we made it to friday, which means the weekend is literally tomorrow! ahhhhhhhh. (that is a huge sigh of relief)
don’t you just love weekends in the summer? we love to get up early on Saturday and head over to our local farmer’s market. wil and i both recently got bikes, so we have been riding our bikes to the market! it’s 7 miles round trip with a good bit of elevation changes, so it’s not easy. but it is such a nice way to start the day! (i’m still ready for fall though. (see last week’s dispatch. )
i love the variety of summer produce — we always grab fresh salad mixes, zucchini, corn, peaches, herbs, okra… the list goes on. we haven’t been buying tomatoes much because our plants are going crazy!!
onto the recipes:
corn, bacon, & feta quiche
a couple weekends ago , we made this delicious corn, bacon, and feta quiche. I got the idea for this dish from Olivia Mack McCool’s newsletter. (she is taking a break from it, but you should check out her archives and subscribe!)
i want to add basil & baby kale next time, but you can add or take out any ingredient listed here and i still think it would be a delicious recipe. use whatever ratios sound best to you. love corn but only want a little bacon? adjust accordingly. you get the gist!
also, can we just talk about the fact that quiche is, like, the perfect food? it’s good hot, warm, cold, room temp… you can pretty much throw anything into it: veggies, cheese, meat, herbs. it’s good for breakfast, fantastic for lunch with a fresh salad, and absolutely perfect for a late night bite straight from the fridge.
ingredients:
10 eggs
oat milk
cooked bacon (i like thick-cut for this)
pie crust of choice
feta (get the good stuff from your local Mediterranean grocer. it’ll probably be cheaper, too!)
corn (lightly steamed)
green onions
something green: basil / kale / spinach
quick & easy:
whisk 10 eggs with a little milk (i used oat). salt and pepper.
finely chop cooked bacon, and remove corn from the cob.
dice a handful of green onions (3ish) — use the whole thing, white & green parts!
add all ingredients to the eggs — chopped basil or kale would be good here too.
pour into a prepared pie crust (i use these from Whole Foods) and top with some good, briny feta.
bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until set.
best served with a few slices of a gorgeous summer tomato.
the only seasoning you need
listen: i know that is a bold statement. but i truly truly truly believe that this salt is the perfect ingredient for basically everything. it’s a salt blended with herbs and spices, but it’s not too herby or strong. it’s just the perfect dash of flavor. i put this in all my salad dressings, add it to eggs, veggies, rice, it’s so good on fish… just trust me. i wanted to give a full jar of this as our wedding favors… but that would have been very pricey… instead we made little jars of infused olive oil and added a tablespoon or so of this salt to each jar!
we always have this salt in our house, and we refer to it as “special salt.” so going forward, if i list special salt in a recipe, this is what i’m referring to. you can sub with coarse sea salt, but i recommend this magical blend always.
(not to brag, but this olive oil received rave reviews from our guests)
pasta salad
i have to be honest, i forget about pasta salad a lot. i’m always so glad when i make it, though. it’s so yummy & so handy to have in the fridge for a snack, for work lunches etc.
also, pasta salad is very personal. everyone makes their pasta salad differently — some people like cheese, some people like olives, some people want herbs, and some people just want cold noodles with wishbone italian dressing and maybe some shredded carrots thrown in. no shame in anyone’s pasta salad game! for me, i tend to just throw in whatever is in my fridge that sounds good.
here’s how i made it this time:
pasta (obv), i like this farfalle best
chopped olives (mix of kalamata & castelvetrano)
feta cheese, crumbled
diced tomatoes (cherry work best)
olive oil
lemon
store-bought pesto (i like the trader joe’s vegan one)
green beans (blanched)
generous amounts of special salt & cracked black pep
just toss everything in a bowl and mix it together! let it sit in the fridge for a bit for optimal flavor-soaking-in-ness. similar to the quiche, it’s just so nice to have made and in the fridge.
music & a podcast i’m loving lately:
first up is a podcast i’ve been loving lately. i’m sure most of you have heard of Glennon Doyle, but you may not know she has a podcast! her podcast is called We Can Do Hard Things and is hosted by Glennon, her wife Abby Wambach, and her sister Amanda. they cover all kinds of difficult topics like anxiety, how to share the load evenly with your partner, and just kind of generally touching on what it’s like to live in this world (especially as a sensitive or emotional person). i love it so much and it comes out twice a week!
next up, we have a full blown playlist! and it’s not one i made. this is major because i don’t just listen to other people’s playlists, ok? i am very specific and passionate about the music i listen to and curating a playlist is among my top 5 skills in life and also one of my most favorite things to do. one of my life mottos (yes, i have many) is “when in doubt, make a playlist.” it’s never lead me astray.
anywho, the playlist is called Nancy Meyers’ Kitchen. you know Nancy Meyers from movies like The Holiday, The Parent Trap, The Intern, Father of the Bride…
it’s a simply lovely cooking playlist. also nice for playing on those sundays when you lightly clean and tidy the home, then make yourself a glass of wine, and sit on the couch to read a nice magazine. listen to it here!
a few samples from the playlist:
don’t you worry ‘bout a thing - john legend
will you still love me tomorrow? - amy winehouse