Falafels

I don't know why they're "Friday" falafels, but it makes the name unique, which I like. I love love love these! I make them to stick in pita bread, top on salads, or just sub it for chicken when I want to go meatless. Feel free to add more spices as you please, especially some extra SPICE! I add added garam masala, turmeric, cayenne, paprika, Old Bay seasoning... you know... basically the whole spice cabinet (this is pure evidence that I was raised by and grew up watching Steve Sumsion, my father, in the kitchen (Some successes, and some/many failures).

This picture includes the chicken I made with the falafels, because
I knew Mark wouldn't want a falafel pita. haha

My pita, stuffed with falafels and tons of veggies. YUM.

Friday Falafels
Serves: 2-3 (easily can be doubled)

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup dry Italian breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3-4 t minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 large egg
1 tablespoon olive oil (for frying)

Combine all ingredients, except olive oil, in a food processor and process until smooth. Now, form whatever sized patties you like. I usually get about eight out of this recipe. Heat tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat, and fry the patties.

Serve with lettuce, hummus and whatever other veggies you might like!

http://www.lighterandlocal.com/2011/01/friday-falafels-and-north-shore-picks.html

Dilly Cucumber Salad

I LOOOVE this dish! I make it about once a week. I really love the dill in it too.

Dilly Cucumber Salad

Makes 2 large servings or at least 4 small servings

• 1 large long English Cucumber, cut into ribbons with a mandolin or vegetable peeler(or you can cut it into thin rounds)
• 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2-3/4 tsp sugar or honey(to taste)
• 1/4 C chopped fresh dill(or you can substitute 1+ tbsp of dried dill)

In a small bowl mix together the dressing ingredients and leave them while you cut your cucumber. Cut your cucumber however you like. This time I did long noodle like pieces, but the last time I made it I took a veggie peeler and sliced 2″ long “noodles” all the way around the cucumber till I got to the end. Or you can just slice the end to get thin rounds. Just before serving mix the cucumber with the dressing. If you can, try to drain the cucumber before adding the dressing as there’s a lot of juice in the bottom of the bowl usually and you don’t want it to be too watery.

http://fooddoodles.com/2011/04/18/dilly-cucumber-salad/

Sweet Potato Parmesan Chips

I brought this recipe to our girls retreat back in April. It was a hit! These would make a great salad topper if you did little tiny strips of potato. Maren and I had a dish at a restaurant earlier this week that was topped with fried sweet potato strips. They were good, but too greasy because they were fried. These are a great solution! They're baked and perfect. Make sure to bake them on wax paper or a baking sheet, or you'll have some nasty clean up!

Sweet Potato and Parmesan Chips

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1/4 cup Shaved Parmesan Cheese
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Peel the skin off the sweet potato with a vegetable peeler and discard. Continue to peel the sweet potato so you have lots of thin strips of the sweet potato fresh. Put these strips onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and top with the half of the parmesan cheese, garlic salt, paprika, salt and pepper. Using your fingers, mix the toppings into the strips of sweet potato until evenly coated. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges are just slightly turning light brown and the strips are crisp. Remove from oven and sprinkle with a touch of sea salt and a little more shaved Parmesan.

http://whatsgabycooking.com/sweet-potato-and-parmesan-chips/

BUTTER-LESS Chocolate Chippers (that are delicious!)

This recipe is from heaven, I swear! It has no butter in it. You honestly don't even miss it! It has passed 8 out of 8 people. (They even passed with approval from my husband Mark, the self acclaimed King of chocolate chippers!) I know it's scary to try something like this, but you should try it. This recipe is already halved and will only make about 25 cookies, so just try it to try it.

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

· 1 large egg

· ½ C Brown Sugar

· ¼ C white Sugar

· 1 t Vanilla

· 1 T Milk

· ½ C Whole Wheat Flour

· ½ C White Flour

· ½ t Baking Soda

· ½ t Salt

· 6 oz Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven 375. Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Beat together egg, sugar, vanilla, and milk until thick and uniformly mixed. Add flours, baking soda, and salt, and beat again until well combined. Add chocolate chips and mix until chips are distributed throughout. Drop dough on cookie sheet and bake for only 7-8 minutes, or until they are only lightly browned and barely wet when touched they will become hard if overcooked, so be careful with the time. Remove from cookie sheets and cool. Makes 25 cookies.

1 cookie = 65 calories, 2 grams fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 70mg sodium, 26% calories from fat.

Lemon Chicken

I made this for some of the summer sales men a while ago and it was really good, light, and flavorful. Lots of EVVO, but delicious. Maybe cut back a bit on that. Funny story: mark thought the citrus slices were part of the dish, so he didn't like it because he bit into the bitter orange rind. Anyway, TRY IT!

Lemon Chicken

1 to 1 and 1/2 pounds chicken breast
flour
cornstarch
Sea salt and fresh pepper
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup minced onion
2 lemons
14 oz. chicken broth(about 1 and 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped or 1 teaspoon dried
Linguine or Spaghetti
Parmesan, fresh grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound out your chicken breasts to 1/2 - 1 inch thick, cover with saran wrap first so chicken juice doesn't fly everywhere.

In a small bowl combine about 1/2 cup flour with 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Wash the chicken breasts(don't dry them), season with salt and pepper, and lightly coat them with the flour mixture.

In a large oven proof skillet over medium heat melt the butter and vegetable oil together. Add the chicken breasts and cook on each side until golden brown.

Remove the chicken from the pan. Add the garlic and onion, saute over medium-low heat until tender. Add the chicken back to the pan. Squeeze the lemons over the chicken breasts. Add the chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper. Slice the lemons and place them on top of the chicken.

Finish cooking them in the oven about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. In the mean time cook the pasta to al dente according to package directions.

Finish by sprinkling parsley over the top.

Serve over linguine or spaghetti with fresh grated Parmesan.

http://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/2009/07/light-luscious-lemon-chicken.html

Caramel Corn/Cracker Jacks

Ya... I haven't cooked all week. It's been awesome. I have eaten tunafish, granola, smoothies, salad, went to sushi with Maren, Chinese take out with g&m, and had a tandori chicken sandwich from Cosi. Do you like it when I post my food diary? hahah I have managed to make some more popcorn! This time I went with caramel. It's so so way good!

Crunchy Caramel Corn

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking sheet
• 10 cups plain unsalted popped (from 1/2 cup kernels or a 3.3-ounce bag microwave popcorn) popcorn
• 1 cup cashews/peanuts, chopped (optional)
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• Coarse salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Place popcorn in a large bowl; if using cashews/nuts, add to bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, bring butter, sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil, stirring constantly. Working quickly, drizzle popcorn with sugar syrup, and toss.

3. Spread popcorn evenly on prepared baking sheet. Bake, tossing occasionally, until golden and shiny, about 30 minutes. Transfer hot popcorn to parchment-paper-lined baking sheet; let cool.

*If you like REALLY caramel-y popcorn, make more caramel than this, but this amount was perfect for me!

I swear there are cashews and peanuts in there, they just went straight
to the bottom. I haven't mastered the whole "clustering" thing.

Thank you, Martha Stewart, you genius. - http://www.marthastewart.com/256578/crunchy-caramel-corn

Kettle Popcorn

SWEET AND SALTY That is what my life is right now. My husband decided to go to Spain for a bit, and I am missing him dearly. How did I live without him before we were married?? He is so fun to have around. And easy. He's clean, doesn't complain, listens when I speak (when he isn't reading something about Jimmer on his iPhone of course.... understandable), AND he's really nice. I know I'm being vague, but that's me for you. So I miss him a lot. SALTY. Tonight, in my lonely apartment, I made Kettle Popcorn which is sweet and salty. Even though I miss Mr. Mark, it's kind of nice to mess up the house, watch what I want on TV the WHOLE time, and eat dinner at Whole Foods' salad bar -YUM-!!! And other things. SWEET! My kettle corn was mostly salty tonight, though. Kettle Popcorn (with cinnamon!)

• 1/4 C popcorn kernels


• 3 T. canola oil*


• 2 T. sugar


• 1/4 t. cinnamon (or more, if preferred)


• salt, to taste

Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a little tiny bowl. Heat the popcorn kernels on med-high heat in a 2 quart saucepan that has a lid and pour the oil over the top. Shake it all up. The oil will start to sizzle. When the first couple of kernels start popping, pour the cinnamon sugar mix over the top and swirl around. Keep those kernels moving every once in a while so they don't BURN!!! Wait until the popping slows, then dump it all in a bowl. It'll be H-OOO-TTT. Then sprinkle with salt, the amount depending on the sweetness/saltiness of your day. I like this way of popping popcorn, because even though I love my whirly popper more than almost anything (so does Mark), the stove make a lot more half popped/almost popped kernels. Those are my favorites! My mother in law calls them the "Old Maids"... she likes them too. :) Oh, and you can easily half this. I did. It worked. *ONE last thing: Use less oil. That is all. http://vittlesandbits.blogspot.com/2011/02/cinnamon-sugar-kettle-corn.html