The Shared Morning Pick-me-up

View fullsize

I always go a little crazy when I visit a farmer's market - three baskets of blueberries for a discount? OK! (For that matter, the same goes for Costco: I can totally use up the giant bag of carrots, no problem . . . or not.) I found myself lulled by all the fun produce recently, and with more blueberries than I could possibly expect my family to eat. Then I remembered that a friend had asked if we might post a recipe for blueberry muffins. My morning was instantly looking up! Even better? Cynthia had the brilliant idea to pair these bakery-worthy Blueberry Streusel Muffins with Cold Brew Coffee and Mint Syrup! Umm, yaaaas. If this doesn't solve that mid-morning slump, I don't know what will. (Dancing a sugar-fueled, caffeine-induced happy dance that thankfully no one can see but me! Weeeee!)

P.S. July 11th was National Blueberry Muffin Day, and in perfect mom-time, I missed it by one day. Still, I don't see why we can't celebrate Blueberry Muffin Day on July 12th or any other morning, where we might need a little goodie to make our day brighter! Happy Blueberry Muffin (every)Day!

Follow us to the recipes:

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Cold Brew Coffee with Mint Syrup

The Shared Holiday Barbecue

View fullsize

It finally feels like summer, and we love nothing more than to share big platters of delicious food with our family and friends! When we thought about our tried and true favorites, Cynthia's Mediterranean Turkey Burger came to mind immediately. These are my favorite kind of burgers - the kind that are filled with little bits of treasure. Nestled in these turkey burgers are feta crumbles, morsels of sun-dried tomato, and (for good measure,) tender spinach; there's enough good stuff tucked in there for adults to find these burgers irresistible, and nutritious enough to feel good about feeding them to the kids, (plus my kids love anything in patty-form)! For dessert, I couldn't resist the appeal of a big dish filled to the brim with layers of Polenta Cake with Olive Oil and Lemon, whipped mascarpone cream, and fresh berries - I feel happy just thinking about it. This Berry Trifle easily feeds a crowd and screams of summer parties on the patio, or even better, an Independence Day dessert, with its patriotic red, white, and blue hues.

Follow us to the recipes:

Mediterranean Turkey Burger 

Berry Trifle 

Polenta Cake with Olive Oil and Lemon