Settling into Home

Good Evening!  I hope you all had a splendid day!  I do not know if mine was necissarily splendid but I did get a lot done.  Remember that gym debate I was having earlier?  Well I went to both Work Out World and the YMCA to take tours of each facility.  And which gym am I going to join your wonder?  Drum roll please...

The membership is a bit more pricey then Work Out World but I was more comfortable with the facility (big selling point for me). I also loved that the YMCA had free Yoga and Pilates classes (added bonus)!  I have been wanting to get back into Yoga and Pilates forever, and what better time then right now!  I mean I have nothing but free time to kill.  Anyways thats that.  I also made a copy of my house key (I guess that is kind of important) applied for countless jobs, and did a bit of networking while I was at it.  Oh yea I even had time to start cleaning/unpacking and make an amazing dinner (well it was amazing in my eyes at least).  I will let you guys decide what you think of this dinner!

Dinner was fresh, and completely vegetarian!  I love dinners like this (I know I have mentioned that before)!  Anyways the star of tonights dinner was homemade falafel.  They were tasty, healthy and packed with tons of flavor!  I was a little nervous these baked chickpea patties would not turn out well since I have never made them before.  But I was pleasantly surprised! I got the chickpea patty/falafel recipe from a wonderful blog called Oh She Glows!  Seriously go check it out, click here!  Also while your there check out this, I have been drooling over the pictures!  Angela does all vegan cooking all her recipes look delicious, amazingly fresh, and she takes some amazing photos!  I followed her recipe for Crispy Chickpea Bites in the Oven to a tee!  And they were wonderful!  Here is a picture montage of the chickpea bites/falafel making process!

Combine Everything in a Bowl

Then Put Everything in a Food Processor (seriously getting one of these)

This is what the outcome should be after the food processor!

Finally form dough into 8 Patties! And Bake!!!

Angela suggested serving them on top a salad, or in a pita.  Well my parents did not have any pita, and we did not have the fixings for a salad so I was in a bit of a pickle.  So what did I serve with these wonderful patties I had made?  Well traditionally you serve tzatziki with falafel I had everything I needed to make a tzatziki but we needed something a bit more substantial to eat with our patties.  Light bulb on, and I thought up Tzatziki CousCous Salad! Don't think I have gone completely bonkers since moving back to Minnesota the salad was actually really good, and not overpowering in runny dressing!  Just the way I like a salad to be!  Are you ready to learn how to make this wonderful dish I am raving about?  Alright here it goes!

What you will need:

The Salad Makes 4-Cups (4 Servings)

3/4 Cup Dry CousCous

2 Small Cucumbers Chopped

1/4 Cup 0% Fage Greek Yogurt (or any greek yogurt of your choice!)

1/4 Cup Chopped Red Onion

Lemon Pepper 1 Teaspoon 

Garlic 1 Teaspoon 

Dill 1 Teaspoon

*Note You may need to add more seasoning throughout I however started with a teaspoon.

Here is what you do:

I made the couscous on the stove as the box directed.  While the couscous was sitting I got to work on the rest of the salad.  Side note the thing I love best about couscous, you add dry couscous to boiling water cover it and let the couscous sit for 7 minutes till the couscous is done!  Honestly couscous is one of the easiest things you can make.  Alright enough rambling about couscous!

I then chopped up both cucumbers, 

seasoned my cucumbers, 

added my greek yogurt, 

and stirred together!

Once the cucumbers, onion, spices, and yogurt were combined I dumped my nicely prepared couscous into the mix!  Stirred everything together and stuck that sucker in the fridge to cool and mingle!  

The results

AMAZING!!!  Like I said above this salad did not have a lot of runny dressing!  If you like your salads with a little more dressing just add some more yogurt!  This salad was fresh and I loved the lemon pepper which I threw into the mix last minute.  The hint of lemon really brightened up the salad.  In my eyes this is a perfect quick summer salad.  One I will be preparing more in the future, and couscous is great in hot weather because you do not have to stand over a hot stove!  See I told you couscous was great!

You cannot tell me dinner doesn't look good!

I thought it did! 

Anyways I am headed off to bed!  I am officially joining my gym tomorrow, and well of course applying for jobs!  See you all tomorrow!  And remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!