Weekend balancing

Saturday was my first day off stroller strides and I went for a bike ride instead.  It felt great to listen to a podcast and cover the city on pedal.  I think I did SS too many times last week because I was wiped out and excited to have a couple of days off.  Not that I NEED to go or anything, but I have a monthly unlimited membership and no plans in the morning so it feels like I may as well!  But four days last week has me feeling pooped.

Anyway, the bike ride was nice and then I made a smoothie after I was all showered and coffee-d up.

It had strawberries, banana, almond butter, collagen peptides, flax, and TJs cashew nut milk blend.

The cold and refreshing drank was exactly what I needed too, because it was 90 degrees by 8 am both days this weekend!!  Crazy!!

Here’s part of what I had for lunch (I had seconds of everything and then later I had kombucha at a friend’s house too).

And then we had this salad for dinner.  Followed by this bar for dessert.

HOWWWWW did I forget about this bar?!?!  Thank goodness Kyle’s parents bought me one when I was in Idaho (because they know me better than I know myself) which reminded my taste buds of why I practically ordered them by the case from Thrive Market.  Anyway, it’s now back in my life, for good reason, because it is THE BEST chocolate bar on this Earth.  See: chocolate post

Which brings me to Sunday’s breakfast.  I was in a rush to eat before church because I got sidetracked by the World Cup game after feeding the kids.  Luckily I remembered that I had these strawberry muffins in the freezer that I had made before our trip.  Look past the odd shaped muffin top and blackened edges, it was delish!

Ok so now lunch!  I flip flopped back to my other go to kale salad.  Not the Winter vegan salad with roasted butternut squash and candied walnuts, but the Caesar with sun dried tomatoes.

I got a jar of sun dried tomatoes from Costco that weighs OVER THREE POUNDS.  Any bets on how long it will last?  I’ve been going through the small (orrrr normal sized?) jars from TJs on a weekly basis, so I figured it was time to go big.

The rest of the salad had tessemae’s Caesar dressing and roasted chicken breast, plus carrots on the side (at least 6 times the amount shown).  I took a short cut and used store bought organic chicken from True Story.  Normally I’d prep it in advance, but because I was still playing catch up after being out of town when I went to Costco last weekend I just decided to make my life easier and buy the organic stuff that was already oven roasted and sliced.  It’s really really good, FYI, and I’d buy it regularly if it wasn’t so pricey.

Dinner had all the makings of a summer meal…a cool veg salad, something grilled, and a fresh bread from farmer’s market (“bird seed” from Upper Crust bakery).

Kyle grilled the flank steak and I made the broccoli salad.  The recipe is from the ATK Just Add Sauce cookbook, and calls for very few ingredients, but unique ones nonetheless.  I don’t know that I’ve ever cooked with fresh tarragon before, but I know I’ve had tarragon dressings in restaurants that I’ve loved, so I was delighted that the flavor worked so well with broccoli.  The kids loved it too, which was a nice surprise because lately they’ve been kinda iffy on herbs they used to love (namely basil, which may be due to my excessive use of it thanks to our garden’s booming plants).  Anyway, the salad had fresh tarragon, minced shallots, dried cranberries, and a creamy avocado dressing.  I doubled it and it was the perfect amount for us all to have seconds and then to give Kyle a tiny bit in his lunch the next day.

And now I have a bunch of fresh tarragon leftover, so it looks like I’ll be making my own dressing soon enough!  Any other uses for tarragon that you guys know of?

I skipped chocolate and kombucha because I didn’t really feel like it and instead ended the weekend with some frozen cotton candy grapes.

These HIT THE SPOT big time.  I love frozen grapes and often forget about them because obviously you have to think about it in advance.  Kyle actually requested them so I bought extra grapes just for freezing and I’m so glad I did.  They’re like little sorbet balls.  If you’ve never tried them I promise you will love me for introducing them to you.  It’s basically the healthiest snack/dessert ever.  And super refreshing when it’s 8 pm and still over 100 degrees outside.