greek salad.

A few weeks ago my coworkers and I went for dinner in Greek Town, and I had the most amazing Greek Salad that I have been trying to recreate ever since.

Lately, I've been making it with kale instead of lettuce. And although not an authentic Greek Salad, it's still pretty delicious.

Here's the recipe:

Greek Salad (Serves 2-3)

- 3 cups of kale, de-stemmed
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halves
- 1 persian cucumber, diced
- 1/2 chopped red onion
- 10 kalamata olives (I prefer pitted because they're easier to eat)
- 1/2 red pepper, chopped
- 1 avocado, diced (optional)
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon

1. Massage kale with olive oil and lemon
2. Add tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives, red pepper, avocado and feta
3. Toss. Add salt and pepper to taste
4. Serve and enjoy :)

monday mantra.

The first day back after a long weekend is always tough (as if Mondays weren't rough enough to begin with!).

Here's a little motivation to help you get back in the swing of things after a weekend of fun and relaxation.

[ via The Everygirl ]

I find it helpful to start each week with a quote or mantra that I can repeat to myself whenever I'm feeling unmotivated. This week my goal is to get focused and get things done so I can have another fun an stress-free weekend come Friday afternoon.

Wishing you all a wonderful and productive week!

panzanella.

Lately, one of my favorite thing to make has been an Italian panzanella salad.

Panzanella is just a salad with bread and tomatoes. Although, I like to dress mine up a little bit with some red onion, cucumber and avocado.

I also like to toast the bread in olive oil before adding it to the other ingredients. This gives the bread a nice crispness on the outside, while still remaining chewy.

Here is the recipe I loosely follow for this light summertime lunch or dinner.

Panzanella Salad (serves 2-3)

- 1/2 baguette, torn into medium sized chunks

- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

- 1 cucumber, sliced

- 1/2 chopped red onion

- 1 diced avocado

-  1 tsp olive oil

- 3 chopped basil leaves

1. Heat olive oil in pan and add bread. Stir every few minutes, until bread is toasted

2. While bread is toasting, combine other ingredients in a bowl

3. Add bread directly from the pan, and mix all ingredients.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy :)

holstee manifesto.

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready to tackle a new week.

Have you heard of the Holstee Manifesto?

[ Holstee Manifesto ]

The instructor in my yoga class on Saturday used it in class, and the words have really stuck with me ever since.

This is your life. Do what you love and do it often. If you don't like something, change it.

Lately, I feel like I have just been going through the motions of my own life, and this quote reminded me that I have the power to create my own reality and live the life that I want.

This week, I'm going to make an effort to make more little changes to start enjoying my life more!

Cheers to a wonderful and happy week!

May Goals

Hello and happy May! After (another) hiatus, I am back in action.

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about my life at this stage.
In the spirit of trying to live my life with more intention, I've decided to set some different goals to work on each month.

Here are May's Goals:

• Attend yoga three times per week
• Practice Spanish with every day with Duolingo
• Cook at home every day. I'm participating in The Everygirl's 30 Days of Cooking at Home, which means that I can only eat out 4 times for the entire month! 
• Blog three times per week. Yes, I know I've been bad at this lately! But May is a new month :)

Cheers to a new month and a clean slate!