Falafel and Berry Cheese Muffins

After my busy week last week I decided that I was going to take an afternoon off this week and you better believe that I planned my time off around the weather forecast so I could enjoy the nicest day possible!

Unfortunately I felt like I spent a better part of the afternoon in the car, but that’s just what happens to me…I have delicious visions of driving into Boston or Cambridge for an extra special lunch, then hit traffic, can’t find parking, and decide to abort the mission.

Oh well, I was still headed in the right direction to hit up my FAVORITE market around: Russo's!

After stocking up on produce (and their seafood salad), I headed home (well I may have made a stop at Whole Foods as well to get some other things).

I knew 2 things: I wanted to run and I wanted to cook dinner and bake something!

I was planning to make the following:

Cooking Light’s – Falafel with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

And a muffin based off this recipe for muffins with a GOAT CHEESE filling!

Before my run I whipped up the cucumber yogurt sauce so it would have time to sit and get more flavorful! My old roommate made these falafel’s for me once and I just remember them being delicious, especially this yogurt sauce!

So easy and at only 8 calories per Tablespoon, you don’t have to go light on the sauce. This would make a great veggie dip too!

Just 4 ingredients:

• Red Onion
• Cucumber
• Plain Yogurt
• Lemon Juice

Then I headed out for a nice run. I did the route from my house, to the pond, around the pond, and back…about 4.8 miles :)

Felt great, I feel like I haven’t had a good outdoor run in a while. My legs are definitely feeling it now!

Then I got cranking on the falafel batter!

Once again, super easy, just throw everything into the food processor. I also added a couple cloves or garlic, but next time I’d even add more and maybe some hot sauce for more of a kick!

You then form patties and pan fry them in a little olive oil. Because I needed to make them in batches I didn’t use all the oil called for at once…added a little each time I added new batter to the pan.

The batter doesn’t stay together too well, but just enough if your delicate with them

I had a small side salad with an olive oil + lemon juice dressing, with a little extra cucumber yogurt sauce!

Great dinner! Easy, flavorful, and had leftovers…score!

then it was time to make some muffins :)

Mixed Berry Goat Cheese Muffins!

Like I said before I used Lauren’s recipe for Maple Cranberry Goat Cheese Muffins and the Eating Well recipe that initially inspired her!

My alterations:

• My goat cheese filling was a mixture of plain goat cheese + approx. 1T honey + 1/4 tsp almond extract
• I used Lauren’s muffin base, but only added a few shakes of cinnamon
• Also used 1/4 c. maple syrup + 1/4 cup Sucanant
• Fresh black berries + strawberries as my fruit
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (I reduced the overall milk slightly because I was using fresh fruit which will at moisture anyways)
• and a little lemon zest to the batter

LOVE these! Warm from the oven the goat cheese was all gooey :) However, cooled the cheese got more crumbly than creamy…need to figure out what to do about that. Maybe a mix of goat and cream cheese.

These would be awesome as Carrot Muffins + cream cheese center!! That’s my next task ;)

Tonight

Brian and I are headed to the SlowFest in Boston. I’ve been to many beer fests with him in the past, and while I do enjoy those, I’m really excited that this one includes local food! Also, all the beers are Session Beers which means they are all less than 5% ABV… perfect for me haha.

With all that beer and food I’m in need for a good calorie burning session tomorrow. I just signed up for an Ultimate Bootcamp tomorrow morning! Perfect :) Last time I did one of these I got my butt kicked hard!