WIAW: Healthy Eggplant Falafel "Burgers"

Hello, hello!
It's time again for another What I Ate Wednesday!  Yay!

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Breakfast: Egg White Sandwich

For breakfast I cooked up 2 egg whites and topped them with colby jack cheese.  A whole wheat English muffin makes it a yummy sandwich!  I put the berries on my plate, but totally did not feel like eating them, so I saved them for later.

No time for a morning snack today!  The office where I work is very busy this time of year.  Sometimes I lose track of time when buried in paperwork.

Lunch: Salmon on Salad

For lunch I brought out some leftover Pesto Baked Salmon (<--click for recipe by GZ on The Kitchen!  Love that show!) and a little leftover spinach brown rice and broccoli.  I put it on a bed of romaine lettuce and baby spinach with a little lite caesar dressing.  Very fresh and delish.
Oh--I totally forgot to take a picture of my dessert, which was a chai latte powder mix.  It was a nice, sweet finish to the meal.

After lunch, I started snacking on candy--dangerous!

Lemonheads are my absolute favorite candy (and have been for years).  Although I could go nuts on them and eat a million, I portioned out exactly 20 pieces for 100 calories.  #treatyoself

Afternoon Snack: Yogurt & Berries

Around 4 p.m., my tummy told me I needed a snack.  Out came the berries from breakfast and a yogurt I had stashed in the work fridge.

Looks gross, but it did the trick.

Dinner: Eggplant Falafel Burger, Sweet Potato & Roasted Veggies

Sometimes I want something a bit different for dinner.  We had some wheat buns that we didn't end up using last week, so I was trying to think of an easy veggie burger to make.  So, I made this delicious greek inspired "burger" along with a microwaved sweet potato and roasted cauliflower & broccoli.  Winner winner, veggie dinner!!

Healthy Eggplant Falafel "Burgers" 
makes 4 patties

1 medium-large eggplant, peeled & sliced into circles
1 can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
handful of fresh herbs (I used parsley and cilantro)
1/2 tsp greek seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1 egg
1/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs
olive oil, for cooking

Brush the eggplant circles with olive oil on both sides and salt and pepper lightly.  Cook the eggplant until done.  You can roast it in the oven if you want.  I used my stove top grill pan and just grilled it on both sides until it was done (maybe 5 minutes on each side).
Throw cooked eggplant and all other ingredients in food processor and blend until combined.  Split the mixture into 4 and patty it out.  It would be ideal to chill this for a little while in the fridge..but ain't nobody got time for that.
Cook your patties on an oiled griddle and be very careful when flipping them.  Cook for about 8 minutes on each side.
Serve with lettuce, tomato and tzatziki sauce on a wheat bun!

tzatziki sauce
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup cucumber innards (split the cucumber longways and scoop out the middle with a spoon)
pinch greek seasoning
salt & pepper

Mix it all up with a spoon and you're done!

These veggie burgers were super simple, yet full of flavor and very satisfying.  Try them!!! :)

After dinner, I enjoyed one of these tasty beverages.

So good!
Then I had one of these ice cream sandwiches.
I love ice cream sandwiches, because they are preportioned treats.  Sometimes I might go overboard portioning out my own desserts ;)
So for 180 calories, these babies are worth it!

Well, have a great rest of the week!  Here's a Bizzy picture...just because.

WIAW: (Vegan) Curry Chickpea Cakes & 2 Things I Could Not Leave Target Without

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Well, hello there.  Long time no see.

I'm back with some exciting things to see today!  So, let's get to it, already.

Breakfast: Turkey Sausage & Eggs

I sliced up a serving of turkey sausage and added an egg and an egg white in the mix.  Made it into a sort of omelet and added a sprinkling of mozzarella on top.  I also had a piece of whole wheat toast and 2 cups of coffee (not pictured).  Not a bad way to start the day!

Once I got settled in at the office, I broke out these guys.

I have an addiction to Lemonheads, y'all.  About once every few months I let myself get a box.  It does not last long.  I didn't do too bad with it on this day and only ate about 10 pieces.

The thing about Lemonheads, besides that they are delicious, is that the tartness of them kind of takes away my appetite.  It's weird, because otherwise I'm always hungry ;)

So, my 10:30 snack ended up being an hour late and I had a Wasa cracker with a smear of Justin's maple almond butter.

Lunch: Fajita Wrap with Veggies

This is my story about lunch:

On Monday night, I really wanted tortilla soup (yes, I realize that it's 90 degrees outside).  So I ran to the store (after exercise and taking care of Bizzy the dog) thinking I'd catch the rotisserie chickens going on mark down.
Um, apparently they don't do that anymore.  I felt like Liz Lemon when I asked about when they discount the chickens.

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Anyways, so I didn't get a chicken because they were $9!  $9 for a wrinkly chicken?  I think not, mister!
So whatever.  I took all my soup ingredients that were my basket (fajita veggies, black beans, cheese, tortillas) and made some fajita wraps using some leftover lean burger meat.

So that's what these leftover wraps are all about ;)  Short story long and all that.

For lunch, I had a fajita wrap on a low carb tortilla with some leftover veggies (after walking with the dogs).

After lunch, you know what time it was!!!

Geez, Louise...amiright?

In the bowl, white chocolate mouse frozen yogurt, cookies & cream frozen yogurt, tbsp mini M&Ms, tbsp cookie dough bites, tbsp Oreo pieces and rainbow sprinkles!!!  And a hot fudge drizzle...'cause, come on.  Go big or go home...

Yep.  That's how big the cup was.  I am a weak willed individual.

 Snack: Apple

Much later in the afternoon, after I recovered from my massive amounts of fro yo and toppings, I had a sensible little apple.  Nothing special, but it held me over til after my boot camp workout.

Dinner: Curry Chickpea Cakes, Sweet Potato, Asparagus

Dinner was a healthy one!  Originally I was going to make this quick curry chickpea dish from How Sweet Eats, but then I realized that the only ingredient I bought from the list was canned chickpeas....so...
Improvisation happened.

I made some little chickpea pancake thingies.  They were pretty good and something different for dinner!

Vegan Curry Chickpea Cakes
makes 9-10 cakes

2 cans of chickpeas, drained
1 1/2 tbsp milled flax seed
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp of hot sauce
1-2 tsp of salt (to taste)
sprinkle pepper
sprinkle garlic powder
single container of fat free greek yogurt (6 oz)
spray oil for the griddle

Grind up the chickpeas in a mini food processor (or mash them with a masher, if  you'd rather).  Combine all ingredients.
Heat a pancake griddle to medium heat, spray with oil and then scoop out and patty cakes (I used an ice cream scoop, then flattened them out with my hands).  Cook the patties for about 4 minutes or so on each side.

I topped mine with a low fat yogurt bleu cheese dressing.  I had to physically hold myself back from adding buffalo sauce ;)

Half a sweet potato on the side, along with some steamed asparagus.

So, switching gears.  I ran into Target this morning to get some salads for lunch because I feel too lazy to make my own salads today.  I don't know how I ended up in the beauty section....

But there were 2 things I just HAD to get.

Nivea lip butter.  Um, yes.  Take my money.  Need it!

This feels great on my lips!  I put it on immediately and they have just the right amount of moisture without being overly flavored.

And for $5 this awesome little eye palette!

I only have a few random eye shadows.  I also am not very good at using them, so this was calling my name.  I have been perusing the Maskcara blog for a while and she always has the best tutorials for eye palettes.

Now, I can finally practice!

Look what it comes with!  All the things!  Plus a little beauty tutorial (that did not show up well in the picture).  Well, this Elf line is just great in my book.  It's not expensive makeup, I often go in and pick up a $1 eyeliner here and there and now they have all these little kits.

Clearly, I'm excited about it! (can you tell?)

Ok, that's it for me today.
I'll leave you with yet another picture of Bizzy the Dog, because she loves the camera so (and it loves her).

Her collar bow makes her look like a real lady!!

Happy Wednesday, all!

Lean & Mean Cookie Pie

Ok, that name is kind of misleading.  There is nothing mean about this pie.  Unless someone makes it and doesn't share with you.  But then the person would be the mean one.  Not the  pie.  Whatever.

It is, however, somewhat lean.  This pie (which I teased about on Saturday's post) is composed mainly of chickpeas.  Yes, the stuff you use to make hummus.

So, next time you feel the need for a cookie, but don't want all the guilt that comes along with it, consider this  super easy chocolate chip cookie pie.  I'll tell you, when mixed with fat free Cool Whip, this tastes just like an oatmeal cream pie with chocolate chips.  Swoon.

Lean & Mean Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (or canola if you'd rather)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend the chickpeas in a food processor.  Add the rest of the ingredients into the food processor, except for the chocolate chips and blend until all ingredients are combined.  Mix in the chocolate chips & pecans. Pour into a greased 9" pie plate.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Cool for at least 10 minutes.  Serve with fat free whipped cream and sugar free chocolate sauce (if desired).

This can easily be adapted to be a vegan recipe, if you are into that sort of thing.

Recipe adapted from Me and My Pink Mixer blog