Currently…and I say currently, because this changes monthly…Middle Eastern food is my very favorite kind of food. And I feel so silly saying “Middle Eastern” food because recently when I was on a munching tour, the group with me discussed how the term is a blanket statement over many different types of cuisines.

When I say I love Middle Eastern food, I’m mainly talking about hummus, dolmades, pita, tzaziki sauce, falafal, and tabouli.

Gosh, I just love tabouli.

It’s just so refreshing and delicious.  I love how the tartness of the lemon juice compliments the freshness of all that parsley.

But gosh you need so much parsley!

Brad recently asked me if I used all the parsley in my herb garden or if we have a hungry bunny in our back yard. Note: this photo of my parsley plant was taken several days after I stole all of its leaves, so a few have grown back.

Even after stripping my parsley of all of its leaves, I had to make a trip to the store for more parsley!

The end result was so worth the inconvenience.

Classic Tabouli (serves 4-6)
This classic recipe for tabouli is an excellent and delicious way to enjoy a whole grain dish with plenty of fiber and other nutrients.  Parsley is the main star in this dish and is so light and refreshing with the acidity of the lemon juice.

1 cup uncooked bulgar
1 cup water
2 cups parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup green onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup tomato, chopped
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Pour uncooked bulgar into a large bowl.  Bring water to a boil over the stove, then pour over uncooked bulgar.  Allow bulgar and water to set for five minutes or until water is completely absorbed. Add parsley, onion, tomato, lemon juice, and olive oil and stir well to combine.  Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, stir well, and taste to see if more is needed.  Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon a little at a time, stirring well each time, until you are satisfied with the taste of the dish.

I can’t wait to recreate my favorite wrap from Common Market with this, which is a whole wheat wrap with tabouli, hummus, red bell pepper, and spinach.

Did you know that sometimes bulgar is referred to as a “perfect food?”Find out why by checking out my latest blog post on SavorNC.

Have you ever made homemade Middle Eastern food? Any suggestions for what I should make next? 

Sometimes I put together some weird combinations that turn out incredible.

Sometimes I put together weird creations that turn out horrible.

Care to guess into which category this dish fell?

I hope you guessed incredible, because surely I wouldn’t share a horrible recipe.

I made this meal intermittently between doing P90X abs and avoiding doing P90X abs.

Brad and I started P90X last week and I did 4 out of 5 workouts (yoga doesn’t count because participating in a Toni Horton led yoga is masochistic) and 1 out of 3 Ab Ripper Xs.  I hate Ab Ripper X. With an undying passion.

I also hate the chest and back video, which mainly consists of pushups. I skipped that yesterday.

But today I got up and did the plyometric video (which I actually like) and after belly-aching and complaining, I finally got through the ab workout tonight. Clearly, I’m not as committed to this plan as I was the last time around, but overall, I’m doing a lot better at incorporating weight training than I was a month ago.  I just need to clean up my eating a bit.

This meal is pretty clean, if you ask me. Completely vegan and practically gluten-free (not that I’m vegan or gluten-free), this is a very healthy meal.  If you are gluten-free make sure you use a GF soy sauce.

Tofu and Mushroom Pasta with Orange Tahini Sauce (serves 3)
The flavor combinations in this dish are so unique and delicious. I love the citrus paired with the richness of the tahini and the slight spiciness of the chili sauce (Sriracha). I hope you love it too. 

1 block of tofu
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
6-8 leaves chard, chopped
2 cups portobello mushrooms, sliced
juice and zest of one orange
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce (or more if you like spicy food)
2 1/2 Tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
6 oz. brown rice penne pasta
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press the tofu, the cut it into or cubes (more detailed instructions can be found here). Grease a baking sheet with 1 teaspoon of oil.  Place tofu on the baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Once oven is preheated, add tofu to oven.  Cook for 20 minutes, flip tofu, and cook an additional 15 minutes or until beginning to crisp on the edges (cooking time will differ based on the size of your tofu cubes).

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add  minced garlic to pot and cook until soft (not browned). Add chard and mushrooms to pot.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until chard is wilted, stirring often.  To the pot, add orange zest and juice, soy sauce, vinegar, and Sriracha sauce.  Stir well to combine.  Cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly so vegetables absorb the sauce.  Add tahini and stir well.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes.  Add tofu to vegetable and sauce mixture and stir well to combine.

Boil penne pasta in 2 1/2 cups of water for 8-10 minutes or until slightly softer than al dente. Drain well.

Plate pasta and spoon 1/3 of the vegetable, tofu, and sauce mixture over the pasta.

Did you know that you can (patiently) make “sun” dried tomatoes in the oven?

I absolutely adore the sweet and pungent concentrated flavor of sun dried tomatoes, so I am so excited that I can make these tasty little bites all by myself without investing in a dehydrator. All you need are some ripe tomatoes (I used Lipman Roma tomatoes), your oven set on a low heat (200-300 degrees F) and plenty of time. It took these little guys about 3 1/2 hours total to completely dry out, so yes, patience is a virtue when you’re making oven-dried tomatoes.

There are only about a million and one things you can do with oven-dried tomatoes, but I chose to put mine in a crustless quiche.

I adore egg bakes and crustless quiches.  They’re just so easy and you can use absolutely any cheese, vegetable, or herb in your fridge and the results are always amazing.

What is even more amazing is that my husband who claims to not like quiche, thought this was pretty fantastic. I’m sure it did not hurt a bit that I put tons of fresh basil from my herb garden (which he loves).

Which just goes to show that as long as you like eggs, you can find a way to make a quiche just right for your tastebuds.  Quiche is not just for brunching ladies with doily clothed tables and china tea cups.

Quiche can be hearty, satisfying, and maybe even a bit manly.

For this hearty and delicious crustless quiche recipe, check it out over at the Lipman Produce website.

*I was compensated for developing this recipe and the ingredients used in its development by Lipman Produce. All ideas expressed by myself, my husband, and another manly friend who inhaled his share of quiche are solely our own. 

Isn’t that pretty?

I know what you’re thinking.

Is that really sweet and does that taste weird with tortilla chips?

Nope.

Because when you add cucumbers, jalapenos, and red onion to strawberries, you’re left with this delightfully sweet and savory combination.

Also, it’s not acidic like regular salsa.  It’s just plain ridiculously delicious.

I’m still giving Brad a hard time about this conversation.

Me: I think I’m going to make strawberry salsa tonight.  We should maybe put it over grilled chicken or fish.   How does that sound?

Brad: I’m not really in the mood for strawberry salsa.

Me: Okay, I’ll make it and we can eat it later.

One hour later and the salsa is practically gone.  And I did not eat it all by myself!

He couldn’t help himself.  It’s that yummy.

Check out the recipe for yourself on Creative Loafing’s Eat My Charlotte blog.

*I usually say grandmother on the blog, but after getting “I never knew you had a southern accent!” from people who meet me in real life several times, let’s not hide my southern-ness any longer.

When Brad turned the big 2-9 on April 8, he told me he wanted a German chocolate cake.  He knew that I would be bustling around the house, trying to get everything perfect before his party, so he suggested that I make a sheet cake instead of the triple decker my Mamaw makes.

And then he said, “No, actually I think you should make cupcakes.” And I agreed.  I mean, how hard could it be to take a cake recipe and make it into cupcakes, right?

Wrong.

My cupcakes fell apart completely.  They were little buttery clumps of delicious ugliness.

But thank goodness, I had doubled the recipe to feed a crowd (we had over 30 people at Brad’s birthday party) and made the rest of the cake batter into a sheet cake.

Yum, German chocolate sheet cake.  Just as good, but not as complicated.

None of my guest complained it wasn’t three tiers tall with alternating layers of cake and coconut icing.  No, sir.  All I heard was, “yum” and “nom nom nom”.  For a brief moment my chatty guests* were actually a bit quiet.

*I say “chatty” with only the greatest magnitude of affection.  If you’re not chatty, we just can’t be friends.

But let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?

What about those cake balls?

Even though I turned half of my recipe into sheet cake, I was still left with the cupcake crumbles.  And if you’ve been reading my blog for more than a hot minute, you know that I can’t stand to throw anything away.

It pains me.

Let’s blame it on my Mamaw who doesn’t throw away tinfoil (aluminum foil, for you Yankees), if it still appears clean.  Now, I have never done that myself*, but food is another story.

*I’m totally lying.  I do that all the time.

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE BALLS

CAKE

1/2 cup water
1 package (4 oz.) Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups Swans Down Cake Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

COCONUT ICING

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 lb. butter (1/2 stick)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup pecan pieces
wax paper

CAKE BALL SHELL

14 oz. dark chocolate*
wax paper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat water in a small pot until it comes to a boil.  Add chocolate to pot of boiling water and stir until it melts.  Remove from heat and allow it to cool.

Mix together butter and sugar in a medium size bowl until fluffy using a whisk or electric mixer.  Add yolks to sugar/butter mixture, one yolk at a time, beating well after each yolk.  Blend in vanilla and melted chocolate.

Sift flour into a large bowl.  Add baking soda and salt to flour.  Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk to chocolate mixture, beating well with each addition until smooth.  Fold in beaten egg whites.

Pour into greased muffin tins** and cook for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted fork in the center cupcake comes out clean.

Remove from oven when completely cooked and allow to cool (refrigerate or even put in the freezer if you’re running short on time).  Crumble cake with fingers.

Add all ingredients from COCONUT ICING recipe into a medium sized pot: milk, sugar, yolks, butter, vanilla, coconut, nuts.  Heat on low, stirring often, until thickened.  Add icing to crumbled cake and stir well to combine.  Line baking sheets with wax paper.  Form crumbled cake and icing mixture into small 1-1 1/2 inch balls with hands. Place cake balls onto wax paper lined baking sheets.  Place baking sheets in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more to allow cake balls to cool and firm up.

Melt chocolate from CAKE BALL SHELL recipe on low heat in a medium sized pot until completely melted.  Lie several feet of wax paper onto a flat surface.  Drop into melted chocolate and use a spoon to pour melted chocolate over the ball of cake.  Pick up cake ball with spoon allowing excess chocolate to drip into the pot of chocolate.  Carefully, place cake ball onto wax paper using the spoon.  Repeat process until all of crumbled cake/icing mixture has been used.

Allow cake balls to completely harden before serving.  You can quicken this process by placing them in the refrigerator.

*I recommend using four 3.5 oz. 72% Intense Dark Twilight Chocolate Bars.
**You can also pour into a sheet pan, but cooking time might need to be longer.

###

I have to say that I caught the Ghiradelli bars on sale at the Teeter.  But even still, the teenage boy that checked me out gafawed when he saw the price ring up on the cash register (only the best for Brad).

I then took a moment to explain to him the difference between good chocolate and just okay chocolate, to which he replied, “Well, maybe I’ll have one of these on my lunch break”.

So glad I’m inspiring healthy lunches.

Egg whites are so easy to incorporate into so many things.  Plus they pack a protein punch that is both filling and healthy.

Several days ago I made an incredibly delicious and super fast meal of huevos rancheros for the speedy cook.  It literally took four minutes — two minutes to cook the egg whites + spinach, one minute to heat the beans, and one minute to chop the avocado and assemble.

Huevos Blanco Rancheros (serves 1)

1/2 cup egg whites (or 4 egg whites)
2 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup pinto beans
1/4 cup salsa
1 1/2 ounces avocado, chopped

Place egg whites in a microwave safe bowl and top with spinach.  Cover with a paper towel and microwave for two minutes or until egg whites are firm.*  Plate beans and microwave for one minute if refrigerated, 40 seconds if room temperature.  Place egg whites and spinach on top of the beans.  Top with salsa and avocado. Eat immediately.

Never was there a more perfect combination than eggs and avocados.  Well, except chocolate and just about anything.

This meal is so delicious, light, and filling.  It has all the right components: healthy fats, healthy carbs, healthy protein, healthy veggies.  Pair it with your favorite piece of fruit and you have a complete meal.

***

In other news….

I’m registered to run the Race Fest Half Marathon tomorrow, but after suffering from hip flexor issues for several week and topping out at 10 miles on my long runs two weeks ago, I’m feeling kind of iffy.

My plan is to run until the point where the 10K and the half fork off from each other. If I feel like doing the half, I’ll keep on keepin’ on.  If I’m hurting in the least or don’t feel like I’m going to make it, I’m going to form to finish with the 10K-ers.

Some blogger friends and I are meeting up prior to the race, so if you’re running the race and would like to meet up as well, please email me at kelly@foodiefresh.com and I’ll give you all the details.

Happy Friday!

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful friends and family that made the night extraordinarily fun.

And a special thank you to my friend Chef Michael Bowling that made the night so incredibly delicious.

…because all though I love cooking elaborate, made from scratch meals, I can’t eat that way all the time.  Life just gets in the way.

The meals I feature here are typically how I eat about 20% of the time.  The other 80% of the time, my meals are quickly prepared, simple, but still pretty healthy.

I’m going to be straight-up with you.

I mostly eat whole foods, but also rely on foods of convenience to help me with these quick meals.  I try to purchase healthy-ish foods of convenience.  Eating healthy shouldn’t be daunting so I hope these quick meals give you ideas about how to incorporate healthy meals into your own diet.

Eating 100% unprocessed whole foods is doable.  But we all make choices based on what’s important to us. Sometimes I want to spend my evenings reading the first three books of the Twilight series in 9 days, not slaving in the kitchen.  That’s when I turn to quick meals.

Feel free to make substitutions based on your own preference or what you like.

EGG WHITE ENCHILADA

1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/3 yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups pre-sliced baby portobello mushrooms
2 cups baby spinach
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. (3 servings) egg whites
1 Light Swiss Laughing Cow Cheese wedge
1 Light Flatout wrap
3 Tablespoons salsa*

Heat oil in a pan or skillet (I use a Misto to spray the oil evenly)  on medium high heat.  Add onion and saute until onion softens.  Add mushrooms and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often to cook the vegetables evenly.  Reduce heat to medium and add spinach.  Continue to stir often.  Once spinach is completely wilted, add garlic salt and stir to combine.  Top with egg whites and use spatula to fold egg whites into the vegetables.  The egg whites will cook immediately (~1 minute).

Plate wrap and spread cheese in the center of the wrap.  Spoon egg whites and vegetable mixture into the center of the wrap.  Fold both sides of the wrap over and secure with a toothpick.  Top with salsa and enjoy.

*I used Wholesome Goodness mild salsa. I like it because it has less calories and less sodium than most salsa.

 Calories: 278

This meal is super light and super filling.  I paired with an orange the size of my head.  I love eating lightly at night because it means I can enjoy something later on in the evening without feeling stuffed, like a piece of dark chocolate and a glass of red wine.

What’s your favorite foods of convenience? 

Thanks for bearing with me over the past few weeks (!) while I did not blog.   I’m going to focus on blogging a few times over the next few days with odds and ends of things I want to share.

I’m hoping that if I don’t make each blog post such a production, I’ll feel more inclined to share.  Does that make sense?  I have a bit of an all or nothing attitude (and I sound like a broken record) so if I don’t have time to make something I think is blog worthy, sometimes I don’t post.

Today, I want to share an amazing combination of food that Brad and I enjoyed one night, as we dined al fresco in our back yard.  This warm spring nights has been amazing lately.

On week nights we’ve been eating much later in the evening (because we’ve both been working out!) so it’s been dark when we finally sit down.  To enjoy the beautiful weather, we throw a quilt on the back stoop and eat in the backyard, picnic style.  The back door light helps us to see in the dark.  It’s been lovely.

This burger is actually ground venison, courtesy of a hunting trip to Montana by our friend Gibson.  I love wild game (it’s so healthy and lean!) and truly appreciate friends that are generous with their hunting accomplishments.

I simply flavored the ground venison with a few generous shakes of Grill Shakers Hamburger seasoning and cooked on our grill pan on the stove top.  We paired the burger with Manchego cheese, which is our favorite cheese ever.  The burger was topped with sprouts, caramelized onions, and crispy maple carrots.

I have to give credit where credit is due.  These simply amazing flavor combinations were all Brad’s idea.  He had something similar to the crispy maple carrots when he was out of town on business and suggested recreating them.

I was skeptical at first, not because I didn’t think they would be tasty, but because sometimes all I want on a burger is ketchup and cheese. Although I can appreciate fancy burgers, I’m the person who goes to the best burger joint in town and asks for American cheese and enough ketchup to sink a ship for my turkey burger.

This burger might have changed all that.

Crispy Maple Carrots  (serves 2 as a topping, 1 as a side)

2 large carrots
1 teaspoon grape seed oil
1 Tablespoon real maple syrup
salt

Kitchen gadget: Vegetable Peeler

Using the vegetable peeler, peel the carrots in short thin peels.*  Warm oil in a pan or skillet.  Add carrots and cook on medium heat until carrots soften.  Add maple syrup and continue to cook, flipping periodically with a spatula.  Cook until carrots begin to turn deep brown on the edges.  Sprinkle lightly with salt, stir, and remove from pan.

Eat as a side or use as a topping for a burger or sandwich.

*Brad says that to get the carrots super thin, peel at an angle so the blade isn’t going straight down the carrot, but curving about midway down the carrot. This creates thinner, curlier carrots.

We enjoyed our burgers with some roasted broccoli and a bit of ketchup.

Did I mention that the weather in Charlotte is absolutely gorgeous right now?

Brad and I both gush almost everyday about how this is our very favorite time of year.  Besides eating outside, there have also been a lot of evening walks and sipping wine on lazy Friday afternoons after work.

****

While I’ve been absent the past few days, you might have missed out on a few things.

Two Easter recipes on the Eat My Charlotte Blog:
- Deviled Eggs
- Honey Glazed Ham

I did a brief segment on A Healthier Charlotte about grabbing a quick breakfast in five minutes or less. I’m about halfway through the video but the whole interview is really interesting and worth checking out.

I answered this question from my reader survey on Radio Exiles (completely a coincidence):

I’m so impressed that you have been working out less this month! Congrats! I feel like this deserves a congrats because I know how hard it can be to take time off, and how hard people can be on themselves mentally when they take time off. Therefore, my question is how do you deal with taking days off when you really need to, and how do you not “beat” yourself up? It’s a lot easier for me to say congrats to you for taking some time off, than it is for me to say to myself.

Besides the “not beating yourself up” part, I also discussed getting my butt back in gear when I’ve been slacking off a bit…which is exactly what I’ve been doing lately.  I’ve been training for a half marathon, running regularly, and also incorporating weight training.

P.S. I’ve decided to leave my reader survey open as a means for readers to communicate with me anonymously.

For me, it’s been 1 week and 3 days, so I think an apology is in order.

I don’t really have an excuse.  I’ve just been consumed with other things.  So let’s catch up.  I’ve learned from my reader survey that a few of you appreciate my super random posts.

So get ready, because this going to be the random-est.

I’ve been rocking my Tom’s as much as feasibly possible.

After I ordered them online, they were MIA for over a month until UPS told me they hid them in the bushes in front of my house.  I had no idea that I needed to crawl through my four feet tall bushes to retrieve packages.  But now I know.

In the past week, I’ve eaten an entire box of Van’s Whole Wheat Waffles (my favorite!) in a variety of ways.  This version was topped with Earth Balance, real maple syrup, pecans,  paired with a side of juice grapefruit.

Yum.

And this version was topped with sunflower butter and maple syrup.

I ate these before my 9 mile run which I struggled through.

In reality, I ran 8ish and walked a mile.

This run was reminiscent of my run last June where I was dizzy and hyperventilating (?).  I blamed the humidity on this past awful run and I think the same culprit was behind this run as well.  I think my body and lungs need some time to adjust to the humidity.

I attribute it to the additional moisture in the air.  It’s almost like my lungs can’t suck down enough oxygen which leaves me audibly gasping for breath.  And then there’s the dizziness.  It’s far from pleasant.

Oh look.  It’s another breakfast.

I went through a period in the past week where I ate oat bran multiple days in a row. This version was oat bran cooked with water, almond milk, and banana, topped with almond butter, raspberry jam, chia seeds, and cacao nibs (love!).

Rascal is adoring our back yard (as am I), but he’s quickly learned that I’ll rush to his rescue if he whimpers at the back door when he is ready to come in…which is usually three minutes after going out when it’s cold or rainy.

I made Guiness and Steak Pie for my Eat My Charlotte blog post this week.  It was a celebratory meal for St. Patty’s Day and Brad really enjoyed it.

On Friday night we spent the evening at South Park mall where Brad bought the new iPad and I monopolized two salespeople at Sephora where I inquired about travel size perfume and retinol.

I’m a sucker for beauty products.

We ended up at Crunch! for dinner, where I had a free entree coupon.

It’s a made to order salad stand in the food court that also has wraps and sandwiches.

I ended up with this beauty.

Mixed greens with red peppers, red onions, portobello mushrooms, hardboiled eggs, avocado, and sunflower seeds

Amazing.

It’s not on the menu. This is my creation.

I love quick and easy healthy options so this was right up my alley.

We decided to see 21 Jump Street (Hilarious!) after our shopping.

But first, I gazed at the new Whole Foods that is yet to be finished.

Please don’t mind the drool on my chin.  This Whole Foods is going to be fantastically huge and I can’t wait.

I spent Saturday running the aforementioned not-so-wonderful 9 miles and planting these beautiful snapdragons and hostas.

See?  I’m not so horrible with plants and I can do more than mow the grass.

I’m very proud of my hard work.

In other news, spring hasn’t barely started and it seems more like summer in Charlotte. But I can’t complain. The flowers are gorgeous.

The cherry trees are my absolute favorite.

And I’m excited to finally have a few azaleas in my yard…more flowers planted after a Saturday afternoon spent at Lowes.

This happened Sunday night.  Come back tomorrow and I’ll share what made this burger so exceptionally delicious.

Thanks for bearing with my random post and also for coming back after several days of my absenteeism.

I really love blogging but sometimes I just need a break.  It helps me to come back more refreshed and ready to share more recipes and randomness.  I hope you guys understand.

For more randomness, check out the Friday Feature on Healthy Living Blogs where I shared more random facts about myself.