Tonight I made a lovely plate of two salads – a tabouli and a chili chickpea veggie mixture.
The chickpea recipe was inspired by the Food Network, recipe here. I pretty much followed the recipe except I didn’t bother to measure the veggies, AND I used a spice blend I had on hand rather than the harissa called for.
The tabouli I threw together mainly because I had cracked wheat, and I’m trying to cycle through my older pantry items. The tabouli had: parsley, tomatoes, scallions, cracked wheat, good quality olive oil, lemon juice, a sprinkling of dried mint, and of course S&P, all topped with feta. It was so easy to make. The simplest part was the cracked wheat, which you just soak in very hot water for 30 minutes. I used the water right out of my tap. The result is fluffy cracked wheat – neat stuff!
Side by side, the salads were quite pretty, although perhaps not the most likely flavor combination. So, which one? After much anticipation (I’d been wanting to make it for months), the chickpea salad was a FLOP. Now, granted, I used a differrent spice mixture, but I think Chili 9000, with its 26 ingredients, ought to have brought the flavor on. I’m not knocking the spices, which were part of a simple dressing that had a good kick. But still, it was just flat. The veggies were dull. The dish needed some excitement.
The tabouli, on the other hand, was an “Oh, my God.” So much flavor! It danced a happy dance in my mouth. Yum. I wouldn’t just attribute the yum factor to the cheese, either. Tabouli is just a great dish, even better when you make it at home with fresh ingredients.
This was dinner after my evening workout, which was a run to the gym, weights with Nadia, and a run home (about 5 miles running, total). But you better believe my body needed more than salad after that workout! I also had a smoothie, 
Strawberries, milk, nonfat Wallaby yogurt, half a banana, agave nectar, and a bit of cinnamon sugar. Mmmm, it was like a marshmallow, light and fluffy! I attribute the frothy-ness of the texture to the whirling power of the Magic Bullet:
Otherwise, today was a day of eating small meals throughout the day. This inclued a mid-morning snack of graham crackers, a tablespoon of cashew butter,
And an energy bar:
Which reminds me, today I did the DUMBEST thing. I am so lucky I did not get caught either. I left the house to go grocery shopping without my magic wallet, which has my credit cards AND my driver’s license. Nor did I realize it until I was in the CHECKOUT line, groceries loaded on the conveyor. Ugh. To make matters worse, the checkout attendant did not understand English well. Ever wonder what happens when you can’t pay for groceries at the Market Basket? Well, I’ll tell ya, because I found out today. It actually wasn’t too bad. My order was rung up and bagged, meanwhile I drove back home to get my card. Only, the transaction was not fully completed. Apparently, the grocery system has a “suspended order” function. When I returned, all they had to do was take my credit card and complete the transaction. Aside from my milk being out of rerigeration for the 30 minutes it took me to go home and come back, I was glad not to have to run around the store again picking out my groceries.
And groceries I got! Lots of fruits and veggies. Peppers, pineapple, rhubarb, lettuce, bananas, melon, you name it! (Well, almost)
I kept it simple for lunch – A Dr. Praegger Tex mex burger on a whole wheat english muffin from TJ’s, with a cup of organic milk:
These burgers are the best! My only beef with them is that they don’t hold together well. At least whe I make them. They are the consistency of lentils, perhaps, ground together with vegetables and held together barely with, say, an egg. I’m not saying that is what these burgers taste like or composed of, but just to describe the consistency. Lately I’ve been heating them in the frying pan with a bit of spray oil, but I’ve also tried the toaster oven. Anyone else had better luck?
Also, lunch included half of a walnut-studded banana and 3 prunes – so fun!! The walnut-studded banana is my answer to banana bread cravings!
For a snack, I dug into the pineapple:
It really was that light in color, but the taste did not suffer for lack of vibrancy.
With this pineapple, I would venture to say that, today, I must have gotten 12 or so servings of fruits and veggies. Yay for me! Good night!
-Emily