Infused Waters

Infused Waters.

These ideas come from two separate pins:

On my Exercise/In Shape Board:

Detox Water
http://pinterest.com/pin/141089400797584115/

And on the Recipees board:

Flavored Water
http://pinterest.com/pin/141089400798309636/



So I looked at these recipes and decided to do one straight:
Watermelon Rosemary

It's very refreshing. Simply line the bottom with cubes of watermelon (bought pre-cubed at publix) and springs of Rosemary, fill with ice, then with water, leave in fridge overnight and you have a super bright tasting water with hints of its components.


My second is based on a drink I had at PF Chang's. I always go there for my birthday dinner and I had a strawberry, cucumber, limeade. So between that, looking at these waters (and the detox water), I arrived at my

Sweet Tart Detox Water

It contains a handful of frozen strawberries, lime wedges, sprigs of mint, and slices of cucumber (about 3/4 of a large cucumber sliced). Then filled with ice then water and left overnight. You definitely get the sweet notes of the strawberry, the tart of the lime, the cooling of the cucumber and the herbal minty mint. It's really nice.

Both of these were so easy. Prep time was 5 minutes (after the shopping), and then you can drink them immediately, but if you let them sit overnight they taste better. This is a super awesome alternative to soda or sugary drinks. The natural sweetness of the fruit is presence in the water without adding calories!


Marlipaige grade: A
Ease of creation: Easy!
Total Time: 5 minutes (then however long you'd like to let them sit to soak up that flavor)

Cauliflower Pizza

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

As found on my "Exercise / In Shape" board which is full of exercise and healthy alternatives to nommies.

http://pinterest.com/pin/141089400797136784/


That picture makes it look like the most delicious, crispy pizza crust. Not exactly like dough, but similar enough in its crispy thinness that it could easily be taken as dough. So out I went to buy my ingredients and whip this up.


The "dough"
1 head of cauliflower grated via cheese grater
2 eggs
2 cups mozzarella cheese
basil (I used paste)

Mix the ingredients together by hand. Spread into 4 mini-pizzas. Cook for 10 minutes by itself at 400 degrees.


Pull out of oven.

The "topping"

I used spicy marinara (premade, bottled)
Thin sliced Squash (yellow)
Thin sliced Zucchini
Mushrooms (sliced)
Onions (chopped)
Ricotta Cheese mixed with basil paste (1 cup)
Sprinkle Mozzarella on top for true "pizza" feel

Cook 18 more minutes.

This was the result. It looks maybe like pizza if pizza exploded in the oven.

It tastes....nothing like pizza. Even a little. It was delicious, don't get me wrong. I loved it. But it wasn't pizza. It didn't come close to pizza. This wasn't even pizza's ugly step-cousin. This was just good baked veggies with cheese and sauce. Which...there's nothing wrong with that...so long as you don't expect pizza.


Marlipaige rating: B (A for taste, but C for deceiving me into thinking it was Pizza)
Effort: Easy/Medium
Total time: 35 minutes (the biggest time consumers besides cook time are grating cauliflower and dicing veggies)