on french potato salad...

I am in love with this French Potato Salad recipe. I've made it at least twice in the past two weeks, once at home and again on 4th of July. So yummy and a nice change from the usual mayo based salads.

Ingredients: 
2 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes, quartered
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley 
salt & pepper

Cut and put potatoes in a large pot of salt water. Bring the water to a rapid boil and then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook potatoes until tender.

Meanwhile combine olive oil, Dijon mustard, shallot, parsley & apple cider vinegar together in the a big bowl. Once the potatoes are tender, drain and then dump with into the bowl.

Mix it up nice and good. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Let it cool and serve at room temperature. Delish. I think this is my new favorite potato salad. Love the tangy flavor. Enjoy!

previously on Instagram...

1\\ a tomato salad
2\\ Rita's date with a little boy
3\\ summer dog
4\\ fresh baked blueberry muffins
5\\ a boy ready for school
6\\ tomato plant
7\\ headband
8\\ hubby

Follow me on Instagram @calicotales

on a bean burger...

Hi friends! Back again for another Summer inspired recipe. Sometimes I can have this need for a burger but without the meat. Don't get me wrong meaty burgers are great but on a hot Summer night my goal is not to get all bloated and eating a heavy beef burger will do just that. At least to me. So, I created this fun Black Bean and Rice Burger. Easy, fast and leaves you feeling fresh!

Ingredients: 
{for bean cakes}
2 cans black beans
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 tablespoon fresh chives
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro 
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 
salt & pepper
{for burger}
buns 
lettuce 
tomato 
guacamole


**Preheat oven to 400

First, follow the directions on the box and cook 1/2 cup of rice. While that is cooking grab your food processor. Dust it off if your like me and don't use it enough!

Combine ONE can black beans, cilantro, chives, cilantro and Worcestershire sauce into the food processor. Pulse it until you get a paste.

 In a separate large mixing bowl combine SECOND can of black beans with 1/2 cup of rice and that bean & herb paste. Use a spatula and mix it up.

Take your baking sheet and brush with some oil, then place baking sheet into the hot oven for about 5 minutes. Take it out and start forming your patties. It's not going to be as easy as if you were forming beef. What I ended up doing was just plopping a heap of mixture right on the baking sheet and then forming it into a patty shape. The rice & paste is what binds the patty so don't worry once the they are nice and baked they will stay together.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the bottoms are brown. Once they are done let them sit there for 5 or so minutes so they cool enough for you to take them off. Otherwise they will just fall apart!!

 Make your burger! Be creative. I love guacamole on all my burgers. So yummy. Bobby, my husband likes to put Thousand Island dressing on his. What do you put on your burgers? Nom Nom.

on a sweet dress...

Hi All! I'm very excited to show you all the lovely dress that was gifted to me by Sugarlips Apparel. They have a wonderful collection of cutting-edge clothing with unique dresses as well as tops & bottoms and whatdoyaknow, they're located right in the city of Angels! Today I am featuring their Striped Colored Pencils Dress. 

Check out that sexy back! That is totally my favorite thing about this sweet dress. It's going to be perfect for my trip to NYC in August. It's light and flowy and exactly what us ladies need in the hot summer months. Perfect with some cute wedges or sandals and you are a stylish fashionista. 

Go check out Sugarlips Apparel for yourself and hurry up and  buy some hip new dresses. Like them on their Facebook or follow them on Twitter. 

Happy Shopping!!

on a weekend recap...

It was another hot, hot, hot weekend and there was not much to do other than head over to the in laws and lounge in the pool. Here are some photos of our weekend...

Yes, friends I finally have my precious Iphone. I am giddy as heck and so happy with it. Bobby and I thought it was time to move to a different carrier and splurge on some nice phones. All in all, the weekend was for lots of lemonade by the pool, lovely homemade grilled pizza courtesy of my mother in law, and one happy boy with a new game. I am beyond feeling dizzy with blissfulness and so glad for the people that I have in my life! 

on blueberry scones...

When life gets me down...I bake! Yesterday, helloo, pity party all the way. I'm known to get a little down in the dumps when I am feeling home sick. I miss Seattle. I miss my family and I miss my beloved friends. Distance is hard. And so baking up these delicious Blueberry Scones sure did brighten my day.
My co-worker made some of these lovely scones last weekend! I'm hooked. She found a neat little recipe over at a new favorite blog La Petite Brioche. Isn't the name of her blog the cutest thing in the world! If anything I just love the blog name but really there are so many wonderful baked goods to swoon over. I found myself going through every page and book marking things. I basically used this recipes and altered a few things. Let's get started.

Ingredients: 
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon zest of orange
1/2 tablespoon zest of lemon
1 large egg
1 stick unsalted butter, cold & cubed 
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1 cup blueberries, frozen or fresh (i think frozen is easier to work with)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, zest of orange & lemon  into your mixer that has the paddle mixer attachment. Mix those ingredients up until they are combined.

Next add the cold butter into the dry mixture. I just took a knife and cubed up the butter. Add the butter slowly while the mixer is on low. While the mixer is mixing that up get a bowl and combine the egg and buttermilk.

Once you whisk that together just slowing add it to the mixing bowl while it's on low. Mix it until blended. It's ok if the butter doesn't look like it is combining into the dough very well, it should have a rough texture to it.

Add blueberries in last. I find that taking the blueberries out of the freezer a few minutes before needing to add them is the best. This way the dough doesn't get too spongy from the blueberry juices that they let off. If you find that it does get too moist just set it into the freezer to firm it up a little (helpful little tip from Ashley, my co-worker). I used a spatula to add berries instead of the paddle mixer so it wouldn't crush them!

Time to cut triangles! Shape dough into square. Cut down and then across making four pieces and then again diagonally from corner to corner making TRIANGLES! Hurray.

Place them on a baking sheet and back them for about 25 minutes until the bottoms are slightly browned. You can brush on some heavy cream or in my case buttermilk and sprinkle raw sugar on top but I left that step out. No need for the sugar on top in my opinion! Trust me you will be loving the smells coming out of your kitchen. It's heavenly. My whole house was filled with the scent of blueberries :)

Serve while warm with a little butter on top and golly you will be going back for seconds! These are great with a cup of coffee for breakfast...I know, because that's what I had this morning. Teehee.

on a hint of mint iced tea...

Boy oh boy. The first week of Summer here brought a huge heat wave! I am crazy about iced tea during these hot summer months and I am always constantly making fresh batches of iced tea to keep in our fridge every week. It goes fast in my house! Lately though, I have been putting a fresh new spin on my iced tea at home and not only am I loving it but the husband approves too! Mint Iced Tea is heavenly, with adding the mint I feel like it's even that more refreshing to drink! All you will need is 1 cup of fresh mint, 6 tea bags,  6 cups of water and lemon.  I hope you all enjoy it too...

1\\ Mint. It's the key ingredient in this and there is nothing better than going out to the garden and snipping off a few sprigs of mint!
2\\ boil 6 cups of water with 6 tea bags. Use whatever sort of tea that you fancy. We bought a huge bulk box of Lipton black tea at Samsclub a while back and I've been using that. Any sort of black tea will do. Sometimes I even mix black and green tea. Yumm! Once the water comes to a boil, let it boil with the tea bags for 5 minutes and then turn burner off.
3\\ next take 1 cup of chopped fresh mint and put it into the pot of tea and let it steep in there for about 10 minutes while it cools.
4\\ pour tea through a strainer to catch all the mint.

Fill a glass up with ice (or in my case a mason jar!) and pour the mint tea in, squeeze some lemon and garnish with mint! Now you can weather this heat and stay hydrated. Happy iced tea making!!

PS\\ Here's to my 400th post. Cheers :)