Design.Wine.Dine.

  • About
  • Design
    • Interiors
    • Events
    • Floral
  • Wine
    • Cocktails
  • Dine
    • Fall
  • Life
  • Travel
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Fig + Prosciutto Salad with Almond Milk Ricotta

September 21, 2017

Currently in Napa, the mornings are crisp, the vines are changing color, and harvest is in full force. It’s clear that fall is just around the corner (tomorrow in fact) and that summer days are coming to a close. I always get a burst of energy when the seasons start to change and I feel it in the fall more than any other time of the year. A new wave of productivity usually takes over for me and I’m inspired to cozy up and try new recipes with a different influx of produce at the market and in the garden. Just as sweet summer stone fruit is winding down for the year, figs reach their ideal ripeness between the end of August and early September in Northern California. Using nectarines and brown turkey figs as our jumping-off point for a late summer salad, I completed the dish with almond milk ricotta, arugula, a simple vinaigrette and Viognier to pair.

I asked our Director of Wine at ONEHOPE, Mari Coyle what wine she would pair with this and she said, without a doubt, Viognier. I was delighted, as Viognier has become one of my favorite varietals since Jake introduced it to me six or seven years ago. I asked Mari for some background on why she selected this wine and she said, “the nectarine brings out the stone fruit flavors in the Viognier, while the figs compliment the spicy ginger and honey notes in the wine. Rhone whites are often mineral-like in flavor with viscosity like honey. This minerality seeks salt, found in the Prosciutto. Arugula plays off the spicy notes again and a little Ricotta sets the stage for the honey dressing which oozes to complete the perfect Viognier pairing.”

Wham bam. Sounded fabulous. And it was. Enjoy!

FIG & RICOTTA SALAD
Yield: 1 serving
Wine Pairing: Viognier

INGREDIENTS

4 tbs. Kite Hill Almond Milk Ricotta
1-2 brown turkey figs, sliced
1 nectarine, sliced
3 oz. prosciutto, very thinly sliced
1/4 cup arugula

Dressing
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
1 tbs. honey
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

  1. Using the back of a spoon, spread ricotta irregularly on a plate or platter.
  2. Form prosciutto into small bunches (one slice of prosciutto per bunch) and stagger the bunches along the outside of your plate.
  3. Fill in negative space with sliced figs and nectarine.
  4. Top with arugula and drizzle dressing over top.
  5. Serve with ONEHOPE Viognier.

PS: Nervous about almond milk cheese? I was too. Here’s a little (actually kind of long) back story on my relationship with nut milk cheeses…

I haven’t talked about it much over here, but I made a complete 180 in terms of my diet and lifestyle this year. With major cleanups to my diet and a new found love for pilates, I’ve tried to reverse years of careless eating and have seen incredible changes to both my health, both physically and mentally. My goal in January was to lose 30 lbs before I turned 30 (April! A bit of an aggressive goal), but when I found pilates and dropped inches while building more muscle mass than I’ve had since college, it became less about the number and more about how amazing I was feeling. I made it down to 22 lbs lost by my 30th and I’m hovering at 25-27 lbs lost now, knowing that one day I’ll drop those last 5 or so. For now I’m happier and feeling better than ever.

A big part of my diet change was cutting out dairy almost entirely. I’ve mentioned this before, but having grown up in the midwest, dairy, particularly cheese, was a huge part of my diet growing up. It was unfathomable to eat eggs, a salad, a sandwich, chili, literally almost anything without cheese. I LOVE cheese. After moving to California and getting into the wine industry where cheese is one of the most prominent pairings for wine, my love for cheese only grew with the discovery of burrata, Humboldt Fog, Truffle Tremor, triple cream brie… it was endless.The thought of a nut milk based cheese irked me and I refused to give them a try until I scrolled past a picture on Instagram. The shot was of a fully loaded sandwich with a delicious combination of sprouted bread, turkey, avocado, jalapeno sauerkraut, and Kite Hill almond milk cream cheese. WHAT?! I hopped on to Kite Hill’s site to see where they were sold and were conveniently at my local Whole Foods. I picked up a package on my next visit and gave it a try. It was love.

When I started seeing figs in the market, I picked some up and started scouring the internet for some new fig recipes to try. A frequent combination that intrigued me was ricotta with sliced figs and honey. I knew that Kite Hill had an almond milk ricotta that would be perfect for this dish and it truly was. I can’t wait to explore some more recipes with almond milk cheese this fall. Cheers!

Dine, Fall, Uncategorized, Wine Tagged With: almond milk, cheese, fig, figs, nectarine, prosciutto, ricotta, summer, viognier, wine pairing

Cleaning It Up // Easter Leftovers

April 19, 2017

One of the greatest things about any major holiday (aside from gathering with friends and family) is the food. And one of the greatest things about the food is the leftovers. From Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing sandwiches, to ham and cheesy potatoes after Easter, leftovers always give me something to look forward to after our families have returned home and life goes back to normal post-holiday.

That being said, I’ve done a major overhaul on my diet and lifestyle this year and I know how easy it is to get completely derailed by a holiday. I vowed to not let that happen and I’ve been more successful than ever at bouncing back after work travel, birthday celebrations, etc. However, in the sake of tradition, I didn’t want to completely change our family’s Easter menu and I inevitably ended up with (easily a week’s worth) of leftovers that I knew were going to kill my stomach if I indulged. In an effort to hang on to the holiday for just one more day, I decided to whip up an Easter “bowl” that would allow me the nostalgia while also being a lot better for me than filling up on dairy and sugar.

I wanted to keep that “honey baked” ham flavor, without the prosed cane sugar, so I made a simple dressing with a tiny bit of honey and dijon mustard to pay homage to the classic. What I love about this dish is that it’s full of vitamins from the greens and healthy fat & protein from the egg. While there are a decent amount of carbohydrates in the quinoa (check your labels), it’s a superfood that’s packed with protein and will fill you up without spiking your blood sugar, causing an inevitable crash later. See what I did below:

Easter Bowl

INGREDIENTS

A few pieces of leftover ham (we only glazed half of our ham so I pulled these pieces from the unglazed half)
1/2 cup prepared quinoa
1-2 cups greens (I used spring mix)
1 egg
2-3 tbs dressing (recipe below)
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

  1. Prepare quinoa (or reheat 1/2 cup if using leftovers).
  2. When quinoa is within 5 minutes of being finished, fill a sauce pan 2/3 full of water and bring to a boil to poach your egg. I follow these instructions and they’ve never failed me.
  3. After your water is heating, place ham in a small skillet over low heat and prep your dressing (below).
  4. Once all components are complete, assemble your bowl, drizzle with dressing, and finish with freshly cracked pepper & a touch of salt. Enjoy!

Dressing (serves two so serve half and store remaining dressing for up to 1 week in the fridge)

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs. dijon mustard
1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. raw honey

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all dressing ingredients and whip together with a fork or whisk until well combined and texture is consistent.

What do you think? What’s your favorite way to repurpose holiday leftovers?

Dine Tagged With: bowl, easter, greens, healthy, leftovers, quinoa

Spring in Napa

April 18, 2017

Swung by the vineyard on Friday to give the girls from Found Rentals a tour. So grateful for sunshine!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a lovely Easter or Passover weekend with loved ones! My parents were in town so it made for a fun and delicious day in the kitchen. Northern California has had the wettest year on record with Easter being no different, so while it wasn’t bright and sunny like last year, it made for a cozy afternoon of cooking and table setting with my mom and dad. Jake and I celebrated my 30th (for the final time!) at The French Laundry the night before with friends (Megan, who was also turning 30 and Erik, Megan’s fiancé and Jake’s college friend & business partner), so we were really feeling Saturday’s wine consumption – ha! The low key Easter celebration was just what the doctor ordered. Here are a few snaps from the weekend!

PS: I wanted to acknowledge what a privilege it was to celebrate at the iconic French Laundry. As two foodie couples, this was a dream of all of ours and we took some time to reflect on that before dinner. Jake and I decided that 2017 was going to be a year of experiences, not things, and it was truly an experience that I’m so thankful for and that I’ll never forget.

F R I D A Y // Happy place


Tiny clusters of Sauvignon Blanc forming.

SATURDAY // The French Laundry (iPhone snaps)


Had to grab a group shot in front of the famous blue door.


Excited and anxiously awaiting the first course!


Kitchen tour! The energy was magnetic. There was plenty of hustle bustle, but I was shocked at how calm, collected, and genuinely kind the staff was. They made us feel more than welcome and even offered to take pictures for and with us.

S U N D A Y // Easter


Easter table with my mom. Recreated last year’s look (more details here).


Spring strawberry salad with pomegranate vinaigrette, candied walnuts, and feta.


My dad’s famous Deviled Eggs (with parsley ironically resembling the Michigan mitten).


So thankful for my parents. It was truly wonderful having them here and I can’t wait for them to be officially California residents in six weeks!

Design, Dine, Events, Life, Wine Tagged With: cooking, easter, love, pink, spring, sunday, vineyard, weekend

Hello Spring!

April 14, 2017

Spring has arrived in Napa Valley and I always seem to have a new burst of creative energy when the seasons change. Excess creative energy inevitably leads me to my little home on the web which is how I ended up here! There are so many things that have gone down in the past few months that I haven’t shared, but below is a quick rundown without diving into too many details.

  • Estate8 is moving along faster than ever (drywall starts next week)! I’ve been posting about this pretty regularly over on Instagram so you’re probably pretty up to speed if you follow me over there.
  • My parents officially bought a home in Vacaville, CA (about 30 minutes from our home) and I could not be more thrilled for them to move here in June! They’re visiting right now to get their new home spruced up and move-in ready in about six weeks.
  • My sister and her husband decided to move to California as well and are officially enroute to the west coast! This was the biggest shock for me of all and I seriously can’t believe they’re moving here!!! I’ll share more on this story at another time because it’s a good one!
  • I turned 30! It’s still setting in so more on that later too… ha!

Things have been crazy busy while trying to juggle the Estate8 project and still keep up with my real full time job at ONEHOPE so I hadn’t had time to think about Easter (one of my favorite holidays) until last week. Since we’re hosting some friends and family and there was no real time to try to think of something new for our table this year (and because I loved last year’s so much), I decided to stick with almost the exact same look. I was flipping through pictures from 2016 and realized I never shared these so I figured I’d get them up here on the blog.

The inspiration for it all started when my parents and I were exploring St. Helena a few years ago and I found these tiny, vintage farm animal caricatures at a resale shop. I had no idea what I’d ever use them for and my mom thought I was crazy, but at $20 for the set, I knew I had to have them. I believe they were labeled as cupcake toppers, but last Easter I decided to put one at everyone’s place setting as a starting point for the look and took things from there. I had these rose wine glasses on hand from a photo shoot, picked up some peachy pink napkins (similar) and a vase (similar), pulled out my gold flatware, tossed in some simple florals from Trader Joe’s and we were ready to go! I’ll be recreating the look on Sunday and I can’t wait for everyone to gather round. Wishing you a very happy Easter or Passover! Cheers!

PS: Links to the products I used (or similar) are below if you want to recreate this look in your home for a spring brunch or dinner. xoxo

Design, Dine, Events, Floral, Life Tagged With: easter, entertaining, estate8, family, home, sauvignon blanc, spring, wine

Grilled Peach + Corn Salad

October 4, 2016

grilled-peach-and-corn-salad-feature2

While we’ve had a few chilly days so far this fall in wine country, the vast majority of our weather is still 75+ and even up into the 90’s.  With temps that high, heavier fall flavors and hot dishes simply haven’t sounded all that enticing thus far so I’ve been trying to embrace easy summer recipes for as long as possible.  After a long hiatus from corn (definitely had way too much of it growing up in the midwest), Jake reintroduced it to me earlier this year when we got our new grill in May.  On a recent trip to Whole Foods, I picked up the last of the corn I could find for the season, as well as some juicy peaches that I could practically smell from an aisle away.  I did some poking around online for inspiration and found this late summer salad which sounded perfectly simple and yet packed with flavor.  Since I didn’t have everything on hand, I made some tweaks along the way and it was absolutely delicious.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
4 ears corn, shucked
4 peaches, cut into wedges
Salt and pepper, freshly ground
2 tablespoons red wine vengar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup crumbled feta
4 cups baby arugula
1/2 jalapeno pepper, halved, seeded thinly sliced *optional

Suggested Wine Pairing: ONEHOPE Riesling leads with aromas of honeysuckle flower and peach blossom on the nose. With a fruity flavor profile of white peach, mango and pear, it’s the perfect compliment to the grilled peach, corn and feta in this delicious salad.

DIRECTIONS

  1. Heat grill to medium/high heat.
  2. Lightly drizzle some olive oil on the corn and peaches and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  3. Place corn on bottom rack of grill and turn periodically until grill and char marks develop (10-15 minutes).
  4. After corn has been grilling for 5 minutes, place peaches on the top rack of grill and turn periodically until grill and char marks develop (5-8 minutes).
  5. Remove corn and peaches from grill, allowing them cool slightly.
  6. Whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper and jalapeno (optional).
  7. When the corn is cool enough to handle, cut remove kernels from cob. Add corn, sliced peaches, almonds and feta to to your bowl with the dressing and toss to coat.
  8. Add arugula to salad bowls and top with peach and corn salad.
  9. Serve with a chilled glass of ONEHOPE Riesling. Cheers!

Recipe adapted from here.

grilled-peach-corn-salad-1

grilled-peach-corn-salad-9

grilled-peach-corn-salad-20

grilled-peach-corn-salad-46

grilled-peach-corn-salad-26

grilled-peach-corn-salad-31

grilled-peach-corn-salad-56

grilled-peach-corn-salad-77

grilled-peach-corn-salad-75

grilled-peach-corn-salad-104

grilled-peach-corn-salad-101

grilled-peach-corn-salad-106

grilled-peach-corn-salad-113

 

 

Dine, Fall, Wine Tagged With: corn, easy entertaining, food and wine, grilling, peaches, riesling, summer, wine, wine pairing

Fig Season! / 5 Minute Cheese Board

July 7, 2016

Cheese Board-2

It’s fig season in California (woohoo!) and I’ve got a slight obsession with them (see last year’s flatbread pizza and fig cocktail recipes here) so I scooped up a basket of brown turkey figs while prepping for our 4th of July celebrations last weekend.  We were keeping things easy for the holiday this year so instead of creating some full-blown concoction, I decided to use them for the base of a casual cheese board since I was still in need of a quick appetizer.

I’m kind of in love with cheese and charcuterie boards and create them all of the time for work and almost anytime we host or need to bring a dish to pass.  There is nothing more “wine country” to me than a well curated board so they’re one of my favorite low-stress options for guests or just a casual night at home in Napa with the two of us.  That being said, there are a few rules of thumb when it comes to crafting a cheese board that I always follow no matter how many people I’m prepping for. Here is what you’ll need:

  1. Something sweet // honey for drizzling or a great jam meant to be paired with cheese
  2. Something salty // nuts – I like Whole Foods’ truffled Marcona almonds with sea salt
  3. Something briny // Castelvetrano olives or pickles
  4. Something seasonal // Figs! Artichokes are also a favorite
  5. At least one type of cracker or bread // use whatever you have on hand, but try to go for something plain that won’t interfere with other flavors on your board
  6. A hard cheese and a soft cheese // Vermont aged white cheddar and a goat cheese or fresh burrata are always great options

Lastly, you’ll need a cheese board and some ramekins or small bowls for olives, olive pits, pickles, etc.  I used a vintage cheese board I picked up at the flea market this time around, but a few of my favorite store-bought options are below. I also broke my own rule #6 for this one because I knew we’d all be drinking whites or light reds and was really feeling two particular cheeses that I had in my cart at the time (a creamy herbed goat cheese and Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog), but I generally try to stick to the above.  Here is what I used:

  1. Something sweet // honey for drizzling // honey packaging is usually a little unsightly so I transferred a bit of honey to a small pinch bowl and served with a honey dipper (both below)
  2. Something salty // Whole Foods’ truffled Marcona almonds with sea salt // you can find these by their artisanal cheese selection where there are a huge variety of fresh olives available.
  3. Something briny // Castelvetranno olives // my favorite olives in the world (see #2 for where to buy)
  4. Something seasonal // Figs! 
  5. At least one type of cracker or bread // sea salt flatbread crackers 
  6. A hard cheese and a soft cheese // I used an herbed goat cheese and Humboldt Fog

Do you have any favorite must-have additions to your cheese boards?  I’d love to hear!

Cheese Board-5

Cheese Board-4

Cheese Board-3

 

Dine, Wine Tagged With: cheese, cheese boards, easy entertaining, entertaining, figs, food and wine, olives, summer, wine

Grilled Caprese Pizza with Artichoke

June 21, 2016

Caprese-Pizza-Feature
Without a doubt, the time seems to keep passing by faster and faster each year.  I’ve arguably never felt so overwhelmed with work projects and with wedding season in full force, our travel game is real!  I travel a decent amount for work and Jake travels about 4 times what I do, so with regular work travel combined with weddings (averaging at 6-12/year for the past few years), our summers seem to fly by in a blink.  One thing I’ve really tried to focus on this year is to not wait for the weekend to partake in traditionally summer “weekend things” in an effort to squeeze as much of my favorite season out of this year as possible.  Since to me there is almost nothing that feels more summery than barbecuing and eating dinner in our back yard, I’ve made it a priority for us to cook together/grill at least twice per week, even when it might be easier to heat up some leftovers and keep things easy.

I’ve been wanting to try grilled pizza for a while now and when one of our “weeds” in our back yard from the previous owner turned out to be an artichoke plant, I was feeling even more inspired than ever to fire up the grill.  I purchased this pizza stone and pizza peel, picked up a few other ingredients from the store and we were good to go.  I didn’t really put a ton of thought or time into researching a recipe for this (other than how to grill artichokes and I went by this aioli recipe) and instead just tried to keep it simple with things I knew would pair well together. This ended up being one of my favorite meals we’ve made together and we’ll definitely be making it again this week – I can’t wait!

PS: This recipe is all about timing so pour yourself a glass of wine and prep in advance if possible.

GRILLED CAPRESE PIZZA WITH ARTICHOKE

Prep: 15 minutes
Active: 45 minutes
Yield: 1 pizza (2 servings)
Wine Pairing: Napa Valley Red Blend or Edna Valley Pinot Noir

INGREDIENTS

4 medium/large artichokes
2 cups baby heirloom tomatoes
1 small bunch basil, chopped (15-20 basil leaves)
1lb. fresh pizza dough (I use Trader Joe’s fresh dough)
2 tbs. cornmeal
2 tbs. flour
8 oz. fresh burrata
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil
Freshly shaved parmesan

AIOLI INGREDIENTS

2 garlic cloves
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tbs. vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

  1. Fill a pot with 1-2″ of water and bring it to a boil while prepping your artichokes.
  2. Prep your artichoke by cutting the sharp tips off the artichoke petals. Then trim the top of the artichoke (cut off about 3/4″-1″) and remove the smaller petals by the stem. If your artichoke has a long stem, trim it down to an inch or less.
  3. Reduce water to a simmer, place artichokes in a steam basket and cover
  4. Cook for 20-40 minutes until the outer petals easily pull off.
  5. While your artichokes are steaming, knead and roll your pizza dough. Add flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and surface.  Stretch your dough to desired size and shape (1lb. of dough dough should create a 10-12″ circle). Sprinkle pizza stone with cornmeal to keep your dough from sticking to the stone. Once dough is in place, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with 1/2 of your chopped basil leaves, add all of the burrata and finish with a dash of salt and pepper.
  6. Fire barbecue to medium flame and place pizza stone on grill.
  7. In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, garlic, the remaining basil, salt, pepper and olive oil. Stir to evenly coat tomatoes and transfer to a grill basket or foil and place on grill.
  8. Remove artichokes from steam basket and cut in half length wise. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and place on the top rack of your grill.
  9. Prep aioli (directions below) while monitoring grill.
  10. Allow your tomatoes to blister and artichokes to char slightly before removing. Scoop out the heart of 2-3 artichokes.
  11. Once dough has reached your desired texture, remove from grill and top with artichoke hearts and tomatoes. Garnish with fresh basil and shaved parmesan. Plate remaining artichokes with aioli and serve immediately.
  12. Serve with your favorite red wine (I recommend this or this). Cheers!

AIOLI DIRECTIONS

  1. Mince and mash garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt using a large heavy knife. Whisk together yolk, lemon juice, and mustard in a bowl.
  2. Combine oils and add, a few drops at a time, to yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until all oil is incorporated and mixture is emulsified. (If mixture separates, stop adding oil and continue whisking until mixture comes together, then resume adding oil.)
  3. Whisk in garlic paste and season with salt and pepper. If aïoli is too thick, whisk in 1 or 2 drops of water. Chill, covered, until ready to use.

EH6A3095-17

EH6A3108-30

EH6A3113-35

EH6A3116-38

EH6A3127-49

EH6A3131-53

EH6A3138-60

EH6A3150-72

EH6A3186-108

EH6A3190-112

Dine, Wine Tagged With: barbecue, burrata, caprese, cheese, eat, food, grill, pizza, wine, wine pairings

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

June 7, 2016

Blueberry-Banana-Smoothie-Feature

Last year in March, a friend decided to do Whole30 and it sounded completely nuts to me.  The more research I did, however, the more I realized that it actually made total sense to rid your body of processed junk – duh.  So I figured, “what’s the worst that could happen?” and took the plunge, joining her on her journey.  At the time, the thought of cutting dairy out of my diet sounded impossible.  True to my midwest roots, I LOVE milk and I ate cheese on everything – my eggs in the morning, every salad I’d ever made, pasta, even “healthy” veggie dips were dairy based and shelf stable.  I was completely against almond milk as a substitute; there was something about the texture I just was not into and having tried it once, I couldn’t imagine it ever replacing milk in my diet.

To try to convince me otherwise, on one of our Whole Foods runs at lunch, she introduced me to her favorite smoothie at the juice bar that was made of blueberries, banana and almond milk.  I was reluctant, but ordered one anyway and was instantly hooked.  After cutting out sugar (except fruit) and milk entirely, I was longing for something creamy and sweet.  This was it and it tasted like pure heaven.  For the most part, I much prefer savory foods over sweet, but lately, I’ve been craving a little something sugary when it’s sunny and scorching in Napa around 3pm – this is the perfect treat.  Since the fruit is all frozen, make sure you use a high power blender (we LOVE this one!) and add a little more almond milk if needed.

It’s been over a year since my last run with Whole30, and while I definitely don’t abide by the diet daily, I’ve still kept a few favorite recipes in our rotation and I’m so thankful I committed and decided to do it.  By the time it was over, I had never felt better in my life.  If you’re considering it – do it!  You won’t regret.

Ingredients

1 cup frozen banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup almond milk
crushed ice (optional)

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on your smoothie setting.
  2. Add more almond milk if necessary and continue blending until mixture is smooth, but not too thick to drink.
  3. Garnish with a few blueberries and serve immediately.

EH6A2793-2

EH6A2804-2

EH6A2809-2

EH6A2810-2

EH6A2841-2

EH6A2836-2

Dine Tagged With: blueberries, juice, recipe, shake, simple, smoothie, summer, whole30

Mango & Avocado Quinoa Salad

June 2, 2016

Mango-Avocado-Quinoa-Salad-Feature

Jake’s sister Michelle is one of the best cooks I know.  Having traveled to more countries than I can ever remember, she’s developed a pretty impressive, worldly palate and isn’t afraid to try anything.  She always knows exactly what to order at a restaurant and always knows exactly what a dish needs if it’s off.  When she gave Jake a grill for his birthday, we invited the family over for our first barbecue in Napa for Mother’s Day.  She offered to make a quinoa salad for a side and I LOVE quinoa so of course I was totally stoked!  The end result was even better than I could have imagined – so deliciously light and fresh yet filling enough to make it a main course any day of the week.  It was perfectly sweet, yet herbaceous and had just the right amount of acidity.  I practically begged her for the recipe and to come back over so we could shoot it together and thankfully she said yes 🙂 The best part?  Nothing about this dish is unhealthy or processed in any way.  It’s also totally vegan so almost anyone can enjoy.  It just goes to show that some of the best dishes are the ones created with the simplest ingredients.

Ingredients

1 cup red quinoa
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 fresh mangos, cubed
1 avocado, cubed
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
½ cup mint, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro
⅓ cup olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa with 2 cups salted water. Cover and bring to a boil and the reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally and being careful not to burn. While quinoa is cooking, prep your other ingredients.
  2. When your quinoa has fully absorbed the water and is light and fluffy, spread it on a cookie sheet and cool in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, and garlic.
  4. In a large bowl, combine black beans, mangos, avocado, cucumber, mint and cilantro. Once the quinoa has cooled, add it to the large bowl and top with olive oil, lime and garlic dressing. Gently toss to combine.

Suggested wine pairing: Our new Pinot Grigio has flavors of mango and would really bring out the mango in the salad.  It’s a light, summery wine that would compliment the quinoa, avocado and cucumbers well.

Recipe adapted from Vegangela.

EH6A2477-1

EH6A2489-1

EH6A2505-1

EH6A2520-1

EH6A2536-1

EH6A2583-1

EH6A2600-2

EH6A2603-2

 

 

Dine, Wine Tagged With: avocado, bbq, grill, healthy, in the kitchen, mango, michelle, mint, quinoa, recipe, summer

Get the Look – Indigo Harvest Party

October 15, 2015

Indigo-Harvest-Party-2

Yesterday I shared some of my favorite pictures from a party we threw at work in September that happened to be one of my favorite shoots we’ve done here at the office.  Maybe we’re just accumulating good pieces that are really versatile or maybe I’m just better at knowing what to expect for entertaining + photoshoot days, but this party was honestly the simplest yet to achieve.  I loved the laid back yet pulled together vibe and that nothing felt fussy.  A relaxed host is the best host, so keeping the decor simple allowed everyone to relax without fretting over every detail and allowed us to just enjoy the evening with friends.  At the end of shooting, we were all able to sit around the table, drink some wonderful wine over candlelight and share great stories.

I thought I’d pull together some of the key pieces to achieving this look below.  For the most part, everything is pretty neutral with the exception of the pops of indigo to bring some color to the space so you could easily make this work with any color palette.  I’d love to see if you replicate this at home!  If you do, be sure to share over Instagram by tagging me @megrobins.  Cheers!

  1. Galvanized Serving Tray // Pottery Barn
  2. Indigo Pillow // A Beachside Bungalow
  3. Glass Candle Holder // CB2
  4. Indigo Pillow // A Beachside Bungalow
  5. Galvanized Planter // CB2
  6. Marble Candlestick // CB2
  7. Pitcher // Ikea
  8. Serving Board // Sur La Table

EMP_6250

EMP_6245

You can view the rest of the images here.  Big thanks to Joel from Studio EMP for the shots!

Design, Dine, Events, Fall, Wine

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 7
  • Next Page »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Search

About Meg

subscribe via email

Insta Love

Shop Pillows!

Recent

  • Late Summer Gazpacho
  • 2018 Harvest Party
  • Life Lately: Golden Hour
  • Sauvignon Blanc Harvest / 2017
  • Fig + Prosciutto Salad with Almond Milk Ricotta

Favorites

Follow Along!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

© Copyright 2025. Design.Wine.Dine.. All Rights Reserved. Design by Bloom.