More Chickpeas Please

Remember in yesterdays post I mentioned I had a great chickpea salad for you?  Well I am hear to share it with you today.  I do not know why but the only thing that sounded good yesterday afternoon was a salad with lots and lots of chickpeas! 

Chickpeas are one of my favorite types of beans, so I guess I shouldn't be to surprised I was craving them!  I had looked up a few recipes but nothing was striking my fancy.  The major debate was do I want a creamy salad or a vinegar based type salad?  I almost had to do a coin toss to decided!

The Dinner That Didn't Happen

Good evening!  I am kind of wondering where the day went!  I got everything done on my to do list without running around like a crazy person, and even had a good relaxing afternoon of reading The Help!  Before I knew it, it was 5 pm!  I guess I was so absorb in my book I didn't even realize time was flying by!  By this point my dad was off of work, and it was time to think about dinner!   Neither my dad nor I wanted to go grocery shopping for the ingredients for fish tacos, clearly fish tacos were the dinner that didn't happen.  So I bet you are wondering what we had, right?  Dinner was something delicious I will tell you that!  It had my dad doing this after dinner!

Home I Go, and A Big Thank You!

Good afternoon Everyone!  Todays blog post is coming to you once again from the Chicago Union Station.  I am sitting waiting for my train back to Minnesota.  Hard to believe that I have been gone for a week!  But I had a blast!

Mark and I got into Chicago about 5 yesterday afternoon. We immediately headed to dinner to meet up with my friend/sorority sister Sam for dinner!

Grilled Pizza Pie, and what I am loving Vol.3

Good Morning all!  Happy middle of the week!

Remember yesterday how Mark and I were supposed to head back to Indy yesterday?  Well that did not exactly happen!  After a relaxing afternoon, a few intense and competitive games of Monopoly later, and a good portion of these

homemade grilled pizzas... Mark and I decided we would stay one more night in Dayton!  We have a fair amount of driving to do today, but staying the extra night in Dayton was worth it!

If you have never had grilled pizza I highly suggest that you make them!  Mark and I had never grilled a pizza before so thankfully Marks dad knew all the tricks of the trade when it comes to grilling a good pie!  We used Trader Joe's pre made crust, which was fabulous!  If you do not have time to make your own pizza dough or simply do not want to wait for the dough to rise use Trader Joe's!  The dough puffed up, and had that great doughy thick crust texture!

Yum, and on top of having no preservatives this Trader Joe's pizza dough also comes in whole wheat and a parmesan garlic herb one!  Added bonus for all you Vegans this pre made dough is also Vegan!

This pizza dough is one of the things I am loving!  Can you tell?  I am talking about it enough!

Baja Fishy Tacos

Good evening all you Happily Ever Healthy readers!

 I hope you all had a great Monday!  Mine was a little on the lazy side, but I also feel like I got a few things accomplished!  Mark and I woke up and went for a run, then sat around waiting to here about my interview that has now been pushed back to Thursday.  I cancelled and rebooked all train tickets and I am set to be back in Minnesota Thursday night!

While Mark and I were waiting to hear more information about the mentioned interview, we decided on dinner!  Mark's neighbors came over last night and had mentioned having fish tacos!  Then I read this post from How Sweet It Is!  The fish taco craving was sticking with me!  We took a brisk walk down to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for the Fish Tacos's!

Grocery List:

Fish

Cabbage

Tortillas 

we also came out with a bottle of Kung Fu Girl wine!  We just happened to stumble across one of our favorites while just glancing over the wine selection!  It was the last bottle!  We found two more wines from the same Vineyard!  They have some great labels!

After a nice walk back to Mark's a short nap and catching up on some blog readings, it was time to start dinner!  While I do not have step by step pictures of everything being made it is pretty simple!  Mark and I looked up recipes earlier this morning and found a few to gather inspiration from.  Once again I found inspiration on Eating Well.  Eating Well featured a Grilled Fish Taco!  YUM!  A lot of the Baja fish taco recipes we found featured a cabbage slaw.  We decided to make our own!

Cabbage Slaw

1/2 Head of Purple Cabbage

1/4 Cup Low Fat Sour Cream 

1/4 Cup Greek Yogurt

Various Spices:

Cumin

Cayenne Pepper

Chili Powder

Garlic Salt

1 Teaspoon Sugar

Hot Sauce to taste

All you have to do is chop your cabbage, and combine the chopped cabbage with the sour cream/greek yogurt and spices!

For the Fish:

Grill 

1 Pound White Fish of Choice-We used Tilapia (Mahi Mahi and other mild fish would work great too)!

Spices:

Pepper

Salt

Lemon 

Grill the fish until done (flakey)-you know me I am not a grill expert!  Marks dad was our grill expert this evening, and the fish turned out amazing!  Lots of wonderful flavors!

Now time to assemble your taco's!  Tonight Mark his dad and I all agreed one of the best things about Tacos is this, each taco shell you load up turns out a bit different!  Fabulous!

Tonights fish tacos were served with fresh salsa, the cabbage slaw, and cheese and more hot sauce!

My first taco was loaded more with the cabbage slaw, 

While my second taco featured more of the tilapia!

Yum and Yum!  Not the best pictures but these tacos were fabulous, healthy and light!

For dessert, a grilled S'more like sandwich!  

Following dessert we watched some of the Cincinnati Reds Game, 

while enjoying a friendly game of Monopoly!

Don't ask Mark who won!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening, and as always remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!

Random and off topic thought!  I have been thinking a lot about the organization of the blog, and by that I mean assigning certain days to talk about certain things!  Are there any types of posts you would like to see more off?  I enjoy doing the what I am loving post, and I might make Monday be where I share the rest of the Be Quotes!  I would like some input so let me know!

And We are Back... Sorta! Wedding and Ohio Updates!

Happy Monday!  I cannot believe that Monday is already here once again!  I am still not back home in Minnesota but I figured I would get you up to date on what has been going on this weekend!  If you are just catching up here are some of the things that went on this weekend!

Check out 

Something New Something Old Something Borrowed Something Blue, for pictures from Zest!

and

One Last Breakfast to check out some of Mark and my eats from the weekend.  But now its time to talk about the wedding!

Something New, Something Old, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Good Afternoon!  It is wedding day here in Indiana!  I have a college friend who is getting married this afternoon!  I am super excited to get dressed up, and see some college friends I have not seen in a while!

I also can't wait to catch up on all your blogs to see what is going on in your lives!  I feel out of the loop!  But I am having a good time just spending time with Mark!

I wanted to share this with you!

This my friends is the most amazing french toast on the face of this Earth!  Creme Brulee French Toast from Zest!  Mark and I split this yesterday and then I had a huge bowl of "Beautiful Fruit" as Zest! calls it.  

I am going to miss going to Zest!  Mark and I both decided that anytime we are both back in Indy visiting we will have to go there!  I know I have said it before but I really miss all the little breakfast places in Indy!  This picture just makes me laugh!  We had to stop for geese when we were driving!

Well Mark and I are off to get lunch and then I have to start getting pretty for the wedding!!  I will hopefully take lots of pictures!
I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend, enjoy and remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!

Breakfast for Dinner

Good Evening Everyone!  I hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start.  I am having a relaxing evening watching movies, I want to be nice and awake tomorrow night for the Bachelorette Party! The festivities start tomorrow night at 6!  I don't want to give anything away so I am just going to talk about my amazing dinner.  Breakfast for dinner!  Yum!  I think that the continuous rain all day, the gloominess and the fact I did not sleep well left me wanting comfort food.  

Here is what comfort food consists of in my eyes:

Oats

Peanut Butter

Bananas

Any guesses as to what I made?

Unbearable

Good Morning Everyone!  Yes I realize it is a bit of an early morning here, but the house is unbearably hot.    The house is stiflingly hot due to the fact that the AC stopped working!  I feel like I am back in Indianapolis in my un air-conditioned ancient apartment!  Since my room was an inferno I spent most of the night tossing and turning because I could not get comfortable.  Not only do I not sleep well when its hot but my eating habits change completely.  I only want food that is fresh (well thats not out of the ordinary for me).  I guess a better way to put it would be I only want food that is not piping hot this means I usually eat lots of salad, yogurt, veggies, hummus and tons of fruit!  The heat even made me change my pretty set in stone breakfast routine.  While I still had oatmeal today, decided I would be better off (and much cooler) if I at overnight oats or cold oats.

In my mix:

1/3 Cup Multigrain Oats

1/2 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk 

1 Tablespoon Yogurt (I used Organic Brown Cow Maple flavored)

1 Huge Cup of Fresh Sliced Strawberries

1/2 Teaspoon Almond Butter (not in picture)

1 Tablespoon Granola (not in picture)

What I did was mix together my oats, almond milk and yogurt.  I let the oat mixture sit in the fridge over night.  This morning upon waking up I topped my oats with the strawberries almond butter and granola!

Yuuum!  Don't get me wrong I still prefer hot oats to cold oats, but a hot breakfast was out of the question!

Aren't these roses pretty?  My mom cut them off her rose bushes in the front yard!

I know a little random and off topic but I just had to share them with you.

Any way dinner was much of the same thing last night.  Neither my parents or I wanted anything we had to stand in a hot kitchen and make.  Solution you grill, and make a fresh Puttanesca!  The only cooking that really needed to do last night was boil water for the brown rice, and grill up the chicken (added bonus my dad grilled up lots of chicken to use in Fajitas tonight)!  I came across this recipe in one of the weekly Mayo Clinic News letters.  This is a gluten free recipe (not that I eat a gluten free diet) and the news letter also gave information on a gluten free diet.  The article simply stated in bold letters should you go gluten-free?  That caught my eye as the big trend now is to switch to a gluten free diet whether you need to or not.  For people with Celiac Disease gluten free is a way of life.  For others going gluten free is a choice and some celebrities have been raving about the health benefits of a gluten free diet.  Anyways this article went on to say that some gluten free foods lack important nutrients that or body needs.  On top of that if you are a healthy adult and you go gluten free what doctors like to call good bacteria begins to decrease in your digestive system while the bad bacteria increases!  YIKES! Who knew?  I certainly didn't!  But thats enough of my rambling you need to chose a diet that soots you and your body best!  Now on to the recipe!

Fresh Puttanesca with Brown Rice

The Mayo Clinic

**Note-I left out the Capers (not a fan!), and since my mom is not a huge tomato person I used 2 cups tomatoes 2 cups red pepper.  This substitution was in place of the 4 cups of tomatoes originally called for!

What you need:

2 Cups Tomatoes (I used grape tomatoes, bigger tomatoes just aren't looking that good!)

2 Cups Chopped Red Pepper

4 Green Olives Pitted and Sliced

4 Kalamata Olives Pitted and Sliced 

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil 

1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Basil 

1 Tablespoon Fresh Minced Parsley

1/8 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (I used cayenne pepper, and added a bit much!)

3 Cups Cooked Brown Rice

Here is what you do:

Before you even start chopping up your tomatoes and red pepper get the water boiling for the rice!  Cook your rice according to the directions on the package!

Then Cut your tomatoes, 

Chop your red pepper and add them to the tomatoes, 

Slice both kinds of olives, and toss them into the bowl as well!

Now add your cayenne, parsley, garlic, and olive oil.  Stir everything to combine.

Chop your fresh basil and sprinkle on top of the tomato and red pepper mixture.

Doesn't that look pretty?

Stir everything to combine, and let the fresh puttanesca sit for 20-30 minutes at room temp.  Stir every once in a while, now just wait for the brown rice!

Fresh Puttanesca served over brown rice with grilled chicken!

Yum!  I thought that this dish had good flavor.  I will be interested to try the puttanesca after it has sat in the fridge all night.  My dad thought it needed a bit of salt, I will not disagree.  I am wondering if the capers helped add some salty flavor to the dish.  However this was a good dinner for a hot night, and especially good since no one wanted to stand over a stove in an already stifling kitchen! Well i think I need to go get ready for church.  Enjoy your Sunday, I hope you get a bit more relaxation time in before the work week starts all over again!  

See you all later, and remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!

Be Committed

"From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back.  That is the point that must be reached."

- Franz Kafka

Would you ever consider going Gluten Free?

Happy 4th Of July!

Happy Fourth of July to you all!

I hope you all have wonderful plans to celebrate our Nations Independence!  My family had a wonderful pancake breakfast,

and we are getting all the side dishes made for our 4th of July Celebration!  

Enjoy your day of celebrating, I will see you all tomorrow and remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!  Although today I fully encourage consumption of yummy desserts! Thats what I am most looking forward too!

Small Town Treasure

Good Morning!  I am just going to jump right into yesterdays festivities!

Yesterday my mom, sister, Melinda and I went down to Decorah Iowa for the day!

Yea you think small town there is going to be nothing to do.  But since my Mom, Melinda and my sister had been raving about the cute little shops in Decorah I decided I wanted to go to!  Let me tell you for Decorah being a small town in Iowa they have the neatest downtown!  We just spent the afternoon going from shop to shop.  We went through little stores like a yarn shop, a cooking store, a store that sold Vera Bradley, and a hatchery!  I even found the wine my parents Mark and I had at the Meridian in Indianapolis!

And this wine is not easy to find!  We couldn't find this wine anywhere in Indianapolis (the only places we found it was a bar and they had one bottle), and of all places I find this particular wine in a little 

Co-Op store in downtown Decorah Iowa!  I was extremely excited about this find.

We had lunch at a wonderful little Bistro called La Rana. 

 The food was excellent, and the decor was charming yet simple.  La Rana means the frog so the bistro featured many a different frog statues!  

To top it off I got the cutest mug that they sold there!

For lunch my sister and I split a green salad topped with Pecans, Cranberries, Grilled Chicken and Goat Cheese!

They had a orange vinaigrette as the dressing.  And the crusty bread they served on the side was fabulous!  We also split the Turkey Avocado and Swiss sandwich.

I have to say that Turkey and Avocado has to be one of my favorite combinations for a sandwich!

Melinda had a Cobb Salad which looked fantastic, and my mom had a grilled chicken sandwich.  I also had to sample the amazing Tomato Basil soup my sister and mom both ordered!  The dessert menu at La Rana looked phenomenal but I was way to full after lunch for dessert!

The hatchery was the last stop of our day!  We shopped a lot!  My sister and I bought some adorable hats and got to hold baby chicks that the hatchery raises!

They were adorable, so soft and fuzzy!

I was super excited about the hat purchases!

Decorah is just one of those charming little towns in the country!  

And don't think our day/fun ended in Decorah!  Because we came home to have a big BBQ with my dad and my sisters friend!  We had way to much food, but everything was delicious!  The only thing I made was baked beans I used a new homemade BBQ sauce recipe.  The sauce called for apple juice, but we were out I subbed in Orange Juice instead.  I want to try this BBQ sauce with apple juice before I share it with you, because I thought the OJ added an interesting flavor.  I am not sure the interesting flavor was a good thing!  Although we did have by far my favorite salad, Grilled Romaine Hearts with Grilled Pineapple.  This salad just screams summer! My sister also made this amazing Guacamole Salad from Ina Graten.  My sister kept saying something seems spicy but I don't know what the spice is from!  Turns out she had added way to much cayenne pepper to the salad!  I thought the salad was excellent!  We had a good evening full of lots of laughs and stories!

 Brats and Hamburgers on the grill!  We even had hot dogs and Veggie Burgers for me!

Yum!  Nothing but veggies fruit and beans!  

I hope you enjoy the many pictures from our day!  I don't think the pictures do the day justice!  And ow before I leave you to get ready for the day I will share our Be quote!

Be Amazed

"As I started looking, I found more and more."

Valerie Steele

Enjoy your day and the long holiday weekend, and remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!