My Cooking Spot

When Girl Meets Kitchen

Strawberry Pina Colada Smoothie

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Strawberry Pina Colada Smoothie

This Strawberry Pina Colada Smoothie may look like a cocktail, but I promise you, this vegan, gluten-free treat is meant for breakfast!

So after the sugar fest that was Tuesday’s s’mores recipe, I decided I need to clean up my noshing habit a bit and try to snack a little bit on the healthier side. So, of course, I’m here to share the tasty results of my latest experiment with you!

Let me just put this out there; in case the name of my blog didn’t give it away, I adore sweets and desserts – chocolate, ice cream, cupcakes, brownies – they’re mostly my favorite things to eat in the world. I rarely skip dessert when we go out for dinner, and I almost always have some sort of sweet snack somewhere in the house. I’m also a wannabe gym rat, and I have a pretty good grasp on moderation.

When I’m on my game (meaning meal prepping, lifting/working out 3-4 times a week, and generally giving 100% to my healthy life regimen), I make smoothies for breakfast every morning for myself and my husband, so I feel like I’m pretty good at coming up with tasty flavor combinations. Pina Coladas are one of my favorite cocktails to indulge in, so I figured it would make for a killer smoothie since the ingredients are fairly similar.

Then, I decided to toss some strawberry puree in the mix, and all of a sudden it became a Lava Flow, and I immediately wished I was on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, listening to steel drums and soaking up some sun by the pool. [Read more…]

Healthy Strawberry Mango Frozen Yogurt

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Healthy Homemade Frozen Yogurt

I crave ice cream year round. Even on the coldest of days I will sometimes find myself think about my favorite ice cream. For as long as I can remember I have loved strawberry ice cream. I can remember when I was little going to the grocery store with my mom as her “helper”. She would always let me pick out a small little pint container of whatever ice cream I wanted. Every time I reached for the same thing. Not the crazy moose tracks, or candy filled ice creams…no, no, I always picked out homemade vanilla with strawberries by Blue Bell.

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Spinach Cheese & Mushroom Quesadillas

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Spinach Cheese & Mushroom

There is a quaint downtown square in the city where I live. It’s actually one of the last town squares that has all locally owned businesses still up and running. I have to say, I absolutely love that about the city where we live. It keeps our growing city filled with two major universities bustling with life, yet small and cozy at the same time.

We are pretty well known for the coffee shops and small eateries around town, of which there are many to choose from. It feels like every month a new restaurant goes up for business! But I love the old school ones…the ones that have been in business for years and years and who’s families run them.

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Quick Pickled Vegetables

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Thank goodness for my friends. Really and truly, I get so much inspiration for my blog Marcella Rose’s from the fantastic meals and moments I spend with my girlfriends. It’s been hard for me since I moved away from New York and the strong group of fabulous women that I was lucky enough to call my friends.

The older I get the harder, it is to find true friends. I am a bit of a quirky girl so for me that instant shock of connection when I meet, as Anne of Green Gables would say a, “Bosom Buddy” or a “Kindred Spirit”, is a rare thing. I have been on the search since I arrived in Southern Oregon and then it happened. I found her, a girl with style, class, and she can cook too! It’s like magic to find someone who is not only hilarious, but also has similar interests.

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