January 30, 2013

Apples, Brie, and Black Beans...


No...no...no. I certainly did not eat those three ingredients together.  Although, that does sound.....hmmm?  Nah. 

How are you doing?  How was your Hump Day?  My Wednesday was pretty decent.  Work was steady for most of the day, I had a tasty lunch which I haven't had in months; {if you have read any of my side note stories, that lunch would be the Lunch Truck Chicken Salad on Pita}. !!!! I was starving and wanted to get some fresh air.  The weather was sooo much better today; at least in the mid 50s I would imagine.  We have had frostbite weather all of last week so today was a lovely treat!  Check out this LUNCH!!!




















It's just THE BEST chicken salad ever!!  I swear.  I get a warmed pita, salt, pepper, oregano, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and hot sauce. nom nom nom. Ugh.  It's huge. And I ate it all. It was well worth the most likely 500ish calories. It hit the spot for sure! 






I also snacked on a few of these babies...




I adore smoked almonds.  They are the perfect snack. Or dinner. Sometimes I just eat a bunch of these for dinner if I'm engrossed in a good movie.  Huh?? Yes, the time just passes on by and I don't even notice I 'skipped' dinner time.



Random moment:  I need to give myself a pat on the back because...well..just look at what I passed up in Rite Aid this morning...

Nope..I was not doing my Valentine's Day shopping.  Just a a normal browse that I do in the aisles of any drugstore that I go in.  I stare blankly, pretty much drooling over all of the gorgeous chocolates.  I'm surprised this didn't make me late for work.  How do I not buy at least one bag of something?  Well, I do. Just not all the time.  But I then just think, "ehhh, you just don't need chocolate this week."  Or I just think about my inner thighs and ass and that pretty much keeps me walking.  Oh my dear lady friends...let's be honest here...we all have a certain area on our bodies where we knowwwww fat just loves to visit. and stay. for a while. And chocolate just loves to move in and pay rent on those areas for me personally.

So, as you can see, even though I skipped on the chocolate, it was a pretty darn good day!  I also got a decent half hour workout in.  It felt wonderful leaving the house in a tank top and shorts. In January!

Let's talk Apples and Brie Cheese for a moment my lovely and (most likely) hungry people. Well, I hope I am making you hungry! When you slab Brie and sliced tart apples on a ciabatta roll fried up in some butter...oh it's just heaven in your mouth.  Don't believe me?  See for yourself...

This bread is the bomb!
Hello beautiful.  Oh, no. You are very pretty too, but I was talking to the cheese. Mild, Creamy, and just the right amount of saltiness.  So. Good.  There's still a good chunk in our fridge. I reallllly want to go get some.  I'm upstairs though, in my cozy bed.  So, that's a good enough reason not to go downstairs. :-)



Go ahead and call this a grilled cheese if you want. Why not?  I just love the idea of this sandwich and these flavors together.  It's unique!

I put a dollop of my favorite spicy and tangy mustard, Grey Poupon on the side.  Remember, I'm a sauce girl, so, I figured mustard would be great with this..you know, just in case. I was originally going to spread it on the roll, but once I enclosed the bread on top of the melty cheese and apples. Nope.  This is all you need folks!  Really.  I even was thinking of adding spinach leaves to it.

Now, I love spinach leaves, and hey, maybe when I make this again I'll add that to it. But this really was perfect with just apples and cheese.  I mean, that's a wonderful  combo already anyway!

This guy really dug it!



Brie and Green Apple Grilled Cheese

1 loaf of day old bread (ciabatta works really well with this) Slice pretty thick.
1 Granny Smith Apple, sliced in long strips
 Brie Cheese-You can find this at a fancy cheese store or your local shoprite. :-)
{I slabbed about 2 T. total of the cheese for both slices of bread}
 1-2 T. Butter or margarine

-Melt  the butter or margarine in a frying pan and toast up the bread slices first.
-Assemble the sandwich. I used the cheese first and then added about 5 slices of apple.
-Press down on sandwich with spatula a decent amount to really make the sandwich neat and tight.
-Cook and flip until a nice golden brown color appears and there is a good crunchy/toasty look to it.

Enjoy!  This was so simple to make!


Okay, so that was last nights dinner. I actually was not starving at the time I made that, so I just made my hubby one. I took a bite though, so I know it was reallllly good!  But tonight's dinner...complete yumminess!!  My kitchen was pretty happy and smelled great too!  This is so easy to make and it's healthy!  I never made Black Bean Burgers in my life. And I love Black Bean Burgers!  Why have I never thought to make one before?? I got the recipe/inspiration from The Food Network and by the lovely Sandra Lee.  I changed it up a bit, as you can see below.  I mean, aren't 'burgers' supposed to have buns?  Of course!  I just didn't need the extra carbs.  And I didn't have hamburger buns. I also love crab cakes, so eating this gave me that similar feeling. {well, and because at a quick glance, this looks like a crab cake dish}. yum!

The snow peas were a great and healthy side dish! All they had were a little olive oil,  1 T.garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and 1 T. of sesame oil.  I cannot wait for lunch tomorrow! 

For the burgers, check the recipe out Here




*My Modifications*

- I added a handful of shredded carrot to the black bean mix. I think it added a nice crunchy texture to the cakes.
-I only had dried parsley, and no cilantro. I ran out of cilantro. Definitely use that too if you have it.
-I diced two scallions instead of a yellow onion. I still got great onion taste. It's your choice. :-)
- I only used 1 can of black beans and I got 4 good-sized cakes.  But by all means use 2 cans, if you're throwing a party maybe. Or if you're just really hungry!

That's it!  I hope you make these and the grilled cheese sandwich soon. But maybe don't eat them at the same time.




These were really , so delicious!  This photo is just to show you the texture of the cake. They will not fall apart on you! And look at those teeny tiny pieces of carrots.  mmmmm.

Have a wonderful Thursday!










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