On Chickpea Veggie Patties and Life

A few nights ago, I made a delicious homemade dinner for the whole family – baked falafel patties, veg, feta, and homemade lemon tahini sauce all on a fresh and warm pita.

It was a spur of the moment decision based on what I had on hand – and boy did it turn out pretty wonderful.

Interestingly, I didn’t take any pictures of the process. If I had planned on writing up a blog post featuring the recipe, then it would have taken me a whole lot longer to prepare.

Again interestingly, I find myself wishing that I had documented the process. Not only because I’d love to share the recipe with you all, but also because I’d like to have the recipe for myself!

When I’m throwing things together in the kitchen, I never take measurements – nor do I even take note of all the spices/ingredients I use. Unless, of course, I’m posting about it. So that’s just one nice perk of blogging recipes – there’s actually a recipe to refer back to.

Off the top of my head, the chickpea patties were made up of:

• 2 cans of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 1/2 chopped red onion
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
• juice of one lemon
• cumin seeds (maybe a tbsp. or so?)
• salt and pepper
• spoon of tahini
• pour of grape seed oil
• plus some other random additions to taste (coriander, cayenne…)

I blended all the above ingredients in the vitamix, then folded in one egg white, parsley, and finely chopped carrots.

I allowed the mixture to chill for about an hour, then it was patty-making time.

The one huge problem I’ve encountered with homemade veggie patties is that they never want to stick together. And when they do stick together nicely, they usually end up breaking apart during the grilled process. Such is life.

Well, this time that wasn’t an issue (yay)! I rolled each patty into a ball and then pressed them into some ground flax/whole wheat flour on a cutting board.

Last, but not least, I baked the patties on 425 degrees for about 20 minutes (flipping once).

It turned out to be a pretty great dinner – one that I’d definitely like to make again – if only I had the recipe. There’s nothing wrong with a little guesswork, eh?

So what else has been going on in my life?

School (mainly Anthropology – my last undergrad class – see here for the story)

Family time

Plenty of walks with the hoodie gang.

Pet store visits. I gave into Courtney and Adam’s begging. I prefer humane society pet adoptions, but giving the puppies love is always fun.

Family dinners

Summer harvest ravioli topped with chunky veg marinara, cheesy garlic bread, and salad.

University of Chicago trips

The reality of being in Chicago.

What we do after the reality - eat. Star of Siam Thai cuisine. Delicious family style dinner.

Can’t leave the city without some froyo.

Life is best portrayed through instagram, don’t you think?

So when will I be back to regular blogging? The answer is simple: I have no idea. I’m just going with the flow right now – and for some reason, the flow is still telling me to ditch the laptop in favor of family time and human interaction.

My Mom actually brought up a great point the other day for why I’ve been stepping away from technology lately.

I’ve been staying with my parents for the past month or so (to help out my brother while he’s sick and for a few other more personal reasons). So at my house, it’s just me, Sam, and Adam (oh and Georgie, the kitty).

At my parent’s house, it’s me, Adam, Courtney (little sis), Tristan (little bro), Mom, Dad, animals, and sometimes other family too (Tiffany and her kids, and Camille – Tristan’s gf).

Sounds a bit chaotic, right? Well, it is. In a good way, of course.

Basically, I don’t have as much quiet free time as I once did. At my house, blogging became a passion I pursued in my free time – here that free time doesn’t exist. There’s always someone to talk to, something to do, and somewhere to go.

So you see why it’s easier to take a technology break while I’m here?

So when will I be going back home? Again, the answer is simple: I have no idea. I’m just full of concrete answers today, aren’t I?

For now, I’m happy and content. And I want to be as close to my brother as possible. We’re a family of control freaks and we all want to be involved in every step of the process – so for the time being, here I’ll stay.

Anyway, I hope you stick with me through the process – I love blogging, so I just know that I’ll be back for good at some point.

And I’m off. Hope you’re all doing wonderful! Fill me in on your life – what have you been up to lately?

<3 Stefanie

Google Tags: chickpea veggie patties, falafel patties, delicious vegetarian dinners, what I've been up to, family time is the best, technology free, blogging break

Love and excitement.

There are quite a few things that make me abnormally excited. And by that, I just mean intensely excited. For some reason, I always use the phrase ‘abnormally excited’ – and I don’t foresee that stopping anytime soon.

Getting packages is on the top of that list. Getting unexpected packages from one of my favorite companies? Now that’s abnormal excitement to the max.

I eat LARABARS nearly every single day – it would be pretty accurate to say that I’m a LARABAR junkie. I even managed to get my Mom and little sister hooked – which I suppose isn’t all that hard to do. All it takes is one bite.

We all have our own personal favorite flavors, but there a few bars that we all get pretty excited about – blueberry muffin is one of those bars.

I have to revert back to my basketball days and get scrappy if there’s only one blueberry muffin bar left. I’m thinking that I’ll have to get scrappy for this newest flavor as well. 

Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte (doesn’t the name just make you drool?)

Chocolate chips, chunks of cherry, and deliciousness is what’s wrapped up in that cute little package. Blueberry muffin definitely has competition for best flavor bar.

Thanks for the wonderful surprise LARABAR – you sure know how to make a girl smile.

I’m also abnormally excited about being a Love Blogger for Love Grown Foods. I’m all about unprocessed clean foods and Love Grown stole my heart from the get-go. I am absolutely ecstatic (abnormally excited) about lending my support to this wonderful company. Nothing but love for Love Grown.

Spreading the love – it’s what they do.

More excitement comes in the form of all things fall. Now that that there are leaves on the ground, I’m officially in fall mode. Okay, who am I kidding? I was officially in fall mode after my first Dunkin Donuts pumpkin coffee – when the temps were still in summer status.

And finally, I get excited to read all of your comments, tweets, and messages lending support during a scary time. All of your positive energy is quite possibly the best thing we could ever receive. The mind is a powerful thing.

It’s scary when someone so young gets sick. Especially when that someone is otherwise healthy and strong as can be. I mean – just take a look.

Healthy and strong, right?

Actually, the fact that my brother is one of the strongest people I know is in his favor. He’s had a mass in his chest for the past year and yet he still beats me in hill sprints and motivates me to push myself day after day.

Up until a day before we found out, he was rocking it out in the gym and working his butt off at the candy shop he manages.

After having surgery number 2 on Wednesday, we got some pretty good news. We’re still waiting for test results and another CT scan for confirmation – but things are looking up.

Again, thank YOU for sending prayers, support, and positive vibes our way. Every little thought counts.

Have a wonderful weekend guys!

<3 Stefanie

Google Tags: pumpkin, fall decor, love blogger, love blogger for love grown foods, larabar, new larabar flavor, healthy and strong

Weekend through a lens – staying normal

I’m so glad we’re all on the same page about family.

In the blogging world, it’s totally the norm to share a love of food and fitness, but it’s wonderful to know that we share a love for family as well.

I’ve mentioned this before - but with my family, there’s never a dull moment. Never. Despite recently being faced with a scary situation, we’ve kept our interaction laced with light-heartedness and humor.

Since we can’t control what already is, we figure that we might as well continue our fun-loving ways. Life is too damn short to be anything but happy – so happy we are.

Even though we’re still in the dark as far as a diagnosis goes, we’re staying positive and trying to keep life as normal as possible. That said, hopefully we’ll have an idea of what we’re dealing with by the end of this week.

After a trip up to University of Chicago (we’re in good hands) – we did what we always do – we ate, we shopped, and we stuffed our faces with froyo.

[taking pictures in the waiting room – possibly inappropriate?]

The whole crew saw the doctor. He walked in and said ‘can we fit anymore people in the room?’ Like I said, we travel in a pack. And that wasn’t even all of the pack – so yes, we can certainly pack more people in the room. Next time?

After seeing the doctor, we stopped at Goose Island Brewery to get some grub.

I ordered the summer peach salad.

It was absolutely fantastic! I need to grill some peaches at home!

I also stole quite a few of brothers sweet potato fries – they were served with a side of curry ketchup! Brilliant if you ask me.

After linner (in between lunch and dinner) – we stopped at Forever Yogurt.

My Mom’s first froyo experience may or may not have involved 1 pound of Dutch chocolate froyo topped with a million toppings. And no, I’m not exaggerating with that size. I’m definitely her daughter.

Saturday may have been the best day of the year so far – the weather was simply perfect. Adam had two games (soccer + flag football) and the rest of the day was spent at leisure.

And by ‘at leisure,’ I mean we spent the day reading the newspaper, taking the pup for car rides, and lounging around.

The majority of Sunday was spent with my best friend and her two curly-haired beauties.

Although it was a rainy day, we went to a huge outdoor birthday bash with ponies and a jump house. Adam passed on the ponies, but he got his jump on in the bounce house. Rain + a jump house = 3 soaking wet kiddos.

We ended the evening with a walk in the aftermath of the rain. Why don’t we do this more often?

A post-rain walk is the best – especially when you throw the football around the whole time. Our neighbors may think we’re crazy, but that’s nothing new.

Well, there’s my weekend in a nutshell (and through an instagram lens). I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend filled with love.

<3 Stefanie

Google Tags: weekend through a lens, long weekend, family is number one, love my family, active weekend

the deal

You may (or may not) be wondering where the heck I’ve been. So here’s the deal.

I (we, as a family) recently received some scary medical news about an immediate family member. It’s not something I want to discuss in any detail – as it’s not really mine to discuss.

At this point, we don’t really know what we’re dealing with. We’re playing the waiting game and hoping for the best. We’re working with a wonderful doctor - and we’re staying positive and sticking to the glass half full mentality.

So why am I telling you this? Basically, I don’t want to leave you all hanging wondering where I am.

My family is super tight knit and we face things together – as a unit. We’ve pretty much been traveling in a pack to doctor’s appointments. Talk about a support system, eh?

So don’t be surprised if I’m posting rather sporadically – if at all. I may post, I may not. It all depends on what’s going on that day.

My energy is going to be focused on family – first and foremost. I know you all understand.

Until next time.

<3 Stefanie

Weekend through a lens – sports and eats

Don’t judge me for this – but I kind of like Mondays. Mondays signify the start of a new week. A new week means getting back on track.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m always ready for the weekend but I just think that Mondays shouldn’t get such a bad rep!

Fall sports are back in season! Adam had two games on Saturday – soccer and flag football.

He played wonderfully in both games, but he scored two touchdowns during flag football! I managed to get a small video of the first, but it pretty much just involves me yelling “go Adam go!!”

After the games, we ran a bunch of errands and did some household chores. The not so fun side of things.

Saturday night, we got back to the fun side of things with a dinner out. Sam chose Chili’s, which means that a pomegranate patron margarita was necessary.

For my meal, I rolled with a modified salad.

I ordered the Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad – minus the chicken and the bacon – sub in a black bean patty and avocado and dressing on the side.

I didn’t end up using any of the dressing because the salad turned out pretty darn delicious. I find that when a salad has a strong cheese (bleu or goat) and avocado, it doesn’t need any dressing. Bleu cheese and avocado pack a pretty good flavor punch all on their own.

While we waited for our food, we utilized Chili’s new piece of technology by playing a few games of trivia.

We were pretty good at the Pop Culture category, but the others? Not so much.

The rest of our Saturday night was spent in our PJ’s watching the movie Hanna.

It was super intense! And it really made me appreciate Eric Bana’s, err, acting skills.

Sunday was yet another errands and chores day. While the boys cheered on the Bears - I cleaned out my car, did a bunch of laundry, and prepped for the week.

I also managed to stuff myself full of Chipotle.

[vegetarian burrito bowl with black beans, fajita veggies, corn, tomato salsa, guacamole, and lettuce]

You know the whole stop eating when you’re satisfied thing? Yeah, that goes straight out the window when Chipotle is involved. I love Chipotle, but I hate the fact that I can never eat it without feeling like I’m about to burst.

Monster mix also tends to have that effect on me.

I probably shouldn’t eat them both in the same day, but they’re just too good to resist.

Is there a food that just makes you forget all about listening to your hunger cues?

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend – let’s make this a good week!

<3 Stefanie

Google Tags: weekend through a lens, monster mix, chipotle, fall sports, chili's, vegetarian meals at chili's