weekend

Thank god it's Friday. No, seriously.

This weekend:

- put the house back together (clean)

- cut back all plants (can't believe I haven't done this yet)

- food shop for the week/cook for Monday & Tuesday

- laundry

- take good pictures of the painted radiator

- work on research paper

- babysit August (!)

- farmers' market

- try to relax

sunroom: curtains

I picked up these curtains from IKEA last weekend. They are really pretty and simple, but I'm still hung up on this Chevron fabric.

The IKEA curtains are so easy ... no sewing required. The Chevron would not only need to be sewed to size, but a white back sewed on. Are you up for this, Mom?

It does look so much better in there...

breakfast: whole-grain berry muffins

This is the new favorite breakfast: whole-grain berry muffins. They taste great and are packed with some really healthy ingredients (flax, rolled oats, whole-wheat flour, yogurt, orange, berries). The downside is 3 Tbs of butter and 1/2 cup of brown sugar -- which really isn't too bad when divided among 12 muffins.

The recipe is from Real Simple. Frozen blackberries were on sale so I used them instead of blueberries and substituted walnuts for pecans.

*You can freeze muffins for up to one month and pop one out on-the-go! Just warm in microwave for 1-2 minutes.

weekend: fall

Here are a few shots from my second roll of film (all of these photos are scanned) ... it's so fun to take pictures outside.

We took Emily to the restaurant festival in West Chester. It was super crowded, but we had lots of fun. We were missing Kaitlin though ...

We've been craving falafel ever since (@ The Mediterranean) ...

dinner: zucchini and black bean tacos

This is my idea of the perfect weeknight dinner. Nothing fancy, really quick, and good for you. The recipe is from Appetite for Reduction, the cookbook I've mentioned before. It's really one of the best vegan (although I do add some dairy to her recipes) cookbooks I've come across.

Zucchini and Black Bean Tacos (with my variations ... don't blame the cookbook if you don't like it!):

Heat a Tbs of olive oil in a large skillet. Saute two zucchinis (sliced and quartered) and two jalapeno peppers (minced ... or just very small) until the zucchini is lightly browned. Add 4 cloves of garlic (chopped), 1/2 tsp of cumin, 1/2 tsp of coriander, salt, and pepper. Cook for another minute.

Add 1/3 cup (or however much you like) of any kind of salsa you have on hand. Add a can of black beans (rinsed and drained), and 1/3 cup of kalamata olives (chopped). Cook for another 5 minutes.

Spoon onto warmed tortillas, sprinkle with scallions and limed-up greek yogurt.

*My favorite substitute to sour cream is greek yogurt. Mix one container of FACE greek yogurt with the juice of one lime, salt, and pepper. It's so good!

september

This is a little reminder to my future self ... in the year 2012. In the month of September.

Don't be so hard on yourself. It is always crazy getting settled in at school and starting a new grad course. Put the home stuff on the back burner. You're still in a renovation, but just on a little break. You're not a slacker.

And besides ... would Wayne Coyne be worrying about dusty baseboards?

No, he'd be outside ... catching bugs. Like it's his job.

spoon wreath

I'm going to make one of these plastic spoon wreaths. It will go well with our toilet paper wall art!

But which color?

Photo from here.