We are having quite the summer weather this holiday weekend. In typical New England style we have gone from typical early April weather (rainy, 50 degrees) to mid summer weather (hot, humid, high 80s) in a matter of a couple of days. I love spring. It usually lasts for about a week around here, and this year was no exception apparently.

My run yesterday could be summed up in a couple of words:

brutal

horrifying

gross

I almost hated every moment of it. I was so unprepared for being so hot. I hate the heat. I do not like exercising in the hot sun, I hate to admit it. My body over heats very easily, so it’s a bit of a problem for me. Oh well. Yesterday I ran 3 1/2 miles starting at 11:30 AM, which was not a brilliant plan on my part. The sun was beating down on me most of the time, and I cherished the few spots of shade on my usual route. Thankfully I remembered to apply my sun screen before heading out for the run – I am happy to report that after two days of running in the sun I do not have a sun burn!

After my run I went to the market and picked up some plain Stoneyfield yogurt, multigrain wraps, and two pints of blueberries (they were on sale buy one get one free). I fully anticipated making a smoothie when I got home. But when I arrived, I found my sister in the kitchen making whole wheat pancakes with blueberries, bananas and chocolate chips. At my suggestion we also incorporated chia seeds and ground flax seeds. I had two pancakes and they were amazing:

Later in the afternoon I went out to Whole Foods to pick up a few items to put on the grille for dinner. I bought two hamburgers (requested by mom and sister). One burger was 93% lean beef mixed with sweet onions. The other burger was lean beef in an au poivre style. I found a chicken sausage with peppers, and got myself a veggie burger with mushrooms and quinoa.

Before I started grilling we had some snacks out on the deck:

Red peppers, organge peppers, yellow peppers, carrots, Stacey’s whole grain pita chips and hummus. Sam Summer was also present during snack time. (my sister and I split a beer).

I enjoyed the time on the deck, especially once the sun was not directly over head:

Soon enough it was time to fire up the grill. I did this all by myself, so I was sort of proud. I used to grill a lot, but had gotten out of the habit in the last couple of years. (Mostly because others took over the job of grill master.) But yesterday I reclaimed the title:

One of my favorite things on the grill last night were the vegetables I prepared. I chopped up a zuchini, summer squash, some peppers and onion. I drizzled them with olive oil and seasoned with freshly ground pepper and sea salt. I made a tin foil packet and put the veggies right on the grill. I flipped the packet a couple of times and let them cook for twenty minutes. The end result was kind of perfect – the veggies were cooked but still had a slight crunch to them.

My plate looked pretty with the vegetables on there:

I really loved my veggie burger, which I ate on a whole wheat bun and topped with a slice of monterey jack cheese. Dinner was a success. My mom and sister split the hamburgers and loved both of them, we all had a couple of bites of the chicken sausage. It went really well with the vegetables.

After dinner we watched The Hangover which was a lot of fun. It was a really fun Saturday.