Though I always liked baklava, a pastry made with layers of filo dough and filled with chopped nuts and honey, I never considered it one of my go-to desserts. My two reasons being it is hard to make and not easy to find in NYC.
However, I ate so much baklava in the past week. If I were a camel who had to survive on solely baklava, I think I would be filled for at least a year. (I use this camel metaphor because I rode on a camel for the first time on Tuesday!)
As you can see in my pictures below, there were so many pastries to choose from besides baklava.
The right row is all baklava! (I got pistachio and walnut baklava).
My two pieces of baklava (left front: walnut, right front: pistachio) and an apple honey pastry.
More delightful pastries:
I am in dessert heaven.
I had a wonderful time in Israel, but I am happy to be back home. To try and beat the jet lag, I decided to stay up and write this post. (Hopefully I don’t make any typos).
My 10 days were filled with so many activities that it was hard at times to fit food into my schedule. (This is even hard for me to imagine). Thus, I ate a lot of falafel (deep fried chickpeas) and shawarma (generally either lamb and/or beef cooked on a spit and eventually shaved for eating). My falafel or shawarma came in a pita pocket or wrap with hummus and various veggies such as eggplant, tomato, cucumber, and cabbage. Though not the healthiest, I consider falafel and shawarma a great and tasty fast-food option.
I am pretty sure I ate falafel or shawarma every day. I even ordered falafel at the airport at 3 AM this morning – definitely a new low for me. I think I will avoid middle eastern food for a while now.
Falafel:
Shawarma:
This will be my last blog post before I go overseas. Unfortunately, I will not have access to the internet, so I won’t be blogging for 10 days. So to leave with a bang, I will start with dessert first. This afternoon, I went to Two Little Red Hens and bought a pecan fudge bar which tasted like pecan pie in a bar form. The bottom layer was pie crust, the middle layer was fudgy brownie, and the top layer caramelized pecans. If this weren’t so rich, I would totally eat it for breakfast! I confess that I only managed to eat half of the bar because I had been snacking before dinner. (Story of my life).
The rest of my dinner: lentil soup, my mom’s roasted chicken with tons of gravy and onions, and boiled string beans and potatoes with parsley. For fruit, I ate yellow cherries, raspberries, and green grapes. I love summer!
My friend and I went to a restaurant in NYC called Bareburger, which specializes in burgers (if you couldn’t already tell by the name). They had the usual beef and veggie burgers but also the less typical elk, bison, and ostrich burgers. All of their meat and cheese is organic – a definite plus in my book.
I ordered a beef burger called “The California” which had cheddar, avocado, red onion, and cilantro-lime dressing. The burger was served on a brioche bun (I guess I could have chosen a multigrain roll, but brioche is my favorite!) I also ordered fries. The burger was juicy, flavorful, and absolutely delicious, and the fries were good too! My friend ordered a tasty-looking veggie burger in a wrap with a side salad. (She was definitely more healthy than I was).
Bareburger was overall a wonderful experience – great food, a great atmosphere, and great company, what more could I ask for?
I’ve wanted to try stir fry for the longest time, so today I finally bought a wok. And wok a miracle it was! (This is a perfect example of my corny jokes).
Here is my recipe and method of madness for chicken stir-fry. (This served 3 people, but it could serve 4 because my family eats a lot. You can always increase the vegetable and chicken amount).
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 handfuls of sugar snap peas (I love these!)
- 1 cup of broccoli florets
- 1 yellow onion diced finely
- 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger root (grated)
- 1 clove of garlic finely diced
- 1 chopped carrot
- 1 handful of string beans chopped into thirds
- 1 16 ounce package of tofu cut into cubes
- 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil (This really added good flavor to my stir fry)
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (plus possibly more if needed)
- 2 tablespoons of reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 ziplock bag (not an ingredient, but I used this for my stir-fry)
- Put the cubed chicken into a ziplock bag with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, close the bag, and shake until well combined.
- Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok under medium heat.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.
- Put the chicken cubes and cook for 3-5 minutes. Once cooked, take the chicken out and put into a small bowl while you cook the other vegetables.
- Stir in carrots, string beans, and onion. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Stir in broccoli and sugar snap peas. Cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in tofu and cooked chicken.
- Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil, and 1/4 cup of water.
- Let the stir fry cook for 3-5 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked and hot.
I ate my chicken stir-fry with wild rice. I enjoyed making and eating healthy Chinese food at home, and you can too!
Here are a few things I have eaten out this past week in NYC. (Note that I did not in fact eat any apples)
Panini with grilled chicken breast and pesto (from Cucina Vivolo).
Caprese Salad: mozzarella, tomato, and basil (from Cucina Vivolo).
Omelet with broccoli, cheddar, and bacon served with potatoes, toast, and some fruit (Note that I was too impatient before I took a picture, but at least you can see the inside of my omelet; from Dresner’s).
Stay tuned: I just bought a wok, so I will be attempting stir fry for the first time this evening!
Grain bread and prosciutto
Mozzarella
Tomato
Arugula
Honey mustard (and a splash of balsamic vinegar not shown below)
Happy eating!
This gloomy weather put me in the baking mood, so I made mini carrot muffins. Because I already have cake in the house, I made only a dozen muffins (My yield was only 11 muffins which is fine too! This probably happened because the recipe I found was for 48 muffins and quartering every ingredient was not the easiest.)
Though doing division on a Wednesday morning was not ideal, it was well worth it. I also made a few minor adjustments to the Food Network recipe I found. The recipe was for cupcakes rather than muffins, so I just ditched the icing. Also, I did not have ground ginger or allspice in my kitchen, so I excluded these two ingredients from my muffins. They still came out mighty tasty!
I love sweet potato fries, so I thought I would make a baked version to be healthier. I peeled two sweet potatoes and cut them into sticks (My fries did not come out as perfect sticks, so I declared them “rustic.”) I put them on a sheet pan and put two tablespoons of oil making sure to evenly coat all of the sweet potatoes. I then put salt, pepper, and thyme (two sprigs worth).
I put the sweet potatoes into a 350 degree oven for 1 hour and turned them after 30 minutes, so that both sides would brown.
Bon appétit!
Food Follower 