SAVORY AND SWEET

Hey Folks!

I hope you had a great weekend! As promised, I will start off this post with the pictures from last weekend's culinary treats:

SPINACH, MUSHROOM AND ONION PASTA SAUTEED IN GARLIC AND OIL (Made last Friday- see last week's post for more details)

INDIAN BUFFET (Last Sunday's meal at a vegetarian Indian restaurant we love- name of the place still forthcoming)! Below is lentils over rice, naan bread, couscous with veggies and nuts(this had a different name, but that was what was in it), and vegetable curry.

So, now on to this past weekend. On Saturday, I ventured into making homemade hummus and Falafel for the first time! To go along with the falafel, I made some whole wheat couscous with earth balance, brown sugar and dried cranberries. I decided to make the couscous sweet to balance out the savory taste of the falafel. I made the hummus early in the day so that I could give it time to chill in the refrigerator. The hummus was very easy to make, all I used was a can of garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chickpeas), olive oil, a garlic clove, some fresh lemon juice and sea salt to taste. I also used a little of the liquid in the can of the beans as well. It came out very well, however next time I will use a little less liquid to make the consistency a little thicker.

As for the Falafel, I used a mix. Now, I know you're probably thinking I should have made this homemade as well, but let's take baby steps folks! The mix has all the ingredients and spices already in the box for you AND I'm also still building up my kitchen as far as supplies and spices so, I am using all the help I can get for now! So, now that I have validated myself, I will move on. The mix made making the Falafel balls super easy. I added water to the desired amount of mix and let it stand for ten minutes. While the mix was "standing", I made the couscous with the ingredients mentioned above. After the falafel was ready to go, I coated a pan with a shallow pool of olive oil to fry the falafel. I formed the falafel into small balls and with the help of JJ, fried the falafel. This process took a total of about ten minutes. When the falafel balls were finished frying, they were placed on a paper towel to drain.

When all the mix was gone and the falafel balls were finished, it was time to assemble them. Inside some whole wheat pita bread, JJ and I slathered some hummus all over the inside of the pita, placed the desired amount of falafel inside the pita, topped with romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes and some more hummus on the top and that was it! They came out FANTASTIC! JJ and I tried a falafel from a restaurant a few weeks ago and we were very disappointed, so these more than made up for it!

IN THE MIX

INSTANT GOODNESS

THE MIX IS STANDIN'

FALAFEL ALL FRIED UP AND READY TO GO!

COUSCOUS SHOWING IT'S SWEET SIDE


MAGNIFICENT MEDITTERANEAN MEAL!