Have you been getting a chance to soak up all of the in-season produce yet this autumn? Lately my cooking and baking has been limited because I moved cross country, and then I was staying in an Airbnb without a legit kitchen for over a month. Plus, I've been pre-occupied with trying to find a new home in Connecticut... BUT I have news to share! After much time and effort spent into looking to buy a place here, my husband and I decided to put our buying plans on hold and to rent a townhouse for 6 months. This move has been incredibly stressful, and sometimes when nothing is going according to plan, you have to recalibrate. We moved into the townhouse last weekend, and I will be spending the next couple of days unpacking and getting settled in... and I am so excited to have all of ... [Read More]
easy appetizer recipes
Avocado Pistachio Pesto & Tomato Crostini [vegan]
One of my favorite things to do in the summertime is hang out in my backyard in the evening with my husband, while we listen to relaxing music coming through my patio speakers with glasses of refreshing white wine in hand, while munching on an easy appetizer dinner and laughing at our pup running around chasing her ball like a nut. With temperatures steadily in the 80s and the sun blaring strong every day in the San Diego area for quite awhile, my house has been on the warmer side lately - which means I don't necessarily feel like turning on my oven or sweating over my stovetop to make dinner... or putting all that much effort into meal prep for that matter. We've thought about getting air conditioning, but just when I'm over feeling hot in my house and want to see about getting ... [Read More]
Cinnamon Apple & Sage Goat Cheese Crostini + Weekend Recap
Happy Monday! Are you as psyched about your week as my dog was about letting the breeze hit her face riding in the car last weekend? Trying to capture her funny faces as she sticks her face out of the car window is hilarious. People that aren't entertained by dogs perplex me. My knucklehead puppy makes me laugh all the time! Before I get to this fabulous appetizer recipe... I'm backing it up a couple of days to chat about the food, fitness, and fun of my weekend. On Thursday night (I know, not technically the weekend yet!) I attended a yoga class at the new PUMA Women's store at South Coast Plaza Mall in Costa Mesa on behalf of FitFluential. Holy moly, that shopping center is gorgeous! My cousin Michelle lives somewhat close a bit north of there, so I invited her to come get her yoga on ... [Read More]
Mediterranean Goat Cheese Crostini
Hello friends! Ever have days when you feel like you're going a mile a minute from the minute you wake up until the minute you go to sleep? That has been me for the past couple of days. At the moment I'm procrastinating packing for my trip to San Diego tomorrow. Packing is the worst but I'm excited for my trip! In the spirit of hectic days, I thought it'd be fitting to share a recipe I whipped up last week during a busy day. I was starving for dinner and all I felt like eating was the loaf of fresh bread I had picked up at the grocery store earlier. What resulted was an easy appetizer recipe that can also be your meal if you're like me and love to make appetizers your main dish. Mediterranean Goat Cheese Crostini Crostini creations are perfect for get togethers and quick ... [Read More]
Oven Baked Zucchini Fries
Some days I'd love nothing more then to experiment in the kitchen for hours. Other days, I'm not in the mood for playing around when it comes to my eats. The latter was the case over Labor Day weekend. The entire three days, I just wanted to make some yummy food in as short amount of time as possible. This was my masterpiece-in-less-than-thirty-minutes meal of the weekend: It all started off with one my favorite veggies, zucchini: I adore zucchini fries. Almost anytime I see them on a restaurant menu, I'm compelled to order them. I've made zucchini fries at home numerous times, but for some reason they haven't made it onto the blog thus far, so today I'm sharing my version of zucchini fries! First, I cut the zucchinis into fry-like pieces: Next I whisk an egg in a bowl, and ... [Read More]
Cream Cheese Mushroom Puffs
Happy 2013 everyone! I'm now back in San Diego. I had a wonderful time in Jersey but was also happy to get home. My entire trip, I was surrounded by people who caught a cold or the flu. I felt great throughout the holidays and thought I was somehow beating catching the sickness, but the very last day before I flew back to the West coast, I started to feel crappy. Traveling probably didn't help, and the past 2 days I've had a full-blown upper respiratory thing going on - congested sinuses, scratchy throat and all. I despise being sick and am doing all I can to recover ASAP. At the moment I'm eating a bowl of berries and drinking green tea: Wish me luck in kicking it! My time in Jersey was full of family, friends, lots of laughter, and good food & drinks. What else could a girl ask for? ... [Read More]