WIAW: august favorites.

Hi everyone. Hope your week was off to a great start. I drove back to Munich early Monday morning after a fun weekend and came back home yesterday afternoon, just in time for another dip into the lake. Since today’s a public holiday in Germany and Austria I have the day off and as it’s exactly one month into my internship it was  about time to take a couple of days off and relax so I’m home until Sunday night.

Instead of showing you a full day of food like I normally do, I thought it would be more fun to show you some of my summer food favorites or staples. I take pictures of almost all my meals but other than on Wednesday’s I hardly ever share what I eat during a normal day (although it would be fun). So, as you can imagine my camera is loaded with pictures.

So let’s begin with the most important meal. No, not dessert, but breakfast. Although I love oatmeal and it would have to be one of my top 3 favorite breakfasts, during the summer I navigate towards cooler breakfasts like overnight oats. Overnight oats are so versatile and especially during the summer you can add fresh fruit and berries and if those aren’t available add some frozen fruit for some extra nutrients. Topping it off with nut butter is a given, and adding an extra sprinkle of chia seeds adds some complete protein.

Another one of my favorites is Bircher Muesli. This is a healthy way to start off the day and will leave you full for hours. It requires a little more prep time in the mornings than overnight oats do, but those extra 5 minutes are totally worth it. As with any other breakfast you can add fruit, berries and seeds according to your taste and individualize it to fit what you like.

During the summer I also get more creative with lunch and dinners. In winter I like to cook a hearty meal, however in summer I love nothing more than a fresh, colorful mixed salad. When I make salads I start off with green and then just cut in whatever veggies I find in the fridge. I like adding some goat cheese to my salads and for an extra pop of color adding a piece of fruit will really excite your taste buds. This was one of the salads I had not too long ago. I grilled the tomatoes and nectarines, which ended up tasting really sweet and juicy. Delicious!

Caprese Salad is the one dish that we just never make enough off. No matter how big the plate or how much mozzarella we cut, we could always eat more. My mom actually made this for dinner last night. As with all salads you can change the taste by simply using different oils and vinegars. We like arranging the tomatoes and mozzarella in a neat pattern with basil leaves in between them and drizzling olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top. But to add more flavor to this dish we used a blend of truffle and olive oil on the salad last night and added pesto genovese for the typical flavor. Arugula leaves on top with a light drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Perfection!

What would summer by without fresh garden produce. We are lucky enough to be able to grow vegetables and fruit in two gardens so we have a constant supply of tomatoes, berries and other vegetables. Other than the obvious we have lots of pumpkins growing in the garden. Luckily for us we love making pumpkin soup in the fall, but I can’t wait to try some new recipes as well. Anything I should definitely try???

The blackberries are delicious on top or mixed into overnight oats!

One thing we like to do during the summer is go out for dinner. Our favorite restaurant here at the lake house it right up the road, has an amazing view, and most importantly serves incredible, fresh food. We went there twice only last weekend which is great for me since everything on the menu sounds mouthwatering. Here are some of the recent meals I took pictures of. If you’re ever in the neighborhood and are looking for a great restaurant be sure to contact me and I’ll give you the address.

Those were some of my August favorites! Can’t wait to check out what all of you have been eating. Enjoy the rest of your week and HAPPY WIAW!!!!

P.S. There’s a new recipe coming your way sometime this week!

What are some of your summer favorites?