Hello, and happy summer Sunday! I hope you're enjoying this lovely weekend!
I most certainly am, because I'm spending it with my German sister, Nora!
Ready for some Sex and the City 2 action 
Nora arrived Thursday morning and is going to be staying with me for four weeks! She lived with my family for 10 months during the 2007-2008 school year. I'm so happy that I get to spend the summer wining, dining, shopping and playing with this fabulous lady!
To celebrate her arrival, my mom, Nora, Dave and I dined al fresco at one of my favorite restaurants, The Cottonwood Grille, Thursday night.
We all started our meal with a bowl of gazpacho.
The soup was light, refreshing and packed with flavor–definitely one of the best gazpacho recipes I've tried! When I lived in Spain for a summer, I ate this soup almost every day! However, the Cottonwood gazpacho was packed with chunks of avocado, which is a Latin American twist on the traditional version.
Gazpacho packed with avocado and cucumber
Yum!
I ordered jumbo shrimp coctail and a mixed green salad for my entree.
jumbo shrimp coctail
mixed green salad with creamy house dressing
Both were delicious! The shrimp were HUGE–probably 3 inches long!
After dinner, we returned home and enjoyed brownies for dessert. Unfortunately this sweet eat went undocumented. However, I managed to snap a picture of the crumbs the next day:
I think it's safe to say we all liked the brownies. The three of us devoured this entire pan in 24 hours!
And, just between you and me…they were brownies from a box! *Shh!* I wanted to make something sweet for Nora's arrival, but was feeling a bit lazy, so I turned to the trusted Ms. Crocker. I bought the gluten-free mix, since I've been experimenting with eliminating wheat from my diet. (I recently discovered I have a gluten intolerance).
Considering this was a boxed mix, the ingredient list was impressive–nothing artificial!
If you're in a pinch, I highly recommend these! And this advice is coming from a girl who (almost) always bakes her brownies from scratch. 
I also tried a new-to-me non-dairy dessert:
This frozen concoction was calling my name from Sarah's blog a few days ago, so I hopped down to The Coop and snagged some for myself.
And yes, it was SOOOOY delicious! muahahaha
****************************************************************************************************************************
Friday afternoon we ventured downtown for a little shopping fix. After spending a few hours sorting through sale racks at Urban Outfitters and Ann Taylor Loft, are tummies started grumbling so we headed home for dinner.
On the menu: finger food very reminiscent of this meal:
Well, maybe just slightly reminiscent…
But before I share the inspiration behind this dinner, let's rewind a few years …
One of the most memorable evenings of the my 5th grade year was spent dunking chicken nuggets into sweet n' sour sauce at McDonald's.
You're probably thinking, How sad! This poor girl was living a pretty boring life!, but let me explain.
I was an 11-year-old tween who had been bitten by the Beanie Baby craze…bitten BAD. I lived and breathed Patti the Platypus and Rover the Red Dog. Quacks the Duck had a permanent home in my backpack.
Patti the Platypus, Quacks the Duck and Rover the Red Dog
My dedication to collecting every Beanie under the sun only intensified
when the Teeny version debuted in McDonald's Happy Meals. My Beanie collection topped 50, however, prior to my McDonald's dinner, I did not own any mini Beanies. Fast food was off-limits in my house–save for the occasional pit stop on road trips–so Happy Meal toys were pretty much non-existent in my toy collection.
Thus, it's not surprising that it took weeks of begging and pleading with my parents before I made it to McDonald's to cash in on one of the prized toys. Munching on chicken nuggets while playing with Teeny Patti the Platypus made me one happy girl.
Eating at the Golden Arches is an all-American past time. Children, especially, delight in the experience–the brightly colored playgrounds (what kid doesn't love those plastic ball pools?!) and bite-sized foods make McDonald's irresistible. However, it's the toys–like the Teeny Beanies–which accompany the meal that are most seductive.
Or so says The Center for Science in the Public Interest–a nutrition watch group that is threatening a lawsuit against McDonald's if they don't remove toys from Happy Meals. (If you haven't heard of CSPI, definitely check out their site–lots of interesting nutrition/food/corporate information!) CSPI claims that using toys to lure small children into McDonald’s is unfair and
deceptive marketing that is illegal under various state consumer
protection laws.
Read more about the impending lawsuit here.
How will McDonalds' Happy Meals make children happy if they no longer contain plastic-wrapped toys?
I mean, chicken nuggets are booooring by themselves.
Unless they're accompanied by sweet and sour blackberry sauce.
Which is the reason why my Friday night meal was very happy.
I spotted Eating Well's Cornmeal-Crusted Chicken Nuggets with Blackberry Mustard the same day I learned about the CSPI's impending lawsuit against McDonald's.
So it only seemed fitting that I pay tribute to the beloved, possibly soon-to-be-toyless Happy Meal by preparing chicken nuggets for dinner.
I threw the recipe together in less than 30 minutes. The cornmeal served as a perfect crisping agent for the chicken, and the fresh blackberries made a delectable sauce.
Toy or no toy, I'd take this meal over the McDonald's version any day.
*****************************************************************************************************************************
A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who offered breakfast suggestions for my Breakfast Challenge! Your ideas sound delicious!
Keeping with my promise to try three new-to-me-morning meals every week for one month, I present to you…
Breakfast #1: Plain Greek yogurt sweetened with agave, topped with puffed corn, strawberries, blueberries and PB2:
This was quite tasty, however the corn puffs got a bit soggy!
Breakfast #2: Banana custard oatmeal
Courtney from Three Months suggested I try mashing banana into my oatmeal. So mash I did! I mixed 1/2 cup instant oats with 1/2 cup almond milk and 1/4 cup egg whites. I microwaved the mixture for 1.5 minutes and then stirred in 1/4 cup mashed banana. I topped it off with extra banana slices and a few dashes of cinnamon.
This meal was super satisfying and held me over until lunch.
I have four days to crank out Challenge breakfastl #3, and I'm thinking it may involve more oats. However this time they will likely be oats of the overnight variety.
If you have any more must-try breakfast suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
Speaking of breakfast…it's about time that I make some! I can't lie…After just two coconut pancake-less mornings, my cravings are strong. I think a pancake Sunday is in order. 
Enjoy your day!
Do you think that McDonald's should be forbidden from including toys in their Happy Meals?
Did you collect Beanie Babies when you were a child? Which was your favorite?
What was the tastiest thing you ate this weekend?
Peanut butter mousse for me! (It will make an appearance in my next post!)
