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Healthy pizza

Made the best dinner I made in a long time last night. Lamb and feta pita pizza, which I found on Self.com. I'm not a terribly big fan of lamb - there's something about the smell of it cooked that doesn't sit well with me but it recipe calls for various other mixed ingredients that made it fine for me.

The key I thought was the pita bread. I forgot how baked pita is but the the pizza makes it difficult to cut so use a sharp knife.

8 oz of lean ground lamb
1 small onion, chopped
3 medium plum tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
salt, pepper to taste
olive oil to brush over pita
crumbled feta

Preheat oven at 400 degrees.

Cook the lamb and onions over medium-high heat, using your spatula to break up the meat. It gets extremely greasy so transfer meat and onion lined with a paper towel to drain the fat. Wipe pan clean with paper towel and return the meat and onion back to the pan.

Add tomatoes and then stir in parsley until they soften.

Divide mixture over a pita bread brushed with olive oil and top it off with feta. Not a big feta fan either so I just sprinkled about two handfuls on top. Bake for about 10-12 minutes. I wanted mine a bit more crispy so I left it in the oven for another minute or so.

The recipe is good because nothing is overpowering. The tomatoes, onion, cheese and lamb all work well together. I didn't add any pepper or cinnamon like the original recipe calls for. I don't think I would like it with either of those but I might try that next time.

Another good thing for me is that there's enough leftovers for two more pizzas.

A little piece of home

One of my New Year's resolutions is to learn how to cook Korean food. When I'm away from home, I never eat it. Very occasionally will I even go to a restaurant to eat Korean food. It all just seemed too complicated for me, and I was positive that nothing would come out like home cookin' so I avoided it for about ... four years, since I stopped living in the dorms. (I don't even have a rice cooker).

I'm going to be realistic and start slow. When I was home for Christmas, I went to a Korean market and bought a vegetable pancake mix and made it the other day to much success. Tasted just like the ones we'd order at a restaurant. All it says is "vegetable pancake mix." It was only $1.99 - well worth the price.

1. Take 1 cup of the mix, 1 cup water and mix in a bowl until it's smooth.

2. Next step is the best part because it's so flexible: Chop bite-sized pieces of whatever meats or vegetables you'd like.

I didn't have much in the fridge the day I made this, so all I added were green onions and shrimp. Even though it's called "vegetable pancake mix," you can add whatever. I'm going to also try it with zucchini, and I even made it the other day with nothing added.

With frozen shrimp, you can quickly thaw it by running it under cold water for about 3 minutes.

(I think the shadow is me taking the photo with my iPhone ... )

3. Add the bite-sized pieces to your mix, stir a couple times and pour into an oiled pan.

4. Fry each side for about 2-3 minutes. I like mine a bit more crispy so I let it brown a little bit. After it's done, use the spatula to cut it into quarters.

In the restaurant, they serve it as an appetizer with soy sauce but I didn't have any. Eating it plain was just fine for me.

Smorgasboard

What happens when your first meal of the day, after a fun-filled New Year's Eve, isn't until 3 p.m. because of a two-hour wait for the valet at the hotel you were staying at?

Food everywhere. This photo does not include another plate of toast and an order of banana pancakes.

Late lunch

I love being able to introduce a new restaurant or a place I like to someone, to be able to share in the experience of what I know and like.

Travis was visiting for the holidays, and we went to one of my new favorite spots in Lansing, MBC or the Michigan Brewery Company.

Quick background on MBC: Based out of Webberville, which is where all the brewing is done. They transport all the beer to Lansing to sell from there. They carry Kid Rock's Bad Ass Beer, which I haven't tried and won't because everyone says it's bad. All of their sandwiches and burgers come on a pretzel bun (which is to die for) and are served with choice of pub fries, waffle fries and my favorite, sweet potato fries.

During today's visit (which we went for a late lunch only since I had to go to work after and Travis doesn't like beer) I had the giant, messy Bobby's Brew House BBQ Burger, with cheddar, BBQ sauce and bacon. I saw a little pink in my meat even though I asked for it be cooked well, but I didn't notice it or anything. It really is a mess to eat as with every bite, there's sauce coming out of every which way. Check out this baby.

Travis ordered the Olive Burger, which is topped with MBC's own olive sauce and he had it with waffle fries.

I also recommend the Sandpiper, which is ham, coleslaw and swiss cheese, or the Twisted Turkey, with smoked turkey breast, bacon, mild cheddar, tomato, onion and mayo.

MBC is a hotspot during the lunch hour rush and once all the state workers are out of work. When we went around 3, there were two other people in the entire place besides us. It's not the biggest of restaurants, although they did add more tables from my very first visit there, so if you go, it's probably best to go when it's not as busy.

Check out the Lansing State Journal's review of the place.

Holiday wine party

A week ago, I hosted a pretty successful (at least in my opinion) wine and cheese party, the first party I have thrown that wasn't just a hangout to drink or even do power hour. We were dressed up, I received an awesome hostess gift (thanks, Jenny) and everything felt very adult-like.

That's the setup before most of the people arrived. There were 12 of us, 10 bottles of wine, 3 bottles of champagne and 2 Boones Farms, which were chugged by Aaron and Feeny after our gift exchange. (Aaron won). The cheeses that were served were year-old cheddar, brie and Mandola, this Spanish-type of cheese that's a lot lighter than I expected it to be. It's a Michigan-made cheese and the guy at Goodrich's recommended it.

Here's a few things I learned throughout the whole process of preparing for this party:

- I read this somewhere online and it turned out to be true: People aren't going to chow down on cheese like they would chips or something else. I feel like it's more for soaking up the taste of the wine as you try more than one. I thought I wouldn't have enough cheese but there was so much left over.

- You can't really see it but I used placecards to label what kind of cheeses there were and looked online to see which types of wines were best paired with that type of cheese. But it was still fun to taste test everything and figure out which cheeses worked with which wine.

- I was a little iffy on the grapes at first. Because wine: made with grapes, obviously, and I didn't want it to be grape overload. But no one mentioned it and it didn't feel like that at all so that was fine.

- I accidentally threw out the box of toothpicks I bought that I wanted to stick in the cheese. I am not going to forget that next time.

Laura brought this Riesling that was the hit of the night. She said she bought it for the really cool-looking bottle (the main image is different.)

Another one I really liked was the Pinot Grigio. Yes, I'm a white wine drinker although I like some semi-dry reds.

I also have to mention these amazing prosciutto-wrapped melon balls that Angela made. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of it!

Controlling indulges

It's difficult to control what you eat when there's always people bringing in treats at work. Last week there were Burbon balls, oatmeal cookies and cake. It's so difficult to avoid these treats when everyone is having them. This isn't an issue just around the holidays; it happens year round

Thankfully, I work nights and someone if someone on the day side brings in treats, for example the oatmeal cookies last week, by the time I come in, there's one or two left. If I can't resist it, at least I know that having one is better than say, having three.

I've realized that I'm not into trying to avoid the foods I want to eat. Because if I'm actively telling myself "don't eat this, it's unhealthy for you" I want it more and it sounds more appealing. I also don't try to make myself feel guilty after eating it. What's the point of beating yourself up and making yourself feel worse?

What I do is take that treat but make sure it's just one. I try to eat bits and pieces of it instead of all at once. That way, it feels like I'm "eating more," instead of actually eating more. Then I make to get up from my desk. Sometimes, you're so focused on your work that you forget to just get up and walk around. Doing that a few times during the night will go a long way than if you don't.