Pineapple - Celery Smoothie

I wasn't quite sure of celery in a smoothie and I'm quite new to vegetables in fruitshakes so I was feeling a little bit uneasy making this. Surprisingly, it turned out  a-w-e-s-o-m-e  and I think I'm going to make more vegetable based smoothies moving forward. It's nice to step out of your comfort zone once in a while. This drink is guaranteed refreshing and will give you the fiber you need.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup chopped pineapple
- about 3 stalks of celery, leaves discarded
- 1 small apple, peeled and cored.
- 1 small banana
- 1/2 cup freshly squeeze orange juice (or the prepacked one if not available).
- some sugar or honey
- 3 pieces ice cubes.

1. Dunk all of it in the blender until smooth. Add water if it feels too thick.
2. Add more honey or sugar if it's too sour for your taste.

I didn't need to add ice cubes in my smoothie because my celery and pineapple are both frozen so it's already chilled

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Quick and Easy Tomato-Zucchini Warm Salad

Yes I'm alive!!!!

I guess I don't have to say it. It's pretty obvious I've been slacking on my kitchen and have developed a bad habit of ordering take-outs, eating instant food, and indulging to junk foods to keep me alive - resulting to 2kgs of unwanted fats. To this date, I'm 43kg. Yes, I'm not big and that's not even on the line of being fat. But I do feel bloated and I feel the fat's building up in the unflattering areas. Besides, I'm 5 feet flat and couldn't really gain much, otherwise I'll look like ball. So hibernation over - time to take charge in the kitchen again and stop whining about "hubby's away I'm lonely I'm not inspired to do anything" sort of thinking. I won't promise to regularly post, but I will at least make it to a point that I feed myself responsibly.

Enough of the blah blah. Holiday's coming. I'm already forecasting so much food fest all over the place so I was thinking to prepare. So I thought about cutting down on my calories intake beginning today (when's the best time?) so that when the holiday food fest calls in, I will have space for it - guilt free. Sounds like a plan?

Actually, I thought about doing it next week, because this weekend I might have to break the diet plans since I'm taking my mom and sister out of town, hitting the beach for some bonding times filled with food + sun + sand. But what the hell, the best time is always now. If I break it, then there's always making up for it :P.

In celebration of my being back in cooking, here's a simple and super easy tomato-zucchini warm salad to fill your stomach!

Ingredients:
- 3 ripe tomatoes, sliced.
- 1 small zucchini, sliced.
- 4 cloves finely chopped garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
- some lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- egg/cheese/croutons for toppings

1. Preheat your oven to 400C.
2. In a mixing bowl, put the tomatoes and zucchini together. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
3. Add garlic, drizzle some lemon juice according to your liking. This will give it a nice kick.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss well.
5. Get your baking sheet on top of your baking pan and lay down the tomatoes and zucchini pieces. Drizzle some more olive oil if it appears to be dry.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until it looks roasted and the garlic is golden brown.

You can serve it with feta cheese toppings, or croutons. But I personally like poached eggs :). Enjoy!

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