I came home to find the most beautiful baked eggplant slices come out of the oven…
Slip had prepared a beautiful and delicious dinner while I was in class. How awesome is that? Some lightly breaded baked eggplant, topping brown rice and sauteed veggies. Topped with sriacha hot sauce and tahini.
So tasty and colorful!
Slip is joining me in the 27 club on Wednesday, and tonight we had an early birthday dinner for him at his parent’s house. His mom, a wonderful Italian cook, prepared the most delicious yet simple dinner for us (my goal in life is to cook that way).
We feasted on a fresh arugula salad with grapes and walnuts, rosemary focaccia bread with an olive oil dip with top shelf olive oil from our trip to DiBruno Bros., crab stuffed ravioli with homemade tomato sauce, and stuffed mushrooms, filled with sausage, pine nuts, and raisins (SO good).
For dessert…
The most beautiful angel food cake. I love angel food cake because it is so light and fluffy. And it was topped with some chocolate glaze (thank you, Duncan Hines) and fresh strawberries. Yum!
What a perfectly delightful dinner, prelude to Slip’s birthday, and start to the week to come.
Lunch date with Slip at Sweetgreen. He created his own wrap with the most random ingredients: baby spinach, sweet potatoes, dried cranberries, red onion, bell pepper, grilled chicken, portobello mushrooms, and chili carrot vinaigrette. It was very colorful and actually so delicious. Sometimes being adventurous proves to be successful!
Meatless Monday: Satisfying Post-Workout Meal Ideas
By Hollis Templeton
While I love the energy and mood boost I get from amping up my exercise routine, an unfortunate side effect of sticking to those New Year’s resolutions is the increased hunger that comes with longer, harder workouts. What’s really not fair: Researchers at the University of Ottawa in Canada found that while intense exercise suppresses men’s appetites, vigorous workouts make women hungrier. Humph.
While it’s tempting to satisfy a grumbling stomach with a big breakfast or dinner post-workout (you earned it, right?), you don’t want to erase your hard work with a calorie-packed meal that’s low on nutrients. Instead, pick a breakfast or dinner that includes a mix of carbohydrates (to replenish energy stores), protein (to aid muscle recovery and repair), and healthy fat (to help you stay full). Here, six meat-free meal options to try on your workout days this week.
Magic Lasagna (pictured) Why magic? It’s a breeze to prepare thanks to no-boil noodles. Plus it’s loaded with veggies.
Toasted Egg and Cheese Sandwich At last, a breakfast sandwich sans bacon. This one’s got garlic and herb cheese, egg whites, and avocado all for less than 400 calories.
High Protein Blueberry Yogurt Smoothie A fruity and filling blend you can sip on your way to class or work.
Pumped Up Banana-Pecan Oatmeal Potassium-rich bananas and muscle-building whey protein give you the oomph you need to recover after your last set.
For Evening ExercisersLentil-Quinoa Burgers with Sautéed Mushrooms With the surprisingly meaty flavors in these vegetarian burgers, you definitely won’t miss the meat!
Indian Vegetables with Baked Tempeh When you’re craving something a little exotic, hold back from grabbing take-out. Try Indian at home with this easy protein-packed dish that has less than 325 calories per serving.
photo: Ann Stratton
(via meatlessmonday)
On this Meatless Monday I find myself completely exhausted, but coming across this picture I had to share. Because I am salivating thinking about this pizza I had from Cafe Lift last month. I kind of don’t want you to know about it, because it’s uncrowded and unpretentious, and my favorite place to meet Slip for lunch on a work day. They have fabulous salads, sandwiches, and pizzas, including this delicious lovely, a huge pizza topped with tomatoes, ricotta, and spinach. Tempting specials every day. You can get by with a big meal on less than $15 (cash only). Yum! Dream of pizza tonight!
Today seemed like the perfect day for dim sum. Sara and I made plans to get together, and I found out today she’d never had dim sum before. I’ve never gone before in Philadelphia, but finding ourselves in close proximity to Chinatown we headed to what was highly recommended to me, Joy Tsin Lau. With not too long of a wait, we sat excitedly at our table sipping on tea, eyeing up the carts making their way around the large colorful restaurant.
My favorite was the sizzling cart, full up with pork dumplings, chive and spinach dumplings, taro cake, and stuffed peppers, along with a few other items, crackling as they cooked in the portable kitchen.
(Taro cakes and pan seared pork dumplings)
I love seared dumplings so much— the crispy skin on the outside and the savory filling inside. The chive and spinach dumplings were really tasty and not exactly something I’ve had before. I think I could have an entirely dumpling lunch and be completely happy!
There are two tricks with dim sum: pace yourself and be adventurous. There are so many carts coming around, it’s important not to jump too quickly at any one thing, but wait to find out what exactly is on the menu. I always prioritize dumplings, pork buns, and sweet sesame buns, but like to try something new, too. It’s also nice to go with an adventurous crowd. You’re not always exactly certain what is coming around, but it’s likely to be yummy (though I can’t lie— we zealously avoided the tripe dumplings and chicken feet). I’ve always tried something new when I’ve gone for dim sum, and it’s never disappointed (taro cakes were a new try and have become one of my favorites).
We feasted on several kinds of dumplings, pork buns, taro cakes, wonton soup, Chinese broccoli, and shrimp and pork shumai. A pretty focused sampling which left us all totally stuffed. We skipped the “dessert” dim sum, but if I was still hungry I would have had a sweet coconut bun. And the best part of dim sum? After relishing our afternoon dumpling feast, leaving us completely satiated, the bill totaled $25 for 3 of us.
A few weeks ago after a trip to the movies (see The Artist, it was wonderful!) we stopped by Pizzeria Stella for a quick dinner. I’ve heard Stella can get pretty busy, but stopping in kind of late worked perfectly, as it was relatively empty. We first got seated in the bar area, which is pretty dark and kind of musty, but the hostess moved us into the main section with a smile. Sitting in a large open tile-floored space, with a big brick oven and long tables, we sat down to ponder the menu.
Everything looked great. We settled on sharing an appetizer, a salad, and a pizza. Our waitress told us the pizzas are individual sized, but our three dishes were the perfect amount of food— we left with full, happy tummies.
We started with the asparagus, topped with a sunny side up egg and a parmesan vinaigrette:
These three ingredients are matched perfectly together, and I was not disappointed. We saved the plate to dip our pizza crusts in the mixture of egg yolk and parmesan vinaigrette. Next up was the Caesar salad:
Served up with large romaine hearts and the creamy dressing actually made with anchovies, this salad was a winner. Again, a great sharing plate, as we waited excitedly for our pizza to arrive…
We got the pancetta pizza, with wood roasted onion, tuscan kale, and mozzarella. This was really yummy— the crust was thin and crispy and the toppings were great. I especially loved the slight bitterness of the crispy kale. I was eyeing up a bunch of the pizzas and I think next time I definitely want to try the tartufo with black truffle, egg, and fontina.
We debated dessert, as we were both pretty full after our meal, but I’d had the gelato from Stella before, and knew their homemade recipe was not to be missed. We shared a scoop of the honey marscapone, topped with a small biscotti.
So tired I might fall asleep during Top Chef right now… maybe I’ll dream of this rye bagel from Spread Bagelry, topped with Katz’s famous pastrami and melted swiss… yummmm…
Tonight: pasta with eggplant and spinach tomato sauce. Easy for post-Zumba. And very yummy!
