Falafel with Cucumber Salad

Hi All,

It's a cold rainy day in New England. The kind of day you want something hearty. Well, these don't exactly fit the bill, but they are quite delicious and maybe with a bowl of lentil soup could make a warm and filling dinner. In the summer the Falafels can be made with the cucumber salad for a refreshing dinner. I made them one night and R didn't seem to mind that the meal was vegetarian.

1/2 cup parsley (If you have some fresh mint you can throw some in too)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp coriander
2 cans (15oz each) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons flour
Peel from one lemon, grated fine
1/2 teaspoon salt
healthy dose of freshly ground black pepper

Add the above ingredients into a food processor and process until well mixed. You may have to scrape down the outside bowl a few times.

4 tablespoons olive oil

Heat oil in a heavy frying pan. When hot, measure out with a 1/4 cups measure make 1/2 thick patties. Patting together as needed. All the patties should fit in a large pan, if not you may have to do a second round of browning. Flip when the first side is brown and brown the other side. Takes about 8 minutes per side.

1/3 cup tahini (Sold in metal cans, the tahini separates so it'll need to be stirred before using.)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons water
Juice from one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Black pepper

Mix the above ingredients together in a medium bowl for the cucumber salad.

1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 seedless cucumber chunked
1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped

Add the above veggies and toss. If you eat bread, you can serve these with some toasted pitas.

Maybe I'll make these for dinner tonight! Hope you enjoy these as much as we have.

Hugs,
Mameekosan  :  )





 

Single Crust Spicy Apple Pie

Hi all,

I'm still working through all the apples that I got from the CSA. I've made apple sauce, which AI, so graciously helped eat. I've made three apple pies and put apples in all sorts of recipes. I think I have only about a dozen left. Maybe I'll make one more apple pie?

I like this recipe because you only need a bottom crust. I've been using the frozen pie crust from Trader Joe's which I like a lot. It's made with butter and the results are almost identical to homemade and of course using a prepared crust is much easier.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1 prepared pie crust (If frozen, thaw on counter for 1.5 hours or thaw overnight in fridge.)

Line a 9 inch deep pie plate with pie crust. Make a decorative edge, by pinching it between your fingers or using the tines of a fork. Place in freezer for at least 10 minutes, while you prepare the fruit.

7 large or 9 medium cooking apples, about 3 pounds total (I think I got mostly eating apples from the CSA, so I used those. Granny Smiths are nice because of their firm flesh and tart taste.)

Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples and place them in a large bowl.

1 lemon, squeezed and peel grated

Add the lemon juice and grated peel to the apples. Mix.

1/3 cup light brown sugar (since the apples were sweet I only used 1/3 cup, for tarter apples you could increase the sugar to 2/3 cup.)
2 tablespoons AP flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix the sugar, flour and spices together and mix into the apples. Pour into the chilled pie crust. Then prepare the topping.

1/3 cup AP flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter

With a pastry blender, two knives, or your finger mix the crumb topping together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the apples, pressing down slightly. Bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven down to 350, bake about 20 minutes longer or until the filling is bubbling around the edges.

There it is, apple pie! We had a Canadian friend who loved eating apple pie with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese on top. The pie is also good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum. Well I hope there's an apple pie in the near future for you. Happy pie making.

Hugs,
Mameekosan