Hi everyone! Hope you had a great weekend! It was absolutely GORGEOUS and FALL-LIKE in Jersey this weekend. Cool, sunny days and even cooler nights...just blissful! NEVER LEAVE, WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I was sooo excited that we planned for Saturday morning to be our "return to the farmer's market" after a few month hiatus. (wandering through produce didn't seem very appealing for a WHILE!J)
I bundled up in my hoodie, brought along a hot cup of steamy cinnamon coffee and set out on our way....with a little trip for 'breakfast' thrown in. Sure, we debated on going to the Pop Shop, Tortilla Press or the Westmont diner....butttttttt the most irresistible option pulled though: The insane cream donuts from McMillian Bakery....
Just as good as I remembered themJ We ate them in euphoric silence...they just need to be revered J hahahahhahahahha....
Once we got to the market, signs of Fall were creeping up right along with the remnants of summer...
Scarecrows or summer corn, anyone??
And we gave a mighty welcome to the first harvest of freshly picked apples from Schober Farms....
SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!
And I ogled at all of the pretty FALL harvest starting to crop up. Check out these quirky & colorful EGGPLANTS!
And of course, my heart melts for the first signs of pretty squash...cause I'm cool like thatJ
After the market, I ran myself to my morning yoga class only to find one of my favorite teachers who convinced me to stay for class back-to-back! Let's just say I'm glad that donut held me over! hahahahahhahahaha
For dinner that night, we knew we were whipping up something we were going to love. Why, you ask???? Because we had already made the dish THURSDAY night! Yes, we loved it so much, that we decided to make it again on Saturday! That doesn't happen often!
And what could produce such love that it was "twice in one week worthy"???? Try a Caprese Salad Bake!
I had spied this recipe on Kristin's blog a couple weeks ago and KNEW I would love it! I love the IDEA of a caprese salad...butttt I'm not much of a "raw tomato person." (sad, I know) But 20 minutes in the oven to change those firm tomatoes into sweet mush and I was SOLD!
And this recipe is so psychotically easy, that you might just be making it twice a week, yourself! First you line a baking pan with sliced tomatoes.....
Truth be told, I actually liked the sliced tomatoes better. They broke down a bit more than the grape ones and just blended better with the rest of the ingredients. But both worked well...so use whatever is one sale & your preference!
Top the tomatoes with salt, pepper & a drizzle of balsamic vinegar....
(aren't these cute??? I got the set for $3.99 at the Christmas Tree Shop in Freehold! FYI-The balsamic is the white liquid on the right...it's super sweeter than the darker variety)
Next up, is a layer of sliced fresh mozzarella...
...then a couple minced cloves of garlic, a flurry of diced basil and a drizzle of olive oil...
...and finally, some cubed up sturdy bread drizzled with olive oil & a little more salt & pepper...
Our "Saturday" bread topper came courtesy of the fabulous foccacia from the Great Harvest stand at the market...
20 minutes in the oven at 375 (possibly longer if you use a 9x13 pan...which we did on Saturday! That little round one was just NOT ENOUGH FOR THE 2 OF US on Thursday! We were fighting over the last bread cubes...hehehehhehee) and the ingredients all melt into a dish of epic fabulousness both on Thursday night....
...and on SaturdayJ
You seriously can NOT believe how FANTASTIC this tastes! The tangy tomatoes blend so well with the stringy, chewy mozzarella, POTENT garlic and herby basil all blended with the seasoned bread cubes to sop everything up...
....your best bites were reserved when you got to partake in all four layers of fabulousnessJ
Run, do not walk, to try this out! It is just SOOOOOOOOOO incredible and SOOOOOOO easy!! A PERFECT weeknight dish if there ever was oneJ Just fresh & fabulous!
And speaking of walk, that's just what we did on Saturday night after dinner...
Speaking of...how FAST did it start to get darker earlier???? I swear it was one week and it went from getting dark at 8 to being PITCH BLACK out by 7:30. Eeee...the ONLY downfall of the changing season. THE ONLY ONE, THOUGH!! J
And we embraced our chilly, FALL day by rounding it up huddled on the couch watching a HALLOWEEN-appropriate movie that I had been waiting on Netflix to send us for MONTHS....
Holy crap...anyone seen Insidious???????? I DO NOT scare easily, but this one was certainly up there in the creepy/scary department! FINALLY a movie that lived up to the "scare" hype! I'll probably be purchasing this one to watch every HALLOWEEN...along with "The Ring," "Scream" and the orginial "HALLOWEEN", of course! J
So how did I start off my Monday workouts this week?? By accidentally hitting the OFF button on my alarm instead of the snooze button! Opppssss! I slept RIGHT through my extra "workout" hour, but oh well, guess SOMEONE wasn't interested in more updog/downdog this morning....probably since I'm still SUPER sore from my double class on Saturday! hahahahahahaha...here's how the rest of the week looked:
Monday: "Power Squad Yoga" -25 minutes (my favorite yoga DVD lately!)
Tuesday: 30 minutes dance + a round of weights
Wednesday: 35 minutes Bethenny yoga
Thursday: Power Squad Yoga (obsessedJ)
Saturday: Gentle + Power Yoga class (2 1/2 hours) + 45 minutes walk + a round of weights
Yesterday's exercise came from some city walking! I'll fill you in tomorrow since I'm SURE tonight will involve another maple salad (I'm obsessed with those tooJ) Hope you guys had a great weekend and I'll see you tomorrowJ
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