Almond Flour Crusted Cod

Well if last weekend felt like a long vacation, this work week feels equally like a long work week. I've got my hands pretty full this week with client projects, and I'm trying to wrap up a bunch of big items before I leave for vacation in two weeks. Just one more weekend at home and then we'll be in California for 7 days! I am beyond excited about the annual summer vaca, and it's been years since I've been to CA so I can't wait to return.

Yesterday I had meetings in north Jersey so left the house around 7 am to meet up with some colleagues. You know I love my yogurt jars, so I made a blueberry, strawberry Greek yogurt parfait for the road. Topped off with almonds, as usual.

I carbed it up at lunchtime since the client ordered pizza for us, which was really, really good. I had some salad and a slice of pie topped with fresh mozz, tomatoes and basil. Can't go wrong with that. But I was feeling a little heavy when I got back home around 5, so was glad Matt had planned a lighter dinner for us. He had prepped some summer squash and a nice piece of cod for the grill.

The summer squash was seasoned simply with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. The grill adds all the flavor. Burnt, crispy edges, please!

The cod was a surprising new twist, though. Normally when I grill cod I just throw it in a foil packet with some cherry tomatoes, herbs and lemon. Matt was in the mood for some kind of breadcrumb topping, but instead of using bread he used almond flour. He then added salt, pepper, lemon zest, chopped onions and fresh basil from the garden. When it came off the grill we gave it a squeeze of fresh lemon. So good!

The almond flour gave the topping a great texture, and it was nutty, a little sweet and citrusy. I'm loving this new addition to my pantry.

I inhaled dinner and then went back up to my office until about 11 pm to work on a project. Not quite as fun as last Wednesday night, but hey, sometimes it has to be done.

Time to go grab some coffee and get started on another day.

Long Weekend in Photos

A four day weekend sure can make you feel like a refreshed human being. After the weekend it felt like I'd been on vacation for a week, and I felt totally relaxed and charged up when I got back to work this morning.

Early Thursday morning we left for High Point State Park for a camping trip with my sister Amanda and her boyfriend Justyn. We ate campfire food, we relaxed, we swam, we played games, we fell asleep to the sounds of crickets and bullfrogs, we enjoyed the wildlife and the great outdoors...pretty much all the things you should do when you're camping. Amanda and I grew up camping and we love it. There's nothing quite like being outside in the woods for a couple of days, away from technology and TV and the distractions of life, to set your mind right.

We had originally planned to stay at the campground until Sunday, but last week we decided to cut the trip a bit short for a few reasons. We're going through a crazy heat wave and it was about 94 degrees out (if you've ever slept in a tent, you know 94 degrees is not the optimal temperature, yikes), our friends Heather and Kevin were having a BBQ pool party at their house on Saturday, and I figured 2 nights was probably long enough for Riker's first time camping. I was right. We had a great time, but by the time we left on Saturday we were all ready for a nice real shower, a pool and some AC.

To the BBQ we went!

The party was such a fun time with friends and I was really glad we went.

We ended the weekend with bagels & lox and more pool time Sunday at Matt's parents' house. It's been ages since I've had a real bagel, and I enjoyed every last bite.

Whew, now that's a lot of pics for one blog post. I just got home from work after a long day, so I'm grabbing a protein shake for dinner and curling up on the couch for last night's Next Food Network Star. Hope your week is off to a good start!

The Colors of Summer

Happy 4th of July! We're currently in the car on our way to High Point State Park for a family camping trip, the first since Riker was born. We're meeting my sister Amanda and her boyfriend Justyn there, and have a campsite right on the lake for the next three days. Eee! I'm so excited.

Yesterday was a busy day powering through my work list so we could get to packing. I stopped for about 10 minutes halfway through the day to make a chopped salad for lunch, and apparently I was in the mood for orange foods.

I filled the bowl with carrots, orange and yellow peppers, orange and yellow heirloom tomatoes, avocado and a chopped up Trader Joe's salmon burger. It was a crunchy and protein packed salad to fuel me through the afternoon.

After work Matt and I ran out to pick up supplies for camping, and while we were out got a call from our friends Chris and Vanessa inviting us over for a little BBQ with their family. The summertime always makes me feel impromptu - something about it staying daylight until 9:00 and the warm weather urging me to stay outside - so we skipped a few of our errands and headed over to their place for dinner.

Hey, it's the start of a holiday weekend. :)

The boys ate stuffed burgers, but Vanessa made a brown sugar pineapple salmon for us girls. They also served roasted potatoes and corn on the cob with cilantro & parsley from Pinterest. 

The corn was amazing, I loved the cilantro!

Chris and Vanessa are just as much of summer ice cream addicts as we are, and love Charlie's in Seaside maybe even more than us, so it didn't take much for them to convince us to take a little drive over to the island for some dessert.

Vanessa is about 8 months pregnant and is looking so adorable. I thoroughly enjoyed a cone of handmade cookies & cream while watching the sunset. Have I mentioned how much I love summer? 

Since we took a little BBQ and ice cream detour, we ended up staying up pretty late last night packing and prepping food for camping. It was worth it, though. I put on my Biggie Pandora station and got to work in the kitchen while Matt loaded up our gear. Within an hour I had a big spread of veggies and fruits to take with us for the weekend, including quinoa salad, veggies & hummus, fruit salad, and chopped butternut squash to cook over the fire.

I love all those colors! I fully plan on having some typical camping fare, but wanted to have a lot of healthy foods with us as well. I figured if all the veggies and fruits were chopped and ready to go, we'd be much more likely to pick healthy snacks than some of the junk food that will surely be lying around, at least during the day...I mean, you can't go camping without s'mores and campfire toast.

By 12:30 I was exhausted! Thankfully Riker let us sleep in until 8 am this morning. As soon as he woke up, we threw last minute items together and got on our way. I made us fresh peach and yogurt parfaits for the road so we didn't have to waste time with breakfast at home.

And with that, we're just about to pull into the campground. Trees, water and big sky, hear we come. Have a great holiday weekend!