sopsky salad

While in college, I spent a semester living abroad in Prague, Czech Republic. I will not say "studying" abroad because there was very little studying that took place during my stay. It is still to this day one of the best experiences of my life, and this city will always be special to me.

Czech cuisine is nothing to write home about, but the beer, oh my, the beer. Our dorm had both a pub and a vending machine with beer, so that shows you how they prioritize. See why there wasn't much studying going on?

There was one salad served at a lot of restaurants that I still make at home during the summer. It's called the sopsky (pronounced shop-ski) salad and it's just four simple ingredients. There is no dressing, but the liquid from the veggies and the cheese sort of come together to make a dressing. It's so tasty when the tomatoes are at their best! This salad is the perfect side dish to take to that backyard cookout or pot luck dinner.

Sopsky Salad

2 medium tomatoes

1 cucumber

1 green pepper (red, yellow, or orange works too)

1/2 cup feta cheese

Instructions:

Chop veggies into similar sizes, about 1/2 inch pieces. Mix in feta cheese. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Makes about 4 cups.

peanut butter protein bites

These peanut butter bites are a great snack for kids and grown-ups alike. I'm thinking that they will be a great addition to lunch boxes when we go back to school next month (NOOOO!!!). You could easily swap out the peanut butter for any nut butter.

These bites are pretty sweet and are not considered a low calorie, so try to resist eating them all in one sitting!

Peanut Butter Protein Bites

1 c. natural peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1 c. oats

1/4 c. almond flour

1 tbsp flax seed

2 tbsp raw honey

2 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions:

Combine ingredients, then roll into ping pong size balls. Keep in fridge.

Makes about 20 balls.

foaming hand soap

I did a post about making your own hand soap, but for some reason my boys like the foaming kind. Something about the suds makes them scrub their hands a little better, and who can argue with that? This recipe takes about 60 seconds (and three ingredients!) to make.

Foaming Hand Soap

2 tbsp Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap

2 tsp fractionated coconut oil

1 cup water

10 drops essential oil (optional)

Mix soap, coconut oil, and essential oils in a foaming hand soap pump (either reused or new). Then fill the rest of the bottle with water. Give it a little shake every now. So easy!

Recipe Notes:

Fractionated coconut oil is a liquid form, unlike regular coconut oil, which is a solid. It has no nutritional value, but is great for soaps and lotions, as well as diluting essential oils. 

Do not use regular coconut oil in this recipe as it will solidify.

I used lemon and orange essential oils for the antibacterial properties.