Anyone who follows me on Instagram knows I’ve been kicking back for the past week in a tropical paradise. I’ll show you more of that in the next week or two when I share a couple of my favorite Hawaiian recipes.  I’m thinking I should give away some of my favorite beach-y things too, what do you guys think?

We were gone for 8 days and the first thing my exhausted children did as we rolled into our driveway at 5am was jump out of the car and sprint to the garden to see how it grew while we were away.  We were all amazed how everything took off while our staring eyes were  out of sight for a while.  There are tomatoes popping up everywhere, shin-high corn, little red strawberries ready to eat and herbs going out. of. control.  It makes me so excited for summer garden recipes.

We all went straight to bed, but after waking up at 1 in the afternoon (we’re so messed up!) we were all dying for some real food.  I’m still stuffed after a week of vacation eating, but you know when you crave just good, fresh, real food?  Our cupboards were pretty bare, but I did have an unopened block of feta in the fridge, as well as a lemon that needed to be used, and a baguette in the freezer that I bought at the farmer’s market last week and didn’t have time to eat before we left on our trip.  I ran out to the garden and started snipping and made this really easy, and really yummy garlicky bread to eat with canned tomato soup.  I make compound butters like this all the time, especially in the summer, because they’re perfect for fresh bread, or rubbed on corn on the cob, or melted on grilled veggies or a steak hot off the grill.  It instantly dresses up just about anything.

I started out with some oregano and basil from the garden

and that feta that I crumbed up

Just take some softened butter (not melted, just soft enough to mash up) and toss in the feta, fresh herbs, minced garlic, and tangy lemon zest.  Also a few cracks of black pepper and a tiny pinch of kosher salt.

Mix it up until it’s smooth and everything is incorporated.

You can use it right away, although I prefer to let it sit in the fridge for a few hours (or up to a day or 2) beforehand because all of the flavors really intensify.  Spread it on baguette slices (great side dish or appetizer) or mix it in to fresh veggies hot off the grill.  It’s even yummy on hot pasta.  You can also make garlic bread like I did by spreading it on a baguette and popping it under the broiler, or on a hot grill with the lid shut for a minute or two.

If you toast it, you’ll want to eat it right away since feta cheese can get a little chewy once it’s cooked and then cooled.

But hot out of the oven can’t be beat.  The lemon and feta are tangy and the butter and garlic just melt in your mouth.  The flavor of the fresh herbs are the perfect blend of flavors and the whole things screams summer.

Whip some up and keep it in your fridge for a fancy dish in minutes!

One of my favorite things about going to restaurants is finding inspiration to try new things in my own kitchen. Also: not having to do the dishes. So while I’ve been traveling, I’ve been trying to make a point of ordering things that would make me excited to get into the kitchen.

One of my favorite side dishes is oven-baked fries like these ones and these ones–I feel like I’m getting a treat without completely busting the healthy eating plan and my kids love them, which is an added delight. DELIGHT. Because, I’ve gotta be honest, the pickiness of my children makes me want to bust out the mac and cheese every night and cook grown-up food for my husband and me. And, let’s be honest, sometimes that would just be me.

For these fries, you’re going to need 4 medium russet potatoes, olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder, corn starch, and fresh chopped rosemary (you can use dried, but you’ll need a little bit more; rosemary is one of the few herbs that does not get stronger when it’s dried).

You’re also going to need a can of that powdery Parmesan cheese stuff.

Yes, totally not gourmet, and yes, it’s totally delicious here.

Preheat your oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (even though I didn’t do it in these pictures because I was experiencing a personal aluminum foil shortage, I totally recommend lightly crumpling the foil; that will help ensure even browning) and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Cut each potato into 8 wedges and set aside.

You can also cut them like you do for this recipe, which will make crispier fries. In a large, wide bowl, combine the olive oil, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, corn starch, and rosemary.

Add the potato wedges and toss to coat them evenly with the olive oil mixture. Spread evenly over the prepared foil

and bake in the preheated oven for  about 40 minutes or until the fries are golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese and toss to combine.

If desired, sprinkle with additional rosemary and salt. Serve immediately. Makes 4 generous servings or 6-8 smaller servings. These are delicious by themselves, or you could also dip them in this mayo (you can always subsitute regular mayonnaise if you don’t want to make your own), pizza sauce, or this garlic-herb sandwich spread, or even dipped in olive oil with a little balsamic vinegar sprinkled over it.

Planting a pot may seem like a no-brainer to many of you, but with summer in full swing, and flowers all around, a few basic rules can help anyone (even those without a green thumb or an eye for design) create a stunning addition to their landscape.  I had a friend recently show me her sad looking plantings at her front door, expressing utter shame and dismay over her lack of green thumb.  I assured her though, it wasn’t her thumb that was the problem; it was that she planted the absolute worst plant for that spot!  If you want to plant some gorgeous containers, take note of these few things.

1.  Pick a Container

I’m using these big black urns that look ceramic, but are actually a lightweight resin material.

–What are the light requirements?  Read the Tag!  You don’t want to plant a shade plant in full hot sun, it will fry it!  And a plant that thrives in dry heat, with wither away in a dappled shady spot.  Think about where your pot will sit and what kind of light it will get.  Even spend a day taking notes about exactly when the sun starts and ends so you know how many hours a day it gets.

4.  What type of planting do you want?  If you have a single flower that you love, and you know will thrive in the spot where you’re planting, by all means, stuff a bunch in there.  A pot overflowing with all petunias, for example, looks lovely.  But if you want to design a container with multiple plants, here’s some pointers. 

First, I always look for something tall for the back.  My go-to is dracena, which just looks like a tall spiky grass.  It makes a great backdrop:

One night when we were on Leg 1 of our trip (visiting my parents), I made this. It was so delicious and refreshing and healthy that I couldn’t wait to make it again. The salsa sounds a tiny bit weird, but it’s delicious–I mean, if you’re not keen on fruit and meat (I do know that’s a “thing”), this might not be your thing, but it’s so super easy and it’s just feel-good food, especially as we get into the summer months. And…the most miraculous thing of all…both of my older kids love it. Like they eat it without complaining/crying/predicting their imminent death.

For the chicken, you’re going to need a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts, limes, garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and black pepper.

Yes, I do realize that I’ve forgotten, like, 52 of the ingredients in the marinade. Can we still be friends?

Anyway, rinse the chicken and place in a large Ziploc bag.

Whisk together the remaining chicken ingredients in a small mixing bowl and pour it over the chicken. Marinate the chicken for at least 4 hours, no longer than 24 hours.

An hour before serving, dice 2/3 cup each of cantaloupe and honeydew, 1/3 cup each of red onion and seeded, peeled cucumber, some chopped mint and seeded jalapeno, the zest and juice of a lime, and some sugar (or honey or agave), salt, and pepper in a small-medium mixing bowl.

Stir to combine and refrigerate it until you’re ready to serve the chicken.

To cook the chicken, preheat a grill to medium heat. Cook over medium flame/coals for about 7 minutes per side. Remove from the grill and allow to stand 5 minutes before serving. Top with salsa. Makes 4 servings.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 242
Fat: 8
Carbs: 7
Fiber: 1
Protein: 32
WW Points Plus: 6

They arrived bearing gifts, including some southern classics: mini Tabasco bottles and gummy gators.

Annnnd since they had come up from Utah, a bag of cookies from Logan’s Old Grist Mill (Kate’s home town) that literally weighed as much as a human baby.  There are like 47 cookies in there.  It was awesome.

And in return, I impressed her with my mad cooking skills and best dishes.

Even though our kids don’t get to see each other in person very often, they absolutely love each other.  They’re kind of like cousins!

Our oldest boys are close in age, and so are my middle son and kate’s daughter.  Then to round it out, I have a 2 year old and Kate has an almost 1 year old.

Yes, we’re related to these people.

The dark haired kiddo in back is Kate’s and the blondie is mine, then that’s Kate’s cute daughter (so fun to have a little girl around in my house of all boys!) and the other 2 blondies are mine.  Kate’s baby was here.  I promise.

Our oldest boys in particular are really good buddies.  Kate and I kept talking about how we wished we had a recording of all of their conversations together.  They were random and funny and totally entertaining.

That photo was taken right after church on Sunday, and we had to sift through about 400 that looked like this first:

Sunday afternoon we headed over to one of our favorite parks,

Mostly in attempts to drain them of their energy.

On that note…

Monday morning we did slip in a little bit of work.  And what we found out was that it is freaking amazing to work on a blog project with 4 hands and 2 cameras.  And a babysitter/extra helper.

When the little kids went down for naps, my boys begged and begged to go to a local place called Dart Zone.  It’s a play land for Nerf fanatics (both old and young).

When we first arrived there were a few other older kids and as they got shot off the playing field we kept hearing them warn each other about the sharp-shooting girl out there.  Yeah, that would be Kate’s 5 year old.  After she scared off the big boys, we had the entire place to ourselves and the epic Jones vs Wells battle began.Earlier that morning I dragged Kate with me to the gym to work out with my trainer.  It was good he left us in a pool of sweat because we ate those calories right back up that night.

Ever since we’ve lived here in Boise, I’ve heard people talking about a restaurant called Fork.  Appropriately named because no 2 forks there are alike!

We filled up on deliciousness like my prime rib French Dip (fun fact: no matter what restaurant I’m at, if there’s a French Dip on the menu, I order it.)  My husband’s slow-cooked, fall apart ribs (yes, we took a big bite of those potatoes before snapping the pic) and Kate’s burger with Parmesan-Rosemary fries.

We decided we were too full for dessert, until someone from the kitchen walked out with their signature Butter Cake and gave it to us for free because the kitchen cranked out an extra.  I have a personal rule to never, ever be too full for free butter cake.  It was amazing.

We came back home to the kiddos that night for some back yard play time.  See, I told you the baby was here!  He’s the sweetest darn thing I’ve ever seen.

And he has THE funniest scrunched-up-nose look that literally appeared in 99% of the photos I took of him.  Yep, there it is:

He’s a sweetie pie, scrunched-nose and all.  As soon as the sun went down, we busted out some sparklies.

Our little project that morning involved celebrating the 4th of July that day so our kids were expecting fireworks, lol.

We got some super long sparklers in the wedding section of the party supply store, and made a tunnel of fire.

It was very popular.

There’s nothing like a warm summer night, good friends, and things that sparkle.

We decided now it’s our turn to visit the south before Kate and her family are outta there!  When we make it down there, you’ll be the first to see us stuffing our faces with beignets.

Last but not least, news flash: we’re on Instagram!  I just got my first iPhone (hello lover) and convinced Kate to jump on board when she was here. If you’d like to peek into our worlds, you can find us as sara_ourbestbites and kate_ourbestbites.  We use it less as bloggers and more for just every day life, so feel free to follow our random photographic journey ;)

We’re talking basic cookie-making here.  Start with butter (real butter!), peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar.

Mix it up until it’s smooth and creamy.  Sampling optional but recommended at this point.

Drop in an egg and a little vanilla and mix that up,

and then in with some dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Stir in some chocolate chips.  You can use milk, semi-sweet, dark, big chunks, mini chips, whatever you want.  Sometimes you might want dark chocolate chunks and chopped peanut butter cups.  It happens.

Stir those in and try to not eat all of these cookies in dough form.

Drop into balls on a lined cookie sheet (you can roll them in sugar first if you want, I don’t).

and give them a gentle criss-cross with a fork. You don’t need to flatten them way down, just gently press.

Bake them until they’re just set around the edges (if you over bake them, they’ll crisp up pretty fast) and let cool for a few minutes on the sheet before you transfer them to a cooling rack.

definitely pour a big glass of cold milk, and dig in!

You’ll need a clove of garlic.  (And yes, I’m including this photo simply to show you that adorable garlic pot I got at Target the other day.)

and a 7-ounce jar of roasted red peppers.  Sometimes 7-ounce jars are hard to find, so if you grab a larger one, just use about 3/4 cup.  Drain them and then pat them dry with a paper towel.

Pop those in a food processor along with a little mayo,

and blend ‘er up.  I also add a pinch of salt and a few cracks of black pepper, and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice.  I like the lemon because I think a little acidity helps bring out the flavors, but if you don’t have a lemon around, you could use red or white wine vinegar instead, or leave it out all together.  You can make this part ahead of time and put it in the fridge.  The flavors will just get better the longer it sits!

You can make this on any type of sandwich roll or buns, but I found it worked really well on a french baguette loaf.  You know those really long ones in the grocery store bakery that you bake at home?  They bake up in like, 8 minutes and are so soft and yummy.  I’m just showing half the loaf here, but it’s twice that long so it can easily make 4 large hoagies, or 8 smaller ones.  Brush the halves with a little olive oil or butter and then toast it in the oven until it’s golden brown.

Spread some of the red pepper sauce you made on the bottom of the sandwich and then top with shredded chicken.  To make this meal super quick and easy, I’m using a rotisserie chicken from Costco, but you could also use some sliced grilled chicken.  That’s how my brother and sister-in-law made them and it was really good hot off the grill.

Top the chicken with mozarella cheese, either shredded like I’m doing, or slices, and then return it to the broiler just to melt it.  It will only take a second- DON’T WALK AWAY.  (I warned you.)

Remember my post about planting a garden a couple of weeks ago?  I had enough basil to use on my sandwich and it made me so happy!  We actually had a late frost last week so it got a little bit beat up, but it survived and tasted great.

Just put the whole basil leaves right on top, like you would lettuce.

Then spread red pepper sauce on the other side of the bread and put it all together.

I like doing this on the big baguette because you can slice it exactly the size you want it and make lots of small ones or a few big ones.

Pair it with your favorite salad or some fresh summer fruit and it’s a super quick and easy summer dinner.

One of my favorite ways to use up a lot of fresh produce quickly is to chop it up and toss it with some pasta and my favorite salad dressings and the possibilities are kind of endless. This particular pasta salad, though, is one of my all-time favorites. You can use whatever kind of pasta you want–this time around, I used linguine, but you can always use something a little more pasta-salad-traditional like rotini or penne.

In addition to 8 ounces of pasta, you’ll need a batch of this Greek salad dressing, grape tomatoes, 1/2 of a red onion (sliced or minced, just depending on your preference), a can of olives (I use black because I have a hard enough time getting my husband to eat cold noodles and I’m pretty sure there would be revolt if I used something like Kalamata olives), a cucumber that’s been peeled and sliced or chopped, a sliced red bell pepper, and feta cheese. You can also add 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil and a few teaspoons of fresh chopped oregano if you feel the urge.

If you want to add chicken to your salad, marinate the chicken in about 1/2 cup dressing for at least 4 hours, preferably longer. When done marinating, grill the chicken over medium-high heat for 7 minutes on each side. Allow to stand 5-10 minutes before chopping into bite-sized pieces.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When boiling, add the pasta and cook al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the cucumber, onion, bell pepper, olives, tomatoes, and feta cheese.

Add the chicken and toss to combine.

Add the cooked pasta

and 1 cup of the Greek salad dressing and toss to distribute evenly. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving. Makes 8-10 main dish servings or LOTS of side dish servings.

Giveaway Announcement:  The winner of the Smoke Vault Giveaway has been announced- click here to see if it’s you!

My first grader came home from school a few weeks ago with this little assignment tucked away with the papers in his back pack:

For those of you who don’t have the magical gift of interpretation:

“When I grow up I want to be in the Army. I want to protect the nation.  I think I will be a great soldier in the Army.  I would love to protect America.”

This little boy has a patriotic soul.  He’s 7 years old and is fascinated with American history and government, and especially the military.  What struck me is that his little essay doesn’t say anything about shooting rifles or driving tanks (which would be a reason many little boys would find fascination with the branches of the military.)  In his simple language, he expresses a desire to serve and protect his country.  I love that.  When we’re out and about and run into men in uniform, you would think he and his two little brothers had just caught a glimpse of Santa Clause in the flesh.  Those men and women are truly super heroes to my little kids.

For many Americans, Memorial Day often sparks thoughts of BBQ’s and the beginning of summer vacation.  With a day off of work and school, creating a 3-day weekend, it seems to be a great reason to gather and enjoy good food and good company.  In fact, often here on this blog we share round-ups of our favorite BBQ recipes, or the best desserts for potlucks.  My thoughts today have nothing to do about food.

Photo by Charlton Stanley

I was reading a blog post by the photographer of the photo above.  That beautiful, yet haunting scene, is the view from  his son’s grave.  His words struck me,

“We owe it to the dead to honor their memory. It does not matter the war, the cause, or the politics.  For every one of those marble slabs in the Gardens of Stone, some parent or loved one got that terrible, awful knock on the door.”

Many of us will in fact be gathering today, with friends and family, perhaps enjoying the onset of summer break and warm weather.  I want to invite you to take at least a moment today to honor those who have lost their lives in the service of our country.  If you have children, take some time to remind them what Memorial Day is all about.  Teach them to honor, and to respect.  I love my country and I love those who have dedicated their lives to its service.  My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones.  Let today be a beautiful day of remembrance.