I've been supremely busy so far this summer, so the less time I'm in the kitchen the better. These are just a minute example of the quick bites I've been scrambling together to beat the clock. Although, it is worth mentioning I started canning preserves and making limoncello!

Cottage cheese with black raspberry preserves and fresh raspberries. Don't knock it, it's seriously delicious!

Chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, parsley, mint, and a splash of extra virgin olive oil.

Good old-fashioned cucumber salad with tomatoes, onions, parsley, pepper, and apple cider vinegar.

Fresh peaches.

I love summertime.

Please loan me $2,300,000.

The home in Ferris Bueller's Day Off is up for sale at Sotheby's.

You remember the scene where the Ferrari flies through the glass garage at Cameron's house? Well that's the place up for sale. Chicago and it's modern architecture are seriously teasing me for being stuck in Florida's stucco jungle.

Surprise, surprise...we're pretty sure Apple is a little girl, not a boy. Bummer. She's chatty as all hell. She is slowly turning white, is quacking, and still a momma's baby.

I never sent you a drunk e-mail, it was Apple, I swear.

Her feathers are all a mess. She's in that awkward teenage stage where her adult feathers are coming in, but she still has her baby down.

She finds clouds pretty interesting.

Muh baby's all growed up.
They had a couple of adult Pekin ducks at the zoo. I can't believe Apple will grow into that!

Mother's Day was pretty awesome. Strangers gave me free stuff, which is always cool. The health food store gave me long stemmed roses and a gift bag full of samples (teas, facial scrub, fun!) and vendors at the Farmer's market gave me free ginger and strawberries, slices of fresh honeydew (perfect for a summer day!), and two ceramic pots! We went to Palm Beach Zoo, South Florida Science Museum, and IKEA to celebrate...me. Or at least to celebrate the things I like to do...and me. Devon and Cheyenne met up with us! It was a very very long day, but completely fun-filled!

I am such a twelve-year-old. I couldn't stop laughing at this sentence.

Ikea had a wonderful marketing scheme to make their rooms look more authenic, they added live children to them! Sweet plan, dudes.
I only need 600 sq. ft. worth of historic bungalow to make me happy...unfortunately, in Florida small means ghetto, not economically smart.

I drove us down there just so we could sit on everything and buy pots for my new plants. I need IKEA closer to me. All in all, Sunday was a win! :)

Lunch can be so boring. Luckily, K has a pretty awesome mom that makes cutesy, bento-esque lunches for her. All of her classmates and friends get excited to see what her lunch looks like each day. What's even better is that, despite being a picky eater, she eats every bite. The ticket to battling a picky eater is to offer bite size portions of numerous foods so they can experience a new taste without it feeling like a chore to chow down. Well, it works for us, anyhow. ;)

She isn't a fan of cheese, or condiments, so her flower sammies are just turkey and ham. The box is filled with raspberries, broccoli, toasted cinnamon flowers, a strawberry (for good measure), all rested on a bed of romaine. Veggie Crisps, celery with Sunbutter, and Apple & Eve juice to finish it off. While this was a simple lunch, the possibilities and variations are endless!

I ordered bento supplies and over the summer I'll be perfecting the art of cute food for K's lunches in 4th grade. (Fourth grade! Yikes! I'm getting old!) Sooner or later, I'm sure you'll see, yet another, blog from me dedicated to our bento experiments.

Last week, we had a male cardinal come into the screened pool patio. Unfortunately, before I could get the chance to save it, a certain (declawed) cat captured it.

Today, however, the outcome was quite different for a mourning dove that somehow found it's way into the porch. Luckily, I was able to catch it and set it free outside. It sure was a pretty lil thing.

Three-Cheese & Broccoli Macaroni & Cheese with Raspberry-Lime Ginger Chicken

• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup broccoli, florets
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 cups of low-fat milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup Gorgonzola, crumbled
• 3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated and divided
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• cooking spray
• 2/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

(Notes: I chopped the broccoli so I only had florets, no stalk at all. You can also use 1 cup of onions in place of broccoli.)

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add broccoli, cook until tender and stir occasionally. Add flour and garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly so flour does not burn. Stir in milk and bay leaves, bring to boil. Cook 2 minutes or until thick, stir occasionally with a whisk. Add Gorgonzola, 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and salt. Stir well. Remove bay leaf.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta in boiling water for 5 minutes or until almost tender, do not add salt. Drain well. Add pasta to cheese mixture, stir well. Coat ramekins with cooking spray, fill with pasta mixture. Combine remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano and panko; sprinkle evenly over pasta mixture. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Sprinkle with white pepper.

Bake for 25 minutes.

I served it with Raspberry-Lime Ginger Chicken. The flavors compliment one another wonderfully.

Yummy.