Avocado and Tomato Salad

I'm excited to share with you all an easy and simple avocado and tomato salad that I am absolutely obsessed with. This salad highlights two main {delicious} ingredients without adding too much fluff to it. I believe it encompasses Southern California in a bowl (avocados are a Southern Californian's best friend, didn't you know?), while also giving the feeling of (the fast approaching) summer.

What inspired me for this salad was...you guessed it, guacamole. Guac is a staple food where I'm from and I can devour a bowl in ten seconds time. Really. I love it. The thing I don't really love about the dip though is that it is usually accompanied by a fried, salty, delicious tortilla chip. Now, tortilla chips aren't really in my "soon-to-be-in-a-bikini-all-day-everyday" diet, so to make traditional guacamole more acceptable to eat on its own, I decided to make things a little more chunkier while adding a different kind of crunch to satisfy that no-chip-needed attitude. Hope you all try out this tasty dish and comment on what you thought about it!

Acai Greek Yogurt Parfait

I love how quick and easy this acai parfait recipe is. I've been a huge fan of acai since high school. There's a place in Newport Beach called "Al Cap" that serves the best acai smoothies that you will ever have! Seriously. Perfectly thick and topped with yummy granola and a circle of banana slices. I stopped by Al Cap at least three times a week before school, and it was in the completely opposite direction. I'm talking about me living two minutes from school and driving 10 minutes across Newport to get these. (I may or may not have even treated my teachers to these babies whenever I ran a little (or a lot!) late to class; they're that good.)

When I went off to college (and away from my favorite breakfast spot) I was devastated to find that there really wasn't a place that offered a smoothie as good as theirs. I was acai deprived. Until, of course, I found out that you could buy the smoothie mixtures at specialty grocery stores. This is when I started to play around with the acai. Throughout all of my test runs, I fell absolutely in love with my acai parfait. Thick greek yogurt mixed with the acai and a little agave nectar goes perfect with my homemade granola and fresh fruit. It's pretty much a traditional parfait, but I like to think that the acai elevates it and give its the perfect lil' twist. Hope you do too!

Chia Seed and Agave Granola

I've recently discovered Chia seeds. And I've recently fell in love with Chia seeds. They are kind of a super food which fills you up with protein and fiber and can even curb hunger(!). I've been adding them to a lot of different things lately and also eating them by themselves. As I was thinking of other great ways to incorporate this wonderous seed, I thought of a granola. As I was researching different kind of granola recipes, I was noticing a lot of them use sugar and other things that aren't really in tandem when I think of granola (aka healthy). So, doing what I do best, I made up my own recipe for a healthy granola using not only Chia seeds, but agave, coconut oil and flax seeds! Check it out below and let me know what you think!