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Spring Has Sprung

I love how the sun stays out longer, how colorful flowers are in bloom, and how everyone I seem to know is preggo. The vineyards bubble with activity, neighbors spend more time socializing outdoors, and how my favorite bloggers seem to have a renewed purpose these days. Don't you?!

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PINSPIRED TO SHUT UP AND COOK

04/16/2013 by JJ

Pinterest is a funny thing.

I held out for a LONG TIME, knowing it would be a time suck for me. But then, I talked myself into believing that rather than printing out recipes, I could use Pinterest as a virtual clipboard. And so off I went pinning (got a little psycho about it, too!).

I created boards for food, parties, my boring wardrobe, adult beverages, my home, etc. I liked what I pinned and I was inspired by the beautiful images I found.

But time passed, and I realized I’d done jack squat about all those pins I’d collected.

After whining about this sad truth last week, my friend Leigh and I challenged each other to make a couple of things from our boards. I took a quick look, picked two items, and built my shopping list. And this was the perfect weekend for cooking!

RECIPE 1

I decided to try a breakfast recipe, knowing I had evening plans on Saturday. I’d pinned a recipe for ham cups and thought they sounded tasty. AND THEY WERE!

This recipe reminded me of my mom’s Christmas strata (without the bread). People on no carb diets, take note! I ate two and was very satisfied! I can’t wait to make them again and think they’d make a perfect breakfast when having guests over, too.

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I edited the recipe slightly and only used ham, egg whites, a tiny bit of butter, a tablespoon of fat free milk, chives, salt and pepper. 

Recipe 2

This was fancy, folks…but easy to make – don’t let the parchment paper fool you!

Tilapia with Vegetables en Papillote was something I pinned early on. I haven’t been a fish eater for very long, but I like that it’s tasty and relatively healthy. I needed more healthy recipes, so I thought this would be right up my alley.

The flavor was definitely nice, but honestly, after about thirty minutes, I found myself chowing down on a bowl of cereal. If I make this again, I’ll serve it with quinoa or something that will fill ye olde gut more significantly.

All in all, I’m glad I tried this; it was a new meal prep style for me and it pushed me to get out of my comfort zone!Untitled-4 copyDo you do anything with your pins or are you a lame-o like me who just pins pretty pictures?

blahs filed under Cookin'
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THE SALAD COURSE

04/07/2013 by JJ

Welcome to our dinner party. Today, I’m serving the salad course, but I hope you’ll click through the rest of the courses (links below) to read further reviews and see scrumptious recipes come to life!

BREAD & WINE: A REVIEW & VIRTUALLY PROGRESSIVE DINNER PARTY

I hunger for community. I crave it in a way that I never imagined or could verbalize until just a couple of years ago. Perhaps this desire for authentic relationships comes with age, perhaps it has something to do with where I live, perhaps it’s due to the busyness of my lifestyle. Regardless, I’m never happier than when I have a group of my people gathered around a table enjoying good food, good wine, and good conversation – it completes me and makes me feel whole.

When I was offered an advance release of Shauna Niequist‘s latest book, Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes, I jumped at the chance. To be honest, I was hooked by the title. I love to cook (and drink) and I love that the title also reflects Communion…but I didn’t really know what I’d be getting.

This is so much more than a memoir and it’s so much more than a book of recipes.

It’s a love letter to life around a table…to connecting with loved ones over a meal…to community. And given the recent longings of my heart, I noticed myself nodding and saying, yes, yes numerous times.

I underlined passages and wrote notes in the margin like any student would. Her words are profound and I want to keep them close to me for a long time. But before I have you thinking this is a textbook, let me assure you, Shauna writes like a conversation between two friends. From discussions on body image, to learning to cook, to feeling like a hostess has to have everything just perfect, when authenticity is all a guest requires, I related to just about everything in this book. It makes me want to host more, to be a better friend, and to spend more time connecting with those I love the most.

“The table is the life raft, the center point, the home base of who we are together.” p.27

I sincerely hope that someday, someone I love says this about my table. I believe it in my soul and I want to provide that kind of communion to every guest I host.

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The Green Well’s Michigan Harvest Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 pound mixed greens
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 sliced pears
  • 2 cups red grapes, halved
  • 1 cup dried cherries, chopped if they’re big
  • 1 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 1 4-ounce container crumbled goat cheese

Maple Vinaigrette

  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Begin by caramelizing the onions. Slice them thinly and cook them on medium-low heat in a tablespoon of butter until rich, dark brown, about 45 minutes.

For the vinaigrette:
Spoon Dijon into the bottom of a jelly jar. Add balsamic and maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Shake well. Add oil, and shake again. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Set aside.

For the salad:
Toss the greens with half the vinaigrette, then add the rest of the ingredients, the rest of the dressing, and toss again.
If you’d like to make it a more substantial main-sourse salad, you can add two cups or so of sliced, cooked chicken as well.

SERVES: 4 to 6

IMG_9304IMG_9320IMG_9336Friends, just like the book, this salad was DELICIOUS! Now, you’ll notice the absence of goat cheese from the pics above because (CONFESSION ALERT) I don’t like it. But, the fruit and the caramelized onions bring such a gorgeous sweetness and the nuts provide a tasty crunch. I’ll be serving this A LOT in the future and using the vinaigrette recipe over and over again. Based on the yumminess of this recipe, I CAN’T WAIT to try the others in Shauna’s book!!!

Be sure to taste each course of our
virtually progressive dinner party

Bread&Wine

 

Blog-hop to a new table for every course, meet new friends and pick up a delicious recipe from Shauna Niequist’s new book, Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes, at every stop. We’d like to send you home with the gift of Shauna’s words, so be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the party!

 

Disclosure: I was provided an advance release of this wonderful book and affiliate links are included. With that said, the opinions are my own and I highly HIGHLY recommend it.
blahs filed under Cookin', Rants ‘n Raves
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