Thursday, April 18, 2013

Caprese Eggs

The weather has officially hit 70 here in upstate NY (it'll probably be 40 or 50 this weekend though. Typical.) and with that comes lots of fresh and seasonal foods. I try to eat that way all year round but a salad just sometimes doesn't cut it in January.

This morning I was inspired to put a fancy spin on my fried eggs and created a stacked caprese salad with a fried egg popped on top.

It's very simple as well. On a plate stack a thickly sliced round of tomato and a slice of fresh mozzarella on top of that. Add salt and pepper to taste with a slight drizzle of olive oil if you wish. Then top it all off with a fried egg and fresh basil.

This also makes a great lunch.







Monday, April 15, 2013

Food in the Finger Lakes: Souvlaki House

My love affair with Greek food began in 2009 with a 2 week trip to Greece. Ever since then I've been on the look out for really good Greek food. Unfortunately the Finger Lakes does not boast a wide variety of Greek restaurants. You can come across the odd Gyro stand at the local farmer's market, but I have trouble finding Greek establishments that aren't run off of a folding table, so you will imagine my joy at discovering the Souvlaki House in College Town in Ithaca, NY.

I made my discovery like most young and highly educated adults do now-a-days, Google. After craving some street-cart style Greek food on a recent Saturday and feeling way too lazy to actually make any myself, a quick Google search led me to the Souvlaki House. Located right next to the Cornell campus in College Town, it is a gem of a Greek-Italian Diner.
I ordered the gyro (and for the love of God, it's pronounced "yeer-oh" not "gi-roh") which was ginormous! And cheap, only $6.25 for that bad boy. I believe the gyro meat was a house blend of herbs, spices and beef, (to be completely honest gyro meat tends to freak me out if I think too hard about it. Some places it tends to be a complete mystery, but I think I read somewhere on the menu that it was beef here -at a lot of other places it tends to be lamb if not otherwise specified) tomatoes, lettuce, onions and slathered in tzatsiki sauce all wrapped in a simple-carb-heaven pita. I also splurged and added on feta for an extra $.75.
Jared basically got the same thing but as the platter (ie. more of every thing.)
This is not haute cuisine, but it is incredibly satisfying and affordable.

Who: Souvlaki House
What: Greek food with a side of nostalgia as you are surrounded by fellow dinning college students
Where: 315 Eddy St, Ithaca, NY 14850
Need to know: Parking is scarce in College Town, I highly suggest you brush up on your parallel parking skills before hand, or park in the parking garage near by.





Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Perfect Workday Lunch: Cranberry Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

Three posts in one day?! ;) I wanted to share my clean lunch with you today. Chicken salad Boston lettuce wraps: chopped up bite size cooked chicken, Greek yogurt, random herbs (thyme, oregano, marjoram) salt & pepper, finely chopped red onion, dried cranberries and chopped raw almonds. Nom nom nom!

Keep Going

I am on day 37 of this 12 week challenge and I've lost 9 lbs this far, only 10 more to go to reach my goal! Sometimes it gets really hard to stay motivated but I'm not giving up. Keep going.

It is currently 60 degrees right meow. I'm tempted to pull out all of my pretty spring dresses and sandals and paint my toe nails, but I know as soon as I do it will snow. File under #upstateNYproblems