Mini Granola Cups- A Breakfast Favorite

Spinach Soups with Poached Egg

Trail Mix Chewy Granola Bars

A Berry Berry Pineapple Shake

Hi Matirulis,

Shakes are something spectacular.  I mean just think about it for a moment, what can be better than mixing all your favorite fruits together with some yogurt and ice and drink it on a hot sunny day? Well, I can think of a few things that are better than that. But, it is amazing the creations you can come up with and how things taste when you combine such different and similar flavors.  A few weeks ago I had bought some frozen strawberries, blueberries, and coconut.  The coconut I tried to use in a very failed attempt to make coconut brownies that I spared you from hearing about, but I still had the berries and some fresh pineapple.

You do not need to follow any specific recipe for a fresh fruit shake. All you need is a blender, some  yogurt or water (if you want it ‘healthier’), and ice. You might or might not want to add any sugar.  “A” says that fruits already have so much natural sugar that there is no need to add any more. I like to add a pinch to bring out the flavors even more.

So what did we do?

We added a little yogurt that we had, it was about 1 tbsp.  We would have added more but we just did not have so instead we added the leftover pineapple juice.  We added about 8 strawberries, a handful of blueberries, and the pineapple.  The you blend it and drink!

It is a healthy snack that can be put together in no time.

Even better, you can make your own ‘healthy’ mixed drinks if you want to have this at night by adding some rum or vodka to the mixture if you are in a party mood.

Hope you are having as beautiful and sunny days as we are!

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Greek Salad Madness: Lemon Zippy Laxanosalata

Chu-chu-ca-chuuuu! (I love finding new nicknames for you as we blog along! haha)

A couple of weeks ago you posted about your phenomenal coleslaw salad, which I tried and it turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing it!! I used the purple cabbage, instead and … check out my rainbow salad.

A few years ago, our friend and #1 Feta & Arepa fan, Fah, suggested for me to read this book: “French Women Don’t Get Fat“. And I am really glad she did. It is a great book about the author’s journey to eating better, by mimicking French women, and what their secrets were to keeping slim despite being constantly surrounded by delicious food. Yes, of course, a big part of her plan was originally set on portion-control, however, the more important message for me was how to make everything you eat look stunning and taste of bold flavors, so that you can feel completely and totally satisfied. This has really stuck with me since I read that book, and has affected my cooking in a couple of ways:

1. I love looking at really bright colorful plate of food when I sit to eat
2. I love lots of variation of texture in all my meals
3. I LOVE SPICES! (or delightfully contrasting flavors in each bite)

For this reason, I have taken one of the most basic dishes in the Greek winter repertoire and turned it into a truly fabulous dish! (Or, at least it looks that way!) This salad is served in every restaurant and every taverna, especially in the winter; due to the fact that tomatoes, cucumber and peppers are not in season, and the glory of Xoriatiki is lost. This salad is made with white cabbage and carrot, basically always served undressed, only accompanied by a piece of lemon. Once I swapped the traditional white cabbage for beautiful purple cabbage and let it marinate a bit before serving, that is when I realized the genius of this Greek creation! This is the recipe you mentioned in your coleslaw post. It is really lemony, with splashes of salty, freshly crunchy, and naturally carroty-sweet.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 head of purple cabbage shredded (not too thin)
• 2 large carrots finely julienned (or shredded)
• 2 tbsp capers
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 – 1 1/2 lemons’ juice
• splash vinegar
• 1 tbsp craisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. (It will look like you have too much cabbage to carrots, but cabbage has a whole lot more water than carrots.)
2. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to let the flavours marinate the salad. (This also lets the cabbage soften and turn completely magenta!)
3. SERVE!

I love this salad so much, that I can devour the whole huge bowl by myself in one sitting… OOPS there goes portion control, haha! Hope you had a great Passover, we are preparing for Easter Madness 🙂

Kisses, hugs and bright smiles!