Raw Cucumber Beet Salad with Parsley

This salad was incredibly refreshing after a long day of dancing and is

packed with cleansing, delicious ingredients. It was very easy to make, apart from the shredding of the beet. My Zyliss julienne peeler did the job, but not without a fair amount of frustration on my part. The salad was worth the labor though!

Raw Cucumber Beet Salad with Parsley
By Caroline Mac

Ingredients:
1 large beet, peeled and shredded
1/2 large cucumber, diced
1/2 cup parsley, washed with stems removed

Dressing
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 t lemon juice
1/2 t balsamic vinegar
1/4 t tamari
1 clove garlic, minced
Lemon pepper to taste


Step 1: Combine all salad ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk all dressing ingredients together. Drizzle over salad and mix until thoroughly coated.

You can serve this dish immediately, but I thought that it actually tasted better after a night in the fridge. Even a few hours would allow the flavors to blend more and the beets and cucumber to marinate in the dressing.


Enjoy!

~Caroline~

Fig and Apricot Quinoa Salad

What happens when Caroline plans on making a recipe and then loses the link? She completely improvises and creates her own version! This turned out to be one of my favorite recipes yet. This dish is great both warm and cold and tastes so refreshing!

Fig and Apricot Quinoa
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup chopped apricots
6 fresh figs, chopped in large pieces
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Dressing:
1/2 cup olive oil
3 T lemon juice
1t minced ginger

Step 1: Combine quinoa and vegetable broth in a sauce pan and heat until boiling. Lower heat and let simmer until all broth is absorbed by quinoa (about 15 min.). Remove rom heat and fluff quinoa with a fork.

Step 2: Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and ginger until thoroughly blended.  Set aside.

Step 3: In a large bowl, combine quinoa, apricots, figs and parsley. Stir until evenly mixed. Drizzle with dressing and stir until dressing is evenly mixed in.


Enjoy warm or cold!

Berry Lemon Water Infusion

This was my first time infusing water at my new apartment and I discovered a trick to seriously increasing the flavor: Frozen Fruit. I would suggest using the frozen fruit if you have a pitcher with an insert, as the fruit gets very soft when it melts. If you don't have an infusion pitcher, just know that you may be getting some berry chunks when you sip your H2O.

Berry Lemon Water Infusion
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
Water
1 cup frozen mixed berries
4-5 fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2- 3/4 lemon, sliced

Step 1: Press Frozen berries into fruit insert. Put Lemon and strawberries into body of the pitcher. Fill with water, leaving room for the infusion insert.

Step 2: Add insert and lid, refrigerate, and let sit for a few hours. The longer the fruit is in the water, the stronger the flavor will be. I thought the flavor was best after leaving the water overnight.

Refill pitcher as many times as you please until the fruit begins to go bad. The flavor will be more diluted than the first time you filled it.

Enjoy!

Very Berry Mango Smoothie

Here's another tasty smoothie!

Very Berry Mango Smoothie
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen mango
1 cup frozen mixed berries
1T shredded coconut, extra for topping
1T rolled oats
6 oz. Plain nonfat Greek yogurt
3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 fresh strawberry for garnish

Step 1: Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.

Step 2: Serve topped with coconut and a strawberry. You may want to eat this with a spoon!

Enjoy!

Creative Hydration

Because of the ballet intensive I've been in for the  past two weeks I've been seriously slacking on my blogging duties. I honestly have not cooked at all, mainly because I didn't want to be on my feet any longer than necessary. As a result, I sat on the floor icing my feet while my mom whipped up dinner. Despite my lack of food experimentation, I was able to mess around with hydration.

I am definitely not an avid water drinker. I tend to stick with teas, Vitamin Water Zero, Zevia, Kombucha etc. I simply don't find water particularly interesting, which results in me not drinking it as much as I should. Lately, though, I've been trying to avoid the vitamin water and hit the regular water... but in an tasty way: Infusion! The basic idea of infusing water? Combining flavorful fruits and herbs in water to make it more interesting and enticing. I've read a lot of articles and have found many websites providing yummy recipes (One good one is fruitinfusedwater.com). I even purchased a special pitcher that has a place to put fruit, herbs, vegetables, and whatever else I may want to use to flavor my water. I haven't made any set recipes yet, because there really isn't a set recipe to use! Here are a few flavor combinations that have been good so far.

Cucumber and Watermelon Infusion
~ Combine lemon juice, about 1 cucumber, sliced, and chunks of watermelon in a pitcher of cold water.
~ You can mash up the watermelon a little to help the flavor spread
~ Let the water sit for a few hours, and enjoy!
~Water will last for a while an you can refill the pitcher a few times, leaving the same ingredients. Just keep an eye on the fruit, making sure you toss it before it starts to rot/ taste bad.

Cucumber, Lemon, and Rosemary Infusion
~ Combine slices of fresh lemon, cucumber, and a few sprigs of rosemary to create a refreshing summer drink!

Here are a few other ingredients that I plan to mix and match in the near future...
~Oranges
~Strawberries
~Lime
~Raspberries
~Basil
~Mint
~Ginger
~Grapefruit

Hope this helps make hydrating a bit more interesting!