I hope you guys have some fun plans for the 4th. If you’re not going to someone’s party, chances are you’ve got your own bbq or picnic planned.

Still not sure what to make? I’ve got you covered for both the main meal and the dessert!

If you want something savory, these first recipes will make you the hit of any 4th of July party:

Brad’s Salsa– seriously so good you don’t even need chips

salsa

 

Tomato Corn Salad – sweet summer corn steals the show in this one.

Corn and tomato salad with basil

 

Veggie TexMex Pasta Salad– I brought this to last year’s 4th festivities! It’s got no mayo so it can sit out without worries of food poisoning.

Tex mex pasta salad

 

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers and Chickpeas– a great cold pasta salad to serve alongside burgers and hotdogs.

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers,and Chickpeas 2 ~ ElephantEats.com

 

Wheatberry Salad– something a little different and healthier for your 4th. Great served warm or cold.Warm Wheatberry, Brussels Sprout Salad with Feta and Crispy Tofu ~ ElephantEats.com

 

Marinated Broccoli Salad – best made the day before, so get on it!Broccoli Salad

 

Tabouli – classic summer salad taking advantage of all the fresh veggies available!

Tabouli

 

Cilantro Lime Hummus– the most refreshing hummus you’ve ever tasted, and a recipe that gets pinned ALL the time.

Cilantro Lime Hummus

 

Now, if you’re looking for something sweet, I’ve totally got you covered:

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp– with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it’s summer dessert perfection!

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp

 

Toffee Blondies– Sturdy and perfectly portable for whever you need to bring them. Also, have you seen the photo below?! I wish I had one now.

Toffee Blondies ~ ElephantEats.com

 

Cookies ‘n Cream Bars – this recipe is crazy good. Tastes like Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream in a convenient little bar.

Cookies and Cream Bars

 

No-Bake Chocolate-covered Peanut Butter Crispy Bars  – a great recipe for when it’s too hot to turn on the oven. Though these are best served indoors in the A/C so the chocolate doesn’t get too melty.

Crispy Peanut Butter Bars

 

and finally for a little something to liven up your party while keeping you cool:

Frozen Lemon Mojito– SOOOO good and so refreshing! Can easily be made without the alcohol. Just add more water.

Frozen Lemon Mojito

 

Happy 4th everyone!!!

 

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers and Chickpeas

Southwestern Quinoa Veggie Bake ~ ElephantEats.com

Last weekend Nate and I drove an hour north to Cold Spring, N.Y.

We had grand plans to do this hike that he had read about.

Cold Spring, NY hike

However, when we headed down the trail, it seemed to be completely grown over. It was also flooded in parts because of the heavy rain we’ve been having.

Nate was totally bummed, but we found some other shorter hikes to do, including a walk that went along the shore of the Hudson. There were some kids swimming in the water and it was just very peaceful. I wish I had brought my bathing suit.

Cold Spring, NY hike

Since the hike wasn’t as long as we hoped, we decided to head over to a nearby estate called Boscobel. We were too cheap to pay the $37 house tour fee, but it was free to walk the grounds on Saturdays, so that’s what we did.

It was really beautiful and it made me wish the house we bought had a bigger yard. Ah well, a girl can wish…

Boscobel gardens

Part of the reason we went hiking is because Nate hasn’t been running for about a month, since he injured some muscle in his leg. He’s been trying to get a lot of walking in, but it just isn’t the same. To say he’s been in a foul mood would be putting it lightly, haha. (just kidding, if you’re reading this, sweetie!)

Boscobel gardens

Anyway, we’ve also been trying to eat a little healthier. This recipe is based on one I pinned several months ago.

Nate claims he doesn’t love southwestern/mexican things so much, but I do…and I honestly don’t think the boy actually knows what he likes and what he doesn’t. There have been several occasions during which he told me something (that he had previously claimed to hate) was delicious. I didn’t bother reminding him.

Southwestern Quinoa Veggie Bake ~ ElephantEats.com

Anyway, I added zucchini to this because it’s in season and just seems like it belongs. I went light on the cheese on top because I ran out, but feel free to make it as cheesy as you’d like. It’s delicious topped with salsa and sour cream and served with some tortilla chips!

Southwestern Quinoa Veggie Bake ~ ElephantEats.com

Southwestern Quinoa Veggie Casserole

Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Print this recipe!

Serves 5-7

3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 4-oz. can diced green chiles (in the mexican section of the grocery store)
2 Tbsp oil, divided
4½ cups canned black beans, rinsed
1 cup chicken/veggie broth
3 cups cooked quinoa
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 bell peppers, diced
1 very lg (or 1 med, 1 small) zucchini, diced
garlic powder, salt and pepper
1¼ cup shredded Mexican cheese
diced green onions
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
sour cream, salsa, tortilla chips- optional

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9×13 pan.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, cooking several minutes until it begins to soften. Add garlic and cook 1 min. Add chiles and cook another minute.

Stir in broth and black beans. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Mash beans to desired consistency. The mixture should be thick, not watery. If you still have a lot of moisture, let it cook out by keeping it on the heat for another few minutes. Taste and season with salt.

Spread bean mixture in the bottom of the prepared casserole dish.

In same skillet over medium high heat, toss the cooked quinoa with the cayenne, chili powder, cumin, and salt for 1-2 minutes. Taste and season with salt. Spread on top of bean mixture in casserole dish.

If bottom of pan is coated with quinoa residue, add a little hot water and let it sit one minute, then scrape the bottom and it should easily come off. Pour out.  It’s ok if there’s still some a little stuff stuck to the sides/bottom

Add the remaining Tbsp of oil to the pan over medium high heat. Add the diced peppers and zucchini. Add a some garlic powder and salt to taste. Cook about 10 minutes until a little softer than al dente in texture. You don’t want them mushy as they will continue to cook in oven.

Spread minxture over quinoa in pan, trying not to take any liquid that came out during cooking. Sprinkle cheese on top.

Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the top layer of cheese is golden and bubbly. Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro and serve immediately.

Serve with sour cream, salsa and tortilla chips if you’d like.

So Nate wears t-shirts pretty much every day during the warmer months and 99.9% of them are from his favorite shirt company, Threadless.

Well Threadless has contests all the time for you to design a shirt for them, and if enough people vote for your design, it gets made into a shirt!

Each contest has a theme, and Nate always tells me to enter despite the fact that I don’t have the graphic design skills that most of the people submitting have…but when we saw one of the themes this month is “Supercats,” we knew it was a sign.

Well ok, I was still a little scared to take the plunge, but how could I say no to these two faces:

392626_10100157597360427_1144926592_n

I didn’t spend a whole lot of time on this and I don’t have the appropriate software, so I had to sketch the cat on Nate’s ipad and import it into photoshop. Maybe next time I’ll try to make it a bit more polished.

Anyway, without further ado, here is my t-shirt design entitled “kittyscape,” inspired by none other than my favorite cat, L.C. who always sleeps on our living room window ledge.

Please go to http://www.threadless.com/supercats/kittyscape/ and vote for me!!!

There are only 10 days left to vote!

KittyscapeFinall

 

Tomato Rosemary Focaccia ~ ElephantEats.com

Nate and I headed down to his mom’s last weekend, as we usually do when we have 3 days off. I decided to undertake a bunch of recipes that take longer than I typically have. I thought it was a perfect time to get into some yeasty things.

I had marked down a couple recipes, one for a cinnamon braid bread that I decided to make for breakfast, and the other was a Tomato Rosemary Focaccia Nate found in the NY Times. Nate loves focaccia so I’ve been wanting to make it for him. This particular recipe was “healthy” because it had mostly whole wheat flour.

Tomato Rosemary Focaccia ~ ElephantEats.com

While I waited for the dough to rise, I headed outside to pet the neighbor’s cat. He really seemed to like me, and after about 5-10 min of petting, I decided to come back inside. It was a little chilly and I was in my p.j.’s Well, the cat decided he wasn’t done being pet, so he followed me. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get him to leave me alone, and I didn’t want him to get near my mother-in-law’s house because she has two dogs inside that don’t like cats.

I finally was able to trick him and quickly ran in the front door and shut it. It seemed like the coast was clear until I saw him poke his head in the window. He was looking for me!

IMG_7716

He stayed on the front porch for about 15 min, meowing and pawing at the window. When I didn’t come back out, he then went to the back door and meowed there too for another 15 min. I felt so bad!

Finally, after about 30 min of this, I went outside and walked him back to the neighbor’s house. They were about to leave and were in the driveway, so they took him and put him inside. Phew. And I thought my cat was needy! Nate threatened to tell L.C. when we got home that I “had an affair with a floozy.”

But back to the food. Nate loves whole wheat breads, but I’m not as much of a fan. I find them a little on the dry side, and this focaccia was no exception. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, but you could definitely tell it was made with whole wheat flour. If I’m going to splurge on bread/pasta, I want it to be white flour all the way!

It sure was pretty, though.

Tomato Rosemary Focaccia ~ ElephantEats.com

We had ourselves a nice outdoor dinner. There are few months of the year when I’m willing to eat outside. Usually it’s too cold, or mosquitoes are everywhere (mosquitoes happen to LOVE me).

IMG_7735

Anyway, we had a perfect, sunny evening with a nice breeze.

IMG_7738

Nate’s mom grilled up some chicken sausage and veggies and we served the focaccia alongside it.

Tomato Rosemary Focaccia ~ ElephantEats.com

I made a chocolate pine nut tart for dessert that was as amazing as it sounds, but the recipe needs a little tweaking before I can share it. I followed the directions but ended up having to split it into two pans because there was too much crust and filling.

We had an awesome Memorial Day. I can’t believe the 4th of July is only a month away! Where has this year gone?

For the focaccia recipe, you can get it from the NY Times site here.

Pasta Salad with Feta, Broccoli, Capers, and Chickpeas ~ ElephantEats.com

Before I share my recipe with you today, I have a couple cute things to show you.

First, since I know you all wanted to see- Here’s a picture of our house!

House

Totally adorable, right? It definitely needs a new coat of paint, among other things. And I can’t wait to get my hands on the front yard for some pretty landscaping. I’ve never gotten to do that before so I’m so excited! Now I just have to figure out what we should do.

I’ll share more pics once we actually close on the house in a few months.

Being Elephant Eats, the second cute thing I want to show you is this video Nate sent me of a baby elephant’s first time in the ocean. All I can say is O.M.G. If our apartment weren’t so tiny, I’d be getting one of these as a pet:

And as for this meal, it’s a rare one that Nate actually helped pick out. You see, we have this routine every day where, before I leave work, I ask him what he’s in the mood for, and every day he says “I don’t know.”

I don’t know if most food bloggers are good about coming up with stuff, but I’m not. I absolutely hate trying to decide what to make for dinner. I have a million recipes pinned to my Pinterest boards, but when it’s actually time to choose something, nothing looks good.

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers,and Chickpeas 2 ~ ElephantEats.com

But on this particular day, without my even asking what he wanted for dinner, Nate actually told me he was in the mood for a cold pasta salad (it was really hot out!). I wasn’t one to deny the man his craving, when he was actually giving me dinner ideas, so I looked up some pasta salad recipes using feta since I already had it in my fridge.

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers,and Chickpeas 2 ~ ElephantEats.com

I came across this one that has all our favorite things in it and it sounded delicious. I doubled it, swapped blanched broccoli for the zucchini, and adjusted the quantities of the ingredients slightly and it was SO good. It helped that I was completely famished at dinner time.

Nate said he really liked it too, so this one’s a winner! Plus it was fairly quick to make. It will definitely be going into our usual rotation.

Pasta Salad with Broccoli, Feta, Capers and Chickpeas

Adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

Print this recipe!

Serves 6-8 as an entree

16 ounces pasta- I used medium shells
1 bunch of broccoli crowns, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
12 oz roasted red pepper, cut in small strips
2 cans (14 oz) chickpeas, drained
3 fl oz. capers, drained
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper

Boil water and put pasta in. 2 min before the pasta is al dente, throw the broccoli in with it. Drain pasta/broccoli and rinse in cold water to stop cooking and cool down the pasta.

In a large bowl, whisk vinegar and dijon. Whisk in olive oil.

Add pasta/broccoli, feta, peppers, chickpeas, capers and basil. Toss well and season to taste with salt/pepper. Serve room temperature or cold.