Good morning and happy Friday!
This might shock you guys, but guess what? Matt and I are actually staying in town this weekend! I know, I know… crazy. I seriously think we’ve been gone (or had something big and wedding-related to do that took up most or part of a day) every single weekend this summer. We have some fun stuff planned for the weekend but I’m excited to relax a little and get some things done, too! It’s getting to be wedding planning crunch time…
Anyway! In honor of Friday… some things I’m loving lately:
1) Fresh juice!
The amazing miss Gena gave me and Matt a juicer as a wedding present and it’s already been doing some serious work in our kitchen. It’s such a good way to use up produce and I love it as an afternoon snack.
So far, my favorite combo is apple, carrot, and celery. We’ve also made a few with kale that are tasty! Next, I want to try making some with ginger. 🙂 Matt’s made a couple with grapefruit and orange that he liked, too!
Juicing in action — Matt loves this thing. Boys and their toys.
And it’s ready! I love the rainbow colors.
Looks gross, tastes delicious.
2) Huge summer salads with homemade dressing.
Part of the gift basket that my bridesmaids gave me at my bridal shower included this fun salad dressing shaker from Crate and Barrel, so I made a big batch of salad dressing for us to enjoy. So much easier to have it on hand and not have to make a new batch every time!
I used my standard mix of hemp oil, balsamic vinaigrette, dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt/pepper. So good!
3) Lunch time walks.
Even though it’s still summer and I was just at the beach last weekend, it’s suddenly starting to feel more like fall.
Lunch time walks and early morning outdoor workouts/runs are awesome again with the cooler weather involved. I can’t wait for comfy jeans and boots, fall sweaters, pumpkin everything, hot drinks, haunted forests… ahhh! Fall is the best.
4) Fresh homemade bread!
We received a breadmaker from my grad school friend Lauren as a wedding gift a few months ago, but it was right before we left Chapel Hill and things have been so busy we hadn’t had a chance to try it out yet! Then, a couple weekends ago, I came home from my wedding hair & makeup trial to find the kitchen smelling delicious and Matt baking bread. Um, amazing. He told me that when I’m a millionaire he’ll be a house husband and bake me bread and make me juice all day. 😉
His first bread attempt was a cinnamon raisin bread. It was delicious! I was impressed. I’ve never made real bread with yeast before, just quick breads! I’m going to have to try my hand at it next time.
There’s seriously nothing quite like fresh homemade bread, hot out of the oven bread maker. Next time we want to try a savory bread — maybe a parmesan garlic something er other with lots of herbs?
What are you loving lately?
p.s. Thank you to everyone who entered the Barilla giveaway! I used my random comment generator thing to pick a winner and sent their email address over to Barilla, so if it’s you, you’ll hear from them! 🙂
