I’m constantly brainstorming new recipes that can be prepped in big batches and reheated throughout the week. It’s the best way to keep us on track with healthy eating choices, especially during lunch time. One of our all time favorite meal-prep recipes that we have for both lunch and dinner is a spicy chicken thigh recipe that we grill over high heat for a tasty charred flavor. We have made it so often though, that I needed to think of a way to refresh it and prevent lunch boredom. I decided to take the same flavors from the marinade and turn it into a spicy lime peanut sauce that would glaze baked turkey meatballs, and serve them over white rice with some diced carrots, onions and scallions. One of the things I love about this recipe is you can be prepping all of the elements simultaneously; the sauce can cook on the stove while the meatballs are in the oven, and I use my Instant Pot to cook rice while I chop up the veggie toppings. It makes enough for a few dinner portions or a whole work week of lunches broken down into some microwaveable glass containers! Get the full recipe below:
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Sometimes instagram makes me crazy — the always changing algorithms, my slight addiction to checking it — but one thing I currently love about it is that it’s an instant feedback loop for my content. People tend to comment on my blog posts less and less, but more and more I’m having great 1:1 conversations with readers in Instagram messages. Last week I shared a fun summer BBQ menu idea, and right after posting it I got a ton of questions from readers about the pasta dish in the images. I wasn’t planning on sharing the pasta recipe because I didn’t have great photos of it, and the recipe needed some adjustments. But after a few requests I decided to write it up and with some tweaks! 
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I’m really excited to share this recipe with you today because it’s one I’ve been working on for a bit! I love a corn chowder. While most young adults gain the freshman 15 at college from drinking too much beer, I gained it because I used to eat corn chowder for lunch 3x a week at the Au Bon Pain (ironically) located underneath our campus gym. I debated with someone recently about corn chowder being a summer dish — it is, after all, the season when corn is at peak-tastiness. And I find it to be a delicious thing to eat on a cool summer night by the beach. I made a batch of it when we were on the Cape a few weeks ago, and decided to tweak the recipe a bit more another night last week. This spin has lots of spiced flavor from the cumin and chili powder, balancing out the sweetness of the corn. One of my favorite local restaurants serves a version of this dish with a potato crusted haddock, which inspired me to give my own recipe a seafood addition. I served it with a piece of blackened cod on top, and it was a hit. Even Jane got in on the action and had a piece of the fish and some corn — yum! Get the recipe below.
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I’m really looking forward to this weekend; we have a perfect amount of fun-plans and downtime on the calendar. I’m heading into Boston for a girls night with my best pals, plan to hit up a barbecue with friends, and will do a little grilling of our own too! I am acutely aware of the madness that is about to start as summer turns to fall and my book comes out. I spent much of this week working on event plans for the book launch, and as my fall calendar fills up, I’m relishing in these lightly scheduled summer days. Here’s hoping you also have a some quiet summer days ahead – before you get there, a few Friday links to get you to the weekend!
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When we were on vacation we visited a fun restaurant in Provincetown, and I swore that every other guest that came back from the bar and a big giant frosé cocktail. I didn’t get to order one and I have been thinking about it ever since! When I got home I decided to try my hand at making my own version of frosé mixed with some sweetened berry flavors. I got a little bit impatient as the wine was freezing, and before I got to blending it in our blender into a true frosé, I decided to dig in sooner while it was still in it’s slushy frozen state. It came out like a sweet granita dessert, but with rosé flavors coming through. It’s one part cocktail, one part frozen snack, and 100% delicious — find out how to make this easy treat below! 
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Last night, Mike and I got to go on a super fun (kid-free!) excursion in Boston thanks to the team at Marshalls. We started the afternoon off at the Marshalls Fenway store, heard about their partnership with the Red Sox, and got a sneak peek at some of the trends and products that are coming for fall and the back to school season (lots of denim, athleisure, and comfortable spins on classic autumn looks). After we heard about the trends, we actually got to shop them and explored the store for a bit. I came home with a really pretty fall blazer in a soft sage-army green with leather sleeves that I’m SO excited to wear!
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I know I’m probably in the minority here, but I really love grocery shopping. I get that it’s a not-so-fun chore for a lot of people, but I really enjoy it. I love to go to the store for inspiration, scanning the produce and proteins for my next recipe ideas. Last week I got the chance to check out the new Wegmans store in Natick, and because I’m a grocery-shopping-nerd I was delighted to explore it.
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We have been packing our weekends with all sorts of fun summertime activities lately. Last weekend we partnered with Fidelity and MEFA to attend The WGBH Fun Fest and visit the U.Fund Dreams Tour! We are big WGBH fans at our house so it was a blast. Given Jane’s affinity for a lot of the WGBH kids shows, I was so excited to see her interact with the life-sized characters. She was really interested in them, and trying to figure out how her favorite TV characters were there in person!There were also tons of ice cream brands that popped up and we tried a flavor at just about every tent at the event – Jane is ice cream obsessed (and so is her mom!).
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After a week of vacation — i.e.: take out pizza on the beach, clam shacks, and lots of porch cocktails— I am in major need of some diet detoxing. When we arrived home from our trip, my husband and I both agreed we were in the mood for some fresh, lighter flavors to ease out of the deep-fried calorie-heavy meal plan we had been on at the beach. I sat down to write our grocery list for the week and decided the best way to do that was with some Mediterranean-inspired flavors!
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It’s my first day back to reality after our awesome beach vacation and the struggle is real. I actually felt incredibly well rested and happy to get back into the swing of things when we arrived home over the weekend, but Monday has rolled in and my momentum hasn’t exactly picked back up yet. Unpacking beach bags, folding laundry and digging out of that post-vacation inbox are all on my to-do-list today. So naturally I’m avoiding those fun tasks at all costs and thought I’d share a few recipes, links, and finds that have caught my eye in the last week!
