I created this salad when I had avocado in my fridge, but was tired of guacamole :)

Salad Ingredients:

Tomatoes
Avocado
Cilantro
Olive Oil
Lime Juice

Directions For Making The Salad:

Chop the tomatoes.  Peel and chop the avocado.  Chop the cilantro.

Whisk together olive oil and lime juice (3 parts oil to 1 part juice) to make a salad dressing.

Mix tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and dressing.

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Tags: avocado, cilantro, healthy, salad, tomatoes, vegan

The key to a mega-successful turkey burger is a great rich bread.  When the burger is made out of beef, the meat is the star of the cheeseburger.   Turkey, on the other hand, has a more mellow flavor then beef, and that’s the reason why turkey burgers are usually blah.

Well, this turkey cheeseburger is far from blah!   Brioche is a super-rich, very soft and very flavorful bread, and the turkey cheeseburger made with brioche is absolutely delicious.

Ingredients For The Turkey Cheeseburger

Brioche bun
Turkey patty (I usually use frozen turkey burger patties)
Slice of cheese
Lettuce leaves
Tomato slices
Onion slices
Mayo
Mustard

Directions How To Make Turkey Cheeseburger

Cook the turkey patty on both sides.  At the end of cooking, top with a slice of cheese, so the cheese melts.

Microwave the brioche bun for 7 seconds so it gets warm.  Split the bun horizontally.  Spread the bun with mayo and mustard, top with turkey patty with melted cheese, top with onion slices, tomato slices, lettuce leaves and finally a top bun.  Enjoy!

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Tags: brioche, burger, cheese, sandwich, turkey

I’ve had sliced salami and provolone cheese in the fridge, and a package of fresh brioche buns on the counter.  Combining these yummy ingredients made a super-easy lunch!

Ingredients:

Brioche bun, split horizontally
Provolone cheese, sliced
Salami, sliced
Mayo

Directions How To Make This Sandwich

Spread the mayo on brioche.  Put the provolone cheese on brioche.  Put the slice of salami on top.

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Tags: cheese, no-cook recipe, salami, sandwich

I came across Pomi Chopped Tomatoes in the supermarket.  Unlike the usual chopped tomatoes that come in tin cans, the Pomi Tomatoes come in a paper carton.  Here’s a picture of Pomi Tomatoes package:

I just had to try out Pomi Tomatoes.  I’m glad I did!  Pomi Tomatoes have a cleaner, fresher and more natural tomato flavor than the usual canned chopped tomatoes.  Pomi Chopped Tomatoes made an outstanding tomato sauce, and I’m going to share this extremely easy tomato sauce recipe right here.

Ingredients For Tomato Sauce Recipe:

1 carton (26 oz) Pomi Chopped Tomatoes
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp dried basil
6 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

How To Make Tomato Sauce With Pomi Chopped Tomatoes:

Heat the oil in a sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.  Add Pomi Chopped Tomatoes, sprinkle with dried basil and stir.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Tomato sauce on the stove

very yummy tomato sauce up close :)

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Tags: tomato sauce, tomatoes

I went to Trader Joe’s and saw that unusual lettuce sold in packages.  It had tiny cute crisp green leaves.  The name of the lettuce on the package was Mache Lettuce, and the package also noted the lettuce’s alternate name – Lamb’s Lettuce.  The package with lamb’s lettuce also had an orange sticker that said “Great With Avocadoes”.  So I came back from Trader Joe’s with the mache lamb’s lettuce and a couple of avocadoes, ready to make a yummy new salad!

Here’s a picture of Trader Joe’s package of Mache (Lamb’s) Lettuce:

Ingredients For The Salad:

Mache (Lamb’s) Lettuce
Avocado
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil

How To Make A Salad

Whisk together balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make a dressing (3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar).  In a bowl, toss the mache lettuce with the dressing.  Put the lettuce on a plate.

Peel and pit the avocado.  Thinly slice the avocado.  Put the avocado slices on top of the lettuce.

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Tags: avocado, healthy, lettuce, salad, vegan

This is a very refreshing and healthy salad!

Ingredients For The Salad:

Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Cilantro
Oil
Vinegar

Directions How To Make The Salad:

Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into cubes.  Chop cilantro.

Make a salad dressing with a ratio of 3 parts of oil to 1 part of vinegar.

Mix all ingredients.

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Tags: cilantro, cucumbers, healthy, salad, tomatoes, vegan

This garlic beef tastes just like garlic beef from a Chinese restaurant.  Who need the takeout when you can make authentic tasting garlic beef at home :)  This garlic beef recipe is very quick and easy to make.   For a perfect side dish, use the rice cooker to make the rice.

Ingredients For Garlic Beef With Green Peppers:

1 lb of beef, chopped
1 onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
1/2 cup bottled teryaki sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
2 tbsp oil

Directions How To Make Garlic Beef With Green Peppers:

Put beef in a bowl and pour teryaki sauce over it.  Toss to coat.  Leave to marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large non-stick frying pan.  Add green peppers and onions, and cook, stirring periodically, for 5 minutes, or until peppers cooked through.  Add salt to taste and remove the peppers and onions from the frying pans into a clean bowl and set aside.

When the beef is done marinating, heat another 1 tbsp of oil in a large non-stick frying pan.  Add minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds.  Add the beef and stir.  Cook, stirring periodically, for 5 minutes or until the beef is no longer pink.  Add cooked green peppers and onions and stir.  Sprinkle with black pepper and red pepper and stir.  Add salt to taste if necessary.

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Tags: beef, chinese food, garlic, green peppers, onions

Lemon zest is a wonderful addition to baked goods.  If you are making cakes, cookies, bars, pies or muffins and want them to have lemon scent and a hint of lemon taste, add lemon zest!

Dried lemon zest that they sell in the spice jars is a far cry from the fresh lemon zest.  Whenever you have a lemon in your fridge and need lemon zest, make the real thing!

The best lemons for the lemon zest are organic lemons.  The lemons that are not organic are coated with wax, and that wax will end up in your lemon zest.  The organic lemons don’t have the yucky wax, so your lemon zest will be the lemon zest – pure and lemony.

Here’s how to zest a lemon:

You need a lemon:

You need a grater:

Rub the lemon on the side of the grater that has small holes.  Keep rubbing and turning the lemon, so the yellow lemon zest gets grated away from the lemon.  Only grate the yellow stuff – the white pith that’s under the yellow is bitter, so you don’t want any of the white stuff… just the yellow.

When you grated off all the top yellow covering of the lemon, you have successfully zested that lemon.

Here’s a picture of how a lemon looks after it’s zested:

And here’s the picture of the lemon zest:

Now go ahead and add this delicious smelling lemon zest to yummy baked stuff!

Lemon zest works especially well in lemon bundt cake recipe, homemade italian lemon ice and lemon bars recipe.

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Tags: lemon

Are you craving something baked and lemony?  The best part about the lemon cake is putting your nose real close to the lemon cake and smelling it!  When you smell the lemon cake, you can already taste it in your mind.  This lemon cake is delicious for breakfast.  Citrus is awakening, and a lemon breakfast cake is a perfect way to start the day!

Ingredients For Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe:

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp vanilla
1 lemon
1 cup lowfat plain yogurt
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Directions How To Make Lemon Bundt Cake:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Wash the lemon.  Zest the lemon: grate the thin top yellow layer of the lemon (without the white pith) using a grater with the smallest holes.

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.  Add the sugar and stir until combined.  Add vanilla.  Add lemon zest.

Cut the lemon into quarters and squeeze out the lemon juice into the bowl with other ingredients.  Stir until combined.

Add flour to the bowl.  Sprinkle baking powder and baking soda evenly over the flour.  Add yogurt, then stir everything until combined.

Spray the inside of the non-stick bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour the batter into the bundt pan.  Put in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.

Note: lemon zest is optional :)  If you don’t feel like zesting a lemon, don’t let it stop you from making this delicious lemon cake!  Just use lemon juice and omit the zest.  The lemon flavor will be less intense without the zest, but it will still be a terrific lemon cake.

Here's the lemon breakfast bundt cake right out of the oven

...and here's what's left of the lemon bundt cake at the end of the day!

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Tags: baking, cake, lemon

It’s very easy to cut a cantaloupe into chunks.  Don’t waste money on pre-cut cantaloupe in plastic fruit trays or fruit cups – not only they are expensive, but also not as fresh, as they’ve been sitting on the store shelves for a while. When you cut a cantaloupe yourself, you will enjoy tasty cantaloupe pieces – lots of cantaloupe chunks!

Cut a cantaloupe in half

Scoop out the seeds from a cantalope with a spoon

Here's the cantaloupe half without the seeds!

Cut each cantaulope half into slices lengthwise

Cut off the peel from the cantaloupe slices

Here's the cantaloupe slice without the peel!

Cut each peeled cantaloupe slice into chunks

Bowl of cantaloupe chunks

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Tags: cantaloupe, fruit