How we fought off the winter greys ~

The morning's walk with the dog was beautiful; the sun felt warm, and the air smelled sweet. This was not the case last week. Last week I thought I was going to suffocate in the dreary, grey, cold winter weather. It's not that the winter has been bad, just long, and rather mild with a lack of quality snow storms {the kind that require you to stay inside and hibernate like all good animals should}. Instead of staying in, we just had to trudge through it, and at this point we're ready for spring. Calder was feeling the weight of winter too, so we fought off last week's winter greys with a whole pile of sunshine in the kitchen.

It started with juicing the last of the Christmas grapefruits:: The pitcher of juice provided a few days worth of enjoyment and vitamin C, and by the end Calder and I were bartering for the last delicious drop. He drinks his straight up, I mix mine with seltzer water for a bit of fizz.

Then it was time to test out the new jellyroll pan, so I baked a meyer lemon spongecake and filled it with an almond buttercream {meyer lemons and almonds ~ two delicious crops from the sunshine state}::

And finally, there's nothing like a rainbow of color on your plate to add some sunshine to your day. This is a simple kale, beet and quinoa salad :: To put this together:
~ roast some cubed beets, sliced carrots, bell peppers and onions in the oven {with a bit of olive oil and salt}
~ cook some quinoa on the stovetop
~ sauté kale and garlic in olive oil
~ chop up some cherry tomatoes and cucumbers
~ mix it all together and enjoy! If you want a bit more flavor, you could add your favorite vinaigrette. We keep it in the fridge and eat it for lunch throughout the week.

The first snowdrop bloomed over the weekend and the daffodils are popping up, it looks like we may survive after all...