Falafel and tzatziki sauce

Wednesday, I got home after my zumba class and I needed to eat. I was trying to decide if I should just heat up a can of soup or go with the original plan of making falafel. I decided that I would be much happier with falafel.

This is based on the recipe from Rabbit Food cookbook, which is a fabulous cookbook.

Ingredients
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained
1/4 red onion, diced,
3 - 4 garlic, diced (I love a lot of garlic flavour)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup flour
lemon juice
cumin
cayenne pepper
black pepper
salt

plain coconut yogurt, this was a tad bit too sweet
1/4 cup diced cucumber
lemon juice

tomato slices
cucumber slices
pickles
lettuce
sriracha sauce

pita bread or tortillas

Method
Using a potato masher or food processor, mash up the chickpeas until there are no whole ones left. Usually I use the food processor, but I didn't want to dirty up the food processor bowl, so I used the potato masher and it works okay. Make sure that all the other ingredients are diced very very small. Add all the other ingredients and mix until evenly distributed. The mixture should be able to stick together when pressed.

Heat up a cast iron skillet over medium heat. You can also deep fry or bake the falafel, but I prefer to shallow fry them in a skillet. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, measure out a 1/4 cup and mash into about a 6 cm diameter patty. Place on the skillet and cook until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Continue making patties until the mixture is gone. I made about 8 patties.

To make the tzatziki sauce, mix together the yogurt, cucumber, and lemon juice. Set aside to let the flavours blend.

To serve, heat the bread or tortillas until warm and pliable. Place 2 patties in the center and add the tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, pickles, sriracha, and tzatziki.

Notes
These were surprising good. The recipe is so simple and came out really well. The patties didn't get hard the way they do when falafel is fried, and even though the fell apart a bit, they were still good. My husband had already had dinner, but he kept stealing bites because he liked it so much. We ate the leftovers for lunch on Thursday and they were still quite tasty.

Tofu Lettuce Wraps

We have been getting lettuce every week with our produce delivery and we needed to have something more than salad. I thought of lettuce wraps! Even trying to eat all the lettuce in our fridge was five heads of lettuce, we gave two to our friend Trevor.

This recipe is very much add what ever you have on hand in the quantities you have.



Ingredients
olive oil
tofu, cubed
fresh ginger, minced or minced ginger paste
garlic, minced
soy sauce
red pepper flakes
sesame oil

large lettuce leafs, cleaned
carrots, julienned
red bell peppers, julienned
green onions, chopped


Method
In a cast pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat until hot. Add the tofu cubes and cook on each side until browned. Add the ginger and garlic, cook until slightly browned. Add the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and a splash of sesame oil. Stir to combined and everything is heated through.

On a lettuce leaf, lay out some tofu cubes and any vegetables. Eat up.

Notes
I made this for a lunch for myself this past weekend, but gave my husband a few bites and he liked it. I liked it. I would make it again. I used the amazing tofu that comes from our local hippy store. Seriously, it is the best tofu I have ever tasted.

Polenta with chickpeas, spinach, mushroom

I just threw this together based on what I had in kitchen and it came amazing. This was my first time making polenta and it came out tasty, but I am not planning on making more any time soon.



Ingredients
2 cups water
vegetable better than bullion paste
3/4 cup polenta
5 oz shiitake mushrooms
1 cup frozen spinach (I used frozen because that is what I had, but feel free to use fresh)
1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
fresh oregano

2 heads of garlic

Method
Boil water and the bullion paste. In a slow and steady stream, whisk in the polenta. Continue to whisk nearly constantly until it comes away from the sides of the pan and has a "shiny" texture. This should take about 15 - 20 minutes.

When the polenta is done, place the polenta in an 8x8 pan and smooth the top. Cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or preferable longer. When the polenta is cooled, it sticks together.

Roast the garlic: chop off the top of the head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil, and place in a preheated 350F oven for about 40 minutes, or until brown and soft.

Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and add some olive oil. When the pan and oil are heated, add squares of the polenta and cook until browned on both sides, about 8 minutes.

While the polenta is cooking, in another skillet over medium heat, add a splash of olive oil and cook the mushrooms until softened. Add the spinach and chickpeas and heat through.

Place a piece of polenta down and top with the mushroom mixture. Garnish with the fresh oregano and roasted garlic.

Notes
This was crazy delicious. I had the problem of the browned part of my polenta sticking to the bottom of my pan when I went to turn it over, but I think it was because I had not allowed the polenta to cool sufficiently. I made this a while ago, but I am pretty sure that my husband liked it as well.

Baked Potato

Here is another recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

I had wanted to make the "Savory Stuffed Wheat Meat Roast", but I didn't start early enough to get it done by dinner, so I was flipping through the book trying to find something else that I could make with the ingredients in my apartment. Baked Potatoes! Perfect, I have a whole bag of potatoes I just bought.

Ingredients:
Potatoes (I used yukon gold because they are my favorite)

Scrub the potatoes and remove any eyes or weird spots. Rub the potatoes with butter like substitute and sprinkle with salt. Take a fork and stab the potato all over to allow steam to vent. Wrap in foil and place in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. Mine took just about 6 hours. They were tender and delicious.



Hmm, really roasted garlic


While perusing the Vegetarian Slow Cooker blog a few weeks ago I had found the post about roasted garlic in the slow cooker. When I decided on putting in the potatoes, I thought now would be the perfect time to try roasting garlic as well. I only had about 1/2 head of garlic, but it still came out roasty and fantastic. Next time, I am going to make two heads so that my husband and I can each have our own. I mushed the garlic into a paste and used it as a spread on the potatoes.

Next, came the chili. I didn't know quite what to put on top of the potatoes and I wanted to just use things in my pantry. I came up with this concoction.

1/2 cup TVP
1 15oz can pinto beans
1/4 cup tomato pasta sauce
1/2 cup water
chili powder
cumin
chipotle powder
habanero hot sauce
salt and pepper

I put everything into a small saucepan and simmered until about half of the liquid had evaporated. Not the best chili I have made, but it worked really well to get dinner to the table quick like.



Baked Potato with roasted garlic, chili, tofutti cream cheese, and green onions


We both gave this recipe two thumbs up. The potatoes were tender and everything else was fine. I am looking forward to making the potatoes more during the coming semester because they were crazy easy to do.

I made the seitan tonight for the Savory Stuffed Wheat Meat Roast and it is currently looking like a brain and marinating in my fridge.





I am really excited about this recipe. It is marinated seitan (I used the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance) rolled into a rectangle, topped with stuffing, rolled up like a swiss roll and cooked in the slow cooker for 6 - 8 hours. I hope it will be good!