Bridges Through Life

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice [Low Carb]

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Looking for a low carb substitution for rice? Look no further. Try this cilantro lime cauliflower rice perfect for burritos, lettuce wraps or by itself. All you need are 3 ingredients and a little oil. 

cilantro lime cauliflower rice ingredients

I was never a cauliflower person until I tried cauliflower rice this year. I still don’t like regular cauliflower. It either has to be cooked in rice form or pureed in the blender as a sauce. Those are currently the only ways I eat cauliflower. I am sharing this with you because I realize that some people may turn away as soon as they read cauliflower in the title of this post, but if you didn’t I hope you will stay to see the recipe and try it out. It’s super easy and done in about 20 minutes. 

Last weekend when I was away in Virginia with a friend we made a burrito bowl bar set up.

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I love doing this for group meals because then people can choose what they want in their bowl to customize it. One thing that is necessary in a burrito bowl for me, is rice. If you have ever been to Chipotle, you may recall their cilantro lime rice. I absolutely LOVE the flavor of this rice!! I know cilantro is a love or hate thing, but for anyone that loves it, you will love this recipe.

Now instead of regular rice, we are using riced cauliflower. I know, how can a vegetable taste the same as rice? Well it doesn’t taste exactly the same but once you load up that burrito bowl or lettuce wrap, it tastes pretty darn good. Though I may be biased. I have been trying to keep my carbs lower and it has been working in that I feel satisfied for a longer period of time with more protein and fats and I have lost belly fat. [Please note I am not saying that lower carbs will work for everyone but it is something that has been working for me] I haven’t been super strict and calculating my macros daily, but I know I have felt better and so I listen to want my body wants. Some days, I crave a bunch of carbs and I go for it but most days, I stick to a lot of veggies and meat to fill me up.

cilantro lime cauliflower rice

Lately I have noticed that keeping my dinners smaller has helped. You will find that cauliflower doesn’t have many calories, so depending on what you top your burrito with, dinner can be low calories if you choose so.

Now onto this simple recipe.

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
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Ingredients
  1. • 2-3 tbsp olive oil or grapeseed oil
  2. • ½ cup cilantro leaves (before chopped)
  3. • 16 oz riced cauliflower
  4. • Juice from 1 lime
Instructions
  1. 1) Heat up a pan on medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive/grapeseed oil
  2. 2) Add in the riced cauliflower and stir around for 2-3 minutes
  3. 3) Next chop up your cilantro leaves and juice your lime
  4. 4) Add in the lime juice, cilantro and additional 1-2 tbsp of oil to the pan and stir until mixed together.
  5. 5) Let the cauliflower rice cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
  6. 6) Turn off the pan and serve the rice on a plate or in a bowl with your meal
Bridges Through Life https://www.bridgesthroughlife.com/
I used the “rice” for lettuce wraps which I added black beans and tofu to. It was a delicious vegetarian meal for dinner. It is rare that I eat vegetarian meals so it was a nice change.

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Have you tried Cauliflower rice?

 

Blueberry Grapefruit Mojito

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Hey there and happy Wednesday!! Now that we are half way through the week, we can reward ourselves with a drink right?! I see no problem with having one drink on a weeknight after hard work. In Philadelphia, they have Wednesday night sips for the summer. I don’t go as it is crazy crowded and I like peace and quiet at home. But if you still want a drink without all the chaos of going out, why not make this mojito?

blueberry grapefruit mojito

It all started with this recipe and from there we had a winner. An alcoholic drink I could tolerate. Ever since I turned 21, everyone has been trying to get me to drink. I already came to the conclusion I will never have to buy myself a drink because people buy them for me to see if I like it. This is how it usually goes: I take one sip, make a funny face and give it back to them. Brian loves it when I try his strong drinks with the tiniest sip and make such a dramatic face.

Anyway back to my first mojito. When I saw a recipe for a grapefruit flavored drink with mint, I wanted to try it. I love grapefruit and I love fresh mint. One thing I have never been a big fan of is carbonated drinks. I think that is why it is even harder to find a drink I actually like. I still decided to try the Bai grapefruit flavored drink when we made the mojitos though and since then I find carbonated drinks a great treat.

Back when we made the Pinch of Yum recipe, we didn’t have rum, so we used tequila. That might mean this is not really a mojito recipe but since it used the mint and the lime, I gave it the mojito title anyway.

Since making grapefruit mojitos, I have not only fallen in love with the Bai grapefruit drinks, but now if I see a sparkling grapefruit drink, I have to try it! The grapefruit drink you see in the picture that I used in this recipe was from Trader Joes.

When Brian and I got out for lunch or dinner and we see a classic mojito on the menu, we order one to share and see how it compares. By far, our favorite restaurant mojito is at Cantina Laredo. I love how they have the fresh sugar cane in theirs. It was actually disappointing the one time we ordered and they were out of the fresh sugar cane.

I am not a big drinker and I prefer to make any sort of drink at home because then I control the alcohol and added sugar. Despite my sweet tooth, I have found I like my drinks to be tart. I could definitely make this without the sugar, but since I was muddling the berries into it, I wanted to add a bit of sugar to see how it turned out.

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Also not standard for a mojito is using a cocktail shaker. I like to shake all the flavors together and then add more berries and mint to garnish after pouring. A little tip though, make sure your shaker, water bottle, whatever you use to shake the mixture together has a secure lid because I definitely didn’t get the lid on all the way and well…that led to doing a load of laundry early because I was wearing one of my favorite shirts.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. 

Also may I recommend a Mexican themed dinner too? I didn’t have any rice ready that night, but black beans, chicken, homemade guac and some chips with my drink were pretty perfect for dinner.

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Double the recipe and have a date night at home!! I would love to hear from you if you make the recipe. Tag @bridgesthroughlife on Instagram if you make it.

Blueberry Grapefruit Mojito
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Ingredients
  1. • ¼ c blueberries (divided)
  2. • 1 tsp sugar
  3. • 10 mint leaves
  4. • 2 tsp lime juice
  5. • 1 cup sparkling grapefruit drink
  6. • 1 oz tequila
  7. • 4-5 ice cubes
Instructions
  1. 1) In a small bowl, muddle* half the blueberries, the sugar, mint leaves and lime juice.
  2. 2) Combine the muddled mixture with the remaining ingredients into a cocktail shaker (this step is optional, you can just combine into a glass, but I like to shake the ingredients around and get more of the flavor of the mint and berries).
  3. 3) Pour into a glass and garnish with the remaining blueberries and more mint leaves
Notes
  1. *if you don’t have a muddler, you can use a wooden spoon. I just mashed the berries and mint until I thought it looked mixed together
Bridges Through Life https://www.bridgesthroughlife.com/

Turkey Lettuce Boats Recipe

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These turkey lettuce boats, as I like to call them, have been a hit lately with me. I tend to stick to the same foods each week and the other week I realized it had been a while since I had had ground turkey. Now what to do with ground turkey… I could make meatballs or turkey burgers or lettuce wraps! Yep the idea hit me while I was at the grocery store. At first I found the turkey and baby romaine lettuce. I love the baby romaine as the leaves are the perfect size for little boats.

When I was getting ready to cook up the turkey, I added in a few other ingredients. To make this recipe even quicker, I chopped the bell pepper and onion up in advance and then I was just ready to dump everything in a pan and cook it up.

turkey lettuce boats pin

 

I even made these for Brian this weekend and he loved them. I amazingly didn’t overcook the turkey, but in case you do, salsa and avocado to the rescue! Some other suggestions I would make, would maybe be adding some spices into the ground turkey before cooking, but the toppings add great flavor. 

These lettuce boats are quick and easy to make which makes them perfect for a weeknight dinner when you just want to eat and not worry about cooking for hours. They are also great as leftovers, just store the extra turkey and veggies together in the fridge and then quickly heat them up before you are ready to eat. This makes the recipe perfect for a single person but also makes enough for a family to enjoy for a dinner one night. 

All you need are a few simple ingredients:

  • ground turkey
  • baby romaine lettuce
  • salsa
  • avocado
  • bell pepper
  • onionturkey lettuce boat_3

 

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I hope you enjoy this simple recipe. You can tag #bridgesthroughlife on Instagram and also follow me @bridgesthroughlife on Instagram or @bridgesthrulife on Twitter . 

Turkey Lettuce Boats
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Ingredients
  1. 1 lb ground turkey*
  2. 1-2 baby romaine heads
  3. 1 jar salsa**
  4. 1 avocado
  5. 1 bell pepper, diced
  6. 1/2 medium onion, diced
  7. 2 tbsp grape seed or olive oil
Instructions
  1. 1) begin by heating up a skillet with 1 tbsp of grape seed or olive oil, then place the ground turkey in the pan
  2. 2) using a spatula, chop up the turkey in the pan so that it is is approximately in bite size pieces, place lid over the pan and let cook for 3-5 minutes
  3. 3) while the meat is cooking, take another pan and place the other tbsp of grape seed or olive oil in the pan. Add the chopped bell pepper and onion
  4. 4) check on the meat and flip the pieces over and chop more if needed. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.
  5. 5) once the onion starts to brown a bit in the other pan, turn that pan off and combine the veggies with the meat, stir everything together until well combined and everything looks done
  6. 6) wash your lettuce leaves and pat dry with a paper towel and line 3 up on a plate
  7. 7) fill each "boat" (lettuce leaf) with turkey and veggies, spoonful of salsa and a slice or 2 of avocado and enjoy!
Notes
  1. * you could easily sub a different ground meat, such as ground beef or ground chicken if you prefer
  2. **you won't need the whole jar, but I probably used a tbsp for each boat
Bridges Through Life https://www.bridgesthroughlife.com/

Thanks for reading. 

 

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