This series is about how to use one pot or one crock-pot full or beans to make great meals for the remainder of the work week. Here are 5 recipes for adding garbanzo beans to your dinners.

We dined out in Nashville at The Wild Cow, a vegetarian restaurant that came well recommended. Crazy name aside, this restaurant has a pretty good menu and a decent steady flow of patrons. We had quite a hard time choosing items from the two page menu. There's also a great kid's menu that I kind of wanted to order off of myself.

Our first night eating local started off pleasantly in at a great little restaurant on Orange Ave. in downtown Orlando. Virgin Olive Market used to be on Clay, and I think the change in location surely must have increased its exposure. There was a nice, steady stream of customers during our entire dining experience. Virgin Olive makes the grade in a couple of areas. First, it is a fast, very friendly, and significantly cheaper restaurant than the two restaurants it's sandwiched in between.

While out with my mom one Friday, we stopped at a bookstore and ran into our pastor's wife. She asked us if we wanted to join her for lunch and recommended a health-food store like Whole Foods called Chamberlin's. I'd never been there before, but I once heard a patient rave about their yogurt. I was excited to give it a shot, but was saddened to learn that they no longer offered frozen yogurt.

After my first ultrasound, we headed over to Park Ave. in Winter Park for a lunch. I knew immediately I wanted Powerhouse Cafe. On a hot midday in the scorching Orlando summer, I wanted the coolness of a cold sandwich and a smoothie. Not to mention, frozen fruit in general makes me very happy right now.

This is a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant with a Mediterranean food store attached. It has a Greek menu and has been voted Orlando's Best for a few years, with framed advertisements above the cash register. However, when you look at the plastic table covers with pictures of different kinds of pasta and the "silk" leaves and plastic grape clusters hanging from the ceiling, you might get slightly confused. Paul had a falafel sandwich in a great thick bread wrap. I had the hummus and tabouleh sandwich. Both had lettuce and tomato added with a creamy cucumber dressing coating every bite.

Chicken Noodle Soup has always been a favorite to me. My mom has had this recipe forever and when my grandmother had a day care center, she cooked it for the kids. And the moms could never understand why their kids refused to eat the soup they warmed from a jar. Those were good memories.

Not much surprise, here. The food was awesome. I have to say I liked my wrap better than Paul's black bean burger, but I'm sure it's just cause black beans aren't my favorite. I do love sprouts and although the menu said sprouts came on the sandwich, I was unlucky to visit on a day when they were out of sprouts. But don't complain yet. These people pride themselves on freshness. So, who am I to complain about not getting sprouts when it's better than getting nasty sprouts?