The Friday Five 10.5.12

1. What I’m Reading: Wild About Greens: 125 Delectable Vegan Recipes for Kale, Collards, Arugula, Bok Choy, and other Leafy Veggies Everyone loves.

Ok, that has to the be the longest book title ever. This cookbook is broken up into 5 chapters: Basic Preparations for Leafy Greens; Greens with Beans, Grains, Pasta & Other Vegetables; Salads, Dressings & Dips; Greens in Soups & Stews; and Green Juices & Smoothies. There are a ton of good recipes but unfortunately very few pictures. This is sad because I’m sure they’d all photograph beautifully.

2. What I’m Eating:  Lately I cannot get enough of Publix’s reduced fat mozzarella string cheese. I feel like a 5 year old when I eat it, but it’s an easy, somewhat healthy snack. Each stick has 70 calories, 4 grams of fat and 8 grams of protein. Are you a peeler or a biter? I’m most definitely a biter. I take aggression out on my string cheese.

3. Recipes I’m Bookmarking:  Grilled Chicken with Balsamic and Feta. Did you just drool? I did.

4. What I’m Listening To: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa by Vampire Weekend.

5. GIFs I’m Loving:

WHEN I SCROLL THROUGH FACEBOOK IN SEARCH OF A DATE TO A WEDDING

WHEN I PUT DOWN MY OTHER SINGLE FRIEND AS MY PLUS ONE FOR A WEDDING INSTEAD OF FINDING A DATE

Have a wonderful, blessed weekend! 

My Favorite Healthy Snacks

I’ve mentioned it before – I really love snacks. Lots of little meals > 3 big meals. Here are the snacks I most often eat.

1. Greek yogurt. It’s packed with protein, is rich and creamy, and full of flavor. My favorite brands, by far, are Fage and Chobani.. My absolute favorite is Fage’s Cherry 0%. I don’t typically like cherry-flavored foods, but this is the jam.

I also really like their Blueberry 0%.

Of all of the Chobani flavors, Pineapple 2% is the one I buy the most. Just like their Passion fruit flavor, it’s very tropical.

Surprisingly, I love their Lemon 0%. It’s really refreshing!

2. Luna bars. Let’s be honest, these things are “healthier” candy bars. They’re made with 70% organic ingredients and contain many essential vitamins and nutrients. Iced Oatmeal Raisin is ridiculously good.

I’ve noticed that people either love the Iced Oatmeal Raisin or the S’mores flavor, but not both. Weird, right? My other top flavors are Peanut Honey Pretzel, Chocolate Dipped Coconut, and Blueberry Bliss.

3. Nuts! I prefer almonds and walnuts, but put me in front of a can of cashews or peanuts and I won’t deny them. First and foremost, I like plain ol’ nuts in their natural state. I buy them in bulk from either Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.

4. Fruit. I love almost all fruit in its natural state. Bananas, blueberries, and strawberries are my favorite. I’ll also never say no to pineapple. Have I ever told you I briefly lived in Hawaii with my mom when I was 3? Yep. Check this out. Someone was eating a lot of pineapple in 1987.

5. Back to the food. In high school, chips were my weakness. Nowadays, I reach for popchips. They’re not baked or fried, but instead air-popped. They have the best flavors and are so crunchy. I have little to no self control around a bag of Barbecue or Salt & Pepper popchips.

Their newest flavor, Sweet Potato, is quite different because it’s sweet, but is absolutely delicious.

Have you guys seen the new tortilla popchips? I’m dying to try them!

6. String cheese. I hadn’t had string cheese in years until very recently when I visited my grandparents. I forgot how convenient of a snack this is. And it’s cheese. Come on. We all love it. These bad boys are only 50 calories a pop (stick?) and, well, they’re fun to play with.

Embrace your inner 10-year-old and buy a bag of these.

7. Cottage cheese + jam. Sorry if you just threw up after reading that. It’s a great combo, I swear! Cottage cheese packs a punch of protein, and if you buy a lower sodium or low-fat kind, is a great post-workout snack. Top it with some jam for extra flavor. Just try it! +

8. Carrots + hummus. Sabra’s Roasted Garlic hummus is the best! +

9. Avocado + toast. It’s one of the most simple, yet delicious, snacks I eat. Just top a piece of toast with a couple avocado slices, drizzle with honey, top with salt & pepper, eat munch away.

10. COOKIES! Of course! Can’t stop, won’t stop. These aren’t healthy, but I could never leave them off my list of favorite snacks. ;)

What’s your favorite snack?

Are you team Fage or Chobani?

Favorite Luna bar flavor?

Cúrate in Asheville, NC

Friday afternoon, in need of  a getaway, my littlest brother and I traveled to North Carolina to visit my grandparents. On Saturday, the four of us drove up to Asheville to walk around the city and have lunch.

Cúrate is a Spanish tapas bar in downtown Asheville. As my degree from College of Charleston is in Hispanic Studies, I was excited to experience some traditional Spanish cuisine. Cúrate, meaning “cure yourself” had just what we needed: delicious food and wine.

To drink, my grandmother and I both had a glass of the 2010 Peitán, Albariño, which is similar to a Pinot Grigio. Grandpa had a Highland Gaelic Ale and Jake had not one, but three Coca Colas. Oh, teenagers.

I was so sad when I realized I forgot the battery for my DSLR at home, so I apologize that these pictures are from my cell phone. :( Here we go!

Out of all the tapas, I was most impressed by the garlic shrimp. The sauce was so good, I kept dipping extra bread in it. I also really loved the Summer salad and would like to recreate that at home while watermelon is still in season. The Spanish tortilla tasted just like ones I’d had with friends from Spain. The eggplant was the most unusual dish, and I mean that in a positive way. I’ve never thought to drizzle eggplant with honey or rosemary.

Before our meal, my grandfather was sweet enough to mention that I had a Charleston-based food blog. Thanks to that, two of the dishes (the Summer salad and eggplant) were sent out on the house. The head chef, Katie Button, came out to introduce herself as well. She was sweet and seemed very glad we were there. I was impressed by her generosity and taking the time to come say hello. It’s the little things that make a restaurant special. We’ll definitely be back!

Do you like tapas-style restaurants?

Which of the above dishes would you enjoy most?

Impromptu 4 Course Dinner at Crave

Usually when I’m at the gym, I’m daydreaming about what I’ll be having for dinner that night. Sometimes this makes me work harder and sometimes it’s the only thing getting through my workout. Let’s be real.

During my sprint intervals, I received a tweet from Alysa that the chef at the restaurant where she works was now on twitter. Alysa works at Crave Kitchen & Cocktails and their chef, Landen Ganstrom, is a member of my gym. I had met Landen before when we worked out at Eco. As a fellow fitness junkie, he has implemented many healthy menu options onto Crave’s menu: gluten free, vegetarian, paleo, and even vegan.

When I received this tweet, my plans of nuking another spicy black bean burger with some veggies flew out the window. To Crave I would go.

I immediately texted Sarah, who had just finished a Pure Barre class. Sarah is a vegetarian of 8 years, so she was also quick to jump on a healthy meal.

Once at the restaurant, Alysa and our server, Carmela, informed us that Landen would be surprising us with different dishes. Carmela asked if we had any allergies and what our nutritional needs were and then reported back to Landen. For the record, both Sarah and I have no allergies and eat no meat or poultry. To say we were excited to see what we’d receive was an understatement.

Course 1: As soon as this came out, I knew we were in good hands. When I’m presented with beets, my trust is immediately handed over. Friends, this is a beet and carrot salad in a peanut sauce with candied peanuts. Have you ever seen beets in shoestring form? I haven’t, and I loved it.

Course 2: Wild Alaskan salmon with fennel pollen, black caraway seed,and poppy seed over sliced apples and jumbo lump crab sprinkled in some heirloom tomatoes. It was finished with imported Italian mustard. The lump crab meat was hidden underneath the sliced apple and was quite a happy ending.

Course 3: What we initially thought was pasta was actually local zucchini, summer squash and red bell peppers sautéed in oven roasted garlic paste topped with tomato basil chow chow. The peppers were unbelievably sweet, as if they had been plucked from the garden that day. The flower on top was also edible, but it was too cute to consume. I contemplated putting it in my hair and doing a hula dance but I resisted.

Course 4: Dessert. This was our most emotional course. Yup, even more emotional than beets. What you see here are pears and blueberries in a caramel sauce with walnuts and Humboldt Fog cheese. Sarah said this is her favorite cheese and it may just be mine too. The combination of flavors in this dessert was incredible. Get to your store and buy this cheese as fast as you can.

After dinner, Landen came out to chat and see if we enjoyed our dishes. We couldn’t thank him enough for such a delicious, yet healthy meal. If there’s one thing I can get you guys to understand, it’s that healthy food IS tasty. Especially when you have someone like Chef Ganstrom serving you. Carmela, our server, was a delight. She was friendly, attentive, and did an excellent job at explaining our dishes. I highly encourage you to check out Crave – it’s located in the shopping center with Target (The Shoppes at Seaside Farms.) Tell them I sent you!

For more information, check out these links:

• Crave’s website
• Crave on Twitter
• Crave on Facebook
• Chef Ganstrom on Twitter

Are you drooling yet? I am all over again. :)