Melissa-Brooke-Macrina

  Once again, my random "throw it all in" cooking event turns into a yummy, HEALTHY, CLEAN meal! And the outcome was pretty too :)  Keep scrolling down for the HOW TO and the ingredients you will need.... What you Need: squash zucchini cherry tomatoes fresh baby spinach mushrooms red onion 1 package raw cashews 2 lemons fresh garlic avocado oil or EVOO Directions for Cashew Cheese: 1. Soak cashews in a bowl of water for at least 4 hours 2. drain and rinse 3. toss them in the Vitamix or other food processor with 1/2-1cup water, juice from 1 lemon and a dash of salt 4. fire up the blender and VOILA! There you have it! "CHEESE SAUCE!!!"  5. add more lemon juice, water and salt depending on desired consistency and flavor Directions for the Goods: 1. Saute garlic, onions and mushrooms in avocado oil- used probably 2 cloves of garlic...look out world ;) 2. Toss in 2 large handfulls of fresh baby spinach and about 1/2 pin...

THE NEXT BIG THING!!!! It's here!!! It's here!!! And the next support group is starting soon! We saw hundreds of amazing results with the 21 Day Fix and I'm beyond excited to announce that I'll be starting the NEW 21 Day Fix EXTREME in just a few short days! I'm even more excited to experience the results of this program myself and watch hundreds, even thousands, change their lives in many ways just by committing to an exercise and nutrition plan for ONLY 21 days!!! Are you ready for a major calorie burn in only 30 minutes? These workouts were made short so you can get in, get out, and get on with your day. But that does NOT mean they will be easy...the will in fact challenge you at every level physically, mentally and yeah, sometimes even emotionally...but this craziness will help you reach your goals and maximize fat loss. Oh, and if you're just starting off on your fitness journey, there's a modifier on screen to show you how to dial down the inten...

SAY WHAT!!??? BUT HOW!!!!!????? Yes, here it is.... I know most of you can have cheese, but this girl CAN NOT! So, here is my cheese substitute for my taco nights :) soak RAW cashews in water for about 4 hours drain and rinse place cashews in food processor or VitaMix with 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup lemon juice and blend away add water until you have your desired consistnency add a bit of salt to taste and there you go....super easy "cheese"    ***It's great on rice, tacos, to dip veggies in or corn chips....but remember don't indulge too much...cashews are good for you, but too many can add too much fat to your diet :) So eat in moderation and shoot for a serving size no larger than 1Tbsp.

This is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE RECIPES!!!! I've been making it for years and you can use it in so many different ways!!! I love using it as a side salad at BBQs, or scoop some up on a corn chip -remember serving size ;) or use it as a salad topper as shown below. I thought I posted the recipe here before, or on my Instagram or on my Facebook, but for some reason, I cannot put my hands on it! I know my dear friends Nicole and Leslie have requested this recipe from me several times and I swear I posted it....Well if it did so happen to slip my mind, it's here now...for ALL TO SEE :) Here you go!!! This recipe will make about 3-4 servings: 1 can rinsed low-sodium black beans 1 can rinsed low-sodium corn 2 vine tomatoes chopped 1/8-1/4 red onion chopped 1/2-1 whole green pepper chopped 1-2 jalapenos chopped...depending on your love      for fire in your mouth ;) A good amount of fresh chopped Cilantro 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EEOV) Juice of 1-2 l...

Sweet meets.... SPICY!!!! For those of you who know me I am a pretty simple, healthy eater...but the ONE thing I love more about food than those two things is SPICY!!!! I HEART SPICY!!!!! I used to eat grilled cheese at work...you know, as in the SCHOOL LUNCH grilled cheese??? The one that was OH SO YUMMY!!! The one that they used to smother with butter and then bake!? Yeah, that grilled cheese...the one I used to eat BEFORE I discovered that I CAN'T eat cheese?! Yeah, that one. Anyway, I was the girl the cafeteria staff died laughing at as I doused that yummy deliciousness with some HOT SAUCE (as in about 1/2 a bottle)!!! HELLO SPICY!!!! HELLO LOVE IN MY MOUTH!!!! ***Confession***To this day, I keep a bottle of hot sauce AND a bottle of sriracha in my fridge at work....YES.I. DO. I may not add hot sauce to everything, but I do add a little spice to just about every meal or snack :) THIS is the YUMMY #CleanEats salad that I made for lunch! Oh, and what's even better...

mmmmm.....cupcakes...... No, no, no silly....not your junk food junky cupcake. As yummy as that sounds, this girl needs to pass on those. With these cupcakes, #21DayFix approved I may add, I can have TWO "cupcakes" in each hand!!!! SO, I saw this awesome recipe on...Pinterest!? Yes, Pinterest...ME on Pinterest? NEVER! OK, OK, GUILTY! Well, the recipe was for a breakfast-for lots of people- you know, for family get-togethers (which I totally missed the boat on when I was home in NY two weeks ago) or even for a baby shower-which one day I will have (after I meet Prince Charming) and my friends will have the rest of the day to themselves after enjoying cupcakes and mimosas. Anyway, here it is... a picture of MY cupcakes and MY rendition of the recipe I found on the one and only Pinterest... According to the 21 Day Fix, 4 of these bad boys is ONE SERVING and counts as 1 red container (protein) and 1 green container (greens/veggies)!!! In order to prep f...

Well, I never, EVER, NEVER-EVER thought I'd EVER be saying this, but I absolutely LOVE KALE!!!! I've always associated it with cooked spinach....mushy, slimy and stinky....and for those who know me, cooked spinach and I have NEVER, EVER been friends, right mom? I remember one hot summer evening, way back when I was probably about 10 years old when my amazing mom insisted that I eat some spinach (from a can) for dinner...I mean come on....my brother and sister LOVED it!! What was wrong with me!? HMMM.....could it have been the smell? the texture?? Who knows exactly what it was. All that matters is that my mom was coming at my mouth with that fork full of spinach, trying to convince me to try it and all that happened was an awful chain reaction of me gagging for about 5 minutes...It WASN'T happening! To this day, cooked greens completely gross me out (spinach, Italian greens, Collard greens, etc...). I really think it's a texture thing. Until one day......what is that on...