In other news, our sweet Charlie turned one and we cannot believe how this past year just flew by. My mom came to town and we had all our friends over to feast on summer fare. For his smash cake, I made my banana bread into a little layer cake topped with Greek yogurt and Charlie was in loooove (he face-planted into it!). Cutest thing ever. With summer in full swing, I’m soaking up extra time with the kiddos and remembering that it’ll be fall before I know it. Be sure to check out my San Diego recap for all the delish eats from our June trip, too!
Onto the eats!
Greek yogurt bowls come in handy when I have no lunch energy. I’m really digging Whole Foods’ 365 brand plain organic Greek yogurt with bloobs, juicy peach, chia seeds, hemp seeds, Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes and almond butter. I made two slow cooker’s worth of this pulled pork for Charlie’s party and it turned out incredible! I also made my summer quinoa salad and this super easy Instant Pot mac and cheese, which was a big hit. My favorite easy slaw is one bag of shredded cabbage mix, 1 ½ tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, ½ tbsp maple syrup, ¼ tsp salt, and pepper. Easy and amazing. I forgot about my vegetable teriyaki stir fry and it’s so good! I feel like veggies have been a struggle lately but this one is absolutely veggie-loaded. Grilled buffalo chicken (I marinate chicken breast in a bunch of Frank’s hot sauce, some melted butter, garlic and onion powder), leftover summer quinoa salad, grilled zucchini with balsamic and olive oil, and salad. For our [almost] nightly salad we do bagged chopped romaine, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and lots of garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. In this season of life, mornings are typically total chaos trying to get everyone (myself included) dressed, fed, and ready to leave so I’m keeping it easy. Having hard boiled eggs and overnight oats mean zero prep which means I actually can eat breakfast! Crazy flavorful portobello fajitas are one of the meals Jeff requests most. I double the spices, olive oil, and lime juice and marinate 1 ½ lbs of chicken with it alongside the veggies. I made a play on this tuna salad for my mom and she said it was the best tuna ever! I basically mix a can of albacore tuna with chopped onion, celery, pepper and dill pickle, a good spoonful of mayo and Greek yogurt, squirt of Dijon, and plenty of salt, pepper, and dried dill. Dough Counter’s Sicilian hot honey pepperoni pizza on Friday night is everything. Root beer Olipop on the side, duh. Frozen KIND bars are so under-rated. They taste like a sweet and salty Snicker’s and the texture is so on point! The peanut butter is my favorite. Wild salmon with TJ’s pesto (totally undercooked it, oops) with herbed brown rice and the same salad I mentioned above. Sourdough toast with avocado, three scrambled eggs with sautéed peppers and spinach, and Ithaca fresh salsa (un-pictured fruit salad on the side). A delish post pilates weekend breakfast! I’ve made Monique’s gochujang bowls (we use turkey) many times and it’s always a hit. We double it (I mostly double everything so we have enough for two nights) and serve either with rice or rice noodles. My favorite banana bread recipe as muffins (baked for 24 min). I added chocolate chunks from Trader Joe’s pound plus dark chocolate bar and they were epic.
Things I’m Loving Lately
Happy summer, everyone! Tell me something delish you’re making this week in the comments.
