Sweet T and a Honey B
Food, Fitness, and the Adventures That Make Life Sweet

Farmers Market Finds & Cherry Almond Scones

While Mondays normally bring on some familiar blue feelings, this particular Monday I’m feeling pretty well equipped to tackle the week head on. I can probably attribute that to spending the last 48 hours doing some of my favorite things; hiking, watching Netflix with the hubs, baking, spending time with family, taking a couple naps, and visiting the local farmer’s market. As ridiculous as it may sound, my weekly visit to the market has been my saving grace this summer. When mom ended up spending most of these last couple months in and out of the hospital, I really found out the importance of making time for myself- even if it was just an hour moseying through the various vendors every Saturday morning, sampling some of the local honey or cinnamon bread, picking up sunflowers the size of my head, and gathering our produce for the week. I found myself really treasuring this time during the stressful weeks. The best part of these visits were the goodies I would bring home. I’m crazy about all of the locally grown produce, organic meat, and delicious choices for baked goods (the monkey bread from Great Harvest Bread in Naperville, IL is literally life changing). I’d be absolutely lying if I said I didn’t leave feeling really full each time. 

Last week we purchased some great burger patties to grill up from Staff of Life Farms in Dwight, IL

 

 

While all of the vendors had something wonderful to share, I would find that each week my first stop was to the Scone City tent. Holy. Cow. I became pretty addicted to their cherry almond scones and this entire summer I have been looking for ways to combine that flavor combination. My only complaint is that they’re located in the city and I can’t have one of these every single morning.

For that reason, I decided to take a crack at my own scones with cherries fresh from the market and a few healthier ingredients and now I have a jar filled with my own treats to enjoy with my morning coffee. 

 

Cherry Almond Scones

  • 2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 stick very cold butter, cut in to small cubes
  • 1 tbs baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 almond milk
  • 2 tsp almond extract
  • 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
  • 1 heaping cup of fresh cherries, pitted and sliced
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • Granulated sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

 

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. 
  3. Add cubes of butter and combine with hands until well incorporated in to the dry mix. Add cherries and place bowl in fridge.
  4. Whisk together eggs, almond milk, almond extract, and apple cider vinegar.
  5. Add wet mixture to the dry and stir with a spatula until a sticky dough forms. 
  6. Place dough on a floured surface and form in to a ball. Pat dough down to form a circle about 3/4 inch thick. 
  7. Cut dough in to 10 triangles and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle each triangle generously with almonds and a little coconut sugar or granulated sugar. 
  8. Bake for 18-20 minutes and enjoy!

 

What are some of your favorite things to do to de-stress? Do you have any favorite finds at your local market?

Vegetable Paninis with Pesto Mayo

It’s Fri-Yay! We are merely hours from signing off our work computers for the last time for a solid three days. This Memorial Day weekend involves picking up some flowers and iced coffee from the local farmer’s market, barbecuing with friends, and spending some much needed relaxing time with my husband. In true Memorial Day fashion, we have some rain in the forecast but I am hopeful the sun will decide to peek his head out-even if only long enough for Bryan to grill up those burgers. Before getting this weekend kicked off, I wanted to share a quick idea for a great weeknight meal to keep in mind when doing your grocery shopping this weekend. 

This past Monday I rushed home from work for a number of reasons. This was mainly because, let’s face it- we’re all glad when 5pm on a Monday rolls around. Though, there was a little extra anticipation this particular week because the new season of the Bachelorette was premiering. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was looking forward to meeting this season’s crazies all weekend long. 

I couldn’t throw my sweat pants on fast enough and wanted to make a quick dinner so as not to miss the first introduction (I’m already impressed with Kenny the pro-wrestler from Las Vegas). Using minimal fixings and my beloved panini maker, I made a vegetable panini so delicious that it deserves the final rose. 

Vegetable Paninis with Pesto Mayo – Makes 2 Paninis- 11 WW SPs each

Sandwich:

  • 4 slices of sourdough bread
  • 2 tsp  EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
  • 1/2 cup sliced zucchini
  • 1/2 cup sliced yellow squash
  • 1/2 cup sliced red pepper
  • 1/2 cup sliced white mushrooms
  • 2 slices (1 oz. each) Havarti cheese

Pesto Mayo:

  • 1 tbs basil pesto
  • 1 tbs mayonnaise (I use mayo made with avocado oil)
  • 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • In a medium sized frying pan, heat EVOO over medium heat and add all veggies to the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring every minute or so. Vegetables are done when soft and begin to blacken.
  • Place 1/2 slice of Havarti cheese on your sourdough and add your cooked vegetables, then your other 1/2 slice. Close your sandwich and place sandwich gently on your panini press (you can easily make this right in the frying pan if you do not have a panini maker). 
  • Using a fork, whisk pesto, mayo, and lemon juice in a small bowl. 
  • Once your panini is done, add 1 tbs of the pesto mayo to each sandwich and enjoy! I like to serve with fresh fruit or tortilla chips. 

 

 

A Little Sunshine Goes a Long Way

Normally I do not write weekend recaps, but this particular weekend was so beautiful it deserves it’s own shout out. It may have been the spectacular weather or the lack of plans Hubs and I had to stuff into a 48-hour period (come to think of it-it was definitely a combination of both), but this was a very welcomed couple of days. After recent weekends of parties, showers, and plans with family and friends, we were sure to take advantage of slowing it down this weekend. 

There was ONE plan I made sure was on the agenda for Saturday. This weekend began the annual Downers Grove Farmers Market held every Saturday morning from the middle of May through the middle of October. This certainly isn’t the biggest market I have ever been to, but absolutely my favorite. There is something about my routine of buying massive sized sunflowers, enjoying a vanilla iced coffee from Door County Coffee, and picking out some delicious fruits to enjoy during the week that excites me every time. My cousin, Kaitlyn, and I make it a point to attend together most weeks and this is a tradition that has become very special to me. It’s still a little early for most flowers and a lot of fruits, but you can bet I came home with a bag of goodies nonetheless. I was most excited to try my Blueberry Lemon Biscotti from Gallery’s Choice with my coffee this morning. 

Hubs decided to attend with me this week and we met up with my Aunt Lynda and Kaitlyn to share in the rest of the town’s excitement about the market and much-anticipated sunshine. 

Post-market involved some various Mother’s Day errands (my part) and fixing a broken sink (Hub’s part. I stayed far away). My list of errands included a stop at Target (naturally) and it seems like it’s every week I find a reason to raid the dollar spot. Is anyone else as drawn to this as I am? I purchased an adorable carafe with a Pineapple on it. We planned on making our signature wedding drink this weekend so this was more of a NEED than a want…right?

I came home to get ahead of some tidying and waited for Bry to finish the sink. All week we had wanted to try a new-to-Downers Grove restaurant called ‘3 Corners‘ so we had been planning this for a date night. I highly recommend the jalapeno poppers as an appetizer. The food was delicious and the company was even better 🙂 .

Mother’s Day began with abundant sunshine again. It was hard for me to stay in bed because I wanted to enjoy every moment of it that I could. I began the day with a long walk around my neighborhood. Afterwards, Bryan and I had plans to stop at Brewpoint for Iced Bartolomes, and bring a cup to my mom at the hospital. Unfortunately, she was scheduled to work this Mother’s Day but I had to see her, if even for fifteen minutes. Luckily there was a lull in patients when we went to visit around lunchtime because Bry and I walked as one of her friends was teaching her how to design her own Bitmoji. I’ve already received three and my favorite is of her as an avocado…. =P

During the evening we celebrated my beautiful Mother-in-Law over a delicious grilled chicken dinner made by my Father-in-law. She requested “something chocolate” for dessert so I made some brownies with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting. After a glass of blueberry wine, way too much caesar salad, and a brownie, we moved to the couch to relax, play with their pup, and laugh at some of Bryan’s bad jokes. I am so lucky to have my in-laws in my life and it was a perfect way to end the evening. Hubs and I went home to take a short walk to enjoy the last few minutes of sun and sat down to enjoy a ‘Honey-B’ (drink recipe coming this week) while we watched our shows.

I feel so much more refreshed going into Monday after weekends like these and I find that I need to be reminded of that once in a while. I hope you too got to enjoy the sunshine with your loved ones these past couple of days and that everyone’s weekend was a happy one.