Between Friends

Guys – I made Vegan waffles yesterday. I know! My new friend Justin of Crow Moon Kitchen is vegan, and I figured I would try one of his recipes. You can find his original recipe here – he used something called “aquafaba” which apparently is the liquid in a can of chick peas that can be used in place of eggs. Huh. I decided to buy Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer – a package was $4.99 and it’s the equivalent to 34 eggs – just mix one tablespoon of the egg replacer with two tablespoons of water, mix and let sit a minute.

I also subbed in sugar free pancake syrup for the maple syrup, and left out the coconut oil completely, so each waffle was only 4 smart points and super filling. I loved the oat flour in these pancakes – you’ll have to check out his blog for more awesome recipes – thanks Justin!

Jenn had Weight Watchers yesterday and I had a late filing at work, so just barely made it to the farmers market. I was going to walk after that, but my blood sugar was 60 so I just went back to my office to put together lunch.

I was on the hunt for rhubarb, but turns out that is already out of season – what?! I wanted to make strawberry rhubarb scones this weekend, but then thought – what about strawberry basil scones with a lemon glaze? I bought two big bunches of basil. It smelled so good by my desk all afternoon.

I did pretty good using up what I had this week since I didn’t do a complete grocery shop this week. I grilled up some bone in chicken breasts the other night. When I know I am going to recook protein later in the week, I don’t cook it all the way through the first time. That way when you reheat it, you’ll cook it to perfection.

I had some Alouette cheese in my work fridge, so added 1 point to the base of my baked potato – that combo was 4 points.

I reheated the chicken in the microwave for one minutes, sliced and added that to my potato, topped with BBQ sauce (1) and chopped spinach and fresh basil. This was delicious!

After work it was time to walk to my friend Sarah’s house. She lives in the cutest condo – if I could afford it, I’d move to the West Loop in a heart beat. Meet Roxanne! Her cute AF dog – so sweet!!

And her awesome kitchen! Her ceilings are cement too – how cool is that?!

She had tickets to a fundraiser for a nonprofit called Between Friends – an organization to help women get out of domestic violence situations. Sarah interned there during college and has been associated with it ever since. Not only do they empower women from getting out of those relationships, they also help you figure out the financial side of the situation – so many women think that they have no choice BUT to stay in a relationship for fear of not being able to make ends meet.

There were small plate bites – this was hands down the best thing I ate – puffed Parmesan sitting on cheese fondue, sprinkled with more Parmesan cheese, chopped chives and a drizzle of olive oil – swoon!

This was from joe’s Imports – a restaurant in the West Loop. I cannot wait to go to their restaurant and try more of their dishes. You can check them out here.

This was another delicious plate of food – it was all vegan – they had this madras cauliflower that I can’t wait to recreate – and the potato and tumeric samosas were so good – I am going to try to recreate those in my air fryer.