MediterranEllen

I have a confession to make. I absolutely love Trader Joe's, and it's becoming a bit of a problem for the bank account. There's one about 3 blocks from my office, so I frequent it often on my lunch break, even if I don't need anything. BUT, TJ's is a phenomenal place to shop for Mediterranean inspired foods. Last time I was in there perusing, I found their tomato bruschetta and I'm so pissed I've never found it before now. This stuff is a game changer! Another confession. I actually don't like raw tomatoes. I don't know what it is, but I just.. would rather never eat them ever. But I love mozzarella cheese and basil, and it's not as widely accepted to make a Caprese Salad without tomato apparently. But this bruschetta... So good. I plucked some basil from the live plant I have leftover from the pesto and limited myself to only a few pieces of fresh Moz instead of the whole damn ball, which is a feat for me. Also, I forgot to put balsamic on thi...

Fun fact guys. It really is. But not like the Sabra store-bought stuff - don't get me wrong it's good. But if you've ever been to a real Mediterranean restaurant where their hummus is just creamy and oily and smooth and you just want to rub it all over your body -- that's the stuff I'm talking about. I could live off of that. I could bathe in that. So I decided to make my own because it's really not hard at all. Disclaimer. I was on vacation with my family recently, and my stepsister is a Chef, and I was inspired by her. I kind of picked the wrong things though... So she bought a few different varieties of the dried peppers in the spices section of the store, and I was like "omg I've always wanted to use these but I have no idea how to" and obviously, you can put them in hummus - so I did. I didn't really do any research on the heat level of said dried peppers... So I made this batch a wee little spicy. 2 cans of garbanzo beans (32 o...

*Insert three fire emojis* This weekend was my first official Mediterranean Prep, and to kick it off, I decided to make my favorite, pesto and turn it into a pasta salad. They are both v delicious, but lesson learned, you need about 75x as much Basil as you think you do. I bought a big live basil plant at Sprouts, and 2 already packaged containers because I wanted some basil left on the plant so it can continue to grow. I used about 4 cups of packed basil, and only got about 3/4 a jar - but luckily that's all I needed for my recipe. I do have to warn you now, I am notorious for not measuring stuff as I make it, and for that I"m sorry, but I will never change. So without further ado, here is my pesto recipe! 4 c packed Basil 1/2 c crushed walnuts*  6 tbsp grated parmesan cheese 1/2 lemon squeezed 3 tbsp of garlic** 1/2 c of EVOO*** *walnuts are cheaper and work just as well as the traditional pine nuts ** I actually used closer to like 5 tbsp of garlic ...

My name is Ellen. I'm 26 and a half, I live in Las Vegas, and more often than not - I feel lost in this world. I have so many ideas, so many dreams, and I just get stuck trying to figure out how to make them a reality. I've recently had a bit of a career crisis, I don't think I want to do what I'm doing for the rest of my life. I'm too scared to start over, and frankly, I can't afford school or to take a pay cut. My day job isn't terrible, but it isn't fulfilling. After a recent vacation to Mexico, I was reminded of how important it is to live life, to enjoy life. Life is full of hustle and bustle, of climbing the career ladder, making the most money you can - and I don't want my life to be that way. I was inspired by this trip, and also my past travels. I remember one of my professors in Barcelona would say quite often "Americans live to work, everyone else works to live." This has always stuck with me. For 5 years, I've tied my i...