Falafel and Tzatiki Sauce

Falafel Patties

2 garlic cloves
1 can of chick peas rinsed and drained
1/4 cup of multigrain flour
1/4 cup of flat leaf parsley
2 T tahini
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 T olive oil

Place garlic in food processor and blend until finely chopped.  Add olive oil and tahini.  Blend until it is a paste.  Place into a bowl and add remaining ingredients.  Mix well.  Form into patties and fry in a bit of olive oil until browned.  

Tzatziki Sauce

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped english cucumber
3/4 c plain yogurt (soy if available)
1/2 cup chopped mint
1 T lemon juice freshly squeezed

Mix well.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

1 cup of Quinoa 
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
a bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped (about 2 cup)
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes quartered
1 english cucumber diced

Boil 2 cups water and add 1 cup quinoa, cook for 15-20 minutes on simmer until water is absorbed, let cool.  

Mix together lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Combine remaining ingredients with quinoa and pour dressing over the whole thing. 

I love this tabbouleh with pita triangles, lettuce leaves or even with blue corn chips. 

Yummy Oat Bars

This recipe is straight from Dr. Fuhrman.

2 cups quick old fashioned oats (not instant)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins or 1/2 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (I found I used a bit more)


  Preheat oven to 350°F.
  Mix ingredients together in a large bowl.
  Press dough in a 9x9-inch baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.
  When cool, slice into squares or bars and serve.

The only change I made was that I doubled the recipe and made it in a 9x11 pan.  Next time I am going to use blueberries! Enjoy!

Eggplant Chips

I have been addicted to these for about a week now.  

I have perfected the way I make them and thought I would share. 

I thinly slice the eggplant and lay them on paper towels.

Lightly salt the eggplant slices and leave them for about an hour to get the extra water out of them.  

Here you can just see the water on top of the slices.

After an hour or so, take a papertowel and dab off the water, the bottom paper towels will be soaked. 

Place them on a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a baking stone sprayed with a bit of olive oil and drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil over the slices and then shake on garlic powder and paprika

Bake in a 400 degree oven (my smooth cook top died and I wanted to replace it quickly until I decided what I really wanted.  I have become completely enamored with my VERY old, GE,  $50 Craigslist find.  It works amazingly well and probably has many more years in her. I named her Muriel, isn't she cute!?) 

I like my chips pretty well done.  They take anywhere from 30-50 minutes.  Depending on how fresh the eggplant is, how long you waited before dabbing off the water, and how thick they are sliced.

Saucy Rice

Made this up on the fly last night.  I got a physician's note for my kid's daycare program to remove dairy and processed foods from their meals.  On the days that the main dish does not meat this criteria, I have been providing their main dish.  Last night, I remembered that it was hot dog day and I had nothing to make in the fridge.

I quickly surveyed the pantry and whipped up a new keeper in our house!

Saucy Rice

Medium onion diced
clove of garlic
1 cup of frozen corn
1 can of diced tomatoes, not drained
1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp of cumin
1/2 tsp paprika

6 servings of brown rice

Dice a medium onion and a clove of garlic and saute in a bit of olive oil until transparent.  Add frozen corn and saute for 2-3 minutes longer until they are just browning. Add can of diced tomatoes and beans and seasoning.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve on a bed of steamed brown rice.

Delicious!

Noodle-Free Lasagna

This recipe was tweaked from the Eat to Live book.  The first time I made it, it was a bit too seasoned for us.  I did not like the squash sliced lengthwise because it wasn't easy to make thin slices, also it made way too much "noodles" and they were wasted.  It also made for messy eating for kids.  Tonight's version was freaking amazing!

The "noodles" were made by slicing and eggplant and one zucchini into very thin slices.  Mine were not paper thin, but about a 1/4 inch thick circles.  They were placed on cookie sheets that had been wiped with olive oil.  They were then placed in the oven and cooked for about 10 minutes. 

The  ricotta-like filling was made by placing a small onion, 4 cloves of garlic and one container of silken tofu in the food processor.  Once pureed, I added 8 leaves of basil and buzzed a couple times.  You add that to a bowl and mix in one cup of soy mozarella/parmesan blend and a container of firm tofu broken up.  Add 1 Tbsp of italian seasoning, and 1 Tbsp of Mrs. Dash.  Stir together to mix well.

The veggie layer is easy peasy.  I finely chopped 2 heads of broccoli,  red, yellow and orange peppers, 8 oz of baby bella mushrooms, 8 oz of shitaki mushrooms, 2 handfuls of spinach and one handful of kale.

Layers :
spaghetti sauce
eggplant slices
veggie mixture
zucchini slices
ricotta mixture
spaghetti sauce
eggplant slices
veggie mixture
ricotta mixture
spaghetti sauce

Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour uncovered.   

Southwestern Bean Burger

I used this recipe and tweaked it because, well, I can't do anything as I am told.  It was a WINNER!

3 cloves of chopped garlic
1 medium vidalia onion
1/4 cup of corn
1/4 cup of red bell peppers chopped
1/2 cup of medium salsa
1 can of black beans rinsed
1/2 - 1 cup of fine cornmeal
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of cilantro

Saute onions and garlic until onions are transparent.  Add red peppers and corn and saute for a couple more minutes.  Rinse black beans and buzz about 3/4 of can in food processor with 1/2 c of salsa and place in a bowl. When vegetables are sauted, place in food processor and buzz to a creamy consistency.  Add to bowl with beans.  Add whole beans, cilantro and cumin and mash everything together.  Add cornmeal to make mixture stick together.  I added a bit more than a cup to where I felt it would make patties.

I made 16 small patties (cookie size).  Placed them on my baking stone and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  (15 minutes each side)

I served with a simple guacamole, romaine leaves and roma tomato slices.The rice is a rice blend and a can of tomatoes and chiles.