Baked falafel

One of our favorite places to eat is a  Mediterranean restaurant with a great vegan menu selection. On the menu they have a felafel, which I admit I had never heard of prior to having theirs. Somehow chickpea croquettes don't sound like the most amazing of dishes but boy is it ever good!! Now I know falafel is traditionally fried but I absolutely hate frying food... not necessarily because of the added fat but because to me frying is a huge, wasteful mess. I looked up a few recipes and tweaked them just a bit to come up with my own version. I fork mashed the chickpeas but next time I'll definitely use the food processor just to break up the pieces a bit more... these were great!!

Preheat oven to 350

In a food processor combine:

2 15 oz cans garbanzo beans                                          

   (chickpeas) drained and rinsed 

1 onion

5 or 6 cloves of garlic peeled 

3 tbs fresh cilantro

3 tbs fresh parsley

3 tbs lemon juice

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp cumin

3 tbsp flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Pitas or flatbread

Toppings such as hummus (I made a cilantro jalapeño hummus... I'll post the recipe for that eventually), cucumber, tomato, pickle, tzatziki, avocado or any others you desire.

Pulse until coarsely chopped (leave some texture). Form into 1-2 inch patties. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, flipping half way through. Serve on warm pitas with desired toppings... delicious!

Cream cheese avocado sandwich

With summer fast approaching I try to limit the use of the stove or oven during the day. I came up with an amazing summertime sandwich that's both creamy and crunchy and definitely hits the spot on a warm day like today.

2 slices any vegan bread (I used nut grain bread)

1/2 sliced avocado

1/2 sliced tomato

Handful clover sprouts

Vegan cream cheese

Simply spread cream cheese on both pieced of bread, pile on the veggies and enjoy!! How easy is that!! 

Breakfast Enchaladas

Morning... not my favorite time of day. I can honestly say I've never been much of a morning person. Breakfast on the other hand, I love (as long as it's at a reasonable hour... say... 10ish). I prefer a nice savory breakfast over anything sweet so this morning I decided to whip up a quick batch of breakfast enchiladas (vegan, of course). These are super easy to make, even for the non-morning people (you know who you are!!).

I used the ingredients listed, but any combination of veggies would be great in this dish... feel free to experiment. 

Filling:

1/4 package extra firm tofu

1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 red bell pepper diced

1/4 onion diced

5 or 6 mushrooms diced

1 tomato diced

handful cilantro chopped

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric  

Salsa, avocado or vegan sour cream to top

6 flour tortillas

1 15 oz can red enchilada sauce

Sauté veggies until soft. Add tofu and black beans and seasonings and stir until heated, breaking up tofu. Divide filling among the 6 tortillas and roll closed. Top with enchilada sauce and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!! If you have some vegan cheese on hand that would also be wonderful melted on top but if not, they still taste great without it!!