Raw Cauliflower Tabbouleh!

Posted in Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, Paleo, Vegan by

Following my cleanse, I made this raw cauliflower tabbouleh to ease back into my normal routine off the juices. LOL this ‘healthiness’ didnt last very long when I had ramen and my gluten free brownies later that day. Along with a weekend filled with alcohol and good food (including McDonalds breakfast and fries). I did counter those things with a 10 mile roundtrip hike in Azusa though! It is called the Bridge to Nowhere Hike! If anyone is interested, make sure you get a $5 Day Pass at the General Store in the little town you pass by before you get to the trail head parking area. Also, parking is difficult (took us an hour and still ended up parking a 1/2 mile away from the trail head). So arrive early (like 8am early) or come by at 12pm when others are leaving from the morning run. You trek through rivers walking on logs and walk on lots of rocks. However, it is a moderate hike, and only very little parts were incline. There isn’t a clear trail, but there are tons of people hiking it so just follow them or shout at the gold miners in the rivers for help of where the trails continue. I enjoyed it so much! It is pretty scenic all the way and you reach the Bridge to Nowhere where you can bungee jump! I did not partake in the bungee jump but it is pretty cool that you have to hike all the way there to do it. My legs are still aching from Sunday so it is a pretty good workout. Took me 5 hours to complete the entire hike to and back so you will get a good workout and burn some calories :). There are parts that had shade, but mostly it was pretty sunny so bring lots of water- I brought 3 bottles 🙂 Check it out and let me know how you liked it! Also, I am so crazy – I drove back from LA that same night and went to Bassmnt to see Dash Berlin and danced the night away so I had an incredible weekend!

Because of all the junk and the good food and alcohol I drank, I made this tabbouleh for the 2nd time this week. So addicted.

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Moist Gluten-Free (Flourless) Brownies!

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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!! I hope everyone has plans, but if not, I will be going out to downtown with my roomie so come with! 🙂 I definitely am celebrating this year full force with wine, brownies, and good friends – no need for a significant other when you have so many people who love you and people you love back ❤ Hope everyone enjoys whatever you are doing and I wish everyone the best on their love life, single life, in between life, and don’t know life hahah ❤ Love love!

By the way, these brownies are totes awesome and totally low calorie and packed with protein (replaced flour with black beans) so make them for your lover and friends who are figure-conscious!

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Pressed Juicery 3-day Cleanse Diary!

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So if you have been following me over the past year you know I love doing cleanses! Last year when I was on a crusade to lose weight, I made my own Blueprint Cleanse and bought a local San Diego juice cleanse a few months after. Making my own cleanse was very tedious, but it was A LOT cheaper than the $200+ price tag for a 3-day. So if you are up for it and have a juicer, I highly recommend it! The green juice I am having now with Pressed Juicery tastes exactly the same as the one I made!!! During the blueprint one, I had the occasional avocado and cucumber to curb my hunger. Also, tons of green tea to improve digestion and get some natural caffeine. The local San Diego one was good, but I did eat lightly, so it was just to get nutrition from it. I also exercised during those cleanses – I had a ton of energy actually and never felt like I was dying. So basically based on my experience of these last 2 cleanses, I began my love affair of cleanses and couldn’t wait to do the next one. So here we are now, almost a year later and I will be doing my third cleanse! I chose Pressed Juicery because several of my friends have done it, and also it was on sale after the holidays for $149 for a 3-day Cleanse 2! A lot cheaper than the normal cleanse price of $199+, and also cheap enough for me not to make my own cleanse again (too tedious!). Ends up being around $8.27 per bottle (18 bottles), so it is a pretty good deal to get it delivered to your door the morning of!

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Salvadoran Pupusas

Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch by

I first had pupusas at this cute little Latin American breakfast joint called Sun Rise Restaurant in the Mission – I was drawn to it because of the colorful cabbage and carrot salad on top of seemingly fried dough. My friend and I quickly ordered a huge breakfast- 2 kinds of pupusas stuffed with zucchini and spinach and cheese with chilaquiles. These pupusas were simple – it really is the salsa and the cabbage that make this breakfast delicious. I loved the runny simple salsa and the simple cabbage salad that had a hint of vinegar. It was a great combination! And what I didnt realize is that it is super easy to make and super healthy too. I love a good simple healthy power breakfast. My roomies mom makes them for her sometimes and she stores the cooled pupusas in sandwich bags and she re-heats them whenever she is ready to eat it. Perfect for the on-the-go breakfast types. Give it a try today!

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Spicy Cheesy Corn Dip!

Posted in Appetizer, Lunch by

Hope you all enjoyed the SuperBowl and got to eat lots of yummy appetizers and burgers! I am a new football fan – getting into it more and more, year after year!!! I had a lovely time laughing at how silly the Broncos were playing and was basically blown away by the Seahawks defense and skill. BOW. Also, surprisingly, I enjoyed the Bruno Mars and RHCP performance during halftime A LOT. I don’t even like Bruno, but I might have just been converted into a fan! Such a great and entertaining old school performer – classy! (Then I came home and re-watched Beyonce’s performance last year and basically she still did it best – BOW AGAIN). Anyway, I was feeling lazy, compared to Superbowl last year when I made pretzel wrapped hotdogs and kale/quinoa cakes:

Although lazy, I managed to whip up a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies, always a crowd pleaser, and an easy spicy cheesy corn dip to go with the endless amounts of tortilla chips. I have to say the dip was super delicious!!! Now that football is over, there’s still basketball so serve this dip up at the next bball party!

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Kuku sabzi (Persian Greens Frittata)!

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Kuku sabzi: it is a delicious Persian herbs frittata with a healthy serving of all the greens you need in a day! How did I get to try this super ethnic dish? I lived with this girl during the last week when I was in SF and her mom had come up from LA to help her move her things. They were hungry and had no way of getting to the grocery store at that hour. So her mom whipped this up for their dinner and my friend and I had a slice. It was sooooo good and refreshing!!! Her mom had made frozen packets of mixed greens for her so she could eat her veggies and make this dish which I thought was really cool if you are short on time. She also made it on the stovetop which looked super easy, so I think I will try next time. I made my own version with the veggies and herbs I had on hand, so feel free to mix and match!!!

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Baba Ghanoush!

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After a long weekend in sin I needed a huge veggie detox to flush out my system – also I crave lettuce and crispness when I’m hungover. LOL I know it sounds really weird but I really like bland things the morning after. I even bought a few ready made salads from TJ and brought it. It was the perfect idea! I came back and of course SD is crazy hot and I ended up buying hella veggies to make gourmet salads. I think I spent like $75 on groceries. Sort of crazy. But then again I am a crazy veggie fanatic. Don’t judge. For those of you who don’t like veggies, there are ways to make veggies taste good! For example this eggplant dip – baba ghanoush. It is Lebanese and is usually served as a dip or it can be used to be added to other dishes. This is a great dish to serve at a bougie Superbowl party, late afternoon snack, or part of dinner. It even lasts about 5 days in the fridge. It’s so perfect!!!

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Perfect M&M Cookies!

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Yes yes, still baking Christmas cookies hahah I found these mini M&Ms at Target for half price after Christmas and decided to get them. I wanted to make these for my sister and my visit to the office tomorrow! So excited these turned out wonderful. They are the perfect crispy outside and soft and chewy on the inside.

Here are some crispy on the outside/soft and chewy on the inside lessons:

For a softer/chewy cookie:
Use bread flour instead of all-purpose because of the gluten in the bread flour
Use a more brown sugar to white sugar ratio
Melt butter/soften in the microwave
Refrigerate or freeze the dough for 30 min to overnight for the best results

For a crispier cookie:
Use a more white sugar to brown sugar ratio
Add an additional egg white to the mix

Of course there needs to be a good balance between it all and for this M&M cookie, I think I found a good mixture of goods to produce a crispy on the outside and soft on the inside cookie! Enjoy!

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Herb Roasted Rack of Lamb with Chimichurri Sauce!

Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Paleo by


My first rack of lamb!!! Crossing over to preparing more gourmet dishes this 2014!!! One of my food blogging goals this year is to prepare more meats and gourmet meals! My dad usually prepares it, but he wanted to try something new and allowed me to take hold of the rack this time! It turned out surprisingly delicious and we all finger licked it all! I love how no fork and knife is required for a rack of lamb – just good old gnawing. The chimichurri sauce really balances the strong lamb flavor and adds a good garlic and lemon spicy kick to it all. Give it a try!

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