Sunny Sunday Snack

Justin's Chocolate Almond Butter

I bought a small packet of this at Winn Dixie... it is awesome!!

After church I spent some time out at the pool... then I remembered I had a long run this afternoon and decided I might need to come in and not get too hot before that :) 

This snack just gave me the perfect "perk" I needed!

I put half a packet of Almond Butter on a piece of Ezekiel bread and had a glass of fruited green tea. YUM!!

I made some green tea the other day and it has been AWESOME to have in the fridge! I usually make ice cubes to put in my smoothies but this time I just left it in the pitcher to sip on. Today I got some of my frozen berries and a packet of stevia and mixed that into my green tea... Very refreshing!

Now off to buy a new shower head before the run... yepee!

(I will give a full review of the new running shoes once I get a few runs in)!

Soak up the sun.

Pizza Time with a Twist!

I got the new Food Network magazine this week and a Bobby Flay recipe caught my eye...

Blackberry Bourbon Iced Tea!

It is delicious!

We wanted to have pizza night and thought this would pair great with it!

(By the way- I got new running shoes today! So excited! And I went to Target and got a new pair of flats... beware they have a lot to choose from!)

Here is how DC Pizza Night with a Twist turns out:

(Find the twist recipe here)

Ingredients for the "twist part"

 Mix the sugar, berries, and chopped mint together. Take a wooden spoon and mash this all together. Allow this to "macerate" for however long you can stand it. Taste it... it is amazing!

Yum! Bobby Flay rocks... 

 Now you are going to take your black tea (I steeped some tea earlier... using Tazo Chai Tea) and pour it over the macerated berry mixture. Let it sit for a bit.

Now take this and strain it into a pitcher. 

Like so...

Push it through with a spoon-- any berries that didn't get mashed before will now!

 Put some ice (we crushed some in the Ninja Blender) in your glasses.

I went with Bobby (He made) but Aarti's (She made) tea looked great too!

 Take your tea and berry juice and get it in the jars.

 Get every last drop!

 And now one shot each... or not! If you want this without the alcohol it would still be delicious!  Maybe do some sparkling water!

 In it goes!

And add some mint! This is straight from the DC Garden!

 And now for the pizza (here is another pizza night). We did DC homemade pesto (using fresh basil from the garden) on top of sour dough crust (from Publix) and then some chicken and LOTS of cheese (goat cheese for me)! 

 Here it is! Turned out wonderful and OH so tasty!

I hope Saturday has treated you right!

Smile.

Week 6 Harvest Basket

What we got in the basket:

Salad Mix

Romaine Head Lettuce

Dill

Chioggia Beets (AKA Candy-cane Beets)

Rainbow Chard

Spring Onions

Broccoli

Strawberries

The veggies were so bright and pretty! I couldn't stop taking pictures...

I will keep you guys posted on the recipe(s) I choose from the weekly newsletter.

Y'all notice the red shoes in the picture below... that is David.

Y'all noticed the three sweets... or the NOT veggie things on the table??

He was begging me to stop taking pictures hahah... and I was hurrying myself. I mean look at them! We were ready to dig in... into our veggies and sweets of course!

Sooo here is the deal...

We pick up our harvest basket at a local bakery. Yea... so David usually picks it up, but I have been available to the past 2 weeks. I did avoid the sweets last week, because I got lost in the speciality cookware side of the bakery (I am hunting for a small wooden bowl with a top to store my Celtic salt in) BUT this week I COULD NOT. I mean the smell hit me when I walked in. I looked in the display case and already had my top choices picked out.... So I decided to SURPRISE David with some special treats because... it was Thursday and he is super awesome! 

So we have a macaroon, blondie, and some sort of dream bar (that is amazing!!!). 

Eat some sweets.

Eat some veggies.

Lettuce Wraps and Cake

Lettuce Wraps

What did I use??

Snowsbend Farm Buttercrunch lettuce from last week's harvest basket

 DC Garden homemade pesto 

Sandwich Meat (no time to bake chicken yet)

Goat Cheese

These are QUICK and EASY and so YUMMY!

Then David plated some sweets... I can't resist sweets. I can. NOT. 

The Angel Food Cake was brought back from the Farm (thanks Mom) and strawberries from a farm up there as well. The ice cream, WELL, Winn-Dixie special (thank you Leanne!)!

All about BALANCE right???

;)

My friend (Leanne) and I are training for a 10k currently... 

mixing in our training program with Crossfit (so we get to eat a little more, right??? hah). Anyways we are doing Distance for Disaster Relief Run for Tuscaloosa Red Cross. 

More information is on www.tafalabama.com, under the links tab. You can choose to do a 5k, 10k, or 15k. All the money raised will go DIRECTLY to Tuscaloosa! 

I am raising money for my run, 10k... goal of $50! So if you would like to donate just shoot me an email! We will try to get it taken care of!

Have a great Wednesday!

Take a deep breathe... 

it makes your day better...

"Leaving-Home Penne Rigate with Broccoli"

We get a newsletter with each week's harvest basket...

Want to see the harvest baskets? Click below... they are beautiful!

(Week 1, Week 2, Weeks 3 & 4, and Week 5)

The newsletter comes the night before (via email) we pick up the basket. This will give us an update from the farm, recipes for some of the items in the basket, and any needed introductions to the vegetables!

I am going to try and do at least 1 recipe weekly from the newsletter to "broaden" my horizons!

This week: 

Leaving-Home Penne Rigate with Broccoli

(Here is the Recipe Link)

5 Ingredients people- noodles, cheese, vegetable, salt/pepper, and olive oil!

So easy...

Quick (about 15 minutes) and easy (1 pot and then 1 container to hold it)... 

and very versatile (any veggie will work)...

I am going to add chicken and some crispy bacon to serve it tomorrow!

Have a great Monday.

Laugh. A lot.

Tomato-Scape-Onion Soup

The title is a mouthful... but this soup is so good...

So tasty!

All Star Line Up/Ingredients

A bundle of Garlic Scapes (we got around 6 in a bundle from Snowsbend)

2 cans of Fire Roasted Tomatoes 

6 Spring Onions (or just a bundle or just a regular onion if you can't find these)

Olive Oil

Pinch of Celtic Salt (or Sea Salt or just salt)

Pinch of Pepper

1 tablespoon of Garlic

About 4-5 cups of Chicken Stock (if you want it more "soupy" add more)

Steps

First, heat your pot over medium heat. While it is heating chop up your veggies.

Second, swirl in some olive oil.

Third, throw your veggies (scapes and onions) in the pot.

Fourth, cook them until they are translucent and limp.

Fifth, put in tomatoes and chicken stock.

Sixth, throw in your pinches of salt and pepper.

Seventh, puree the soup in a blender or using an immersion blender!

Eight, give 'er a taste and add according to your taste buds :)

Enjoy!

Eat something good today.

Seis de Mayo

One evening I came home to this...

Well him minus the stream haha.

AND

A Mojito made by him.

Since things have been a bit "crazy busy" in my part of the woods... Cinco de Mayo was not on the top of my list. 

My usual celebratory activities include fish tacos and a mojito.. which is my favorite meal.

EVER. So that sweet boy made it happen the next night... leaving us with SEIS DE MAYO :)

Update on what I have been up to--- I have been blessed to find a spot to plug in here in Tuscaloosa and it has been such a great experience! I have been working with the Mayor's office where the Emergency Operations or his emergency team is located. My duty is to call our aide centers (who are doing an awesome job of fulfilling needs in the communities) and ask them how they are doing (if they need clothes, food, diapers, etc. then I get some out there via the warehouse or someone who wants to donate items). Donations have been overwhelming and heart warming! Along side the rocking Forestry men I have been blessed to work with, we call and make sure people get plugged in where they need to or bring their 53 FOOT trailer to the right location! Again... the response to our needs has been overwhelming.... THANK Y'ALL! WE must think long term at this point-- there will be houses, churches, stores, etc. that will need rebuilt once clean-up is done. Our town will be rebuild- just like the other towns in Alabama... just keep it in your heart to keep the prayers and help coming in the future :) 

While working there I found out some research that I am involved with received a grant... I do tornado research (as some of you may remember) and this (April 27th outbreak) will be one that will be studied thoroughly. I am now on a research team where we survey survivors (via iPads) and ask them how they got their weather information, where they sought shelter, etc. I have enjoyed talking to many of the survivors, and look forward to more survey days. 

Back to Seis de Mayo--- 

Friday night I get a call from David asking if I could make it back for dinner. I rearranged some things and gathered up my work from the mayor's office and knew I could make phone calls from home. I took off and came in to a surprise dinner! He cooked tacos and made mojitos! PERFECT!! He is really sweet. I really appreciated this more than any flowers.... then he cleans my kitchen and vacuums. 

(SWOON)

Here are the pictures from our Seis de Mayo celebration!

My trio with goat cheese and some rainbow kale sauteed for the greens!

Another angle...

Last one :) Tasted so good!!

David had 3 but I wasn't quick enough to get the picture haha!

More traditional with the shredded cheese... the kale was awesome on these!

Last one!

This was great!! 

DC Mojito Recipe

You will need: 

Sparkling Water/Club Soda, Crushed ice (throw some in a blender... cover your ears and pulse away), Bacardi Rum (if you want a little spike, it is good without too), Stevia, Mint Leaves, and Lime!

What you will need to do:

For one--

Take around 12 mint leaves and cut a lime in half. Take the half and cut it into 4 pieces. (So far in glass... 12 mint leaves and 4 wedges of lime)... now muddle (this releases the goodies from the lime and mint) these together! 

Fill the glass with crushed ice (again take time to throw some in a blender just be prepared for the LOUD noise... I repeat, LOUD noise). 

Pour in 1.5 oz of Rum or not :)

Pour in 1 tablespoon stevia (roughly).

Top the glass (or mason jar in our case) with Club Soda or Sparkling Water.

STIR it up and that's it!

Smile :)