i've been mastering the art of the dressingless salad, guys.

just to warn you: things can get kinda weird without dressing. hope you're okay with that. i'm okay. i've become okay with a pretty motley blend of flavors. i never thought i'd have warm zucchini and a cold hard boiled egg on the same fork, but it actually works for me. here's the key:

1. top your normal salad base with sautéed veggies. hot and cold together in the same bite! it's revolutionary. i've been doing zucchini, yellow summer squash, carrots, onion, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and make sure you use plenty of olive oil and garlic.
2. or eat your salad with a side of guacamole. having a bite of guac with every bite of leafy greens makes salad a lot more fun. and even better for your body! yay for good fats.

then i will toss in slices of chicken, shredded roast beef, a hard boiled egg, whatever kind of protein i have on hand. as long as you cram in the flavor (hello, garlic) you won't even miss the dressing! i used to be the one who, when finished with a salad, would have soggy lettuce scraps swimming in a pool of leftover dressing in my bowl. if you are a dressing-glutton like me, you should try this.

grant sent me an email with a link to this game. 
the other night we teamed up and took turns holding hadley, to try to get to the higher levels. 


we are addicted. 

last fall i bought a food dehydrator.. and did i use it all year long? ummm, nope. classic. i get all excited about something and have plans on how i will use it, and then it sits in the box forever because i am too lazy to get it out, put it together, and read how to use it.

i am bursting to blog.

i can't believe i didn't post anything all week! i have so much to say and not enough fingers to do it.
a lot has happened this week… we have a brand new nephew, we had a visit from grandma (my mom) and aunt Kayleen, Hadley found her voice in a major way, i found several new foods to love (which you will hear about eventually), we turned the heat on, we shopped the annual rummage sale in our town, and we lost our dear grandpa Johnny. what a great man. we will miss him! i'm so thankful that i got to know him when i became a Harms.

in other news, this little blog of mine is now 3 years old. hip hip hooray! i forget what computer-ing was like before it was born. thank you so much for reading!

hi, i'm hungry. 
says the nursing girl. grant can tell you, i am always looking for something to eat! i could easily be eating hobbit style these days... breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies... do they have a meal for the 3 am slot?

the other day i wanted to make a snacky salad. something i could graze on throughout the day- that wouldn't be soggy and gross as leftovers. something with quinoa. and because i've learned that you have to plan ahead when you have a tiny tine on your hands, i started the salad right before i went to bed, rinsing and soaking the quinoa. the next day, while grant was holding hadley, i cooked the quinoa and whisked a dressing. the hardest part was waiting for the quinoa to cool so i could taste it all together.

dear cilantro,
i love you!
no, really, i do. i can't get enough.
what was wrong with me before?
so glad i grew up.

love, summer

did you know that i started a full-time job this summer? yep. it's called nursing. :) there's a lot of overtime and double shifts involved, but the benefits are awesome. one of the super nice things about nursing is that it doesn't get any more simple. you don't need anything. just you and your baby and you're ready to go! but honestly, the ready-to-go part is pretty important. i do have a uniform for this job. being ultra conveniently-clothed has become the way i live, so here are my two favorite items! it's been great not to have to mess with snaps or hooks or anything that fastens. my girl can eat on the spot, and believe me, it doesn't get more simple than this.


okay mommas, tell me your faves for easy-access attire. and does anyone have any secrets for cold-weather convenience? i haven't had to deal with that yet.

i was just a young girl when september 11th became September 11th. but i wanted to do something. i knew something earth-shattering had happened. i prayed. i made up my mind that whenever i looked at the clock and saw 9:11, it would be my reminder. i would stop and pray for the families of the victims and for the nation.

it's amazing how many times that has happened in the past 10 years.
10 years.
thank you, Lord, for preserving our nation.

over the summer we got our first crop of ruby red rhubarb. from our own backyard! remember when we planted those teeny baby rhubarbs?



and these are my two favorite things to do with rhubarb:

what's your favorite rhubarb recipe?

there was a time, not so long ago, that i wouldn't have found anything i like to eat at the farmers market. honestly. but now that i've become a vegetable fan, fall is so much more meaningful. now, it's "harvest season."  and we are so spoiled right now! it seems like all the good vegetables are growing currently, locally. yay. i got really excited when i saw this idea for diy stir fry vegetable freezer packages the other day on simple bites. (love this real food blog!) basically the concept is to stock up while things are fresh and in season, blanch them, mix them, and put them in the freezer to eat in the dead of winter. and you can just toss them in the pan frozen! nice.



i really want to do this! blanching has a lot of benefits, so i'm pretty excited to bring down my giant pot and watch zucchini bob around in it. of course the veggies in this photo were all eaten up at dinner the other night, so i haven't started the process yet. :) we love making a big stir fry in our cast iron for a super simple meal. here's what we do.


i could eat this all the time.

tank top. shorts. sun. stroller. sprawled sleeping baby.

i'm excited for fall, but i could live in summertime forever.
it's supposed to be super nice here all week, so we will be soaking it up and hitting the sidewalk later.

happy tues!

so there's a shop in our tiny town that gets a load of organic produce every thurs! i am super excited. i just got on the email list so i can find out what she's going to have ahead of time. last week the cripps pink apples were amaaazing.

happy september! can't wait to go to the orchard and wear jeans and watch football and…. make jar after jar of salsa. mmm. because that is what this month is for, of course. anyone have a food processor i can borrow? :)