falafel me crazy

falafel. delicious middle eastern fast food. i love it. it's awesome. so, why not attempt to make a healthier (aka baked not fried) version at home? doesn't seem too hard to make, non? well. it drove me crazy. absolutely crazy. this was possibly the biggest kitchen fail i've had to date! not the actual falafel. that actually turned out really really well, it was just the falafel making process.

here's a story for ya. we have small food processor. as i found out in the middle of prep, it is so old it doesn't work. so what do you do to fix this? blend it. well, that sort of helped.. but it started making chickpea soup. basically, i spent 2 hours mushing up and chopping through the mix so it was smooth enough to make falafel with. pleaaase have a food processor that works if you make this. please. i beg you.

crispy, fluffy, yummy!

what you need:
1 can of chickpeas
1 small onion
3 tbsp chopped parsley (and cilnatro but i left it out cause i loathe it)
4 cloves garlic
3 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt and pepper
4 tbsp whole wheat flour

step 1: 
pre-heat oven to 400. in a food processor, combine chickpeas, roughly chopped onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and blend until well chopped, but not pureed together. sprinkle on the baking powder and flour and pulse a few more times.

try to get your mixture smoother than this. my arm was clearly too tired..

step 2:
scoop a small amount of the mixture into your hand and try to shape into a ball. if it falls apart, add more flour to the mix.

it should look something like this

step 3: 
press down and place into an oiled oven-safe dish. bake for 10 minutes each side or until nice and golden brown! they were still crispy on the outside, and fluffy on the inside, without frying them!

these freeze really well! after you've rolled and squished them, just place them in a ziploc bag and lay flat in your freezer. you can eat them plain, dip them in tzatziki (recipe to follow!), or you can put it in a pita like i did. so yummy!

earl of sandwich

oh yes my dear friends, it has finally arrived. national sandwhich day. it is the anniversary of john montagu's birthday - the 4th earl of sandwhich (coolest title ever). so apparently, instead of interrupting a 24-hour gambler bender, the 18th century british nobleman instructed his servants to serve his lunch meat between 2 pieces of bread, allowing him to eat with one hand. the world has never looked back.

the most important part of a sandwich, in my opinion, is the bread. i like mine 100% whole grain, possibly with some flax or sunflower seeds. my favourite, favourite, favourite bread is made by silver hills bakery. they have 9 different types of bread, including the big 16, mack's flax (my fave), little big bread and marvelous multi. instead of grinding their grains (a process which takes out most of the nutrition) they sprout their grains for 36 hours and then add them to the mix of other ingredients.

mmmmm, silver hills bread  : )

when you buy bread, you better read the label properly - companies are trying to trick you into thinking their product is 'healthy' when it's not. one day i went to the grocery store and was in a rush, i just picked up a loaf of bread that said whole grain. when i took it home and looked at the ingredients, i was sad. "enriched flour" doesn't count as whole grain in my books. here are some tips when looking for real whole grain bread.

leave it on the shelf if it says:
- made with whole grains
it doesn't mention how much whole grain is in the bread. they could've only put in a pinch! unless it says 100%, you won't get the potential benefits.
- multigrain/whole grain
this doesn't tell you anything about the grains being whole or refined. while you're getting 40 different grains, it doesn't help if they are all processed.

so, key points. when shopping for bread, look for the words 100% whole grain/wheat, and stay away from any kind with flour that is "enriched", "bleached", "unbleached", "semolina" and "rice". it must say whole wheat flour and it must be the first ingredient.

wow. that was a long rant about bread. anyways, back to sandwich day. today is a day where i sit down and enjoy a most righteous sandwhich. well, today i didn't quite have time to be so creative, so i settled for one of my faves.

my sandwich for sandwich day

what you need:
2 pieces of your favourite whole wheat bread
1/4 red pepper, sliced thinly
1 tbsp homemade hummous (recipe soon, i swear!)
1/4 avocado, mushed
2 leaves of romaine lettuce
handful of sprouts

step 1:
smear hummous onto once piece of bread, and the mushed up avocado onto the other.
step 2: 
lay the red pepper, sprouts and lettuce ontop of the hummous. take piece of bread with avocado and put on top. eat.

goodbye, national sandwich day. perhaps next year i will have time to honour you by making a more creative sandwich. until next year.