​Holy cau-liflower, Batman! Cauliflower is definitely the in veggie right now. It’s often an overlooked option but packed with plenty of nutrients and minerals, low in calories, and provides detox and anti-inflammatory benefits, along with many others! With such an emphasis on low carb and low/no sugar shifts in eating habits, (I won’t use the D-word because it really is a lifestyle change, not a fad or quick fix) cauliflower is re-emerging quickly as a superstar in the culinary arena. 
​
Recently, I saw a recipe for cauliflower tortillas. While I usually scroll and pin, pin and scroll on my favorite time-waster, Pinterest, this one caught my attention as I had just been talking with a friend about missing bread and tortillas. Now I don’t miss them because of the taste or I can’t live without carbs in my everyday meals – in fact, I normally don’t go after bread at restaurants, order sandwiches, or reach for a loaf on Sunday mornings for toast. What I missed was the versatility of them – to make sandwiches, wraps, quesadillas, tacos, etc. So I clicked on the recipe and scanned through. Pretty interesting? Yes.  Somewhat easy? Potentially. And the best part? I had all the ingredients: cauliflower, eggs, salt and pepper. So off I went.

I have usually gotten well over a cup of water for an entire head of cauliflower.  Once the water is as squeezed out as much as possible, return the cauli-rice back to the bowl. Since I used an entire head of cauliflower, I upped the egg count to 3 instead of 2 to help with binding. Crack your eggs and add the salt and pepper to the bowl. Mix it all together until well combined. The recipe I was following said “S+P to taste.” Again, not sure how I was supposed to know how to taste it, as the cauliflower was now mixed with raw egg. So I measured out ½ tablespoon of garlic salt (regular salt works just as well, just less garlic flavor which is no Bueno for me!) and ¼ tablespoon of pepper. I’m not a pepper person so that’s why I added less, though if you love it, knock yourself out! 

I tried two methods for the cookie sheets – parchment paper and a silpat mat. Once both sheets were lined, I lightly sprayed Pam on both just in case and believe me, I’m glad I did! Once all the ingredients were mixed together, you’re ready to start “sheeting” your tortillas! BE READY FOR THI: The mixture will be a little runny. I know, I know… I thought to myself, “I squeezed my you-know-what off to get all that water out!” But this is just because of the egg and the salt. It’s all good! 
The original recipe said this amount would make about 6 tortillas – I decide to make mine a bit smaller so that I could get more out of all my hard work! I grabbed a medium-sized chunk and balled it in my hand to give me some sort of similarity in size. I wanted my tortillas to be about the size of my palm, think corn-tortilla sized. Ok, maybe a little bigger than my palm. But about that size once the ball of cauliflower was pressed down into a circle. And you don’t want to make them too thin or they will rip when you’re trying to flip them – I lost a few the first time! Think about ¼ of an inch thick. They did shrink a little after baking so that is something to take into account as well.

Once my “tortillas” were laid out on the parchment or silpat covered cookie sheets, I popped them in an oven that had been pre-heated to 375 degrees. Leave it for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes had passed, I took them out and sprayed another light mist of Pam over the tortillas before very carefully flipping them over. When all those babies were flipped over, I put them back in the oven for 7 minutes more. At the buzzer, I removed the tortillas and placed them on a cooling rack to to cool just a bit.

The final part is to “toast” them in a pan – which I HIGHLY recommend as it gives it another dimension of flavor, think toasty like toasted almonds. You can either do this part once they’ve cooled a little or you can do it right before you eat them. Either way, they’re delicious! All I did to toast them was place them in a single layer in a pan and let them sizzle, pressing down lightly with a spatula. After 2-3 minutes, flip them to toast the other side and voila, you are done!  I was amazed at how they tasted, how they kept (I ziplocked them and kept stored in the fridge for over a week), and the various ways I could use them! I dared a grilled cheese “sandwich,” a ham and Swiss Panini, and even open-faced mini-tacos!

​4 cauli-tortillas per serving, depending on what I was making. I’ve even taken them to go, making a few mini “tacos” of deli meat and cheese and sandwiches! The uses are unstoppable! And sometimes I have to pinch myself because no I’m not dreaming, these babies are LOW CARB but not low deliciousness  At the size I wrote about, they’re not big enough for a traditional wrap but I guess that’s just another cauli-adventure to attempt. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
•    1 medium cauliflower head, riced about 2 cups packed
•    3 eggs
•    ½ T salt
•    ¼ T pepper - or S+P to taste
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Instructions:
1.    Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
2.    Put ½ head of raw cauliflower, cut up, and pulse until you get a texture slightly finer than rice. (Once it’s riced, measure it to make sure you have 2 cups packed.)
3.    Place in bowl and microwave for 2 minutes and stir, then another two minutes and stir again.
4.    Next place in a thin dish towel and squeeze excess water out as hard as you can. (Get out as much water as you can and be careful not to burn yourself because it’s going to be very hot.) 
5.    Place drained cauliflower back in bowl and add three eggs, salt and pepper and mix until well combined.
a.    Note: It will be a little bit runny but shouldn't be pure liquid either. Spread mixture onto a baking sheet into small fairly flat circles about ¼ inch thick.
6.    Place in the oven for 10 minutes then carefully peel them off the parchment and flip them and place back in the oven for 5-7 more minutes. 
7.    Once they’re done place them on a wire rack to cool slightly.
8.    Heat a medium sized pan over medium heat and place the tortillas into the pan pressing down slightly and brown them to your liking.
a.    Don’t skip this step because it gives them a wonderfully nutty taste!
9.    Makes roughly 20 small tortillas.

Recipe adapted from www.ondietandhealth.com

We all know what it is like to be sitting at your desk and suddenly realize: CRAP! I am having someone over for dinner, aka I have to cook. What the heck am I going to have time to throw together?!

The easy solutions are of course to order pizza, Chinese, Thai or to throw some boxed pasta and jarred sauce together. However, when you want to make a bit of a better showing, or if you just crave a meal that is actually fresh and healthy, it can be fairly difficult. Also, as someone who is trying to continue to eat a low carb diet, it can be a serious struggle to find options that fit the bill.

Well, I should say it WAS a struggle. I recently discovered a restaurant here in Walnut Creek (they have several locations) called Yalla Mediterranean. It's affordable, fast-casual Mediterranean cuisine that is perfect for picking up and taking with you to serve at home. The food is decidedly more fresh than what you typically expect when grabbing takeout.

BONUS: You can order and pay online. No one wants to wait in line between work and making it home...

Last night I had my BFF over, and we enjoyed the several of their signature dishes. We didn't bother with serving dishes, and shared everything. It was a perfect light meal for two, with plenty left over.

​--The Menu--

- The Yalla Plate with Basmati Rice, Grilled Vegetables (Spiced Lentils are another option), Falafel, Pita bread, and the following sides (which are just some of their options) -  Kale + Beet Salad, Medi Kale Salad and Hummus.

The Chopped Salad, topped with Grilled and Seasoned Salmon and Chicken Skewers

Pita with Fire Feta Spread (YUM)

The time I did not spend cooking was utilized to set a fun table. Even though it was just a casual Wednesday night at home with my good friend Paige, it was still fun to dress it up a bit. 

Being that we didn't use serving platters, cleanup was a breeze, and we could spend our time catching up, without me dreading the post-dinner cleanup.

I will definitely be grabbing meals from Yalla again, both for myself and for when I have company over.

What's not to love? This show is on Lifetime AND named for the greatest song of all time. 
I Love You... But I Lied_ is a hilarious and creepy show of those duped by the ones who they love. Get into it.

A gift from my sister, and something I am TOTALLY #dbsobsessed with.

I am sure I am going to catch some hell for this one, but in the spirit of remaining 100% DBS, I am going to post it anyway. I always have and always will love a beautiful fur coat. I especially love the classic big, shoulder-padded and collared look that I grew up seeing women I thought of as incredibly fabulous wearing on TV and IRL. So, with that in mind, I have always wanted a fur coat that evoked those memories and that period in time. 

In my search for a great vintage fur, I looked at several consignment shops, and on several websites that people use for consignment. I never found anything I loved that was within my price range, and found many of the coats that were in my price range, to be a bit mangy looking, for lack of a better word.

That was all before I came across Everything But the House.  The site is home to more than 100 estate and consignment sales per month, selling special pieces of every vintage and style from homes across the country. I was somewhat worried about the quality of what I would receive, not having used the site before, but I went for it.

The result: For $100 (+ a considerable shipping fee, for which I received incredibly well taken care of shipment of my item) I became the proud new owner of a cerulean mink full length fur coat. I am so impressed with the quality and condition of the coat, and am in awe of the reality of how little I spent on it, compared to what I would have elsewhere.

If you're looking for something very special and vintage, you MUST sign up for this site.

Hands down, my most unexpected fashion find of last year, has been Gap's 1969 Indigo destructed Girlfriend Jean. I have never been one for either torn jeans, or the bf/gf look, but I wear these so often, I had to buy 2 pairs! I love them dressed up with heels and a leather jacket, or totally casual with chucks and a t-shirt. They're very flattering, and I am 100% #dbsobsessed.

Typically I try to keep this blog all positive, and only share the things I love, with my readers. However, I have to share my experience with Fabletics, because I was so let down. After my first shipment of the activewear subscription service from Kate Hudson, while I did not like what was sent to me, I was still optimistic. I thought that maybe I just did not get the right sizes, and hoped for better next time.

However, with each shipment, I was more and more disappointed with the look and fit of the items sent to me. Then, when I went to cancel my subscription, it was clear that the company makes it very difficult to do so, and it took quite some time. Going to have to give this one a big thumbs down.