Falafel Rerun

OK today we are going to the zoo and the baby is napping as I type. Daddy is in the shower. I am making the remaining falafel for lunch to eat before we go to the zoo. I decided to look online to see if I could find instructions for baking falafel*. I really hate to fry food and it is not good for you even in healthy oil. I found instructions on about.com. Although I had my own batter already from the store I figured I could just use the baking instructions from a baked falafel recipe. I may add that today after the batter was in the fridge all night and colder and firmer it was much easier to work with. I could not have rolled it in a ball yesterday, it was too mushy. So I rolled ping pong sized balls and placed in a baking dish thats bottom was pre-drizzled with EVOO. I preheated oven to 350 and baked 15-20 minutes flipping over halfway. They were great and I did not miss all the grease. They still have some olive oil on them but who cares how much you eat of that. I found a new family favorite. Even the baby loves it. Try it some time if you get the chance. If you would like to make from scratch here's the recipe I found on about.com, otherwise the boxed mix is healthy and easy.

*Woops, the baking directions are on the box which I just dug out of the recycle bin. Oh well.

Falafel For Dinner . . . . A Thumbs Up!

So as many of you know I am trying to lose weight and eat a whole heck of a lot better too. I have been trying to eat more veggies and beans and things like that. I am taking it very easy with the meat. I am not nor do I want to be a vegetarian but vegetarian food is often very good, good for you and much easier on your waistline. So today I picked up a box of Casbah Falafel Mix. Its just a few dollars in the pre-packaged foods aisle or ethnic aisle at the grocery store. They recommend serving it in a pita with yogurt sauce (recipe for sauce is on the side of the box and is very simple once you buy the ingredients). They also suggest serving with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and onion.

Heres GemsInIsrael.com's definition: Falafel: Chickpea and vegetable mixture made into balls and fried. Served in pita bread this is most common fast food in the country, which is served with a variety of salads, pickles etc.

I am not a fan of frying food but if you use the right oil that is just about the worst part of it. It is made from all good things. I wonder if I can somehow spritz with oil and bake it. One day I hope to make it from scratch but until then the boxed mix was quite good. I would recommend this to anyone, even our baby cried until we gave him some. He also loved it. We made sure to slather his with yogurt sauce. It was a hit. I made the entire box but only fried up about half of it.

Tomorrow I will either make the rest of the falafel or we will have the spicy black bean burgers I found in the frozen section. I will eat those also on a whole wheat pita with a slice of cheese, ranch dressing, lettuce, tomato, & onions. Will let you know how those are when/if I make them tomorrow. Suppose I could skip the pita and just eat kinda like a salad with the burger on the bottom. Anyone have any excellent vegetarian recipes they'd like to share please send them my way or paste them into a comment box. Thanks!