I am ready to be done with winter. This one has been so cold! I had a tiny break last weekend in Florida and since then I've been craving the sun's warmth. Luckily I have a longer trip in just a week to sunny Australia! But in the meantime I want to feel like I'm already soaking up the sun, even if I'm actually bundled up in a sweater and its 20 degrees outside. The best way to do this? Eating food that reminds me of summer!
And that's where this delicious salad comes in. Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries come together in all their berry-glory to brighten up a bed a spinach. With the addition of thinly sliced cucumber, creamy blue cheese, and a lemon vinaigrette it becomes instantly refreshing. Ahh, I can already feel that summer sun beating down on me. My boyfriend and I are headed down to Florida this weekend (Universal and Daytona 500, here we come!), so we need to make sure we use up everything we have in our fridge. This means lots of meals where we just throw things together. We have already done pasta, stirfry, salad...and frankly we wanted something new. I started to realize lots of what we had went together quite well - avocado, greek yogurt, black beans, ground meat, cheese, tortilla chips - so I set out to buy a lime and some cilantro to tie it all together!
I was raised in a house full of sports fans, though I never really got into it myself. However, whenever the Superbowl came around I would get really excited for the food, the commercials, and even the game. Every year my family would go to my grandparents' house and enjoy good eats and good company. As I got older and moved away from home I had to start my own tradition. So every year, without fail, I make buffalo chicken dip. This stuff is CRACK - so delicious, so addictive, so satisfying...don't say I didn't warn you.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I just get tired of the same old breakfast foods. Eggs, oatmeal, pancakes...they're all great, of course. I like to change it up every now and then though by taking one typical aspect of breakfast and doing something less common with it.
Easily one of my favorite parts of my first meal of the day is toast. A good, grainy, satisfying piece of toast. The best part about toast? The possibilities of what you use as spreads or toppings are endless! In this recipe I use the bright, refreshing flavors of lemon and apple to wake me up and get my day started on a delicious note! With it being holiday party season, chances are you have have been asked to bring something to a party you've been invited to. Buying something totally pre-made just doesn't seem special enough, yet making something from scratch just seems so time consuming - especially for this time of year when you have gifts to buy and wrap and work to finish up before the actual holiday. The solution? Meet in the middle and bring something semi-homemade!
I originally had planned on making puff pastry for this recipe from scratch. But then I started thinking about the day ahead of me - I had Christmas cards to make, presents to finish crocheting, grocery shopping to do...and not enough time to do all of it! Buying pre-made, frozen puff pastry sheets makes a world of difference in time management! With just a few other ingredients you'll be ready to make THE holiday appetizer people can't stop raving about. |
AuthorAli is a Brooklyn based blogger and Certified Health Coach with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, providing you with recipes to inspire you to cook more at home! She is a firm believer in knowing that eating healthy can be made easy and inexpensive if you simply know how to cook and understands that for the average person there needs to be balance between "healthy" and "unhealthy". Whether you are looking for easy weeknight recipes, delicious snacks, or want to try something new, Ali's recipes are easy to follow at all skill levels! For more info about Ali and her offerings, check out the About page. Categories
All
|