Photo by Molly Leon

Happy Friday, lovelies! What are you all doing this weekend? We're heading to Weston's first concert...! We're heading to The Sandbox to see Kerri Wirth perform. I'm thrilled to bring Eric to his first visit to The Sandbox and see Weston's reaction to his first real concert. I have so many exciting things happening, with writing, projects, and many giveaways coming up this month...so stay tuned! In the meantime, check out these lovely links I've collected this week!

• Free Range Katy has a beautiful post on having a brother with severe food allergies. I can relate! Jenny has many pretty serious food allergies and I feel like I spend our time eating out double checking that she's okay!
• Elissa May, Jenny's childhood best friend, is attempting to open up a Pop-Up Taco Shop, Dos Gringos Locas, in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts. I love that their whole concept is based around the fact that they want you to enjoy the people you are with, and not worry about cooking delicious food! I'm pretty much always up for a taco, so go donate and you can get some goodies in return! 
• Wow, this paleo blackberry cobbler looks so delicious...will definitely be making when my sugar detox is over! 
• If you're around Long Island on Friday, September 19th, check out an event hosted by The Chocolate Duck: learn how to make chocolate fondue, truffles, and caramel nut clusters....yum. The Chocolate Duck provides snacks, it's $45 a head...but 50% of all proceeds will be going to Bundles of Love Animal Rescue, so it's a win-win! Make and eat chocolate and help animals? Uh, duh! You can see all the details here. 
• I love this $1 art DIY from Delighted Momma! 

I wanted to share the traditional Russian Honey cake recipe I made for Andrey for his birthday. I used Olga's Flavor Factory's recipe and it turned out AMAZING. My advice would be not to make it when taking care of your 6 month old nephew, because the layers each cook for 4-5 minutes, so it's a quick and oven open-close heavy recipe. I would also either make 1.5 times the frosting or just straight up double the frosting - everyone was enjoying scraping the bowl as a dip with the scrap pieces of cake. I also want to try making 1.5 times of the cake recipe and making the cake taller (and probably less stable)- but taller would look so cool! The cake was delicious- even though I strictly NEVER eat dairy (highly allergic) I actually had a bite and it was so worth it, even if I was fairly sick for the rest of the night. And that says a lot.

Happy Friday, lovelies! Did this week seem long or is it just me? Perhaps it's because I've been up every two hours every night feeding Mr. Tiny Man? We're getting by over here, and enjoying the little cooler weather! I'm still in shock summer is over since I sort of missed the last two weeks of it!

Before you embark on your garage sale-ing/gardening/brunch with friends tomorrow morning, cuddle up with a cup of coffee and check out these links we've loved this week...and have a gorgeous Saturday and Sunday!

• I started my Post Baby Whole30 this Monday and it's going well so far! It is truly amazing how much eating clean can fix your mind, body, and spirit. Here's what I've been eating on day one, day two, day three, and day four. 
• We love these ten pieces of simple wisdom from Holly! 
• Even though summer is almost (?) over...these watermelon-avocado bites from Meatified look truly mouth watering (and Whole30 approved!). 
• This adorable faux-leather baby boy's Joe Fresh jacket came this week and I love it! It's on a great sale, too. 
• When my Whole30 is over, and I still continue to eat paleo, I'm totally going to make these paleo pecan and chocolate chip cookies from Delighted Momma! 
• I'm sort of obsessed with this list of new mom challenges from Rookie Moms...I've got to start in on this list! 

Roasted chicken in the oven.

This weekend, I dub thee: weekend of the chicken. Why? Well, it seems that I was up to my ears in cooking chicken! It all started on Thursday when I got my new Paleo cookbooks (hooray!), and each of them had a simple recipe for roasted chicken, as well as a simple recipe for bone broth, from the chicken carcass. Suddenly, I got obsessed with cooking a roast chicken. I'd never done it before! Literally, it's all I could think about. So, Friday afternoon I stopped at the market on my way home and got a 4 pound chicken, carrots, celery, onions, and lemon. Saturday afternoon, since we were going to be home all day, around 11am, I took a deep breath, unleashed the chicken, and got to work. Know what? It was so easy! I put coconut oil in the pan; I spread chopped onions and carrots down, and then threw the chicken on top. Spread a little coconut oil on the chicken, and covered with salt and pepper (and some Bragg's seasoning). I stuffed the chicken with lemon wedges, garlic, and onions. At 375 degrees, they say that for every pound of chicken, it's 20 minutes in the oven...and "they" weren't wrong! I happened to have a meat thermometer (ah, the things you buy and think you'll never use), and at 80 minutes, I checked my chicken, and it was 170 degrees (165 is safe for chicken). I let it go about 10 minutes more, then turned off the oven.

Guess what? It was delicious! Even my father-in-law said so, and he wouldn't lie to me just to be nice, right? Ha, well, it was moist, and flavorful...and between my father-in-law and I, we demolished the thing (to be fair, he had a totally normal portion size, and I didn't...).

After I finished off the chicken, I threw the carcass, the veggies, and the juice into a pot, filled it with water, added a little apple cider vinegar, and let it simmer on low for 4 hours. Couldn't be easier! It was so full of flavor....I can't wait to make it again! It made 3 mason jars full, and I had one of them later that weekend with spaghetti squash (ala chicken noodle soup).

But, that wasn't the end of the chicken weekend. One of Eric's favorite meals I make is Chicken and Dumplings, and he requested it for when his dad was here last weekend. I always follow this recipe, and it always turns out great (I assume, I've never tried it!). The menfolk had it with green beans and I made homemade corn bread.

Chicken, you are so delicious and versatile. I can't wait to do more with you!

(You all talk to your food, too, right? Right?)

It's done! I even used a meat thermometer to make sure.

Said roasted chicken became chicken broth. Amazing.

And, chicken and dumplings for the menfolk.

Lovelies, on Friday I posted that I was so excited for my mini-daycations this weekend...and they turned out just as I had hoped! Relaxing, fun, and as always, surprising...on Saturday I worked on a lot of my curriculum stuff for 6th grade, ate a delicious salad with salmon on it (thanks, Lovely Grandmother!), and read my New York Mags. On Sunday, I posted the above photo of me drinking my tea and working, and lovely Ms. Cleo saw it, and came out to find me! I haven't seen her in years, and I was so excited to meet her awesome fiancé. We caught up, chatted about weddings, and listened to Eric play the bass. It was such a nice way to end the weekend. When we came home, I made spaghetti (for Eric) and zoodles (zucchini noodles, for me), sauce, and meatballs...and watched The Emmys!