Baked Falafel & Tahini Sauce

Lacey, here!

I've been meaning, for years, to try homemade Falafel. And tonight was the night.

Falafel

Ingredients:

1 can garbanzo beans (rinsed & drained)

1 Tbsp EV Olive Oil

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 small onion, quartered

1/3 cup parsley leaves

3 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon baking powder (optional, but it makes them fluffy)

dash of salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place all items in food processor. Process for 10 seconds.

Scrape down the sides and then pulse about 10 times, or until it's the consistency you'd like. Some like little chunks, some like it smoother.

Form your batter into ping-pong sized balls. Press down a bit if you want patties.

Bake for 20 minutes, flip, bake another 20 minutes. Ta-da! (I know these are traditionally fried, but we don't need that!! Bake at a high temperature for a crispy outside!)

Tahini Sauce

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Tahini
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp coconut water (or regular water)
1 small tomato, diced
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1 small dill pickle, diced
3 garlic cloves, diced and then mashed into a paste
Dash of paprika

 Diretions:
Place tahini in bowl. Add in lemon juice and stir with fork until blended into paste.

Slowly add in coconut water. Stir, stir, stir.
Add in remaining ingredients.

The finished product. I'm quite proud of it! The falafel was a great consistency. I'd love to try out some other sauces in the future! Maybe some peanut butter based sauce. Mmmm.

The final meal included spaghetti squash with a Thai seasoned carrot/onion/tomato topping.

I hope this encourages you to try out new meals that may seem intimidating. I really regret not making Falafel sooner!!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I'm addicted to hummus. I preeeeeetty much eat it everyday. I put it on veggies. I made lettuce wraps with it. Add it to salads. It's always in the fridge. And it's always.....EXPENSIVE. One small container of it at the store costs about $5 or $6 dollars and it lasts me about 3 days. I knew there had to be a better way. Here's my Roasted Red Pepper Hummus recipe adapted from dozens of others online. This one works the best for me.

Now, I will say, the most expensive ingredient you'll need for this recipe is Tahini.  Tahini is like peanut butter, but with sesame seeds.  It's about $8 for a container, BUT, each jar of Tahini will last you about 6 recipes. And each recipe is about 3 times larger than the normal hummus containers from the store. You're definitely getting your money's worth here, so don't fret at the price tag.

Ingredients:
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 c. basil
Parsley (to taste)
Oregano (to taste)
Pinch of sea salt
1 jar garbanzo beans (drain)
1/4 cup Tahini
1 jar Roasted Red Peppers
2 Tbsp EV Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Pinch of Cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic

Directions:

Throw everything in food processor. Blend.

Seriously, that's it. 30 seconds to make this.

Store in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator. Usually good for up to a week or more.

-Lacey