Homemade Hummus

Yes, I have been one of those people who has eaten store-bought hummus for my whole life without once thinking to try making it myself. BUT I’m here to tell you all that it has happened and my life has changed.Hummus is soooo easy (and cheap) to make at home; I don’t know why it…

Garlic Pizza Biscuits

When Matthew & I were back in Georgia, we made a delicious appetizer – inspired by Tasty – for our very laid-back New Years Eve with my parents. This was before our health kick, so it definitely was not the healthiest choice, but goodness, they were too good not to share. I call them pizza…

First Watch

When I was in college, I remember when the first First Watch I had seen was built in Kennesaw, Georgia. I had heard such good things about this cozy brunch spot, but for whatever reason, I never tried it. Thankfully, last year, I discovered the First Watch in Arvada, and soon realized that there were…

Banana Choco Chip Overnight Oats

Since I’m on a health kick, I’ve been alllllll about eating oats. I usually prefer them baked into my banana blender muffins or as oatmeal, but lately, I’ve been dabbling with overnight oats. One of my favorite overnight oats recipes to date basically tastes like choco chip banana bread in a cup. Here’s what you…

Honey Chipotle Salmon

After being in Georgia for a month, eating too much of my mom’s delicious meals, Matthew and I are back in Denver and determined to be healthy – at least ’til our wedding in June! For us, that means no alcohol (unless we’re socializing, 1 drink max), lots of smoothies, lots of greens, less carbs,…

East Coast Road Trip: Charlotte & Nashville

Boston → Cape Cod → New York → Philadelphia → Virginia Beach → Charlotte → Nashville It took us a little over 5 hours to drive to Charlotte, where we stayed with one of our friends – Matthew’s roommate and high school buddy. I am just now realizing that I didn’t take any photos of our time…

East Coast Road Trip: Virginia Beach

Boston → Cape Cod → New York → Philadelphia → Virginia Beach → Charlotte → Nashville The drive from Philadelphia to Virginia Beach was a longer one at about 5 hours.We arrived at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel right as the sun was setting, which made for a beautiful welcome to Virginia Beach. For dinner, we stopped at…

East Coast Road Trip: Philadelphia

Boston → Cape Cod → New York → Philadelphia → Virginia Beach → Charlotte → Nashville As I sit here listening to Philadelphia by Parachute, I am not only brought back to high school, but also the good times we had in actual Philadelphia (disclaimer: the song really has nothing to do with Philadelphia, but it’s a…

Build Your Own Joy Hill Pizza

With Denver forcing restaurants to shut down indoor dining, restaurants are having to get super creative. One spot that is offering a super fun take-out option is Joy Hill. For just $18, you can get TWO of their organic sourdough pizza crusts partially baked and all the fixings to make two pizzas of your choice…

East Coast Road Trip: New York

Boston → Cape Cod → New York → Philadelphia → Virginia Beach → Charlotte → Nashville After a relaxing – yet windy – time in Cape Cod, we were ready for some excitement. And what better place for that than the biggest city in the country? We dropped off our rental car back in Boston and then…

Aloy Modern Thai

For Matthew’s 26th birthday, he wanted to get some Thai food.We landed on Aloy Modern Thai because we had never been and it’s only a 5-minute walk from our home. In early November, COVID shut down restaurants halfway in Denver, so they were only allowed to fill up 50% capacity. I reserved a seat ahead…

Pumpkin Brownies

You can’t make it through the holidays without baking some kind of pumpkin dessert.For me, that was these pumpkin brownies! These are not necessarily the “healthiest,” as they are packed with butter & brown sugar, but hey, it’s the holidays and you gotta live it a little. Here’s what I used for 8 brownies in…

A Very Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

Ever since Matthew & I moved to Colorado, we have had very non-traditional Thanksgivings.That’s mostly due to the fact that our families are back in Georgia. When we left, all of the Thanksgiving traditions we had known growing up stayed down south with them. I remember for our first Thanksgiving in Colorado, I was very…

My Neighbor Felix

Ever since My Neighbor Felix opened in September, I’ve been dying to go.Everyone was raving about the hip ambiance, delicious food, and the famous 56 oz margarita and I wanted to see if it all lived up to the hype. I was finally able to try it out this past weekend and I can tell…

Easy Breakfast Sandwich

While I’m definitely more of a breakfast burrito person, I can go for a breakfast sandwich every now and then. And that’s exactly what we decided on for Thanksgiving breakfast. Yep, I said Thanksgiving breakfast. Although many people may skip breakfast or have a very small breakfast to save room for the delicious meal that…

East Coast Road Trip: Cape Cod

Boston → Cape Cod → New York → Philadelphia → Virginia Beach → Charlotte → Nashville After the struggle we experienced driving out of busy Boston, Matthew and I were beyond ready for a relaxing weekend in Cape Cod. We arrived at our Cape Cod “resort” (Beachside Village Resort) in Falmouth right after sunset, so…

Trader Joe’s Tikka Masala

Trader Joe’s never fails.Not with their fruit, their vegetarian meats, their cheese, and most importantly: their sauce. One of my favorite, easy meals contains one main ingredient: TJ’s Masala Simmer Sauce. And then, of course you can get all of the other ingredients for this tikka masala dish at TJ’s too and it’s just all…

Rise & Shine @ Sloan’s Lake

Delicious southern biscuits after a walk around a beautiful lake.Describe a better Sunday morning. I’ll wait. Rise and Shine Biscuit Kitchen and Cafe is located just a few blocks north of Sloan’s Lake, making it the perfect stop after a run, walk, bike ride, or skate around the lake. Being from the south, I can…

Colorado Cookbook

It’s happening! Thanks to this year (never thought I’d say that), recent experiences, and new perspectives, I’m rebranding. Today, I’m going to begin sharing my new lifestyle with you, starting with my new name: Colorado Cookbook. Since I have an English degree, it only seems right to cite the dictionary which broadly defines ‘cookbook’ as…

East Coast Road Trip: Boston

Boston → Cape Cod → New York → Philadelphia → Virginia Beach → Charlotte → Nashville One thing that COVID has done to us is made us stir crazy. In the end, this has played in our favor, as we’ve really embraced the mountains more than ever before.But during early Fall, we got stir crazy…

Crockpot French Onion+ Soup

It has been chilly in Denver lately, so we have been breaking out the Crockpot pretty often these days. One cold day this past week, Matthew was craving some French onion soup, so we decided to give it a try – while changing up the standard recipe to make it our own. Like all Crockpot…

Healthier Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Earlier sunsets bring colder nights bring cozy evenings bring comfort food. Two of my favorite comfort foods are 1. soup and 2. chicken pot pie. So, I figured, why not combine the two? Hence, chicken pot pie soup. With a twist of health. The best part? The recipe is super easy, super cheap, and healthier than…

Homemade Oat Flour Pizza

Even after traveling to NYC and eating way too much pizza, somehow Matthew was still craving pizza the other day. I, however, have been determined to get back into healthy eating ever since we got back from our road trip. So, we made a compromise: homemade healthier pizza made w/ oat flour + all the…

Fallin’

One of my favorite seasons is here and I’m so here for it.This post is dedicated to all things fall, which I figured would be best summed up in few words and mostly photos. To kick off fall in Colorado, we went hiking in Frisco on the third weekend of September. The leaves were unreal…

Easy Veggie Chili

It was a high of 55 degrees in Denver on Sunday and it has me feeling SO ready for all the coziness of Fall. From cuddling up with a good ol’ pumpkin beer to cooking up & munching on this super easy-to-make (& healthy!) veggie chili, the Fall activities have already begun in our little…

Homemade Eggrolls

We finally made our own eggrolls and they were super simple and delicious! We planned to make about 10 eggrolls between the two of us…little did we know that the eggroll wrapper pack we bought had over 20 wrappers. So my one disclaimer here is if you’re going to make eggrolls, make sure you have…

Wake Up and Smell the Mountain Flowers

I still can’t believe that I had never done the Silver Dollar Lake Trail until this past weekend. It’s apparently a super popular trail and it’s absolutely BEAUTIFUL.Imagine a shorter, just-as-beautiful 14er – pretty views the entire way, flower-lined trails, and a final destination that is sure to amaze you. Of all the things listed…

Would-Be Wedding Weekend

Last weekend, Matthew and I should have been saying our “I do’s” and living happily ever after (that’s how it works, right?)*, but instead, I had a true Colorado adventure weekend with my sister and friends. From drinking too much beer while brewery hopping in Denver and eating Cosmo’s pizza while watching the sunset on…

Easy Meatless Fajitas

You can never go wrong with fajitas.They’re tasty, healthy, and most importantly – customizable. At least that was our thought when we were cooking for my parents and Matthew’s parents when we were in Georgia last month. Since my parents aren’t vegetarian, we were trying really hard to think of something that they would like….

Stuffed Sweet Potato

Sweet potatoes are the best.If you think otherwise, just leave because this post is a waste of time for you. I absolutely love sweet potatoes and I do believe I have discovered the easiest, tastiest sweet potato recipe ever: the Stuffed Sweet Potato. Here’s all you need: – 1 medium-sized sweet potato– 1/4 can of…

Blueberry Granola

I’m not going to lie. This granola I’m about to share with you was really supposed to be granola bars. However, I didn’t have any cornstarch, so it turned into granola. But, because the granola actually turned out to be delicious, I thought I’d share this with you anyway. Here’s what I used: 1 cup…

BlueNanaBerry Nice Cream

Nice cream. I don’t think I had ever heard that term until a few weeks ago. When I read that it was literally just frozen bananas blended up, I doubted that it could be as creamy as ice cream. But then I made it. & now I’m a nice cream believer. Here’s what I used…

‘Shroomy Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash was one of my newer discoveries of 2019, so I’ve had at least a year to appreciate it. But with so much time during quarantine, we’re able to have a bit more fun with it, adding all the best ingredients – like fresh mushrooms. Here’s what we used to make our ‘Shroomy Spaghetti…

Banana Blender Muffins

Another banana recipe – surprise! In all honesty, I wanted to make something other than banana bread with my overripe bananas…but these muffins actually turned out to taste just like banana bread – in muffin form. Oh well, good thing I love banana bread. Plus, muffins are more portable, so now I basically just have…

Instant Iced Coffee

Ever since I learned about dalgona coffee (the famous whipped coffee – check my Dalgona Coffee post for details), I have been making it every single day of quarantine – no joke. So, I figured I should give myself – and my body (b/c all that sugar though) – a break and try something new. Matthew…

Veggie Yellow Curry

While seeking vegetarian food inspiration, I noticed that curry is a big deal in the vegetarian world. And I can definitely see why. The flavors are always so rich and Matthew & I obviously love sauce, so curry has become a big hit in our little home. Our latest curry creation is this Veggie Yellow…

Veggie Crunchwrap

I cannot remember the last time I had Taco Bell, but I know that it was probably after a night out drinking & dancing and I probably had a crunchwrap and I probably thought it was delicious. Anyway… it seemed fitting to pair our Cinco de Mayo margs with homemade veggie crunchwraps last night. Here’s…

Beer in Marg

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO! What better quarantine drink to talk about today than a good ol’ marg? With.a.twist. Beer in Marg. Quite possibly the only way to enjoy a marg these days. But forreal. Who knew that a beer in a marg could make it taste so much better? I love margs, but sometimes the…

Trader Joe’s Stuffed Gnocchi

I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again. Trader Joe’s is the best. Everything I’ve tried at TJ’s has been delicious – and I’m not just overexaggerating. TJ’s has taught me to branch out & try new things – especially when it comes to vegetarian recipes. One of the newest things Matthew & I…

Choco Chickpea Cookie Dough Bites

Lately, I have been seeing chickpea cookie dough recipes everywhere. I was shocked when I first saw it because I didn’t understand how chickpeas could be turned into anything sweet enough to eat as a dessert. And I proved myself right when I first tried to make chickpea cookie dough. Gross. I was about to…

TJ’s Quinoa Veggie Burger Plate

Before deciding to go all veg, I had no idea there were so many different types of veggie burgers out there. But to no one’s surprise, my favorite so far has been Trader Joe’s Quinoa Cowboy Veggie Burger. It’s packed with quinoa, black beans, corn, red peppers, & lots of seasonings and it’s truly delicious….

Easy Breakfast Burrito

Matthew & I have been on the hunt for the best breakfast burritos in Denver for about a year now. So far, I think Illegal Pete’s takes the lead (you can literally choose everything that goes in it!), followed by Gomez (because that cheese & green chile <3). But in the midst of our Quarantine…

Dark Chocolate PB Cups

Reeses have always been my favorite candy hands down. I mean, what’s better than chocolate & peanut butter? So, I decided to make my own “healthy version.” And it just took 2 ingredients. Here’s what I used (the amount you use depends on the number of cups you want!): Dark chocolate chips Nut butter (I…

Falafel Fritters

Chickpeas have become a new staple in our home. So, naturally, we’ve been testing them out in different recipes. One of the latest things we’ve created are falafel fritters! We didn’t want to actually fry the chickpeas, so we decided to bake them instead: thus, the fritter factor (flatter to make sure we could get…

Quinoa Pizza

By now, I’ve heard of pizza in multiple forms, 2 of those being just regular pizza and one of the most popular: cauliflower pizza. But the other day, I stumbled upon QUINOA PIZZA. I was so intrigued by this that I just had to give it a try. No, it doesn’t cut all the calories…