My sweet Boston Terrier, Haley, turned 10 years old today!!
She was unfazed by crossing over to the double digit milestone.
My Hales has seen me through a marriage, divorce, moving to NC, moving back to KS, moving to TX, and switching jobs. She’s seen me at my best…and certainly at my worst. But she’ll never tell!
We celebrated today by going for a walk followed by copious amounts of Beggin’ Strips. I replenished her supply of rawhide bones and got her a plush squeaky toy–I expect it to last 3 days before the stuffing is everywhere.
Happy Birthday, Haley!
One of the best things about September: new fall TV shows!! (I swear, I have a life…sort of.)
Which show are you most excited for to return?? For me, it’s Homeland on Showtime, back on September 30.
Which new TV are you most excited to watch? I’m going with Vegas. It’s not my usual cup of tea, but hello Dennis Quaid!! That smirky smile does me in. The show hasn’t gotten the best reviews, but you never know.
One thing I do know, this four bean salad is a breeze to make!
Four Bean Salad
Recipe from Food Network Magazine — June 2012
Ingredients:
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
pepper
1/4 cup scallions, sliced
3/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup roasted red peppers
3 tablespoons honey
1 12-ounce can white beans, drained & rinsed
1 12-ounce can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 12-ounce can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 12-ounce can black beans, drained & rinsed
Instructions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegars, olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.
Add the scallions, onion, peppers, and all the beans. Toss to coat.
Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator at least 2 hours before serving to allow the flavors to bend. Mix thoroughly before serving.
You can also make this four bean salad the night before to save time. I found the four bean salad to be even tastier the next day. Add some lettuce and rice and you’ve got a great meal!
I haven’t done any book reviews in 2 months.
I picked several so-so books recently that I chose not to review.
The 50 Shades of Grey triology by E L James
–Yes, I read all 3 of them! I only enjoyed the 1st one though. The 2nd two were a constant roller coaster of girl is whiny/man is brooding, they argue, they make up & have great sex. Rinse & repeat for hundreds of pages.
Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich
–Evanovich has a new series about a pastry chef that has mystical powers. It was super hokey, which is true Evanovich. If you are a Stephanie Plum series fan, you may enjoy them. I did finish the book in one day, but the hokey-ness turned into groaners for me.
The Affair by Lee Child
–My Dad gave me this book when I visited in July. It’s similar to all of those mystery/government conspirary type books that men read. Or at least, that’s what I associate as a “guy’s book”. It started off strong and kept my interest, but I felt dissatisfied with the ending.
Everything Is Going to Be Great by Rachel Shukert
–I usually love snarky female memoirs, but I could only get through about 1/4 of this book before giving up. There’s too many books out there to force yourself to read one that you’re not into!
The Confession by John Grisham
–I’ve read almost all of Grisham’s books. I’m not sure if my tastes have changed or if this book just wasn’t at the same level. I remember being younger and riping through The Firm and The Pelican Brief and loving them so much! With The Confession, there was more despair than hope. Next!
I’ve been on a bit of an upward slope with my most recent two read thoughs!
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
–We read this book for book club and met last week. About 70% of us liked the book, but even if you didn’t like the book…it led to a great discussion! I chose not to review the book, because it’s a modern classic and I don’t feel equip to review “real” books. 
I do recommend it for a book club though. The themes really stand the test of time and we could still correlate to today. Great book!
White Jacket Required by Jenna Weber
–If you read Jenna’s blog: Eat, Live, Run, then you’ll enjoy this book! I read it one evening and couldn’t stop. It’s odd when you feel like you know someone so well, when they are still a stranger!
Next up for my book clubs, I’ll be reading:
How To Be a Woman by Caitline Moran
and
Nerves of Steel by CJ Lyons
Have you read any of the books mentioned?
What should I read next???
I love how on my Twitter feed, I’m all about “Go Fall! Summer’s overrated. See ya summer…don’t let the fall solstice hit ya on your way out…”
But yet, here I am, blogging about a summer salad.
I never claimed to much make sense.
Cherry Tomato Salad with Buttermilk & Basil Dressing
Recipe from Food Network Magazine — June 2012
Ingredients:
6 cups red & yellow cherry tomatoes (halved if larger)
Kosher salt & pepper
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup light sour cream
3 tablespoons thinly sliced basil leaves
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions:
Place the red & yellow cherry tomatoes into a large bowl. Season tomatoes with salt & pepper; toss. Set bowl aside.
In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, light sour cream, basil, shallot, and garlic. Season with pepper.
Add the prepared dressed to the tomatoes and toss.
Enjoy!
The tomato salad makes a nice side dish or an accompaniment to a green salad or a steak. Ooooh yes, now I’m craving steak and this tomato salad! Back to the kitchen!
Is it still peach season?? I need a seasonal food calendar. I’m sure these things exist; I’m just not organized enough to check them.
When I first started blogging, I’d look ahead of time for the food holidays and would plan blogs around them. I actually blogged about chocolate chip cookies on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Yeah, my pre-planning skills aren’t too stellar anymore…
But, I know that I had peaches just a couple of weeks ago and they were still delicious!
Peaches & Cream Bundt Cake
Recipe from Everyday Food
Ingredients:
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, divided
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 peaches, peeled and diced small
2 1/4 cups sugar, divided
6 eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a non-stick Bundt pan; set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together 3 cups flour, baking soda, and salt. Toss peaches with 2 tablespoons flour to coat.
In another bowl, beat together 2 sticks of butter and 2 cups of sugar on medium-high until fluffy. One at a time, beat in eggs to the butter and sugar mixture. On low, add in 1/2 of the flour mixture, then add in 1/2 of the sour cream. Add in 2nd halves of the flour and sour cream. Beat until combined.
Fold in the peaches and vanilla extract. Transfer batter to the Bundt pan. Tap the pan on counter several times to smooth out and remove air bubbles. Bake for 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack.
While cake is cooling, melt 1 stick of butter. Combine melted butter with 1/4 cup of sugar and ground cinnamon. Using a small knife, slowly loosen the cake from around the Bundt pan edges. Invert the pan onto serving plate. Brush cake with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
You can serve plain, with ice cream, with whipped cream, or with more sliced peaches…the world is your peach.
I got my 1st CSA Box today from Greenling.
Do you subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture) service?
Today was my 1st experience and so far so good! I received an email last week from my friend, Christy, with the opportunity to try a box for free. Free? Sign me up! I went online Sunday and got my box today! It was delivered around 2 pm with cold packs inside to keep my booty cool until I got home from work.
It was like Christmas! For once, I was excited to make dinner on a weeknight!
In my box:
Sweet potato greens
Lettuce
Avocados
Okra
Eggplant
Limes
Zucchini
Fuyu persimmons
Kefir pears
Acorn squash
I like that Greenling lists the produce in order of shortest to longest shelf life. They also tell you which farms the items came from. They include some recipes in the box with more recipes on their website. They also have a picture identifying each item on the website. (I totally had to check to see what persimmons looked like!)
Tonight, I immediately went for the pears. I decided on a simple lettuce salad with sliced pears and pumpkin seeds.
I also see some zucchini bread & persimmons margaritas in my future!
How was your Labor Day weekend??
I spent my weekend helping the economy by shopping! And watching 1000 episodes of The Hills. Seriously, I can’t believe I got sucked into the marathon on MTV, but I sure went for it.
Do you like when bloggers show you things they’ve recently bought? No—then yeah, you can go ahead and click off of this post. But I personally love it!
Geometric coffee cups
Yellow cereal bowls
Wooden bowls….good for chips or popcorn. I put one my desk to hold random change.
These smell so good! Philosophy “I Love Candy Corn” body wash/bubble bath; 2 candles from Target — Spiced Pumpkin Amaretto & Caramel Buttercream
Adding to my owl decor! Found the 3 larger owls at Marshall’s
Orange utensil caddy…it’s bright, I know…but…
…it goes pretty well with the orange in my Margaritaville machine.
Steve Madden purse
Jessica Simpson purse
I’m going out of town to Cleveland next week for work and wanted a new purse. I can’t decide which one to bring.
Do you have a preference between the 2 purses?
Aren’t 3 day weekends the BEST?!
And when your birthday falls during one?? SCORE!
Mom, I hope you have the best day!! Enjoy some cake and have fun with the grandkids!!
