Two Down, Lots To Go

I don't know if its the sunshine, or that its summer, but I have been feeling very adventurous lately. We have known for a long while now that most of our friends we see on a regular basis are moving soon. I'm thinking that this has spawned the itch I have to get out and see everything we want to see while they are still here!

Hence the Charleston area bucket list. I am happy to say that in the last few weeks, I have managed to cross a few things off! 

The first place I went to was Champney's Blueberry Farm with a few friends of mine. I had such a great time picking blueberries and we really lucked out with the weather! It was a nice overcast morning, and not too hot or humid. I ended up coming home with just under a gallon of blueberries for $5.25! That's a steal compared to how much you pay for them in the stores.

 

Some things I ended up making with the blueberries: 

Lemon blueberry muffins

Adding them to my morning green smoothies

Yogurt, granola, honey and blueberry parfaits

Atop of my morning oatmeal

Froze 4 cups to save for later

The second place I crossed off my bucket list was the North Charleston Farmer's Market. Its held in the middle of the Park Circle area of North Charleston in the parking lot of a church. I arrived there only to discover that there were not a ton of venders, but it was great none the less! I also discovered a cute little quiet butterfly garden across the parking lot from the church, but I did not see any butterflies. It was a great little afternoon!

I also ventured over to the Mixson area of Park Circle. It's a new and upcoming neighborhood, and they have a little place called Basico, a great Taqueria with seasonal fare. It's delicious! My girlfriends and I had dinner there one night, and we were very pleased! Across the street they have a little store called the Mixson Market. It was not what I thought it would be, but it was cute and quaint. They offer coffees, breakfast and lunch. They also had a small selection of cold goods that were available for purchase, wines and beers as well! Did I mention that the houses are SUPER cute? If your moving to the Charleston area- check them out.

 

That's all of my bucket list adventures thus far... Stay tuned for more hopefully in the near future! 

-A

Spaghetti Squash Pasta!

I have had so many people ask me about this recipe on my Facebook and Instagram, so today I decided I would share it with you! It's super simple, healthy and it can be made Paleo! Let's dive on in shall we?

Grab your spaghetti squash. Chop it in half, drench it in olive oil and place cut side down and roast at 350 for 45 minutes! While these are a roasting....

Prep your meatballs! (Side note: I LOVE creating new types of meatballs. These are by far my favorite I've made thus far.) In these I put a mix of 1 lb of ground turkey, and 1 lb of regular Jimmy Dean sausage. This next part, I do not know exactly how much of each of these I added, so just add according to your families taste! Add salt, pepper and 2-3 smaller cloves of garlic. If you want a little bit of a kick, add some red pepper flakes. Lastly, add about half a handful of chopped fresh basil and fresh parsley. Again, to your taste. 

Add one beaten egg, and some bread crumbs so everything comes together nicely, and your meatballs wont fall apart. If you are doing this the Paleo version, you can always leave out the breadcrumbs. I'm not hip and up to date with the Paleo diet or how it works, but you could add a different ingredient of your liking to help make your meatballs stick together.

Bake those babies on 350 for 20-25 minutes. My oven is terrible, so I usually have to cut into them to ensure that they are done. You can also just stick these in while your squash is still a roasting.

By now your squash should be done. Pull it out of your oven, and grab a fork! Remove the seeds of the squash, and then keep moving in longwise motions to pull the squash out of the rind. I had never made spaghetti squash in my life, and was absolutely amazed at how yummy and easy this was to make.

It should look like this! Put it all in a pan on the stove.

Add about half of a can of your favorite spaghetti sauce. We tried this kind and were very delighted with it.

Stir it all together and let it warm through.

Grab yourself a bowl, and eat up! I did not have any Parmesan cheese in the house so I just topped with some fresh basil leaves.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe, its super simple and will be sure to satisfy your comfort food craving in a healthy way! 

-A