I took the last three days off from social media and it felt GOOD. Sometimes, my phone feels like shackles and I just need to set it down for a while to recharge. I went to a blogger sleepover on Thursday, which was so much fun and a really cool experience! But we literally shot different looks and thought about social media/instagram for 18 hours straight. To say I needed to cut myself off for a while and get back to real life is an understatement. After 78 hours off, I feel refreshed and ready to get back to blogging! Those little breaks are everything and exactly what I needed.

I kicked off this morning with a quick 20 minute clean up and my new favorite smoothie and now I feel like I am ready to take on the world! There is nothing like a productive and healthy start to my week to make me feel in control.

Usually, we meal plan on Sunday nights, but we had a busy day yesterday and a lot to do last night, so I am meal planning while I drink an extra large coffee this morning! The weather looks like it is going to be PERFECT this week for dining al fresco. Whenever we eat outside, I crave fresh + light meals, so we are going to stick to summer salads this week! I rounded up five of my all time favorite summer salads below + our meal plan for the week! I have had a lot of requests for full recipes, so I am going to try to link to recipes more often! In full disclosure, I am not a recipe person. I surf Pinterest a lot for meal plan inspiration, but when I find a recipe I like, I just eyeball it and do my own thing. I do not have the patience to read through an entire recipe and follow it to the T. Which is probably why baking is always a disaster for me. But I linked to some inspiration recipes below that you can easily follow!

PEACH + CORN + BURRATA SALAD

recipe via HALF BAKED HARVEST

This salad is the epitome of summer. Grilled corn, peaches, jalapeño and burrata. If you like any of hose things, you HAVE to try it! We made this corn + peach salad last week with my current favorite salmon recipe. Head to last weeks blog post for the salmon recipe! My bff made this for me when I was visiting her in Minneapolis about a month ago, and I am not kidding, I think we have made it 5 times since then. It is that good.

CUCUMBER SALAD

image + inspiration recipe from GATHER FOR BREAD

This is a summer staple in my house. It’s my dad’s favorite salad, so it makes me feel nostalgic every time we make it. And it is possibly the easiest salad ever. Just mix together the following:

1 cucumber diced or sliced
1/4 cup sliced red or sweet onion
1 cup diced tomato
1 Hungarian pepper (you can omit if you do not like spice)
EVOO + red wine vinegar to taste
Salt + pepper

MANGO SALAD

image + recipe inspiration from JESSICA GAVIN

Something about a mango just screams summer. I love a good mango salad paired with really fresh fish. I am thinking yellow snapper, yum. Where do you guys buy your fish in Chicago? I used to get mine at Isaacson’s and it closed, so sad. I have not found a good replacement.

1 mango diced
1/2 red onion diced
1 red bell pepper diced
Cilantro
Juice from 1 lime
Salt + pepper

STRAWBERRY SALAD

image + recipe inspiration from WINE AND GLUE

I guess I just really love fruit in my salad in the summer. Bonus, bb LOVES this salad. I dice it up really small for her and she eats it up.

1 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 diced avocado
Spinach or arugula (I love arugula, but bb won’t eat it, so I make hers with spinach, sometimes I do half & half)
EVOO + balsamic vinegar to taste
Salt + pepper (I am not a big fan of most cheese, but the recipe above added feta!)

GRILLED SHRIMP SALAD

image + recipe inspiration from PINCH OF YUM

One of my favorite summer staples is grilled shrimp. I actually love grilled shrimp all year round, but pair it with heavier things like potatoes and pasta in the winter. But pair shrimp + a delicious summer salad and it’s one of my favorite fresh summer meals of all time. There are too many amazing shrimp salads to post them all, but lately I am loving keeping it simple.

1 lb shrimp

Keeping with this theme, we are going to keep our meals this week light + fresh! When I know we are sticking to salads during the week, I usually grill a handful of chicken breast to have on hand if Blake or I need a little extra protein.

BREAKFAST

pineapple + mango + spinach + flax seed + collagen peptides + coconut water smoothies

(going to do a smoothie every morning, I need to get back in this habit…I prep and freeze all my fruit)

LUNCHES

cucumber salad

peach + burrata salad

dinner salad leftovers

DINNER

mango salad + red snapper

shrimp salad

strawberry salad + grilled chicken

GROCERY LIST

cucumber

tomato

red onion

mango

red pepper

strawberries

jalapeño

cilantro

peach

corn on the cob

arugula

spinach

romaine

lime

burrata

red snapper

chicken breasts

ALREADY HAVE

frozen pineapple + mango

flax seed

olive oil

balsamic

walnuts

collagen peptides

coconut water