Meatless Monday

I read a great quote today by Margaret Mead "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, commited citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." This quote made me think of my commitment to Meatless Mondays.


When we started Meatless Mondays a few years ago it was such a novelty. I was on a health kick and eating meatless seemed like a cool thing. But with time it became the way of life. Meatless Monday has changed my life. I just can't bring myself to eat meat on Mondays any more. And when I do, I feel extremely guilty...as if I am cheating on vegetarian me. 


So why Monday? Monday is the beginning of the work week, the day when we settle back into our weekly routine. Unhealthy habits that took place over the weekend can be forgotten and replaced with positive choices. Having a Meatless Monday is a weekly reminder to restart my healthy habits. It's interesting how my commitment to Meatless Monday changed over time. At a beginning it was about trying something new [cool], but it became so much more - it is about me making better choices, about making a difference. As Margaret Mead said a small group of people can make huge difference, and by having at least one meatless day in a week, I know I am making my contribution to the better tomorrow.


So now that I am done with the philosophical part ;) let's talk about today and our meatless meal. The easiest way to try a meatless meal is to have some beans. Tonight, the chef made black bean burgers. They are easy to make and tasty, two of my favorite things in a recipe. I think the word that best describes them is "earthy". They were thick and hearthy, well spiced, just full of flavor. 

I have to say I was instrumental in tonight's dinner as we didn't have any bread crumbs or panko, but we needed something to hold the mixture together so I suggested steel cut oats and they were perfect!

You know what's even better, there are plenty of leftovers, for me and Kiki. I think she will love it too.


Side dish - perfectly seasoned and baked Alexia sweet potato fries. Always delicious!

[Black-bean burgers with avocado and sauteed onions]
INGREDIENTS:
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
Coarse salt and ground pepper
21/2 cups cooked black beans
1 small red pepper
3/4 cup steel cut oats
1 large egg


DIRECTIONS

In a medium nonstick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat. Add one small red onion, thinly sliced and cook about one minute. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and cook until dissolved. Add 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and season with coarse salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and wipe the skillet. 

In a large bowl, mash 2 1/2 cups of your reserved bean mixture. Stir in steel cut oats, egg and the remaining 1 1/2 cups beans (un-mashed). Season with about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and form mixture into four patties. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in your skillet over medium-high. Cook two patties until crisp on the outside and heated through – about 7 minutes, flipping once. Repeat with more oil and remaining patties.

The original recipe calls for mayonaise, but we only used ketchup on our "thin buns", yup we didn't have those either. The chef topped his with a little cheese, avocado and sauteed onion and I omitted onions and cheese, and used avocado and spinach. All I can say is, thank God we have leftovers for tomorrow.

Weekend Lookbook

If you looked up word "PERFECT" in dictionary you would have seen what my weekend was like - absolutely perfect! As usual, I wrote my weekend to-do list and set out to work on immediately, on Friday afternoon! So by the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, I was D.O.N.E. and ready to enjoy my weekend and not be bogged down with thoughts of what has or has not been done.

On Saturday afternoon we went to our friend's St. Patty's party and my little girl was a true princess. I absolutely love dressing her up. And she knows she is the cutest. Somehow of course we lost a shoe before we even left the house, but that didn't deter her from being the center of the attention. What's even more interesting, she knows it's photo time, so she poses and smiles. She is camera ready!

Kiki is entering the most fun stage ever - walking, standing, talking and playing. I am so in love with everything she does and how she does it. She is starting to show a very strong personality! I wonder where she gets it ;) She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. We played with every single toy she has and of course a few of mine. I never thought I was going to enjoy playing on the floor so much!

While Kiki napped, I escaped to the pool and read. I haven't been to the pool since before I gave birth and it was so nice for couple of hours to lay in silence by the pool and read my favorite magazines. It was the most relaxing thing I have done in a very long time. I recharged my batteries and headed back in for some more playing.

 Time spent with the chef, Kiki and the sous-chef was glorious. It truly made it for a sensational weekend. I feel well rested, recharged and ready for whatever the week will bring.

Q: How was your weekend? What made your weekend special?

** all photos are taken with my iPhone**

Weekly Menu Plan

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Last week was a very hectic with me being gone for almost a week. I haven't traveled since last October and a lot has changed since than. Kiki is much more aware of my absence and I have harder time leaving her and of course with that I have more guilt. 

She is eating "real" food now which means when meal planning I also like to plan her meals. When meal planning for the chef and me I am trying to figure out whether she can eat what we are having - did she get enough servings of veggies, did she get enough protein, making sure meals don't have nuts, eggs, etc.   Does she get enough of variety of foods? So much to think about...but I know it's all good for her. 

I do have to admit that I love that her favorite foods seem to be cheese, roasted pepper hummus and pita bread :) Can you tell she is my child? What is interesting, she does not like bananas! Have you met a kid who doesn't like bananas!?! Crazy, I know. The best thing about her eating food that we eat besides getting all the nutrients and developing her palette, is that I make much better choices now. I don't want her to see me eating junk, so when I need a snack I go for a healthy choice, usually fruit so I can share it with her. And she loves it!

Sunday: Chicken Milanese

Monday: Black bean burgers with sweet potato fries

Tuesday: Shrimp + penne with spring herb pesto

Wednesday: Broccoli rabe pesto + whole wheat pasta + turkey sausage

Thursday: travel, travel, travel

Friday: travel, travel, travel

Q: What's on your menu for this week? If you have babies, how do you incorporate their meals into yours without cooking everything separately? 

Las Vegas Baby

As you might have noticed it, I've been missing in action for a few days and that's because I was having loads of fun in Las Vegas. I went there for work, but it certainly wasn't all just work, there was quite a good amount of play involved too. After all, it's Vegas Baby.

Yes, I actually bought one of these for Kiki. I just couldn't resists and of course a few other little things. Nowadays, I can't seem to go anywhere without picking up something for her.

Besides the work, I thought time spent with my colleagues was really productive as I rarely ever see them since we are scattered all over the US. My "play time" involved going to some fancy restaurants, sipping good cocktails, drinking goof wine and shopping. One thing I love about Las Vegas is plethora of amazing stores and phenomenal offering of luxurious goodies. 

But before I even left, I packed almost all the magazines I have collected in the last three months (and there were many of them) an brought them with me. I used to be one of those people if the magazine came in mail or I picked it up at the store, I would immediately read it. Nowadays, I am lucky if I glance through it, reading a magazine has become a luxury. 

I had all kinds of magazines - food, parenting, healthy living and fashion and I am proud to say I got through them all. The only ones that I brought back with me was the "Cooking Light" magazine. This magazine is just loaded with great recipes and delicious foods. I can't wait to get home to try them out.

On the first day we walked into a restaurant at the new Cosmopolitan Hotel called "Holsteins" and as we were seated, we were asked to acknowledge a waiver for "Cooking Channel" show that was being filmed, unfortunately, I do not think we got on camera which was disappointing, but the food was awesome. I had a Main Lobster Roll with shoe string fries and aside of cabbage salad. It was delicious.

After we spent a whole day freezing in the seminars, we decided to warm up with some cocktails at the Sugar Factory, probably the best discovery of this trip. The Sugar Factory is a sweet-lovers' dream filled with delectable treats, scrumptious chocolates, and an incredible array of selections. 


The most fun decor I've seen in a restaurant in a long time - so bright and so fun!

I was so taken by the design and the look of the store/restaurant/bar - very whimsical, sweet and yummy.

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I was in the mood for something sweet, so I decided on ALMOND JOY. It was like eating the real Almond Joy candy infused with vodka, a lot of vodka. If you like chocolate and coconut, this is your drink - absolutely divine.

Following our "warming up" drinks, we went to dinner at Michael Mina's restaurant at the Bellagio.

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We started off with great appetizers - heirloom beet salad, main lobster tortellini, and truffle risotto butternut squash with shaved truffle - if it wasn't as fancy restaurant as it was I would have licked the plates - they were so delicious!

Since we were still a little hungry, we decided to share two main courses - phyllo crusted sole and truffled stuffed jidori chicken with savoy cabbage foie gras rice

Of course no dinner would have been completed without a good dessert

Since everything we have been enjoying has been on the heavy side, the next day I was desperately craving greens. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to eat al fresco, we decided to have a lunch at the "Sugar Factory". I didn't even bother looking at the menu past salads and decided on the Cobb salad. It was a deconstructed Cobb salad, very rich on greens and very little of anything else. All the ingredients were very fresh, but I wished there was a little bit more of avocado and eggs and there were no tomatoes, well there were dry roasted ones, but...oh well. I won't complain, it was very fresh and very green, exactly what I wanted.

Shortly after very crunchy and green lunch, I boarded the plane and flew to L.A. for my layover before heading home. I've never been to the LAX before, and I got to admit, I was not impressed at all. So after a few hours at a very boring airport, I finally boarded my red eye and arrived home just as Kiki was waking up. Best thing about coming home was getting hugs an kisses from my little munchkin! Snuggling with her is priceless...Totally worth it being late for work!

Somewhere in the air

As you are reading this post, I am flying somewhere across the continental US. 

Can you guess where I was?

I'll be home soon - many more photos to follow.

P.S. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you probably already know ;)