Our Patio in Progress

I'm so excited to share our patio progress, as I mentioned last week we recently bought a outdoor dining room table, two benches and two chairs from West Elm. We loved the clean modern lines of the table along with the dark espresso finish of the table. We also loved the the table can seat up to eight people which makes it the perfect table for us when we entertain. Our goal is for our patio to be an extension of our home giving us extra living space. My plan is for patio & backyard to a be a comfortable spot that my family and I enjoy hanging out, grilling, dining outside and having fun. Before I share progress pictures of our patio with our new furniture, lets take a look at how our patio looked last Summer. Empty, but with so much potential. 



Here's our current patio progress. For now we placed the table near the our raised garden bed, so while we're enjoying a meal outside we can look at our garden. I adore this view and love how this part our yard is ties in with the patio. Do you see how large our tomato plants are getting in the garden? They've practically doubled in size in the last week!







Patio Plans 

As you can see in the picture below, we have lots of room to add more patio furniture. We'd like to add either a sectional or a sofa and two chairs and a coffee table. I'm picturing a sofa or sectional filled with colorful comfy pillows. I'd also like to add a rug to help define our lounge area on the patio. We're thinking our building an outdoor console table to hold drink dispensers and food. This weekend, I'll be filling up our DIY A Frame Plant stand with pots and plants, I'll share the after next week! We have two outdoor lights, but I'd love to add string lights to hang from the pergola. I plan on repainting the four large neglected terra cotta pots and plant flowers, and mint in them and placing on our patio. most likely we'll upgrade the size of the pot of lime tree currently resides in, I'd like to build something similar to this from Williams-Sonoma. We also have plans to build a cover for our crawl space that's located on our patio, once its built we hope it helps the patio flow appear more seamless. 

In addition to adding a cover for our crawl space, we either want to pour a larger concrete step (simular to our step off our french doors, see here) off our laundry room door or build a larger cedar step. Right now the current step just feels so dinky, I want one with more substance and enough room to pots on and fill in the space better. So that's for sure on my list! 


We still have lots of patio cleanup to do and its a work in progress, but I'm so happy with the direction we're heading in. 

What do you think so far? How do you like our new dining table set? 

My Favorite Farmers Market Salad

I've recently decided to add a new series on my blog simply titled My Favorite. I hope you all enjoy this series. I love sharing things in my life that make me happy: good food, great drinks, the perfect workout playlist, yummy deserts, best paint colors and pretty much anything under the sun will be my topic of choice. I'm kicking this series off, with my favorite salad. 

By far my favorite salad of all time is the Farmers Market Salad. I had the most amazing salad at a restaurant a few years ago and I just had to make it at home to enjoy. The salad is super easy and full of yummy fresh ingredients including making your own cornbread croutons. I love croutons in my salad, I find making my own super easy and fun. 

Farmers Market Salad



What You'll Need

Mixed Green Lettuce 
Grilled Chicken Breast or Rotisserie Chicken
Avocado
Fresh Corn (if in season) or Frozen Corn  
Cherry Tomatoes
Hard Boiled Egg
Raisins or Dates or Cranberries (your choice)
Goat Cheese (substitute Feta)
Homemade Cornbread Croutons (see recipe below)

Assemble the salad and toss with ranch dressing or serve the dressing on the side and top with fresh black pepper. I left out the amounts on purpose, so you can easily the portions based on the size salad you want. 


Crouton Recipe

Use box cornbread or make your own. Bake cornbread per package directions, let it sit out (covered) and use the next day. Cut cornbread into squares, and lightly toss them with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes, rotate and flip croutons as needed. I personally, don't like using Jiffy to make cornbread croutons, I find the mix to be too dry. Look for a cornbread mixture that is more cake like in texture when baked (think soft and fluffy, which equals yummy soft on the inside croutons) 

I hope you enjoy the farmers market salad as mush as I do, its super filling and oh so yummy! The creaminess of the goat cheese mixed with the sweetness of the raisins incredible! I'm so happy I can enjoy this salad at home and make a small one for myself, or a large one for my family. 

What's your favorite salad? Feel free to share the recipe, I love trying new dishes! 

ps: Don't forget to enter the Giveaway for a free copy of the book The Organically Clean Home - there's only a few days left to enter!