Good Local Eats.

So even though I try to eat healthy -- especially now with the limitations that I've set on myself -- I find that I still struggle to cook at home on the regular. It's a combination of procrastinating, being too busy and being unimaginative, with a twist of laziness. We're forever buying food at the grocery store and then letting it go bad in the fridge for all of the above reasons. So we've recently decided that we'd rather just eat out for most of our meals and support local businesses. The beau could eat fast food or Thai every night if I'd let him, but neither of those really meet up to my standards at the moment -- so we've had to branch out a bit. Here's a few of my great lunch finds this week.

Herbed Couscous.

Silly Goose -- in East Nashville on Eastland Avenue. I'd gone in here once before back when I was eating meat and had a fantastic sandwich from what I can remember. Unfortunately the beau and I had the kiddo and it was lunch time, so everything seems a blur during that meal. So I decided to pop in there on Tuesday by myself and enjoy something yummy in peace and quiet. The atmosphere of this place is great and I was lucky to find myself a seat at the bar where I had a good view of the hustle and bustle from the kitchen. The menu is so creative and they're very laid back when it comes to substitutions for vegans/vegetarians. I decided to grab a Albert Prince salad and a side of herbed couscous.

Organic Quinoa, Sweet Potatoes, Black Beans, Spice Pepitas, Tomatillos,
Manchego, Caramelized Orange Vinaigrette

Was certainly a great combination of flavors -- served cold with greens on the side. The orange vinaigrette was surprisingly very strong, but was complimented by the rest of the mixture. Oh, and there was some sort of white cheese on top that was really good with the avocado and the pepitas (pumpkin seeds). The whole thing was just delightful! I love that Silly Goose also tries to use as many local ingredients and businesses as they can too.

Pita Pit -- located Downtown across from Wild Horse Saloon, open till 3am most nights. This has long been one of my favorite places to hit up after a long night on the town and occasionally to have a quick lunch if I can find metered parking. I drove by this week and sure enough, there was a spot, so I stopped. My go to pita has always been the gyro, but since I'm not doing any meat at the moment, I opted for a Spicy Black Bean Patty on a whole wheat pita. My favorite part of the whole experience is the topping choices -- think Subway but with way more selection! They make a 'pocket' with the pita, stuff all your toppings inside and then close it and wrap it up like a burrito. I went with some hummus, black olives, corn, lettuce, feta cheese, mushrooms and a combination of spicy sauces. It was fabulous, picture doesn't do it justice!

What are some of your favorite healthy eats around town?