6 ways to eat an avocado

with the end of summer and the beginning of fall approaching, i'm trying my best to soak up every last bit summer that i can! when i think of enjoying these summer months, i often think of a tall margarita with chips and guacamole [yum!]. guacamole is a great way to get a good dose of nutrient-rich avocado, and often my go-to... i could gobble up a whole bowl by myself! but, it's not the only way to incorporate those goodies into your diet. i've compiled a list of my six favorite recipes with avocados that are both healthy and delicious.

1 // sweet potato and black bean cakes with creamy avocado dip

2 // gooey black bean and avocado brownies

3 // serve it on top of hearty vegetarian chili

4 // a green power smoothie for a healthy breakfast or afternoon pick-up

5 // chocolate avocado mousse with pistachio macadamia nut crumble

6 // caprese avocado salad

enjoy a few avocado recipes for one last final summer hoorah!

lately

the last week or so has been a bit of a whirlwind. i was super bummed because i had to spend a week in columbia for my rotations, but my sweet husband surprised me and came down one afternoon. he met me once my classes were over at our favorite coffee spot in columbia - cool beans. i tend to get ancy after sitting at coffee shops for too long, but not this one. there's just something about it.

 ^ we both had a lot of work to do, so the coffee shop occupied us for a good while. i've always admired how hard he works. 

 ^ cool beans is in an old, renovated house. i absolutely love the eclectic decor inside.

 ^ we also spent some time recently at the traveler's rest farmer's market. there was the cutest little vintage booth, goodies, and a fun band. it's such a great way to spend a saturday morning.

some other things lately:

making // coffee with the french press.
cooking // brown rice pasta. i've been having major carb cravings lately.
drinking // red wine, you know.
reading // the meaning of marriage, by tim keller.
wanting // a little pup. great dane in particular.
looking // forward to fall! so ready for cooler temperatures and pumpkin spice lattes.
wasting // so much time on pinterest.
watching // saturday night live. sometime's you just need a good laugh.
sewing // i wish i knew how to do this. because then i would be sewing a beanie. or a scarf.
wishing // all renovations were finished.
enjoying  // a few days of vacation with my man.
waiting // for the season premiere of the mindy project and new girl.
loving // my new, almost done, kitchen.
needing // a massage. i had plans to get one after our wedding, but never got around to it. that was 2 1/2 years ago...
wearing // converse sneaks.
smelling // fall scented candles.
bookmarking // fall hats. i'm convinced you can't have enough.
feeling // inspired.

hope you've had a great week!

pinalicious | 02

some pretty, pretty pins i'm enjoying lately. we're enjoying some fun in the sun, at the beach right now, so i thought these pins were appropriate.

you can follow along with me on pinterest, here. 

i hope you've had a great week!

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[image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4]

caprese avocado salad

i've always wanted to have a little garden out back. i would go and pick fresh basil and tomatoes, and then come inside and whip up a delicious little salad for dinner. finally having a space of our own, this little dream of mine is totally doable. with all the craziness of moving and renovating right now, though, the prospect of producing a flourishing garden is daunting ... and nearly impossible. i have no idea where to begin! but my goal is to learn. maybe next summer.

in the meantime, i've been hitting up the farmer's market bringing home fresh tomatoes and basil. here is a recipe for the classic caprese salad with a little twist. it's super easy, but looks super fancy, making it great salad to take to a dinner gathering.

caprese avocado salad

ingredients:

• 1 large tomato
• 1 8-oz block of mozzarella cheese
• 1 large, ripe hall avocado
• basil
• balsamic glaze
• sea salt

make sure the avocado is very ripe. it should be soft to the touch. wash and dry the tomato and avocado. using a knife, carefully cut the thin layer of skin off the avocado. laying the avocado on its side, cut it into disks. when you get to the center you will have to remove the pit before you continue cutting. next, slice the tomato and mozzarella into disks, as well. on a plate, layer the tomato, mozzarella, avocado, and basil in a circular motion until the plate is fully covered. squeeze the balsamic glaze over the top and sprinkle a light layer of sea salt. 

if you can't find a balsamic glaze in the grocery store, you can use a balsamic reduction prepared on the stove.

fall is almost here [hooray!!] so make this salad for one last, final taste of summer! enjoy!

kitchen progress!

since we bought our house in june, we have been working almost every weekend on the kitchen. we've taken on a huge project, considering that we have done all of the kitchen work ourselves [minus the plumbing.] and when i say 'we' i mean my father-in-law and scofield. i am the official 'cleaner...' and i did paint both the cabinets and island! but all that other stuff ... nailing things, knocking down walls, building islands and bookcases ... not my specialty. we are forever indebted to our sweet family, and all they have done to help us turn our house into a home! we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in our kitchen and we are so excited. not to mention, i can finally get on a regular eating schedule again ;). so here's just a little taste of the progress we have made ....

^ this is what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house. since then, we've made a doorway into the sunroom where the sink and window use to be, we've added floating shelves, painted the remainder of the cabinets, added new counter tops, subway tiling, built an island, and moved the sink and dishwasher to the island.

^ this window use to look from the kitchen into the sunroom. the only way to enter the sunroom was through the garage, so we turned this window into a door. now the sunroom is super easy access! hooray, because once it's finished, i think the sunroom will be one of my favorite rooms in the house.

scofield has been really good about documenting the remodel along the way. i've had more of a "i never want to remember this terrible stressful time" kind of attitude ... but really, i'm thankful we have the pictures so we can look back and see just how much we did.

we knew we would have to add an island to accommodate the sink and dishwasher if we wanted to build a doorway. we got quotes on islands, and buying a new one would have put us out of our budget. so, what would have cost us $3000, we built ourselves for $500. we also picked out a butcher block countertop for the island, and i am in love!

i'm pretty sure scofield and traverse [my father-in-law] were hammering and nailing away at 1:30 in the morning to get these shelves finished. i was feeling really guilty lying in the bed, not getting any sleep. but at that point of night, and having no idea how to help, i was more in the way than anything. i'll be sure to repay them both with many, many home cooked meals ;)!

 ^ here are our floating shelves now, with all of the tile and a coat of paint!

i love white rooms with pops of color, which is exactly the direction we have gone with our kitchen. when we moved in, it was so dark, so i immediately knew we wanted to brighten it up! we've done that with white countertops, subway tile, and white cabinets. now i can't wait to incorporate bright colors. so far, this pop of blue on the door is one of my favorite details.

we're not done yet, but we're getting there! we have some finishing touches to make, floors to clean, a microwave to install, and i'd like to change the light fixtures. can't wait to share the finished product!

tupelo honey biscuits

you might remember me writing a little while back about those amazing biscuits from tupelo honey. they seriously have the best biscuits i've ever tasted; and i've had my fair share of biscuits.  i'd eat there every day just to get my hands on one of those. we haven't been able to make it to tupelo in a while, so during a particularly strong craving i found tupelo honey's biscuit recipe online and whipped up a batch.

these biscuits taste slightly different than the ones served at the restaurant, but they are still just as tasty. i'll have to practice restraint to keep from making them every day! ... they are that good.

tupelo honey biscuits

yields: 10 biscuits

recipe from tupelo honey cafe's newest cookbook

ingredients:

• 2 cups white self rising flour
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup shortening, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup buttermilk
• melted butter

preheat the oven to 425 F and place the oven rack right below the center of the oven. spray a round cake pan with cooking spray. in a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. break pieces of the shortening the size of peas off with your hands and add them to the mix. i used butter, because i just couldn't bring myself to buy shortening. make a 'well' in the mix and pour the cream and 2/3 cup buttermilk into the hole. with your hands, sweep in the flour and mix the dough until it resembles cottage cheese. add remaining 1/3 cup of buttermilk, keeping the same consistency. 

next, sprinkle a clean, rolling surface with flour. pour the dough onto the surface and sprinkle flour on top. with flour on your hands, fold the dough in half and pat into a 1/2 in. thick round, using more flour if needed. repeat this process a second and third time until dough is no longer clumpy. pat dough into a 1-in. thick round and dip a biscuit cutter into the flour to cut out biscuits, making sure not to turn it. if you don't have a biscuit cutter you can also use the ring of a mason jar.

place the biscuits in a round pan, with the sides slightly touching. brush the top of the biscuits with melted butter and bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees every six minutes. remove from the oven when golden brown and brush with melted butter again.

on journaling

"write hard and clear about what hurts." - ernest hemingway

if i'm honest, this year has not been what i'd hoped. i mean, those first couple years post college are no joke ... and i feel like no one warns you about them! well, i take that back. maybe i was warned .. i just didn't listen [ha]. 23 is like that in-between age where you are an adult and have much responsibility, but at the same time you're still learning and people still treat you like a student. you really enter the real world for the first time, after being immersed in that perfect, happy, little college bubble, and you find just how harsh this world really is. 

when i was in high school and college i journaled constantly. it helped me keep my head on straight and come back to truth when i felt insecurities and feelings of inadequacy creep in. then, i got comfortable. i got to a place where i didn't really feel like i needed to journal, or have personal/alone time for that matter. life was busy, but it was good. and then things got messy. not necessarily in my life, but more so in my heart. i was reminded that i can't do this thing called 'life' on my own. i need friends, community, and most importantly my relationship with the lord.

so, i'm going back to my roots and spending a lot more time journaling, learning, and trying to grow. there is always more to learn, and i never want to be closed off to that. i know that "all things work together for our good [romans 8:28]", and even hard situations are opportunities for growth and learning. trying to change my perspective on life over here!

anywho, that's just something that's been on my heart lately. what about you? do you journal, or are there ways that you recollect yourself?

around town || date night at papi's tacos

papi's tacos use to be a food truck, but about a year ago they opened up a little restaurant in downtown greenville. i had heard of papi's tacos for a while now and had been wanting to try it out. so, finally, on a quiet week night we headed downtown for a much needed dinner date. some of my favorite taco joints around greenville include white duck taco in asheville, and local taco in greenville.

lucky us, it was their one year anniversary so all tacos were $1 each! score!

 ^ shrimp taco for me.

 ^ steak taco for him

 ^ of course, what could have turned into a $2 dinner date turned into a $15 dollar date because scofield just couldn't pass up such a deal. ha. looks like i won't have to be cooking for a little while. and that means less grocery shopping, right!?

it was seriously a perfect night in downtown greenville. we walked around after dinner as the sun was setting and the temperature was just right. jeesh, i'm ready for fall.

 ^ and one more, because i cannot get enough of this handsome fella.

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papi's tacos
300 river st
greenville, sc 29607

my favorite breakfast bowl

once upon a time i had yogurt, granola, and fruit every single morning for breakfast. after literally years of this, i started to get tired of it [naturally] and began switching it up. but every now and then, i like to go back to my roots and enjoy my favorite yogurt bowl again.

to make this yourself, simply take 1/3 cup of this granola recipe and top with 1/2 cup yogurt. i love non-fat organic vanilla yogurt, but any flavor you love will do. then top with fresh berries and a sprinkle of flaxseed.
enjoy!

some links for your weekend | 02

image via treasures and travels

// i'm sure you've seen taylor swift's new shake it off video. and if you haven't, you absolutely should ... right now. it's so adorable

// this under armor commercial featuring misty copeland. when every one told her she couldn't be a ballerina, she became one anyway. love her story and this inspiring video.

// have you heard meghan trainor's song, all about that bass? i'm obsessed with it. it's on repeat...all.day.long. i am super passionate about positive body image and i love that that is exactly what she is promoting. plus the video is super cute and colorful.

hope you have a fantastic weekend!

around town || ice cream station

scofield and i (and let's be honest, mostly my father-in-law) have made some great progress on our kitchen, so after a particularly long day we decided to treat ourselves to some ice cream. we recently discovered the most adorable little ice cream spot right outside of greenville and finally got to try it out. it has a total 50's vibe ... tiny little downtown, park your car, grab some ice cream, sit on a bench. and they were playing 50's tunes. it was kind of like we went back in time for a moment.

they only serve chocolate or vanilla soft serve ice cream, but you can add any toppings and flavors you want. i got the cake batter with cookies and cream, and oh my goodness, it was a beautiful explosion of flavor in my mouth. we'll definitely be back for more. 

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ice cream station

125 s. main street

simpsonville, sc 29681