Falafel at Home

I’m in love with the falafel from Tzatziki Grill in New Rochelle – they’re soft on the inside, crispy, spicy. I eat almost an entire order to myself every time we order takeout.

When I saw a box of falafel mix at Stop & Shop this past weekend, it inspired me to try making an at home version.  Falafel mix, tahini, some olives, and some feta for good measure.

It was surprisingly easy – and yes I know its because I didn’t really make the falafel from scratch. I get it.

Falafel mix + water. Set aside.

Scoop into the shape you want – fry in a lot of oil.

Drain. Layer on pita with lots of toppings.

Making the tahini dressing was only slightly more complicated.

Mix tahini paste, water, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and salt. I had to keep tasting and adjusting to get it where I wanted it – which seems to be the basis of this recipe.

The flatbreads I also picked up at Stop & Shop; they were really good and the nutritional information was incredible. 15 grams of protein, 20 grams of carbs, and 180 calories per pita.

Flatbread, tahini, shredded romaine, sliced tomatoes, feta, red onion, falafel.

Olives and stuffed grape leaves [canned from Trader Joes] on the side.

I had one, Mister had 1.5 with the other 1.5 packed up for his lunch. I take that level of enthusiasm as the highest compliment.

Sometimes I impress myself with how well I pack up his lunch.

Advertisement

Meal Prep: 5/22

This past weekend was on the busy side, so I didn’t have the time for a full meal prep, but I’m pretty proud of how I improvised.

Saturday Mister and I went suit shopping, he wanted a good basic suit that could be worn to a handful of weddings we have coming up. We went to Lord & Taylors, Rothman’s, and Nordstroms.  We eventually took a break for lunch at the Iron Tomato, and went back to Lord & Taylors for the first suit he tried on of the day.  I think he finally has an idea what wedding dress shopping has been like for me!

Sunday, we went to see Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour on Broadway as a belated birthday present for my Mom.  We went to Liebman’s in Riverdale for dinner after, which brought us back to Mom’s house with little energy and less time.  I ran to the grocery store with a specific list, and managed to get my all the meals done in record time.

For this week, I relied on my pantry for breakfast; I’ve said it before, but I always have granola, almond milk, oatmeal, and protein powder on hand as a backup. This was perfect for this week, when I didn’t feel like baking something or eating anymore egg whites really.

Lunch was salad mason jars.  I know that mason jars have been done to death, but these particular size and shape are just so convenient.

I brought in a bag of romaine lettuce and a bag of arugula to be mixed as a base for these toppings.  Each jar has either chickpeas or red kidney beans layered with black olives, diced cucumber, and cherry tomatoes.

These new topper options, and I picked up some new salad dressings (Cesar vinaigrette and raspberry walnut).

Every day I can toss together the contents of a jar, over some lettuce, add any of the toppings, and or roasted red pepper and or tuna or salmon. Its like a choose your own adventure salad.

I’ve learned that I can eat the same thing every day, but I can’t eat the same salad every day.  Even if they’re all practically the same, just the tweak of a different dressing, or a different crunchy topping, can make it a different salad for me.

As always, I made sure to grab some snack options as well; having my breakfast and lunches all planned out can still be a recipe for disaster when that 3pm sweet tooth hits if I don’t have a planned snack.

Snack options: sabra hummus single serve with pretzels, sargento balanced breakfs (cheese, nuts, dried fruit), and mini chocolate rice cakes.  I try my best to include options that cover salty, sweet, crunchy, and savory.  That way, no excuses for running out and grabbing a junk food alternative.

Meal Prep:5/15/16

I’m officially in the habit of prepping all of my breakfasts, lunches, and snacks on Sunday for the upcoming week.  In the past I would do it if I had time, or really felt like cooking a particular dish but it wasn’t a true habit.

This past weekend, however, Sunday night came around and Mister and I were tired, busy, and I only had a few hours left before I had to head to bead early in preparation for my 4am wakeup call Monday morning.

Friday after work, I got in to Albany at about 8pm.  Monday afternoon, Mister and I drove to Binghamton to visit with his family.  We drove to Saratoga to meet with our wedding Rabbi on Sunday, then had to drive to pick my car up from being worked on, then finally arrived back to Mister’s apartment in Albany at about 5pm.  I cooked like a crazy lady to get everything squared away (there was a cutting board casualty) and this morning when I piled all my prepped meals into my work fridge I was finally able to relax.

For breakfast:

• Option 1:Full fat pineapple cottage cheese
• Option 2: Granola and almond milk
• Option 3: oatmeal (I always have oatmeal and almond butter on hand as an alternative or addition to anything)

For lunch:

• option 1: salmon (broiled with Trader Joes vidalia onion/bacon vinagrette) over broccoli slaw with green pepper slices and oven roasted portabella mushrooms
• option 2: baked teriyaki ginger tofu with stir fried vegetables (shredded cabbage, carrots, snow peas, portabella mushrooms) and rice

For Snacks:

• Hillshire small plates
• Sargento balanced breaks
• sugar snap peas
• Kind bars

 

On any given work day, I’m in and out of my car or running around Manhattan via subway.  I like to have a stash of snacks on hand for between appointments, or when I have to run out last minute but I’m verging on hangry.  Having lunches cooked and ready is great, but when I can’t get back to the office on time to keep my stomach from grumbling, having a Kind bar or a bag of snap peas in my tote can keep me from buying the first Snickers bar I see.

Weekend WrapUp

Happy Monday!

This past weekend I meal prepped again, Mister and I both agreed we liked the convenience of fully prepared and packaged meals versus just a big ol’ container of say chicken and another tupperware of veggies, so we’re going to stick with this format.

I ordered the containers via Amazon, they’re the Fitpacker brand and so far so good.  I’m actually considering investing in some of the sectioned off containers for snacks or easier packing of different meals.  But let me make sure I can keep this good habit up before I go down that path.

This week I kept it simple, Mister and I each got five containers of the same meal (1 per weekday for lunch or dinner per our schedule)  Mashed sweet potatoes, mini meatloaf, zucchini and summer squash.  Easy. It helps if you lay out the logistics of what you’re trying to do ahead of time.

• preheat the oven for the meatloaf
• get the potatoes in water, bring to a boil on a back burner
• mix up meatloaf, form, put in oven
• chop up onions/garlic/veggies
• saute veggies (or you can throw them in the oven)
• puree/mash potatoes
• put everything in containers and refrigerate

From start to finish, this was about two hours.  And at least thirty minutes of that was me on the couch watching TV.

For breakfast this weekend, I’m still on my big avocado toast binge.

Mash the avocado right onto some toast, drizzle with lemon or lime juice, salt and pepper.  There’s something so satisfyingly decadent about this simple recipe.

In the glass is greek yogurt mixed with berries.  With the parfait and the toast for breakfast, I’ve got healthy fats, protein, a little sugar, complex carb, sweet, and savory.  And the hardest part was making the toast.

On Sunday it was the anniversary of Mister asking me to be his wife, so we took a break from food prepping and wedding planning to enjoy some sunshine.  We debated where to go, and just by chance ended up taking our dogs to the same dog park where we met three years ago.

(Bulldogs aren’t built for endurance)

I wanted to cook up something special for dinner, without incorporating our go to steak and potatoes.  Since it was nice out, Mister wanted to grill, but I had my belly set on pasta.

We picked up some italian sausage for the grill, and then the ingredients for a healthier version of a creamy pasta.

If you’ve never mixed ricotta cheese with pesto; do it now.  Ricotta can be the easiest way to make a creamy pasta dish, without tons of cream/butter/parmesan type foods (especially since both Mister and I have dairy sensitive bellies).

• boil pasta water
• slice and saute garlic and baby bella mushrooms, set aside in a bowl
• trim and saute green beans, add to the bowl
• add the pasta to the water whenever its boiling, set a timer so you don’t have to pay attention
• thinly slice and saute yellow or red pepper, add to the bowl
• when there’s only a few minutes left on the pasta, add chopped up broccoli florets to the pot.
• drain pasta/broccoli
• toss the veggies, pasta, ricotta, cheese, pesto all together.

At this point, it looked great but was missing a little pizzaz.  I thought for a minute and realized that ricotta usually needs a little acid to jazz it up; so I grabbed a whole lemon and squeezed it into the dish, along with a hearty dose of salt and pepper.

I plated up the pasta and veggies in wide pasta bowls, and sliced the sausage on the side.  Mister did a perfect job grilling the sausage to crispy, charred goodness.

 

Weekend Catch Up

I know that my posting comes in waves; there are daily posts that dwindle to nothing for a month and then I’ll reappear.  I’m sure this is no way to garner an audience, but life happens.

I headed up to Albany after work on Friday, and Mister and I were both equally tired and hungry by the time it got dark out.  We agreed on take out from Rain on Lark Street, after having stopped in for a drink last week and agreeing the food smelled and looked promising.

We picked up our takeout, and ate it on the couch with our sweatpants on; which is the best way to eat any and all takeout.

This stuff was really good.  It wasn’t nearly as greasy as typical Chinese takeout, and didn’t leave us feeling like bloated, sweaty monsters.  There was flavor, texture, and quality to our order, and we would definitely order again.  The only thing I didn’t like, was their won ton soup.  Interestingly enough, the menu we were looking at online for ordering listed it only as “Shanghai style won ton soup.” The menu on their website lists it as “shrimp and pork won ton.” This additional shrimp information makes a world of difference; when I bit into the dumplings, the filling was almost sausage like in its consistency.  Lumpy and almost gristly, it was unappealing.  Knowing now that it was shrimp mixed with pork explains it enough, but I wouldn’t order again.

Saturday morning, Mister and I had our second wedding related planning appointment.  After a year of being engaged, we set a wedding date and booked a venue.  On Saturday, we also confirmed our photographer.  Since our wedding date isn’t until June of 2017, we’ve got plenty of time to worry about the small things, and I’m making sure to check off the big ticket items as soon as I can.

Sunday, was when the fun went into full swing.  We started the day off with a workout at Flight Trampoline Park, which I can’t recommend enough.  Want to work up a sweat, while laughing for about an hour? They have instructor led fitness classes Saturday and Sundays, where you get to jump around barefoot.

Following that class, I got to the serious business of meal prepping.

I like cooking, and I like eating.  But with my living/work situation I can’t always find the time to do both well.  So I’ve gotten in the habit of cooking up a storm for myself and Mister over the weekend, to last throughout the week.

This Sunday, I cooked up:

3 containers of lean ground beef, riced cauliflower, and mushrooms

3 containers of shredded buffalo chicken salad and broccoli slaw

3 beef burrito bowls with rice, beans, and veggies

4 plain baked/shredded chicken breasts.

1 dozen hard boiled eggs

This, combined with some leftovers, cut up veggies, and my office stockpile of oatmeal will get us both on a good start for the breakfast and lunches for the week.  Some will be eaten for dinner depending on our schedule, and I’m sure we’ll grab a sandwich or something else to add to the mix when necessary.  But my point is, this took about an hour of grocery shopping and an hour or two of cooking while watching TV.

With the wedding coming up, I’m trying to keep myself more accountable on watching the bank account and my dress size; so making sure we eat healthy meals on a budget is important.

Weekly Meal Prep

I have no idea if anyone reads this.  Or if the people that do read this even care what I cook every week.  But if you do, this is what I “meal prepped” for this week.

• 1 lb ground turkey cooked with chili powder, tomatoes, jalapeno
• 1 lb ground turkey cooked with italian seasoning, onions, garlic, and diced tomatoes
• half dozen baked egg muffins (liquid egg whites, diced canadian bacon, baby spinach, shredded cheese)
• used veggie pasta shredder thing to make zucchini noodles

On the menu for this week:

1. egg muffins for breakfast with either Puffin cereal, some berries, or oatmeal.
2. Lunch/Dinner options: taco salad (ground turkey, romaine, Trader Joes super 8 chop, guacamole, pico de gallo), or zucchini noodles with turkey tomato sauce.

I’ve got a few bags of frozen veggies or burgers in the freezer to mix into the rotation too, just in case. I’m a big fan of Trader Joe’s (frozen) grilled, marinated eggplant and zucchini slices.  They’re an easy meal base, or addition to simple sandwich. I also try to always keep some Trader Joe’s frozen, sliced, fire roasted peppers on hand; they are way more flavorful then plain frozen peppers, and are perfect for omelettes, salads, stir fry etc.

Weekend Indulgence

Its all about finding the balance.  The vegetables with your cheese plate; don’t torture yourself eating what you don’t like.  Its not worth it.

Just for fun: here’s a bit of what I ate this weekend. This weekend was an unusual case for me, because I wasn’t with the Mister and didn’t have any big plans.  It was a great opportunity to just snuggle up with the dog, and enjoy a relaxing time to de-stress.

Breakfast on Saturday was two fried eggs over some leftover mashed cauliflower.  I crisped up some fresh sage leaves in olive oil, and then sprinkled parmesan over the whole thing.  It looks fancy, and I think that’s all the more reason why I liked it.  If you plopped eggs and cauliflower mash on a paper plate, it would be a blob of boring white.  Make food you want to eat and bonus points for making it pretty.

Saturday afternoon I enjoyed this fruit bowl [apples, grapes, and banana] topped with apple pie spice and some cashew butter.  I put half of what I made in the bowl to be eaten, and the other half was saved for Sunday.

I had cheese, tea, some more fruit, and then a lot more cheese.  Between the two days I definitely ate a lot of cheese and crackers.  Hey I wasn’t cooking for anyone else, and I like cheese.  My solution to preventing myself from eating way too much was to cut a few pieces, put it on a plate and then pack up the rest.  Its just like the old trick of portioning out chips or pretzels, don’t let yourself have the whole bag sitting open in front of you.

This weekend I finally got to enjoy a few beers I had picked up a week or so ago from the Fresh Market.  This Bells Christmas Ale was really good, so was the Sierra Nevada Coffee Stout.  Beer and cheese, cheese and beer.  I mostly just snacked for dinner.

Sunday morning I made this Pumpkin Spice quick bread that had been gifted to me for Chanukah.  I added some crushed walnuts and ginger, mostly because I was afraid the batter was too sweet.  It came out so moist and perfectly spice balanced.  We enjoyed it warm with cream cheese, and scrambled eggs for some healthy balance.

Now this beauty I’m pretty proud of.  A used a whole wheat tortilla and some shredded cheese left over from my casserole, combined with leftover brisket and carrots from a weeknight dinner.  Brisket quesadilla, with sour cream on top.  I really liked this one.

I followed all that up with a super fantastic trip to Trader Joes, and prepped breakfasts and lunch for this entire week.  Its okay to eat cheese all weekend if you follow it up with some whole, nutritious foods and protein power muffins.

Meal Prep: Tofu Stir Fry with Soba Noodles

After the five day binge fest that was Thanksgiving, I needed to really get a grip on my eating.  There had been wine, cheese, cake, pie, cookies, and stuffing.  Noticeably absent was adequate protein and just about anything from the vegetable category.

I knew I needed some veggies, and something that wasn’t too heavy but flavorful enough to keep me satisfied.  After perusing some vegan and vegetarian recipes online, I decided on a stir fry with as many veggies as I could manage.

After work yesterday, I went to Stop&Shop to pick up some ingredients.

• 1 package Soba noodles
• 2 broccoli crowns
• 1 bag sugar snap peas
• 1 container of ready to eat edamame
• 1 package of extra firm, sprouted tofu
• 1 bottle of white miso base
• 1 red pepper
• nub of ginger root
• lime
• garlic

 

By the time I got home it was almost 7 and I was tired, hungry, and ready to get cooking.  I’ve learned to just get all the prep out of the way; I know everyone says this, and a lot of people ignore it, but your timing will go a lot more smoothly when you just go ahead and chop everything at once.

I put a big pot of water on to boil and then minced the ginger and garlic, sliced the red pepper, diced the tofu, and cut wedges out of the lime.

When the water came to a boil, I added the soba noodles, and broke the broccoli into chunks right into the pot.  I don’t know if this is easier, its just the way I usually handle broccoli. [I cut the stems up into cubes to be cooked separately]

Set a time for 5 mins.

In a large pan I added a drizzle of peanut oil.  Once hot I added the cubed broccoli stems and the edamame first.  Then the tofu, ginger, and garlic.  Last the red pepper, white miso, and Braggs amino acid. I turned the heat up so everything would sear, I really like when tofu has that little char on the outside. There’s nothing worse than soggy stir-fry from low heat and/or too much liquid.

When the timer goes off,  drain the noodles/broccoli and rinse with cold water. Put everything in a giant Tupperware to be eaten throughout the week.  Ta Da!

But wait….those sugar snap peas?! Yea yea I know.  I hate soggy sugar snap peas.  Yuck.  My game plan, is to add a handful to my bowl when I eat lunch; after either reheating everything or just enjoying it all cold.  Squeeze the fresh lime wedge over the dish right before eating. There will definitely be a splash of sriracha on top.

Quick and Easy: Office Lunch

I like to keep easy staples on hand in my office kitchen so I don’t always have to worry about what I’m going to have for lunch (or a snack).

Some great basics:

• unsalted nuts
• dried fruit
• tuna [I prefer the packets so I don’t have to worry about a can opener, and packed in water instead of oil]
• almond milk [the shelf stable cartons are great to keep on hand for smoothies, cereal, oatmeal, etc.]
• oatmeal
• rice cakes
• granola
• protein powder
• tea
• peanut butter

Having a variety of things on hand makes me more likely to have something nutritious while I’m in the office, and less likely to fall back on fast food or a not-as-great choice.  I try to bring leftovers in, or meal prep ahead of time, to supplement my stash; since this is a holiday week, I didn’t want to grocery shop or meal prep so I’m heavily relying on what I’ve got on hand.

Today’s lunch wasn’t the most visually appealing option, but it was really good.  I’m actually looking forward to having it again tomorrow.

I mixed one tuna packet with half of an over ripe avocado, smashed them together in a bowl.  Mix in some seasoning (I keep salt, pepper, salad dressing, salsa, and hot sauce on hand for these situations) and spread on a rice cake.  Seriously, this was crunchy, creamy, salty goodness.  I mixed it with a cilantro lime dressing that I had in the fridge, and a little bit of salt and pepper.

Side Note: don’t judge me on the rice cake situation, I really don’t consider these diet food!  I LOVE rice cakes.  They’re crunchy, and the lightly salted ones go with everything.  The flavored variety might not have as good nutritional stats but they’re still a really good option.  Buttered popcorn, chocolate, caramel, ranch…seriously I would have a hard time giving up rice cakes!!

Happy lunch time!

Meals for 12.12.14

What do you actually eat everyday? I know we don’t have grandiose Pinterest worth meals every three hours 365 days a year. That’s not real life.

I watch what I eat, most of the time. I track my food in the App, MyFitnessPal; keeping tabs on carbs/fat/protein per day. Some weeks I’m great about planning ahead, others I just barely manage to fill my lunch bag with a haphazard collection of things in an attempt to meet my goals.

Today is one of those days. Sort of.
For breakfast all week we had those baked eggs. But Mister got the last portion packed for his breakfast. So I mixed some strawberry flavored protein powder with Greek yogurt and a splash of almond milk.

I do some form of exercise daily. Sometimes it’s yoga and running, other days it’s weights at the gym. (Sadly, lately it’s been a lot of at home quick routines to avoid the snow and darkness. )The point is, I like to keep my protein high for building new muscle as part of my weight-loss and health goals. Everyone has different goals. I don’t recommend chugging protein if you’re hanging out on the couch all week.

About 2-3 hours after that mini meal, I’ll have a clementine with my morning coffee.

And just about 3 hours after that I’ll have lunch. Sometimes this is leftovers from dinner. Today is is a multigrain tortilla from Trader Joes filled with one slice of Swiss cheese, 3oz of low sodium turkey, and a handful of baby spinach. (I have a food scale)

My fourth mini meal of the day is half a cup of cottage cheese mixed with cinnamon, vanilla, and raisins.

Yes I eat seriously unphotogenic meals. I know. But this mixture is so great in this weather, it’s texturally similar to rice pudding and the flavor profile is a nice break from plain dairy.

I brought a banana in case I feel hungry, or decide to run an errand right after work. And yes, I pack a ton of food for work most days. I like feeling prepared and I love being in the habit of five to six mini meals a day.

Dinner is undecided yet. It’s Friday so it might be a splurge in terms of calories and content, but not necessarily.

What do you eat every day, honestly?