on time for work.

Tuesday, June 26th: Driving home with a book club high because the discussion was lively, the book was wonderful, the friends were a plenty and probably mostly because I ordered a glass of wine with dinner.

Wednesday, June 27th: Stinging sweat dripping into my eyes during a hot and difficult yoga class.

Thursday, June 28th: Driving around for 15 minutes trying to find a parking spot in the Highlands.

Friday, June 29th: Feeling sort of tired but SO THANKFUL not to have any Friday night plans.

Saturday, June 30th: Second guessing myself after buying a veeeery soft cheese for our pre-Shakespeare Fest picnic.

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It’s July tomorrow and I can’t even believe it but I’m also incredibly excited because it’s many-a-family-member-birth-month and shockingly, it still seems less busy than June and I’m totally fine with that!