Summer is such a whirlwind. July 1 is the true start of summer according to work. We ate a bunch of good food and have fit in a lot of fun things – a party in Maine, going to the movies, a new-to-us-beach (with waves!), and a lot of swimming.

I was so happy with this breakfast guacamole with bagel chips – it is fun, filling, flavorful, and a good way to start the day.

Pasta salad is better when it is a twist with chicken caesar.

Blueberry smoothies are my fav so this one is flavored with a classic pairing of blueberry & lemonade.

Buffalo chicken burritos joined my favorite flavors with a better-than-typical format.

August will include some no/low cook dinners, a slaw redo, and a week at the beach. Our bucket list still has a few fun things we’ll try to fit in. C will turn 6!

The Big Kid:
Camps have mostly been good – he’s a bit over one that used to be his favorite. It is incredibly hard to explain that back in January, when we had to register, this past one had been fun but he’s outgrown it I guess. He filled in at a baseball tournament one day – it just happened to be the very hottest day ever but he had fun and we were happy to see it…once. His new favorite lunch is a BLT.

The Little One:
She’s a fish! She flipped a switch and went from not wanting her face wet, to jumping into the shallow end, to going underwater, to jumping in off the diving board! We cannot believe it. Adjusting to camps went well. She’s trying to eat more to bump up to the next carseat and eagerly awaits her bday.

Goals for this year:
Year of small businesses/artisans/writers: I got a tee shirt from Etsy – vote like Ruth sent you
More meatless meals: ehh. I may have missed this.
sandwiches and salads: I got a new salad spinner and we had caesar more often.
a focus on going to new or places we don’t get to all the time:
redo photos – not this month
what I’m reading: I read Meet the Benedettos which is a modern Pride & Prejudice. Then I read a Boston historical fiction Small Mercies. I then read Meet me at the Lake as a palate cleanser and was the best of this author. I read Just for the Summer and thought it was perfectly balanced with some cute and enough storyline.

I thought after Thanksgiving on this crazy year, you probably didn’t have loads of leftovers to work though so I tabled this stuffing-as-a-waffle idea. Though, if you aren’t overloaded then maybe there’s room for some a month later!

I saw Funk ‘n Waffle Restaurant on the Food Network and took a twist on the stuffing waffle meal. Stuffing in waffle form is just so fun. 10 out of 10. Highly recommend.

Stuffing Waffles, Topped with Chicken/Turkey
Ingredients: (serves ~4 as 1/2 of a waffle each)
6 oz seasoned stuffing mix (I used half of a 12 oz bag, the bag says 14 servings)
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/4 cup broth (as the stuffing directs, I needed 1/4 cup more)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
dried/fresh sage, sautéed onions/carrots/celery (optional)
salt & pepper
1/4 cup pancake/waffle mix
3 tablespoons water
chicken or turkey
gravy (optional)

Directions:
Prepare the stuffing according to the package- bring the broth and butter to a boil and add in the stuffing, onion powder, herbs if using, and pepper. Taste before adding salt. Then remove from the heat and fluff to cook through.
Heat a waffle iron.
Mix together the pancake/waffle mix and water. Make it more runny than the mix instructs.
Spray the waffle iron with nonstick spray.
Spoon half of the stuffing onto the waffle iron, spreading it out to be a thin layer. Drizzle half the of pancake/waffle mix onto the stuffing.

Close and flip. Cook for ~4-5 minutes, or as waffles typically cook on it.
Keep the first one warm while repeat to cook for the other waffle with spray, the remaining stuffing mix, the remaining pancake/waffle mix.
Serve half a waffle with warm chicken or turkey on top. Drizzle some gravy if you like!
Enjoy!

We loved this! They’re soft but have some crispy bits! I should have served some cranberry sauce on the side. Our kids looooove jellied cranberry sauce! We had green beans and some gravy to dip. The 5-doesn’t care about stuffing so he ate some, the 2-ate all of hers!

I froze some extra stuffing waffles to pull out of the freezer some random time. I’m thinking they’d be a fun slider with deli turkey, some melted cheese and cranberry spread!

The stuffing mix in a bag seems sooo much better than the box – I’ve noticed a serious difference. They’re always a bit salty, plus the broth- so definitely taste before adding any more salt.

When you have leftover stuffing, make a Friends Thanksgiving Sandwich or these delightful Thanksgiving Meatballs that have dried cranberries and stuffing in them!

Wayyy back when, in mid-October, I had the final round of the Build a Better Burger Competition. Spoiler: I didn’t win, but it was really fun.

We flew home on a red-eye so I could be at a 9am meeting at work for a big event. Phew. It was such a whirlwind trip but I’m so grateful Mr. J and I got a getaway! I last went to wine country circa 2007 maybe? Mr. J hadn’t been and is now more into wine! Yay!

After wining the regional one in Boston, they didn’t immediately share a date for the finals (which I thought they mustttt have since it ended up being just 6 weeks later). I was really hoping it wouldn’t conflict with a big work event weekend. I ended up getting the flights & hotel stay, early and we left early, to get me back in time. The regional one was structured differently than the finals so I was always trying to nail-down details. Thankfully stars aligned for grandparents to babysit, availability at the kennel and time off work to get us to Napa!

Tuesday: Mr. J and I arrived in SF and drive out to our super cute hotel in St. Helena: Wydown Hotel. St. Helena is adorable! We popped over to Sterling Vineyard for a self-guided tastings and an aerial tram. It was fun but not the best intro to vineyards. It was a good chance to taste a few wines and to walk around at our own pace and see their vineyards from a gondola- after a day of flying and then a 2 hour car drive. We had dinner in Napa to stay up and adjust ourselves to the time difference.

Wednesday: We got up (early for wine country standards) and went out to see the redwoods about an hour away. It was awe-astounding and great to hike around for a few hours. Back in wine country and we grabbed lunch at Gotts Roadside and then we did a tasting at V. Sattui Winery. It was fantastic to have choices in what we wanted to try! I had a meeting with the other contestants to proof our ingredients and before a welcome dinner for the contestants and guests at the winery. The food was to-die for and it was so wonderful to really get to know the others in the competition.

Thursday: Competition day! I was all nerves. I took a walk and tried to just be ready. The 5 contestants had staggered start times alphabetically by last name. I was 4th! I had to present each of the six judges with half a burger in 60 minutes. Mr. J really tried to keep me calm. I was so nervous!

There was so much time- kind of too much time since the fried egg really had to be last. This round, they had to be sliced which was my biggest stressor. I was physically shaking for the last 10 minutes. Presenting to the judges was much easier than the final few minutes of cook time! The judges seemed to have really positive reactions for me. Their suggestions included toasting my burger buns and another suggested using a really Parisian stinky cheese. I’ll definitely take the note to toast the bun- I’m not into stinky cheese so I’ll stick with the swiss- or boursin would be good too!

We cooked for the judges, and the culinary staff made our burgers for the attendees. Here was mine! Mr. J got to taste all the burgers.

The woman who won was ecstatic. She was lovely and I’m sure she was genuinely thrilled. Originally we thought we’d hear 3rd place, 2nd place, and the winner but they just announced the winner. It was tough because with so few, we each felt like we could have won. I know it is subjective and what chefs/culinary professionals choose might not be what the average person wants. I was disappointed not to win and exhausted. I guess we can each assume we were each almost the winner. 

Then we headed to the airport and flew home on our first red-eye! Phew!

I did love doing it (though I’m tough on events that aren’t seamless – I’m lookin’ at you regional round! I wanted dates! I wanted details!) but I wouldn’t enter the contest circuit all the time. The stress and anxiety is real! The prize absolutely made it worth it and Mr. J and I would absolutely not have had a trip away without the competition. I literally entered hoping to maybe get some free wine out of the deal so I’d say I came out on top! I feel proud of what I did- each round I definitely made the best version of my burger I could and pushing myself to do something new.

Enter! Put yourself out there! You never know when you’ll get a trip to wine country when you were hoping for a just some free wine!

There’s a bun in the oven over here! I’m due in early August with a baby girl!

I’ve been feeling well, just exhausted in the beginning, but better now. I only had a few weird feelings about foods. There was a stretch that raw veggies/salad seemed like a bad idea. I haven’t been able to eat my very favorite pizza for takeout – the Chicken Ranchero, so fingers crossed my taste for that comes back! So far my only cravings have been mozzarella sticks and all the peach yogurt. I was non-stop hungry for awhile and now I’m just my normal amount of often hungry.

I am thankful to be past halfway…countdown’s on!

Today’s panini was a fun quick dinner. I was inspired by Blunch who has a panini called “The Piglet” with black forest ham, smoked bacon, maple aioil, sliced tomato on multi grain. I went for the ham & maple aoli theme and panini-ified some soft rolls. Paninis are the best for dinner since they’re fast and can still be special. We had these with some tomato/cuke/feta salad.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 soft rolls
4-5 slices of ham
1 cup shredded gruyere
2 cups arugula

Directions:

Mix together the mayo, maple, and cinnamon.

Heat a panini press or grill pan to medium heat.
Assemble the sandwiches by spreading the maple aoli onto the bread generously, then layering the ham, cheese, and arugula.

Press or grill the sandwiches until the outside is crisp and the cheese melts.
Slice & enjoy!

The maple aoli is light but so good. I thought the cinnamon was key! The arugula is ideal because it is so peppery and holds up well to the sandwich getting cooked.

I saw that Dinner: A Love Story came out with a new book about How to Celebrate Everything which is such a fun concept. It got me thinking about food traditions and I was feeling like by not really hosting the big family holidays at my house that I don’t have that many food traditions and then it hit me: Friday-Takeout-DVR is totally a food tradition for my little family!

For years now…at least 5 years, possibly longer, on Friday nights Mr. J and I order take-out and catch up on some DVR. It started back when there was a chance of us going out but instead we chose to stay in, ordered delivery to our 3rd flood apartment, and watched some DVR from the week. Fast-forward to now where we plan, and more specifically, look forward to this tradition. The little one will think we’re dinosaurs when we describe that back in the day we sometimes would go pick up burritos, then pick out a movie at a movie place called Blockbuster. Ancient concept I tell ya. We schedule meals Monday – Thursday and Friday is our standing tradition.

::in my head I’m singing Tra-dition! Tradition!! a la Fiddler on the roof::

I think the combo of time for just the two of us together + the treat + the convenience of somebody arriving at our home with a sack of some deliciousness all wrapped up + DVR = now time-honored and just so special to us. The little guy goes to bed anywhere from 7:30-8 and falls asleep quickly so by then we’ve sat with him for his dinner, maybe played outside a little bit, got him into jammies and ordered food all timed so it’ll arrive once he’s in bed. I looooove family dinners when we either all eat together but this one night a week, adult dinners are set on the coffee table with the remote between. It is so fun for us home-bodies.

My fav parts:
1) the take-out selection:
A complex algorithm Sometimes this involves figuring who ate what for lunch so we don’t order the same category for dinner. Sometimes we narrow down by a few ideas texted with emojis. Sometimes we look towards the weekend to determine if we want leftovers for Saturday lunch. There’s only one place I can get a good Buffalo Chicken Wrap, so, there’s that.

2) the anticipation of food’s arrival
We peek out the windows, rationalize that it has to come soon, and judge the slow cars as possibilities. One person signs for it and this also includes somebody playing defense to keep the doggies away from door so they/Bailee doesn’t bark her head-off waking the little one.

3) Barely-any clean up. Enough said.

4) Amazing Race/Cutthroat Kitchen/Treehouse Masters/etc on DVR. Mutually agree-ed upon shows…no Bachelorette or River Monsters. It is a mindless few hours before seeing if I can stay awake for Dateline…also known as, the only show we ever watch-live.

I love the evolution of this. It started when we were young, was much appreciated while I was pregnant, and is equally cherished after putting the little guy to bed. What’s not to love?

I have a few food traditions in mind:
Father’s Day: the little one to picks out a fancy dessert for Father’s Day + a card/homemade card, in lieu of gifts
Mother’s Day: is it approved that I should ask for a breakfast sandwich + card/homemade card, in lieu of gifts?
First Day of School: sugary cereal that isn’t normally an option
Birthdays: Individually selected personal-treat-stash isn’t normally an option
Summer surprise night of going out for ice cream sundaes for dinner when it is just. too. hot.

Hmm. I might need a doughnut birthday cake for the weekend-day closest to my birthday. You know, I live for birthdays.

I haven’t blogged or cooked interesting things lately, BUT I’m getting back on track now that I’m tiptoeing out of the post-event craziness. 800 guests bidding on 62 complex auction packages then having dinner at 80 locations does not clean itself up. I’m tying up some hypothetical bows and have wrapped up a lot this week.

This week doesn’t count as amazing food, but I’ve been flying solo for a few days and had an evening meeting cancelled so this week has been all over the place. I’ve eaten a few food groups and the baby has eaten varied things. Hey, we’re clean, I have exercised, and we all feel rested, and I emptied the dishwasher…so bonus points to us.

Here’s what I hope is in my future for food & drinks:

I looooved Saloniki #newGreek a few weeks ago. I want to play with making some of the sauces at home…like the eggplant one!

‘Tis the season for rose! I want to sip this rose sangria, or something like it on the deck.

I love this blueberry topped pizza idea and would probably tweak the cheeses. It reminds me of this blueberry & brie stuffed waffle I made awhile ago.  The little one would LOVE this since his obsession with blueberries runs deep.

I’m obsessed with trying to make a ramen burger. I love ramen, especially from my low blood pressure days when the cardiologist was trying to up my sodium intake! Best 17-cent dinner money can buy.

I might test out all the onion cutting hacks and report back what actually works for me.