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Friday, Friday, gonna get down on Friday!

Hi, friends! How’s your week been? Ready for the weekend? I know I am! I’m working a double today, but tomorrow morning my mom and I are going away for our annual Mother-Daughter Weekend!

It was nice to sleep in a bit and not have to get up early for class. It was also nice to have breakfast at home! I had cereal, which I can’t really bring to work. Kashi Go Lean with almonds, cashews, peanuts, plums, apricots, and almond milk.

I still had to go to campus to sort through some registration issues for the fall and pick up my textbooks (and gosh, are math and science books expensive!).

When I got home I was already starting to think about lunch, but I was trying a new recipe that took about an hour to make. In the meantime, I ate about a pound of beans and cherries. Our CSA haul was excellent this week! So many fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Lunch was worth the extra wait.

It was made almost entirely with ingredients from the CSA. I made this Babaganoush Soup, which I’ve been fantasizing about since Jenna posted the recipe earlier this summer. It did not disappoint, and was so simple to make! I can see it becoming a staple recipe. On the side, I made a simple cherry/basil/cabbage salad, dressed with balsamic, mustard and olive oil. Isn’t fruit in salads good? I love cherries and apricots with greens in the summer, and Fennel & Citrus Salad during the colder months.

After lunch, I went for a run in the late afternoon when the heat had toned down a bit. It felt good to get out of the house and move! I’ve been running a few times a week for the past month or so. I go out for either 2, 3.5, or 4.5 miles, depending on how I’m feeling and how much time I have. Still not using a timer or any kind of heart rate monitor, and I think I’m going to keep it that way. I’m really not looking to increase my mileage or run a faster mile. I’m just enjoying running for the sake of running!

Leslie and I made plans late last Thursday night, around 11 PM, just as I was leaving a pub to go home. Not until late Wednesday night (under similar circumstances- and yes, Mom, my liver is fine ) did we try to solidify them. First, I sent her a slew of restaurant suggestions based on deals I’d collected from various coupon websites. Then, instead, I suggested we cook at my apartment, using all of the produce I received in my CSA share yesterday.

And then…

I first tried this freekeh risotto last fall, and have had it in the back of my mind ever since. So simple, so tasty! Surely I could make this at home. A couple months ago while enjoying the new bulk grains bin at the Upper West Side Whole Foods store, I scooped up some freekah and took it home with me.

Freekeh looks a bit like farro and has a nutty taste like long grain brown or wild rice. Risotto may not have been the best choice for a hot evening (you have to stand over the stove and stir the hot pot constantly for an hour), but it was such a tasty meal.

It has an incredibly rich taste- and although we substituted summer squash for winter, and swiss chard for arugula- it tasted just like Northern Spy’s version! I’m going to have it for breakfast today topped with a cooked egg.

I had so many gorgeous yellow plums from the CSA this week, and I really wanted to bake something with them for dessert.

I’d torn out Melissa Clark’s recipe for Brown Butter Nectarine Cobbler or Cake.`

The sweet-tartness of the plums was fabulous with the cakey crust! And perfect enjoyed alongside vanilla chocolate chip ice cream.

I’ve been lucky to have had so many perfect evenings lately. Good friends who come together to enjoy a good meal! And I think the food tasted even better because we made it together, and the ingredients came from the CSA I feel so proud to participate in.

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The winners of the Stonyfield giveaway are:

Please send me your mailing addresses so we can get the coupon packs out to you.

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Have an excellent day!