Boston

Chin and I have a lot on our agenda during the month of July. We both have the month off, and in effort to maximize summer bliss, we're trying to fit in a lot. We started the month off by heading to the coast, with a weekend trip to Boston, Cape Cod, and Nantucket (We're currently in Denver, and head to Paris in a little more than a week!). 

If you follow me on instagram or facebook, you probably have seen most of these pictures, but I figured some commentary behind them might be in order.

We went with my sister, Maren, and her husband, Jordan, and we had a blast. We roadtripped from Roc to Boston (only about 6 hours), and spent the weekend exploring my favorite area of the country.

My dreams of living in Boston and having a sailboat on Nantucket Sound were only heightened after spending some more time there. 

Boston is my favorite city in the country. There's an incredible amount of rich history, with beautiful architecture and a plethora of things to do. All of that combined into an urban setting that's hustling and bustling all the time makes me a very happy girl. Add in its proximity to the cape and the ocean, not to mention the overall preppy feeling, and you might understand why I was made to live there. How could anyone not want to be there?

We spent our first evening and our last day in Boston eating at Pizzeria Regina in the North End, walking the Freedom Trail, exploring Harvard and Cambridge, strolling through Quincy Market, eating cannolis from Mike's Pastry at the Paul Revere House, getting our sea legs on board the U.S.S. Constitution, meeting up with Chin's aunt for a perfect dinner at Legal Seafood, and ending our trip by exploring downtown and eating ice cream outside a lit up Quincy Market. 

Boston, I love you.

Pizzeria Regina made us feel like we had traveled back in time 60 years, and their pizza was SO good!

Chin, the fearless tour guide on the Freedom Trail

Almost took this little guy home with me

Best. Pastry. Ever. And I don't even really like cannolis! I felt like we were in Sicily all over again.

I have cannoli all over my face so that's good...

Dinner on the wharf

Ciao Boston, until we meet again!

The Wives Club (& a Recipe!)

I haven't posted a recipe in FOREVER. I haven't been making good use of my camera, and with my lack of cooking in general my last few months in Utah, I haven't really had any recipes to share. However... I've been cooking/baking up a storm since we've been in New York... It's honestly getting a little out of hand. I made a meal schedule with all new recipes I wanted to try from now until April, so Chin has had a lot of new meals lately, with a lot more on the way. They've all turned out pretty good so far, with my new favorite tacos recipe being the star. I'll get to those in a minute.

Besides Chin, there are three other LDS married guys in his med school class. So, the wives, being as awesome as we are, decided to have a Wives Club luncheon every week. The host changes weekly, and all the other wives contribute a little something to the meal each week. It's been a blast so far. I eat like a queen every Thursday (I'm talking turkey and cranberry sandwiches on homemade rolls and delicious tortilla soup good), and the company is even better. I'm a lucky woman to have come to Rochester and already have friends. Med school wives have to stick together! 

It was my turn to host this week, and we did some Valentine's crafts post-lunch, so I decided to dress up my table a bit.

I made Roasted Veggie Tacos with Avocado Cream and Feta, because they're my new favorite meal and are just purely delightful. Here are some pictures from the afternoon (c/o the talented Xan Craven), then I'll get to the recipe!

Hydrangeas were a great price at the grocery store, and made for a great centerpiece. Each girl had their own chinese take-out box with juju hearts in them!

Guacamole cups (won ton wrappers baked in cupcake tins, filled with guac and salsa) made for great appetizers.

Seriously you need to make these tacos.

I made red velvet cupcakes for dessert, and served some hazelnut chocolate cookies from Trader Joe's (the best).

We all made different types of garland for our crafts, here's how mine turned out:

AND NOW: the best taco recipe, ever! They are SO easy, so fast, and even Chin loved them (and they are vegetarian-friendly so that's really saying something)!

Roasted Veggie Tacos (with Avocado Cream & Feta)
Adapted from Naturally Ella
For the Tacos:
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small butternut squash, diced*
½ medium red onion, diced
1 C. frozen or canned or fresh corn kernels
1/2 carton cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 red pepper, diced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. salt
6-8 taco tortillas (corn or flour)
feta cheese for topping
extra cilantro for garnish
 
For the Avocado Cream:
1 ripe avocado
⅓ C. plain greek yogurt
¼ C. cilantro
1 Tbsp. lime juice

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Prepare your veggies as listed above, and place them all onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper over the veggies and mix with a large spoon to coat. Roast until all the veggies are tender, about 20-25 minutes (Squash takes the longest- I test it with a fork to make sure it's tender). While the veggies roast, prepare the avocado cream by placing all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Heat up your tortillas if desired, then assemble with veggies, cream, and feta. Enjoy! 
*You could use any type of squash you like, our local grocery store just cuts and pre-washes butternut squash and puts it into a package so you don't have to cut it up yourself. But you could use acorn squash or even summer squash!

A recipe wouldn't be complete unless I instagrammed a picture of it, right?

Homemade Arnold Palmers

So, I haven't posted a recipe in a long time. I mean a long, longgg time.

I blame this on the fact that this summer I've barely been near an oven at all. 

So, now we finally made it back to Rochester (Chin's first day of school is on Monday!) and we're both done traveling for a little while. I don't have to go back to Provo for another 3 weeks, so hopefully I'll be able to have some fun in my mom's enormous kitchen.

I thought I'd share with you a quick little recipe that's my favorite summer drink.

I was introduced to Arnold Palmer -- a drink that consists of half lemonade and half iced tea -- the summer I graduated from high school. I loved the drink so much, that I couldn't get enough of it. However, there were two problems.

The first being that my personal religious beliefs don't support drinking caffeinated tea, and the second being that the manufactured brand is full of (and I mean really full) of sugar.

Eventually I found an even better solution:

Starbucks makes their own version of an Arnold Palmer, made with their delicious Tazo Passion herbal (and decaffeinated) tea. The only issue with their drink is that they fill it to the top with ice, leaving you with virtually no drink, and you pay an arm and a leg for 16 oz of ice.

No no no that just does not work for Hayley Pingree. 

So I finally just stopped complaining and here I am, showing the best of any option: making your own.

I love making favorite treats at home, not only do I feel like homemade treats are more delicious, but you can tailor what you make to exactly how you like it.

There's just nothing better.

So here we go...

Homemade Arnold Palmer

1 Tazo Passion herbal tea bag (I bought mine at Target but could be purchased at select grocery stores or at Starbucks)

1 1/2 - 2 cups water

Your favorite lemonade (I prefer Minute Maid Light or Simply Lemonade if I'm feeling indulgent)

Step 1: In a microwaveable bowl or liquid measuring cup, microwave 1 1/2- 2 cups water until water is boiling (about 2-3 minutes).

 

Step 2: Steep your tea bag in the boiling water for 4-5 minutes, then remove tea bag and let your tea cool completely (I speed up the process by putting mine in the fridge)

Step 3: Once your tea is cooled, take a nice big glass and pour it halfway full with tea...

Step 4: Fill the other half with lemonade, stir with a spoon to mix it all up, add some ice, and enjoy! If you prefer a sweeter drink, at a packet of stevia or splenda for a sweet twist. 

Makes about 3-4 glasses. 

Greek Quesadillas with Feta & Roasted Tomatoes

 There are some foods that I think even if I wanted to take out of my diet, there would be no way that I possibly could. 

The biggest one? Cheese.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I literally live and die off cheesesticks, I could eat sharp cheddar, pepperjack, and fresh mozzarella by the pound. Don't get me started on ones like gouda (the smokier the better), brie, gruyere and havarti. 

And last but never least, I literally could eat feta cheese every day for the rest of my life.

Needless to say I'm excited to try all the different cheeses over in Italy and Greece, I've heard you can't really beat it!

So let's talk about feta (because you all love it as much as I do right?). I understand it might not be for everyone. But you really can't deny that creamy, tangy taste that can add a kick to almost anything. 

Some of my favorites? Any summer salad, particularly a watermelon salad with red onion, feta, and a light vinaigrette. PERF.

Gorge any Greek food with feta, and I might as well be in heaven.

Which brings me to these quesadillas.

I wouldn't normally put Greek food and quesadillas together in the same category, but the combination is fabulous.

And don't be scared about roasting tomatoes. They are seriously so easy to do. All you have to do is cut up a tomato, drizzle it with some olive oil and salt, and pop it into the oven and wait for them to get soft and gooey and caramely.

Crisp tortillas with feta (feta on feta on feta on feta), mozzarella, ooey gooey flavorful roasted tomatoes, cool cucumber, red onion, spinach, and a little bit of spice. 

We topped ours with light sour cream, but a homemade (or store bought) tzatziki would be over the top amazing.

Maybe next time. 

 

 

Greek Quesadillas with Feta & Roasted Tomatoes

adapted from Annie's Eats

  1-2 tortillas per person (we use 2 per person because we layer our quesadillas for dinner. But you could use 1 per person and fold it like normal, not huge people)

2 cups chopped spinach

1/3 diced red onion

Sliced black olives (we omit simply for Chin, he won't eat them!)

1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

2/3 - 1 cup crumbled Feta cheese

Dried Oregano

Red pepper flakes

1/3 cup diced, seeded cucumber

1-2 large oven roasted tomatoes

Sour cream/ anything you want for topping

 Begin by roasting your tomatoes. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile, chop up 1-2 tomatoes into large chunks and place them on a baking sheet. Brush or drizzle with some olive oil, then sprinkle some sea salt and fresh pepper (or just regular is fine).

When the oven is preheated, pop them in and let them roast for about 20-25 minutes or until they are sunken and a little bit charred on the outside.

Transfer the tomatoes to a cutting board and chop the roasted tomatoes as finely as you like. 

If you're making a 2-tortilla quesadilla, place a cooked tortilla on a flat surface and layer with mozzarella, feta, tomatoes, red onion, olives, cucumbers, spinach, and anything else you'd like (chicken or lamb would be divine!). Sprinkle with red pepper flakes and oregano, then top it all with another tortilla.

Place the tortilla in a heated pan (or grill pan or whatever you use to make quesadillas) on medium heat and brown the quesadilla on each side, making sure the mozzarella is melted before serving.

If you're making a smaller quesadilla with just one tortilla, just follow the same directions except only put ingredients on half of the tortilla, then fold over. 

This recipe makes about 3 large quesadillas (so 6 tortillas), or 6 normal sized ones.

Opa!