Weekend Things

So out with June and in with July!  This month is a celebratory one, what with a wedding, 4th of July, birthdays galore (including mine!) and just that peak summer spirit going on.  I’m all for it!  We had no plans for Friday and I’m not going to lie, I was VERY into the idea of cooking dinner at home, vegging out on the couch and probably falling asleep early.  We did all of that and I loved every second!

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Orzo Salad from The Kitchen made thee biggest bowl of food and we will have leftovers forever!

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Saturday started with a trip to the Farmers’ Market but I’m happy to report we finally invested in bike helmets so our brains were nice and safe on the way there.  Shh, don’t think about how many times I told you we biked someplace now that you know we weren’t wearing helmets till now.  We grabbed breakfast tacos at a stand in the market and I was NOT impressed.  But I went home with peaches and shishitos and feel only happiness about that!!!

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The rest of the day was spent preparing for and enjoying (or if you’re my mom and sister, SUFFERING THROUGH) the Shakespeare Festival.  Friday was in the 90s, Sunday was in the 90s and Saturday was seriously in the 60s.  WHY?!  I think my sister referred to my insistence that we still picnic before the play as inflexibility, but I’m calling it perseverance, okay?  We had a spread of sausage, cheese, crackers, dates, figs, cherries, shrimp, potstickers, marcona almonds and olives that was only slightly excessive for three people.  And we maybe ate our macarons in the car because we needed a quick warm up before sitting outside for 2+ hours.

I seriously loved the production of Love’s Labour’s Lost but my sister’s review was “just a bunch of old men spitting” (and okay, all the male actors did seem to be emitting a bit too much spray while delivering their lines) and my mom thought it was dull.  To each their own!

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And now, a representation of Sunday via every meal I ate.  Ha!  We made our very favorite egg-free French toast with miso-date butter, using some challah we bought at the Farmers’ Market and it was amazing!  Between that and my lunch salad, I got my hair cut and returned a bunch of things at the mall, then my parents came over to pick up Andi.  They’re watching him for a couple of days while we stay in Lyons for Bobby and Becca’s wedding and Joey and I very dramatically fake cried about letting go of him.  Also, I took my dad to American Cultures to fill up growlers of kombucha and I was very happy to hear how much he liked the place!

Got a mani/pedi later on and then, since my hair was nice and curled, my nails were pretty and pink and it felt like holiday weekend time, we went out to dinner at Bamboo Sushi.  They have a lovely shaded patio out back and is there anything better than fresh sushi on a hot summer evening?  I say no.   The Green Machine is a veggie roll but it is seriously my favorite ever.  Between Cart-Driver last Sunday and Bamboo Sushi this Sunday, I could get used to this chill Sunday dinner out thing ♥  Last but not least, major shout out to Joey, who whipped the backyard into shape this weekend so it feels like our little oasis again.  I am so very thankful for his hard work!

Make This Now: Recipes for Spring

I actually don’t know what makes these spring recipes, except maybe that I made them in spring?  And there’s fresh herbs?  And they’re neither full on winter comfort food nor grill-friendly summer food?  Who knows!  I just know these were all insanely delicious and I feel very eager to pass them along to you so you can enjoy them too ♥

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Ejjeh Quiche

Cilantro, parsley, mint, green onion!  I’d had this recipe saved for soooo long and finally bit the bullet, then had no idea why I’d waited so long because it was truly flavor-packed and amazing.  I was filled with such happiness every time I cut myself a slice.  Oh and I sent the above picture to Joey one night when, due to extracurricular activities, we spent dinnertime separately and challenged him to replicate it.  He sent me back my own picture (expressionless face emoji).

Full disclosure: I used my mom’s crust recipe because it’s unequivocally the best and I need no other crust recipe in my life.

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Sweet Potato Grain Bowls with Turmeric Honey Mustard

I’ve been very into this blog — Dishing Out Health — lately.  Unsurprisingly, since the author is a recipe developer for Cooking Light and as you know, I’ve been a CL reader for many many years.  Joey and I were immediately in love with this grain bowl because A) it tasted so so good (that honey mustard sauce is killer!) and B) it was so dang simple and easy to put together.  How dare simplicity taste this good!

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Wild Salmon with Horseradish-Mustard Sauce + All the Green Things Salad

This dinner was a team effort (Joey made the salmon, I made the salad) and I was so blown away by the final product!  We were skeptical of the salmon cooking method because cooking it on the stove-top AND flipping it aren’t things we usually do with fish but it was so incredible and had the best crispy skin, plus you should just know I love anything involving horseradish.  The salad was chock-full of, you guessed it, green things and they all tasted so fresh and bright tossed in that lemony vinaigrette.  I may or may not have been doing a little happy dance the entire time I ate this plate of food 🙂

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Spring Pea Veggie Burgers

It’s pretty clear what makes this a spring recipe… it’s right in the title!  But also because it includes every green spring produce to ever exist.  Every veggie burger is a game of Will They or Won’t They Hold Together but these held together SO WELL and tasted even better.  I know I already blabbed about how good these were in my Weekend Things post so I’ll stop now but… just… MAKE THESE, okay?

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In other news:

More of our tulips have popped open this week and I’m mesmerized by their vibrant colors, 

We decided to stop letting our dog sleep in bed with us and though he’s mostly been okay with it, we sometimes can’t look him in the eyes at night,

I ate a taco comprised of one single Brussels sprout, cut in half and topped with a spicy crema and I’m never doing that again,

It’s Friday!  Have a good weekend!