Summertime Food

I distinctly remember times where a season would pass and I would feel like I hadn’t taken full advantage of the foods that had been at peak. Like one spring where I didn’t eat a single spear of asparagus! Or one year when September rolled around and I realized I hadn’t had a single caprese salad all summer! The HORROR! Nowadays I make it my aim to center all my food around what’s in peak season at that time. Not only does it help me enjoy every season more, but it also means that my food is better quality! Here’s snippets of what I’ve been eating these last couple weeks.

Yes, I’m still eating hot oatmeal in the middle of summer! Oatmeal is so healthy and it just works for me. I always cook it with almond milk and a mashed banana and then top it with fruit. Since berries are amazing right now, a huge cold heap of them on top of my bowl is my go-to. I even found some beautiful turkish figs to have on my oatmeal this morning.

I’m still eating hot oats, but I did switch to iced coffee! Much more refreshing on warm mornings.

I try to eat a vegan breakfast every morning, so another thing I’ve been enjoying is this Silk yogurt. I was hesitant to try it because I haven’t liked other non-dairy yogurts I’ve tried, but this one is delicious! I’ll definitely be buying more.

You guys know how much I love fruit, and so that’s often what I snack on during the day. I treated myself to a bag of Rainier cherries last week (which I only do once a summer because they’re soo expensive), which were amazing along with some strawberries.

Since I’m still looking for a job, I’m at home during the day while Jason is at work. This means I’ve had to get very creative with making lunch at home! Cheese is my weakness so I really enjoy having a grilled cheese sandwich with some type of salad. Last week I enjoyed leftovers of this cherry tomato salad with basil and garlic buttermilk dressing for lunch a few days.

Side note, muenster makes a DELICIOUS grilled cheese. A little of this cheese goes a long way, which I really like!

Another thing I’m loving is sandwiches with tempeh bacon. I’m not a huge lover of tempeh, but I am obsessed with tempeh bacon. So good with big juicy slices of beefsteak tomato!

I’ve been having fun coming up with ways to use seasonal ingredients in dinners also! I still meal plan on Sundays, grocery shop on Mondays, and cook every weeknight except Friday. I really like having the time to cook this much! Last week we had some quick pad thai (mine with tofu, Jason’s with shrimp), an old favorite from when we were in law school.

Last night we had a particularly awesome dinner!

I cut some really thick slices of organic heirloom tomatoes and topped them with freshly seared haloumi. The sweet, juicy tomatoes were incredible alongside the melty, salty cheese! Jason and I both savored it. I also made fusili with a yummy spinach pesto to get our greens in. Perfect summer meal!

And of course with every meal I have an adorable sidekick close by. It’s been storming a lot and he developed a phobia of storms a few months ago (so strange, it was one of the few things he wasn’t afraid of!) so he’s been spending a lot of time in the Thundershirt. It doesn’t calm him completely, but along with his anxiety medication it does keep him from totally freaking out. I might be doing a post on his progress and our experience with dog anxiety, we’ll see!

I hope you enjoyed this! I’m trying to ease myself back into this type of blogging. Next time I’ll try to get a picture of a human in there somewhere.

The next post in the pie series is a few days late, but it’ll be worth the wait! Coming tomorrow. 🙂

-Lauren