Easy Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

Cilantro lime cauliflower rice has been our favorite side dish lately. We are always looking for healthy sides that compliment our main dish and round out a meal. This dish is light and bright with a punch of lime and fresh cilantro.

We often like to double down on veggies for a meal rather than doing a carb, so this cauliflower rice, or cauli-rice, acts like rice but without all the carbs.

Serve this up with our steak fajitas, pork carnitas, or smothered honey lime chicken burritos! It is the perfect compliment to any Mexican meal. Here are all our favorite Mexican main dishes so you can find the one that speaks to you!

What is Cauliflower Rice?

Cauliflower rice is cauliflower that has been chopped up into tiny pieces that resemble grains of rice in size and texture. It can be made at home by putting cauliflower florets in a food processor or it can be purchased already chopped at the grocery store.

How to Make Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice

When it comes to easy side dishes, this one is right up there with the easiest. If you don’t buy cauliflower rice pre-chopped, take your head of cauliflower, remove the core and leaves, and break it into florets. Place the florets into your food processor or blender and pulse it until you have small pieces similar to the size of rice grains.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil, garlic and cumin and cook until it is fragrant (about a minute). Then add the cauliflower rice, lime juice, lime zest and cilantro and salt to taste and stir everything together. Cook it while stirring until it starts to turn brown slightly. It will take about 5-8 minutes. Serve it up with more fresh cilantro and enjoy!

How to Make Cauliflower Rice Not Soggy

I have found that the key to keeping cauliflower rice not soggy or mushy is to pan fry it or roast it in the oven. With just a little olive oil, the cauliflower will cook up just great on the stove top. Cauliflower stores a lot of moisture inside it, so it doesn’t need any extra moisture added to cook it. Once the cauliflower has been pulsed, you can squeeze it in a cheesecloth to omit some of the extra water.

How Many Carbs are in Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice?

Cauliflower is a popular low carb vegetable because it is so versatile. A cup of raw cauliflower contains just 5 grams of carbohydrates and 3 of those grams are fiber. That’s just 2 grams of digestible carbs!

For this recipe, 1 cup of cauli-rice is 71 calories and only 6 carbs.

Is Cauliflower Gluten Free?

Yes! Cauliflower is gluten free. This recipe is gluten free too and

Sharing a review of 2023 and my goals for 2024. 

Since it’s a bright and shiny new year, I always use this opportunity to look back, see what I accomplished, and set my intentions for the upcoming year. If you’re setting your goals for 2024, I’d love to hear them in the comments. Also, if you’re looking for support for January, join our 21-day challenge here!

When I look back on 2023, it’s easy for me to see all of the things I struggled with, and all of the things I set out to do, but didn’t. 2023 was full of some magnificent highs, and some challenging lows. After the 2020-2021 time span, I’ve really learned to lean into and enjoy the good parts, because there are always dips, and try to remember that everything is temporary.

looking back on the year and my goals for 2024

Travel and personal:

Travel was a huge highlight this year. It has been my dream for so long to take the girls to Italy, and we finally did it!! We had an incredible Disney Mediterranean cruise to Italy and Greece, and introduced the girls to my favorite place in the world (Positano). I ate chocolate croissants every.single.day (in addition to so much Italian food and wine), played in the ocean in Mykonos with the girls, and we shopped and explored to our hearts’ content.

Read more

Beef Barley Soup

Beef barley soup is a hearty and comforting soup full of tender beef, pearl barley, wild rice, mushrooms and savory umami flavor.

I didn’t even know that beef barley soup was a thing. I guess whenever I heard someone mention a barley soup I just went into a mindless state because barley didn’t sound delicious. But it’s the best soup I’ve had in years and that says a lot considering how much my family loves soup. Have you tried “The Soup“? Or maybe our roasted tomato basil soup? We love soups!

If you search for beef and barley soup recipes, you’ll find a lot of the same style of soup — carrots, celery, beef, barley, etc. We have changed things up for this. This is a little different, and more scrumptious imho, than anything you’ll find out there.

Why is This the Best Beef Barley Soup?

My friend and I decided that there are a few small things that are musts in a beef barley soup…

1. No carrots or celery. This isn’t stew and we don’t want it to look, smell or taste like stew. That’s a different recipe!
2. Use wild rice along with the barley. It adds a toothy, flavorful oomph that you will miss if you skip it. You can add as much or as little as you’d like.
3. WHOLE ROAST slowly cooked. We aren’t cutting this baby up, though if you were short on time you could certainly use stew meat and half the baking time. But a whole roast slowly cooked will bring out far more flavor and tenderness in the meat.

Ingredients for Beef Barley Soup

At first glance, this list may look long, but don’t worry! Most ingredients are pantry ingredients and everything combined creates a depth of flavor that is heavenly. Here is what you will need…

• Chuck Roast: you will cook this whole like you would a pot roast
• Olive Oil: helps brown the roast
• Salt and Pepper: adds flavor
• Red Wine Vinegar: helps deglaze the pan and adds acidity
• Water: helps deglaze
• Red Onion: adds flavor and caramelization
• Baby Bella Mushrooms: adds earthy flavor and chewiness
• Pearl Barley: you can find this right by the rice at the grocery store
• Wild Rice: adds an extra layer of flavor and different texture to the soup
• Au Jus Packet: adds bold savory flavor
• Onion Powder: adds flavor
• Garlic Powder: adds flavor
• Oregano: you can also use Italian seasoning if you don’t have oregano
• Balsamic Vinegar: adds a slight sweetness and more acidity
• Worcestershire: our favorite brand is Lea & Perrins
• Beef Broth: helps cook

Some foods are so basic, so incredibly simple, that it can be difficult to describe their awesomeness. That’s how I feel about cottage cheese with fruit. Two ingredients. Just TWO.

And yet, cottage cheese and berries have a permanent place in my refrigerator. Whether this is my breakfast, an afternoon snack, or a sweet bite after dinner, I eat this nearly every single day.

Cottage Cheese with Fruit

About a year ago, a friend mentioned to me how much he enjoyed eating cottage cheese with berries after his workouts. I hadn’t tried that combination before, never having been a huge fan of cottage cheese. (I was always a Greek yogurt girl before and usually with a bunch of other things added to it.)

If I’m being honest, the amount of protein in the cottage cheese was what finally got me to try it. Oh. My. Word. I had been missing out! (Sorry, Lynne, for all the times I messed with you for enjoying cottage cheese so much. Turns out I just hadn’t tried the right combination.)

Cottage Cheese with Berries

Growing up, we always had cottage cheese in the house. It was usually eaten plain and that’s about all I remembered. I’ve certainly baked with it and I

The Great Book Review of 2023: Sharing the books I read in 2023 and whether I’d recommend adding them to your collection.

Hi friends! Happy New Year! I hope that your morning is off to a great start and you enjoyed the festivities. The girls hung out with my mom and nana while the Pilot and I went up to Phoenix to see John Mulaney. I cried from laughter and it was an awesome show.

In today’s post, I’m sharing almost all of the books I read last year. (I had a a few audiobooks and a handful of DNF books I didn’t type up because they weren’t memorable or enjoyable.) Reading is one of my very favorite hobbies and I’m so glad I set a goal a couple of years ago to read more often. It’s definitely something I plan on doing in 2024, too!

Here’s a list of almost all of the books I read last year:

The Great Book Review of 2022

XOXO, Cody

If you’re going to read this book, I definitely recommend the Audible version so you can hear it in Cody’s voice! What a treasure of a human. I had high expectations for this one – I expected it to be highly entreating – and it didn’t disappoint. It gives you all of the laughs and warm fuzzies of an XO, Cody Peloton ride, while you get a deep dive into his story and background. It was fascinating to learn about his upbringing, his relationship with his mom, the Dancing with the Stars experience, and how he became such a huge fitness personality. 10/10

Redeeming Love

*All the trigger warnings*

This book was recommend in a Facebook group for faith-based reads, so just a heads up, it’s Christian fiction and is an 1800s era retelling of Gomer and Hosea. While I was reading it, I was thinking that it isn’t too Jesus-y, but then after about a quarter, I was like ok, it definitely is. Just wanted to spread the word if that’s not your cup of tea. I found it to be Jesus-y in the best possible way. This book will stick with me for life, and is an incredible testament of God’s unwavering love, even when we feel our most broken. While it wasn’t the best writing ever, and it dragged a bit before the last 25%, I’m so glad I stuck with it. 10/10 recommend.

Esther: The Fingerprints of God

This was our fall Bible study and I got so much out of this one. As a relatively Bible newbie, it’s been helpful for me to deep dive into different books of the Bible with such a kind, insightful, and wise group of ladies. I learn so much from each session and it fills my cup for the entire week! When I read the book of Esther before our study, I had a hard time understanding everything, and didn’t know the historical context or background. Bible studies give so much context to what you’re reading, and enabled me to fully understand the