Sprint 2 the Table

Appetites and Adventures

Cinnamon Coffee and a PSA

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The Atlanta Marathon is this weekend.

I am supposed to relay it with a team of 4, running a 7.2 mile leg of it.  Wellll… I went for a run on Thursday thinking if I could do 6 then I could certainly do 7.  It was going really well – I felt good, no knee pain.  Was my running mojo back?!

Celebration penalty.  Around mile 5.5 I felt a little pop in my heel/ankle area.  I stopped to stretch it out… and kept going only to have to stop again due to the pain.  More stretching followed by a limp-run back home.  Lots of ice and rest.  Still pain.

 

Friday I had an appointment with my PT to continue therapy on my knee, so I asked him to take a look.  He thinks I may have a pull or small tear in my Achilles area.  Apparently there’s a muscle group back there (he said a bunch of big words I didn’t absorb) that feels jacked up.  He put some electro-thing and ice on it to try to calm the inflammation… but it still hurts like a b*tch.

I’m really concerned that I won’t be able to run at all tomorrow and I need to make that call this morning.  Backing out last minute sucks, but I would rather do that than hurt my relay team (and myself) worse by failing to finish.  So I’m going to try a short jog in a minute to see what I can do.  *sigh*

First I need coffee.

 Peet’s Coffee sent over some delicious roasts for me to sample as part of the FoodBuzz Tastemaker’s program (but you know I’ll give my honest, unbiased opinion).  I like to use cinnamon in my coffee, so I selected the Cafe Domingo to try first.  I love adding cinnamon to (almost) anything with Latin flavor!

I prepare the coffee pot to make 4 cups.  Before I hit start I add 1/4 tsp of cinnamon to the grounds.  It adds a little extra taste and smells amazing while brewing!

Peet’s Cafe Domingo was delicious – it was more smooth than many I’ve tried without compromising flavor.  This is important to me because I drink my coffee black.

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Speaking of drinking…

…in case you are planning to drink this Halloween weekend, I have a little PSA for you.

Eat a lot of strawberries before and after indulging.

A European study done on rats concluded that strawberries can protect the stomach mucous membrane, which is harmed by drinking.

You’re welcome.

***

May I suggest Strawberries and Cream Oatmeal this morning? 🙂

What is the most cleaver Halloween costume you’ve seen?

Would you back out of a relay team or try to tough it out and run?

Orange You Glad Its Friday?

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Happy Halloween Friday!

In the spirit of The Great Pumpkin/Halloween (and the fact that I’m up to ears in work), here are some of my favorite orange food creations (click the image or title for the recipe!):

Orange for the A.M.

Apple Carrot Muffins

Carrot Cake Oatmeal 

Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt

Orange for the P.M.

Butternut Squash Drop Biscuits

Indian-Spiced Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onions 

 

Lentil-Stuffed Acorn Squash (ok, I realize it’s more yellow… but go with it…)

Sweet Potato Falafel

If I had just one orange item to make this Halloween weekend… I’d make the following soup.  It’s one of my Top 5 Favorite Creations.  That’s including desserts.

Butternut Squash-Apple Soup

Searching past recipes to write this, I realized I don’t make many orange desserts.  My friends do though!  Check out some of these awesome treats from the blog-world:

***

I just realized almost everything I ate yesterday was unintentionally orange.  Creepy.

What are some of your favorite orange/Halloween creations?

Who is doing something fun this weekend?  Tell me about it so I can live vicariously! 

Apple Pie Milkshake

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It seems that every fast food joint has turned fall desserts into milkshakes. 

Skip the fast food sugar-bomb and make your own (much healthier) version!

Apple Pie is fantastic a la mode… it’s only natural that is become part of the la mode.

Yes, my Apple Pie Shake is green.  If you haven’t tried it yet, now is the time to toss an avocado in your smoothie.  It adds to the creamy-milkshake texture and you cannot taste it.  (Recipe at the bottom of post.)

Breakfast:

To begin my WIAW, I had a post-workout Apple Pie Shake.  Perfect beginning to a warm fall day.

Words of shake-making advice:

  • Virtually anything can be frozen – including avocados and apples
  • Guar Gum is worth the expense – a little bit goes a long way and it makes the perfect shake texture
  • Don’t skimp on vanilla and cinnamon
  • Guard your apple when taking pic from your balcony

I only turned my back for a second when I heard a big “SPLAT.”  I looked around… where’s my apple???  Hmmmm… glance down… apparently my apple grew legs and jumped off my balcony.  It’s not that bad, apple!  

Odd craving for apple sauce…

Lunch:

Today’s lunch was gourmet.  By gourmet, I mean multi-course.

First a salad of arugula and spinach with carrots, cucumber, and a hearty scoop of chipotle salsa.  I love salsa as dressing.

Followed by my leftover “pasta” (spaghetti squash from this dish) and a quick batch of this tahini sauce.

Dinner:

I didn’t realize today was going to be a “make it again” day.  Typically I don’t repeat recipes… there are so many new ideas floating around in my head!

After the tahini sauce repeat, I re-made this Wild Mushroom Soup for dinner.  It was one of my favorites last winter – someone remind me to re-make dishes more often!

Don’t judge… brown food is impossible to photograph!

I made is almost the same way; however I did use fresh parsley and roasted garlic and added lentils for bulk.

Snacks:

It was a fun snack day!  In addition to my “OMG, I cannot get sick” Emergen-C, I tried a new product: Primal Strips.

It’s meatless vegan jerky made from seitan!

Observations:

  • 11 grams of protein
  • Only 3 grams of sugar
  • Ingredient list I can pronounce
  • Texture was a little weird (chewy, which I suppose is jerky-esque), but I got over it half way through the “strip” 
  • Loved the teriyaki flavor

Verdict: I’d definitely buy it again and would love to try other flavors!

Not pictured: I made another Apple Pie Shake as a bedtime snack.  Like I said, it’s a day of repeats.

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Apple Pie Shake

  • 1/2 large apple
  • 1/4 large avocado
  • 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
  • 1 handful spinach (optional – but I swear you can’t taste it!)
  • 1 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any milk-substance)
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp ginger
  • 7-8 drops NuNaturals Pure Liquid Vanilla Stevia
  • Shake of salt
  • Shake of Guar gum (optional, but helps create milkshake consistency)
  • Ice, to taste

Put it in a blender and blend until smooth!  Pour into tumbler and drink your pie.

I received the pictured Tervis tumbler as part of the FoodBuzz Tastemaker Program.  It didn’t influence the fact that my shake was fantastic, but it did keep it nice and cold while I took a million pics of it. 🙂

***

Voting is now open on Facebook for Delta’s Biscoff Bake-Off.  Pretty please vote for my Biscoff Cookie Dough Balls by clicking here and “liking” my entry.  You can vote 1x per day!!!

As always, check out Peas and Crayons to see the tastiness everyone else ate today!

What is your favorite dessert-gone-shake?

Do you have “go to” dishes you make regularly?

A Michelin Star Day in Italy

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It would have been fun to post a What I Ate Wednesday from Italy…

My first in-person pomegranate tree!

… but I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and write when there was so much to explore.

So today, 2 weeks later, I bring you: What I Ate on a Wednesday in Italy.

Breakfast:

Typical European tourist fare consists of pastries, cheese, and cured meats.  The novelty wears off after 1-2 days.

At least we know the Nutella is fresh!

Cheese selection (thankfully no stinky cheese!)

Breakfast of champions

That Robiola Rocchetta cheese was pretty amazing.  It is native to the Piedmont region and would be fantastic with the local Barolo wine.  It is a layered, creamy cheese made from goat’s, cow’s, and sheep’s milk.  It’s structure is reminiscent of a brie – pliable rind with a dense, semi-soft texture inside.

FYI – this is what you get if you order a latte in Italy:

Cup of hot milk

Lunch:

Most days this consisted of more cured meat and cheese with bread sticks… served at a wine tasting. 🙂

I should have my cholesterol checked

Snack:

We had a mandatory daily snack of gelato.

Like a kid in a candy shop…

Dinner:

My favorite meal of the trip was at Il Cascinalenuovo, and Michelin star restaurant just outside of Asti.  The restaurant is part of a family-run B&B.  We were lucky to have a tour of the kitchen with Chef Walter.

Upon arrival we were greeted by Walter’s niece, Alice.  Alice was so much fun to talk to and hosted us all evening.  Her father is the front of house and wine expert in the restaurant.

Alice with her father

Chef sat with us for quite sometime, asking about our backgrounds and telling us about his inspirations.  He admitted to being surprised that we are “young and skinny.”

He was expecting “fat old ladies.”  Direct quote – I can’t make this stuff up.

Me, Chef Walter, and Corinne

He told us the story of when he was invited to California to cook for a United Nations event where he worked alongside greats as Wolfgang Puck.  Puck introduced him to Asian-fuision and inspired one of the dishes we would be eating.  I love hearing the stories behind techniques and dishes.

The kitchen was having dinner when we arrived, so Alice showed us to the pool patio for aperitifs.

Sparkling wine, tripe, toast with fig jam and Rocchetta, salami balls, and mini-pizzas

Walter came out again to give us a kitchen tour.  He thoughtfully explained each station and process.  Chef Walter is a big fan of preparing meats sous vide.

We were even able to stand in the back to watch the first order being coordinated!

The kitchen was quite tolerant of our paparazzi-like behavior.

We sat down for dinner an elected to let Chef Walter surprise us rather than ordering off the menu.

We do know how to order well!

La tavola (the table)

This turned out to be the best meal of the trip.

The starter alone was mind-blowing: a perfectly silky pumpkin soup with Parmesan gelato.

Followed by the dish inspired by Wolfgang Puck: Sesame-encrusted Amberjack fish with julienned fresh vegetables, wasabi, and passion fruit sauce.

Next was Chef Walter’s signature dish, created in 1987.  It has become his signature dish.  Normally we’d be leery of the ingredients, but this was on a whole new plateau of deliciousness.  Corinne nearly licked her plate.  

Veal tongue and foie gras millefoglie with port wine jelly and balsamic reduction 

Check out this wine glass – the bubble ring makes it perfect to swirling/smelling.

I’m on a mission of find a set for myself!

This texture combination in the next dish was divine: quail egg, duck carpaccio, marinated porcini mushrooms served atop a bed of butter lettuce.

Last was the region’s Tajarin pasta (homemade) served with porcini and finfirli’s mushrooms.

Did I say last?!  I meant last dish before dessert.  2 girls = 3 desserts.

Chef Walter clearly knows the way to my heart.  He even made one with almond milk!!!

Pineapple carpaccio, ricotta with candied orange, and strawberries

Almond milk “panna cotta” with pistachios and candied nuts

I can’t begin to name all of this… truffles, macaroons, chocolate-covered gooseberries… it was sheer bliss

Thank god we had a driver because a food coma immediately ensued.

Thank you, Ferretto family, for an evening we’ll never forget!

***

I still swoon just thinking of this meal.

Have you ever had a meal so good it brought tears to your eyes?

Do you carefully plan your restaurant strategy when you travel?  Or do you think I’m crazy?

 

Have Food, Will Travel

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It’s no secret that I travel A LOT.  I am a Consultant, so it is literally in my job description.  Good thing I like to travel – work or pleasure!  Last month I flew 17,140 miles on Delta.  That doesn’t even include my return from Italia.

Being that it’s such a big part of my life, I though I’d share some tips I’ve picked up for eating right on the road.

Top 3 Tips for Eating Right On the Road

1. Bring Airplane Snacks

Often on domestic flights pretzels or peanuts aren’t going to cut it for me.  I’m notorious for having to run through airports, leaving no time to eat meals.

I like plan ahead and bring carrot, zucchini, and celery sticks on airplanes for snack.  They can handle not being refrigerated for a few hours and are far better than a few peanuts (or nothing at all… I was shocked to discover that United doesn’t serve anything).  That PB packet was from leftover from hotel strategy #2 below.

For early flights I like to BYOB.  I’m usually scrambling to get to the airport at 7am and need to bring my own breakfast to the airport.  Sorry Delta, but Biscoff does not a breakfast make.

Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt

Yogurt will make it through security.  I recently enjoyed my homemade Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt on a 8a flight.  Also, remember to save your old yogurt containers for perfect storage when making your own.  It was soooo good.

Other BYO Ideas:

  • Various bars or granola – homemade or store-bought; I like to take my Banana Nut Bars
  • Fruit – apples, plums, and bananas all travel well – I find oranges are too messy and pears are too easily punctured
  • Trail mix – avoid the $6 airport bags and make you own with nuts and dried fruit from grocery store bulk bins
  • Sandwiches – sans meat if you can’t keep it cool; veggie wraps and PBJ travel well
  • Chocolate – I always have a bite of dark chocolate in my bag for “emergencies”

2. ASK Hotels for Healthy Food

Often the only healthy option on hotel breakfast menus is oatmeal.  When I order mine, I ask for banana or fresh berries as toppings in lieu of brown sugar and raisins.  Even though I always have nut butter with me, I ask if to hotel has any.  Many keep individual packages of peanut butter (pictured below) that I take with me for future use.

Sometimes I shake it up and order eggs.  If so, I request half egg/half egg whites and that they be cooked with olive oil or cooking spray instead of slathered with butter.  If there are veggies listed with other menu items (tomatoes, red pepper, spinach, etc.) I check to see if they can scramble those into my eggs.  This request isn’t always met, but it’s worth a shot!

Dinner can be more of an adventure.  Options are so limited in hotels!  Typically I order a salad with grilled chicken – easy on the salt and dressing on the side.  What is it with the over dressed, salty food?!  I also check to see what the seasonal veggies are and order a side of those too, preferably steamed.  With a glass of wine.

As I discovered this week on the cleanse, it’s especially hard to order dinner on a vegan diet.  Without the option of my go-to grilled chicken salad I had to think outside the box to get a substantial dinner.

Again, the idea is to ask for help.  Before calling down I read the menu to see what veggies they keep in-house.  Then I called and asked if the kitchen had brown and/or wild rice on hand.  Night one wasn’t such a success but…

The import thing is to be specific: the hotel line cooks aren’t going to be creative like you are at home.  Read the menu and know what veggies you want from, specify how much rice is a serving for you (sounds picky, but it’s better than being hungry), and asked that they bring the oil and salt on the side.  Know that may sacrifice on flavor, and circumvent that problem by asking for a side of red pepper flakes or herbs.

On night 2 this worked like a charm – my dinner was delicious.  Though maybe not worth the $40 the Ritz charged for it.

3. Bring Hotel Snacks/Condiments 

It’s a great idea to hit a grocery store once you arrive at your destination.  However, most of my work trips are 1-2 days and I don’t have time or transportation (I prefer to taxi vs. rent a car).  This makes it difficult, but not impossible to eat well.  I’m also lucky in that I can expense food on work trips.  Helloooooo room service!

All this to say I bring my own accoutrements to accompany my crazy requests mentioned in #2.

Tops on the “to bring” list is protein powder.  You can check with the hotel kitchen, find a coffee shop (99.9% make smoothies now), or locate a smoothie place.  They will be happy to make you a  smoothie with your powder just ignore the weird looks.  Before you leave home, pre-mix it with your favorite spice(s) (I always add cinnamon) for added flavor.

This trip I ordered 2 at a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s shop a block from my hotel – one for immediate breakfast consumption and the second one for a post-workout protein fix (sorted in the room fridge or in a bucket of ice if you don’t have a fridge).

Custom smoothie

Other must-haves on the road:

  • Fruit – good snack or breakfast in a fix
  • Nut Butter – to top your hotel oats or go with your fruit
  • Granola or Cereal – if the hotel has yogurt, this is a great topping; I carried my Biscoff granola all over Italy
  • Chia Seeds – use your fruit to make chia pudding in your room
  • Stevia – my vanilla-flavored bottle is less than 3 oz, so I carried it with my on the plan in case I had to get more creative with the protein powder… and I did…

The most creative hotel creation yet occurred yesterday morning.  I knew is was going to be hectic since my boss was now on the road with me and we had an early meeting and my room service oatmeal strategy wasn’t useful since oatmeal isn’t allowed on the cleanse.

I made an overnight breakfast pudding with my cinnamon-laced protein power and a banana from home.  Just be sure you remember to save a fork and glass from room service to mush up the fruit.

Hotel Overnight Breakfast Pudding

  • 1 banana
  • 1 T chia seeds
  • 1 scoop protein powder (pre-mixed with cinnamon)
  • 5-7 drops Stevia
  • Water, to taste

In a glass saved from room service, mush up banana with similarly obtained fork.  Stir in remaining ingredients, adding water until fairly liquid (the chia will soak up the excess overnight).  

Place in mini-fridge or in ice bucket overnight.

In the morning, stir and enjoy whilst patting yourself on the back for being so creative. 🙂

***

One more idea… if you’re taking a train in Italy, pack up some Prosciutto di San Daniele and bread sticks for the trip.

Do you bring snacks on the road?

How do you navigate not-so-healthy hotel menus and special dietary needs?

Crashing Vespas in Italy

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This begins the start of the Bad News Bears portion of the trip.

After Valpolicalla we boarded a train to Cormons in the Friuli region.  Trains in Europe are a whole other beast.  The 3 of us are not accustomed to public transportation (it isn’t prevalent in the South), so tackling the Italian train system was… interesting.  There were a lot of changes and a couple of times I was just crossing my fingers we were headed in the right direction!

We finally made it to Cormons around 9p – I was STARVING, but we still had to walk to our B&B.  I’m not sure how far it was, but let me tell you it felt like 10 miles because the wheels on my suitcase BROKE!

I carried that $%&^*n 50 pound bag all the way there.  I’ve never been to happy that I lift weights regularly in my life!  It wasn’t funny at the time but later I’ll post a pic of me carrying it up the stairs in a train station.  It is pretty comical – that thing is bigger than I am!

Our B&B, Borgo San Daniele was beautiful, even at night.  Even more beautiful was that our hostess had a full tasting of their wines (which I drank a but too fast following the bag carrying-adventure) and a ton of cheese and cured meats (proscuitto de San Danielle is the most incredible stuff ever).  Followed by desserts and grappa.  I was so tired that I didn’t remember a picture until the dessert.

We woke up the next day and I decided to go for a jog through Cormons.  This would have been a great idea after the wine the night before; however, my knee wasn’t having it.  You seen, I had the brilliant idea to go for a run the day we were flying to Italy.  Wellllll… I tripped and landed directly on my right knee (which is my bad knee, naturally).  It swelled up like a melon on the plane, making me generally miserable by the time we landed.

Anyhow, my “jog” through Cormons turned into a limping walk followed by some ab work in a park I stumbled upon.  This was the last time I’d work out until the last day of the trip.  That’s unheard of for me!

Back the the beautiful…

Next on our “to do” list was to rent Vespas and drive ~30 km north of Cormons to Cividale.  It’s a wine road (though we weren’t about to taste and try to drive scooters!) and we were told that the town of Cividale was a “must see.”

Don’t I look like a natural?

PSA: Driving a Vespa is not as easy as it looks.

We crashed that thing.  Twice.

Who just hands you keys to a scooter without any instruction?!  The uber chill Italians, that’s who.

I laid thing thing down on the way there and Corinne did it on the way back.  Mine scraped the whole side of the Vespa!  And I landed on my hurt knee side.

Corinne’s at-fault bruised up my hip and her stomach.  I wish I’d gotten a pic of the bruise on my hip on days 3 or 4 – it turned black!

War wounds

We did make it to Cividale, but were pretty shaken by the time we arrived.  Shaken and hungry.

Some German guests we met during the previous night’s tasting suggested we try the Salame all acela and the Frico and at Al Campanile.  Being so close to the Austrian border (and Germany), we decided to trust them!

Al Campanile

They didn’t steer us wrong!  The Salame alla acela was amazing served warm with cooked onions and polenta.  The Frico was good, but quite heavy with all the fried potatoes and cheese.  It was very German!

Salame all Acela

Frico

But the best part was… a very fresh arugula salad and a cold bier (much-needed after the harrowing ride on the Vespa).

Refreshed Slightly less frazzled, we spent the next several hours exploring Cividale.  It is pretty tiny, but there we tons of quaint little streets to wander up and down.

With helmets… at this point safety was paramount.

We tour like rockstars – go big or go home!

Gelato Flavor of the Day: Pesca (peach)

Everyone was a little sad when it was time to return the Vespas to Cormons.  Mostly because we were scared to drive them back.  

I was scared to turn in the scraped Vespa because it was paid for on my card.  Valid fear – yesterday I spent 30 mins on the phone with American Express filing a claim for the $413 Euro the rental place charged me for damage.  That’s almost $600 USD.

Moving right along… nerve-calming aperitif at Jazz & Wine and dinner at Ai Due Fratelli.  The dinner spot was a recommendation for our new friend Erika, the bartender at Jazz & Wine.  We have her to thank for one of the top meals of the trip!

Spaghetti with clams and a fantastic clam-olive oil-butter-garlic sauce

Eggplant with red sauce (much like an eggplant parm with out the heavy fry)

Some delicious grilled fish that I can no longer name…

Wait.  Where’s the wine?  Did we not order a bottle of white with dinner in the region most famous for it’s Pinot Grigios, Friulanos, and Ribollas?

Silly Rabbit, of course we did!  White wine, noir-style.

We selected a bottle of the Ribolla, which is a light-bodied, floral wine from the region.  It also has hints of lemon, which played well with the fish.  The Friulanos tend to be sweeter and the Pinot Grigios are what you see most often in the States.  Being red wine fans, we chose more acidic and obscure white. 🙂

Post-dinner we headed back Wine & Jazz to hang out with Erika and some other soon-to-be new friends.

I like sparkly things. Including wine.

Italy Milestone: first bar we closed down during our trip.

Speaking of wine… I’m almost through the first 1/3 of the cleanse!

Interesting observation/learning: it is EXTREMELY difficult it is to be vegan (and bread-free) while on the road.  It took the Ritz 2 hours to figure out how to make me wild rice and grilled veggies for dinner on the first night of my stay!  They did apologize and offer a free glass of wine… which I turned down (sorry for the cold front – hell hath frozen over).

As nice as they were about making me a special meal… I was starving after it took so long to prepare.  Sadly, there wasn’t nearly enough food on my plate and it was really oily.  Ritz fail.

For breakfast I wandered down the street to a local St. Louis/Clayton coffee chain called Kaldi’s with the hope that they would be able to make a smoothie for me.  Success – they guys there were super nice and made me a delicious berry–banana smoothie WITH the protein powder I brought with me.  

Special Diet Travel Tip: pack your own protein powder (BYOP!) and locate a smoothie place.  They will use your powder!  If you enjoy cinnamon if your smoothies like I do, go ahead and toss some in the baggie with your powder before you leave home.  It worked perfectly!  I’m a little shocked I didn’t get search by TSA with my bag of powder!

It was so good that I returned for lunch to have a delicious vegetable soup with a (modified) Greek salad.  They (once again) went above and beyond to customize my food and were incredibly nice about it.  Thanks for making my day, Kaldi’s!

I was actually nervous to call down for dinner after the previous night’s ordeal, but steeled up and dialed room service again.

The Ritz pulled through for dinner this time – they were ready for me!  Perfectly cooked wild rice with steamed french green beans, asparagus and spinach with cherry tomatoes on the side.  Not too oily or over salted this time!  Ritz win.

***

All that flying on Delta will call for some Biscoff Cookie Dough Balls soon ehough. 😉

Do you have any trips for traveling on a special diet?

Have you ever been on Vespa?  Would you try it in a foreign country?

Falafel on a Waffle

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Today is a Piedmonte region day!  I’m excited to have a free(ish) day to wander around and explore (read: shopping).  This region is arguably one of the prettiest… and you know I’m on a truffle hunt.  

Alba’s white truffle is considered the best in the world and they are in season now.  The winter black truffles from this region are supposedly incredible as well.  (But really… what truffles aren’t good?!)

Not to be left out of the excitement, Sarah @ The Smart Kitchen has written an awesome guest post for today.  This girl is the most creative blogger out there.  She is the queen for turning the ordinary into extra-ordinary.  She’s a huge inspiration for me (her yogurt creations inspired my own Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt), and makes me laugh with her morning-post musings.

______________________________________________________________________________

Howdy, y’all! My name is Sarah (aka Miss Smart) and I blog over in The Smart Kitchen… where sometimes I’m smart, and sometimes I’m just stumbling upon greatness.*
*In the case of the photo below…a pretzel and Nutella milkshake! 😉

 

I’m extremely honored to be guest posting for Miss Laura today, while she’s eating and drinking (and celebrating and…singing? dancing? kayaking? what else does one do in Italy?) her way through Italy.

But, truth be told, guest posting can be uber-stressful.*

*Yes, I use the phrase “uber.” I also say “dude” in real life.

You hope that when you “arrive” you’ll be greeted like Belle at the mansion, and all the other bloggers (who may or may not be transformed into kitchen gadgets and housewares) will dance and sing and welcome you with open arms. But to do that, you’ve got to compose the epitome of post perfection…something to hook potentially new readers and blog friends* immediately and make them actually click over towards  your  blog home.
*I do not use the phrase “blends.”

But that’s futile. You’ll like me or you won’t.
So here’s a picture of me eating a hamburger.
It was good.

Just like the rest of this post will be.
————–

Over on my blog [slash] in my “real life” I’m working on tackling a number of cooking and eating ‘feats’ as part of my Culinary Bucket List. One of those was to “start with dried beans” in a recipe. But after successfully making (and baking) a relatively ‘traditional’ [sans frying in oil, of course] falafel, I couldn’t get an idea out of my head: Why stop with just falafel, when you could have falafel…

..on a WAFFLE!?

 

This recipe pretty much encapsulates me as a blogger: a mindset focused on “playing with my food” and a tendency towards the seemingly bizarre that somehow just…works. The fact that I was fixated on making a dish simply because it rhymed…well that just shows how I constantly feel like a small child trapped in a 27-year-old’s body.

Also, I am obsessed with my food processor.

Although I could have just eaten my Baked Falafel on the not-to-sweet waffles I had purchased, I just had to be difficult (as usual) and reinvent the wheel. If there are chickpea fritters for afternoon and evening…why not bean balls for breakfast?

 

2 cups of chickpeas, soaked overnight* + 1/2 cup mashed banana + spices + honey

*Alton Brown says for falafel you must used soaked, uncooked garbanzos. I’m not going to tell him if you cheat.

Process until smooth…scraping the sides once or twice as necessary.


Once the dough starts to stick, you’re ready! It will be pretty wet and goopy.


Set up a Henry Ford-inspired assembly line with a small bowl of flour in between your processor and your sheet pan.*
*Or your cutting board…if you are embarrassed by the state of your sheet pans and don’t particularly want to photograph them.

 

Roll the Banana Falafel in the flour, just to get a light coating to hold them together.


Bake on a coated baking sheet for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. The tops won’t brown too much…


…but their bottoms will brown quite nicely.*

*Anyone else just get an image of the Coppertone sunscreen bottle with the baby and her bum?…No?  (Editor’s note: yes… wasn’t that Jodi Foster’s bum?!)

 

What’s Falafel on a Waffle without syrup, though?

Or in this case….Ta-honey Sauce?

Also known as “another time I made up something based on a quirky name,”  Ta-honey Sauce is a mix without exact proportion of roasted tahini, honey, and yogurt and/or almond milk, warmed up a smidge in the microwave.

 

Let’s just say…this is a breakfast worth eating.

And repeating.*

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Falafel on a Waffle

(Banana Falafel with Ta-honey Sauce)

  • 2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight (from approximately 2/3 cup dried)
  • 1/2 cup mashed banana (1 small)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • Waffles
  • Berries
  • Ta-honey Sauce (method follows)

1. Combine all ingredients (except flour) in food processor. Process until mixture holds together when squished.
2. Put flour into a small bowl.
3. Roll falafel ‘dough’ into balls—it will be very wet—and coat in flour to help maintain shape.
4. Bake falafel on a baking sheet prepared with cooking spray for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
5. Serve falafel on waffles, topped with berries and Ta-honey Sauce.

To prepare Ta-honey Sauce: Whisk together approximately 2 Tbsp. tahini, 1 Tbsp. honey, 2 Tbsp. yogurt, and 2 Tbsp. milk to taste, heating in the microwave if necessary. Pour over falafel on waffles!

***

Isn’t this lady a creative genius?  I wish I could think of things like breakfast falafel.

What’s the craziest combo you’ve ever tried?

Do you like to shake up your breakfast or are you a creature of habit?

 

Healthy (Meatless) Meal Ideas for Busy People

By

Today I am in Valpolicella tasting Amarone – my favorite wine. 🙂

Lisa from Healthful Sense has graciously composed a rockin’ guest post for you all.  This is the first in a serious of guest posts from some of my FAVORITE bloggers.  Lisa’s blog is fairly new to me.  It was love at first visit to her site when I saw her innvoative, tasty-looking recipes.  (Epecially the vegan brownies – OMG).  

Hopefully you will discover some new bloggers through this guest series!

______________________________________________________________________________________

Morning!  I’m Lisa and I blog over at Healthful Sense!

I’m so excited to be a guest poster on Laura’s blog today!  We have alot in common – we love to eat healthy, make crazy food concoctions, and share a love of peanut flour (yeah baby).  She definitely has me beat on the exercise though!

One other commonality that we share is that we are extremely busy… she with work and working out… and I with kids (3 rugrats).  I still haven’t decided which is more exhausting — working 3 jobs (before I had kids) or being a stay-at-home mom of 3 little ones.

Anyway, since we are both busy people it’s safe to say that we’ve both become “experts” on making quick, healthy meals.  So quick & healthy meals are going to be the theme of today’s post.

 

Quick & Healthy Meal Ideas

1. Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is usually put in the snack category but because it’s so rich in protein you can easily make a quick meal out of it.

Here are some fabulous ideas:

Laura’s cinnamon roll oats:

 

 

And her Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt:

 

You have got to try the sweet potato/greek yogurt combo… it is amazing!!

Another fabulous combo is peanut flour/greek yogurt!!  It’s packed with protein from both the peanut flour and the greek yogurt.  I recently did a post about peanut flour — it’s a great product that you can add to just about anything!

 

One last idea is this dark chocolate hemp mousse made with greek yogurt.

 

 

2. Smoothies

Smoothies might just be the perfect quick & healthy meal.  We both make killer green smoothies!

Laura’s Avocado Green Smoothie:

 

 

And my High Protein Green Smoothie:

 

3. Pudding

These pudding ideas are packed with protein and sure to satisfy.

 

Chocolate Breakfast Pudding:

 

Sweet Potato Pudding:

 

 

4.  Bananas & Peanut butter

This is my all-time favorite quick/healthy meal.  Simply a banana with peanut butter, cococa powder and cinnamon.

Now you have no excuse for skipping a meal due to the lack of time 😉

What is your favorite quick and healthy meal?

 

♥ Lisa

Stop by and visit me soon at Healthful Sense … muah!

***

I’m with Lisa – PB and banana is the best snack. 🙂

Have you ever put avocado in your smoothie?

What’s your favorite wine?

 

 

 

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