Falafels

Well, today has been a very good day. Aside from it being bone chilling cold, my roomie received excellent news from the doctor which was a great relief. My new neighbor snow blowed our entire driveway and sidewalk this morning- I was blown away that he did and very grateful because my fingers turned numb in the time it took me to shovel off the steps (with two pairs of gloves no less)

Now that my schedule has lightened up a bit, one of my goals is to get back to planning out the menus for the week ahead and plan ahead to prepare lunches to take to work. Because of the hustle and bustle of the holidays and moving, I fell back onto the Lean Cuisine crutch- which isn't a bad thing but I can do better.

And, when I went over to check on Angel's parents dogs- I did weigh myself. And even my jeans still fit, yeah not as good as they once did- I can do better. Their biggest loser contest is off to a fine start- I am proud of them doing it all together- woo hoo!

I was going to make risotto for dinner last night, but I'm out of arborio rice and I had some leftover soup for lunch which had rice in it. So enter one of my favorite veggie comfort meals- falafel.

Since I was on my own that night, I was sorely tempted to drive through Ted's Cony Island for a take away falafel. Yeah- and tater tots! But, budget minded- I made my own from Cooking Light, which I was looking through at Marcia's- great article which also had one of my favorite soups in it too.

Cooking Light has a lot of recipes for baked falafels- which are way more healthier than the deep fried patties of beany goodness you'll pick up when you're out.

Falafel Pitas with Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing

Pack the cucumber-yogurt dressing in a separate container to serve with the sandwiches. Vegetable crudités such as bell pepper wedges and carrot or celery sticks will round out the meal. You can substitute fresh baby spinach for the arugula, if desired.
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 (1-ounce) slice whole wheat bread, torn into pieces
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 (6-inch) whole wheat pitas, split
1 cup arugula
1/2 cup Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing

Combine first 10 ingredients in a food processor; pulse 6 times or until well blended (mixture will be wet).

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon about 1/3 cup chickpea mixture per patty into pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Line each pita half with 1/4 cup arugula, add 1 patty to each pita half, and spoon 2 tablespoons Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing into each pita half.

Note: Nutritional analysis includes Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing.Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 filled pita half)CALORIES 280 (30% from fat); FAT 9.4g (sat 1.2g,mono 5g,poly 2.2g); IRON 3.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 53mg; CALCIUM 81mg; CARBOHYDRATE 40.1g; SODIUM 592mg; PROTEIN 11.4g; FIBER 7.3g Cooking Light, JANUARY 2007

Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing

This makes more than you need for the pita recipe, but it keeps for a couple of days in the refrigerator. It's tasty drizzled over sliced tomatoes, or pack it in your lunch later in the week as a dip for carrot sticks.

1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/2 cup diced seedless cucumber
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill.Yield: about 1 1/2 cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon)CALORIES 8 (0.0% from fat); FAT 0.0g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); IRON 0.0mg; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 20mg; CARBOHYDRATE 1.6g; SODIUM 9mg; PROTEIN 0.7g; FIBER 0.1g

My spin-I omitted the mustard- that doesn't make sense to me. Instead, I spiced them with a tsp of Penzeys Turkish Seasoning, which I love with anything chick peas- falafel, hummus- it's just great, and another 1/2 tsp of cumin. Another yummy addition is a sprinkling of aleppo pepper, great color and flavor. And I didn't buy arugula- I just used the romaine I has on hand.

Quick dinner- I am very stoked by having a dishwasher- makes cleaning out the Cuisinart a lot easier! Of course, I think the amount of time I have saved by not doing dishes by hand has been sucked up by shoveling. So, the cheap lunch eats will help save money for snowblower.

Mischa was very intrigued by my dinner and yet quite disappointed in it. He's had a busy week- including crawling up into the fireplace- lucky we grabbed him before he could get any further up the chimney. And yes, we took pictures because when the cat gets stuck the first instinct is to grab the camera.

I also unpacked a ton of books and cookbooks last night. The cats are not happy about giving up their open shelves. Every time we cleared off a shelf when we were packing- they sat on the open shelf looking like "Why the hell didn't you do this earlier? This is *awesome*"

Now, I'm reading Janet Evanovich's new one, Plum Spooky, which I think had one my favorite lines in it- "I felt like the lone bran muffin in the pastry case full of eclaires" . I just finished Twilight by Stephanie Meyer- catching up with pop culture, I guess. Not a bad read- just a little fluff but enjoyable and made me realize that I do not miss high school in the least. I have a slew of books checked out from the library- including Espresso Shot by Cleo Coyle, the new Coffeehouse mystery, Deadly Night by Heather Grahm- who I has been on my list to check out, Defiance by Nechama Tec- I mean, with Daniel Craig on the cover - how could I not resist?, the movie version of it comes out this week- I think, & Stalking the Unicorn by Michael Resnick- a down on his luck private investigator gets hired by an elf to find an unicorn.

One of goals this year is to catch up with finishing some series I've started to read. It seems like I read one or two then move onto something else. Harlan Coben's Myron Boltair series comes to mind- as his next book released this year is in that series. And I unpacked the Meg Gardiner book I was in the middle of when I moved- great series!