Welcome Summer

So it's officially summer now, although it has definitely felt like summer for a while now! I love summer. I love the hot weather, swimming and lounging by the pool, fresh fruit, grilling out, 4th of July, driving with the windows down, the smell of fresh cut grass & suntan lotion, and the list goes on and on. I welcome summer, although fall is my favorite season, but I'll just take it one season at a time and enjoy the one we're in while we're in it!

One thing that I don't love are my allergies. It doesn't seem to matter what season it is this year, my allergies have been horrendous! I'm a sniffling mess today, and I'm hoping my medicine kicks in soon. Is anyone else dealing with awful allergies? Got any secrets to fighting them?

For the past few days I've been swamped with work, and in event planning when I'm swamped that means I'm running around like crazy - like physically running around. And boy I'm I tired and my feet hurt! This is my busy planning season. Although it is quiet on campus with most of the students gone, that doesn't mean the work has slowed down any unfortunately!

Yesterday I mentioned that I've been eating healthy, or at least trying to. Well last night I slipped up a little and ate 3 chocolate chips cookies -- whoops! So to make myself feel better I decided to burn some calories. I cranked up some fun music and ran in place and danced around for about 15 minutes and felt much better afterwards! Does anyone else ever have mini dance parties to burn calories? It's fun, you should try it sometime!

Next week we're having an office food day for June birthdays and I've been searching for a yummy summer recipe to try out. I found this recipe for Chicken Roll Ups on the Pillsbury website and I think it sounds good. I'll let you know how it turns out!

INGREDIENTS
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 medium green onions, chopped (3 tablespoons)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup creamy poppy seed dressing
1/2 cup cream cheese spread (from 8-ounce container)
2 flour tortillas (10 inches in diameter)
6 leaves Bibb lettuce
1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries

DIRECTIONS
1 Mix chicken, onions and walnuts in food processor bowl. Cover and process by using quick on-and-off motions until finely chopped. Add 1/3 cup of the poppy seed dressing; process only until mixed. Mix remaining dressing and the cream cheese spread in small bowl with spoon until smooth. 2 Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over entire surface of tortillas. Remove white rib from lettuce leaves. Press lettuce into cream cheese, tearing to fit and leaving top 2 inches of tortillas uncovered. Spread chicken mixture over lettuce. Sprinkle strawberries over chicken. 3 Firmly roll up tortillas, beginning at bottom. Wrap each roll in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Trim ends of each roll. Cut rolls into 1/2- to 3/4-inch slices.
If you can't find creamy poppy seed dressing, you can use regular or low-fat mayonnaise or salad dressing instead.
A sharp serrated knife works great for slicing these creamy roll-ups.
Poke toothpicks through strawberry slices and use to garnish each appetizer.


Have a great Thursday! Happy summer!