Care to Eat Making a difference one bite at a time.

As I mentioned yesterday, I had the best dinner on Wednesday night.  I was exhausted from travelling and despite my growing hunger, I was in no mood to cook.  So, when my good friend asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat, I was on board.

We decided to go to this gourmet-ish Mexican restaurant we had both been before called Navarre.  Only, when we got there, we realized that Navarre is the name of the restaurant next door and the one we thought we were going to had closed down.  Navarre is actually a “small plates” restaurant with lots of options to choose from.  Here’s a pic of our menu.

You order kind of like you do sushi where you check off what you want and choose if you want a small or big plate.  Nicole and I decided to share some small plates and order a bunch of stuff to try.

Braised greens

Trout in porcini sauce

Halibut in a lemon herb sauce

Crab and mushroom cakes

Carrots in a mustard glaze

Cabbage gratin

It seems like a lot of food, but we left just enough room for dessert.  Nicole wanted the caramel tart and since it’s not something I would normally order I was happy to oblige.

I was expecting something really sugary and dense, but this was quite delicate and light – a perfect way to end the meal!  Nicole and I took our time eating and chatting and the owner thought we looked like we were having a good time, so we got dessert for free!  Score!  It was one of the best meals I’ve had in recent memory and it was nice to spend an evening with a good friend.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and was able to make a decent meal at home.

Yukon Gold mashed potatoes with sauteed spinach and mushrooms.  I went the extra step and ran the cooked potatoes through my food processor to get them extra creamy.  I had a small salad on the side with some Dubliner cheese on top that Chris must have bought when I was out of town.  Dubliner isn’t my favorite, but it was a nice addition to my salad.

Today was one of those days where I enjoyed everything I ate.  Not only did I enjoy it, but I felt really good about it too.  First up was juice for one.

The second part of my breakfast was eaten at work.

Blackberries, Nature’s Path Synergy cereal and Trader Joe’s organic greek yogurt.  This was my first time trying the TJs brand and it is good.  Highly recommend it!

Lunch was a simple soup and salad.

TJs roasted red pepper & tomato soup

I bought some cans of wild Alaskan salmon at Costco and used 1/3 of the can on my salad.  It was pretty good and will be nice to have on hand when I want a little extra protein in my life.

For dinner I had plans on making a Mexican style chili and thankfully the weather cooperated!  It turned cooler this afternoon and started raining, so chili sounded good when I got home!

• Mexican seasoned diced tomatoes and green chilis
• 1 can black beans
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Corn
• Red Pepper
• Chili Powder
• Adobo seasoning
• S&P
• Dash of hot sauce

I put the chili on some whole wheat pasta and topped that with a little bit of cheese, sunflower seeds, and cilantro.  It was really good and I could have eaten a 2nd helping, but I decided to just have a tiny bit more chili with the rest of my avocado half.

I was perfectly full after this and had a square of that 91% chocolate as my dessert.

Chris came home a day early from his photo trip due to inclement weather.  Yay!  We’re going to spend the weekend with his parents to celebrate his Grandmother’s birthday and Father’s Day.  So, I’ll be back on Sunday night with a recap!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!