Happy Monday. I hope your week is off to a great start. As I mentioned, last week I was in Destin, Florida visiting my cousin, Brooke, and her family. Brooke and I have been close since we were young, but we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like because we now live miles apart. This year we decided it would be fun if I visited for her b-day, so I flew out on Tuesday and stayed through Saturday.
I had a great time celebrating Brooke’s birthday, seeing their new house and snuggling baby June (their daughter). I posted a few pictures on Insta while I was away, but figured I’d do a little recap of my trip and this past weekend today.
I arrived in Florida on Tuesday. The weather was beautiful and we ended up grilling out for dinner. I must say, grilling out in November is something I could definitely get used to. 🙂
We had black bean burgers, roasted zucchini and squash and grilled sweet potato slices. Jon (Brooke’s husband) grilled the potatoes with a little olive oil, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar. They were delish!
Wednesday was Brooke’s birthday and the weather was really nice so we headed to Fort Walton Beach. It was too chilly to get in the water, but we had fun walking along the beautiful beach — the sand is white and the water is completely clear. I want to go back when it’s warm and go swimming!
We even met a fisherman friend and saw a stingray while walking.
I made dinner that night using a new-to-me recipe from Cooking Light — Roasted Eggplant-Tomato Sauce. Instead of penne noodles I used quinoa spaghetti noodles. It was really, really good. Roasting the eggplant made it super soft and creamy and the quinoa pasta tasted just like regular pasta. I have a feeling Isaac will really like this dish so I’ll have to make it for him sometime soon.
We used the leftover roasted eggplant sauce for lunch the next day and served it over regular quinoa. And on the side, greek quinoa salad. Yup, another quinoa dish… quinoa was the (food) theme for my visit. 🙂
One morning Brooke introduced me to a new breakfast option — roasted acorn squash stuffed with Greek yogurt and toppings. Holy yum! I’ll definitely be making this again.
As you can probably tell, Brooke and I had a lot of fun in the kitchen while I visited. We baked on Wednesday night — she made a loaf of pumpkin bread and I made quinoa granola (recipe coming soon) and Thursday night we made a quinoa soup for dinner that was amazing! So much tasty food… so much quiona. 🙂
Despite what it seems like, we did do other stuff besides cooking. I convinced Brooke to go to her first Pure Barre class at the Destin studio on Thursday even. We got in a good workout and I got a credit for the 30 in 40 class challenge I’m doing at my local studio. Woot woot!
And Friday during nap-time we worked on a little project of hanging cloud decals in June’s room. So cute!
And this little lady… I can’t even begin to describe how much fun we had playing and dancing.
I headed home on Saturday morning and Isaac picked me up from the airport. We ran a few errands and went to dinner at Lehja, one of my favorite restaurants. They serve the best Indian food! Seriously, if you’re local and haven’t been to Lehja, definitely check it out.
Isaac had guys over all day on Sunday for football and beer so I made plans to hang out with my girlfriends. I met up with my bestie Britt for brunch, went to an afternoon Pure Barre class, went on a walk and made dinner with Alyssa.
On the menu: Cauliflower crust pizza with a grape, apple and almond salad (inspired by Two Peas and Their Pod), a batch of flourless chocolate chip cookie bars (made with chickpeas!) and wine.
Everything was delicious! Perfect way to end the weekend.
Looks like such a fun trip filled with lots of family fun and delicious food!! If only that warm weather traveled back with you
Ok so the breakfast thing says roasted ‘eggplant’ but it looks an awful lot like an acorn squash?? just verifying since I’ll probably be using that method at some point…and eggplant for breakfast sounds weird 😉
haha! Oh man, I totally messed that up. Yes, it’s roasted acorn squash. 🙂
Looks like lots of fun times and good food! I want to try those flourless chocolate chip cookie bars. I also have to re-visit cauliflower pizza. My first attempt was a little sub-par. Have a good one!
Yes, you have to give cauliflower crust pizza another chance. It’s sooo good!
what is the acorn squash stuffed with? I have 2 sitting here waiting for a good idea:)
Oh and YES to Lehja. One of our faves!! Anokha is good too (a wee bit cheaper) but the service at Lehja is the best
Lots of good eats on this trip! I’ve always wanted to cook cauliflower crust pizza. Good work on attending a barre class too. 🙂 That’s a very pretty area of Florida, but of course, colder than you expect!
I know! The first two days the weather was around 70 but the last two days it was in the 40/50’s. Brrr.
So much delicious looking food! I haven’t made cauliflower pizza before, but I’m going to try your recipe soon!
Ummm. That weekend sounds like perfection! So fun 🙂 I look forward to seeing some of those recipes on the blog!
I love the clouds and sheep mobile! What a fun trip. I too am jealous of that weather! It snowed in Omaha yesterday!
And random but I’d love if you shared this post on my new Weekend Snapshots link up. The link-up just went live today!
http://www.herheartlandsoul.com/weekend-snapshots-linkup/
Oh my goodness that baby has the biggest blue eyes ever!!! So adorable!
That acorn squash looks so so good!
Your grilled out dinner looks SO good!! I am itching for some black bean burgers now!
Sounds like a fabulous weekend! I could use a Florida vaca these days and all the healthy cooking while away is very impressive!
What a wonderful weekend!!! SO much delicious food- I’m eyeing that cauliflower pizza and black bean burger…. and wine, of course 😀
Yummy meals, gorgeous beach, and the world’s cutest baby! Looks like a great weekend 🙂
We go to Destin every year! It’s such a breath of fresh air! June is SO adorable! Glad you had a good time! Getaways are the best!