Superfast Kofte

Wednesday I left work a little early so that I could join my friend Ian for two classes at his gym. I knew before I left that it was a bad idea. I knew that I was going to fall in love with his gym, Equinox. And I knew that I would be heartbroken when I remembered that I can't pay $150 a month for a gym membership, let alone $300 if I could convince Matt joined with me. But I went anyway. *If you have time click on this link and explore the gym and the photos. You'll understand why I fell in love.*

Ian and I took Centergy, which is a "fusion of Yoga, Pilates, Dance and traditional exercise done to amazing music". After Centergy we took Power Yoga Flow with his new favorite yoga instructor. Both classes were amazing! So much fun and so much pain! Good pain.

After showering with the Kiehl's products that are stocked in the beautiful locker rooms we walked towards my home hoping to find some food on the way. When we got to the Boston Garden we decided to stop for a little pre-dinner dessert at the Frosty ice cream truck. We both got a kiddie cup of vanilla soft serve with rainbow sprinkles. Sorry the photo is blurry. I had to take an iPhone photo while walking. Doing two things at once is not my strong suit.


By the time we had walked a block I had finished my ice cream and we were standing in front of Boloco. After my sweet first course I was ready for dinner. My chicken terriyaki bowl was very satisfying with chicken, carrots, brocoli, and brown rice. Yum!

Ian and I had such a great night catching up on his trip to Africa, exercising, and eating! It couldn't have been any better. Regarding Equinox, I feel this quote summarizes my experience with this amazing gym, it's "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". Maybe someday we'll find our way back to each other?! I just need to bring home a bigger paycheck first.

Thursday night after work I picked my copy of the Superfast Kofte (Turkish meatballs) recipe from Cooking Light, March 2007. A colleague of mine is Turkish so she was more than excited to give me tips and tricks regarding kofte Thursday afternoon. When I went home I was more than prepared to make dinner! Taking the advice of my colleague I added a little minced garlic and sea salt to my yogurt which was an amazing addition to the recipe!! Dinner was delicious! I brought in the leftovers the next day for my colleague to try and she said I did great! Traditionally, kofte does not have mint or cinnamon however she enjoyed the addition of the mint but would leave the cinnamon out. She also suggested that next time I put the onion in the food processor so that it is more minced than chopped. Also, my "chopped" onions are HUGE. I think I'm going to take a knife skills course very soon!

Matt's review: I loved it! He even had seconds!
Lauren's review: This is great. Next time I make this recipe I'm going to use ground turkey instead of beef, mince the onion, will definitely keep the yogurt with the garlic and salt addition, but will also keep both the cinnamon and the mint because I liked both of the flavors in the dish.
Final decision: Keeper!


Superfast Kofte

Ingredients

1/2 cup prechopped white onion
1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pound lean ground round
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
8 (1/4-inch-thick) slices plum tomato (about 2 tomatoes)
4 (6-inch) pitas, split
1/4 cup plain yogurt *To make garlic yogurt add minced jarred garlic and salt to taste. I think I did a 1/2 t of garlic and a dash of sea salt.*

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 12 ingredients in a large bowl; stir until just combined. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions; shape each portion into a (2-inch) patty. Place patties on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Place 1 tomato slice and 1 patty in each pita half; top each half with 1 1/2 teaspoons yogurt.

Serves 4.