Back in February, I had the chance to attend the inaugural Chicago Black Restaurant Week here in the Windy City! CBRW was designed to create a platform for African American Owned Eateries (in the Chicagoland area and surrounding suburbs) to be recognized and patronized.

*disclaimer: The measurements in each of these recipe's are approximate and not exact. I usually kind of eyeball these ingredients for an ideal consistency, so feel free to play around with the amounts, according to your liking. Have fun! :)

"Kind-Of Frittata"

I got this recipe from Stephanie of the The Fashion Citizen and I love it. This frittata is much more flat than an average one and is really good for one or two people. And it's quick and easy to make!

All you need is some veggies (your choice. I usually do spinach, tomatoes, garlic, and onions (and sometimes mushroom if I have it). Seriously, whatever you prefer or whatever you have in your fridge can work for this. And you'll also need eggs. When its just me, I usually only add 2-3 eggs. When my partner comes over, I do 4-5 eggs for a nice, filling frittata for two.

Step 1: In a medium sized skillet, sautee your garlic and onions first. Use whatever oil (or butter, if you prefer). I usually go with olive oil. Also, go ahead and turn on your oven to 350 degrees so it can warm up for later.
Step 2: Then throw in your spinach & tomatoes and let that cook down. Go ahead whip your eggs while you're waiting, just as you would for scrambled eggs.
*All together, step one and two should take only about 5 minutes on a medium heat.
Step 3: Then, I advise you to lower the heat a bit and add your eggs.
Step 4: Let it cook for about 3 minutes.
Step 5: Remove it from the heat. The eggs will still be runny on top at this point. Place your skillet into the oven at 350 degrees for about 4-5 minutes to finish cooking. I also may add some shredded cheese on top at this point to melt in the oven.
Step 6: Take the skillet out of the oven, let the frittata cool for about a minute. If you oiled your pan properly, it should slide out easily onto a plate. Then you can cut it up and dish it out. Add some fruit or veggies on the side and enjoy!

"Chia Seed Pudding"

I love making this super simple pudding in the morning for breakfast or for a snack in the middle of the day! All you need is chia seeds, water, Greek Yogurt (plain), honey, and fruit of your choice. This is soooo easy to make so let's get started!

Step 1: The night before, you'll want to grab a glass and put two tablespoons of chia seeds into it. Next, add about 5 ounces of water. Leave it in your fridge overnight so that the seeds can expand into a gelatin.
*A lot of people recommend adding 6-8 ounces, but honestly, I find that less water gives me that gelatinous texture that I want from a chia seed pudding.
*Also, if you don't know about the health benefits of chia, read about it here. It definitely has helped with my digestive system, so I love to eat it!
Step 2: In the morning, grab your chia out of the fridge. You should have a jello-like substance after it soaks! Put it into a bowl, add a tablespoon (or two) of Greek Yogurt. You don't need much, this just adds some more texture to the pudding.
Step 3: Add a drizzle of honey, no more than a tablespoon I'd say. I generally do less than that, but I eyeball it.
Step 4: Stir it up! Mix it all together.
Step 5: Cut up your fruit. I usually choose strawberries.
Step 6: Add it on top and enjoy!!

This is seriously such a simple, yet delicious healthy breakfast that is also quite filling.

Bonus: if you want you can throw that entire mixture into the blender for a delicious chia seed smoothie, as well!


Both options are so yummy. I recommend trying both on different days :)

"Green Juice"

Speaking of smoothies, I love making these to go along with my breakfast. I try different kinds of recipes, but lately this has been my go-to:

(This creates about 2-3 servings)
*The key to making this smoothie work is to blend, blend, blend. And blend again! I usually blend each layer well before adding the next layer. To make this a bit easier to follow, I've listed the ingredients in blending steps:

1 cup of water (or more, depending on your blender size)
1 chopped banana
*blend*
3 whole strawberries (frozen)
*blend*
1/2 cup of flax seed
*blend, blend, blend*
2 cups of spinach and/or kale
1/2 cup of Greek yogurt (plain)
1 tbsp of honey
*blend, blend, blend*
A few ice cubes
*blend*

I let it sit in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. Usually I'll make coffee or breakfast during this time. This may seem like an odd step, but it really does create a wonderful texture for my smoothies. And it allows the flavors to really marinate.

Remove from the freezer, blend it a little once more. Pour and enjoy!
*If you don't want to put your actual blender container into the freezer, you can pour the smoothie into a separate container or freezer bag when placing. Or if you do put your blender container in the freezer, I recommend you let it sit for a minute or so at room temp before blending again.

"Egg & Kale Wraps"

Last but not least, here is my last quick and easy breakfast idea!

Items needed:
Kale
2-4 eggs (based on 1 or 2 people)
Cheese
Salt & pepper
Sriracha (or any kind of hot sauce you may like)
Whole wheat tortillas

You'll want to have 2 pans going for this. One to scramble your eggs and the other to toast your tortillas.

Step 1: Scramble your eggs. I do two at a time.
Step 2: In a hot pan, place one tortilla down and toast on one side for about a minute. Flip it and add a slice of cheese and cover for another minute or so until the cheese is slightly melted. Do this for each tortilla.
Step 3: As you remove each tortilla, add an egg on top of the melted cheese. Salt & pepper to taste. Add kale and a drizzle of sriracha.
Step 4: Wrap the tortilla like a burrito (No worries on perfection here, however you can eat it, wrap it.)
Step 5: Dish it up with some chia seed pudding and green juice, add some sliced veggies and enjoy!

This is the most filling of all the meals listed. Seriously, whenever I eat these wraps, I'm full for a few hours. Especially when I add in the chia and green juice, I don't need to eat again until dinner!

That's it my friends! I am by no means a chef, but I hope this helps. Stay tuned for the lunch and dinner editions of Good Eats at home!

xoxo,
Pam

Breakfast

Honey strawberry Greek yogurt, granola, strawberries & kiwi with a drizzle of honey. Plus a chai tea!

Scrambled eggs with spinach & sriracha, sausages, toast, and a mimosa!

Lunch

Spinach & kale, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and meatballs. I don't usually have tea with lunch, but this day I did. It's lemon zinger tea.

Spinach & kale, tomatoes, and chicken sausage.

Dinner

Butter chicken, steamed rice, with baked pita bread. And also, for whatever reason, I'm having iced tea. I promise I don't always drink tea lollllll.

Chicken apple sausage, baked brussell sprouts (with olive oil, salt & pepper), and a baked sweet potato.

Welcome to Blogmas!!

I am very excited to be doing 5 Days of Blogmas all the way through Christmas Eve. I'm gonna share with you guys some of the things I love, starting with another installment of places!

Places #2 - Christkindl Market

Every year in Chicago, a wonderful open-air market inspired by the Christkindlesmarkt in Germany (which dates back to the 16th century!) takes place in Chicago. The Daley Plaza is set up like a little European village in the winter with international and local food, drinks, trinkets, and more.



We decided to begin our night of festivities by listening to the Christmas Carolers at Millenium Park. They put us right in the mood for Christmas cheer.




We then ventured over to Vapiano for a quick bite to eat. Vapiano is one of my all-time favorite places to grub here in Chi-Town, so perhaps I'll do a full places post on that in the future. Just know that we ate our fill of salad, pasta, and pizza before heading to the main event.

They have the yummiest mulled wine at the market! I made a beeline for this as soon as we got there.

My handsome lover, DeMico.

We love the Christkindl Market!!

Seriously...the best. And only $3 at the Market!!

I absolutely love the Christkindl Market and I've been every year since I've been living in Chicago. If you haven't been yet this year, it closes on Christmas Eve at 8 p.m. Get there!!

Since we were in such good cheer, we decided to see Krampus to end our night of Christmas festivities.

Our before-the-movie scared faces lol

I gotta say - while I'm not into scary movies, this movie was awesome! It was mostly funny rather than terrifying though, so that's why I loved it. DeMico and I plan to show this to our kids someday lol. Go see it!

That's it! Happy Blogmas Day 1!!

xo

Places #1 - "Chill Bubble Tea"

First thing that caught my eye: the decor. The wallpaper was a beautiful pastel color with words serving as the design - "peace" "chill"  "drink"  "think" all added to the atmosphere.

But I was mostly obsessed with their swing seats! Yes, these swings are there for your sitting enjoyment. They don't swing back and forth, but how cool is this? And there are flowers in the handles. I was in love!

I went for a dark blue smoky eye look. I'm no makeup guru, so I was quite pleased with how this turned out.

I also added a slight cat eye to complete the eyes and plum lips. This was a great fall combo!

OOTD: Denim - thrifted Crop Top - Wet Seal Leggings - Local Boutique Purse - Target (super old)

And I just had to add this one in because I look like a 90's dream! lol