I hope you all are enjoying your weekend! We celebrated a friend’s birthday yesterday and today we’re going to church and then a family bike ride before a celebratory end of school dinner and ice cream. We’ve been continuing with a loose school schedule through the summer but I want to make sure we take the time to celebrate some of A and C’s big achievements – Augustine finished Good and the Beautiful Level 1 Math and Corinna finished her Kindergarten Prep. I’m so proud of those two. We’re all looking forward to a little break from lessons before we start up again in September.
WHAT WE ATE
I plan to share the meals I made the previous week, with links if possible, as some inspiration for your own menu planning.
MONDAY- Corn Chowder with Chile, Lime, and Cotija– so delicious and felt perfect on the night of a surprise summer storm. We’ve been loving the leftovers all week.
TUESDAY- Beets and Greens Phyllo Pie- I’ve had this package of phyllo dough sitting in my freezer for the last several months so I was so happy to find this recipe in a favorite cookbook. The combination of beets with feta and brie cheese in a crispy phyllo crust was so yummy!
WEDNESDAY- Spicy Stir Fried Pork with Green Beans and Tomatoes – also from this cookbook, although if you have an NYT acct I saw it here. This dish came together incredibly fast which makes me think it will definitely be a repeat! Plus, the flavor was so good and reminded us of a delicious takeout meal.
THURSDAY- Gourmet Hot Dog Bar with Oven Roasted BBQ Potato Salad and Watermelon – we had friends over and this was a great, easy summer dinner! The potato salad is so good and different because the potatoes are roasted so they hold their crunch without being mushy.
FRIDAY- Meatloaf and leftover potato salad- another repeat of ours because the kids will eat it all up!
SATURDAY- an easy pantry pasta for the kids and then a late night date night sushi for me and Matthew
SUNDAY- Grilled Fish Sandwiches with tomato, avocado and tartar sauce
That granola bowl above has become my favorite mid-morning snack. Strauss yogurt + pecan granola + raspberries and nectarine + local honey and bee pollen
My neighbor made the most delicious almond flour chocolate chip cookies for us the other day and she used the Guittard Extra Dark Chocolate baking chips…wow so so good!
SALES TO NOTE
American Eagle– 30% off all Jeggings and Slim Jeans + 25% off all Jeans
Ann Taylor– 30% off your full-price purchase
ON MY MIND
I’m getting my hair cut this week and I’m so looking forward to it! My thoughts right now are that I’m going to get bangs again, but I’m also a little worried that maybe my post-partum hair growth might make them look odd. So we’ll see what happens there. I haven’t been in over a year so it will be nice to just sit in a chair for a few hours and read a book/listen to a podcast.
Last week we had a few days that felt like fall (including that random storm day). It made me realize I’m so not ready to say goodbye to summer. This upcoming week we’re supposed to have a few 100-degree days so I’m hoping to take the kids to the splash pad at the park (finally!)
This week is going to bring some change too. My mother-in-law who has been living with us this past year will be back after being gone for the past 6 weeks, and then Matthew will be heading out of town for work. We’re going to miss him so much since it will be the longest time he’s been gone for at least the past 3 years. I know the kids will be happy to have some grandma time, though, so that will provide a little distraction.
Our chickens are now all laying! I didn’t mention this little project of ours that kept us busy this spring, but we raised chicks. It was actually a lot more work than we expected but it was a light during the end of winter bleekness and something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. The eggs have been so cute and tiny but are starting to get a little bigger.
I’ve been keeping up with my elliptical workouts which has been so good for me. I’m using that time to watch bits of a show and even though it takes multiple workout sessions to get through an episode, it’s just the motivation I need! When Downton Abbey came out Matthew and I loved it so much but for whatever reason (maybe we weren’t able to stream it?) we stopped watching after Season 2. Over the years we’ve heard some of the big spoilers so I didn’t feel as big of a desire to start watching it again, even if we could have. Just recently, though, I noticed that all the seasons were available for free on Amazon Prime Video so I picked up again where we left off. I am so happy I did because, even with some of the spoilers spoiled, it’s still so enjoyable!
Have a great week!!
xox
