You know, I love experimenting with flavors. My only issue is, is that it's hard to experiment with making stuff at work (with no stove or oven!). But as always, I make do and today, I made a Pear, Apple, and Lemon Turkey Salad.

Ingredients:
Mixed greens (I love butter lettuce, so I included that)
1 avocado, sliced
1 pear, sliced
1 apple, sliced
1 lemon, juiced
Turkey (got it from King Soopers, the freshly cooked one)
Annie's Natural Lite Green Goddess Dressing (used very little)

Mix all of your fruits and veggies in a bowl or on a plate. Then squeeze your lemon on top, then add a LITTLE bit of dressing on top. I don't think I would have really liked the dressing without adding lemon to the mix.

Enjoy!

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This recipe was a complete experiment. I have never cooked fish before alone, especially without my mom's supervision. I'm just not a huge fan of the fishy taste, but now that I have cut out gluten AND dairy from my diet recently, I decided to go for making some fish. It turned out great, actually!

Now this is something I threw in spices to my liking, so do the same, here. Especially because almond flour is a little more bland.

Ingredients:

Bowl one:
2 eggs whisked
1/2 lemon squeezed
tiny bit of lemon balsamic vinegar

Bowl two:
1 cup of almond meal
garlic powder
onion powder
lowry's seasoning (or emeril's I love)
basil
cilantro
paprika
dry mustard

Steps:
1. Get your pan ready by adding some butter (or fake butter or olive oil) into your medium heat pan
2. Cut your tilapia filets in half and then drench in bowl owe with your eggs
3. Dip the fish into bowl two of almond meal
4. Put in pan and cook on each side for 5-8 minutes or until side is cooked
5. Before being fully cooked, squeeze some lemon over the top of the fish filets
6. Before taking off your fish, make sure the inside is filly white


Lemon Mayonnaise Sauce
Ingredients:
1 tbsp mayo (or fake mayo)
the rest of your lemon juice squeezed
1/2 tsp lemon zest
garlic powder
basil
dry mustard

Mix in small bowl and use very sparingly on top of your fish filets. Enjoy!

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Maybe not my "first" meal, but my first time cooking an entire Passover seder. The only dish I used a recipe for were the Matzo Balls (not the soup part) which was found on the back of the Matzo Meal container. Go me.

I have to say it is fun to cook without recipes and just experiment. Both of my parents had their favorite dishes: My dad, the soup and my mom surprisingly, the butternut squash "potato" pancakes. My favorite was the horoset, the apple mixture. Perhaps this is something I make other than on Passover.

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Lately, I have been making quick and healthy banana smoothies at work, but thought I would try something new. There are some great reasons why you should drink lemon and acids in the morning and La Jolla Mom explains it pretty well.


Some benefits of drinking lemon water in the morning are:

• Helps with weight loss
• Balances your pH
• Clears skin
• Freshens breath
• Relieves respiratory problems
• Keeps you zen
• Kicks the coffee habit
• and more

But I went one step further and made a revitalizing citrus juice green tea. Here is what I included:

• Juice of:
• 1/2 white grapefruit
• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• 1lime

• green tea bag
• hot water
• drizzle of agave to take the tart edge off

I got one of these cheap juicer/squeezers, but mine was cheaper.  I leave it at work and it's great! I also left some fruits for me to juice at work and juiced them. I then took my green tea bag and let steep in a cup of water. When done, I poured my green tea into my juice. Then, I drizzled some agave in it to take the edge off. This is a great drink warm, but add a few ice cubes and you have a nice cold green tea lemonade-ish.


Enjoy!

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I was so excited to make this salad, words cannot explain. I like to go to Whole Foods and get small quantities of ingredients when I make my meals. And have a variety of yummy treats in one.
Ingredients:
1/2 onion
1 tomato
3-4 dried figs, sliced
1/4 cup of candied pecans, chopped
1/4 pound of sliced steak
bowl of romaine
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup fig balsamic vinegar
drizzle of honey
s and p to taste
basil to taste

First, marinade your steak strips in half of your fig balsamic reserve. Set aside.

Next, cut up your vegetables like shown above. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with a little honey. Bake at 325 until you're ready to add into your salad.

When getting your salad and figs all situated and sliced and cleaned, turn your stove on to medium heat and then add your steak to your pan. The steak should cook fairly quickly.

While cooking, add the remaining balsamic onto your romaine lettuce.

When steak look medium-rare, add your figs, pecans, and vegetables to the pan and stir to combine all flavors.

Next, top your salad bowl with your pan mixture and stir into salad. Add your garlic, s and p and basil for extra flavoring.

Enjoy!

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I don't typically enjoy peanut butter (I know, I'm insane, right?), but I am getting myself to eat more and more butter varieties including: sunflower butter, coconut butter, almond butter, and tahini. So I made these cookies adapted from my new favorite healthy food blog, Culinary Karma. Some of the recipe has been adjusted.
Ingredients:
1 cup of chickpeas
1 cup of milk (or milk substitute)
2 eggs
3 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of coconut butter spread (coconut mixed with peanut butter)
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp seas salt
1/4 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

In a blender, mix chickpeas, milk, eggs, oil, vanilla, and butter spread.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.

Pour your wet mixture into your bowl of dry ingredients and mix well.

Fold in your chocolate chips.

Put on baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.

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Okay, Okay. I admit it. I had a major #cookiefail last night. They are a gift for my brother and his family for their birthdays this month, so I wanted them to be perfect. But, they turned square instead.

1 crushed package of snack sized M&Ms

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While we were waiting for the group to arrive, I was making conversation with the other group members about Cuban coffee called cortaditos and we decided to get a cup. What is a cortadito? A cuban espresso shot topped with sweet evaporated milk.
I thought I'd be loopy and/or wired since I haven't had coffee in ages, but this helped me out:
We started off our tasting menu with mini white sangrias and mojitos. Then we had mini empanadas (beef and veggie) which were so tasty, I couldn't resist having a couple more.
Then, we dug into our Cuban and veggie sandwiches served next to a yummy garlic sauce. Again, I definitely helped myself to these as well.
It's funny because I grew up in Florida and I've never had the taste of Cuban food. The owner, from Florida as well talked with us about how the food is prepared (the bread coming from Florida) and how she started the business in Colorado.
While waiting for our bread pudding, we snacked on some plantains, plantain chips, and then had a little taste of heaven when our caramel bread pudding arrived. We also got to try their flan, which to be honest, I haven't ever tasted either. Both desserts were SO good, I went and bought full servings to bring home to Matt. Surprisingly, I didn't immediately eat the whole thing, but if Matt had not been home, I just may have.
Thanks for reading about my experience tasting my first bite of Cuban food. It is a fantastic small place and I recommend you all try it. And hopefully someone buys me a real camera so I can phase away from these Instagram photos :).

Check them out here:
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Yelp

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Came across this interesting recipe one night and thought to myself, how can that be good? BUT, I tried it last night and I have to say they are quite tasty! They are vegan and gluten free (the original recipe is, because I ran out of a few things and had to replace them.
The hardest part by far was shredding the beets. They were messy for sure!
Check out the recipe from Kitchen to Nirvana.
I did a couple things differently from the original recipe:

• Didn't buy enough of each flour, so used a cup of each flour and 1/2 cup of white flour
• Didn't have enough honey left, so only added in 1 cup of honey and 1/4 cup sugar
• Didn't have non-dairy milk for the icing, so just used regular cow's milk

Hope you enjoy the recipe!

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