Yay Wednesday!!

These past few weeks have been crazy thus the lack of blogging. I went from a super-reduced teaching position with no clear idea for the fall to a technology coach position. I'm so thankful to have this worked out before Liza makes her arrival. So now it's time to link up with Jamie for "what I'm loving Wednesday" because I certainly have a lot to love this week.

(1)

A J-O-B!!! I'm going to be the technology coach for our district! We just passed a millage this past spring for technology and I can't wait to work with our staff to help them implement technology I their classrooms!!

(2)

Fresh food and local food! Last night we had bruschetta burgers for dinner - so delicious! The beef was from Jon's sister's cow, tomatoes and basil from our CSA, and some organic mozzarella from our local co-op.

(3)

Celebrating the new job with our family last night. We had brownies, ice cream, and hot fudge at our house along with lots of giggles and play-time with the nephews!

(4)

My little sweet pea, Liza. We are less than a month away from her anticipated due date! The time has flown by and we're so excited to meet her!

(5)

Technology blogs and working in my classroom. Yes we are crazy in northern Michigan and don't start school till after Labor Day!

(6)
Our newly arrived Sparty Tervis Tumblers and using camelcamel.com to get them on sale.  Have you guys used camelcamel before?  You can set price alerts and wait to purchase your item when it's on super-sale.  These bad boys were normally $40 for a 4-pack and I got them for $23.95!!  I love that they don't sweat and help keep your cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot!

(7)

And of course I'm loving my amazing husband and our sweet pup! :)

JW caught this fish on Sunday night in the bay -- woohoo for fresh salmon!!!

Garden Veggie Tacos

It's Tuesday.  

Which also means it's CSA day.  

I love CSA day!

 Mostly because I get to Coveyou Farms and find this lil sweetie waiting for me.

Then, I get home and admire it for awhile.  I seriously do.  It's a work of art.

 And then, I try to plan some meals to figure out how to get through all the produce.

JW was expecting Mexican food tonight (one of his favorites).  So as I brainstormed for a bit, I thought of garden veggie tacos.  I wasn't sure they existed, but I checked pinterest and sure enough they do.

I peaked at a few recipes, but ultimately decided to create my own.

Here's how it went down...

What you'll need:

2 1/2 cups chopped veggies (I used green pepper, eggplant, corn and summer squash, but go crazy with your variations), make sure to keep sizes consistent

1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced

1/2 banana pepper, diced

1/4 white onion, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

1 1/2 tablespoons taco seasoning (you can make your own, but we have a giant container)

Splash EVOO

Tortillas (either corn or flour)

1 can Refried Black Beans

1/3 cup grated cheese

Handful cherry tomatoes, chopped

Any other taco fixings you like! 

What to do:

{1} Heat up the EVOO in a large non-stick pan.  Add onions and saute for 3-5 minutes.  Add garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.

{2} Add green pepper, jalapeno and banana pepper to the mix.  Saute 5 minutes.

{3} Add the rest of your veggies and saute for 3-5 minutes.  While this is working, plop your refried black beans into another pan to warm them up.

{4} Add the taco seasoning to your veggie pan.  Cook for 3 more minutes.

{5} Grab a tortilla, smear some black beans on the bottom, then add a little of the veggie mix and top with cheese, tomatoes, and anything else you like.

{6} Enjoy the deliciousness.

Ready for the breakdown?

The corn was from a Farmer's Market down the road from our house.  We had already boiled it for corn on the cob over the weekend.

The summer squash is from JW's sister's garden.

The onion, eggplant, peppers (all 3 kinds), and tomatoes were all from our CSA share.

And the refried black beans...have you tried these things yet? 

I buy these at Meijer and they have roasted jalapenos in them too.  

soooooo gooooood.

So that's our Tuesday dinner.  And our Wednesday lunch.

We still have potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, more peppers (purple and yellow to be exact), onion, and cucumbers to eat up.

Nutella & Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip

Nutella.  Yummmmm.  By far one of my favorite foods.  I once grabbed a jar and some pretzels to make the hike from East Lansing to Petoskey.  I didn't realize till I had eaten quite a few handfuls of pretzels dipped in nutella that the pretzels were actually garlic flavored.  That's how good nutella is...or how quickly I consumed the pretzel/chocolate/hazelnut mixture.

So I was on pinterest today searching for…well, nothing really.  I rather enjoy going on pinterest and seeing what other people have ‘pinned’.  I usually come across delicious recipes.  Today was no exception. 

Meet nutella and Greek yogurt fruit dip.  In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, “hello lovah”.

And, it’s super-easy.

Mix 2 parts greek yogurt (I used French Vanilla flavor, but plain would work too) and 1 part nutella with a mixer.  I made a batch with 2 cups yogurt, 1 cup nutella.

Then after JW brewed beer, we sat with our bowl of nutella-yogurt goodness, some strawberries, and bananas and got after some eating.

When the fruit was gone, we didn’t stop eating the dip.  It’s that good.

I suggest making it now. 

FOOD Friday.

Hooray for it being Friday!

We are super-excited about the weekend we have coming up: Art in the Park, breakfast out, work on Liza’s room, and most definitely some cottage time (since it’s supposed to be in the high 80s and that’s hot for us)!  Plus we'll probably hit up our garden too seeing as we got some goodies from it last night...

But first, let me share with you our awesome dinner last night. We had chicken and veggie stir fry which might not sound like a huge deal, but was actually pretty awesome.  Here’s why: we had carrots, scallions, snap peas, and peas from our garden, kale and broccoli from our CSA and the only thing to come from the store (veggie-wise) was a red pepper!  Talk about knowing where your food comes from!  We also kind of followed a brown sauce recipe from Food Network Magazine (wish I could show you an exact recipe, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on their site)…but of course we added a little spice!

So here’s the recipe:

What you’ll need:

1/3 cup carrots, chopped

1/3 cup broccoli, chopped

1/3 cup snap peas, cut in half

¼ cup peas

1 ½ cups kale, chopped

¼ cup scallions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup red pepper, chopped

1chicken breast, thinly sliced

1 cup rice

2 cups water

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons ginger, minced

1 cup chicken stock

2 tablespoons corn starch

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon Sriracha (if you like spicy, add some more)

1 ‘shake’ red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

What to do:

[1] Get your rice started – if it will take 35-40 minutes to cook.  If you use instant rice, you can hold off for awhile.  Follow the directions on the package to cook. 

[2] Chop up all your veggies and the chicken breast (on a separate cutting board obviously).  

[3] Add 1 teaspoon coconut oil to a wok over medium heat.  Add the chicken, sautéing for 1-2 minutes until meat is no longer pink (it doesn’t have to be totally cooked through, you’ll add it to the heat again later).  Set chicken aside.

[4] Add rest of coconut oil to wok.  Add garlic, ginger and half of scallions and sauté for 30 seconds – 1 minute.  Then, add the vegetables starting with the ones that took the longest to cook (I did broccoli & kale, then carrots, then red pepper, then both peas and then the other half of scallions). 

[5] Mix up sauce ingredients (chicken stock-red pepper flakes) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

[6] Once the veggies are close to being done add the chicken back to the pan.  Then add the sauce and cook until the sauce thickens (make sure to keep stirring)!

[7] Then, you pop some rice in a bowl and top it with some of the veggie-chicken-sauce mixture.  I garnished ours with some toasted sesame seeds I had in our pantry!

DELISH.  I just love using food that comes from our garden or our CSA!!

And, we're starting to use coconut oil more in our cooking...and as a lotion.  

Think I'm kidding?  A

fter I spooned out a few heaps last night for dinner, I got any extra from the spoon and rubbed it into my hands.  AMAZING moisturizer and I love that it's edible.  Makes me feel good about putting it onto my body and then into my body as it's absorbed through my skin!

Anybody else getting some luck with their garden?  I promised a post about drying basil soon...expect that one tomorrow :)

Grilled Pizza

So it’s week 3 of our CSA {Community Supported Agriculture} through Coveyou Scenic Farms.  We have an abundance of greens in our refrigerator and we are constantly coming up with ways to use our new goodies.  Because we live in Northern Michigan, most gardens are still only producing greens…therefore our CSA share has been full of them.  I’ve also been bugging to try making my own pizza dough again.  I’ve had little luck thus far, but this dough is a winner!

This week I created my own spin on a recipe:
Grilled Pesto-Alfredo-Kale-Broccoli-Chicken Pizza

Grilled pizza, you ask?

YES! So good and so easy.  And before I tell you about the recipe, let me just tell you that it was pretty delicious.  It was one of those warm days when you want to keep cooking in the kitchen to a minimum.  After we snagged the pizza from the grill we enjoyed it on our patio with some delicious fruit salad. 

Here’s what you need:

1 pizza crust (I made a honey-wheat crust found here)

½ cup alfredo sauce

¼ cup basil pesto

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (or fresh is delicious)

3 cups kale, chopped

1 cup broccoli, chopped

1 chicken breast

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Few shakes crushed red pepper flakes

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

[1] Get your grill heating up.  While you wait, wash and chop kale and broccoli.  Combine pesto and alfredo sauce. 

[2] Toss chicken on the grill with Salt and Pepper. 

[3] Heat up a non-stick pan and add ½ teaspoon olive oil.  Add kale with a bit of salt and pepper.  Saute for 5-6 minutes.  Then, add broccoli to kale mixture and sauté for 3-4 minutes.

[4] Once chicken is done, pull it off the grill and let it rest.  Then, chop into bite-sized pieces.  Turn your grill to medium. 

[5] Spread out pizza dough on a baking sheet.  Spray top of dough and place directly on grill rack.  

[6] Check the bottom of the pizza dough to make sure it’s cooking.  Once golden brown, flip over carefully (we usually use a spatula and tongs for this).  As soon as you flip it, top with the sauce, then sprinkle the garlic powder, kale and broccoli mixture, cheese, chicken and crushed red pepper flakes (if you like it spicy).  Close the grill lid.  If the bottom of the crust seems like it’s getting browned quickly, turn the grill off so that the toppings can continue to melt.

[8] Eat and enjoy outside.

There you have it – grilled pizza.  It’s by no means tough to make and it is soooooo good.  So even if you don’t make this recipe or want to try making the dough, grab some pizza dough from your grocer’s freezer and toss it on the grill.  You won’t regret it!

Have you grilled pizza before?  If so, what’s your favorite recipe??  I’m in need of some new variations!

Berry Salad Bliss

On Sunday night, JW and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary!  We went to the Douglas Lake Bar and Steakhouse -- partly because it was close to our cottage and has a beautiful view of Douglas Lake and partly because I worked summers there for five years and seriously enjoy their food.  It is seriously gorgeous out there and Sunday was the perfect day.  

Proof of the beautiful day -- Whit-bug on the pontoon boat

Did I take pictures?  NO.  I have been fighting a cold for a week and we'd been on the lake all day.  Think: windblown and stuffy nose.  Not the prettiest sight.  But dinner was delicious.  I started with their summer berry salad.  Ah-mazing.  It might have even made up for the fact that I couldn't enjoy a glass of wine ;)

this is the dlb -- photo from here

So today when I finally realized I was hungry for lunch -- say 3:00 or so, I searched our fridge, cabinets and our new CSA box to see what I could come up with.  Berry salad...duh.

Here's the coolest part: the strawberries and lettuce are from our garden!  Wahoo for green thumbs :)

{RECIPE}

Lettuce - whatever kind you like (prob not iceberg though) or even spinach

Blueberries

Raspberries

Strawberries

Watermelon? (trust me, it's good...we just didn't have any)

Almonds

Toss the lettuce, top with berries and sliced almonds. 

this looked so good, i decided we needed a BIG picture

I know, I know, you've seen this recipe before.  But let me let you in on a little dressing secret stolen straight from the DLB.  Don't tell them I was paying attention to the chefs even though I was a meager little waitress.  

{DRESSING}
makes enough for 2-3 small salads
1 heaping teaspoon raspberry jam

Drizzle red wine vinegar

Drizzle olive oil

4-5 fresh raspberries

Dash Salt + Pepper

Pulse in a mini-food processor or blender.  Taste test.  Drizzle over the salad.  You won't be disappointed.  I suppose you could use a store-bought dressing but this one is so simple and yummy!

Are you still staring at the jam jar?  Yes it really does say "Intercourse Canning Company".  My parents drove through Intercourse, Pennsylvania (a nice quaint Amish town) and my mom found all the goodies at the Intercourse Canning Company far too funny -- muffin mixes, bbq sauces, salsa.  Yes, they've provided us with endless entertainment. 

Foil-Packet Fish

As soon as it starts to get warm out, I pretty much refuse to cook in the kitchen.  Our kitchen gets SO much sunlight and tends to act as a sauna.  Plus, there's no fan.  All of those combined clearly equal an unhappy, sweaty, and undoubtedly hungry pregnant lady. 

Since it was around 90 degrees for two days in a row (sans air conditioning), we opted for a different way to make dinner: on the grill.  Here's our favorite recipe for lemon-herb tilapia.  It is SO good every time. 

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:
Whitefish or Tilapia Filets
1 Lemon, sliced into rings
Salt & Pepper
1 Tablespoon Herb Marinade (or garlic vinaigrette or even just a splash of cooking spray)
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
Fresh Herbs (we like basil and parsley...and dried herbs would work too)

Directions:
[1] Slice up lemon rings and herbs.
[2] Get 2 pieces of tin foil on the counter top.  They should provide ample space for the fish toppings and room to wrap it all up.  Pour the tablespoon of marinade on the tin foil and spread out (this prevents the fish from sticking to the foil and adds great flavor).

[3] Place the filets on top of the marinade. Then sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, and half of herbs. Place lemon slices on top. Then sprinkle with the remaining herbs.

[4] Wrap the foil packet tightly so that the fish will actually steam on the grill.

[5] Place the packet on the grill (medium heat) for about 10 minutes.

[6] After cooking, let the fish packet rest for 5 minutes before opening it  This allows the juices to stay in and it's fantastic because you get a nice lemony-herb sauce. 
[7] Serve and LOVE.

We enjoyed our fish with some garlic-parmesan cous cous (pictured above).  That recipe was simple.  Start with a plain box of cous cous.  Prepare, following directions on the box.  Add parmesan cheese, garlic vinaigrette and fresh herbs.  We also had some corn on the cob.  Nothing says summer to me like corn on the cob...yum.

This is one of our favorite summer recipes and dinners.  What's on your menu tonight?  Ours is pizza.  Not homemade either.  We're watching the nephews so we opted for the easy way out :)

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