I’ve been spending a lot of time with friends lately–summer just brings a lot of my favorite people to town!
My friend, Jena, and I had a sleepover on Sunday, and one of our favorite things to do together is make a huge mess in the kitchen (she’s extra good at that). On Sunday, we used beets from my garden and local spinach, goat cheese, olive oil, and vinegar for our creation. I always feel good when I do that!
This appetizer was spinach leaf wrapped around a chunk of beet stuffed with brie and topped with crushed pistachios. Odd, maybe, but it tasted really good! We also drizzled olive oil on it.
The second appetizer was brie wrapped in prosciutto and spinach---this was pretty salty, until we added the spinach leaf---then it was awesome! Note my favorite plate.
My Mom and Fred have the most amazing backyard---so we just took our dinner over there while they weren't looking. When we were done, just sitting around drinking wine, my mom texted me to ask if she could come over and see Jena. Ha.
There isn’t really a recipe for the salad, or the other things either. We just put what we had together—toasted the walnuts and roasted the beets. The dressing was a combination of Herbs de Provence olive oil and California Apricot balsamic (from F. Olivers).
I feel like I’m back on track (for life) at the moment. I have four classes going on, and most of my family/friends have left town. Not that I want them to be gone, but since I work a lot at home, it definitely impacts the amount of work I get done (I compromise on time a lot, and end up doing my paper grading at 4am).
I will have a fitness update and workout to post soon. Everything has been going great there—mostly it’s food that’s variable, right now I’m just working on shaking the feeling that I need to drink wine everyday (it’s so easy to get into that habit!), and eating like I normally do when I’m in my regular routine. I have three trips to take for the remainder of July (Jersey Shore, LA, and Dartmouth!)… so I am going to try and stay really focused on my food/fitness while traveling. I think I’m at a good place to do that (and not be/look crazy at the same time).
How is your July going so far? I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure where June went!
Any trips coming up?
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