Falafel for Sale

I love falafel. I never make it though. Simply because I think it takes too long. When in fact it's one of the easiest foods to make ever (as long as you soak the chickpeas the night before). You don't even have to precook the chickpeas! Just load everything into the quisenart and blend away. Then you just fry away in some nice oil. This was from a recipe that I found in the New York Times food pages a month or two ago and has just been hanging on the door of our fridge waiting oh so patiently to be made. It's a pretty good recipe but I believe it needs some extra spice or something like that. It made so many that if Peter's mom was here she would say "We need to have a falafel sale!" I don't think she's ever eaten falafel let alone knows what it is. But when she makes a ton of some sorta food she's alway's having a "sale". Its hysterical.

I plopped the falafel onto mesclun greens with some tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil, lemon, salt + pepper. If it wasn't so late when I was making these I would have made a tahini dressing to pour on top as well.

Cinnamon Blueberry Pancakes

After days of frustration, tears (hormone related) and new batteries I finally got my camera to work again. How did I get it too work again? I don't know. I just kept replacing batteries, memory cards and pressing buttons and all of a sudden it started working. I think he just needed a vacation from taking food photos.

Instead of going out for breakfast this morning I decided to make us breakfast for once. I made the most delicious and cinnamony blueberry pancakes ever. Peter declared them the best pancakes he's ever eaten. I also learned today that he doesn't like cinnamon (which is insane!) he ate the pancakes anyway without knowing that the spice he was tasting was cinnamon until I told him. I'm thinking of starting a pancake sunday in our home. I can't wait until plums come in season because I have an idea for ginger plum pancakes!

sad face.

My trusty camera has decided to crap out on me. Hopefully it is just a rechargeable battery gone bad situation and not an I need a new camera situation especially since the camera is only 1 1/2 years old. humpf!!! The most frustration thing about this is that i've made a couple of brand new recipes this week that I wanted to share with everyone and it's just not the same writing about them without pictures. On a good note I will be making these new dishes again very soon because I liked them so much and hopefully my camera will be in working mode. For now I am hot as hell..being 6 months pregnant in the hot summer heat is not fun at all..so it's off to an A/C filled movie theater. See ya later.

Pesto Mania!

I went to my parents house last weekend to celebrate mothers day and had a bunch of food in the house to use up. So I went pesto crazy. Above is an Arugula Pesto using 1/2 pinenuts and 1/2 walnuts (i ran out of pine nuts) Now I LOVE basil pesto! So I was never to keen on making pesto with anything else. But with a box of baby arugula left over that wasn't going to survive the weekend I just went for it. I will forever now be using my leftover arugla to make pesto. It was so good. I dare say I might have even liked it better then my beloved basil pesto.



It's not a toasted bagel with peanut butter but the next best thing. Toasted leftover ciabatta with peanut butter. My favorite breakfast.



The above mentioned Arugula Pesto



The not as delicious Basil Pesto. I had to make it in the blender because my quisenart was in the dishwasher with VwaV alfreda sauce on it that only the dishwasher could clean. I will never use the blender again. I had to use so much more olive oil then I like using and it just didn't taste the same. (for some reason the aruglua pesto in the blender came out perfect...who knows? I believe arugula just want's to be a scene stealer)

which is better...?

I couldn't decide which meal I liked the best to show off first. The sandwich won just because I like the picture better. So above is a sandwich I've been thinking about a lot this past week. Why? Who the hell knows. I don't eat mushrooms too much. But for some reason I wanted a Grilled Portobello Sandwich. I marinated the bello's in some olive oil, fig balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes, basil, chopped garlic, chopped onion, salt and pepper and a splash of tamari.

Tamari? You might ask. Well here's a story that might turn some vegan stomachs. When I worked at an organic restaurant the nutto german chef was against vegetarian food even though he had to have an entree or two on the menu. He would add a spash of tamari to everything vegetarian. I asked why one day. His answer (done in your best german accent) "too make it have the taste of blood." I was grossed out but also agreed with him..it does give it a "bloody" taste and not in a gross way at all...it just adds an extra layer to the flavors. Back to the sandwich...

...the bello's were eventually grilled on my grill pan..red peppers were roasting in the oven...a "stain" of whole grain mustard was spread on one layer of the ciabatta...on top of that fresh baby arugula was added with the above mention bello's and peppers...seasoned to perfection with freshly cracked salt and pepa! Served with a side of homemade sweet potato fries baked healthly in the oven.



Soba Noodles with Veg and Orange-Peanut Sauce...I really can't get enought of my new orange-peanut sauce..i would eat it as soup. This is one of those meals where all the ingredients can be either cold, warm or hot. It will taste good no matter what temp you serve it.

Peter and Riley decided they wanted to be on America's Next Top Model here is there best shot.

Italian Pantry Soup

After a huge lunch at Veggie Heaven on friday, then eating even more food after that and then having to sit thru Escape from New York starring Kurt Russell that Peter made me watch while I was in pain from all the food that I had consumed throughout the day I still can't believe I had the ability to make dinner. I can't believe that I actually wanted to make dinner. We hadn't gone food shopping since monday so I had to raid the pantry and fridge for whatever we had and I'm happy to say I made a kick ass new soup recipe. Introducing "Italian Pantry Soup"! Most of my soups end up having a indian or thai flavor so it was odd for me to grab the dried italian herbs that I had stashed in the back of my herb cabinet. I don't care for dried basil or oregano too much..the smell rubs me the wrong way. I used them anyway and was very happy that I did.

The soup consists of:

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 carrots scrubbed and sliced
1 medium onion diced
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 medium zucchini chopped

saute til onions are soft.
add spices: how much of the spices is up to you. I would say I used about a 1/2 tablespoon of each except the red pepper flakes I prolly used 1 teaspoon.

dried oregano
dried basil
dried thyme
dried red pepper flakes

saute a minute to cook the herbs a bit.

add

1 28 oz.can Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
plus 2 cans water

bring to a boil and add

2-3 cups thinly sliced kale
2 cups garbanzo beans

cook until all is soft then add some broken angel hair pasta and cook 3 minutes more. add salt and pepper to taste.
ladle into pretty bowls and drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil on top.
Eat.
Smile.
Then feel really good afterwards.

You can pretty much add whatever veg you want.

woooh is my liver and kindeys...

I am apparently having liver and kidney "issues" while being pregnant. So says the chef at my job. She has since recommended that I eat lots of kale, collards, adzuki beans, black beans, raw daikon, cooked daikon, carrot juice, pressure cooked brown rice and black sesame seeds...and so on. I'm taking her up on her advice because I feel horrible and I believe she may be right. Oh and I can't eat ginger because it's too "heat" producing. That makes me sad because what is a stirfry without ginger. This is a stirfry without ginger and it was damn good. It has lots of kale, daikon and carrots..I'm sure the broccoli will help as well.



My new dessert obsession. Frozen peaches, frozen blueberries and a fresh banana blended up to a smooth eat with a spoon goodness. My sister says this isn't a dessert. I say it is because it's cold, you eat it with a spoon and I ate it after dinner for DESSERT! She says chilled cucumber and mint soup is cold and eaten with a spoon so that must be dessert as well. I say if you eat it after dinner for dessert it's DESSERT!