Recipe: Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

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I love cooking my way around the world.

I love traveling, too, but traveling in my kitchen (as a supplement to the traditional way) lets me learn so much more about the world and the many fascinating cultures of the world than I would otherwise be able to. And cooking is fun!



Today, I hope you'll join me on a delicious trip to the Mediterranean. Greek cuisine is beloved by many, both in Greece and elsewhere, and I've been really enjoying working on more Greek-inspired recipes lately.

This spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) recipe is delicious, flaky, flavorful, and a great packed lunch for work. Spanakopita is meant to be eaten cold or at room temperature, so it makes the best leftovers!

It isn't very difficult to make, as long as you remember to thaw the phyllo in advance if you're using frozen phyllo pastry, and the result is restaurant-quality. Read on for the no-fail recipe!

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Happy National Green Juice Day!

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Aren't national food days so fun? There's National Peanut Butter Day, National Sandwich Day, National Ice Cream Day and, today, National Green Juice Day!

Late January is a great time to have a national food holiday dedicated to healthier eating. A lot of us go into the new year with the intention to eat good food, do good things, and build a good life. But while all of that can become habitual over time, it can also be pretty easy to let life get in the way as we settle back into our usual routines.

Luckily, this National Green Juice Day we are all reminded that wellness isn't incompatible with having busy lives or not wanting to spend all afternoon cleaning pulp out of a juicer.

There are so many great commercial green juices out there for those of us who would rather get up early for yoga before work than get up early to press juice out of greens. It's all about picking the right juice!

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Review: Elli Quark (a.k.a. A Reunion with a Childhood Love)

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Growing up as a half-German girl living in North Carolina, I loved having the best of both worlds:

Cool German summers and temperate winters in the American South.

German sweet treats, like Kinderschokolade and Nutella, and American peanut butter and trail mix.

German Weihnachtsmaerkte and American Halloween.

German linguistic freedom (anyone can build a word!) and uncomplicated English grammar.

Long American summer vacations and school to attend in Germany during those long summer breaks.

Rustic German breads and neon-colored American ketchup to amuse my German cousins with.

As the increasing global market brought more and more of my German favorites to me in the USA (I still fondly remember the year that Target brought Nutella in America to me - even if German Nutella tastes way better) the things that I couldn't get here stood out more and more. Key among them: quark.

Creamy Elli Quark

A soft cheese that is both low in lactose and fat, as well as high in protein and creaminess, quark was dairy that I could digest and I LOVED it. I still do! But it was, sadly, impossible to find in even international markets in the USA. Until now!

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Recipe: Potato Leek Soup

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I had a really cool opportunity to travel to Paris for 2.5 weeks last month for work!

I missed having Christmas with my loved ones (and New Year's, but I don't care nearly as much about that), which was really sad and hopefully won't happen again, but the experience was amazing.

Parisian architecture is beautiful, the city of lights sparkled and shined despite the atrocities earlier in the fall, and visiting the museums and Eiffel Tower was really great! Parisian food was also a really interest culinary experience.

But after 2.5 weeks of eating out every day, I couldn't have been more thrilled to return to my kitchen! Since winter finally hit in January (it came so late this year) and I had just returned from France, I couldn't think of anything more fitting than potato leek soup.



Read on for a simple, but delicious, recipe for Potato Leek Soup. It will sweep you away to a rainy Parisian afternoon!

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Review: Eat Me Guilt Free

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Mondays are exciting.

No, really. I love the weekend just as much any other girl, but Mondays are exciting in their own right. You're coming fresh off the weekend into a whole new week to set and achieve new short goals and work on old long goals!

That said, 3pm on a Monday afternoon at the office can require a bit of a pick-me-up for most of us.

Eat Me Guilt Free blondies and brownies are the perfect solution to the afternoon energy crash. 

They're yummy and do a much better of keeping energy levels up for the second half of the afternoon than a normal brownie or blondie would!

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How to Make the Most of A Long Weekend!

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It's MLK Day weekend and, while the holiday doesn't generate the same enthusiasm in most as the recent holiday season did, it's still a nice three day weekend and a great break after readjusting to the 5+ day work week that makes most of our lives. Getting back into the swing of things after a long vacation can be tough!

It's easy for a weekend (or even a long weekend) to fly by before we even really realized that it arrived. Here are some fun ways to make the most of this long weekend and really enjoy it!

Have at least one cozy evening in with a book and a movie.

This can be lovely with a loved one or a good friend, or all by yourself. We all need some tranquility and it's important not to skip unwinding over the weekend. That way, we're all rested for the new week!

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Recipe: Better than Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

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I grew up in a suburb in North Carolina, so when the weather wasn't great outside, there were no good movies playing in the theaters, and our mothers were all tired out by one too many sleepovers, the fun thing to do with friends was go to the mall!

I tend to have sensory memory of things, so when I think back to those pre-teen afternoons spent walking around the mall, laughing, trying on clothes, and talking about anything and everything, I especially remember the sounds and smells (and, to a lesser extent, sights) of the mall.

Other than the amazing warm, sweet smell by the mall cookie shop during the holidays and the strong floral scent by the Bath & Bodyworks store, one of the smells that stands out the most is the buttery, spicy, sweet smell by the Cinnabon shop!

I was always more of an ice cream or cookies girl when it came to dessert, and more of a cereal or bread girl when it came to breakfast, so I'm not sure if I ever bought anything from the Cinnabon. I certainly remember enjoying the smell, however, so I was thrilled when I got to make cinnamon rolls for a roommate's potluck!

Pre-frosting, but don't worry - I frosted them!

Not only did these cinnamon rolls get rave reviews from his coworkers (not a single roll remained after the potluck) but our apartment smelled like a Cinnabon for hours!

The recipe is easy to make, sure to please, and both a lot more budget-friendly and brings you a lot closer to your food than a trip to a Cinnabon would, so enjoy!

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Review: Sundance Bars

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Was eating more plantbased foods or less added sugar one of your New Year's Resolutions? Don't worry, you don't have to give up chocolate - not even milk chocolate!



Sundance Bars are made of organic raw ground cacao nibs, organic raw cacao butter, coconut milk powder, organic raw coconut oil, erythritol, steviol, nut butter, lemon or lime juice, and cayenne pepper - that's it!



With no added sugar, antioxidants from the cacao, and healthy fats from the coconut oil, it's chocolate that's healthful and can easily fit into any healthy balanced diet, even if you have dietary restrictions like veganism or raw veganism!



Even better, it's delicious! The chocolate is rich and creamy.



I'm a fan of dark chocolate, but this bar will be adored by even milk chocolate purists. The coconut milk powder gives it the creaminess that dairy gives milk chocolate and makes it milder than traditional dark chocolate.

You still get all the benefits of dark chocolate, however, from the high cacao content and the unprocessed cacao!



Sundance Bars is also an Etsy small business, which means that not only does ordering a delicious chocolate bar taste good, but it does good. Each purchase supports a chocolate artisan following his dreams!

Whatever your New Year's resolutions may be (or if you're doing resolutions this year at all) these bars are a great way to do good for your body and your community at the same time. As an artist myself (albeit a writer), I'm all for supporting all sorts of artists and small business. Let's keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive in the world for all, by supporting small businesses over mega-companies whenever we can!

How often do you shop from small businesses?

What's your job?

What are your New Year's Resolutions? Are you doing resolutions this year?

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Recipe: Caribbean Coconut Bread

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There are so many wonderful reasons to eat coconut oil - it has been proven to improve cholesterol profiles, may reduce heart disease risk, is great for your hair and skin health, may help reduce dangerous abdominal fat, and an improve immunity.

A quick bread baked with Ojio raw organic coconut oil as the fat, instead of butter or traditional vegetable oil, makes a wonderful switch-up from the traditional banana bread!

We're all getting back into the swing of things at work now, after the lovely Christmas holiday break, and sometimes this time of year can give us a bit of the post-vacation blues. While this bread is not quite as good as a Caribbean vacation (who wouldn't love to go to the Bahamas?) it tastes like the bakery-fresh coconut loaves you could find all over by the beaches!!

Read on for the recipe for my Caribbean Coconut Bread, made with healthy fat-rich coconut oil!

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2016 Oriya Health Challenge!

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Is anyone absolutely awful at writing the right date at the beginning of each new year? I still have to remind myself not to end dates with -15, because it's -16 now!

That said, I love the fresh new start of new years and the excitement that comes with it. If there's anything you've been procrastinating, the new year provides a perfect opportunity to stop putting it off and just do it already!

This year, I spent the holidays in Paris on a work trip. It was an unusual holiday for me, not just because of the unseasonably warm weather for the time of year (both in NYC and, to a lesser extent, in Paris), but also because it was my first time not spending the holidays with my family.

Follow me on Instagram as @danaikadzere for more travel, food, and life photos!

Paris has been amazing and I love my job, but I'm hoping to spend Christmas with my loved ones again next year - and I'm already wishing that next year will bring a white Christmas!

Anyway, I will bid the city of lights adieu this evening and fly back home to NYC late tonight. So, in a way, tomorrow (January 4) is my real new start to the new year! The trip has been great and wonderfully educational, but I'm also looking forward to being home and getting back into/creating a new year's new rhythm.

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