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Making Time for Yourself
When life gets busy, it’s so important to make time for yourself. In a world full of noise, conflict, and heartache, I’ve found myself wanting those quiet moments alone more and more. And while the time by myself is good for reflecting, I also have found meals or activities with friends or family is an important factor in making time for myself. Time for me to do what makes me happy. Time for me to spend fun evenings out with loved ones. Time for me to appreciate all the good in the world. It’s easy enough to let the darkness overwhelm us. To make us afraid. To make us question…
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“I’m a Girl Who Loves Black and is Wearing Pink”
Bonus points if you can name what movie that quote is from haha I actually love purple, but black is a close second if you look at the clothes in my closet. But for this blog post, I went all out with the PINK and red for Valentine’s Day, and Valentine’s Day only. I love chocolate covered strawberries, and they will always be my all-time favorite dessert, but this year I decided to try something new with Valentine’s Day themed mini donuts!! These donuts provide a fun way to be creative in the kitchen. With so many different glazes and toppings to choose from, the possibilities are endless. I used…
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Mini Cinnamon and Sugar Donuts
I ordered my mini donut pan online and couldn’t wait for it to arrive so I could try out the recipe below I found on my gluten-free kitchen. I tweaked the ingredients just a little from the original recipe, but for the most part, I followed the instructions exactly since this was the first time I was trying to make a gluten-free donut batter. Or any donut batter. These donuts turned out so good and they were the perfect morning or evening snack with a cup of coffee. Gluten-free, and baked not fried, they are a simple solution to anyone’s sweet tooth. Don’t let the length of the ingredients or…
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Gluten-Free Almond-Oatmeal Bake
Things don’t always turn out how you thought you would—but that’s not always a bad thing. In this case, it was a very, very good thing. Here is the link to the Popsugar recipe I was looking at when I decided to make baked almond-oatmeal bars. I may still go back and try these again following the recipe, but to see what I changed and added, take a look below for my own version of this delicious breakfast oatmeal “bar”. **Disclaimer** I did stop measuring at some point during this recipe and eye-balled my ingredients, but the below measurements are pretty close to what I used. Don’t always feel like…
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Mini Bacon-Spinach Breakfast Quiche Bites
If you’re like me, then weekday breakfast can be tricky. I usually wake up with enough time to grab yogurt or a granola bar from the kitchen and take it with me to eat at work. That can get boring pretty quickly and it doesn’t always provide all the nutrients I’m looking for in the morning. Thankfully, there are a lot of options out there for mini-breakfast quiche, egg-bites, or nutrient packed muffins. After looking through a few different recipes, I decided to go ahead and create one of my own with some of my favorite omelet ingredients. The ingredients below can be modified to your taste for a delicious start…
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Christmas Fudge
We can all thank a lazy, snowy Saturday morning and Ree Drummond from Pioneer Woman for this one haha. I was watching the Food Network this morning and she said her recipe for Peppermint Fudge, was quick and easy, so I decided to give it a try! Three simple ingredients, 10-15 minutes in the kitchen, and 2 hours in the refrigerator, this fun, festive peppermint fudge couldn’t have been any easier. A few things to keep in mind: Lining your pan with aluminum foil and spraying it with cooking spray is a life saver–don’t skip this step! Breaking up the peppermint candies is loud and hard on your countertops. Make sure to use…
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Giving Thanks
This was going to be a long-winded post on Thanksgiving, what it means to be Greek-American on this holiday, and how adjusting to being gluten-free has been going (more on that later), but really, when I think about it, it all comes down to one thing: being thankful. Thankful for a holiday that I get to share with my family. Thankful that the family I’m surrounded by shares a rich culture. And thankful for my health and the health of family and friends. Sometimes it’s the little things that go unsaid that can really make a difference. So be thankful for all that you have, spend time with family and…
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Anniversary Piña Coladas!
Piña coladas are my mom’s favorite so of course they were my go-to drink for my parents’ 34th wedding anniversary! I’ve made piña coladas before, usually using one of the frozen juice mixes where you just add rum and blend–but this time, I wanted to use some fresh ingredients and I wanted all of the flavors to incorporate together. There have been a few times where the coconut flavor has been too overpowering or it felt like I was just drinking a pineapple smoothie (which is also delicious, but not what I was going for). Thankfully, this time turned out great in terms of flavor and consistency, and my parents…
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Sweet and Tangy Key Lime Pies
What better way to say goodbye to summer than with individual key lime pies! This recipe took some research because I wanted to get the filling just right, and I wanted to really bring out the lime flavor, but I didn’t want to use egg yolks or commit time to baking these pies. So, I found a few no-bake, eggless recipes and I tweaked them to include both lime zest and lime juice. I love how these turned out and I’m really happy with how the filling combines a sweet and tart flavor profile to make a delicious pie. My biggest tip for this recipe is to be patient and…
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Reading On-the-Go
One thing I’ve learned about myself the last 2 years is that when your job involves reading and writing full time, it can be really hard to sit down and enjoy reading just for fun. Maybe it’s sitting for 8 hours a day that makes me restless or the constant stream of words in front of me that makes it difficult to come home and want to spend any more time on the computer or sitting down to read a good book. Whatever the reason may be, I knew that I missed reading too much to just abandon curling up with a good book–enter my newfound love of poetry. Poetry…
