WIAW - Salad & Harry Potter

  If you've been with us for any amount of time you know that each and every Wednesday we share a day in the life of our diets (not as in, "I'm on a diet." but rather, what we've been eating on the daily.) This is all because the marvelous Jenn over at Peas & Crayons hooks up bloggers with the opportunity on her blog to share what they eat, how they exercise and often the trials and tribulations of life. We like it and hope you do too...without further ado...here is what I ate Wednesday Tuesday (yesterday.)   I got up, rolled out my yoga mat and put in a solid sixty minutes with another of my favorite teachers: Noah Maze courtesy of yogaglo. I turned upside down in sarvangasana (shoulderstand) and salamba sirsasana (supported-headstand) -- there's nothing like turning upside down first thing in the morning.  

Yoga toes! Look they match the mat!

  Next up breakfast. My usual...but I've been dripping with fresh blueberries lately so instead of my standby frozen I get big, juicy berries mixed in with Ezekiel, a sliced banana, some coconut/almond milk and a splash of flax-based omegas. Does a body good.  

    Lunch was a tasty salad that I like to call the Mexi-Cali. It is a combination of traditional Mexican items: avocado, black beans, corn chip crumbs, (bottom of the bag!) cilantro from my garden, which has been prolific this year and the fresh produce often found in markets in California...topped with a honey mustard dressing. It was delicious and the dressing in particular (I love honey mustard!) is great on veggies, crackers and even in a grilled or roast veggie dish.  

  Today happens to be a very special day in my household...We celebrated none other than Harry Potter's Birthday! We are super-fans and drew pictures (adding HP stickers) played a board game (HP Clue) watched HP and the Order of the Phoenix and using our HP Cookbook created both Treacle Tarts and Ginger, a Almond & Peach Treacle Tart -- to be enjoyed after dinner. Jolly good fun!  
All that Pottering around worked up a snack-level appetite and I whipped up a batch of The Best Hummus Ever (that's actually what it is called and for good reason!) The secret is the caramelized onions - via Bakery Manis blog written by the versatile and sweet Andrea- thank you for sharing this with readers (she probably could have made a fortune selling it!)    

Best Ever Hummus!

 

Don't mind if I do...


Hummus could easily be considered one of my go to summer staples. I've been preparing chickpeas/garbanzos from the dried bean and then concocting a hummus using the aforementioned garden fresh cilantro, a lemony-tahini version, a mixture of garbanzos and red lentils and more. The possibilities really are extensive and it is a staple for dipping, spreading on sandwiches, wraps and panini, quesadilla and yeah, sometimes off the spoon. Shhh...don't tell the cookie butter I'm cheating.

And lastly dinner consisted of left over pasta salad, but dessert was a result of the fruits of our Harry Potter celebration: Tarts! Tarts! Tarts!

Unfortunately for me I'd never had treacle anything. Oh good sweet heavens! It was sweet, but also very, very yummy! The almonds, ginger and peaches in the larger tart were unique and multi-layered -- a sure hit if whether you're hosting muggles or magical folk.


Happy Birthday Harry Potter and a thank you to JK Rowling for creating such an amazing series...if you are a book lover (not just Harry Potter) please join us today over on Ladies Holiday for Book Worm Wednesday Book Hop (link up your favorite books on our hop!)

Bon Appetit,
Deirdre