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!
