Category: Gluten Free

I am pretty boring when it comes to salad choices…. I usually always get the Chicken Caesar with dressing on the side and I love the salad bar at Village Bagels in Norwalk. I enjoy the mixed greens and romaine with chickpeas, carrots, cucumbers, walnuts and a scoop of tuna salad on top, yum. I also love the Burrito Bowl at Chipotle with lots and lots of lettuce on top, I call that the ultimate salad, love it so much. However, I don’t ever get the Greek Salad or the Cobb Salad or any of those other fancy salads.

Well, this time I found this recipe for a Chickpea Greek Salad and it certainly caught my attention. I just love chickpeas. Frankly, I am obsessed with chickpeas!!! So, when I saw this, I had to give it a shot, even though I am not a big fan of feta cheese or kalamata olives, just too salty for me. I thought my husband would love this since he loves Greek Salad.

My review: It was delicious!!! It is full of healthy ingredients, from chickpeas, to peppers, cucumbers to tomatoes and I added lots of romaine lettuce. I just love the crunch from the lettuce and the cucumbers. Of course, I put most of the olives to the side and gave them to him, lol and I sprinkled less then the recommended feta cheese but if you like it, you can certainly add more. It was very good and so healthy for you, I will definitely make it again.

Recipe is courtesy of another fellow blogger, Ambitious Kitchen. My only revision was the addition of the romaine lettuce. Here is her photo, much nicer then mine.

I apologize for my photo above, it was taken after we ate most of it and taken with my cell phone. Not the best photo. Enjoy!

It’s been a long time since I have posted but it’s been a very busy spring and summer, filled with lots of fun activities, birthday parties each month, vacation, play dates etc. Now, the kids are back to school 😦 and Benny and I are trying to find our own little routine again.

I’ve been browsing through lots of new cookbooks and have picked out a ton of new recipes that I’d like to try. My goal is to post a new recipe each day with my personal reviews as well as the recipe or the link to the recipe. Similar to the movie, Julie and Julia, I”d love it if you all followed along and shared your comments.

Let’s start today with a sweet treat… Vegan Chocolate Coconut Cookies. I made them gluten free so everyone could eat them here at our house. To make them gluten free, I substituted the all-purpose flour with 1 cup oat flour and 1/2 cup almond flour. I’ve found that it takes a little more “gluten free flour” to make it hold up as well as the gluten version.

My review: I thought it was a delicious cookie. In my opinion, I wanted it to be a bit more on the healthy side, so I reduced the sugar by 1/2 and still thought they tasted great. They were soft and fudgy, similar to a brownie. Everyone enjoyed them here, even Benny. We are all chocolate and coconut lovers in this house! This is a great option for those that can’t eat eggs and it is super easy and simple to make, just a few simple ingredients. My son Lucas rolled them all out for me while I moved onto washing the dishes.

Recipe is courtesy of another fellow blogger, Two Peas and Their Pod.

Yesterday, was our final day of the Dr Oz 10 day Cleanse. It was a great 10 days and I have lost about 4lbs and a few inches around the waist. Plus, I feel great! I know, 4lbs doesn’t sound like much, but I only had about 8-10lbs to lose so I think it’s great. I will be continuing the cleanse for another week, so I am hoping to lose a couple more pounds and then get back into an exercise routine.

I started the morning with a cup of warm water with lemon. This will be a new daily routine of mine. I really enjoy drinking that warm cup of water. It’s a great way to start the day. It helps kick start my metabolism and keeps me warm on a cold day.

For breakfast, I had a friend visit with her son so I made us a Cherry Banana Smoothie as well as the Mini Vegetable Frittatas. That’s right, I had both for breakfast, but it was half the amount I usually have on my own 🙂 I also snuck in a cup of Organic Decaf Coffee.

Since I had a great big breakfast, I had lunch on the later side and made myself some Turkey and Bean Chili Lettuce Wraps. They were delicious. Lettuce is a more healthier way to eat wraps and gives it a nice crunch. These were delicious.

For dinner, we just had some of leftover Vegetable Soup. Then, for a snack I had a Brown Rice Cake with Almond Butter. It was a perfect end to our 10 day cleanse.

We’re almost at the end of our ten day cleanse. I am excited to jump on that scale to see how much weight I have lost during these last ten days. I have been patient about checking on my progress, but I definitely feel and see the change in the way my clothes fit. YIPPEE… and this isn’t the end of it for me either. I’m going to continue on the cleanse for another week to support my cousin on her journey. Then, I’m going to start hitting the gym again and going back to my pilates and yoga classes, which I miss so very much!

Before you know it, the spring will be here and the sun will be shining down on our faces. There won’t be any more snow on the ground and the trees will start growing buds. Oooooo I can NOT wait. Spring is my favorite time of the year and this spring we have so much to celebrate! Our little Benny is turning ONE on May 14th, Lilliana is turning TWELVE on June 3rd, Lucas is turning EIGHT on July 19th and Mike is hitting the BIG 40 on August 15th. We have a lot of birthday celebrations this spring/summer! Oh yea, and I am turning 39 on April 26th. I officially begin all the birthday celebrations for the year 🙂

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet…. we are still knee deep in winter, yuk!

So, yesterday on our 9th day, I started with my morning cup of water water with lemon. Followed by a couple Mini Vegetable Frittatas. I love these, they are delicious, healthy and so easy to make.

For lunch, I had sushi. Wait. I had to work yesterday and stopped at Whole Foods on my way down and it was lunch time so I was hungry. They have so much to choose from there so I was going to get a salad because they have an amazing salad bar. However, the sushi was calling out to me…. I love sushi and my favorite is the Shrimp Tempura rolls especially with that spicy sauce they put on top, yum! So, I gave in a little and it was so yummy. I had them make it with avocado and cucumber too and roll it in a brown rice/quinoa mixture, so it wasn’t too off the cleanse routine, lol. Now, that I am writing this post, I am craving it again right now.

As a quick snack, I had a Honeycrisp apple, which are delicious. I shared one with my brother in law who now loves these apples too. I am telling you they are worth the $3.49 per lb. Super expensive but these are organic and so sweet. Nothing beats these apples from Whole Foods, they have the best produce!

For dinner, I had some vegetable soup that my friend brought over to us. She’s so sweet. Benny was really sick this past week and she is always so kind and brought over some yummy, comforting, vegetable soup for all of us. Love her.

When I finished with the soup, I was craving some chocolate. I almost wanted to pull out one of our homemade Gluten Free Fudge Brownies from the freezer, but I resisted the temptation and opted for a Chocolate Almond Smoothie instead, which I shared with Mike. It hit the spot!

Just one more “official” day… see you all tomorrow.

Just two more “official” days of the cleanse.

For breakfast yesterday, I had some scrambled eggs with turkey sausage. My favorite turkey sausage is from Applegate Farms, it’s delicious.

Benny and I went out grocery shopping to Trader Joes, so I had a Chocolate Avocado Smoothie to go for lunch, so smooth and satisfying. If you add a little melted dark chocolate to it, you would turn it into a delicious pudding!

For dinner, I made some yummy Chicken Fajitas over brown rice. I just LOVE any kind of fajita and this is my all time favorite recipe. I think it’s the marinade for the chicken, it brings so much flavor to the entire dish. I like to add in mushrooms too.

Until tomorrow….

We’re almost at the finish line… although, my friend and I are going to continue on the cleanse for a few more days to support my cousin’s journey.

Yesterday, was our 7th day on the Dr Oz Cleanse. We are feeling really great.

In the morning, I started with my cup of warm water with lemon. Then, I fixed myself a Cherry Banana Smoothie, one of my favorites. The smoothie was a perfect breakfast since we had to take Benny to the doctor because he wasn’t feeling himself at all plus it was his nine month checkup.

NINE MONTHS!!! I just can’t believe that this little baby is so big now and doing so much. It was just the other day that we brought him home from the hospital, so excited to have a new little one, so blessed and so in love. Turns out, it’s a cold that has caused a lot of congestion in his lungs and some wheezing. Hopefully, it will work its way out of his system in a few more days. By the way, he’s 21lbs, 10oz and is 30.25″ long. He’s in the 97% for his height and 75% for his weight, just like my other kids. They are all going to be tall like their daddy. I will be the short one in this family.

For lunch, I just heated up some leftover Chickpea and Cauliflower Coconut Curry from the other day. Sooooo good!

As an afternoon snack, I had an Organic Honeycrisp Apple, my favorite, as well as a Brown Rice Cake with Almond Butter. I had to have two snacks because I baked up some Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins for Lucas and a couple of his friends that came over for a play date, and they smelled so good coming out of the oven. It was so very tempting but I resisted!

Then, we made a simple Roasted Vegetables over Quinoa with a side of Grilled Chicken. It was very satisfying and very tasty.

That’s about it for yesterday…. see you all tomorrow!