My Chef's Hat - Chickpea Salad

Back in February I posted a recipe for chicken chickpea chopped salad, and my friend Slim asked "what the heck is a chickpea"??  Quite honestly I'm shocked he didn't know...I've been eating them most of my life.  In Trinidad they eat them a lot, and if you've ever eaten hummus, well then you've eaten chickpeas.  They're one of my favorite beans.  When I was a kid my mom always bought them dry, and then soaked and cooked them in the pressure cooker--she would only do the canned in a pinch.  But to me that was way too much work so I just bought them canned.  However, those have so much more sodium, plus that icky liquid stuff, and it's way more expensive.  So a few years ago I went to the dry version as well. 

I'm trying to eat more beans on a regular basis. They're really good for you, packed with fiber, and are very filling.  So about a month ago when I saw the recipe for chickpea salad I couldn't resist.  It's full of everything that I like.

Here's the recipe version:

And here's my version:

I grilled a boneless/skinless chicken thigh and added it to mine, to make it even heartier. I tried it with lettuce the first time I made it, but honestly I don't think it needs it. The chicken adds enough heartiness, and I started adding red pepper as well. I also started adding balsamic vinegar. My friend Dianne bought me this amazing super thick and rich vinegar, so just a tiny bit goes a really long way.

This is absolutely one of my favorite dishes for lunch.  At first I thought the honey was kind of an odd ingredient, but it really doesn't make the dish sweet at all.  I'm not sure exactly what it does, but I'm not about to try it without the honey.  I don't have Meyer lemons, and I don't even know where I would find them.  I also didn't have any lemons handy that day so I just used lime juice, and am now hooked on it.  The dish has tons of flavor, it's very filling, and the whole thing only has about 420 calories.  And it's super fast to put together.  I'll usually cook the beans in the pressure cooker the night before, so all I have to do is throw them in the dish.  It's also gluten free, but I'm not worried about that part.


Recipe found on Gluten Free Spinner

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Repeats with a Twist - BJ's Restaurant, Norman, OK

On the drive between Dallas and Stillwater, the only places where you can find a sit-down restaurant not too far off the highway are Edmond, Norman, Ardmore and Denton.  It's only about a 4-hour drive so it all depends on what time I leave on if I'll stop for lunch.  Tony always cooks us breakfast on Saturday & Sunday mornings when I'm in Dallas, but by the time I hit Norman I'm usually hungry again.  My first thought was to eat at Cheddar's, which is one of my favorite places.  But the GPS sent me to a not-so-nice neighborhood.  And then I got annoyed because I was starving.  So off to BJ's I went.

BJ's Restaurant is another one of my favorites.  They have a big menu, but I've got a few standby items that I always get and they're always good.  For some reason, every time I stop to eat in Norman I'm wearing orange.  It's not on purpose, because I'm definitely not one of those people who purposely wear OSU gear in OU country.  It just kinda happens.  I'm always afraid they're gonna spit in my food...but so far so good...I think.

They've recently come out with an Enlightened menu, full of items under 650 calories.  After all the food and drinks I had over the weekend, I figured this was probably a smart move.  Especially considering none of my standard go-to items are anywhere near that calorie count.  My waiter suggested the Hawaiian Mahi Mahi, so I went with it

Oven roasted, glazed mahi-mahi served over stir-fried vegetables and roasted pineapple fried rice mixed with a spicy soy ginger sauce then topped with slivered snow peas, red bell peppers and sesame seeds.

This was so delicious!  The fish was a little over cooked, but I was hungry and it probably only stayed a minute too long in the oven so I was okay with it.  The pineapple fried rice was phenomenal.  Roasting the pineapple added amazing flavor.  The only down side is that it was a little oily for my taste.  Maybe they needed more oil to reach the 650 calorie mark.  In the menu picture it looks like a lot more food than what you actually get.  However, my portion was perfect.  It left room for dessert, if I had wanted it.  But I decided to be good and just get back on the road to head home.

Repeats with a Twist - Anamia's, Flower Mound, TX

Let's be honest...Anamia's is one of my favorite restaurants, hands down.  Everything is always fresh, the drinks are strong, and the atmosphere is awesome.  Joni & Tony's daughter was in town that weekend, so we decided to go there for lunch so we could both get our fix.

Of course I started with a skinny margarita, and we also got the tableside guacamole.  Both are pretty much required on any trip to Anamia's.  Like I said before, the drinks are very strong, and the skinny margarita is made with real lime juice.  And that makes a huge difference, as opposed to the fake stuff. 

I was tempted to get the brisket tacos again because they were so fantastic.  But in the spirit of food blog research, I went with the fish tacos.

Three flour tortillas filled with grilled Tilapia and topped with cilantro cabbage slaw and jalapeño créma. Served with bean soup and rice

These were really delicious!  Not as good as the brisket tacos, but I still highly recommend them.  I liked that the fish was grilled and not fried.  The slaw very refreshing, and the jalapeno crema was so good.  After eating all the guac and chips I only ate one of the tortillas, but definitely did eat the fillings of all 3.  I also so love the bean soup.  I'm sure they make tons of it every day, and it's always super delicious.

I swear I only get dessert when I'm with Joni...we decided to try the Coconut La Palapa.  

Homemade coconut ice cream with a splash of Kahlua

And because we just have to be special, Joni ordered 2 additional shots of Kahlua.  The shots were a lot bigger than we were expecting, and in hindsight we should have just gotten one.  But wow, that dessert was fantastic!  the ice cream was very creamy, and the coconut was more of a flavor instead of flakes.  But that worked for both of us.  The Kahlua added an amazing depth of flavor to the dessert.  I tried a little bit of the crust bowl that it came in, but by that point I was super full...and still needed to finish my shot of Kahlua. 

#46 - Asahi Teppanyaki & Sushi - Flower Mound, TX

Well, I clearly failed miserably on my last attempt to post on my blog more often...the last post was 2 weeks ago.  But I guess that's better, since before that it was 3 weeks between posts.  But still pretty pathetic.  And I've been eating my way through everywhere, which again means just that much more to write about.  Lately this blog is almost like a soap opera...come back 3 weeks later, and it's still only the next day...

So I'm still on my last Dallas trip, and it's still Friday.  After that huge lunch at Perry's, you wouldn't think it would be possible to eat again.  But then that would mean you obviously don't know me very well.  I was in the mood for sushi, so we decided to go to Asahi Teppanyaki & Sushi, a favorite of Joni & Tony's.  It's a pretty good-sized restaurant, with a bar area, regular dining, and a hibachi section.  It was quite crowed when we arrived, and we wanted to watch the NCAA tournament games, so we sat in the bar area. 

The first down side is that we didn't get to watch any games.  Some guy insisted on watching an NBA game that was a complete blowout.  And then another guy was watching the golf channel.  Who watches any of that when March Madness is going on??  Especially the first weekend, when most of the big upsets happened.  And a little later, when we asked the bartender to change the channel, he said he couldn't because someone had requested the NBA game.  And he didn't budge, even when we pointed out that that guy had left 15 minutes earlier.

The second, and more glaring downside, were the kids that thought the restaurant was their playground.  There were 4 little kids, no older than about 7, who were playing hide-and-seek, yelling across the restaurant to find each other, running between the tables, and leaning over into the little pond that's by the front door.  And of course, no adult supervision was anywhere in sight.  I have to admit, I was more than a little tempted to dump the kids into the pond.  If I had been the restaurant owner I would have done something about it.  You could tell she and the other staff were annoyed, but for whatever reason just let it go.  Finally, at least 20 minutes later, the adults in the group decided it was time to go, and didn't seem the slightest bit concerned about the kids' behavior.  Sadly, they probably told the kids to go play since they were done eating.  And if one of the kids had gotten hurt, they would have been trying to blame the restaurant.  I don't know about you, but my parents would have beaten my butt in front of everyone in the restaurant had I been acting like that.  But then again, I wouldn't have acted like that because I was raised right.

Okay, enough about the bad.  Tony was really excited that they had Hamachi Kama on the menu as an appetizer.  If you're like me, you ask what the heck is that???!  It's the neck of a young yellowtail, the part that most sushi chefs never serve and eat themselves, and apparently is the best part of the whole fish. 

Joni was having none of it.  I, on the other hand, decided to be a little adventurous and try it out.  It was pretty good!  I don't think I would ever order it, because I would never remember the name!  I actually just had to text Tony to ask.

For my meal I went with sushi. 

It's been so long since we were there I can't begin to tell you which rolls I got...yet another reason I need to post much faster!  But they were delicious.  And they certainly don't skimp on the rolls, so I was very well satisfied.

Will I go back?  I really want to.  It had a great atmosphere, the food was delicious, and the owner was very friendly.  I just hope those little brats aren't there again, or I will have to dump them in the pond.