Monthly Veg-ucation: Baked Organic Zucchini Boats Two Ways

Ready for your first summertime veggie post? Last month I discussed cauliflower and the month before was asparagus. This month the ladies in our real food vegetable circle are focusing on summer squash. 

I could have chosen several different summer squashes, but opted to try a new zucchini recipe after picking up a few pounds of the organic produce at my local farmer's market a few weeks back. 

Red Wine Sangria with Raw Honey & Black Cherry Juice

Is there a particular food or drink that incites fond memories of friends or family? Red wine sangria always reminds me of my college friend, Sarah. 

When we went to school together, she used to laugh and tell me about purchasing dirt cheap, undrinkable bottles of wine. Unwilling to let them go to waste, she salvaged the horrid tasting wines by making sangrias overloaded with fresh fruit and juices. She's a clever, thrifty lady, which is something I admire about her. 

Banana Applesauce Skillet Bread with Apple Chunks & Flaxseed

When my aunt gave me my first cast-iron skillet, I was in my early 20s and didn't cook from scratch often. For years, I only used the skillet to bake buttermilk biscuits on Sunday mornings. And they were canned biscuits back then. 

Yep. Real food journeys have to start somewhere!

Raw Honey Sweetened Hibiscus Tea Cocktail

Summer is the perfect time for making icy concoctions with seasonal fruit, juices, teas and herbs, but it's important to use fresh ingredients so you're not drinking ten times your weight in calories from artificial or over-processed sweeteners.

My Favorite All Natural Mixers For Drinks

I've all but given up soda pop, which is one of the most popular mixers for alcoholic beverages. It's too sweet for my taste and unless you're buying your own organic or all-natural soda sweetened with real sugar, any pop you consume at a restaurant or bar will be full of high fructose corn syrup. The same goes with most tonic waters.

Because of this, my three favorite mixers for warm weather cocktails are homemade lemonade, limeade or tea. You can sweeten it to taste with whatever you prefer. I like to use local, raw honey or organic, raw cane sugar.

Balsamic, Bacon & Blue Cheese Grass-Fed Steak Salad

Do you have a particular meal that you look forward to eating year round? This steak salad is hands down my favorite meal to fix any time of the year. 

I purposefully don't make it often so it tastes spectacular every time I eat it. This version is a slightly updated take on my typical recipe. 

To switch things up, I added crumbled bacon and balsamic oven-roasted green beans for extra crunch. I actually came up with the green bean recipe just for this salad, although it's delicious on its own as a side dish.

I'm also excited to share this because it incorporates two of my other recipes (cast-iron seared & baked grass-fed steak and spicy maple balsamic vinaigrette), which you might not have been able to apply to a meal yet. 

How to Make a Fresh Margarita with Orange Juice, Lime & Raw Honey

I am SO excited to share this margarita recipe with you guys! Know why? First, I concocted it several years ago when I was living in KC with my sister and attending UMKC. I experimented with many cocktails and martinis during my college years. :) Second, I know WAY too many people out there are still drinking pre-made mixes and this makes me very sad. Cause those mixes are d-i-s-g-u-s-t-i-n-g.

Seriously. I'm not a drink snob. I have no problem drinking well liquor. But I like real juices and mixers in my drinks, as should most people. Unfortunately, these margarita mixes are filled with crappy, fake ingredients.