simplicity

Eggs & Waffles

I am a firm believer in the "Breakfast Rule". (most important meal of the day!) On work days, I usually pack a greek yogurt with fruit and honey and eat when I have 2 minutes to spare and chug coffee between bites. Efficiency. 

It's a real treat, on beautiful days like today, when I can actually cook myself breakfast and eat in leisure while I read my favorite blogs and sip coffee. This is one of my go-to easy recipes, and I could seriously eat eggs & waffles every single day. It keeps me full for a long time, and right now we even have fresh farm eggs from one of Josh's co-workers!

Eggs & Waffles
2 fresh farm eggs
2 waffles (I love Van's lite or multigrain in the frozen organic section)
earth balance
salt/pepper
smoked paprika *the star ingredient!

DIRECTIONS

Toast waffles and top with Earth Balance or butter. Top waffles with two over-medium eggs, season with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Enjoy with coffee. 

Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Even if it's snowing inches outside right now, I've declared it Spring inside my house. That means I am wearing pretty pastel cardigans, buying Sauvignon Blanc at the store, and smiling at this quite funny April Fools joke. Yes, it is really snowing on April the 4th, in Virginia. In the words of my great friend Katie Jo, "what the"!!!

                         

In the spirit of Spring and warm flip flop weather, I have made a quinoa fruit salad to bring to my work friends tomorrow. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs (Two Peas in Their Pod) and it is light and healthy and fresh and a great reminder that beautiful weather is coming!

Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
from Two Peas in their Pod
*I doubled the recipe, and used fuji apples instead of mangoes

1 cup red quinoa (dry)
2 cups water
pinch salt

Dressing:
3 Tbsp honey
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp chopped mint

Fruit:
2 cups blueberries
2 cups strawberries
2 cups mango (I used apple)
Extra mint for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions, cool to room temperature
2. Make honey lime dressing (whisk together lime juice, honey, and mint)
3. Combine quinoa and fruit. Pour dressing over the fruit salad and mix until well combined. Garnish with additional mint. Serve at room temperature.

By all means, substitute your favorite fruits into this salad.  I think peaches, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, or grapes would be stellar! 

only a month away...

I get to marry my sweetheart in exactly one month!!! 

photo of the week

Since I posted my first GaryTalk last night, I thought I'd share one of my favorite photographs I've taken of my dad. This is from Christmas time last year, when we were all relaxing after a delicious meal. He's playing Harvest Moon on his guitar, and it was just such a beautiful moment. He has inspired me so much, and I plan on continuing to feature his parenting pillars, as I still need reminders from time to time my own self. 

Album of the Week

I really can't remember what I was doing or where I was the first time I heard a Mumford and Sons song, and I don't know how that is possible considering I am now obsessed with their music. Their lyrics are beautiful and full of wisdom. Here is one of my favorites. 

Josh and I recorded a documentary on the their journey to play at Red Rocks, and seeing them perform live with their raw sound and crazy enthusiasm was just amazing. 

GaryTalk #1

Work hard, Play hard

I was fortunate to grow up in a family with a solid value system and strong work ethic, which both of my parents embodied and demanded. The roots of this story go way back to a time in Wisconsin when my Father was growing up on a golf course called Edgewood and doing all of the green work on the course. It was a big job for a young guy. On top of that, after he finished with the outside work, he came inside and filled in as the bartender/waiter/pool shark. My dad learned how to work Wisconsin hard at a young age, and he has kept on doing it his entire life. 

My dad taught me how to work hard. I started working in high school (waiting tables) and continued to work through college. The less time I had to study, the more efficiently I studied, and the better my grades were. Waiting tables will teach you more than any philosophy course, and you will learn the value of one single dollar. Wait 'til a table leaves you that one dollar tip - for filling many coffee refills, going back for extra maple syrup, packing the biscuits in a to-go-box, for ONE FLIPPING DOLLAR. Yep, that can be waiting tables, at times. It teaches you to value those dollars.

My dad was always a proponent of the adage Work Hard, Play Hard! 

On the weekend, my brother and I would see him having his buddies over to play music, stay up late, scream and holler, and have an absolute blast. Since then, my Dad has encouraged me to find the balance, and play hard! 

There is so much wisdom in this advice, which I have come to truly understand as I've gotten older. Tomorrow is my PLAY day, which will end at El Rodeo where Josh and I went on our very first date! There is so much fun in declaring play time, when you do what you love because you worked to have the time off to let loose!