Hello & Happy Wednesday!

We were out of town visiting family in Iowa last week. It was nice to have a break from our normal routines!

We enjoyed the scenery, going on walks, time with family, the Iowa corn 🙂 , and the chance to just relax more without having to think about the regular to-dos/stressors of life.

And, of course, some delicious eats! (some of which will be featured below!)

As we continue on into August, I’m hoping to take advantage of all the amazing fresh produce in-season for the next month. Hello fresh peaches, tomatoes, and corn!

What are you hoping to make before summer is over? I’m dreaming up a burrata salad w/ fresh tomatoes, a chicken dishes w/ fresh peaches, & quite possibly some fruit crisp!

Plenty of delicious seasonal summer eats from the past month!

Lately I have been all about the tacos to highlight fresh summer produce. Such a good summer meal in my opinion! These beef tacos were killer! I browned some ground beef and seasoned it with homemade taco seasoning that I keep on-hand. I also usually add some white onion and salsa to my ground beef. The star of this dish was a guasacaca sauce that I made from one of my favorite cookbooks. Guasacaca is a Venezuelan guacamole-like sauce made with avocado, green bell pepper, jalapeño, and plenty of cilantro. It was super simple to whip up in my Vitamix. I highly recommend giving it a try!! Other than that, the tacos were topped w/ shredded cheddar and an organic Kirkland salsa that I have been loving lately.

Side salad w/ cherry tomato, red + green bell peppers, more guasacaca, and a fresh red bell pepper vinaigrette I made from Cookie + Kate’s cookbook.

Our one constructive comment about this meal is that next time we may just opt for taco salad w/ corn tortilla chips since the tacos were a little messy/difficult to eat!!

Simple scrambled eggs with leftover onion, shredded cheddar, and plenty of salt + pepper + red pepper flakes. Salad and roasted bell peppers + red onion on the side, along with some tasty spicy Lebanese potatoes! More cilantro and plenty of paprika (I added more than the recipe called for).

While on vacation, my go-to breakfast was whole-milk yogurt, a glob of peanut butter, Purely Elizabeth’s original granola, plenty of fresh blueberries (or other fruit), and usual coffee w/ almond milk. This is a typical go-to travel breakfast for me since it is easy to prepare and also checks the boxes from a satisfaction/taste standpoint!

As far as snacks go, we brought our usual homemade fudgy cacao energy bites, coconut cacao energy bars, Macro Bars for Alec and Aloha Bars for me, and (obviously) my usual Trader Joe’s dark chocolate!!  I always liked to be prepared with plenty of tasty and nourishing snacks when I am traveling!

One night we got (more) tacos for dinner. I chose one chicken and one ground beef, both with white onion + cilantro and the best salsa! Extra tortilla chips on the side. Fresh and flavorful!

For more thoughts on eating intuitively while traveling, check out this post.

For lunches at home the past few weeks, I have been really into Greek salads! This has been mixed greens w/ chopped cucumber + bell pepper + cherry tomato + beets, crumbled feta, chickpeas, + crushed red pepper flakes. This Greek salad dressing has been amazing! Typically I have been eating this along with a fruit (usually grapes or honeydew melon) and tortilla chips. Such a satisfying lunch!

Another salad that was more of a “clean-out-the-fridge” creation that turned out surprisingly well. Mixed greens topped with some leftover brown rice, random veggies I had on-hand (chopped cucumber + green bell pepper, plus leftover steamed green beans), crumbled feta, pepitas, and a tahini honey mustard dressing that was leftover from a previous dinner (see below!). I love how well random meals thrown together like this sometimes turn out!

Tahini honey mustard sauce was from these delish veggie bowls w/ brown rice/quinoa, and roasted sweet potatoes + cauliflower + broccoli + chickpeas. I had leftovers one night while Alec was out with a friend. I don’t normally watch TV while eating but find it to be kind of fun when I am by myself at dinner (which is rare)! House Hunters plus plenty of reading material for the win.

I made chicken tikka masala using the Half-Baked Harvest recipe one evening. If you are subscribed to my monthly newsletter, you may already know about how I don’t generally gravitate towards Indian-flavored cuisine, but it is something I am trying to experiment with more! (Both for increased cooking skills/experimentation and since Alec loves it so much). This dish I liked. However, the best part was that it made a lot of extra curry paste (more than the recipe called for), so I was able to use it in the veggie curry I made the next week that turned out really well!

For the veggie curry I used the same curry paste from the recipe above, some extra store-bought red curry paste that I had on hand, coconut milk + tomato paste, and a lovely mix of veggies (yellow onion, broccoli, sweet potato, red bell pepper, + carrot). Served over quinoa.

This was my favorite dish of the past month! I tried to write everything down so I can recreate it in the future.

Another favorite go-to summer meal of quinoa topped w/ roasted red onion + zucchini + red bell pepper, Juicy Kitchen sun-dried tomato hummus, and plenty of shredded parmesan. Originally inspired by the Halloumi Bowl at Juicy!

Lately I have been into simple meals of prepping a grain, roasting a bunch of veggies that sound good, and topping it all with a delicious homemade sauce and any other potential toppings (such as crushed cashews or peanuts, shredded cheese, etc). Easy and nourishing, and can be prepped in advance and even doubled for busy weeknights!

How about we move on to discussing some dessert?? I made these brownies incorporating some of my sourdough discard for one of our weekly church lunches. Yum! Although I continue to try new brownie recipes and can’t seem to settle on a go-to recipe yet!

While we were in Iowa we visited Pella, a Dutch town southeast of Des Moines. Of course we went to a couple of the Dutch bakeries to get some baked goods! I thoroughly enjoyed this gevulde speculaas bar, which is a traditional ginger/cinnamon-spiced cookie with almond paste. I would love to try recreating these at home!

I am always happy to have time on a Saturday morning to make pancakes! My basic pancake recipe topped with peanut butter and maple syrup, and a medley of fresh fruit on the side. It seems my Saturdays tend to get eaten up with activities/things to do, but I am hoping to incorporate some slower mornings as we head into the fall.

Have you given my overnight oats recipe a try?? A must-make simple breakfast before we head into the colder months! Lately I have usually been topping it with fresh blueberries or strawberries (organic from Costco).

If you are in the market for a new planner as we head into the academic school year, check out my favorite Day Designer Planner. I love this one and could hardly go a day without it! It is kind of pricey as far as planners go, but I find it to be worth it considering how much I like it and use it.

A couple more dinners to round things out… baked salmon topped with homemade sun-dried tomato pesto (a store-bought pesto would work equally well!), steamed green beans, and brown rice.

This frittata combo turned out to be such a good dinner! I was going for a summer garden flavor theme, with roasted broccoli + onion + bell pepper + cherry tomato + garlic + corn. Also some feta cheese and parmesan thrown in.

Everyday Enjoyment:

Currently reading: Heaven, Before We Were Yours, and Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man, all of which I am enjoying so far. A lot of variety which keeps things interesting!

Accepting and enjoying what “is” in each day: This may sound obvious, but I am trying to practice accepting each day as it is and enjoying what there is to enjoy in each day, rather than constantly wishing things were different. I find that it can be easy to go about life focusing on the negatives, when there is typically so much to enjoy in each day as it is! Rather than trying to “force” life to go a certain way, I am finding it helpful to focus more on accepting it as it is (while also working to change what I can…).

Evening walks: We have been even more intentional about going on walks after dinner on the evenings we are at home / don’t have other things planned. This has been such a life-giving aspect of the week!

How have you been enjoying all the in-season fruits/veggies?
What are you currently reading or listening to?
Anything you are looking forward to for the rest of the summer??

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!