​These fresh cucumber margaritas are amazing y’all. I know cucumber drinks aren’t for everyone, I’ve been at my fair share of happy hours, ordered the cucumber drink off the menu and gotten the whole “ew, I mean I like to eat cucumber but I couldn’t drink it in a cocktail”- well good for you, but I think it’s fab-u-lous. The combination of the fresh cucumber, limes (can’t have margaritas without limes!), and Agavero Orange liqueur is so refreshing, light, and quite honestly tastes like a speakeasy style craft cocktail. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and tart without tasting sugary. That’s my number one cocktail pet peeve. When I first started drinking I was all about the sugary – sweet strawberry margarita probably would have been my preference in college – but then I grew up a bit and realized that the more sugar the worse the hangover, and quite frankly my bod can’t handle all those extra calories. 

hey there! I am so excited my favorite season is finally almost here. Every summer I go through this, I mean don't get me wrong I love summertime. Who doesn't? Sunshine, tan lines, beach days...it's the best, but fall has my heart and always will. I love sweater weather, curling up in blankets, looking forward to the holidays, yummy fall food, and last but most certainly not least, football season! I live for it (okay maybe slight exaggeration), but I really love it. It involves everything I love most - a reason to hang with friends / family, spend all day in comfy sweats while eating good game day snacks, and maybe the best part of all is the justified day time glass of wine, like a glass of JaM Cabernet!

Fact: If it wouldn't totally kill my health and diet I think I would live off of cheese and charcuterie boards. I'm an absolute cheese fiend...and it doesn't hurt that it pairs so darn perfectly with the glass of wine you can usually find in my hand. Much to my budget's dismay I've started collecting and aging wine and spending just about every weekend deciding which coveted bottle to open and what little snack assortment I can put together to go with it. The chocolates, the cheeses, the tapenades, the salamis - you name it and I probably have more on hand than I should. A vino lifestlye is one I'm okay with and my budget is just going to have to forgive me, ha! 

I feel like goat cheese is always the missing ingredient to bruschetta - lot's of restaurants serve it that way now which makes my foodie heart so happy. These tartlets are a spin on my Goat Cheese Bruschetta recipe, which is one of my favorites. I love how light and refreshing any bruschetta is compared to lots of the classic fried or dip appetizers you find at most restaurants. 

Easy weeknight meals are the best, am I right?! Especially ones that taste like a delicious box of pasta-roni but are fresh, not from a box, and take you the same amount of time to make. Thanks to my new friends over @ Pop & Cook that is! Seriously guys, this company is my new easy weeknight best friend. They make frozen cubes of fresh herbs, minced garlic, and glazed onions that you can just pop out of a tray right into your recipe making adding some fresh & healthy flavor SO much easier! Not only that but using their cubes means less dishes (no chopping or pulling out the cutting board for you) AND less waste, because if you only need 1 garlic clove per week, you can use just that! 

This is one of my favorite go to ideas for meal prep - it is easy to prepare, all tastes great together, and a good balance between meat, veggies, and healthy carbs. Also maybe it's because I love teriyaki chicken ... but who doesn't?! ​I prepped this exactly as below and brought it to work for 5 days of lunches and it was good until day 5 (made on Sunday - last ate on Friday)! If you make this exactly as I did I would recommend starting with the quinoa so you can allow it to cool (per instructions) while you work on the chicken for best use of your time! I hope y'all enjoy this easy meal prep as much as I do! 

Okay, total moment of honesty here. I broke down from my clean eating this past Sunday and ordered Chinese food takeout. Why? It sounded damn delicious, that's why. It tasted damn delicious too, not even going to try to skirt around that. The only part that wasn't awesome was how full & lethargic I felt after. It's amazing how much more "bad" food effects you when you've been on a health kick! Anyway, one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is create healthier alternatives to some of my favorite foods. I'm a total junk food lover at heart, clean eating decisions don't always come easy so I feel a lot of inspiration to find ways to eat what I love without feeling all the guilt... because I love food, but I also love feeling good about myself. Ya feel me? This quinoa fried rice was absolutely delicious and left me feeling a whole lot better after eating it. Score! I hope y'all enjoy! 

hey there! I apologize for the couple week hiatus in posting new recipes for y'all, but considering the reason is I was on a much needed vacation I am not that sorry ;) I spent the last week on a road trip exploring some great national parks, breweries, and coastal towns through Oregon & northern California. It was beyond beautiful and relaxing and I would highly recommend. Feel free to E-mail me for any recs, as much as I love talking food all the time I am also a total travel bug! Now I'm back to reality...unpacking, laundry, work, and the realization that it's time to work off all the great vacation meals. It would be nice if we could just go on vacation without having to worry about all that aftermath, am I right?! With all that fun stuff going on this week a nice and easy crockpot meal was necessary. These light turkey tacos were not only super easy but also got a "you should make our tacos like this every time you make tacos" from Jas.... easy, light, delicious, and a meal we can both enjoy?! WIN, WIN!  Oh and then there's the beer, that was for the hundreds of work E-mails I had waiting for me post vacation, plus, what's a taco Tuesday without a good margarita or Mexican beer pairing?! After all our Oregon brew tastings we were inspired to try something new this week. I proudly partnered up with Estrella Jalisco to bring this taco Tuesday to life!