I’ve had a recent obsession with Mediterranean/Lebanese/Israeli/Levantine cuisines lately. I cannot be stopped. My favorite restaurant? Zankou Chicken. (Trying Ta’eem next!)  My favorite cookbook? Modern Flavors of Arabia. My favorite lunch? This fattoush salad.

Fattoush salad (for those of you who aren’t familiar) is a bread salad made with greens and vegetables and fried pita bread. This version is so flavorful – and colorful – from sweet tomatoes, persian cucumbers, fresh lemon juice and bright herbs. I took a shortcut by buying pre-fried pita chips, but you could also use baked ones from the store. Just don’t skip the pita chips – they truly make this salad!

Serve the salad alongside some chicken shawarma or a slab of feta and fresh olives for a true feast.

Hi! Long time, no daily eats posts. (3 months actually!)

I hope you all had a great Super Bowl (if you celebrate). I tried to catch most of the commercials and ate artichokes, chips with salsa and queso and chicken fingers. (I have no idea…but they sounded SO good!) I sipped on some wine with the snacks and then made some paleo chocolate chip cookies that my friend Erin pinned – she seriously pins the best paleo recipes.

am workout: 30 minute express physique 57. I’ve been doing the physique 57 dvds for a few months now and am a big fan. Do I look like Kelly Ripa? Not yet but I’ll keep you posted.

breakfast: coffee with half & half + 2% and a banana pancake that I baked into a huge banana loaf (way easier than making separate pancakes!) – I make them with bananas, almond meal, flax meal, eggs, egg whites, vanilla and cinnamon and top with some almond butter and a small drizzle of maple syrup. Trust me when I say it is hideous (especially in fluorescent lighting). Most of us thought it tasted good… 

lunch: chopped salad with romaine, kale, cucumber and pepper + 5-6 oz chicken + 1 slice turkey bacon + 1. 5 hard boiled eggs + annie’s light honey mustard dressing.

and a cookie for dessert!

pre-run fuel/snack: few bites of applesauce for some sugar

pm workout: run! I think I might sign up for a 1/2 marathon. I really have no idea what brought this on, it kind of came out of nowhere. (maybe because I’m turning 30, maybe because I just joined a gym, maybe as an excuse to buy some workout clothes, maybe because one of the 1/2 marathon possibilities is in Santa Barbara which means I could turn it into a running and WINE weekend?!) Whatever the reason, I am literally starting at the beginning. I really haven’t done much cardio in the last few months so when I say I’m starting at the beginning I mean, I’m running: 1 mile, 1 mile, 1.5 miles, 2 miles this week. I’ll run more than just 1 mile per workout, but I need to run a mile straight, then take a walking break, then start running again. {Today’s workout ended up being about 4.5 miles total: run 1, walk .5, run 1, walk .5 and 1.5 miles round trip walk to and from gym}

snack: my new favorite – Finn Crisp cracker + deli turkey + mustard – 2 of them are about 100 calories and have more than 10 grams of protein!

dinner: “the word’s best chicken” (recipe from pinterest) + asparagus. The chicken is really good but world’s best might be a stretch, although I have made it a few times now…

dessert: paleo cookies (3)  - the cookies get really soft the next day, I think next time I’ll try adding some more almond meal and freeze them into little dough balls.

I’ll have prettier pictures on my next post, promise!