Monday, May 29, 2017

Make This!!


 
Lentil Patties
 
 
 
These are so delicious! Make them for Meatless Monday or for lunches this week.
 
Lentil Patties adapted slightly from Mommy's Home Cooking
 
1 cup cooked lentils (I used Spanish Pardina from Palouse Brand)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used 1/2 cup sliced green onions)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 pinch cayenne pepper
salt to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 T olive oil
1 tsp cumin (I added this)
 
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Place half of the mixture into a food processor and pulse until a paste is formed. Add the paste back to the lentil mixture. Grease a cookie sheet with coconut oil. Using a 1/3 measuring cup, scoop out the mixture and place on the cookie sheet.  Preheat the oven to 425*. Bake the lentil patties for 10-12 minutes and flip over. Bake for another 10-12 minutes.
 
To cook the lentils, place them in a saucepan and cover with one inch of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain.

Disneyworld!!

Omid had to attend a conference at Disneyworld for work last week, so naturally, I had to go too! Nas flew up from Miami to visit the parks with me while Omid was working.
Bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 6 a.m. flight!

We didn't see ONE alligator...and I'm okay with that!

Mickey Mouse Cappuccino!
We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort. It was beautiful and I highly recommend it.

Mouseketeers!

We had dinner at the Disney Springs shopping center and dessert at Sprinkles. They have a cupcake ATM!

Since Naseem loves Coca Cola so much, we stopped at the Coca Cola beverage bar at Disney Springs and tried their international menu ($8). It was mostly gross (to my tastebuds), but there were a few fun Coke flavors from around the world.
The next day, Omid headed off to his conference and Nas and I ventured over to Epcot. We saw Mary Poppins after just a few minutes at the park. She was very polite and proper!
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Whenever I travel, I always wear something WSU (tshirt, jacket or visor). I didn't get one 'Go Cougs' on this trip. I did see a teenager wearing a WSU lanyard (in front of us in line for Mary Poppins). I was so excited, tapped her on the shoulder and said, "GO COUGS!" She gave me a weird look, and said, "My dad went there." Oh my gosh - I was sad that she never learned that when an excited fan says "Go Cougs!" to you, you are supposed to say that back! I can, however, rest easy knowing that both of our kids know that rule. #diehardcoug

Have you seen the new Beauty and the Beast movie yet? It's soooooo goooood!

The line to get a photo with Belle had a cap on it (we were to late too stand in line), so we headed over to Morocco and got our photo with Princess Jasmine instead!

After six visits to Disney parks, I finally got a photo with Donald Duck in Mexico (my favorite character!).
He kissed both Nas and I on the lips and made a big smooching sound while do so. We also got hugs!

Mickey Mouse waffles for breakfast!

The next morning, we zoomed over to Magic Kingdom and got there before it opened. Our mission was to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain before the wait times got too long.

We were so serious about our mission that on our way to BTMR, a Disney employee stopped us and said, "Excuse me ladies. You dropped something." Naseem and I both looked down to see what we dropped then looked back up at the man with strange looks, because we hadn't dropped anything. He said, "You dropped your smiles!" Then we burst out laughing, because, we had indeed dropped our smiles! We collected our smiles and made it to BMTR with no line. #success

No trip to Disney is complete without Dole Whips and icy cold pineapple juice!

After our exhausting day at Magic Kingdom, we met up with Omid again for dinner. We went to a delicious Cuban restaurant for dessert (again at Disney Springs) called Bongos. so Nas could get her churros. Churros are everywhere at Disneyland, but we couldn't find one churro stand at Magic Kingdom in FL.   The churros at Bongos were delicious and came with three dipping sauces: chocolate, raspeberry and condensed milk.
Not only could we not find churros at Magic Kingdom, but we couldn't find beignets! Again, that must be a Disneyland thing. We were very sad about that.  At least we found our Dole Whip. If that had been missing from the park, there would have been trouble!!

Nas had to leave to go to work on Wednesday evening, so we crammed Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom in to 4.5 hours. To do this, we only rode two rides at each park. Tower of Terror (the best!!!) and Rocking Rollercoaster at HS. I was SO happy to hear that Disney kept ToT at HS in Florida. The ride at California Adventure is the only one that will be changed to Guardians of the  Galaxy.
We received a free Fast Pass+ from one of our hotel employees, so used that to ride Rocking  Rollercoaster, then went back into the single rider line for another go. We ran back to ToT, then had to book it to Animal Kingdom.
Tree of Life
We were so excited to ride the Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom and it did not disappoint!. The last time we visited AK, it was being built. Definitely worth a Fast Pass+ (next time!)., We could only ride it once, as we had to wait about 55 minutes to ride it the first time. The next ride was the very cool Kilamanjaro Safaris. A 22 minute ride in a big truck seeing animals. I loved that! Then we walked through the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and saw this sad looking guy.
 
After that quick walk, we had to leave the park so Naseem could catch her flight back to Miami.

Quick selfie before her flight
Omid and I left the next day. But I did have time for one more Mickey cappuccino!
 
At the airport, we tried conch hush puppies. Very tasty! Conch tasted just like clams.

I spied this fun poster right outside the food court at the airport.

Our trip was so much fun and the only thing missing was Matty. He had to work. :(