Food

Mar052013

Restaurant Rave: Mediterranean Market

This place is one of our most favorite places to go. It’s cheap, it’s filling, it’s delicious. Chris frequents it constantly during the work week and we usually hit it up every weekend or every other weekend. It’s just too good for just too cheap! And the guy who runs it is great. He knows us by now because we’re in there all the time. We’re still trying to figure out his nationality, we think Syrian. It is as its title suggests: a Mediterranean Market. It has everything you would need from out East, from Turkish Delights to Baklava to Pita to Middle Eastern Flour, they’ve got it all. Seriously, it ALL. And with the market comes a delicious eatery.

It has a great relaxed atmosphere. You enter in with the market in front of you, four aisles or so of different Mediterranean goodies (I’ve wanted to buy this huge cheap thing of dates for a long time). Some regulars come in and get their groceries here. Others come for a special ingredient or treat. We usually always end up watching college basketball, because that’s what’s almost always on his television. There’s a pinball machine that captures the quarters of kids and enough treats, frozen dinners, and fresh ingredients to make anyone’s mouth water. All the money I spend there is absolutely worth it.

I typically get the #4 for $7 which includes…a platter of baba ghanoush, hummus, pita, and a wonderful salad with olives, tomatoes, feta, cucumbers, and a delicious dressing. Oh and those are just the sides, the main dish is a huge falafel sandwich, stuffed to the brim with hot, fresh falafel, lettuce, tomato, hummus, and onions. Oops, I’m drooling (and we literally went there for dinner tonight, couldn’t resist). At least it’s healthy and full of great protein!

Chris gets the same #4 for $7 but instead of baba ghanoush, he gets dolmas (and otherwise the same sides). And instead of a falafel sandwich, he gets a gyro sandwich. This sandwich, too, is stuffed to the brim with meat. And you can always sop anything up in the huge serving of hummus he gives us. We usually get a Xing tea to accompany our meals. And don’t forget dessert! We don’t always get it, but when we do, we either get baklava or kadaifi (or both). So delicious.

It’s truly authentic, and we enjoy it thoroughly. For us, it really feels comfort food. I’m not sure why, we’re weird like that. We always have huge smiles on our faces and full bellies when we’re done. it’s truly a place to relax and enjoy the food. And it’s healthy! It’s always on the list of choices of where we want to eat a certain night of the week.

If you’re in Boulder, you have to hit up the Mediterranean Market, you will not regret it! It’s a wonderful meal that will fill you up without emptying your wallet. Truly excellent food.

Mar032013

Get Your Smoothie On: Inta Juice

This weekend, on the way home from a fun triathlon, we stopped at Inta Juice, craving something light, but nutritious and filling. And we got our fill! Inta Juice is a healthier version of Jamba Juice with lots of flavors, fruits, supplements, and boosts to choose from. Overall, we give it a pretty high rating for giving us some hydration back after the race.

We were very pleased with the service, we came at a pretty non-busy time early-ish on a Saturday morning. Feeling tired, drained, and indecisive, we milled about, taking about ten minutes to actually decide. The two girls helping us were very patient, friendly and helpful. We basically told them what we wanted and they suggested various options and even made a custom one for Chris.

We both got 32 oz (and Chris’ came with even more, so I got a good amount of his) cups because Chris was convinced he was starving and could really drink all of them (we semi-regretted that later, but finished it all, of course). I got the Groovin Guava which had guava, pineapple, orange, and some other tropical flavors. It was extremely refreshing but I got throat freeze every ten seconds, which is of course my fault.

Groovin Guava

Chris got something akin to the Power Protein shake, but they added strawberries for him in addition to whey powder, chocolate, peanut butter, and banana. It was very good and filling. Lots of calories and protein! Just we needed after a great race. After he finished his, I still had mine and we shared it on the car ride home.

Remnants of Power Protein

I also tried a 1 oz wheat grass shot. I figured I might as well, I’ve always wanted to try one. It was absolutely disgusting, please never make me do that again. It’s not their fault, it’s my taste buds. And the wheat grass. Yuck.

It was a very pleasant atmosphere. We sat at the place for a good fifteen minutes, talking, cooling down, and relaxing with our smoothies. It was happy decor with lots of bright colors and information. It was very clean as well. It even had a drive-thru! Now this place is in Longmont, so I drive past it every day to and from work, so they may be seeing me more often. We are very pleased we stopped here, it was the perfect thing for our tired, dehydrated bodies. Thanks, Inta Juice!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Feb282013

Getting Creative With Tofu

If you’re a vegetarian or you just like it, tofu is a big part of the diet. Usually, we just cube it and put it into the dish with whatever else we are making. But recently, a friend (from Bali) shared a new way of doing tofu. Well, the cooking method is typical for some, but the flavoring is different. Using nutritional yeast. Now, I had no idea what this was before the couple brought the dish over to us. And it is delicious. It literally had me thinking I was eating fried chicken, that’s what it tastes like. So, I was in heaven. And then, I realized I needed to know how to make this for myself. Luckily, our friend left us a little tub of this magic nutritional yeast, so I was good to go. I will be showing you how to make this tofu dish, but also sharing what we had with it (though you can have it alone too).

Ingredients

1 box tofu
knife
nutritional yeast flakes
oil
peppers [optional]
udon [optional]
teriyaki [optional]

Directions

Drain the tofu juice out of the box and place the tofu on cutting board. Cut long-ways first, into thin 1/2 inch pieces
Cut short-ways, making little squares
Have a pan hot with a very light amount of olive oil and carefully place tofu on the pan, letting each have enough room to cook. I put the temperature on a little less than high (medium-high)
Takes about 5-10 minutes to cook, I use a fork to turn them over. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn on the outside, but get cooked on the inside. Turn them over one by one when the first side is done.
After both sides are ready, pop them onto a plate. Sprinkle the nutritional yeast flakes on top of each piece

Tastes like fried chicken!

And if you want to continue with our dish…slice up your peppers (or whatever vegetable) into thin long slices.
Put some more olive oil in the pan and this time garlic too
Throw the peppers in there
After the peppers have been in there for a few minutes, throw in your udon to heat up. At the time you put the udon in, put a good amount of teriyaki in as well, flavoring the udon and peppers, as well as giving some moisture to it all.

Yum…

Once the udon noodles are heated and have absorbed the teriyaki and the peppers have cooked enough, plate them atop the already-cooked tofu!

Finished product

And voila! There you have it–an easy, nutritious, delicious meal full of protein and fiber. Feel free to add or subtract any vegetable or addition to the stir fry, but seriously go for this tofu. It is absolutely delicious.

Cheers! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

Nymeria is 98% back to normal!!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Feb172013

Decadent Chocolate Peanut Clusters

If you’re not an idiot like me, this recipe is so easy. Just wait and watch. The taste to ease ratio is OUT OF THIS WORLD! I originally saw the recipe on the delicious Hip Foodie Mom blog, and she got it from another blog, here. As always, I didn’t follow exactly to the recipe, and it turned out beautifully. This is such an easy recipe, great way to impress/feed the loved ones at home, work, and elsewhere. Listen up!

Ingredients

a bunch of chocolate [I used about 12 oz], the better quality chocolate, the better quality finished product (I used two different kinds of Ghirardelli Chocolate, milk and truffle)

peanuts
microwave/hot water

It started snowing pretty heavily as I was making these

Directions

1. Depends on the chocolate, but unwrap them and put them in a medium sized bowl.

2. Put in microwave and take out every 30 seconds to stir. Depends on your microwave and chocolate for the length of time that it takes to actually melt down. Mine took six times, so 3 minutes total. Try not to eat too much of it at this point (whoops)

3. Now this is where you don’t want to be an idiot like me. I actually DE-SHELLED about fifty peanuts, making this process take twenty minutes longer. Do the right thing and just get a bag of already de-shelled peanuts. Slowly stir them in, make sure they’re really mixed!

4. Get a baking sheet with wax paper across, and drop spoonfuls a few inches from each other.

5. Put in fridge for at least 1 hour. I left mine in all day and they turned out beautifully.

Our fridge!

6. Take out and serve! When I put them away, I put them back in the fridge so they wouldn’t melt.

Now you see how easy this recipe truly is, as long as you don’t personally de-shell all the peanuts . Let us know if you have any comments or questions. As always, stay hungry and fit. Cheers!

SLEEPY KITTENS

BONUS KITTY PIC

Feb112013

9 Great Sources of Protein for Vegetarians

So you’re a vegetarian. So am I (kinda)! Which means you don’t eat meat (where are you going with this, Alana…). Which means you are missing out on a major source of protein. Protein is an extremely important part of the diet, healing and building muscles and keeping us nutrient-full. The more protein in the diet, the more full you remain. Here are some great ways for vegetarians to get protein:

1. Beans. Beans, beans, the more you eat them, the more you…gain a great source of protein and fiber! That’s how the song goes, right? My personal favorite is black beans. There are many types available: black, refried, kidney, white, chick peas, red, pinto, and many many more! Always get the beans with no salt added for a lesser sodium intake and a healthier meal over all. Soy beans (edamame) and white beans have the highest protein content, but all are still good choices. Great meal options with beans are: rice and beans, bean, cheese, and cheese burrito, bean soup, and bean salad. There are so many ways to put this into your diet, so do it today!

2. Soy. Soy is an excellent source of protein for the vegetarian (or for anyone). It is indeed a bean (or legume), but it has its separate category because it has such a big part in the vegetarian diets. You can find this in all kinds of forms now: Morningstar products, protein bar products, protein shake powder, and more! It is easy to find in such products, just search it up. Morningstar products are just as good as meat products, most taste absolutely delicious!

3. Tofu. Tofu is made from soy, called ‘bean curd’ because it is used from soybean juices and curded. Tofu is huge in the Asian cultures. There are soft and firm types of tofu, depending on how you want to cook or eat it. You can eat it raw, of course, too. But it’s great to either bake or lightly stir fry with some seasoning such as soy sauce, yeast, or garlic. And easy way to get a great source of protein.

4. Mushrooms. Mushrooms, in the plant world, are a live source of protein. So instead of dead proteins that you would find from soy or other processed protein sources, mushrooms are live fungi from the ground. This source of protein is very healthy and nutritious for you, having a high protein count, depending on which type of mushroom you get. Some variations are oyster mushrooms, portabella mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, white mushrooms, and many more. I used to hate mushrooms until I became a vegetarian. I then started eating them more and now I love them. Get them a part of your diet!

5. Eggs. Eggs are definitely a great source of protein (if you’re not a vegan). You can hard boil them, scramble them, omelette them, fry them–the list is endless. There are so many great ways of adding this into your diet for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. One egg can range from 6-9 grams of protein.

6. Nuts. Another great, natural source of protein. It is also a place to get your good, natural healthy fats as well (that you NEED). Nuts come in all forms and sizes from peanuts to cashews to almonds to pistachios, if you want good protein, you better get nuts about nuts. They are an excellent snack, but can also be used in main dishes such as in your greek yogurt for breakfast, salad for lunch, and stir fry for dinner. Almonds rule the nut world for healthiest and most protein.

7. Greek Yogurt. Now, I’m not talking about the sugar-filled Yoplait yogurts that you’ll find for a good price. I’m talking Chobani, Fayeh, and Oikos. Preferably, get plain. The best of the best have a high protein count of 22 grams, the lowest you can find at around 7 grams. Greek yogurt may take some getting used to, but you can sweeten it with fruit or honey, or add granola to it as well. You can also add it to cooking dishes, such as curries and sauces. Make sure you get greek yogurt in for one meal of the day! Delicious.

8. Protein powder. Now these are made up (usually) of whey, soy protein isolate, and other milk products to create a densely packed protein addition to your diet. Goes very well after a workout too (when you need the most protein to start repairing those muscles). See this post for more information of what protein powder we like the most. You can make shakes, milkshakes, smoothies, and even your own protein bars! Great snack or meal replacement, and usually low in calories.

9. Cheese and other dairy products. Dairy is, of course, a good source of protein as it comes from an animal. You just need to be wary of how much you are consuming due to fats and calories (if you’re counting them). Cheese is delicious and comes in many forms from different animals (cheddar cheese and goat cheese are my personal favorites). Milk is good too, as is cottage cheese.

So there you have it, vegetarians, nine sources of protein ranging from fungi in the earth to processed curd. Now you have no excuses of not getting you daily protein intake–look how many options you have! Never skimp out on the protein, always get to your limit, it will keep you full longer, and keep your muscles happy.

Cheers!

Feb062013

Restaurant Review: Chez Thuy

We had heard good things about this place. We are all about Vietnamese food and it was a nice Saturday to have a good lunch. So here we show up at Chez Thuy, one of Boulder’s Vietnamese cuisines. It was a sunny day, a little windy, but we were all game for our one-restaurant-out-a-week (attempted).

The atmosphere was wonderful. Ethnic music in the background, loud enough to hear, but not overpowering our conversation. The place is beautifully decorated, we were loving it. Beautiful paintings and traditional decorations all around. The only thing hurting the atmosphere were two obnoxious loud Boulder moms a few tables away.

I had a difficult time deciding between the Blended Boba drinks and Thai Iced Tea, but eventually decided on the latter since I like my Boba on ice, not blended. We order our dishes and they bring out two complimentary hot and sour soups. I’m delighted–Chris can’t exactly eat spice. So I get two! And am then full a lot quicker. The soup was delicious and warming and I ate both bowls.

hot + sour soup

For appetizer, we order steamed vegetable dumplings served with a side of peanut sauce. I was delighted with this. The dumplings were light and fresh, and the peanut sauce was the perfect heaviness to compliment it. I wish there were more of them to gobble up!

Then we wait for our meals. It’s a pretty busy time for them, but we don’t mind waiting, taking, and making fun of the two moms near us. Chris orders a Pad Thai and I order a Yellow Curry with Calamari. Eventually, they come out. Now I’m almost full at this point (way to go, Alana), but we dig in anyhow.

yellow curry

pad thai

Now…the dishes didn’t quite cut it for us. I actually enjoyed Chris’ Pad Thai a lot more than mine. Mine was too fishy, and not enough of that peanut-taste that you get in most yellow curries. I really didn’t eat much of mine. It wasn’t something I was very excited about, and I usually love Vietnamese food. Chris was not a big fan of his Pad Thai. It didn’t seem like it was prepared with a lot of care and love, the noodles really stuck together in one large mass, thus not allowing the dish to mix well.

Overall, we wouldn’t come back here for a main meal again. It just wasn’t impressive or very tasty. However, we would come back for appetizers.

Cheers! (Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been sick and busy)

Jan292013

Healthy Whole-Wheat Honey Banana Muffins

If you couldn’t tell by the title, this recipe is very healthy. There is no sugar and no refined flour. AND THEY TASTE GOOD. I wouldn’t lie. This is my first time baking muffins from scratch, so I’m very pleased. I found the recipe here, altered it slightly and cut in half because I only have a 12-count muffin pan. And this was all the while watching Fawlty Towers!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 17 minutes
Yields: 12 beautiful muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
2 bananas mashed
1/4 cup hot water

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees and grease the muffin pan
Put the whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl and mix.

Put the dry ingredients to the side and get a bigger bowl where everything will end up. Put in the olive oil and honey and whisk well.

Once that is well mixed, drop in those two eggs and mix mix mix!

Once those are beaten, then add the mashed (MASH THEM) bananas into the mix.
Now the dry ingredients are ready to make friends with the wet ingredients. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients, alternating with pouring in a little of the hot water you measured out before. Mix well!

Mix all ready to go

The mix is delicious by the way–had way too much of it before it hit the oven. Go a head and pour the mix into your muffin pan. Fill it as high up as you want–it all depends on how big muffins you’d like.

Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Mine cooked in about 17 minutes. Try going for 15 minutes and test them.

And here they are. The texture turned out wonderfully, the taste not overpowering, and the structural integrity strong. Very excited about these.

Chris’ hand (you can see dinner in the background)

My hand

Cheers! Enjoy the recipe and the food! Delicious

Jan262013

Hungry’s Secret Recipes: Humming Chicken Star Deluxe

My father taught me much about sandwiches while growing up. While Mom was always making creative and sophisticated dishes, Dad was the master of the art of sandwich. And it was not something to be messed with in the house. If you didn’t toast your bread, you were a punk. Cheese and salami on bread? Not a real sandwich. He invented the super deluxe sandwich, with all the fixings. Lettuce, pickles, cole slaw… anything in the fridge was fair game to be put on the sandwich.

Being from the New York area and having the earl of sandwich in the house, I inherited a love for the sandwich. My standards are high, even though I’ll eat just about anything. The philosophy hasn’t changed, put stuff on it, and toast it, or you’re just an ingrate.

Without a ton of time before work and having to go in the water for four hours, and five without food, I knew I had to throw together a nice sandwich that wouldn’t hurt my stomach at all. Since I’m getting back into working out, I also wanted a good amount of protein, calories, and carbs since it’s still early in the day and I need my fuel. The catch is that I woke up with some cold symptoms including a sore throat and congestion, so I wanted to avoid cheese and thickening agents.

Here are the ingredients:

1 Morningstar Original Griller
1 large can of Chunk light tuna
hummus, plain
mustard, Gulden’s
butter, land o lakes
whole wheat bread, 3 pieces
1 avocado, large

(I forgot pickles, really just a lack of time)

And the pictures show the rest.

Get the avocado on there

Next comes the tuna

DON’T FORGET TO TOAST IT

Essentially, create a monster stacking sandwich that has toasted bread. First toast the bread. Then construct as the pictures show. Then cover in butter and toast on the stove top. Take that Dad. Feel free to add lettuce and pickles.

Ready to be eaten

Nutritional Facts: Way over 50 grams of protein. That’s all you need to know.

Be hungry!

Jan202013

Restaurant Review: Pastavino

Even though we are trying to limit ourselves to one food outing a week, we still treated ourselves to a nice Italian restaurant on Pearl Street. We actually tried to get to three other restaurants before landing here–all closed until dinner for some reason. So it was pretty much by accident that we found this lovely Italian place. And we were very happy that we did.

It was beautiful and sunny out–a nice change to the 10 degree weather we’ve been having. We briefly looked at the outside menu before marking their prices reasonable and dishes appetizing. The place was pretty empty, with a big bar in the front and a brick-oven in the back. It was adorned modernly, and the lighting was pleasant as it was coming mostly from the sun outdoors. We were seated at a semi-small table and waited by Isabelle, a nice 20s something girl who deserved a good tip by the end.

(ONTO THE FOOD!) I know, I know, just setting up the scene. So I immediately spot Penne Arrabiata, which is my go-to dish if places have it. It’s a penne pasta with nice hot spicy tomato sauce poured on top. But I also have a craving for cheese…so my eyes hover over the Mozzarella Caprese. Chris decides on another appetizer: antipasto misto (which included a various assortment of cheese, meats, olives, and veggies). So we start by ordering those two appetizers. We throw a loaf of bread in there too to get us started (we are very hungry at this point). Meanwhile, as we are chugging down the water we realize how delicious it is. I know that’s weird to see, but it was so refreshing.

The bread comes, nice and hot. It’s delicious, crispy on the outside, and warm on the inside–with a hint of rosemary. We douse our small plates with oil and vinegar and mop it all up eagerly with the bread. The other appetizers come sometime later, we’re enjoying our time slowly so we don’t really notice, and she brings out the wrong one for Chris (though we share). Chris breaks the news to her and she starts taking it away but Chris asks, “Are you going to throw that out?” She says yes and he asks if there’s any way to avoid that. She let us keep it without charging us for it and brought us our other appetizer. The wrong appetizer was fritto misto by the way, lots of calamari, scallops and such.

So we do try to take pictures of all food. But…we ate the caprese too fast–oops

Fritto Misto

It was all as it looks. We ate the caprese so fast that we didn’t snap a shot of it–each part of it (basil, tomato, and mozzarella) was just so fresh. The fritto misto was also delicious, and I got to eat the calamari because they’re wild caught! The antipasta misto was good as well, though I would rate the others higher. We didn’t really like the olives and eggplant of the antipasta misto.

Rejected

Taking our time, feeling thoroughly relaxed and not so starving anymore, we order our main dishes. Chris gets the Pizza Salametto which is a big pizza with salami, mozzarella cheese, and basil. I, of course, order the Penne Arrabiata, even though, by this point, I’m starting to feel full. Sigh. We snack on what’s left on our appetizers until the main dishes come out. I was happy with my pasta, but it wasn’t anything special. Chris’ pizza, however, was delicious. Although, I was “full,” I kept snagging pieces from his. It was a little oily, and had poor structural integrity, but the taste was there and the ingredients fresh. Chris also got a good deal with the lunch special and got a big thing of Minestrone Soup on the side.

By this point, I am full. Like, feeling a food baby coming on full. I am seated back in my chair, enjoying the tastes while Chris finishes up his soup. Once we slow down, and she notices, she pops over and asks about dessert. I shrug, saying I’m full, and Chris says, might as well look at it. So we do. Aaaaand, we end up getting dessert (of course). Chris spots a fruit tart–Sfogliatina alle Fragole. He had way too much fun trying to say it to the waitress. It comes out and it is a tower of glory. Just look at it.

Despite our being “full,” we finish every last bite. We reasoned afterwards that we were probably not just full, but sometimes you get bored of the same taste. That’s why, we decided, people tend to get dessert even though they’re “stuffed.” So we get the check, taking our time, and give our waitress a nice tip for being so good with not charging us with the wrong appetizer and being great.

Overall, we really liked this place. The only downfall was that the tables were small and they put so much stuff on the table. However, that’s not a big factor at all. The atmosphere was great, beautiful sunlight with calming music served us with a happy mood to go along with our flavorful filling dishes. We would definitely go again to get an enormous amount of food for a good price.

Small table

Jan192013

Mary Kate’s Easy Delicious Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

Who is Mary Kate? Good question. Mary Kate is one of my best friends from college. We were put randomly as roommates together freshman year and since then, it’s history. Shout out to my baby girl. Anyways…we both share a passion for cooking and baking. Nearly every night, when we were both RAs and no longer living together, I would trek over to her apartment no matter the weather. She would always have something cooking or baking, or simply in the works so that we got the chance to cook/bake together, which we loved.

Mary Kate, Chris and I on MK’s and my graduation

Talking about it makes me miss it way too much so let’s get on to the food. Besides the many amazing things she’s created, one of my favorite and easiest recipes was her peanut butter cookie recipe. On any given night while watching X Factor or Family Guy, Katie and I (Katie was her roommate at the time) demanded peanut butter cookies and wouldn’t shut up until she made them for us. Luckily for her, it was quick and easy. So here it is, I take no credit for it, except maybe the chunky peanut butter because I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be creamy.

Prep Time: 5 minutes?
Bake Time: 9-12 minutes (took mine 11 minutes)
Set Oven to: 350 degrees

Ingredients

1 egg
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
handful of chocolate chips (optional)

And that’s it…I kid you not. Just talking about them makes me want to run to my kitchen and eat more. SO SIMPLE YET SO GOOD.

Directions

Butter up or grease your baking sheet
Drop that egg in a mixing bowl and slowly whisk in the cup of sugar

Using a wooden spoon (or whatever you’ve got), stir in the cup of peanut butter into the egg-sugar mixture
Now, you don’t have to use chocolate chips, but she suggested I did, so I went for it and it added an amazing counter-taste to the peanut butter. Classic combo, right? So I just grabbed a handful of the chocolate chips and folded them in the peanut buttery mixture.

And that’s it! That’s all the prep time! Now use a spoon or your fingers to place them on the baking sheet, spaced apart enough.

Waiting to bake

Now pop em in the oven for 9-12 minutes. Mine took 11 minutes. Take out, leave them a bit to stiffen up…THEN EAT THEM!!

They turned out lovely, and it brought me back to baking with her which was probably the biggest plus of this recipe. I hope you enjoy how easy and delicious this recipe is. Give thanks to Mary Kate!