Berry Picking + Father's Day

For Father's Day weekend we decided to go pick some strawberries!

We drove to Carnation, WA which was about 40 minutes away from Seattle. Carnation is a small farming community that is absolutely gorgeous! There are a lot of "u-pick" farms in the area, which makes the produce cheap and gives us something fun to do on the weekends.

The strawberries were only $1/lb so we ended up paying only $13 for 13 lbs of strawberries. And it only took us about 30 minutes to pick them all. It was a really fun way to spend our Saturday morning and now we have lots of strawberry jam and frozen berries for smoothies.

After picking strawberries we came home and relaxed for a few hours. Aaron finally had a chance to play some video games--between his internship and studying for the next actuary exam he has little time to spend for himself. After playing for a little while he said "Video games just aren't as fun as they used to be."
I think the whole Father's Day thing really got to him ;)

We're trying to keep a good balance between enjoying our summer and remaining under budget, so we settled on eating out once a week. Aaron got to pick the restaurant for this weekend and he chose barbecue! The restaurant was in a creepy part of town and would only accept cash. Yeah, it was a little sketchy. But oh my goodness the barbecue was amazing! My pulled pork sandwich was delicious and the baked beans were the best I've ever had. No joke. If you are ever in Seattle you must try the Barbecue Pit. It's in the Central District.

On Sunday I made an array of Aaron's favorite dishes: Maple salmon, strawberry spinach salad, and baked sweet potatoes. I also gave him the Father's Day gift I had been working on for the past week. He seemed to enjoy his first Father's Day!

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St{raw}berry Lemonade Dreamcake

I love healthy desserts. As I'm sure you are aware, since most of the recipes on this blog are sweet.

The thing I love most about this cake is that it's sweet enough to cure my cravings, but its also light and fresh (and healthy).

Anyway, do not be deterred by the ingredients of this cake. This cake tastes like a creamy strawberry lemonade sorbet. You can keep it frozen, or you can freeze it just long enough to set and then store in the refrigerator. Aaron likes it best with a bunch of fresh strawberries on top, but I think it still tastes great on its own. Either way it's delicious.

St{raw}berry Lemonade Dreamcake

Adapted from My New Roots

Crust:

3/4 cup raw* almonds (pecans or walnuts will also work)

3/4 dates

1/2 tsp sea salt

Filling:

2 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 5 hours, overnight is best

juice [and zest] of 2-3 lemons

the seeds of 1 whole vanilla bean (or 1 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla extract)

3/4 cup raw coconut oil, melted

3/4 cup raw honey or agave nectar

2 cups strawberries (thaw completely if using frozen)

1. Place nuts and dates in a food processor with sea salt and pulse to chop until they are to your desired fineness (process a finer crust longer than a chunky one). Test the crust by spooning out a small amount of mixture and rolling it in your hands. If the ingredients hold together, your crust is perfect. Scoop out crust mixture in a spring-form pan (if you don’t have a spring-form pan, use a pie plate lined with saran wrap), and press firmly, making sure that the edges are well packed and that the base is relatively even throughout. Rinse food processor well.
2. Warm coconut oil and honey in a small saucepan on low heat until liquid. Whisk to combine.
3. In the most powerful food processor / blender you own (you decide which one has the most torque) place all filling ingredients (except strawberries) and blend on high until very smooth (this make take a couple minutes so be patient). If you have a Vita-Mix or Blendtec, use it.
4. After blending, pour strawberries into blender and blend to desired consistency. For a layered effect: Pour about 2/3 (just eyeball it, you can’t make a mistake!) of the cashew mixture out onto the crust and smooth with a spatula. Add the strawberries to the remaining filling and blend on high until smooth. Pour onto the first layer of filling. Place in freezer until solid.
5. To serve, remove from freezer 30 minutes prior to eating. Run a smooth, sharp knife under hot water and cut into slices. Serve on its own, or with fresh fruit. Store leftovers in the freezer or refrigerator.

*You do not have to use raw ingredients for this recipe; the cake will still turn out just as well.

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5 Things

5 :: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
After a nice day of relaxation we went to a BYU event that was based around the history of the Human Rights movement and even featured a performance by the BYU Black Student Union Gospel Choir. The choir was dominated by white Mormons, a few African Americans, and an an Asian.

4 :: Video Games
This one mainly appeals to the man of the house. He got a sweet deal on video games from Best Buy and has been using his spare time to get "acquainted" with his two new games: Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Skyrim. He was smart and sold his old video games to pay for his new ones.

3 :: Exercise
This week marks our third week of regular exercise! We have officially dominated the three-weeks-makes-a-habit rule. We go the gym every Tuesday and Thursday morning and do 45 minutes of cardio while reading a textbook :) Aaron usually picks the stationary bike, but sometimes will venture over toward the treadmills to run alongside with me. Sometimes I will follow him back to the bikes and dare to have a sore bum for a day or two. Our goal is to complete a half marathon and a bike race this summer; my goal is the running and Aaron's is the bike.

2 :: Strawberries

Strawberries were on sale this week and I bought 3 lbs for $3.75! I managed to get this picture before they were devoured. I also made a strawberry cobbler which turned out fairly well. It had flax seeds, spelt and almond flour (it's gluten-free), and of course, strawberries. It was really good with a dollop of Greek yogurt and it works well as a breakfast or a snack.

I also made this:

Aaron said it looked like vomit, poop, rubbish, etc. But he eventually ate it... And he liked it. It actually tasted pretty good for a green drink.

1 :: Massage

Mmm hmm. We cashed in a Groupon for a 60 minute at Solase Spa. It was really nice to get all the knots out of our backs and it was fun to have a couples massage for the first time! But seriously, Aaron's therapist told him to go home and ice his back because she had to do some serious work on the knots. My therapist had to pop my shoulder blade back into place because it had turned around contortionist style causing all kinds of discomfort. But oh how glorious we feel now :) Next up is inhaling O2 for 20 minutes, should be a riot.

There are the five highlights of our week. We hope your weeks went just as well!

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