Guys, it’s a Wednesday afternoon, and I’m exhausted.  I don’t know why, but today felt extra long and tiring.  Perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve finally been exercising again now that we own a new-to-us treadmill.

Maybe it’s the fact that we have 1 week and 1 day of school left with the students (and then a couple weeks of clean up, prep for next year, etc.).

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s nearing the end of the regular work week, and I’m just tired.

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s extremely hot outside and it’s wearing me down.

Maybe it’s the fact that our alarm clock didn’t go off this morning and it threw us into a rushed frenzy on our way out the door…

Regardless of the reason for my tiredness, I had the best of intentions to type up this amazing shrimp risotto recipe I’ve got, but I just can’t muster up the energy today.  So instead, I’m doing a bit of a recipe throwback, and reminding you of 4 great recipes that you can start using now that it’s presumably feeling like Spring where you are (…although for me, it’s now feeling hotter than a comfortable temperature, being that it’s 40+C these days).

Curried Deviled Eggs

Greek Bean Salad

Monster Mushroom Burger

Strawberry “Daiquiri” Smoothie

Happy Spring!  Here’s to lots more days of glorious sunshine.

March and April just kind of slipped by, and I forgot to tell you which recipes I had published in the Faith & Friends magazine!  Oops!

Palak Paneer & Indian Style Chutney

French Toast & Grilled Nut Butter ‘n’ Banana Sandwich

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!

One of the quick and easy snack foods around here is called Fatiyer.  I like to joke that if you eat too much of it, you’ll have a “fat tire” around your waist… it might not be too much of a joke!  But in any case, it’s super delicious.  It’s kind of like an Arab twist on pizza meets calzone.

You can get it filled with a variety of things, but my favourite is cheese, tomatoes, olives and zaatar.  They fold it over and bake it fresh right there in their ginormous clay oven.  I love it!  It also helps that it’s approximately a 3 minute walk from our school…

I’ll miss grabbing a quick fatiyer here and there when we’re back in Canada for the summer.  It’s so much tastier than regular fast food.  Probably just as unhealthy with the grease factor, but at least the ingredients aren’t sketchy.

What’s your favourite fast food?

Once again I got caught up in the marinated/pickled/deli/nut/seed food aisle of our local grocery store.  It’s magnetic to me… I have to go and scan the glass windows to see what’s new and if anything should come home with me in my grocery cart!

I noted that a few of the nut mixes had been replaced with different kinds (I’m not sure how I feel about this yet), and that they’d moved around some of the olives, which has thrown me for a bit of a loop since I’d memorized the spot where my favourite one usually goes.  I guess I’ll just have to try them all again…

But I definitely noticed an item that hadn’t caught my eye before: the cheese-stuffed hot peppers.  I love hot peppers.  I love cheese.  I pretty much wanted to take home the entire vat of them…but I resisted and bought just a couple to test out.

Well, here we are a couple of weeks later and I have a much more full tub of cheese-stuffed hot peppers in my fridge.  And I find myself saying things to friends like, “Hey, you like spicy food.  Have you seen the cheese-stuffed hot peppers at the co-op?  I think you’d like them.”

That’s what I’m here for friends: to make your grocery shopping experience more enjoyable.

These are now an official staple in our house.

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.