Wednesday, July 15th, 2015
Last week I had the summer picnic of my dreams. Well, I’m excited to have just one thing left on my summer food bucket list after cooking this amazing grilled corn. Corn on the cob is a favorite in our house but surprisingly enough we’ve never grilled it before. We always boil it and add our typical salt & pepper with a ton of butter on top YUM! Well, I wanted to give it a shot on the grill for Summer and boy was it tasty! There are a trillion different recipes on how to make it so I decided to keep it simple. All I did was grill it for 20 minutes making sure to flip it throughout so it would cook evenly. I even left them in their husks. Once done I decided to top one of them with the usual salt & pepper plus fresh lime juice, Mexican cheese & cilantro. It turned out incredible, not really sure why it has taken me so long to do this. The mister loved the grilled flavor on the corn so overall we are both hooked. Can I get a hell yeah? HA! Cannot wait to make some more. Have you grilled corn before? What toppings do you like? Happy grilling loves!
Thursday, July 9th, 2015
Tackling my Summer food bucket list has been pretty exciting. With the addition of our Strawberry farm adventure I am having a little too much fun tackling all the things I put on the list. The next one on my mind was having a lake picnic…. on the water! Moving to Madison has been a dream come true with all the lakes we have surrounding the city. Building snowmen during the winter and walking on them while frozen was a blast so I knew I wanted to have a picnic on it, we just had to wait for the perfect weather. Enter, Summer! To celebrate the occasion I brought chicken salad sandwiches, sweet strawberries for dessert & of course I couldn’t forget some sparkling Limonata (my absolute fave!). The adorable straws & napkins are from Party Pail Aren’t they adorable? They’re super affordable too! For this girl who loves to host and entertain, I just couldn’t contain myself when I came across them. Our vintage picnic basket made an appearance too. We got it in Palm Springs years ago and it’s one of my most treasured souvenirs EVER. I cannot wait to have a few more picnics while it’s still nice out. Eating and sipping Pellegrino right above the water was just awesome! Obviously having great company always helps. Just for fun I brought along some of our vintage cameras. I know, I am a big dork but I’ve been wanting to photograph them in random places. Love how those pics turned out. Anyways, two more items on our Summer list and we will be done! Grilled corn – I’m talking to you! HA! Do you like having picnics too? What do you like on your picnic menus? Happy Summer loves!
Wednesday, July 1st, 2015
I’ve been on a salad kick lately. I guess it’s what happens during Summer. I had pomegranate seeds for the first time a few weeks ago and I am officially hooked. There are a million ways to have them (just look on Pinterest). I’ve been having this sweet potato spinach pomegranate salad multiple times a week. It’s perfect for either lunch or dinner. There is no meat in it and I don’t miss it one bit. The sweet potatoes are the main star of this dish, with the pomegranate seeds taking it to the next level. Of course adding goat cheese makes it a five star salad in my book HA! Then comes the dressing! Ladies and gents this Panera dressing will rock your socks. Ever since my friend Dani introduced me to it, I simply cannot stop adding it to my salads. The tangerine flavor in my opinion complements the ingredients of this salad perfectly. They were totally meant to be together! To be clear, this is not a sponsored post by Panera. If you were to ask them who I am they’d have no clue. Maybe after this post they might HA! I just really love this dressing and to me having a good dressing makes any salad stand out more. Bad dressings ruin dishes for me so I’m just more than happy to share this match made in heaven with you guys HA! Are you ready to make this? Let’s go!
Sweet Potato Spinach Pomegranate Salad
(Makes 2 servings)
3 cups of Spinach
1 medium sweet potato, boiled and cut into cubes
3 tablespoons goat cheese (or as much as you wish HA!)
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
1/2 tablespoon of poppy-seeds
Panera’s Tangerine Honey salad dressing
Start by peeling and cutting your sweet potato into cubes. Boil it for approximately 15-20 minutes until soft. Strain and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. In a bowl/plate place your spinach and top it with your sweet potatoes. Add the pomegranate seeds with little pieces of goat cheese on top. Drizzle with dressing and finish with poppy-seeds for a little crunch. That’s it! I apologize in advance if you become obsessed with it like I am. Maybe we can start a salad support group? What do you think? Will you be trying this too? What is your favorite way to eat pomegranate seeds? Happy cooking loves!
Monday, June 29th, 2015
My summer dreams came true this weekend when we finally went strawberry picking! It was all I ever dreamed of and maybe a little more. I’ve been wanting to do this for years now, not sure why it took us so long. We visited Carandale Farm out in Oregon, WI (not to be confused with “Portland, Oregon HA!) which was just a short drive from our home. Again, another reason why I love Madison. One minute you’re in the city, the next you are out standing on a strawberry farm. It was kinda magical. We had a blast, everyone was extremely nice there and I am already excited to go back next year HA! Another fun Summer tradition added to our list. We were extremely lucky to go on what we found out could be their last day of the picking season (I would’ve been devastated to miss it) so it felt extra special. The mister wouldn’t let me try berries there while picking without washing it first HAHA So the minute we got home, I washed all 4 pounds and took my first bite of one. I have never, ever had a more SWEET strawberry. They’re so good! Kinda glad I didn’t try them while picking because our basket would’ve been empty by the time we got home HA! I made fresh juice and am planning on having strawberry spinach salad all week long. I’m living in strawberry heaven right now and won’t complain one bit. I made a little video to celebrate the occasion. Enjoy it below with all the pics. Have you ever visited a strawberry farm? Have you gone strawberry picking before? Isn’t it the best? Happy Summer loves!
Friday, June 26th, 2015
Let’s never forget this awesome day. I’m sure we all know someone who is celebrating and feeling our same freedom right now. Love will always win and today love won big! Free “Love wins” download made just for you. Happy Friday loves!
