June has been lovely, and slower paced which I’m loving. I’ve abbreviated my quantity of posts but hopefully you’re still enjoying them. June was pretty meat-less now that I look back.

I did have some really delicious food outings. I went to The Painted Burro and had an amazing duck taco. I had a weeknight date to Figs Boston for some pizza. I went to a food truck festival and almost passed out, so I didn’t take any photos after I finally securing some water. I’m thankful for how many not-too-hot days we’ve had. I spent one Sunday by the pool after hitting of my fav local doughnut joint.

I really loved this super simple Veggie Pasta with Brown Butter Sauce

This Marinated Cucumber Salad and this Spinach & Tomato Tortellini Salad seemed like good summer staples.

I figured we were due for a re-do of zucchini fritters

Sis and I took Mom to tea for a belated Mother’s Day outing. It was awesome. I loved it! Let’s have tea and scones every afternoon.

Mr. J’s birthday burger was a great one! I was worried I wouldn’t come up with a new theme for the traditional burger but this one was great. It was a German burger: pretzel rolls, caramelized onions, mustard, swiss cheese, and a touch of horseradish. I also tossed together some truffle parmesan fries. Can’t beat that!

Let’s check on my goals: 
Buy myself flowers more often – The Year of the flower is going strong, this month was a home ground peony and then this month also had some lupine from the highway in Maine.
send more mail – ehh I didn’t quite get there this month.
make some Pinterest pins a reality 
cook with yeast (yikes!)
try a spin class – um nope. I did a zumba class…not quite the same.
make more cocktails – totally forgot. Stay tuned. I issued a mojito “cross country challenge” to @jessfuel

May was bussssy. My event was amazing, we broke the 22-year fundraising records. It was awesome. Then there were a few trips to Maine and a few busy weekends. I took a break after not feeling overly proud of my latest meals. I did have a few goodies in May.

I started with a his/hers topped Caesar Salads hers with grilled shrimp, his with grilled steak.

Baked Gnocchi was a great freezer/pantry meal, especially fitting on a pre-spring cool night. I was thinking baked ravioli but I found some frozen gnocchi and got a quick meat sauce together.

I loooved this twist on chicken & waffles, making it into a panini.

One of the best meals of the month was an Asian inspired salad with peanut butter chicken. It has some great flavors with the peanut butter, oranges, and edemame. Yum.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my Momma!

Let’s check on my goals: 
Buy myself flowers more often – The Year of having-more-flowers is going strong, this month was the iris.
send more mail – I sent some mother’s day cards
make some Pinterest pins a reality 
cook with yeast (yikes!)
try a spin class
make more cocktails – hmmm, no special cocktails to share. June seems right for something lemonade-inspired.

Next week has some legit recipes. Stay tuned!

I’m back!  Haha sort of. I’m easing my way back into blogging and seeing what I come up with. Buckle up. It might get crazy. I think that’s the beauty of this. I do what I want. I was feeling in a rut so I might change it up a bit now and then. I know, crazy. It is Tuesday and I’m posting. What will the world come to? Or maybe I’m the only one who knew my own schedule.

I haven’t really been making anything amazing, but I wanted to share a few folks who are and maybe a few other fun goodies.

First of all, I’m newly obsessed with this:
Raspberry Chocolate Greek Yogurt. It is so good. I had it as dessert the other day, tossing in just a few raspberries I had. It was unbelievable. Raspberries might be my least favorite berry. My nephews would be in shock since they love ’em, exclusively. I’m noshing some blueberries right now as I write this and wishing I had some strawberries…that’s how low raspberries rank to me.

I never choose yogurt for dessert, since it normally is my bfast, but I saw some fun flavors that seemed really desserty. Caramel Macchiato, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Toasted Vanilla Coconut I’m coming for ya. I wish I bought more than one of these guys.

Next, these Chicken Parmesan Cupcakes by Plain Chicken are just too cute, and sound delicious. How come mini foods are so much more fun? I’m thinking some apps for dinner are in order.

Onto dessert, again…This sounded too good to be true: Chocolate Oreo Peanut Butter Dream Dessert by Seeded at the Table
Seriously. Unreal. Check out her blog, it is lovely and this sounds amazing. I want to be friends.

I saw these two ingredient sandwiches and they sounded so fun. Now I want to have a crustini party. Who’s in? These would be fun for a brunchy spread or for when it is too hot to really cook, or to appeal to all palates. I think “less is more” is a great summery food motto. Unless we’re talking that dessert with every good flavor in the world (oreo + pb + whipped cream + butterfingers, see above).

Hmmm. What else.
This BLT loaded guac dip sounds ahhh-mazing.
This Spinach & Artichoke & Bacon Stuffed Pretzel might be my next “cooking with yeast” adventure
This make-your-own dressing guide is foolproof
This Chocolate Mousse-Covered Strawberry Pie seems like a non-baker like me to could make it

In other news…
Mr. J is a building machine. Since constructing the compost bin, he has reconstructed our saggy wooden window box, and now he’s working on a table for photo mat cutting and a squirrel feeder. Don’t ask about the squirrels, apparently they’re stealing from the birds.

The Bachelorette just started and I love this gal. I hope she doesn’t go as crazy as a few of her suiters went after meeting her for an hour. #drama

The teaching kitchen students at my work made the most unbelievable fried chicken. It was like late afternoon snacking dream.

The pups have their annual exam soon. Dun dun dun! No, it’ll be fine. Bailee will be in panic mode, but she lives in a highly excitable state. Windsor will be well behaved and won’t mind at all…especially since it involves a car ride.

Happy spring! I’m loving these warm and sunny days. I don’t hate the cool days. They’re like one last chance to wear a sweater or to eat cold-weather-food.

April has been good to me. Work is pretty busy with a big event right around the corner. I’m so thankful that I’m not crazy and at my wit’s end, like I have been for years at this point before my May events. It is so great to have this job. Although it is busy, I still have energy for getting to the gym, and making meals…so some of the meals are focused on quick and springy ideas.

Parisian Burger was hands down the best recipe I’ve made in a loooong time. Rosemary, garlic, mustard, truffle mayo, an egg, and arugula were unbelievable for this burger.

I hadn’t made breakfast in awhile so I came up with Chunky Monkey Pancakes with chocolate chunks, banana, and walnuts.

It had been wayyy too long since I shared a book for foodies. I didn’t looove this one, but I thought it was interesting. It got me drinking more water…well, the book or my fitbit person icon.

I also made a Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta that was full of flavor.

I whipped up a few calzones, but the sausage and pepper calzone was the better of the two. I’m glad I used some different cheeses. It’s a good reminder how to tweak or make some changes to keep a calzone feeling fresh and different.

April was definitely a busy month of work, a weekend to Maine, and some yard work. There are some bulbs popping up and my chives are already thriving. We have some grand plans for the yard. Mr. J is making a compost bin and I’m psyched. We definitely need better soil and I’m glad to put those coffee grounds to better use. Just you wait to see the pics of it….very impressive.

In terms of my goals: 
Buy myself flowers more often – The Year of having-more-flowers featured daffodils for April and some in the ground are sprouting! #totallycounts
send more mail – one card came back in the mail, but 3 birthday cards made it to their destinations this month!
make some Pinterest pins a reality 
cook with yeast (yikes!)
try a spin class
make more cocktails – I made one for bfast with white hot chocolate, some reduced coffee syrup, and Bailey’s but it wasn’t feeling photo worthy…should I post it? Then, not quite a cocktail, but I did buy some blood orange Italian soda this month and it has been an ahhh-mazing change from water We also inherited a cra-zy amount of milk at Easter so the focus has been milk, milk, milk! I enjoyed a blood orange margarita so I guess that counts, even if I didn’t make it myself.

follow me on insta @emilyran to see how often I post puppies, food, and flowers. See ya in May!