French (Non) Dip ;)...

So yesterday was me & Scott's 5 year 'dateiversary' (goofily named by the likes of Glamour & Cosmo...I know, I know:) hahahahahaha....but goofy title or not, why not have an excuse to make some of our favorites for an "occasion"?? :)  (short of making Boeuf Bourguignon & Spaghetti Bolognaise on a Tuesday night that is;) hahahahahahaha....we went with a recent favorite & our summer classic:  French Dip & Couscous Salad...

I made the recipe exactly the same as last time, and let it slow cook on low for 8 hours.  But for WHATEVER reason, there was hardly ANY juice leftover for the DIP portion!  (didn't I say last time that this was impossible to screw up???? :)  Oh well, it was still just as tasty, minus the extra dippage:)

And how could this not bring a smile to your face???  It's just soooooo fun, fancy & colorful! :)

In the couscous:

• 1 cup of whole wheat couscous (cooking in chicken broth and cooled)
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 3 carrots, shredded
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• Red Wine Vinegar & a drizzle of olive oil
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

The longer this sits and the colder it gets:  The better it is!  A veritable vegetable confetti! :)

And what could go better with the salty sandwich and this RIDICULOUS heat but cool, sweet watermelon...yummmmmmm....

A light & easy dinner in this summer heat DREARY-ness!  And since dinner was a repeat of some of our favs, I thought I'd also show you a few newer things for today!

Since I had a few zucchinis leftover from the market last week hangin out in the veggie drawer, I whipped up a quick recipe of Zucchini Bread IN the toaster oven....(hence the pale color:)

I had a heavy hand adding both the cinnamon AND nutmeg to this bread so it was deliciously spicy!  Love that....although, sigh, it has me dreaming of Fall:)

I paired a slice of bread with a peach for my breakfast this morning.  Jersey peaches made their summer debut at the market last Saturday (there may or may NOT have been a squeal heard...;) and they have just gotten progressively BETTER the more they sit in the fridge!  (As in: keep a napkin handy, because these babies are JUICE-A!!! :) 

And another recent purchase that I REALLY enjoyed is THIS...

Which is perfect for summer because it contains...

And not-too-bad shabby stats either!  8 grams of fiber & NINE grams of protein is a FILLING combo...

And while it's YUM with milk as a breakfast cereal, for lunch today I brought a quarter cup of Go Lean, a Blueberry yogurt and some Jersey blueberries to swirl together.  Those textures all work so well together...it's one of my summer lunch favorites (along with this)...

So OK...I think I've bored you enough for the morning:)  I'm off to enjoy my zucchini bread!  Happy Wednesday...