October 5, 2015

Cucumber Kale Salad

I was so excited to get my copy of Heidi Swanson’s new cookbook Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel. It’s been sitting on my nightstand for the past few weeks. I like to read a little bit before bed because I noticed that some of her travel photos help inspire my dream life. I think I dreamt I was in Morocco last week. Heidi’s new book separated into chapters Near-– being San Francisco and Far– being Morocco, Japan, Italy, France and India.

First stop! San Francisco- my home! This is actually the first recipe in the cookbook and I think it’s the perfect place to start. We have a crispy cucumber salad, spiked with a tangy lemongrass vinaigrette. Tofu soaks up a little bit of the dressing and the red onion slices are left with just enough kick to round out the salad. Pine nuts are a great addition too. I love how they subtly add a crunch with every single bite. A crunch that differs from the juicy cucumbers.

With salads like this one, it makes me so happy to live in the area that inspired this recipe.

This is the type of salad I crave at the start of the week. A total reset button salad.

my everyday life, Photography

October 3, 2015

My Everyday Life: Week 40

Here’s what My Everyday Life – Week 40 looked like:

My little guy turned SEVEN this week!

We celebrated with pho & tapioca shakes. Here are our fortunes.

Night hike to see the Blood Moon.

Little adventurers.

The golden horizon.

The colors at night blow my mind. Too bad my phone can’t capture the moon.

Oh well!

Making treats for Cooper’s class.

I never had my birthday celebrated at school. Womp Womp.

Brown butter rice krispy treats with melted chocolate….

Smeared on top.

Followed by sprinkles & sea salt.

Oh yeah this was the salt.

I cut them up into pieces and put them in cupcake wrappers.

Was fun/easy to make!

Grocery shopping…we have new things to look at now!

Went to the Kendall Jackson Tomato Festival last weekend!

October 2, 2015

I love lists Friday!

Welcome to I Love Lists Friday! Let’s surf the internet together:

Nature in Art or Art in Nature?
Illustrations for Introverts
On Failure
Bar & Cafe Chalkboard Signs are my favorite.
I’m all for 2 ingredient cocktails.
My name is Tracy and I’m a LaCroix addict.
I want to go back to Big Sur & Florence.
The cutest jams. Love the name.
7 Cleaning Tricks That Really Work
This Dad wins.
Funny Cat Comics. Love these.
Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa THESE NACHOS.
My OCD brain looooooooves this apple pie situation.
Thinking of putting something at the foot of our bed. I dunno.
I spent 2 hours the other night looking at archaeology photos.
I’ve got my eye on this scarf & this skirt.
Anthony Bourdain’s favorite documentaries.
This lasagna makes me weak in the knees.
I hope they do one of my food photos one day. Would what room they’d pair with it!
I’m pretty sure Cooper would like quinoa if I served it like this.
Thank you, Ryan Adams.
Still loving Thrive Market. Did any of you sign up? Let’s talk about our favorite things sometime!

If you have some time, this video is really good:

I wrote a few guides for Ebay this week:

Here are some of my Meal Prep Supplies

10 Ways to Use Coconut Oil!

recipes

October 1, 2015

Coconut Date Rolls

Many years ago I cracked the code (dramatic) and made my own Coconut Date Rolls. You can see the recipe here. I was on the go the other day and needed a snack so I picked up some coconut date rolls at the store even though I had all the ingredients at home. Wahh wahhh. Have you had Coconut Date Rolls before? They’re an amazing combination of nuts, coconut and dates. I keep them in the fridge because I like when they’re a little hard. It makes them super chewy. The best part is that they satisfy your sweet tooth immediately. I had one with a cup of tea yesterday at 3PM and all was right in the world.

To see more of my Thursday Snack Ideas, follow my Pinterest Board!

recipes

September 30, 2015

Burnt Butter Pear Ginger Crumble

My friend Adrianna has a new cookbook —The Year of Cozy and I was lucky to snag an advanced copy. It comes out soon, so be sure to preorder! It’s a cookbook and so much more. There are so many DIY projects I want to tackle— like stenciling our front doormat, food inspired flower arrangements and making marbled dish ware. It’s packed with inspiration for every season.

With Autumn being here and wanting to get cozy in the kitchen, I made her Burnt Butter Pear Ginger Crumble. Can you see that edge there? That gooey caramelized piece of pear? Gahhhhh. It was so good.

The burnt butter creates a savory/sweet crust and the fresh minced ginger in the filling is TO DIE FOR. I don’t know why I don’t mix the two flavor profiles more often. Thanks for helping me get in the mood for Fall, Adrianna! It’s awesome to know that you can do good things with burnt butter…cuz sometimes I take my browned butter a little too far….My multitasking gets the best of me sometimes.

recipes

September 28, 2015

Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata with mashed potatoes & roasted broccoli.

This was one of our dinners last week.

Casey and I loooooooved it and I suppose Cooper did too…but he had an incident with the mashed potatoes I served with the piccata. Turns out he’s not a mashed potato fan. He had a problem with them last Thanksgiving and hasn’t gotten it out of his head. WHO DOESNT LIKE MASHED POTATOES? I’d make them all the time if he did! He did eat the broccoli and his big “chicken tender” so I would say it was mostly a success! The adults were 100% in though.

Crispy chicken with a lemony butter sauce (this recipe has no capers!)….mixed in with mashed potatoes and broccoli.

YESSSSSSS. Weeknight dinner done right.

Inspiration

September 27, 2015

And I Quote:

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