Foodie Week and a Great Weekend

I wanted to share a few recipes I tried out this week that were really good. I mixed things up for breakfast by replacing my standard Greek yogurt/honey/fruit/and granola with baked oatmeal. I made a big casserole dish of baked oatmeal with blueberries, almonds, coconut, cinnamon and vanilla and it lasted me for 3 days. It was really good- my advice is to use a lot of spice because otherwise it can end up tasting a little bland.
My dinners this week have been especially tasty. I tried out this recipe for spaghetti with Kale and my dear boyfriend and I both loved it! I also adapted this recipe for shrimp scampi by using scallops and adding broccoli. (I've also actually used it to make some fantastic shrimp scampi too.)
I also made a couple recipe free dishes that turned out very well. I made artichoke hummus by combining 1 can of chick peas and 2 cans of artichoke bottoms (drained) in my food processor with a couple of cloves of garlic, a little lemon juice, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
For lunch, I made a baked bean bowl by putting a can of baked beans over brown rice and topping it with chopped tomato, chopped green onion, cilantro, sprouts, and a little BBQ sauce. It was really good! I find beans and rice to be very filling, but you can always beef it up with some shredded cooked chicken if you want more protein.
This weekend has been absolutely wonderful. Friday night, my dear boyfriend and I saw Opus at the Southern Rep Theater. We both thought it was a great play. The tagline is "Sex, Drugs, and Chamber Music." It's about the dynamic between the members of a string quartet as they get ready to play Beethoven's Opus 131 at the White House shortly after adding a new member (a young woman) to their group of middle aged men.
Before the play, we went to Iris and had drinks and appetizers. Iris is officially my favorite place to go before a play because it is within walking distance of both the Southern Rep and Le Petite Theaters. The bartender is also known for amazing, creative cocktails. My first cocktail, for example, contained elderflower liqueur, basil, and a pineapple balsamic reduction. My second one contained bourbon, vanilla, ginger liqueur, and Thai tea. My dear boyfriend had one drink that contained scotch, gin, and a plum/cardomom syrup. His other cocktail contained Rye, bitters, beet juice and apple juice. They were all amazing. As for food- we split a cheese plate, 1/2 a dozen oysters, and some short rib rolls that were wrapped in lettuce. It was all delicious!
I also got to wear the purple ruffled shirt that I bought last week. I paired it with black pumps and a pencil skirt. I'm glad I got to wear it because a cold front finally rolled in on Saturday.
On Saturday, I started the day off in a terrible mood because the chance of rain was 75% on and off all day. However, it never really rained! I really wanted to go for a run, but was convinced that the second I got out there, the bottom would fall out. Finally, I decided to just go for it. (I brought my phone with me so I could call home for a ride if I got trapped by rain.) I am so glad I did because I had the best run ever! I was a little nervous because of my horrible 8 mile run, but I shouldn't have been. Clearly, the 78 degree weather played a big part- but I had tons of energy and had a great time! I was also thrilled with my pace. I ran a 9 minute mile pace all the way through mile 6 (54 minutes, compared, for example, to my Crescent City Classic time of 62 minutes), and didn't slow up very much for my last 3 miles. I finished the run in 84:16!
On Saturday evening, we were supposed to have a picnic in the park and listen to the LPO, but that got cancelled due to rain (although it never rained!), so instead my dear boyfriend and I grilled out. We had chicken kabobs, mango chili chicken sausage, and sweet Italian turkey sausage (we cooked a ton of meat so we'd have leftovers to eat this week) along with a side salad. I had blue cheese on multi-grain bread for dessert as well. I really love the amablu Gorgonzola. It is a fairly mild blue cheese that is really creamy. It's great spread on bread or alongside a sliced pear.
Today I have been being pretty lazy. I am about to get up, clean the kitchen, and wash the dogs. Later, I am going to go over to Sarah's house to carve pumpkins, eat pizza, and watch Hocus Pocus. I loved that movie when I was a kid!
All in all this weekend has been just what I needed. It's been so nice to relax and spend some quality time with my dear boyfriend. :)

Bam!

Last night we had dinner at Emeril's for our friend Jon's birthday and it was really good. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the whole thing because it was much better than I thought it would be. I tend to be fairly put off by Emeril's TV persona, and it annoys the life out of me that he puts little paper bags of his "Essence" (a spice mix) in the frozen shrimp that has his name on it at the grocery store. (The bags get all slimy and I think essence is kind of an ooky name, but anyway). I expected the food to be very tradional New Orleans food and very rich. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the menu had tons of options, including appetizers, soups and salads, entrees, small plates, not so small plates, specialties, and a 3 course tastes of Spain special that my dear boyfriend had and said was very good. I ordered crispy crawfish filled squash blossoms that were quite good- although very big, which ended up being a lot of fried food, and the oyster stuffed quail saltimbocca which was amazing. It came with two quail so I ate one and saved the other with the intention of having it today. Instead, I ate it in the car on the way home. It made delicious post bar food. :) For dessert I had the dark chocolate torte, which was rich and yummy. I also tried bites of a mussel soup, the escargot, and the boudin with collard greens. All were very good. I'd heard that the service wasn't the best, but our servers were great.
The wine menu is so big it has a table of contents, although there is only one page of wines by the glass. I think the choices were pretty good though. I had a glass of Walnut City Wineworks Reserve (2006) Pinot Noir, which is one of my favorites (in part because I've been wine tasting there before).
There were two funny very "Emeril-y" things I noticed at the restaurant. You can buy a bottle of "Emeril" wine (grown in Chile) and the bathrooms have tiles with various pictures of Emeril on them intersperced with their regular wall tiles. So I would totally recommend giving Emeril's a try....as long as you don't mind the fact that he's watching you pee. Haha!

Norma's Sweets Bakery

Yesterday, as I was having my hair colored, my colorist mentioned that her cousin works at a Honduran Bakery in Kenner. Since my office is basically on the line that divides Kenner from Metairie, I was intrigued. I was even more intrigued when she mentioned that they have savory items like sandwiches and empanadas. It turns out that Norma's Sweets Bakery is about a 5 minute drive from work, and so I had to check it out. Especially since it had a nice review on Nola.com a couple months ago. I was actually feeling pretty blah at work today, so I thought that picking up some lunch from there would be a nice pick me up and a great chance to get out of the office for at least a little while.
I walked into the bakery and everything smelled wonderful! I ordered a cuban sandwhich and allowed myself to be talked into a tres leches cake as well. They also gave me a free guava and cream cheese fruit turnover.
The cuban sandwich was excellent and big enough for two meals (which bodes well for my lunch tomorrow). The bread was crunchy and buttery and pressed flat. It had roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, mustard and pickles. The roast pork was my favorite part of the sandwich because it was so tender.
The guava and cream cheese turnover was also very good. I've never had guava before- to me it tasted like a cross between strawberry and melon. It was very fruity and good, and the cream cheese made it very rich. It was encased in a warm, buttery, flaky puff pastry crust. I only ate half because I had to save room for a couple bites of tres leches cake.
I happen to particularly love tres leches cake, and this one did not disappoint. The sponge cake was soaked in a mixture of evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream that oozed out of the cake after I'd scooped out a bite with my spoon, and topped with whipped cream. It was wonderful and rich, and I only managed to take a couple bites before I was stuffed!
The bakery was full of other items I would like to try- empanadas, tamales, pastries, and breads; plus a great deal of Central American groceries. I will definitely be going back. Although I may have to wait until my arteries unclog. Haha!

More Delicious Healthy Things

Let me just say how much I love the combination of yogurt and granola. Love love love love love. However, I tend to find granola a bit too calorie dense to justify eating it very often. 150 calories for 1/4 cup and I still have to add stuff to it like yogurt or milk? That puts it in the special treat category for me.
Happily, I've found some granola that is cooked with fruit instead of oil! They only carry two flavors of Galaxy Granola at my local Whole Foods (Vanilla Almond Munch and Not Sweet Vanilla Munch), but fortunately I LOVE vanilla almond granola. Calorie wise, the Vanilla Almond Munch is 165 calories for half a cup. Not bad! And I usually only use a quarter of a cup on top of my yogurt in the morning anyway. This granola is delicious. If I think about it, I can maybe taste a bit of a fruity tang to it, but to me, that just adds to the flavor. Its tasty and nice and crunchy.

Another delicious healthy thing I tried yesterday was a chocolate brownie Pure Bar. I went for a long run yesterday morning and ate this bar when I got done. My dear boyfriend walked in, saw me eating it and asked "So are you justifying eating that brownie with the fact that you ran?" Haha! It doesn't have the texture of a brownie, but it is dense, chewy, not too sweet, and has an intense chocolate flavor. I liked it more than a Larabar (which I also enjoy). This bar was a little larger, the chocolate flavor was stronger, and it had nice big chunks of nuts in it. I'll definitely be eating more of these energy bars in the future.

Something I recently tried that was healthy, but sadly, not so delicious, was coconut water. I had high hopes for this stuff b/c it is very low calorie and packed with electrolytes. When I work out a lot, I have a big problem with muscle cramps in my feet, legs, abdomen, and back, and I think it has a lot to do with my electrolyte balance. Gatorade helps, but I don't like it. I don't really like the way it tastes and I'd rather not take in that many calories from something I don't enjoy.
So obviously, I had high hopes for coconut water. Sadly, it is not to be. I don't think its disgusting, but the taste reminds me A LOT of sake (minus the alcohol of course)- which I don't like. So if you like Sake and are looking for an alternative to energy drinks, you can certainly give it a try. :) I find it to be more palatable when I mix it with some Perrier too, so that may be how I get through my little bottle of the stuff.