How do you feel about Bounty bars?  You know, the coconut-filled ones covered in delicious chocolate?  I’d never really gotten into them until this past year.  For some reason they’re super popular over here, and so when I can’t find the perfect dark chocolate bar, I tend to opt for a Bounty bar.  I think it’s really the coconut that attracts me.  Okay, and the combo with the chocolate, but still, I’m not usually a coconut-in-my-chocolate-bar kind of girl.  But I think I’ve changed my tune on that now.

In any case, when I decided to break in my new food processor this past week, I decided I wanted to make some sort of power bite/dough ball idea that would combine two delightful ingredients: chocolate and coconut.

So I just started dropping in ingredients, mixing and matching, processing, and seeing if I could find a good consistency and combination in flavours.  And that I did, friends.

Although, I’ll be the first to admit that they kind of look like miniature cow patties… but that’s something we can get past, I’m sure of it.

These are like a healthier version of a Bounty bar.  They’re sweet, but waaaaaay less so than a Bounty bar.  They’re packed full of protein, but not in a I-can-taste-the-chickpeas kind of way.  Give ‘em a try.

Chocolate ‘n’ Coconut Power Bites:

• 2 cups of cooked chickpeas
• 1 tbsp. shredded coconut
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup of oats
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. peanut butter (or any other nut butter)
• 1 heaping tbsp. cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt

Combine all of the ingredients into your food processor and pulse for approximately 30 seconds, or until the mixture is well combined.  Refrigerate the mix as-is for at least 30 minutes.  Remove from the fridge, form into small balls and place on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350F for 10 minutes, just until the bites firm.  Transfer to a cooling rack and once they are cool, keep refrigerated.  Makes 12.  They will last for about 5-7 days in the fridge.

Like the sound of these?  Try my Peanut Butter Pomegranate Power Bites too!

Birds chirping, roosters crowing and local music blasting. These are the sounds of Ethiopia in the morning. As our fellow traveler Andrew says, Ethiopia has a continuous soundtrack. This soundtrack motivated us uphill towards the centre of town to see the famed historical rock churches. We paid the exorbitant price to get in, but it was worth it.

We traveled between the churches against the grain of the rest of the tourists. We climbed and clambered our way through narrow passageways, squeezed into small crevices and overlooked incredible views of Lalibela. The intricacies of the red stonework was remarkable, and we all marvelled at how not only were these churches built so long ago, but they are still used for worship today. Drums are beaten, voices are raised, and men and women kneel in humble prayer.

After sufficiently using up our leg strength and sweating more than a bit, we headed back downhill to see the most famous rock church – St. George’s. It’s shaped like a cross with beautifully carved stonework set way down in a man-made cavern.

After we had snapped our obligatory photos, we trekked our way back toward our hotel where we paused to eat lunch. It was there that I was intrigued by avocado juice. So I gave it a try, and the smooth, creamy, green liquid was sweet and fresh and very surprisingly delicious.

We took the chance to rest all afternoon in our rooms, which was absolutely glorious. Reading, journaling, napping.

We met up with our driver around dinnertime and we ended up at this completely quirky restaurant called Ben Abeba. It is set up on a hill and is co-owned by a Scottish lady and an Ethiopian man. “Ben,” in Scottish means “hill.” And “Abeba,” in Amheric means “flowers.” So it literally means “Hill of Flowers.” It looks out over the valley to a most stunning view. The restaurant is an architectural wonder with seemingly never-ending spiralled ramps leading to multiple locations in and out, with different views and designs.

We finally settled on a rock “ledge” nestled into the side of the hill overlooking the valley. We had our own personal bonfire which was both practical and quaint. The menu was a fusion of traditional and non, and we all equally loved the ambiance and the food. A hilight for all of us was the banana-stuffed crepes drizzled in local honey and lemon sauce.

We chatted with Susan, one of the owners, and we were all so smitten, we agreed to go back again the next evening.

Read the other posts on Ethiopia:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 6
• Day 7

Our work day begins at 7:00 a.m., which means I eat breakfast around 6:30 a.m. (I’m up at 6:00, but we live a 5 minute walk from school), and so by 9:00 a.m. my oatmeal is starting wear off and I feel those familiar grumbles of hunger…

I typically pack some quinoa salad with roasted veggies (I make a giant batch on Saturdays to last the entire week), a cucumber (they grow them in a perfect “personal” size over here!), a piece of fruit and a hardboiled egg.  But I needed something else.  So I started playing around with various “granola bar” options to fill in that morning “tea time” that I like to have.  So far I’ve tried, and LOVED the following recipes, which I think you should definitely check out:

• Chickpea Cookie Dough Balls (there are also a ton of other options for dough balls here as well!)
• Oatmeal-on-the-go Bars

I’ve also played around with another version of granola bars that I made up (not quite ready for the blog yet!).  Plus these black bean brownies and granola bars are also in our repertoire of snacks for work.  I think I’ll be including some banana muffins as well at some point.  It’s nice to have variety!  I don’t want the same type of snack every week, so doing it on a weekly rotation works well for me.  Try a few recipes out, and then go back to them in a month or so!

One of the recipes I created and absolutely loved was this recipe for these Peanut Butter Pomegranate Power Bites.  I am a huge fan of peanut butter, but it can be subbed for any nut butter.  And we have dried pomegranate arils in abundance over here, but of course you could use any dried fruit cut into tiny pieces.  In any case these are soft but hold together well and they’re fantastic for taking on the go.  They look like cookies, but I make them a bitter smaller to fill the “bite” roll a bit more.  Two + a cup of tea is how I like to eat them.

Peanut Butter Pomegranate Power Bites:

• 1/4 cup oatmeal (not quick-cooking)
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp. baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp. peanut butter
• 1 cup dried pomegranates

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.  Mix the dry ingredients together, and then add in the honey and peanut butter.  Mix well.  Stir in the pomegranates.  Your dough will be sticky and soft, but if you feel that it is too soft to transfer to the baking sheet, then add in a bit more oats, about 1 tbsp. at a time.  Scoop the dough onto a greased baking sheet in 2 tbsp. mounds.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before transferring to the fridge.  They will last for approximately 1 week in your fridge.  Makes 24.

I don’t care if you’re married, single, have a tribe of children, or zero on the horizon…every one needs a date night.

You can go on a date with your spouse, your best friend, your child, your grand-mother, or your crazy Uncle Freddy.  A date is simply two people spending pre-planned time together in the hopes of growing closer together.  You can do that with anyone that means something to you!

And despite what people believe, you don’t have to go out to go on a date.  You can enjoy some quality time right inside your own home.  And it’s NOT restricted to February 14th.  No siree, it’s possible any time of the day, any day of the year.

So grab your loved one (whomever that may be), and try cooking up some delicious treats, like this veggie chow mein with some no-bake chocolate peanut butter truffles for dessert.

Your crazy Uncle Freddy will thank me you.

*This post is dedicated to my latest published recipes in the Faith & Friends magazine.

I’m not usually one of those people that shows up notoriously late for things.  Specifically things like work, dentist appointments, flights, etc, where you’re required to be on time.  And those people who do show up late?  They drive me nuts.

However, when it comes to stuff where there isn’t necessarily going to be a repercussion for being late, well…then I’m sometimes late.  But not usually toooo bad… I need to work on that.  I’d much rather be on time for everything.  It’s so distracting (to me and others!) when I’m late.  I blame the west coast (where we lived for 4 years) for this bad habit.  People were just much more laid back and didn’t care if they were late.  And now I’m in the middle east where the response to, “Let’s meet at 5:00 p.m. for dinner!” would be, “Insh’allah,” meaning “If God wills it.”  It’s essentially free pass to show up whenever you want, or not show up at all.  So…what are the chances of this timing thing changing anytime soon?  I’ll let you be the judge of that…

In honour of my tardiness, here’s a post about the January edition of the Faith & Friends magazine I was published in.  Yah, I know it’s February…but it’s only the 5th, so I figure it’s kind of like being 5 days late in a month is the equivalent to being 5 minutes late for a committment… it’s acceptable, right?

You can find the original recipes here: chicken pot pie, orange chocolate chai muffins.

On vacation, other than relaxing, one of the things that I am most excited about is the food.  Tasting it, smelling it, seeing it… I just love exploring how other cultures eat!  Even if I’ve been there before, there’s still something new to try.

Before diving into our Middle Eastern Cruise with my parents, I’m pausing to do a quick post about the food we ate in Belgium.

Firstly, I had a dynamite hot chocolate the day we traveled to the edge of three countries and went to the Christmas Market. This hot chocolate was insanely delicious, and it was accompanied by the best cookies in the world: speculoos cookies. SO GOOD. Europeans really know how to do up a hot chocolate.

Then there were the desserts we had at Peter’s great Aunt and Uncle’s home: fruit-stuffed waffles and rice pie. Both of these are Verviers specialities. Peter’s mum has attempted to make the rice pie numerous times, and she says that although she’s gotten close she’s never been able to replicate it properly. She said that it has something to do with the water in Verviers. Crazy, right? I love how food can be so specific to regions – it’s amazing!! In any case, if my mother-in-law can’t make this, then I’m not even going to attempt it, because she’s pretty much a genius when it comes to that kind of stuff (and no, I’m not sucking up, because I don’t think she even reads my blog, haha!).

Okay, let’s talk German Christmas Market food.  This is slightly “cheating” because the Market was in Germany…but hopefully you’ll let that go.  Let me just say this: it smells incredible at the market. You can hear food sizzling and simmering all around you!  It was actually super challenging to know what to eat. There were traditional items like sausage, sauerkraut, etc., and tons of non-traditional items like pizza, pasta… We opted to have potato latkes (THE BEST I’ve ever had), and sauerkraut. Now, we don’t eat pork, which is pretty much a sin in Germany, so finding sauerkraut without the pork sausages was a challenge. To the point where although Peter tried to get only sauerkraut, it didn’t happen. So we left them on the side and his dad at them! The sauerkraut was so unique – so fresh, and it had a curry vibe to it. I really loved it!

We didn’t eat any of these homemade cookies this man was making, but it was definitely neat to watch him make them:

Backing up a bit, let’s chat about some of the homemade eats we had. Peter’s mum and dad went ALL out making Peter’s favourites and introducing us to new foods they’ve started to enjoy since moving to Belgium. One of those things was Chervil soup. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d never heard of Chervil before. Apparently it’s a green herb, and it’s common in Europe, but it hasn’t been anywhere else I’ve been. The soup is a veggie soup along with meatballs. It’s super yummy! In fact, we purchased some powdered packets of it to bring back. Of course, it will be nowhere near close to what we had made fresh by Peter’s dad, but c’est la vie.

Also, can I tell you how much I love lunches at Peter’s parents’ house? It’s incredibly European and I love it. Cheeses, crackers, bread, jams, pates, etc…so perfect for the lunchtime nibbler that I am!! Such a treat every time we visit. And this was especially nice because they got some extras since it was Christmas, and of course, because European dairy aisles are GINORMOUS (no joke – I went to many grocery stores in Belgium and the dairy aisleS are insane – in the most amazing way).

Last but not least, it wouldn’t be a trip to Europe without a stop in a Patisserie!  I love how they’re all displayed and each one looks absolutely perfect.  They’re almost too beautiful to eat!

Of course we ate way more than just what I’m telling you, but I thought I’d just hi-light some of the food for you to get a taste of what we ate while we were away!

Soooo…it’s been a while.  Okay, in reality, 9 days isn’t that much.  It just feels kind of odd to me that I haven’t blogged in over a week.  Geez, I’m really slacking!  But in all likelihood you probably haven’t noticed because you know, you have a life too.

Needless to say I’ve been super busy lately.  We were in Belgium for a week over Christmas visiting Peter’s parents, and then we went to the Emirates and Oman on a cruise for a week.  Now we’re back in Kuwait and my parents are here visiting.  It’s awesome!  But you know what’s not awesome?  The fact that we’re sick right now.  Yah, nothing says “welcome back from vacation!” like being sick.

In other news, with having my parents here they’ve been busy buying all kinds of delicious treats during the day while we’re at work.  For example, they picked up these delicious date cookies for us yesterday:

They’re soft and on the inside they have date paste.  It’s like a nice little surprise!  They’re also covered in black sesame seeds.  They’re actually a really great snack for after work.  I’m sure they’re not entirely healthy but I like to convince myself that because they have dates and sesame seeds that they’re health food.  Whatever.

In any case, these are a nice little treat that are super common around here!

I’ll be back soon with more posts on our trip over the holidays, but until then excuse me while I wrestle with my camera and phone to extract photos and video footage…