Falafel Fritters

I am discovering things. Obvious things, but still, new ideas to me.

The weather has been getting warmer and I am starting to notice the familiar smells of barbecue grilling. I love cookouts, but it often means that I am bringing store-bought veggie burgers to friends' and relatives' homes as they grill burgers, brauts and steaks. Over the years, I have found veggie burger brands and varieties that I enjoy, but this will never be a food that I love. I have just come to accept that being vegetarian during BBQ season means eating a veggie burger a couple times a week. (Though I have stumbled upon a few restaurants that offer "house-made" black bean burgers that are mouth-watering and craving-inducing. I also love it when people put a beautiful piece of fish on the grill - an animal I will happily consume for some inexplicable reason).

I don't know why it never occurred to me before, but it was recently brought to my attention that soy and tofu food products are highly processed - making them the opposite of a "whole food." This caused my brain to work at retraining some synapses. I've also taken for granted that tofu was healthy and an essential part of a vegetarian diet. Store-bought veggie burgers are laden with soy.

I don't think I will ever give up tofu entirely, I have grown to like it. It makes a wonderful addition to stir fries and other "tossed" dishes, but cutting back on my consumption of this "non-whole food" is definitely a summer goal. I am also on the hunt for a delicious black bean burger recipe so I can pre-make and take along homemade goodness to all the summer cook outs.

Until then, I have stumbled upon another tasty item to substitute between the burger buns. I have started calling them Falafel Fritters. This variation on Falafel is beginning to become a regular part of the dinner menu rotation. Last night, I served them with potato wedges and spinach salad. I wonder if they'd hold up on a grill?

Falafel Fritters, Cajun potato wedges, spinach salad and mango.

The recipe:
(Courtesy of my Reader's Digest The Vegetarian Cookbook)
12 oz carrots (I have no idea how much this is, I used about a 1 1/2 cups) grated or finely chopped
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 large bunch of fresh cilantro (not this time of year! I subbed in a cap full of dried parsley)
1 15 oz can chickpeas (I used dried beans. After they were soaked and boiled, I measured 2 cups)
1 1/2 t cumin
1 1/2 t coriander
1 large egg
2 T flour
oil for frying

The recipe provides specific directions on how to mix all this together. I tend to view a recipe as a basic guideline for getting started and make my own decisions from there (I also do this with the directions to board games - which drives my husband nuts). I just stuck everything in the food processor and it came out looking like this:

straight from the food processor

Then, I just formed patties and cooked for a few minutes on each side. This time we ate ours as open-faced sandwiches on the bread from a previous post. But they are also good between burger buns, flat breads and pitas!

A side note: While quite tasty, these fritters can be a bit on the dry side. Any suggestions for moistening them up (aside from melting a delicious slice of cheesy goodness over the top)?

Happy Thoughts

Currently, my delightful moment each day is noticing the progress of my seedlings: they are so stinking cute, I can hardly stand it! It looks like it might be time to re-pot as we're not quite done with  freezing temperatures at night.

And on a personal note, I'm rather proud of myself for growing these lil' guys with my reputed "black thumb" for indoor growing.

Green beans and tomatoes

peppers and peas

Tortillas

Rolling out the dough

Handmade tortillas are delicious, but seemed rather intimidating. Not long ago, I had tacos with some friends who had made their own tortillas and they insisted that it was really easy to do. Inspired by their delicious meal, I spent some time looking over recipes and I chose a simple one (ie, not many ingredients, no lard) from allrecipes.com. As simple as this recipe sounded, I was skeptical.

So I called in reinforcements...my mother.
She was, once again, up for the challenge.

a few minutes in the skillet

Turns out, the tortilla dough was very simple, but it did take a bit of work to hand roll each little flatbread. Which lead to a discussion in which we wondered what methods, tools, or appliances are used by the women who make tortillas on a daily basis.

The results were delicious. My parents, husband and I enjoyed the tortilla-feast which also included Cuban-style black beans and rice as well organically raised, seasoned ground beef for the carnivorous men. The tortillas had a wonderfully chewy texture, fresh taste and a surprising strength that store-bought tortillas seem to lack.

Served with Cuban rice and beans

Overall, a delightful meal. 

Garden Expansion

Last summer, I had a small herb garden just off my patio. This year we decided to expand. The thought process went something like this: That little patch of grass in the corner is a pain to mow, maybe we should pull up the grass and expand the garden. I have been thinking about canning my own tomato sauce...

So I took a few days of my spring break and tore up the easy to care for grass. I also brought in top soil and mulch to cover the sand that I found underneath (What am I getting myself into!?!?). As it is still too early to plant much of anything, I only put seeds for salad greens in the ground. But I do have some tomatoes, green beans and peppers starting in my window sill.

The one extra trick--outsmarting my dog! He likes to dig in the oh-so-ever-enticing mud. Hopefully covering it in chicken wire and borrowed bricks from the garden wall will do the trick!

By the way...did I mention I'm not much of a gardener, and in fact one of those pesky allergies I mention in my intro would be to dirt (What am I getting myself into!?!?)

Before: lovely, low-maintenance grass

After: Note the old garden in back left
corner & my little "helper."

A Success!

I have attempted baking homemade bread many times and have always been disappointed with the results. Too heavy, too much starter to manage, too chewy, too this, too that... I even accepted a hand-me-down bread machine in the hope that it would produce good homemade bread, it has yet to do so.

Recently, I stumbled upon Frugal Living NW  and not only a bread recipe, but a recipe for homemade "artisan" bread. And I must admit, I was skeptical--it seemed too easy. So I put it on the back burner until I had some extra time. Little did I know that time was of no concern. This really was easy and the results were fantastic. Not only was it a simple, make-it-and-forget-it recipe, but the result was home-baked heaven. The crust was perfect. Not soft or soggy or tough, but firm and well, crust-y! The inside was soft, fluffy and substantial.

The first step was to mix all the ingredients, cover and let sit for 2 hours. Easy. Make loaves and bake or refrigerate for up to three days. Done. After a good 36 hours, I took the dough out of the fridge to make my loaves...and they were tiny. Oh no--another baking attempt gone awry!!! But I went forth to see the process through. I let my loaves rest, put slits in the tops and baked at 350 for 35 minutes. What a relief I saw it through...scrumptious! A success; a quality homemade bread recipe that I don't have to slave over. The loaves did grow a bit during baking, but were still on the small side. But who cares when the results are so mouth watering!!!!

Beautiful Bread

3 tiny loaves