Today on Weekend Meanderings, everything we planted in our edible kitchen garden, a strawberry muffin recipe you’re going to love and a summer to fall outfit idea.
Happy weekend, friends!
It’s Saturday and I’m joining Kim and Elizabeth for Weekend Meanderings.
Our weekly roundup of inspiration and goings on.
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This week we’re celebrating birthday’s.
Grandniece Maesyn is 5.
Maesyn, her mom and big brothers are visiting from Texas.
They came over last Sunday.
It feels like just yesterday I was sharing Maesyn’s baby shower.
Grandniece Haddie is 2.
We sent her a personalized shaggy dog sleeping bag … she seems to like it!
I shared her parents intimate family wedding last summer.
And Dylan Marie arrived.
I shared her backyard baby shower last month.
Can’t wait to meet her!
That’s a lot of excitement for one week.
Let’s get to this weekend’s inspirations …
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM – THE NORDSTROM SALE
Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale went live for all this week. The first two years of my blog I ignored it, mostly because I ignore it myself. But this year I actually bought a few things including this fall cardigan, these cropped jeans and Olukai flip flops. I ordered online for pick up in-store and Jim swung by to retrieve everything. Everything fits so I consider my first Nordstrom Anniversary Sale shopping experience a success. What about you, have you bought anything at the sale?
Denim | Cardigan | Flip Flops
I should also say I bought unmentionables … which I’ll mention. My favorite Hanky Panky Boy Shorts and super comfy True unstructured bras.
COASTAL GRANDMA SUMMER
While we’re talking about clothes, here’s my Coastal Grandmother Summer outfit of the week. I love these Rails high waisted, wide leg jeans in a warm white. The brand photos show them to be ankle length. But on me (I’m 5’4″) they’re full length. Ideal for flat sandals and flip flops. I’m wearing a Skim’s body suit underneath and my favorite Jenni Kayne cotton cocoon cardigan. I can’t believe they no longer offer this style … here it is in the cropped version and cable knit style.
Ecru Denim | Body Suit | Similar Cardi | Earrings | Similar Sandals
WHAT’S IN MY EDIBLE GARDEN?
Last week I shared my excitement over our new edible kitchen garden planted in raised beds by Stefani and Ian of Homestead Design Collective. This week I’ve been a frequent visitor to the garden. It’s amazing to watch it change day-to-day. Sometimes hour-to-hour. It was hot this week and the garden is still getting established so I gave it extra water in addition to the 2x daily drip irrigation runs. Good news … the garden seems to be thriving!
Here’s what we planted ~
The beets, arugula and radishes were planted from seed and are already sprouting.
We planted flowers too, mostly edible ~
That’s a lot of plants, right? The first thing I’ve learned from Stefani and Ian is that we can plant a lot in our raised bed space. More than I thought. Also, after reading the first chapters of Stefani’s book, The Beautiful Edible Garden, I’m gaining a better understanding of how to underplant faster growing plants like radishes very close to longer growers like tomatoes. The radishes will be harvested by the time the tomatoes start to consume more space.
STRAWBERRY MUFFINS
Jane Brody, New York Times personal health columnist and cookbook author, retired earlier this year. I mentioned it here along with my version of her chicken enchilada recipe. Two of her cookbooks, Jane Brody’s Good Food Book and Jane Brody’s Good Food Gourmet from the mid-80’s and early 90’s, are still favorites and I use them often. This week I made her Strawberry Muffins … they’re so good.
When strawberries are out of season, use frozen.
The recipe says to bake for 25 minutes. I set the timer for 20 minutes and they got browner than I’d like. Next time I’ll start checking at 15 minutes.
Jane Brody's Strawberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2-1/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 3/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider (or juice)
- 1/4 cup Canola Oil
- 1 cup Sliced Strawberries (if using frozen, measure after defrosting and draining the berries)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- In a large bowl, combine both flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Beat in apple cider and oil.
- Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, stirring the ingredients until they are just moist.
- Gently fold in the strawberries and divide the batter among 12 greased muffin cups. Top each muffin with a slide of strawberry.
- Bake muffins for about 20-25 minutes. Start checking them after 15 minutes.
I hope to be making these muffins with my home grown strawberries soon!
THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is coming to San Francisco August 1 – 27. I can’t wait to see it. The tour will be making its way across the country over the next year. Check tour dates and buy tickets here.
In other news ~
Easy ways to maintain a raised bed garden.
My girlfriend told me to drop everything and run to buy this miracle glotion! She heard about it from Martha Stewart. I’ll let you know if it works miracles on me.
My favorite life coach and podcast host, Kym Showers, unveiled her revamped website this week. It’s so colorful and fun … just like her. If you’re a woman over 40 and don’t listen to Kym’s podcast … do! Her next coaching group will start soon … and includes her November retreat in Avila Beach (California). I had an amazing experience at her inaugural retreat in May.
If you’re local, Elsie Green’s summer warehouse sale (in Concord) is happening now … and runs through Monday, July 24th.
Current favorites ~
And that’s what I have for you this week.
Let’s see what’s inspiring Kim and Elizabeth …
If you missed my last post, you can catch up here.
You’ll find all my weekend roundup posts collected here.
You can also follow along on Instagram and Pinterest.
As always, I appreciate your visit and welcome your thoughts in the comments below.
Cheers from Snowberry!
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