Food

We just got back from visiting my family out in California. Such a beautiful (albeit busy) place. And sooo many choices in terms of fresh cuisine. My husband and I were able to get away for a late anniversary trip and choose Santa Monica as our destination. There are so many great things about Santa Monica (3rd street promenade, the beach, the resturants), but one of my favorite moments was the next morning when we found a small, unassuming diner called Kafe K. If you’re ever there, I’d highly recommend it. Don’t expect anything grand in terms of surroundings, but it was clean and had really cute decor. There are no more than 8-10 seats in the whole place, but the food was really good! I love finding places like this because it feels like discovering a hidden treasure and brings out a kid-like giddiness in me. When it turns out to be an amazing find – that’s even better!

I had their Organic Poached Eggs. Which was 2 eggs, provolone cheese on multigrain bread, tomato, avocado, pesto sauce, red onion. It came with a side of salad. I also had their Chi Tea Latte. It was such a great combo of flavors and fresh food! Since I’ve been home I’ve tried to recreate it twice, but I use Udi bread instead of multigrain bread and I left off the provolone (mainly because I didn’t have any, but it also cuts calories).

Here’s my version:

Pesto Sandwhich

Avocado is your healthy fat (instead of adding, let’s say, bacon) and the tomatoes and onions make it so fresh tasting. I am a big fan of pesto and could eat it on about anything, so that’s probably my favorite part. I just spread a teaspoon of pre-made pesto on the Udi bread before adding the egg. If you are looking to cut the calories even more you can do it with egg whites instead of a whole egg. You can even leave out the bread all together, but the crunch adds a lot of substance to this knife n’ fork breakfast.

I am not a huge fan of tomatoes (though I’m trying to be because they add such a pretty color to dishes), but this combination just works! It’s fresh, filling and keeps me full for much longer than a piece of toast and peanut butter.

Enjoy!

I haven’t quite gotten a hold of the idea of taking pictures to represent the things I say and do. Case in point, I made a great salad today and it never even crossed my mind to snap a photo in case I wanted to use it. Hey, I was starving! So here’s what you get:

My handwritten copy of this salad recipe. Recipe from the Hunger Fix book by Pam Peeke.

My protein was canned chicken. Raw veggies were cucumber, celery and green onions. Beans were chick peas. I am NOT a salad person, just as an FYI. So I am posting this because, well, it was good! And it was a lot of food. The canned chicken was tender, the veggies added crunch, onions are just my favorite anyway, the beans added creaminess and the nuts and dried fruit was just a bit of sweet. I am going to try and make these into a “salad in a jar” to see how it holds up.

I have read the Hunger Fix book and I really recommend it. It gives the medical “why” to the how. It’s not about trying some new “fad” or eliminating things from your diet, but rather explains why your body reacts the way it does to foods and how to break bad habit cycles. Of course nothing works unless put into practice.