Recipe: Baked Falafel

This was my first time trying this recipe. It appealed to me because as much as I love falafel, I try to avoid fried food (it doesn't really agree with me). When I found this recipe online, I decided to give it a shot. Honestly, I wasn't impressed. I thought it was bland, and you still have to fry it in olive oil before baking it.

I will try making this again, but make the following changes:
1. I will add more spices to it. Maybe turmeric? It was definitely missing something.
2. I will skip frying them altogether and place them on a baking sheet greased with cooking spray and bake for 20 minutes.

I am going to post the recipe and directions I used this time around in this post. Next time I make these, I will post my alterations with the results.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions:
Place garbanzo beans, parsley, garlic, cumin, salt, and baking soda in a food processor. Process until the mixture is coarsely pureed. Mix garbanzo bean mixture and onion together in a bowl. Stir in the floor and egg. Shape mixture into four large patties and let stand for 15 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Heat olive oil in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Place the patties in the skillet; cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side.
Transfer skillet to the preheated oven and bake until heated through, about 10 minutes.

serves 2

I ate these with roasted red pepper hummus, which was good (would have been better if the falafel wasn't so bland, though).

I'm taking a trip to Growing Power to deliver a thank you card and pick up some more fruit this afternoon, so I'm pumped about that!

herb garden update

after a good amount of internal debate and speaking to a friend of mine who is a self-proclaimed "amateur indoor gardener," I decided to start from scratch with the cilantro and dill plants. Only one of the basil plants was thriving, so I put in an actual pot with some miracle-gro indoor potting soil that claims to specialize in moisture control. I sure hope this is true, because I worry that I committed the crime of over-watering it already.

When I bought the pot and soil at the hardware store, I purchased replacement pods for my indoor greenhouse so I could start over with the dill and cilantro. I'm very glad that I hung onto the seed packets! Hopefully they'll start sprouting in a few days.

some pictures from my adventures with indoor gardening:

the basil after being repotted. I'm crossing my fingers for this little guy!


just call me farmer sarah, and ignore my messy apartment in the process

Recipe: Sweet Potato Burrito

As you can see in this photo, I sort of failed at wrapping this as a burrito...I think I put too much cheese in it. No big deal, though...I just ate like a tostada instead! I made sure to put less cheese in the others that I made, and that definitely made a difference.

The great thing about this recipe is you can make a bunch of them and freeze them to use for future lunches/dinners, which is exactly what I'm doing. I cut the recipe down to make four of them (I only had enough sweet potatoes to make four) and froze three of them for the rest of this week/early next week. A warning: these burritos are SPICY. To make them milder, I suggest cutting down on the chili powder. I don't mind spice in the least bit, so I kept the recipe as-is when I made them.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups canned kidney beans, drained
2 cups water
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons prepared mustard (I used dijon)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
3. Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.

to make this recipe a little healthier, I did the following:
1. I rinsed the kidney beans after draining them. According to research that I've done online, rinsing canned beans for 30-45 seconds can reduce the sodium in canned beans by 35%-40%. It was my original intention to use dry kidney beans, but I didn't realize how long I needed to soak/cook them, so I ran out and bought a can of kidney beans at the deli around the corner and donated the bag of beans that I bought to the food drive at my school.
2. I use low-sodium soy sauce instead of the regular kind. I can't taste the difference, and I figure there's no reason not to go with this option.
3. I use Tumaro's low-carb multigrain tortillas. They are delicious and healthier than most white flour tortillas found at major grocery stores.
4. I opted for reduced fat cheddar cheese made with 2% milk instead of the kind made with whole milk. However, these burritos would probably just as good without cheese, which I might try next time I make these.

Confessions

Ok, it's time for me to come clean...I did not cook for myself last night like I had originally planned. I did not get home until 7:45 last night, and the last thing I wanted to do after being away from my apartment for over 12 hours was cook. I reached for my stash of frozen food that I keep for emergencies and had a Quorn Chik'n Patty. And you know what? It was delicious. I felt no shame in ignoring the half a cooked sweet potato I have sitting in my fridge and microwaving an industrial meatless product instead of making sweet potato burritos from scratch.

The fact of the matter is that I'm only human and can recognize this.

Does this mean I've failed in any way? absolutely not. my logic is that as long as I reach for my emergency stash of veggie burgers/quorn products on emergency situations only instead of a regular basis, it's ok. I work longer hours than any teacher at this school, and they never cook as often as I do.

Actually, this might work out in my favor. The potluck lunch originally scheduled for this friday was canceled, so this means I can just readjust my food schedule a little bit.

I will be making those burritos tonight, and will be sure to post the recipe and pictures tomorrow!

Recipe: Almond Strawberry Salad

Sorry for the poor photo quality...I took the picture with my phone in the dark staff lounge. I managed to brighten it a little bit on photobucket, though.

I made this as part of a dinner for me and a friend on saturday night and it turned out incredible. I threw in a granny smith apple when I made it on saturday, but this time I threw in half a kiwi (both of these fruits were purchased at growing power). I will not be including these additions in the recipe, but both times turned out successfully!

Ingredients:
3 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/4 cup blanched slivered almonds
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp sugar

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds.
In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the vinegar, honey and sugar; shake well. Drizzle over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

serves four

weekly food shop

I know, I know, I skipped a day...sue me. I took the praxis in french content knowledge, which was painful. that's my excuse. I also went a little nuts at whole foods this week and bought things that weren't on my list (they had a sale on my favorite brand of meat replacement)

anywho, here's my food shopping for the week:

whole foods
quorn chikn patties
quorn chikn nuggets
365 organic spinach ravioli
0.6 pounds of sesame seeds
nature's path chocolate coconut granola bars
nature's path maple pecan granola bars
total: $20.84

metro market:
organic spinach
1 bag of clementines
1 onion
1 bunch of parsley
blueberries
100 calorie packs goldfish
jello pudding sugar free 60 calorie pudding cups
atheno's red pepper hummus
thomas' light english muffins
1 can garbanzo beans
1 package kidney beans
total: $34.55

I also bought some strawberries, sweet potatoes, and coffee at trader joe's but lost the receipt. I think the total was around $15.

I did spend more than I normally do this week, but for a valid reason: on saturday I made dinner for myself and a friend, so I had to buy ingredients for that. I made spinach ravioli with a sweet potato sauce and almond strawberry salad. There were some leftover strawberries, so we dipped those in melted chocolate for dessert. The results were yummy. I've posted the salad recipe already, but I will share the pasta recipe if people want me to (anyone? anyone? bueller?) Shoot me a comment if you're interested!

upcoming recipes include burritos and falafel!

herb garden update

those of you who know me well are aware of my black thumb when it comes to gardening, due to my tendency to over-water plants. in the past, the only plant that has thrived under my care was a bamboo plant. so this time, I fought my urges to water my herb garden multiple times. I also took them out of the indoor greenhouse and placed them on my windowsill.

big mistake.

i think i may have ignored the plants to death. I'm doing what i can to monitor them and make sure they're getting enough water, but i feel like the sudden drop in temperature mixed with the crack in my window may have sealed the deal for their fate. I'm thinking I may start over from scratch with a different approach-actual potted herbs instead of the indoor herb garden may be more beneficial for the plants, especially when i noticed that the roots were sticking out from the planting pods. I'm thinking I may take a trip to the hardware store this afternoon.