Still want iced coffee, but ready to transition over to fall? I’m a huge fan of pumpkin spiced lattes, as well as iced coffee. Are you too? If so, try my recipe for pumpkin spice iced coffee! I’m guest-blogging over at Musings from a Stay at Home Mom today and share the full recipe in my post.
What’s your favorite way to prepare coffee?
I love making variations of goat cheese recipes for an appetizer. I really liked the warm goat cheese dip I posted about a year and a half ago (and incidentally is one of our most searched for recipes at 2S2C.) For Thanksgiving last year, I made another type of goat cheese appetizer to hold everyone over until the big dinner was ready. This goat cheese and basil oil recipe really wowed me- I could not stop eating it! I made it again last week and remembered why I liked it so much last November. Don’t be discouraged by the long list of directions- it’s fairly easy to make and the presentation is simple and beautiful.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Menu Plan Monday and since I actually planned my menu for the week today, I thought I would share the recipes in a post. With the fall chill now in the air, I’ve been filing away my summer recipes and started to look for colder-weather meals. I have to admit that I had to put the heat on for the first time this season this morning- it was 52 degrees in our house! Here are some meal ideas sure to warm you up for the week:
Monday: Slow-Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala with Indian Basmati Rice
Tuesday: Beef Noodle Salad Bowls with Steamed Broccoli
Wednesday: Quick and Easy Beef Chili from Whole Foods Meals for 4 under $15, Fall 2012 (could not find recipe on-line)
Thursday: Shrimp Enchiladas from Whole Foods Meals for 4 under $15, Fall 2012 (could not find recipe on-line)
Friday: Jambalaya and a side salad
Saturday: night off from cooking!
Sunday: Sunday Roast Chicken, Apple, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Salad, and Classic Apple Crisp for dessert
The picture above is the Boston skyline and Charles River on a fall day from a previous year. What’s on your menu plan for the week?
I tried Nutella for the first time earlier this year (when my mom made these awesome Nutella cookies) and I have been stocking our cupboards with it ever since. My husband lived in Europe when he was a small child and remembered having Nutella all the time. His mother must have told him it at some point that it was a special delicacy because until just recently, he thought Nutella cost over $50 a jar. Fortunately for us, it’s much more affordable than this and is something we can enjoy everyday.
We have started incorporating Nutella into our breakfast routine recently as well. My husband loves to have it spread on graham crackers with some fruit on top and I like to make it into a smoothie. I’ve been experimenting with different ingredients and ratios, and I think I have finally found the best combination. I’ve also tried making these mini Nutella Banana Pizzas for breakfast.
Or tweet your favorite way to enjoy Nutella in the morning using the hashtag #nutellaboston. For official rules, visit nutellusa.com/officialrules.
If you don’t live in the Boston area, check out below when the Nutella Breakfast Tour will be in your city!
Boston 9/21-9/27
New York 9/29-10/5
Philladelphia 10/8-10/13
Washington DC 10/16-10/20
Atlanta 10/24-10/27
Orlando 10/30-11/3
New Orleans 11/7-11/11
Dallas 11/15-11/19
Phoenix 11/24-11/27
San Diego 11/30-12/2
Los Angeles 12/5-12/8
San Francisco 12/11-12/15
This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and Nutella blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own. To read more posts on this topic, click here.
It’s finally apple season! I love going apple picking every fall and am excited to take baby T to his first apple orchard this upcoming week. Unfortunately for most of the states in the Great Lakes area (NY, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio), many of the apple crops are diminished by up to 80% due to a late frost. It looks like Massachusetts orchards had a pretty decent year however.
I’ve made similar variations of this salad in the past and I love how the apples, cheese, and walnuts pair so well with the dressing. This salad would be great for lunch on its own. For dinner, it would nicely pair with a roast chicken.
Do you have a particular recipe that you always find yourself making for dinner?
I am officially “back” from stay-cation today. Our family had a great week spending so much time together. We enjoyed a lot of time at the beach, out on our boat, and lingering over good food and wine. It was a great way to soak up those last few days of summer. With the lower temperatures and the rain in the Boston area today, it certainly feels like fall has set in already.
My parents and youngest sister stayed with us for a couple days as they traveled to the area to return her to her senior year of college. For dinners, I made the Sausage, Pepper, Onion, and Potato Bake and the next night we had lobsters, steamers, corn on the cob, and Caprese Salad for a perfect summer feast. For lunch one day, I made everyone their own Greek Salad Pita Wrap. I had so many tomatoes and cucumbers from my mom’s garden and our CSA that I needed to use up and this recipe was the perfect solution. To make the Greek Salad Pita Wrap gluten-free, simply serve without the pita for a delicious Greek Salad.
I loved this sandwich so much that I ended up making this Greek Salad Pita Wrap for my lunch after I typed this post up :)
Sorry for the lack of posts this week…we have been on stay-cation this week and I have been trying to get into a vacation mind set as much as possible. For the past couple of years, we have rented a little cottage in Nantucket (read more on our ACK adventures here and here), but this year we decided to stay home and explore our new town and surrounding areas for the week. I have been catching up on a huge stack of magazines, reading books, hitting up the beach, and finishing up a few projects around the house.
I’ve also decided to take a short hiatus from blogging this week to rejuvenate on that front as well. I’ll be back next week with plenty of posts to kick off September! In the meanwhile, if you need any end-of-summer recipe inspiration, be sure to check out what we are cooking up this week on our stay-cation:
One of my favorite summer memories from growing up is sitting on our back deck shucking bags of corn. We have finally started to get corn in our CSA and I have been looking for different ways to serve it up. The standard in our house is of course good old corn on the cob, but there are many other types of corn recipes out there.
Bloggers, please link up as many corn recipes as you would like:
Too much summer produce and not enough ideas on how to prepare them? Be sure to check out the Fresh Produce Tuesday tag! We have a large assortment of recipes for the following types of produce: Peas, Radishes, Lettuce, Kale, Carrots, Chard, Raspberries, Zucchini, Eggplants, Heirloom Tomatoes, and Beets.
For the past couple of weeks, I have had a huge overflowing vase of fresh basil and a large basket of heirloom tomatoes on my kitchen counter. This point of summer is culinary heaven! One of my favorite ways to use up all those tomatoes and basil is to make a caprese salad. It’s very simple to pull together and in my opinion, it is the perfect taste of summer. My favorite way to prepare it is to get as many different color heirloom tomatoes as possible on the plate.
One of the things besides beautiful tomatoes that really makes caprese salad work is good-quality balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. Two brands that I have really liked is the Kirkland Signature Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (available at Costco) and the Paesano Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (available at Whole Foods.) While there are certainly higher quality balsamic vinegars and olive oils out there, I think both types I listed are a very good value for their quality.
One day, I would love to make homemade fresh mozzarella as well, but I may have to move that one to next summer’s bucket list. Here’s to the last few weeks of summer!
