Weekend Highlights: Flowers and Food

 

 Last week I spent a few days in nyc for work and the weather was absolutely perfect, which made me remember how lovely springtime can be in the city. My mom came up to visit too so I got to do a few things that I'd been wanting to do for a while—which included walking through the Union Square farmers market to see what was in season, like these gorgeous flowers.

 We also went to Eataly, which was as heavenly as you'd think it'd be. We got there in the early evening, just before the dinner rush, so we had some time to wander around and investigate everything. It was an interesting mix of imported and local products and I was delighted to purchase a jar of chestnut honey for myself as it was the very favorite thing that I brought home from my last trip to Tuscany a few years ago.

 

 On Saturday we braved the chilly Iowa weather and headed to our own farmers market and scooped up two bunches of asparagus, one of which I grilled on our stovetop grill/griddle with olive oil, salt and pepper and promptly ate for lunch. There wasn't too much available yet other than asparagus and spring onions, but we did get some overwintered carrots from our CSA farm, eggs, and a few more seedlings to add to our raised beds.

 And yesterday I made my best batch of gluten free muffins to date. I used the same recipe I did last time (the gluten free whole grain muffins recipe from the Gluten Free Girl) but I made these adjustments:
almond milk instead of buttermilk
handful of raisins instead of figs
handful of chocolate chips instead of walnuts

added 2 tbsp of cocoa powder

added 1/4 c shredded unsweetened coconut (since for some reason the batter seemed a little runny)

I also filled the muffin compartments up to the very tippy top which improved their shape. It was pretty shocking to me how well they turned out- they were just a lit crunchy on the outside, but the inside was perfect muffin consistency. 

With just 6 weeks to go to the wedding, we've officially (by my count anyway!) entered the home stretch. It's going to get pretty busy around these parts so I will be trying to set aside very deliberate time for relaxation on the weekends. Which means that if I seem a little more mia, I'm probably busy either stock piling the freezer for wedding week goodies or I'm working on wedding related crafts. I'll do my best to maintain my regular schedule but I thought I'd let you know!