Falafel Recipe!

Third post in one day...can you tell I don't feel like working??

I got this recipe from a Hungry Girl email...she reworks recipes to make them delicious and totally low in fat and calories! I can't WAIT to make it!

Falafel Pita Pockets with Dill-icious Yogurt Dip
PER SERVING (1 pita pocket with 3 falafel balls and 3 tbsp. dip): 198 calories, 2.25g fat, 863mg sodium, 37g carbs, 8.5g fiber, 5g sugars, 10g protein

Our amazingly delicious baked take on the Middle East's most famous meal ROCKS!!!

Ingredients:

For Falafel Pockets
2 1/2 whole-wheat or high-fiber pitas
One 15-oz. can chickpeas, well drained
1 onion, very finely chopped
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tbsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. paprika, or more to taste
black pepper, to taste
Two 2-second sprays olive oil nonstick spray

For Dip
6 oz. plain fat-free yogurt
1 Persian cucumber, peeled and chopped (or another small cucumber, peeled, deseeded, and chopped)
1 tsp. dried dill
3/4 tsp. crushed garlic
1/4 tsp. salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place all ingredients for falafel (except for the pitas and nonstick spray) in a large bowl, and give them a good stir. Using a potato masher, mash well. Mixture should remain slightly chunky, not smooth.Spray a baking sheet thoroughly with a 2-second spray of olive oil nonstick spray.One at a time, take spoonfuls of mixture in your hands and form 15 balls, each about the size of a ping pong ball, and gently place them on the baking sheet. Spray the top of each ball with olive oil nonstick spray, for a total of about a 2-second spray.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for dip in a blender or food processor, and pulse until just blended. Season to taste with black pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve.Remove baking sheet from the oven, and carefully turn each ball over, gently reshaping if the bottoms have flattened. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 10 - 15 minutes, until golden brown and slightly crispy.

Allow to cool and set for at least 5 minutes.Cut the whole pitas into halves, toast or warm all pita halves slightly, and then fill each with three falafel balls and 3 tbsp. dip.

Enjoy!MAKES 5 SERVINGS

New Business!!!!

I have super exciting TOP SECRET news!!!!

Seriously, I am breaking so many rules by even posting this news to my blog...but since only 5 people can read it, I will be able to hunt you down if this information escapes ;)

Our firm was competing to win a proposal sent out by Bass Pro shops and the Hampton Inn chain. The two plan to launch as a co-brand at the end of May!!! That means, you will be able to stay in a Hampton Inn that has Bass Pro elements in it, and may even be connected to a Bass Pro store.

I am by no means an outdoors woman, but the concept is exciting and really fun! We worked really hard on a huge proposal- the main concept is a giant launch event in NYC for a budget of $90,000. We put eveything in there from social media strategies, to media kits that were comprised of tackle boxes filled with hotel amenities to renting virtual deep sea fishing games for the media to play during the press conference and event.

Our proposal rocked, my bosses pitched it in Memphis last week in front of the Bass Pro and Hampton executivese and we just found out that they picked us!!!!!

So excited. Don't tell ANYONE about the co-branding....nobody knows and we signed about a billion confidentiality agreements :) Of course, I can't keep my mouth shut.

April Brings Out My Inner Social Butterfly

Good gosh! I have so much going on lately!

My calendar for this month is absolutely packed....and I love it. I think that staying busy, along with the beautiful Spring weather has done wonders for my depression. I have been in such a great mood lately!

This past weekend, Amy and I volunteered with the Alliance of Emerging Professionals to do some community service. We were originally supposed to hit the Food Bank, but plans changed and we found ourselves downtown helping to set up for the annual Festival of the Arts. We set up a giant canvas tent over the concert stage, hauled flowers from a moving van and planted a flower bed. By the end of our time there, my back was KILLING ME!!! But, it felt good to donate some of my time to a good cause- the arts! I can't wait to go to the festival, it starts on Saturday and runs for about a week and a half.

This weekend I am going to Tulsa to shop for bridesmaid dresses with my dear friend Rhiannon! I'm excited to see her, since we haven't talked much since her engagement party. I already fell in love with one of the dress styles she sent me, so I hope the other bridesmaids have similar tastes. I am particularly dreading trying on the dresses though- hopefully I can lose a few sizes before the actual wedding.

Speaking of, the diet isn't going so well lately. With all of the things planned during the weeknights and weekends, I haven't found any time to hit the gym. Getting up early before work just isn't possible either. Things should slow down near the end of the month and I need to get back on track!

I met Margaret and Hailee at Bisonwitches in Norman last night. Margaret is married now!!! It's so weird. We went to see her "rental house" after dinner, and it is huge. They are in the middle of building their dream house out on some land outside of Norman and I can't imagine what it is going to look like. In the meantime, they have an enormous backyard and pool, so I will probably be spending most of my summer over there, haha. Tonight I'm heading back to Norman to meet my old intern Shea for dinner. Ryan has been busy with his gynecology rotation (oh the stories he tells me about this) so we haven't seen each other much this week. I kind of miss him :(

Freak Show!!

Yesterday Mallory and I met up with Ash and Chelsea at the Medieval Fair in Norman!

Food highlights included: giant burritos, frozen chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick, fried pickles and ranch and giant blue bottles of refillable Root Beer.

Activity highlights included: buying head wreathes so we could fit in with the rest of the weirdos, finding a blown glass unicorn figurine, witnessing the gloriously large belly dancers letting it all hang out, watching people beat each other to death with wooden swords, dogs of every breed and every size, and getting the biggest farmer's tan in history.

Here are some more of the photo highlights!

Yes, that is me with a unicorn wand. I ALMOST bought it...

Battle of the Bands

Friday night I took Ryan, Mallory, Ashlie and Patrick to see Up From Under play at Battle of the Bands! It turned out to be a lame scene, with tons of punk teenage kids and adults who had come to see their kids play. We grabbed a table at the back and ordered a few buckets of beer...and waited. They were 45 minutes late going on and I thought my group was going to bolt, everyone was getting impatient. I chatted with Will and Luke and their parents while we sitting there, mainly Don and Cheryl. When they took the stage, all the little teeny boppers swarmed to the front of the stage, it was kind of hilarious. The band played 6 or 7 songs, and it was hard to hear the vocals because they were playing so loud, but I thought they sounded pretty good anyway. There were 3 judges set up at a table in front of them like American Idol, and when they were done they critiqued them. The first judge said he thought the band had a great commericial look, and said that the lead singer was really good looking. He said he had a man crush on Luke, haha! And said they sounded really good, harmonized well, blah blah blah. Basically they got all positive reviews, the crowd loved them. We were definitely ready to get out of there and didn't stay to see the other bands play. Up From Under ended up winning!! Yay!

We decided to go to Edna's because Patrick and Mallory had never been and they needed to try a famous lunchbox drink. It was packed, and we stood around and yawned a lot...again, making me feel like an old woman who can't stay out past 10pm. We left around midnight.

Mallory sitting next to this really drunk girl with a raspy voice, she kept leaning all over her and saying crazy things, but we couldn't say or do anything back because she looked like she could beat us all up!

Krista's Bridal Shower

The day after our anniversary, we went to Shawnee. Ryan wanted to visit his Grandpa because it was his birthday, and I was invited to go to Ryan's cousin's bridal shower! Krista is getting married next month in Arkansas....I'm a punch/cake server and Ryan is an usher. They had the shower in a back room at Van's and we had BBQ, played some cheesy shower games and watched her open her gifts. We got them a waffle maker...classic. The theme was beachy because they are honeymooning in the Bahamas.

That's Ryan's grandma, she was feeling quite festive. After the shower, Ryan's dad and his new girlfriend took us out to eat at a steakhouse. I was eating all day long! But we had a good time.

Fondue Friday

I meant to post about our anniversary dinner, because it was fabulous!! I wanted to go to The Melting Pot, because we only go there on special occasions and I was dying for some fondue. We got the Big Night Out, which was based on Italy....so we had wine and fresh basil, mozzarella and tomato salads, basil-infused meat, tiramisu chocolate fondue....oh, it was heaven! Here are a few snapshots from our night:



I look extremely tired here....I told Ryan to act like he was getting ready to eat the food! What a nut.
The first course....bread, cheese, apples, veggies and cheese fondue! It took us about 3 hours, and by the time we got home we were too full and tired to do anything else. I fell asleep on the couch at 10:00, we didn't even drink the champagne that was chilling in the fridge! HA!
Yay! Happy Anniversary to us!!!

Save the Date Boarding Passes!!

Well, I could sure use some help from a better photographer, but you get the idea from these: my first attempt at a Save the Date boarding passes! I spent HOURS on them, Microsoft Word and I are not friends. But in the end, I think they look awesome and I'm so proud of them. Here is what they look like when they're all stapled together (I haven't created the ticket sleeve yet).

You can't really see it in the picture, but they are even perforated on both sides like a real boarding pass!

I made them for my friend Tera who is getting married in Jamaica next Spring. She has a super tight budget, so I'm only charging her for raw materials....she's in Jamaica right now, meeting with her wedding planner and I can't wait for her to get back and see these :)