Brooklyn Bowl Menu Selection

This post was originally published as Brooklyn Bowl by Laurel on Health Food.

I went bowling with a bunch of friends last weekend at Brooklyn Bowl. My boyfriend and I showed up starving, so we went straight for the menu and ordered some food. I was pleasantly surprised at the menu selection, including lots of veggie options for me. I chose the “Veggie Buster” sandwich and found out that the name really holds up.

It was a HUGE sandwich with fresh mozzarella cheese and every roasted vegetable I could think of including arugula, tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, artichoke, onion, red pepper, and more. I only ate a little bit of the cheese, but gobbled up all the veggies. I don’t know if the picture does it justice, but it was so huge that I only ate half of the sandwich and the nice fresh greens salad served on the side. I took the rest home for leftovers. Everyone who walked by was like, “Daaaaang that is a big sandwich….looks good.”

What a nice surprise from a bowling alley! Brooklyn Bowl really is a huge step up from the rest. Our server took good care of us all night and even brought our bowling shoes over for us so we didn’t have to stand in line, haha.

Great stew by Laurel on Health Food

This post was originally published as Curry-Spiced Lentil Stew by Laurel on Health Food.

I’ve been meaning to post these pictures of a lentil stew I made a few weeks ago. It was a quick crock-pot meal that I threw together before dance class. I let all the ingredients simmer in there for about 5 or 6 hours and was happy to have a hot stew waiting for me when I got home. Yes, here in NY it was and is still cold at night, so I eat soups and stews even at this time of year. This stew is great with a piece of toasted whole grain bread or a scoop of quinoa and a side of green veggies.

Curry-Spiced Lentil Stew

For the stew:
2 cups dried green or red lentils
1 large can diced tomatoes (28 oz.)
6 cups vegetable stock
1 large yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp. curry powder
1 bay leaf

For garnish:
Fresh cilantro
Plain coconut milk yogurt

Chop up the yellow onion (diced) and garlic cloves (minced) and put them in a sauté pan with the coconut oil. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. Remove pan from the heat and scoop all the garlic and onions into a crock pot. Add the vegetable stock, coconut milk, lentils, tomatoes with their juice, curry powder, bay leaf, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Stir well. Turn the crock pot up to high heat and cook for at least 4 hours until the lentils are tender. Check the crock pot periodically to make sure you have enough liquid. If it looks too thick towards the end, pour in some extra vegetable stock or water and stir. Serve warm with a scoop of coconut milk yogurt and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro on top.

Veggie Burger at 5 Napkin Burger

This post was originally published as Veggie Burger at 5 Napkin Burger by Laurel on Health Food.

I spent most of Memorial Day working, cleaning, and packing for my vacation in Trinidad. Yay! After I was done with chores and my workout, I decided to squeeze in a little fun for the holiday. So I headed over to 5 Napkin Burger for an early dinner.
I ordered the veggie burger off the menu and really wasn’t expecting anything great. I mean I was ordering a veggie burger at a place that’s primarily known for meat. To my surprise, it was delicious and anything but ordinary. The veggie patty was clearly made by the restaurant (not a frozen Morning Star variety). After a little Google searching, I read that 5 Napkin makes it out of brown rice, barley, black beans, sesame seeds, carrots, jalapeños, and beets. The beets and carrots give it a bright red color and make it a little sweet. It’s topped with bread and butter pickles, lettuce, tomato, 5 napkin’s signature sauce, and is served on a big multi-grain roll. Yum!

My favorite part of the burger is the big stack of sweet pickles. They made the sandwich so juicy! I washed it down with a Corona and was properly stuffed. My thoughts? I would definitely order this again. In fact, I’ll probably go out of my way to stop at 5 Napkin Burger when I’m craving a good sandwich.