The perfect summertime refreshment!

It was a typical morning for me -- lounging around, watching the TV, and doing my thing. I was watching the Today show when Martha Stewart came on to give a couple of summer time recipes. One of these recipes was her "Summer Fruit White Sangria". It sounded beyond delicious and looked super easy, so I knew that I had to make it. Not to mention, I had a giant fruit bowl from Costco that I needed to find a use for before it went bad.

As much as I wanted to stick to the recipe, I didn't have any dry white wine (or any white wine for that matter) around the house, and I didn't want to wait until I could go buy some to make it. What I decided to do instead was take a bottle of one of my favorite red wines I had at the house already. At least this way I knew that I liked the wine that I was going to be using for the sangria, rather than picking up a bottle of dry white wine that I have never tasted before.

Now that I had the most important ingredient  set, I got together the rest of the ingredients to put together this delicious drink. Almost every sangria recipe that I have seen calls for different ingredients -- everything from dark liquor, ginger ale, sugar, carbonated water, etc.  This recipe was a little different and a little simpler than those though, and that is what I liked about it. All it called for was wine, orange liquor, fruit, and basil.

I took out my big plastic "beverage dispenser" and got it ready for sangria time. I cut up some assorted fruits (mango, pineapple, strawberries, blackberries, grapes, citrus, etc) -- roughly 6 cups -- and then put those into the pitcher. After all the fruit was in the pitcher I poured in one bottle of red wine and 1/2 cup of Grand Marnier (aka orange liquor) and squeezed in the juice of 1/4 to 1/2 of a lemon. I topped it off with a few basil leaves and stirred it all together.

Something that people may or may not know about sangria is that you have to let it "rest" for a significant amount of time in order to mary together all the flavors. It is recommended that you let it sit for at least 6-8 hours and up to about 24 hours. So I decided to wait until I had company over last night to reveal my creation.

Doing as I was taught, I tasted it ahead of time to make sure I wasn't serving anybody something that was just yucky. The sangria was extremely strong (considering it was basically wine and orange liquor mixed together) but the flavors were all definitely there. When serving it to my guests I decided to make it in to more of a sangria wine spritzer. I took my glasses and filled them about 1/3 of the way with an orange flavored sparkling water, followed by the sangria, and topping it all off with a couple of pieces of the fruit that was soaking in it. 


I may be a little bias, but it was to die for. So fruity, slightly sweet, with a hint and little kick of the red wine/orange liquor. Using the sparkling water with it was the perfect combination. You can use any brand and/or flavor you would like, but my flavored water of choice is more often than not Sparkling Ice. It comes in several flavors and you can even get a combo pack for about 10$ for a pack of 18 at Costco. 

I am glad that I tried this recipe because now I know a simple, easy to make refreshment that is perfect for these hot summer months. I know that I will be making it again soon, and can't wait until I do! I really hope that you all try it out as well, I can guarantee that you will love it! Have a lazy Sunday and a great coming week!

Say Cheese :D -- cheesecake that is.

When life gives you lemons, you make ... cheesecake?? Well, at least that's what I decided to do. It was about 8:30 pm on a Wednesday night, and I was sitting on my couch watching the Food Network (big surprise huh??) and got up during a commercial to pour myself a refreshment. As I was walking over to the fridge, I noticed that the last lemon that I had was getting ready to go bad, so I knew that I needed to find something to do with it sooner rather than later.

I turned to my online resources and started looking up different things I could do with a single lemon. After some searching, I came across a recipe that caught my eye -- lemon and goat cheese cheesecake. I've never made cheesecake before, but what better reason to try it out now right?

It was a very simple recipe using basic ingredients found among most households. There was a bit of a problem though ... the crust. A typical cheesecake crust consists of a nice crispy layer of graham crackers, smashed and mixed together with a little bit of sugar and melted butter. Unfortunately, graham crackers are not something that I regularly carry in my pantry. So it was time for plan B ... whatever that may be. I opened up my pantry and scanned top to bottom and left to right to try and find something that could substitute for a cheesecake crust. And then it hit me -- why not an oatmeal crumble crust? It sure sounded good, and I figured I could do it up to make it taste just as delicious as it sounded. 

I looked at the ingredients for the filling, and so far so good.

• goat cheese ---> Check
• lemon ---> Check
• eggs ---> Check
• sugar ---> Check
• cream cheese ---> Uhhhhhh

Okay so apparently there was another problem. I don't necessarily care for cream cheese, and rarely eat bagels, so I knew for a fact that I didn't have that anywhere around here. But I do always have greek yogurt. I know that people regularly substitute greek yogurt for sour cream or plain yogurt, but I wondered if it would be safe to substitute it for cream cheese (the main ingredient in most cheesecakes). Well, it was worth a try right??

I have to say, it was sooo worth it! The cheesecake was just as creamy, decadent, and flavorful as a regular cheesecake. I honestly would not be able to tell that this doesn't have any cream cheese in it.

Finally, a cheesecake that tastes great and is full of flavor, but that isn't a pie pan full of fat and empty calories -- and actually has multiple health benefits. Yes you need to be careful how much you eat of it, but is a dessert you don have to feel guilty about indulging in.

So for those of you interested in trying to do this yourself here is a rough recipe that you can try out if you are feeling adventurous.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 Tbsp butter (melted)
• 1 cup soft goat cheese
• 1 cup greek yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• juice and zest of 1 lemon (half that if you don't want as lemony of a flavor)

DIRECTIONS:

>> Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the oats, brown sugar, and melted butter until completely combined. Place this mixture into a food processor if you want a rough chop on the oats so they aren't as big. Take this and pour in to a small baking dish or pie pan and spread it out evenly among the baking dish. Put it in the oven for roughly 10 minutes, or until the oats brown and are set. Take the crust out and allow to cool a bit before pouring the filling in.

>> As your crust is cooling, turn the oven down to 300 degrees. Next put the goat cheese, greek yogurt, and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, slowly mix together the ingredients. While mixing these together, slowly add in one egg at a time, allowing each egg to fully mix in before adding the next. Lastly, add in the lemon juice and zest and mix it all together. Once everything is completely combined, take the filling mixture and pour it over the cooled oatmeal crust. Place the baking dish back into the oven and bake for roughly 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it though, because each oven is a little different and depending on the size and shape of baking dish you use, the cheesecake will bake at a different rate. What you are looking for is the outside to be pretty set, but the center of the cheesecake to slightly jiggle/wiggle when you move the baking dish without being liquidy. After it is done baking, take out of the oven and allow to fully cool before either serving or placing into the fridge to cool to a chilled temperature. Then, ENJOY! :)

I really hope that you all try this recipe out! I loved it and I know that all of you will as well. I openly welcome any comments, criticism, and questions, so do not hesitate! Just remember, the answer to any dilemma is say CHEESE :D

Cold Relief

So for those of you that don't know me as well, I love to run and I love being active. Being a nutrition major, I definitely have learned the importance of refueling quickly after a hard work out. It is also important, especially during these hot summer months, to replenish with liquids as well as the protein and carbohydrates.

Depending on the work out that I am doing -- running, yoga, biking, swimming, etc -- it may be unappealing to attempt   eating anything afterwords. Normally, I just opt for chocolate milk, protein shake, or even just a glass of plain milk. Today however I was in the mood for something a little different. I decided to switch it up a bit and use some of the iced coffee I had left over in my fridge.


In my pantry, I keep both chocolate and vanilla flavored protein powders that I mix in with my milk for a post workout refreshment. Knowing that I wanted to attempt a drink using my iced coffee, I thought that the vanilla would be my best choice. Once back from my run, it was time to create my "cafe concoction". I started by putting a little bit of my vanilla protein powder in my cup. I then poured my milk over the protein powder, making sure to mix them together thoroughly so the powder dissolved in the milk. Once the powder and milk were completely mixed, I then poured in the coffee until it became the perfect oak-nutty, milk chocolately brown color I was looking for.

Although I know that coffee + milk + vanilla = a great combination, I didn't know how this would turn out using the protein powder. I have to say that it was pretty D-lish! The perfect post-run summer time refreshment! For all of you coffee lovers out there, it is definitely worth a try! Hope you like it as much as I did .. and if you have any other suggestions for coffee concoctions or post workout refreshments/snacks, please feel free to share! :)