Saying yes to the end of summer

Sorry I left you high and dry there for a few days.  The end of summer is getting a little crazy and I’m jut trying to prioritize the right stuff.

Kyle was gone for a few days last week – I think I already mentioned that and blogged about the first couple solo nights – so now I’m picking up on the end of that stretch.

I made nothing into something with fridge leftovers and it turned into an amazing dinner!  I’ll get to it in a sec.

First, breakfast.

I started out wanting to make a blueberry almond smoothie and totally changed courses when I looked into the freezer and saw there was frozen watermelon…next thing I know I’m making a tropical smoothie!

The rest of the smoothie had strawberries, blackberries, frozen banana and coconut milk.  It was alright, but I think the combo of blueberries with  banana and almond is still my very favorite.

I made a kale salad for lunch and heaped on the candied walnuts.  And is that not the most perfect avocado ever?  Once fall hits (sooooon!) I have a feeling roasted squash is going to be calling to me.

So now back to dinner.  I had half a bag of cauli gnocchi already made, as well as a few handfuls (hands full? handfuls? what’s the correct grammar?) of an arugula and spinach mix.  Since I love finishing small quantities of things off near the end of the week, I knew that’s what I wanted to focus the meal around.

To make it a complete meal, I added walnuts, sun dried tomatoes (plus the lovely oily marinade they came in), as well as fresh basil from the garden and then the rest of the manchego.  Dinner. Perfection.

The kids had a different meal because I didn’t have enough gnocchi made for them.  It still came together in under 5 minutes though.  Yep UNDER FIVE minutes.  Here’s how it went down.  90 seconds of that time was spent heating the already cooked rice in the micro.  I buy the 6 packs of them at Costco just for moments like this, and while it PAINS ME to no end buying food in individual plastic – both from a health and environment perspective – it’s one of those convenience things that I’ve granted myself a bit of grace on.  Most of the time I am on top of planning enough that I can make rice in the rice cooker or pressure cooker super fast.  So I don’t use them very often.  But this was a night that I went for it.

Then I added avo, frozen edamame, and tamari and called it a day.  Sushi bowl for the win.  They loved it of course, and why wouldn’t they?  Any time you combine avo and tamari you know it’s going to be a hit.

But I still think I won.

I have zero photos of breakfasts or lunches on Thursday because I went to California Academy of Sciences (again!) with some friends.  We carpooled which made the HOURSSSS in the car way more fun.  Both for us and the kids.  🙂

Driving in and out of SF takes major mama energy because it is a wild adventure each and every time.  We had to get pretty creative when traffic threw some curve balls, but in the end we all had a blast and we got to hang with friends for a full day!

I left this in the instant pot that morning so the house smelled fantastic as soon as we stepped inside.

I used the last of the shredded Mexican beef from my parents’ anniversary party, but in order to stretch it, I added beef broth and turned it into a stew…which I then topped with chips and plain cashew yogurt.

I almost don’t want to tell you this but I didn’t have anything green that whole day.  Actually, it’s worse than that.  I didn’t have a single vegetable.  Not a one.  Eek!

Back on track on Friday with this guy…

Oh also on Friday!

A graduation for the mini striders. 🙂

These little people will no longer be cheering on their mamas in strollers at 9 am classes because they will be in SCHOOOOOOOL!!!  It was a sweet little ceremony followed by a potluck.  I made butterfly skewers with triangle shaped wings cut out of cantaloupe with raisins as the body.  The winner was the mama who brought Califia mocha cold brew, naturally.

And then guess what happened for dinner!!  The new chill and less OCD Elise made another impulsive decision and accepted a last minute invitation over to a friend’s house!

Woo hoo!  It was SO SO FUN!  I am still in shock that I said yes to this day-of invite, but Kyle and I agreed it was the most fun night.  The kids ate at a separate table and were completely insane the entire time, but aside from that, it was awesome to hang out and eat fish tacos with newish friends who we are getting to know better.

Thanks to stroller strides, my already very big social circle just seems to be growing and growing and I couldn’t be more happy about it.  Sometimes you think you’ve found all “your people” and then you go and discover another whole group of friends who you feel like you were meant to know and that group introduces you to more and more people and then the next thing you know you are the mayor of Davis.  Kidding! But for reals, I feel like pretty soon there won’t be a parent in town that I don’t know.

Also, this dessert was amazing.  I think it was just frozen berries with melted white chocolate poured over it.  It was phenomenal!!  I’m 100% making this at our house.  The kids had plain frozen berries and came away from the night with blue fingers and lips and more rock solid friendships.

Turns out, saying yes brings much more joy than holding on to the “safe” plans that you’ve already scheduled out in your head.  I wish this came more naturally to me, but I’m starting to get it, so hopefully this trend continues.