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Floradise

A lifestyle blog by Marette Flora

Cheesy Vegetarian Puff Pastries & Crystal Farms® Giveaway

** This post is sponsored by Crystal Farms Cheese® but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I recently have been craving empanadas, but I have never made them! So instead I decided to make a cheese vegetarian puff pastry filled with mozzarella, my favorite beefless crumbles and chopped sweet peppers. It’s super easy to make and can feed six people of all ages with one large pastry each that can be a meal on-the-go!

Moving to the Midwest has opened my eyes to the delicious cheese products from Crystal Farms® Cheese, based in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Crystal Farms® Whole MIlk Mozzarella Cheese is made by cheese lovers, for cheese lovers with few preservatives. Their cheese products are rich in calcium and gluten-free.

Crystal Farms® Cheese Puff Pastries

You will need:

  • 8-10 small sweet peppers
  • Salt and pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • 2 cups beefless crumbles (your favorite brand or use ground beef for non-vegetarian version)
  • Two packages of your favorite brand of puff pastry dough
  • One package of Crystal Farms® Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese (2 cups)
  • 1 egg, beaten
Crystal Farms® Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese is available in the refrigerated dairy section.

Time: 25 minutes

Chop the sweet peppers and saute them until soft. Season them as desired with salt and pepper and garlic powder. Add crumbles and continue cooking on medium heat for about 8 minutes or as directed on the package. Stir occassionally and set aside when thoroughly cooked.

Unroll two packages of puff pastry, which usually comes with eight perforated sections. Seal the edges and roll with a rolling pin to be as thin as possible. Then use a knife to cut six-inch by six-inch squares (Size doesn’t need to be exact.). Then cut each of the six squares into two triangles.

 

Pour the Crystal Farms® cheese into a large mixing bowl. Add the beefless crumbles and peppers and stir. Scoop at least a quarter cup (more if it will fit) of the mixture onto a triangle and top with the opposing triangle piece of puff pastry. Seal the edges with a fork or your fingers. Poke two mini holes on top of each puff pastry with a toothpick or a fork. Repeat with the five other puff pastries. Brush each pastry with egg.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 10-13 minutes until golden brown on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Enjoy!

Connect with Crystal Farms® Cheese:

Visit Crystal Farms® Cheese website for more recipes!

Crystal Farms Giveaway!

Enter for a chance to win three free Crystal Farms product coupons by commenting below! Simply answer the question: What’s your favorite cheese?
Rules: Valid only in the U.S. for ages 18 and older.

Trying Blue Apron

** Blue Apron provided complimentary meals for this post. This post also contains affiliate links. I am compensated for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting Floradise!

Just about a week before giving birth to Adelina I decided to give Blue Apron a try. I was looking for easy meals for me to make in my final three to four weeks of pregnancy, and I just didn’t have the energy or desire to meal plan. Little did I know that the day my meals were delivered was the day I would be in labor and delivery. In our first week home from the hospital I did manage to make a couple of the meals, though!

Spicy Fusilli Pasta & Broccoli

I really liked this pasta. I didn’t use all the chili paste because I thought it might be too much, but I probably could have.

Spicy Fusilli Pasta & Broccoli Blue Apron

Spicy Fusilli Pasta & Broccoli Blue Apron

Spicy Fusilli Pasta & Broccoli Blue Apron

Spicy Fusilli Pasta & Broccoli Blue Apron

 

Apple & Cheddar Grilled Cheese With Pickled Pepper Salad

I am typically not a Dijon mustard and sourdough person, but I really enjoyed this grilled cheese. I would never think to put apple slices in it, but it was delicious! I also really like the pickled pepper salad on the side.

Apple & Cheddar Grilled Cheese With Pickled Pepper Salad

Apple & Cheddar Grilled Cheese With Pickled Pepper Salad

Thoughts on Blue Apron:

Pros 

  • Meals are relatively quick to make.
  • You can select vegetarian meal plans.
  • The meals were tasty and I wouldn’t have thought to make the second recipe.

Cons

Have you tried Blue Apron? What did you think?

Try Blue Apron:

Blue Apron: 5 Meals Free With Your First 2 Orders! (April Only)

Blue Apron: $50 Off! ($25 Off Each Week)

Hawaii Eats: Restaurants on the Big Island

Probably my favorite thing to do on vacation is try local restaurants. I’m excited to share the delicious food we had at Hawaii restaurants! We try to mix it up between more casual dining and restaurants that a bit pricier. In Hawaii, we found that most places were more expensive than the mainland, which is to be expected. Here are most of my meals (with some of G’s also pictured), plus where the restaurants are on the Big Island of Hawaii. Note: Most of these are pescatarian rather than vegetarian because when in a place with good seafood, I tend to go for it. In my daily life I am mostly veggie, though.

Island Lava Java, Kailua-Kona

We stopped at Island Lava Java for breakfast and were not disappointed. I devoured every bite of this Waipio Stack Breakfast ($14), plus some of V’s chocolate pancakes. It contained two eggs, which I ordered over hard, wheat toast, fresh avocado, tomato, arugula and chipotle aioli. (It typically comes with bacon, but I don’t eat that.) Served with fresh fruit I paired it with a vanilla frappe. SO good.

Island Lava Java, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Island Lava Java, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Basik Cafe, Kailua-Kona

Basik Cafe was mostly an acai bowl restaurant. I enjoyed the Islander ($11, small), which was acai, hemp milk, granola, banana, strawberries, goji berries, coco shavings and honey. Yum!

 

Basik Cafe, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Basik Cafe, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Kona Coffee & Tea Company, Kailua-Kona

We visited Kona Coffee  & Tea Co. twice to pick up a quick breakfast before doing other activities. The first time we all got bagels ($2.59) and yogurt and granola. The second time I ordered a spinach tart ($6.49), which was OK. I really liked the vanilla cold brew though!

Kona Coffee & Tea Company, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Kona Coffee & Tea Company, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Volcano House, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

We were starving when we arrived at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, so we decided to try one of the restaurants. Volcano House was the closest option. I ordered the fish and chips ($14) while G had Asian barbecue prawns ($16). They weren’t the best fish and chips I’ve had but they did the trick. This place is more about the view! You can see the crater from your table.

Volcano House, Hawaii

Volcano House, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Volcano House, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

 

Boat Landing Cantina, Waikoloa

While staying at the Hilton Waikola Village, we dined at Boat Landing Cantina, which was just underneath our tower. We also ordered some to-go on another night when we were too tired to actually dine there. I wasn’t disappointed with the nachos ($14) or the fish tacos ($19). The prices are high for what you get, but the resort is so large that it’s super inconvenient to leave to grab food, especially when you’re an exhausted pregnant person.

Boat Landing Cantina, Waikoloa, Hawaii

 

Boat Landing Cantina, Waikoloa, Hawaii

Cafe Pesto, Hilo

After working up an appetite on a helicopter tour, we explored downtown Hilo looking for a lunch option. We stumbled across Cafe Pesto. I loved every bite of the crab cakes ($16), which came with salad. V enjoyed her pasta with veggies and G had a pizza luau pizza ($14).

Cafe Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii

Cafe Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii

Cafe Pesto, Hilo, Hawaii

Kope Lani, Kailua-Kona

We couldn’t go without ice cream for dessert, especially on a warm Hawaii afternoon. I loved the Kona coffee flavored cone I had at Kope Lani!

Kope Lani ice cream, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Big Island Burritos, Waikoloa

On our last night we wanted something casual again, so we opted for takeout from Big Island Burritos. Shown below is a burrito bowl for G ($12) and more tacos for me ($12).

Big Island Burritos, Waikoloa

Big Island Burritos, Waikoloa

 

Waikoloa Coffee, Waikoloa

Breakfast came from Waikoloa Coffee a couple times because it was conveniently located under our hotel tower. It was pricey for what it was ($40 for two coffees, a juice and breakfast sandwiches), but it was tasty coffee.

Waikoloa Coffee, Hawaii

 

Do you see anything you’d like to try on this list? What are some of your favorite recent restaurant meals? Let me know in the comments!

July Goals

This summer is moving too quickly for me, and yet so slowly. When I’m waiting for certain things to happen, I want the time to pass quickly, but at the same time I am struggling to keep up with life lately. I’ll survive, though, because I am a planner and goal setter.

Before I get into July goals, let’s check in with my June goals.

June goal check-in:

  • Prepare for a major life change that I’ll share more about soon. We made some preparations, with more on the way. That’s really all I can say. (#Rhymes)
  • Pay off one of my student loans. Done! I did it at the last minute (yesterday) but it’s paid. I now have less than $1,000 left to pay on a second student loan before I can kiss the debt goodbye! 
  • Plan a summer camping trip. We still haven’t done this because Graham has not had consecutive days off yet. We are determined to make it happen!
  • Continue to grow my blog community. I had set secret goals for my social media accounts, and I hit my Pinterest and Instagram goals but not my Twitter one. Help a girl out by checking out my tweets?
  • Start marathon training! It was a slow start but a start nonetheless. Read my recaps: Week 1 and Week 2.

July goals:

  • Continue to prepare for a big life change. Sorry to be so vague. I hope to finally be able to share some news once I find out for sure this month (or next?!).
  • Continue tracking my meals and macros and stay on track with marathon training.
  • Cross off at least four items from my Chicago summer bucket list.
  • Pay off another debt account and save money toward a trip.
What are your goals for July? Share your blog posts or goals in the comments!

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Chicago Marathon Training, Week 2

I’m back in Chicago! I had a work trip last week in Phoenix and I didn’t get home until last night. I love being home in Phoenix, but I didn’t want to run outside in the heat. I used to give up running entirely in the summers when I lived in Phoenix. Yes, I’m a fair-weather runner; what of it? I didn’t log any miles outside last week. My mileage was not high at all, but I am proud of myself for making it to fitness classes during my busy trip.

Here’s how Week 2 of Chicago Marathon training went:

Monday: 3 miles at Orangetheory. It was the first day of peak performance week in which we really challenge ourselves. We don’t normally run for as long as we did that night; it seemed like we did endless push paces. I kept my push pace at 9:30, which would be my ideal race pace right now. I stayed at that pace even when we did 3 percent and 4 percent inclines. My all-out pace was 8:31. We also challenged ourselves to finish a 500-meter row as fast as we could. My time was 1:51, which I was impressed with. (I was also super out of breath!)

Floor workout included:
  • Tempo pushups
  • Bridge rows on the TRX straps
  • More rowing
  • Back extensions
  • Squats. (Always squats.)
Tuesday: 30-minutes of yoga at home in honor of International Day of Yoga!

Wednesday: Travel day. I did squats (reps: 14/12/10/8/6), crunches (20) and pushups (20) before I left.

Thursday: 2.3 miles at Orangetheory. I completed the 2,000-meter challenge in 8:46.

Friday: Rest day.

Saturday: 1.8 miles at Orangetheory. We started with a 4-minute progressive push. I went to class to avoid running in the Phoenix heat, but even the class was hot. We also had three all-out rows. On the floor, we did:

  • Reverse lunges with dumbbells.
  • Double crunches.
  • Plank with alternating foot raises.
  • Rollouts on the TRX straps.
  • Knee tucks.
  • Squats with dumbbells.
  • High rows with dumbbells.
  • Tricep extensions.

Sunday: 2.25 miles at Orangetheory. I made it to the 6:30 a.m. class before breakfast with a friend and flying back to Chicago. We did a lot of incline work: One of the all-outs was at a 6 percent climb! We also incorporated several all-out rows.

Floor workout included:

  • Ground to press.
  • Sit-up to stand on Bosu ball.
  • Bicep curls.

Week’s mileage: 9.35
Yoga minutes: 45

Reflections:

While I didn’t increase my mileage much in Week 2, I stayed active on a work trip, which I consider a win. I was out and about nonstop during my time in Phoenix. I wished I had gone to one more class, but I did the best I could. I’m looking forward to my regular running routine this week with miles logged outdoors.

I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the recent stress I have been experiencing. One issue I had been anxious about has been addressed and another is about to be as well. I can’t wait to get there!

Also, I started tracking my food Saturday after neglecting to do so for months (even a year). I am hoping that by tracking what I eat I can avoid gaining weight during this marathon training program. When I trained for my first marathon I put on a little weight (which is more noticeable on my small frame). This was mainly due to not eating the best foods during training and giving in to too many cravings after my long runs. My goal is to not do that this time.

How are your fitness goals coming along? Do you track your macros? Do you have any tips for doing so?

Shop my recent favorite sports bra:

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