As Christmas day approaches, I have been experimenting in the kitchen baking a few recipes. My kids and I tend to bake the night before Christmas Eve and serve our creations the next morning. After trying these Orange Cranberry Muffins, I fell in love with their flavor and texture. I can’t wait to share the recipe with my family—and you!

Not only are these super easy to make, but they are perfect for the holidays. Orange and cranberries are the perfect combo!

Muffins are one of my favorite things to serve with breakfast. I tend to make them on the unsweetened side, since my kids don’t like super-sweet baked goods. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have flavor! I mixed orange juice into the batter – my favorite is not-from-concentrate Florida’s Natural^® Brand Orange Juice – and its sweetness pairs so well with the tart-yet-sweet dried cranberries. It is the only type of orange juice we buy, since it truly tastes like fresh-squeezed. Plus, it is made entirely in the U.S., by citrus farmers who care deeply about the quality of their product. And it tastes delicious!

I also used whole wheat flour, which it is a healthier alternative to the conventional white flour. The glaze is optional, but I’d recommend adding it to take these muffins to the next level. (Plus, it has an awesome orange flavor!)

I love doing something special with my kids around the holidays every year. As they get older, they are getting into cooking and baking so I know that getting in the kitchen with them is something they enjoy doing! (However, I must say that I am not a huge fan of the messes my kids make when we get in the kitchen.) I love seeing their faces when we are done with the recipe. They are so proud of their creations!

If you are looking for something to do with the kids around the holidays, try baking a batch of these Orange Cranberry Muffins.

Enjoy!

Orange cranberry muffins

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 12 muffins

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup Florida's Natural Orange Juice
• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp aluminum free baking soda
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Glaze

• 1/2 cup confectioner sugar
• 2-3 tbs Florida's Natural Orange Juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with paper cups. In a large mixing bowl add oil, sugar, eggs, and orange juice and combine.

Add in flour, baking soda baking powder, cranberries and mix in. Spoon about 2-3 tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup, about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove muffins from the muffin pan and cool them in a wire rack.

In a small mixing bowl, mix together the ingredients for the glaze. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of glaze on each muffin.

Serve.

The post Orange cranberry muffins appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I love having a mixture of dishes for Thanksgiving. I always have some sort of salad, veggies and greens with a combination of other first course dishes. I wanted to make this apple cranberry pecan salad ahead of time and see if my family would like it. Since apples are in season I wanted to use them and make something more creative.

This Apple cranberry pecan salad was a hit so I am glad I was able to make something new that I could add to my menu for that day.

I also added some cranberries and pecans since they are indicative of this holiday. The crunch of the apples complimented the other ingredients very well and the salad dressing really made it stand out. Super refreshing, easy and delicious.

I used Truvia Nectar to sweetened the salad dressing. Truvia nectar is a great ingredient to use in salad dressings whenever you need to sweetened it. For my diabetic readers and those not wanting to have much sugar in their diet this is the perfect ingredient to use. It is also great to use to sweetened drinks like smoothies, use in your coffee, for baking and even cooking. The sky is the limit.

If you are thinking of making something easy, light  and new this coming season I think you will love this apple cranberry pecan salad. It was a hit in my house and it will be a recipe that I will keep making time and time again for sure.

Enjoy!

Apple cranberry pecan salad

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4-5 apples, cut into thin strips
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 7 oz fresh arugula
• 1 lemon, juice

Dressing

• 1 cup greek yogurt
• 3 tbs rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp Truvia nectar (or 1/3 cup maple syrup)

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl add the dressing ingredients and mix through. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl add the apples cut into strips and add the lemon. Toss to coat to make sure they don't oxidize and become brown. Add the pecans, dried cranberries, and feta cheese. Combine. To serve the salad, place arugula at the bottom of serving plates. Divide the apple mixture between the serving plates followed by the dressing.

Serve immediately.

The post Apple cranberry pecan salad appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

I’ve partnered with Florida’s Natural this year, and their juice is what I used as a base for the vinaigrette on this salad. As someone who cares about where my food comes from, I love that not-from-concentrate Florida’s Natural® Orange Juice is made entirely in the U.S. by citrus farmers who care deeply about the quality of their product. Other companies import their oranges, and I love that with Florida’s Natural, I know where the juice is coming from. Something like that gives me peace of mind.

Citrus ingredients go really well in salads, but up until today, I had never tried them myself. Boy, was I missing out.

The orange honey vinaigrette turned out superb. It literally took just 1 to 2 minutes to make. All I needed to do was combine the ingredients in a small glass jar I had on hand and I was done. So super fast to whip up your own homemade salad dressing right in your kitchen!

You can keep this vinaigrette in your fridge and use it with other salad combinations. I actually made triple the batch myself because, like I said, we have started to eat salads pretty often. I like to change my salad dressings from time to time, so having this salad with this salad dressing was just perfect.

I love the fact that I have partnered with Florida’s Natural and that I’m able to experiment in the kitchen with their delicious-tasting juice. Through my partnership with them, I’ve learned that their juice is made from 100 percent Florida-grown oranges, which gives it that fresh-from-the-grove taste.

If you like oranges and orange juice as much as I do, be prepared. I am going to be bringing some more awesome, healthy, original recipes your way. There are so many different recipes that I can create with this amazing ingredient!

If you are into refreshing, tasty, easy salad recipes, you have to try this Avocado Orange Salad with Orange Honey Vinaigrette. It literally takes a very short time to put it together, and the best part is the salad dressing, so I hope you get to try it soon.

Enjoy!

This recipe is sponsored by Florida’s Natural. The opinions and text are all mine. The end.

Avocado orange salad with orange honey vinaigrette

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados, peeled and sliced
• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
• 10 oz fresh salad mix, any greens of choice
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 2 fresh oranges, peeled and sliced
• fresh cilantro, chopped

Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup not-from-concentrate Florida’s Natural^® Orange Juice
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp crushed black pepper
• 1/4 tsp celtic salt

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl add the salad ingredients. Set aside.

In a small bowl or glass jar add the vinaigrette ingredients. With a wire whisk mix together until combined. Add half the salad dressing to the mixing bowl and toss to combine with salad ingredients.

Serve immediately with some extra dressing if desired.

NOTE: You can store leftover dressing in the fridge for up to 1-2 weeks.

The post Avocado orange salad with orange honey vinaigrette appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

For the dressing I opted in using rice wine vinegar and sesame oil that gives a very distinctive flavor. You can use any dressing of your choice but this combo is just awesome.

I always used my rice cooker when cooking grains instead of doing it in the cooktop. It is so much easier.

As every salad, these buckwheat veggie salad is very versatile. If there are certain veggies that you don’t like you can swap for which ever you prefer. I just used what I had on had and the combo was just perfect.

Also if you like, you can use quinoa in place of buckwheat and make it gluten free or use any other nuts. I have made something similar using pistachios and it was the bomb.

This coming summer, since I am going to be in school I am going to be making quite a few salads. I am not going to have much time for cooking and baking so I am going to have to be making things that are still healthy, simple and filling.

In order to obtain the buckwheat salad recipe make sure you visit my friends at Nuts.com. You will be able to shop for any healthy ingredients you may need for your cooking and baking such as nuts, dried fruits, grains, flours and much more.

Enjoy!

This recipe is sponsored by Nuts.com The opinions and text are all mine. The end.

The post Buckwheat veggie salad appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

These superfood energy bites were great for my kids lunch boxes as well as for me to grab and eat on the go. Sometimes I don’t have much time to whip up a smoothie or eat anything else so I make sure that at least once a week I get to make things of this nature so when the time comes and I have to run out the door I have something healthy to snack on.

What I like about these superfood energy bites is that not only they are super easy to make but that you can use other ingredients and make them with nuts and dried fruits of your choice.

I happen to buy some golden berries the other day that were on sale so I put them to use. I don’t buy golden berries as much as I would want to because they are a bit pricy but whenever they come on sale I take advantage and buy a few packages.

I have seen many energy bites recipes using added sweeteners like honey and maple syrup but to be honest I couldn’t possibly do that because using dried fruits and medjol dates makes energy bites sweet enough. Using honey and maple syrup would be way to sweet for my liking.

When I start P.A school back in May I will be making things of this nature 24/7. Well, I know I am not going to have much time since I will have to study a lot but at least one day a week I will devote part of it to cooking and baking to make food for the week ahead. We all know how nasty cafeteria food can be.

This is by far my favorite recipe for energy bites. These bites are superfood because of the golden berries that are full of fiber, B-vitamins, protein and show many digestive, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant benefits. They also have chia seeds which are also considered a superfood.

These superfood energy bites will also lower your cholesterol naturally since I added flaxseed meal which is rich in soluble fiber. Soluble fiber works magically to excrete excess cholesterol from the body.

All in all, these bites are to die for so I hope you get to try them soon!

Enjoy!

Superfood energy bites

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 27-30 bites

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pitted dates
• 1 cup golden berries
• 2 tbsp flaxseed meal
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 1/2 cups gluten free rolled oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup pistachios
• 1/4 cup water + 2 tbsp

Directions:

Add the dates, golden berries, flax, water and chia seeds to your food processor. Pulse until the mixture comes together. It will be wet.

Add the oats, cranberries, pistachios and pulse just enough so that it gets mixed in with the previous mixture just like in the picture. You don't want this mixture to be to puree like. You want to see the chunks of pistachios and cranberries.

Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and with your hands form little balls.

You can keep these refrigerated in a covered glass container for up to 1 week.

The post Superfood energy bites appeared first on Eat Good 4 Life.

Brussels sprouts are currently in season so if you like this vegetable I suggest you take advantage of it. It is great for many things. You can prepare it in a multitude of ways. For the most part I have added it to rice dishes, however, today I just pair them with caramelized onions and they were the bomb.

I have seen them prepared with bacon, which I am sure it is really good, however, I don’t like bacon that much so I figured caramelized onions will give the brussels sprouts the flavor they deserve.

All in all the prep time for this Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions is just about 5 minutes. It is rather a quick and simple recipe that you can make to pair it with your main protein over the holidays.

Anyways, I leave you with this Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions recipe that is sure to satisfy any veggie eater.

Enjoy!

Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions

Miryam's original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb brussels sprouts, cut into halves
• 2 large red onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 2 tbs dried cranberries
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp Celtic salt
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

In a large skillet, over medium to high heat, add the olive oil and onions. Cook stirring occasionally for 5-8 minutes until you see them they are starting to brown.

Add the brussels sprouts and salt and continue to cook until they are tender. About another 5 minutes. Add the almonds, cranberries and stir.

Serve.

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