Couscous should be a staple in your home because of the simple fact that it takes less than five minutes to make! It’s basically granules of semolina made from durum wheat, which is what pasta is made from. See where this is going? If you like the taste of pasta, you’ll like the taste of couscous. Of course there are differences in the taste, but what I’m trying to say is…why not try something new. Right? Plus, it’s a staple in Northern Africa, so if you want to feel exotic every now and then, eat some couscous! I buy mine at Trader Joe’s, I just think they have the best couscous! I made green beans the star of this dish because of the nutty flavor they develop when steamed and pan fried with olive oil and garlic. I knew they would compliment the nutty flavor couscous has naturally. This is such an easy and healthy dish to make and so delicious!  

You know how we all want someone to take care of us and bring us noodle soup when we’re sick? Well this recipe is so basic and easy that you won’t need to have anyone bring you soup, you’ll just make it for yourself!

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 3-4 teaspoons Vegeta seasoning (more or less for your taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon Lawyr’s Seasoned Salt
• 5 oz Barilla Fideo Noodles (I love a lot of noodles)
• Parsley for garnish

Directions

1. Set a medium pot of water on medium heat.
2. Chop carrots and celery. Add to water. Cover with lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling, let carrots and celery cook for about 10 minutes. Add noodles and continue to boil according to package instructions. During the last few minutes add your Vegeta and seasoned salt. Voila!

I love scones because the batter doesn’t contain very much sugar, which means if you add white chocolate chips, a cinnamon sugar coating, and butterscotch drizzle on top, you won’t feel so bad! And there you have it. These delicious apple cinnamon scones have ground up apple chips inside, white chocolate chips throughout, a cinnamon sugar coating, and the perfect topping, butterscotch drizzle. The apple chips give off this subtle apple flavor, making everything else blend together so nicely.  I’m sipping on my morning cup of coffee and enjoying one as I write this. Perfect morning. This recipe yields 8, so if you’re just cooking for yourself, wrap some up and give to your friends, neighbors, family, whoever! They’ll love the gesture!

Apple Cinnamon White Chocolate Chip Scones * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

1. 2 cups all purpose flour (plus more for kneading)
2. 1/2 cup oat flour
3. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
4. 2 tablespoons brown sugar
5. 2 oz apple chips
6. 1 tablespoon baking powder
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
8. 1 teaspoon cinnamon
9. 4 oz cold butter (cut into 8 pieces)
10. 1 egg yolk
11. 3/4 cup whole milk
12. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
13. 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
14. 1/4 cup sugar (for coating)
15. 1 teaspoon cinnamon (for coating)
16. 1/2 cup butterscotch chips (for drizzle)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl mix flour, oat flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a food processor or Vitamix, blend your apple chips so you get a fine crumb. Add to the flour mixture.
4. Place all your dry ingredients back into the food processor or Vitamix and add butter. Pulse about 6 times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can also do this by hand with a pastry blender or two knives.
5. Pour your mixture back into the large bowl and add white chocolate chips.
6. In a small bowl whisk your egg, milk, and vanilla extract. Pour over dry mixture and mix until a dough forms. If your dough is too wet to work with add more flour.
7. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead to hold dough together if necessary. Form a disk 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 8 pieces.
8. Place scones on parchment lined tray.
9. Make your coating by mixing the cinnamon and sugar together. Sprinkle over each scone.
10. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.
11. Remove from over and let cool on a rack.
12. When scones are completely cool, melt your butterscotch chips and drizzle over scones.
13. Store in an airtight container.

A Little Sweet Life https://alittlesweetlife.com/

It’s been about two months that I’ve been juicing everyday and I absolutely love it. Back in August, my coworker told me to watch a documentary on Netflix called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (which I highly recommend) and after that I was sold on juicing as part of my everyday routine. I did some research on juicers and found that Breville was the top pick, not even realizing that it was the brand used in the documentary. The model I purchased is the Breville Juice Fountain Elite and I am beyond impressed with this machine. It produces so much juice, it’s incredible. As for clean up, totally easy and fast! I was so afraid it would take me a long time in the morning before work, but nope nope nope, easy peasy! So anyways, here’s my go to drink in the morning. It’s my Green Goose Juice! I’ve always considered myself healthy, but I know I don’t eat enough greens, so this does the trick for me and it’s absolutely delicious and refreshing. I have a sweet tooth and I don’t deny it, so I have to balance my body and life somehow…juicing makes me a happy girl!

Ingredients

• 8 large kale leaves (I mix regular, red, and lacinato kale)
• Large handful spinach
• 1 large rainbow chard leaf
• 1 white carrot
• 1 large cucumber
• 1 celery stick
• 1 apple
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 inch ginger root

This is the easiest sandwich to put together so I feel bad even calling it a recipe. Cream cheese and chives compliment smoked salmon so beautifully! I purchased my salmon from Sprouts Farmers Market and they never disappoint.

Ingredients:

• Toasted bread (I used Shepherd’s Bread)
• Whipped cream cheese
• Alaskan smoked salmon
• Chives
• Lemon

It’s been three weeks since we moved into our new home in Fort Collins, and we couldn’t be happier! Although moving, packing, and unpacking are always stressful, the joys of discovering a new city outweighs all of the headaches. The first time we explored Horsetooth Reservoir was a little over a year ago when I first visited Fort Collins. It’s truly a magical place and only a ten minute drive from our house, which still seems unbelievable to me. Although we lived only 30 minutes from the beach in California, we never had much time to go because we were so busy and traffic always seemed to dictate our lives. The energy here in Fort Collins and in Colorado in general is much more laid back and peaceful I would say. It feels like people have more time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, which is one of the many reasons we chose to move here. Ok, so back to Horsetooth Reservoir. I think if I went here every week I wouldn’t get bored of it. It is such a beautiful place to escape to when you want to feel a little closer to nature. We are already so close living in Fort Collins but this place is amazing! Boating, hiking, biking, camping, picnic areas, you name it, they have it!

  I’ve always wanted to cook with orzo and finally picked some up while I was at Sprouts the other day. Basically, orzo is pasta in the shape of rice. I love rice and I love pasta so I knew this wouldn’t disappoint, and sure enough, it didn’t. The first time I cooked it I noticed that if you cook it for too long it will stick together really really bad! In other words, it becomes one big mush after you drain it. So make sure that if you do decide to cook orzo, do not over cook it! Al dente is the way to go, just slightly under-cooked. I wanted this recipe to be light and have a fresh taste while also having a creaminess to it so I made asparagus and mushrooms the stars and garnished with a medley of sweet cherry tomatoes and chives. And for added flavor I used some cipollini onions, they were just to cute to pass up at the grocery store!

Every year when Spring arrives I crave salads! For the most part I crave salads that I grew up eating in Romania. My family would always serve a tomato and feta salad at the table or a fresh red cabbage salad. Just thinking about it brings back memories of summers at the dinner table outside in my parents beautiful backyard. Oh how I miss those days. Some of the best memories of my life I have in Romania!

I decided to jazz up the traditional tomato and feta salad by adding fresh basil from our garden and some delicious sun dried tomatoes. To top it all off I drizzled olive oil and sprinkled a few homemade croutons. Add some nutty couscous on the side and you have a tasty and healthy meal on the table in under ten minutes!

If you’re interested in more fresh couscous recipes check out my Couscous Breakfast Bowl, Spinach Couscous Bites, and Couscous & Green Beans recipes.

Tomato & Feta Spring Salad with Couscous

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup couscous
• 1 medium tomato
• 2 basil leaves
• 1 oz feta cheese
• 1/4 cup croutons
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sun-dried tomatoes

Instructions

1. Cook couscous according to package directions.
2. Cut your tomato into small pieces and arrange on plate. Crumble your feta on top. Add your sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with croutons.

https://alittlesweetlife.com/tomato-feta-spring-salad-with-couscous/

  I’ve been making breakfast smoothies for so many years, the only thing that’s changed is that I was making them with whey protein in the past. I have nothing against whey protein and I know a lot of people love it for the extra protein in their diet, but most of the time it just didn’t sit well with my stomach and I would get the worst tummy rumbles! Having been a personal trainer for over 7 years, I for one know that there are SO many views out there on how much protein women need in their diet. We definitely need protein but I do believe that it is sometimes eaten in excess so the 9 g of protein that this breakfast smoothie adds to my diet is plenty for me because I get protein from other sources as well. Since I’ve been trying to cut back on my dairy intake I decided to use organic tofu. What’s great about tofu is that it not only adds protein but also structure and creaminess to the smoothie. It’s so easy to whip up and a great breakfast if you’re feeling rushed in the morning!  

Emma started getting carsick right before she turned one. The first and second time she threw up in the car she was sick and had a cough, so we assumed that she made herself throw up from all the coughing. The third time she threw up we figured it was because she had a big breakfast, but by the fourth and fifth, and….well, you get the picture…we realized that it was just a common occurrence of a carsick toddler. 

We tried to look back on the various times she was carsick to try and pinpoint the cause, but we really struggled. Even if she didn’t have a full belly, she would still manage to throw up if the timing was just right, HA! One thing we did realize is that the stop and go that you get with traffic and traffic lights are a no no. She is still rear facing, so that, combined with the back and forth motion of the car, is a recipe for disaster. We came to terms with the fact that she was most likely going to have some sort of accident from time to time and over the months we slowly got better at planning and prepping for setbacks so that we caould still enjoy weekends and little getaways.

Here are a few things that we do to prepare ourselves:

1. Burp her before she goes in the car. She’s 18 months now, but we still try and burp her before she goes in her car seat. Sometimes she lets out a nice big burp and other times after minutes of mommy patting her on the back, nothing. I normally give up after a few minutes or when she just flat out gets annoyed at me patting her on the back for so long.
2. We put a cotton bandana bib on her to catch any surprises.
3. After we load her up in the car and make sure she has her bib on, we place a muslin cloth over her as well, so that if she does have an accident and the first level of protection (the bib) isn’t enough, she has another layer of protection. We use muslin cloths because they are lightweight and don’t make her hot in the car.
4. We stock a bag in the trunk with extra bibs, muslin cloths, and plastic trash bags to clean up the mess.
5. I also carry plenty of clothes just in case.

I hope this helps moms out there because travelling with a toddler can be stressful in itself, but add in some throw-up and that’s a recipe for a full-blown meltdown.

On a happier note, here are some pictures from our little Santa Barbara getaway (Emma threw up twice on the drive over).

For anyone interested, I used my Golden Pastels Lightroom Preset to edit these photos.