I can’t believe how fast the month of August has been flying by! Summer is fleeting, so I’m very grateful for a weekend ahead with no plans. Going to soak it all up, get my toes sandy, and maybe make some s’mores with Jane (one of the last items we haven’t tackled on our summer bucket list!). Before I hunt down my marshmallow and graham crackers, I have a round up of new recipes, recent reads, and a few other random tidbits to send us into the weekend — happy reading!
New Recipes. I’ve got lots of new recipes on the site from the past few weeks, including some summertime favorites like lemon thyme lobster rolls, a delicious savory tomato pie made with the tomatoes from our garden, and the easiest 5-ingredient blueberry-peach hand pies to use up our berry-picking bounty. There are also a few new simple weeknight recipes up on the site as you gear up for the back to school grind, like a quick tortellini dish with sausage and veggies, and a healthy broccoli, chickpea, and sausage salad.
Bento Boxes. Jane is starting preschool this fall, and I’m totally nerding-out over being able to pick out lunchboxes and backpacks. We have some great bento boxes that we use right now for packing snacks on the go, and I shared an easy bento breakfast box idea on the blog earlier this week. I got a few fun accessories for the boxed too, like silicon baking cups for holding snacks and little mini cookie cutters for stamping out fun shapes in cheeses and fruits.
Grilling Help. Weber sent me an iGrill thermometer to try out and it’s definitely going on my gifts-for-guys list this holiday season. It connects to an app where you can select the ingredient you’re grilling, your desired doneness, and then it tracks the temperature and alerts you when it’s just about done and ready to pull off the grill. I was a big fan, so easy to use and makes grilling nearly fool-proof!
Random Things. Other random things, I’m getting so many complements about the earrings I shared on instagram this week — they’re about $10 and come in tons of colors — perfect for summer weddings! My other recent favorite Amazon find was this lightweight, comfortable faux-wrap dress that I’ve been wearing on repeat. And while I don’t really want summer to end, I found the world’s most perfect cozy fair isle sweater that has me pretty excited for cooler temps.
Reading List. I’ve been on such a great streak with good summer reads this month, I’m flying through my reading list! I’ve continued my WWII-female-protagonist run with Dear Mrs. Bird — it was a cute read and pretty lighthearted considering it was set against the backdrop of wartime London. If you’re a fan of historical fiction and need a quick read, this one is for you! After that I read my very first Elin Hilderbrand book: Summer of ’69. I know people are obsessed with this author, so I figured it was finally time to try one out; I really enjoyed the storyline and I fell in deep with the family of characters as their perspercivs of a tumultuous summer intertwined. I’m definitely on board with reading more of her books, if you have a favorite please leave me a comment! Now I’m onto a book I’ve been long-anticipating, Evvie Drake Starts Over. The little lobster on the cover sold me, and I’m already enjoying the first few chapters.
