Tomato/Kale/White Bean Soup!

It's getting cooler in Norman, OK, FINALLY! I really wanted to enjoy some soup while the weather is cool, and I have been under the weather for the last week and a half. I love Kale, but I wasn't sure if Kale soup would be any good. Boy, was I wrong! This is delicious!

I found the recipe online, not remembering where exactly, but it's nice to find vegetarian and hearty soups/chilis for me and the boy. He can't eat much (I think it's horrible, but he enjoys his diet, and it's for his future success and career), so this was a winner!

Roasted Carrots

Well I just found my new snack! Carrots!

Taken with my iPhone because I wasn't expecting it to be as good as they were. Also I was starving and didn't want to waste time documenting it. Hah!

This recipe is super simple and is ready in 25 minutes. You just need four ingredients, and you'll probably just have to buy one!

Cinnamon Strawberry Quinoa

Good morning my adventurers! Do you know what month it is? It's national breakfast month! Woohoo! I love breakfast! I wish I had more time to eat breakfast in the mornings, but I usually get up too late for class to fix anything.

I woke up this morning feeling like major meh. I just don't feel well at ALL! But I wanted breakfast because I was hungry, but nothing too sweet or too heavy so I wouldn't regret it later. I've had this recipe pinned forever, but just never had strawberries and quinoa at the same time. That's right! Quinoa for breakfast!

Quinoa is pronounced "Keen-Wah."

So here is the cool thing abut Quinoa. It's just plain delicious. I love it. It also goes with everything. Literally everything. And this morning I mixed it with strawberries!

INGREDIENTS
1 C water
1/2 C quinoa
1/3 C almond milk
1 C fresh strawberries
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Drizzle of honey (as a topping)

DIRECTIONS
1. In a pot over high heat place your 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling add in your dry quinoa. Return to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

2. At the 15 minutes pour in your 1/3 cup milk of choice and add in your remaining ingredients and flavorings and stir together for about another 5 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and pour into your bowl, drizzle some honey on top.

Pico De Gallo

Alrighty. If anyone likes Mexican food, then you know that pico de gallo is the best place to start trying to break into the cooking world of dips, quesos, and tortillas.

I've posted a recipe on how to make flour tortillas that are better than any I've had at a restaurant. I've made countless dishes with enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, queso, chips, etc.

I just googled this recipe, and found it on Spark Recipes. I, of course, modified it to make it taste better. I gave it more kick, and more cilantro, because let's admit it: Cilantro wins it all. It is THE BEST herb out there!

Chocolate Monkey Bites

So even though I've come back to the surface of the earth and will eat some sugar and gluten again, my poor boyfriend still has to live a miserable life of no sugar and no gluten. He chooses to live this way, so whatever floats his boat!

I was feeling generous (it happens every once in a while), and came across one of my favorite blogs new recipe, which is gluten, sugar, and everything free.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 C + 1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 C coconut oil, melted
3-4 tbsp liquid sweetener, such as agave
1/2 banana
tiny pinch salt
optional (and highly recommended): 1-2 tbsp peanut butter

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine first three ingredients in a bowl and stir until it makes a chocolate sauce.

2. Pour a little of the sauce (saving the rest for later) into the bottoms of cupcake liners or mini cupcake liners. Freeze 8-10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, blend (or mash and stir with a fork) the banana, salt and optional ingredients.

4. Take liners out of the freezer and top each with banana mixture.

5. Evenly distribute the rest of the chocolate and re-freeze until solid.

Key Lime Pie

With it being so stinking hot here in Oklahoma, I wanted to whip up a nice light dessert that won't cause me to sweat while I'm eating it. Thus, I came across this recipe, via Pinterest.

HEALTHY Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie

My friend Sarah posted this delicious gluten-free vegan recipe and I just HAD to try it!

So, the new thing these days is to go gluten-free. I've been trying it, because lately I've had some health problems, and I'm trial-and-erroring what makes me feel better and worse. Not eating a lot of gluten really does make me feel better. Not eating a lot of sugar or grease has also helped.

Sarah uploaded this pie, and the secret ingredient is something we all know somehow. Whether it be hummus, garbanzo beans, or chick peas; we all know about it. I was skeptical while I was making this, because I could totally smell the bean smell. But when it came out of the oven, I mean WOW!

Quinoa Caprese Salad

I went on a cooking spree tonight and baked three dishes. I don't know if I'm feeling domestic, or just got bored. So I went a little crazy...

This recipe is amazing, I found it on Pinterest (of course) and I love caprese salad AND quinoa.

Easy Fruit Cobbler

Guys. This may be the easiest and healthiest cobbler I've ever tried. Now don't get me wrong. Homemade black berry cobbler can't be beat. While this recipe has boxed cake mix, I must say I'm impressed with it.

I, once again, found this recipe on Pinterest. As you'll learn, I get a lot of things from Pinterest. It is amazing. I am not obsessed, but I am in love. 

You need 3 ingredients. That's it. Just three. This photos shoes a green Tupperware container, those are leftover frozen berries from a previous purchase. You'll need frozen berries, a box of vanilla cake mix, and 12 oz. of Sprite. I chose sugar-free cake mix and sprite zero. The neat thing about this is the berries! You can pick any kind of berries, just get the medium size bag, it's the perfect size. You could choose all strawberries, all blackberries... peaches even!

INGREDIENTS
1 package frozen berries, your choice
1 box vanilla cake mix
12 oz. Sprite

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Using a 13" x 9" glass baking dish, pour the frozen berries into the dish. Next, sprinkle the cake mix evenly on top of the frozen berries. Last, pour the sprite over the cake mix. DO NOT MIX.

3. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Top with vanilla ice cream while it's warm.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Guys and gals, welcome to the best page you will ever have come across if you are a pizza fan.

I am just shocked at how delicious this turned out. Shocked and EXCITED!

I came across this recipe on none other than Pinterest. My goodness I just love Pinterest so much. I don't know if anyone has this much love for a social media site. It just feeds my every desire of color, organization, collection, food... It's just so good.

At first I was skeptical, as I usually am when it comes to gluten-free baking. But let me just say, it's magical. I recently went on a diet to get rid of some extra fluff, so I stopped eating processed sugar and gluten. This became tedious and mundane, so I began to look up recipes with unique substitutions for both. It's so much fun! I never thought some of these things could be so delicious, and HEALTHY!

This recipe is so easy, I read it about 5 times before I started making it, just to make sure that I was doing it right.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
olive oil (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. To rice cauliflower: Using a cheese grater, grate the cauliflower down to the stems.

2. Place it into a microwave safe bowl and cook it for 8 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

4. Take 1 cup of the cooked cauliflower, and mix in the mozzarella and the egg. Add in the herbs and press it into a greased lipped pan. I used a small 8"x10" jelly roll pan. Brush it will olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes.

5. Take it out of the oven and add preferred toppings. I used cooked chicken breast, half of a red bell pepper, a little bit of feta cheese, pizza sauce, spinach leaves, and topped it with mozzarella.

6. Put the pizza back in the oven with all the toppings and cook on broil for 4 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.