A pool was one of the things on our list of must-haves when we were looking for a house. After all, we do live in Texas, so “pool season” is pretty much year-round with the exception of December – February. The weather was in the 80’s this weekend, and we were hosting some friends over for dinner anyways, so we decided to test out the pool.
We are still trying to get a better handle on pool maintenance, and in fact, we have a pool guy coming out this afternoon to show us the ropes. When we first started making our list for the house, we both knew we wanted a house with a pool. We didn’t want to have to build one ourselves. Houses that already have pools (in good, working shape) have value added when you decide to sell the home. But, if you decide to build your own pool, which can cost some big bucks, you won’t necessarily make that money back when you sell the home.
I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to check that item off our wishlist, but our realtor (and friend) made it happen. This pool will be one that we use frequently and will be a great spot for our friends to come and enjoy – especially during the summers.
So, fast forward to Sunday. The friends that we were hosting are vegan, so I try to make vegan appetizers that everyone can enjoy, and we cook meat for the meat-eaters and vegan sausage for those who want them.
The lineup
- I made the guac that I talked about in Friday’s post.
- I made a very easy, two-ingredient vegan lentil bruschetta (recipe below).
- Fresh pineapple (still in season).
- Burgers and vegan ‘dogs!
Two-ingredient Vegan Bruschetta*
- Buy the steamed lentils from Trader Joe’s (you find them in the refrigerated section near the vegetarian options)
- Trader Joe’s bruschetta (you can usually find near the hummus/dip section)
- Mix those two together, chill and serve. I usually serve with some french bread, but you can use crackers, pita chips, etc… *For the non-vegan crowd, it’s great if you add some fresh feta!
It ended up being a really fun pool day with our friends. I really cherish my friendships more than ever these days. When Aaron and I began cutting back on seeing people outside the two of us – that included our friends also. So, it’s been really nice to get back to spending time with our friends again!
Have a great week, friends!
