Alas, Real Food. . .

From holidays to finals to holidays, my diet has been less than ideal the past month or so. However I think last nights dinner was a step in the right direction. I made Vegetarian Time's Chickpea Tangine featured in their Healing Foods Cookbook special issue.

I loved this dish! I served it on top of some Near East Long Grain and Wild Rice which made the dish in my opinion. 


Cumin was in short supply in our pantry, so I fell a little bit short of a teaspoon - which ended up being alright. The dish had a great balance of sweet and spicy, and the parsley and Greek yogurt garnishes added a cool and refreshing touch. 


I loved the currants in this dish and so the only future change I may make to the dish is adding more currants (probably closer to 1/3 cup instead of 1/4). 

P.S. Finally catching up on Top Chef All Stars and Carla just won a trip to Italy! Hooray!

A Very Merry Christmas

'Twas a very merry Christmas this year. . .

. . .there was some of this. . .

. . .but mostly just a lot of that.

What was the best part of your holiday?

Food Philosophy 2011?

Once again, sorry for the blogging hiatus. Tonight is my last final and then I am all yours. But if you can't read something I write how about the next best thing, Mark Bittman.

Here is a great article he wrote in the new issue of Bon Appetit (should be noted - Barbara Fairchild's last issue). In 2011 I am hoping to strive for a similar approach to food that Mark outlines in his article.

Image Courtesy of Bon Appetit

Any food or healthy living goals for 2011?

Holiday Hustle and New Food Obsessions

It was another fun-filled sister weekend. Molly came for a visit and we enjoyed good food, coffee and grocery store adventures. She also drove me to Dexter to run in the Holiday Hustle sponsored by Running Fit. I just completed the Running 101 class at Running Fit, it was a great motivator and I really enjoyed having a small group to run with.

It was so nice and sisterly of Molly to stand out in the freezing cold weather with me pre-race and while I was running - at which point she got a free coffee thermos, hot chocolate and pictures of ice sculptures. I think we are even now.

This was my third 5K this year. I finished in 34:07, about two minutes faster than my last, and about four minutes faster than my first race. I was hoping to do a little bit better; but considering I had the flu last week and have had a sore throat ever since getting over the flu - I am pretty proud of myself! I think I am ready to tackle some longer distances. . .

Following the race we headed straight for the Whole Foods hot bar - my newest obsession! I can always count on there being some fabulous BBQ pulled pork (something even this mostly-veg-girl can't resist) and at least one sweet potato dish. We shopped around Whole Foods, ooo-ing and ahh-ing, and then headed to the slightly more affordable Trader Joe's for dessert.

TJ's lead me to my second newest food obsession - Joe Joe's, TJ's version of Oreos with all natural ingredients and vanilla beans in the filling! Yum!

Hope you had a great weekend! Any new foods in your life?