Labor Day is a friendly reminder of those fleeting summer moments, so I took it upon myself this weekend to make sure I got in as much summer flavor as I could. That meant pizza on the beach, ice cream from our local ice cream shop, and any recipe I could think of that was chock-full of summer corn and juicy end of summer tomatoes. This pasta dish is a new weeknight dinner favorite in the summer, it takes about 15 minutes to make. The base of the dish is based on a traditional Cacio E Pepe, a super simple Italian pasta that combines butter, pasta water, parmesan cheese, and tons of fresh cracked pepper. I gave the classic a summer-spin by folding in the sweet flavors of corn and tomatoes, which are a perfect balance for that bite of all of the cracked pepper. Full recipe below:
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I’m having a little bit of trouble coming to grips with the fact that summer is coming to a close this week, I’m not quite ready for the warm weather, and beach days, and patio cocktails (and mocktails!) to end. This weekend I had a girl’s night with some my girlfriends and we enjoyed the fading summer with some al fresco dining and porch swinging and all around warm-weather merriment. In preparation for our hang out I set up a make-your-own style margarita bar with all of the essentials, and thought I’d share a few of my tips for setting up a margarita bar of your own. Once you have the tools, the garnishes, and ingredients in place, it’s super fun to let your guests mix up their own cocktail creations.
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Right away when I found out I was pregnant my friends and family jokingly asked if I was ready to become a “mommy blogger” and I scoffed at it with such repulsion! After keeping my new secret from the blog for so long though, I realized that there was no way I could really separate something so big happening in my life from my writing here. When I first started the site, I was decorating our first apartment, and a lot of the content focused on decorating. As I got engaged, wedding content started popping up here a lot more often. My favorite part about maintaining this blog is that it has been like a living diary for me to catalog my experiences, and I don’t think this next phase of my life will be any different.
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If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen some pretty big news announced this weekend — we’re expecting a new (and tiny!) member of team Domestikatedlife in January. I’ve just about reached my maximum life limit for secret keeping by not announcing this sooner on the blog, but knowing that a confetti-filled party was how I would let the cat out of the bag helped me keep my lips shut for much longer than I am usually able. This weekend we went to the doctor and had the ultrasound technician at the appointment write down the gender of our baby. We patiently (just kidding, I was so not patient) waited for a crew of a few our closest friends and our immediate families to come over to our house for a gender reveal BBQ to share in the excitement of the news. 
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Things have been moving a little slow around here as I enjoy a nice summer speed, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. We’ll call this post a “summer catch-all” — okay? A little bit of everything I’m loving, reading, and thinking about for Fall. 
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It has been sweltering the last week or so, hasn’t it? I’m avoiding the oven at all costs and focusing my efforts on desserts that involve icy cold whipped cream and frozen bites of cream puff goodness. This recipe I’ve been working on is my favorite kind: a non-recipe! If you can pick up creme puffs in the frozen food section of Trader Joe’s or Costco, you’re pretty much already halfway there. All you have to do after that is make some homemade whipped cream (I usually drop in a pint of cream into my KitchenAid mixer with a tbsp or so of sugar, and 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract — whip until it starts to create stiff peaks).
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I’m open to any and all ideas to beat this August humidity! Beach days have helped, sitting my face 2 inches in front of a box fan has done the trick, and refreshing cocktails are always a good idea. This cocktail recipes can be made with or without alcohol, and is as easy as throwing all of the ingredients in the blender (an inexpensive handheld immersion blender will even do the trick if you strain it 2-3 times). The sweetness of the strawberries and the cool flavors of the mint and watermelon are so darn refreshing. I’ve been keeping a carafe of this in the fridge to sip on with tons of ice and a squeeze of fresh lime. Enjoying it through a flamingo straw is the icing on the cake! Full recipe below: 
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Last weekend was a multi-day celebration of my husband’s birthday; I am a firm believer in the “birthday week” over just one night of festivities. We planned to kick off the weekend with friends heading out to a concert (Huey Lewis and the News played, and yes they were awesome). To me, one of the best parts of outdoor summer concerts is the tailgating before the show. We were heading to the event with friends, and we own a tiny car that isn’t ideal for this type of pre-concert picnicking. Luckily Enterprise CarShare reached out me about trying their car-sharing program in Boston and it was the perfect opportunity to borrow an SUV that would hold our friends and concert tailgating spread!
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Do you have a go-to warm weather recipe? The one you default to when it’s just too hot out to cook? I think this is my new heat-wave dinner default, a summery panzanella salad packed with local, fresh ingredients that would make any farmer’s market wanderer proud. Panzanella always reminds me of Ina Garten, she’d say to use “good” olive oil and sprinkle giant sea salt flakes on top, so I like to channel her when tossing this together. What makes this panzanella different? Lots of sweet fresh corn — it’s the best this time of year and adds so much flavor and color! I served it with a few pieces of rotisserie chicken (didn’t even make it, I cheated and snagged one from the grocery store! Another great way to beat the heat!) and drizzled it with olive oil and salt and pepper to dress it up the flavors. I know this dish is going to be on repeat all the way through Labor Day.
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I tend to hit a cooking slump during this time of the summer. It has been terribly hot the past few days and I glance over to look at the stove like it’s going to bite me if I turn it on. Instead of phoning it in though (literally, I considered phoning in a pizza), I’ve been trying to take this heat wave as a cooking challenge — can I create tasty treats that also keep me cool? That’s where this idea came in! I took the elements of a nice chilled antipasto plate and made them into dippable skewers, laced with some chilled provolone, tortellini, tomatoes and olives. I made my own pesto for the dipping sauce (I just throw in garlic, basil, pine nuts and olive oil and keep adding until the consistency looks right) — try Ina Garten’s recipe if you like to be exact with proportions! They chilled down in the fridge for a bit until they were ready to bring to a friend’s pool party and proved to be the perfect cool snack.
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