Weekend Wrap Up, Grilled Artichokes

This weekend was just what I needed. It started off with a day off work on Friday. We're closed for Good Friday every year and it always feels kind of like a freebie holiday because not everyone is off. I spent the day taking Sam on a long walk, having lunch (ahi tuna salad with a big chardonnay!) at Seasons 52 with my girl Bridgette, and then at the mall returning some shoes. And then I bought a bunch of stuff at the J. Crew sale to counteract the credit on my AMEX bill. Whoops!

Friday night - went to a new bar with some friends called The Family Dog in Morningside that was so chill/cool. I'm definitely going back! I loved the no-frills atmosphere, and the farm to table pub food approach. We stayed there for a couple of hours, and came home pretty early (8:30- 9ish) because John was getting up early to golf the next morning.

Saturday morning I ran 3.5 miles, and walked Sam for another 3, and then spent the day cleaning and reading. I love being outside on the weekends, so even though it was cloudy in the morning I was super happy to be running/exploring with no time frame or deadline. So much of my life is scheduled which is why I think I like being on no time frame on the weekends.

John and I promised each other we'd stay in Saturday night due our crazy weekend schedule lately, and it was a really relaxing evening. We went to our new Publix (which is AWESOME - I'll cover more of that in another post) and picked up some halibut, an artichoke to split, and fingerling potatoes. 

 Before cooking, we sat on the porch for several hours and played fetch with Sam and soaked up the sun. The halibut and artichoke were done on the grill and were so tasty! I made this dipping sauce for the grilled artichokes that we scraped til it was gone...

Grilled Artichokes with Greek Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 large artichoke

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

2 pieces prosciutto

2 green onions, chopped

juice of 1/2 lemon

dash paprika

salt & pepper

Directions:

Trim the artichoke top and sharp leaves. Steam the artichoke for approximately 20 minutes. Remove and slice in half. Brush with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place on grill over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.

For the sauce:

Bake the prosciutto at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until crispy. Remove and cool for a few minutes. Cut into small pieces. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and chill until ready to serve.

This sauce was so good! We ended up dipping our potatoes in it too when we realized there was some left :-)

This post is getting pretty wordy (which is why I need to blog more often!) so I'll sum up Sunday quickly - church (amazing sermon that really spoke to me), lunch at John's aunt's house in the garden (I brought my fancy mac & cheese), walk with Sam, Jillian (not fun after a huge Easter lunch that included wine), and The King's Speech. Loved the King's Speech! I'm so glad we finally saw it.

Phew! OK that's it. Hope everyone's Monday back was a good one.  Did you have a good Easter (if you celebrate) weekend?