Tomato & Grilled Eggplant Stacked Sandwich

Kalamata Olive Spread

Prosciutto & Melon Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

The best salads combine sweet, salty, creamy and tangy: in this case, ripe summer cantaloupe, cured prosciutto, creamy mozzarella and a flavorful (and easy!) homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Pair that with some mild bitter greens and you’ve hit every bullet point of taste (ok, so maybe there aren’t any creamy tastebuds but I’d argue it’s still an important salad component nonetheless).

Fruit and balsamic seems to be a recurring theme around here, from pizza to jam to ice cream, and this salad is no exception. Balsamic just has the power to amp up the intense flavors of ripe fruit. From peaches to berries to cantaloupe, it’s probably the most flavorful and versatile vinegar out there. I’ve even seen people drizzle thick, aged balsamic vinegar over ice cream (which sounds downright delicious to me!)

It’s so easy to get into a salad rut.

For us, that’s usually a green leaf, tomato and cucumber salad with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Super quick and easy, but also kind of boring.

In an effort to get ourselves out of this rut we turned to some ingredients you might not normally associate with salads: cantaloupe and prosciutto.

I considered calling this the Spelling Bee Salad because vinaigrette, cantaloupe, and prosciutto are three words that I rarely spell right the first time, and this salad has all three. Mozzarella is a tricky one too (is it one z or two?)

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Travel Capsule Wardrobe: What to Pack for a Trip to Europe

Wondering what to pack for vacation? Here’s how to plan a travel capsule wardrobe, with packing tips for Europe and other summer vacation destinations! Affiliate links are included below.

(Blue Wrap Dress; Beach Sun Hat, Naot Pixie Sandal)

Alex and I just got back from a 3 week trip to Europe, where we toted 1 1/2 year old Larson around to Italy, Croatia and Spain. We went for the food, the views, and time with friends and family. But what so many of you have been asking after seeing our photos is something we didn’t expect: Tell us how to pack a travel capsule wardrobe! This was a surprise to us, because we’re food bloggers! So this article is outside our typical healthy recipes. But you asked–and we did learn a lot of helpful tips from our packing list for Europe! So what to pack for two or three weeks in Europe? The three of us traveled to Europe for 3 weeks with just 2 suitcases! Here are our secrets to the best travel capsule wardrobe and packing tips for Europe (including the best comfortable and stylish walking shoes)! Links in the Packing List section below.

Bring enough to wear each outfit two to three times.

The top tip we learned from seasoned travelers about a travel capsule wardrobe: only bring enough clothes to wear each outfit two to three times. What, two to three times each? YES. Our goal was to travel light since we’d be visiting several places and much of our luggage space was taken up by kid stuff. So for 3 weeks in Europe, that’s outfits for just 7 days! We stayed mainly in Airbnbs, so we were able to do laundry when necessary. If you stay in hotels, my parents (who are world travelers) wash things by hand in sinks, or sometimes there is an afternoon in a laundromat.

For us, it helped that it was summer so most of our clothes were on the small side, not bulky sweaters like in cooler weather. As a woman, my main clothing pieces were: 5 dresses, 1 maxi skirt, 3 shirts, and 2 pairs of shorts. I mixed and matched these throughout the trip — scroll down to “My packing list” for links to exactly what I packed!

Determine your style & colors.

Before you start building a capsule wardrobe for any destination, determine: what’s your vibe? The vibe of your travel capsule wardrobe depends on both your personal style and the location you’re traveling to. What to wear in Europe in the summer? Honestly, my first thought was the movie Under the Tuscan Sun and Diane Lane’s gorgeous vintage dresses. So, I decided to stick with a sundress theme with dresses and skirts that were vaguely vintage-inspired. My own personal style is pretty feminine, so I feel most comfortable in a sundress. Perhaps you have a more casual personal style: and that’s perfectly ok! The style in Italy and Spain is a bit dressier so what I chose fit right in. However, do make sure that you’re location appropriate. We took a trip to Alaska a few years ago, and you wouldn’t want to be caught dead in a sundress there! It was flannels and boots all the way.

Next, consider a color theme. This is only important because it allows you to mix and match pieces and bring less clothing overall. In my everyday wear I generally stick to neutrals: white, black, grays, and neutral blues. But for a summer vacation to Europe, I added a few splashes of color to my neutrals inspired by the Mediterranean: bright blue, yellow, and orange red. Every piece of clothing I brought fit into this color schema, which made it easy to mix and match! Now, how to find these pieces…?

(Blue Wrap Dress; Madewell Carryall, Naot Pixie Sandal)

(Red one piece swimsuit; Beach Sun Hat)

Buy just a few new pieces.

Confession: Alex buys pretty much everything I wear. Eeek, I said it! Yes, my husband buys all my clothes online. This happened out of convenience, because I’m a terribly slow shopper. I have a hard time finding things and a harder time making up my mind. Alex happens to be amazing and efficient at Google searching and finding anything online. So, we’ve resorted to Alex picking out and buying all my clothes. It just works better that way! Over the years we’re changing to buying higher quality pieces that are a bit more expensive but that I love and can wear for several years. No more Target runs for shirts that fall apart in a few months! While my individual pieces may be a bit more expensive, the size of my wardrobe has been significantly reduced over the last few years.

Important: DO NOT feel like you have to go out and buy an entirely new wardrobe! Quite a few of the pieces that were part of my travel capsule wardrobe were pieces I’ve owned for years.

(Beach Sun Hat, Naot Pixie Sandal, some look alike dresses below)

Some online shopping tips

Now, Alex has been asked by my friends for YEARS what his tricks are for online shopping for clothes! Since I didn’t know myself, I asked Alex for his secrets to online clothes shopping. Here are Alex’s best online shopping tips for a travel capsule wardrobe:

1. Sign up for email newsletters from online stores; they’ll often email about sales as much as 40 to 60% off.
2. Don’t buy too much at once, since it can be overwhelming to return things when you have a lot of pieces.
3. Shop at sites that have easy returns (either free or cheap, like $5).
4. When you’re browsing for clothes online, use the filter and sort features to narrow to the size and colors you’re looking for.
5. Only keep things that you absolutely love and want to wear all the time. Just because it looks great, don’t keep a shirt you’ll only wear once or twice.

Some of the online clothes shopping sites we frequent are: Everlane for high quality ethically made basics, Madewell for cute and unique pieces, and Asos for bargains with a European flair.

(Naot Pixie Sandal)

Find stylish walking shoes for travel.

One of the most important things I wanted to find for my travel capsule wardrobe was stylish walking shoes for travel. Since we’d be walking many miles per day, I wanted to find comfortable walking shoes for Europe that also didn’t scream Tourist! Alex scoured the internet in search of the perfect stylish walking shoes for travel, and found a brand called Naot. It’s based out of Israel and they’re all about comfort and style. Alex picked this Naot Pixie stylish wedge sandal for me, and when I put it on, it truly felt like I was walking on air! And they held up: I wore these sandals walking XXX miles through Europe and never did my feet get tired. Some days we did 25,000 and the Naot Pixie still kept up. Aside from flip flops, this was the only pair of shoes I brought. Since it’s a stylish walking shoe, it worked for dinner as well!

Find it: Naot Pixie Wedge Sandal

Find your best packable sun hat.

Here is my best tip for ladies for looking good with no effort on vacation: wear a sun hat and sunglasses. I know, it sounds deceptively simple. But honestly, you don’t have to do your hair or have your eyes open in photos! Not only does it block out the sun and keep you cooler, a sun hat is the perfect accessory to any outfit. Win, win, win!  The best packable sun hat we could find was this one, and as you can see from these photos, I wore it just about 24/7. This covered up my beach hair and the days I didn’t shower! Most days I preferred to be out adventuring instead of spending time doing my hair.

Find it: Lanzom Women Beach Sun Hat (Fedora style)

(White Eyelet Button-Down Dress; Beach Sun Hat, Madewell Carryall)

Find a durable purse / bag.

Another thing I wore just about every day was my purse / handbag. I’ve never been good at finding a bag I liked, but I think I finally found one in this Madewell carryall. It’s made of leather so it’s super durable, but it’s stylish at the same time. I prefer having a large bag so I can carry lots of things, and found this bag was the right size for me. I use it in everyday life not just vacation, and it truly goes with any outfit style.

Find it: Madewell Zip-Top Transport Carryall

(White Eyelet Button-Down Dress; Beach Sun Hat, Madewell Carryall, Naot Pixie Sandal)

Bring a steamer.

Living out of a suitcase for three weeks is no fun. As you’d expect, things get pretty wrinkly. My parents are expert world travelers and much of what they buy is fabric that doesn’t wrinkle. A few of our clothes were less wrinkly material, but it made my head spin to try to find pieces all in wrinkle-free material. SO, we got a travel steamer! We LOVED it until we fried our steamer due to the European voltage. Alex has since found a travel steamer with worldwide voltage, so we’d recommend this one. For the remainder of our trip, we made do with Airbnb irons, which also did the trick: so this is optional. But we found it to be helpful (also, we’re terrible at ironing)!

Find it: Travel Smart by Conair Pro Portable Garment Steamer

(White and Peach blouse, Madewell Jean Shorts, Beach Sun Hat)

My packing list for a travel capsule wardrobe

With those tips in mind, here is my travel capsule wardrobe for Europe in list form. Again, caveats are that this is for women only (sorry!) and summer specific. (Are you interested in what Alex and Larson packed? Let us know.) What to pack for two or three weeks in Europe will obviously differ from different countries and seasons that you’re travelling in, but hopefully this can help to give you a starting point. For the pieces that I had existing or were not available, we’ve provided some look alikes!

5 Dresses:

• White Urban Outfitters Abbie Eyelet Button-Down Dress
• Blue Polka Dot Antonia Wrap Dress
• Yellow Mango Tie Back Mini Dress — look alike
• Navy Blue Dress
• White Wrap Dress

1 Maxi Skirt:

• Gray ASOS Design maxi skirt or Gray Missguided Tall hammered satin pleated midi skirt — look alike

3 Shirts

• Yellow Cimiez eyelet top
• White and Peach Hanslet blouse
• Black and white striped New Perfect Fit tee shirt — look alike
• And 1 long sleeve that I only wore on the plane (it was hot!)

2 Shorts

• Madewell Jean Shorts
• Yellow Eyelet Shorts Ten Sixty Sherman — look alike
• And 1 pair of jeans that I only wore on the plane

Accessories

• Naot Pixie Sandal
• Madewell Zip-Top Transport Carryall
• Red swimsuit
• 2 other swimusits (they’re small!)
• Lanzom Women Beach Sun Hat (Fedora style)
• Underwear and bras: I took enough for 9 days and did laundry a few times

Other

•  Travel Smart by Conair Pro Portable Garment Steamer
• Samsonite Winfield 2 Hardside 28″ Luggage
• Samsonite Winfield 2 Hardside 24″ Luggage

A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living

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Chicken Caesar Salad Pitas

Everyone loves a good chicken Caesar salad, but now you can enjoy it in a handy-dandy pita package (no fork necessary!) It’s a perfect make-ahead lunch or an easy weeknight dinner that the whole family will love!

Flavorful yogurt-marinated grilled chicken breasts packed into a soft pita pocket along with romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a homemade yogurt-based Caesar salad dressing that you’ll simply adore.

This recipe was created in partnership with ALDI, our new favorite source for high-quality food at affordable prices.

So, what’s for dinner? It’s a common question around here. We plan our menus once a week, and sometimes putting together 7 days worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners can be an extremely trying task. We find ourselves returning to a few basic staples each week, until we get tired of that staple, then we’re left with a gaping void in our meal plan and sometimes wind up eating boxed mac and cheese for dinner (I fully admit it).

But your (and our) new favorite dinnertime staple is here to save you from boxed pasta purgatory: it’s perhaps the perfect meal, complete and satisfying, with flavorful grilled chicken tucked inside a warm pita pocket along with romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a homemade Caesar dressing.

Ok, so it’s not technically a true Caesar (there are no anchovies, for one, and we used Greek yogurt as our base) but the flavors are delightful and more than a little Caesar-ish: just in a slightly healthier, easier, and less fishy form. This same dressing does double duty as a marinade as well, infusing the chicken breasts with moisture and flavor before grilling. Talk about a time-saving trick!

The chicken is best when left to marinate for at least 3 hours, but feel free to let it go overnight if that’s easier for you. Cutting the breasts into easy-to-manage strips (you can also use chicken tenders) lets the flavors absorb more fully, and expedites the cooking process.

We cooked our chicken on the grill (gotta love that charcoal flavor!) but this recipe works just as well inside with a grill pan or nonstick skillet.

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from Love and Olive Oil https://ift.tt/2MxZ2Iz

DIY: How to Replace a Garbage Disposal…Easier Than You Think!

Is your garbage disposal not working? Here’s how to replace a garbage disposal (using a Home Depot garbage disposal), and it’s easier than you think!

This How to Replace a Garbage Disposal post was created in partnership with The Home Depot. All opinions are our own. 

As cookbook authors and food bloggers, Alex and I cook all the time. And let me tell you, our kitchen takes a beating! Every appliance in our humble abode gets a run for its money—especially the garbage disposal. So we were excited to have the chance to partner with The Home Depot to try out a new Home Depot garbage disposal: the Moen GX disposal. It’s space saving, powerful, relatively quiet, and built so that you can install it yourself! Alex is the DIY man of the house, but since this project boasted being so easy, Alex and I decided to try it together! If your garbage disposal is not working or if you’re in the market for a new one, the Moen GX is a great option.

Garbage disposal not working? Try the Moen GX

Before this project, we’ll admit that we didn’t know much about garbage disposals (who does?). Through working with the Moen GX disposal, we learned a few things about what to look for in a new garbage disposal. What’s great about the Moen GX? This garbage disposal is:

• Space saving. With this disposal, we now have more space under our sink!
• Powerful yet quiet. The Moen GX has a SoundSHIELD that helps deaden the sound of the powerful motor.
• Easy to install! Since the power cord comes already installed, we could install it ourselves without having to pay for installation!
• Covered by a 5 year warranty with in-home service. This one is key and guarantees that maintenance help would be available if we need it.

How to replace a garbage disposal

I’m the last person who would think we could figure out how to replace a garbage disposal all on our own! But Alex, my DIY king husband, is always up for a challenge. He roped me into trying this project with him, and I’ll admit: replacing this garbage disposal was actually pretty simple! The key to the simplicity is that the power cord is pre-installed, so there’s no need for hard wiring. Here are the basic steps for how to replace a garbage disposal at home! (These are not exhaustive, so please consult the Instruction Manual from the manufacturer if you’re trying this at home.)

• Tip: The only thing you’ll need to buy before you start is plumber’s putty! Make sure to get this before installing (we had to make an extra trip to the store).
• Remove the old disposal.
• Install the mounting assembly of the new disposal (here’s where you’ll use the putty!). The mounting assembly is that silver part on the top of the black disposal!
• Attach the disposal to the new mounting assembly.
• Plug in the new disposal and test it out!

This Home Depot garbage disposal project was one for the whole family. In about 1 hour, we installed our new garbage disposal and freed up valuable space under our sink. Even Larson lent a hand! (OK not really, he was napping for most of this but showed up at the end to make an appearance.) We’ve enjoyed using the Moen GX so far; it performs well with the multitude of food scraps we feed it, and is relatively quiet to boot! If you’re considering trying a new garbage disposal, we’d recommend this one—especially if you’re up for a DIY project!

Looking for more kitchen reno & DIY projects?

If you’re looking for more kitchen reno or DIY projects outside of how to install a garbage disposal, here are a few ! Alex and I went through a kitchen reno back in 2013 where we gutted our entire kitchen, and we share about parts of it in the content below. Anything else you’d like to hear about? Let us know in the comments!

• How to Care for Butcher Block Countertops
• How to Design a Real Life Pinterest Kitchen
• Our House: Kitchen Reno Reveal

A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living

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Best Lemon Tahini Sauce