Food Friday - Falafel Pita and Lentil Salad

This meal is a little more involved than most of the dishes in my rotation but it's worth every second you put into it. I used to make my own pita too but since it involves opening up a 500 degree oven every two to four minutes I haven't done it since Thomas was born. It also turns the whole meal into a five hour ordeal so I wouldn't recommend homemade pita unless you've got someone you really need to impress.

Traditionally falafel are formed as little balls. I recommend forming them into patties instead; they're much easier to fry.

Falafel

1 cup dried / 1 can chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 - 1/2 cup flour

Pita
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Cucumbers
Yogurt
Tahini

Put chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak overnight, then drain. Or use drained and rinsed canned chickpeas

Place chickpeas, onions and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until blended but not pureed (you may need to work in two batches). Add fresh herbs and spices and pulse to mix.

Move mixture to a bowl. Stir in baking powder and 1/4 cup flour. Add flour until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Form the chickpea mixture into patties. Heat oil in a skillet and fry 1 patty to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Fry patties for a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
OR
Brush patties with olive oil and bake in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, turning once.

Stuff half a pita with falafel, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, etc. Drizzle with yogurt and/or tahini.


Lentil Salad

Salad
3/4 cup green or brown lentils, rinsed
1/2 cup brown rice
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup cucumber, diced
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped

Dressing
1 clove garlic, crushed into paste
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp black pepper

Cook rice.

Cover lentils with water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer partially covered 25-20 minutes. Drain.

Sprinkle garlic with salt. Mash into paste with side of a chef's knife.

In bowl, whisk together garlic paste, oil, lemon juice and pepper

Toss lentils and rice with dressing. Cool to room temperature and add tomatoes, cucumber and dill

Green Things

I'm doing some container gardening. Thomas and Mary like to help water. I wasn't sure that anything would really produce in a pot so I just bought a grape tomato, a green pepper, a strawberry and a watermelon. The watermelon is the most experimental. I have no idea if we'll get anything off of it. The strawberry should have done well but somehow I managed to drown it. But the tomato and the green pepper are going like gangbusters.


Look at all those tomatoes. Only one has turned red even though its younger than the others; you can just barely see it peaking through. I have big plans for that one little tomato.


I have four green peppers already! They only grow to about 4 inches long so two of them should be ready to pick in a week or so.

The clothesline is my greenest endeavor, though that's not why I did it. Our dryer is broken. It tumbles but doesn't produce any heat. Eventually, we'll get it fixed but we don't know anyone here who can help us and we don't want to pay a repairman right now. So, I strung up a clothesline. My pride at having done this is way out of proportion to the actual accomplishment. I'm kind of glad that the dryer broke. I never would have hung a clothesline otherwise. Twenty-five dollars, my incredible handiness (I learned how to tie a knot!) and we can dry our clothes for free for the rest of the summer. Now if the dryer would just magically repair itself.

Food Friday - Lentils, Peppers and Tofu

Lentils, Peppers and Tofu

This dish has officially ousted falafel from the top spot on Jeremy's list of favorite foods. I think that's insane but is this way easier to make so I'm not complaining. And don't get me wrong it's really good. It's just not fried chickpeas good.

There is a secret to making tofu that tastes good, not mushy and bland. The key is to freeze and then thaw your tofu. Then, press the water out. Squeeze out as much as you can with your hands without mangling it. Wrap a tea towel around the block. Put it between two plates and set something heavy on top. I use a big book and a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes. Let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour.

This process completely changes the texture of tofu. It turns out chewy and toothsome instead of slimy. Then, pan fry it. If you want it a bit crispy, you'll have to use a fair bit of oil. It's also totally great with just a teaspoon or two of olive oil or couple shots of non-stick cooking spray.



Lentils, Peppers and Tofu
Adapted from A Veggie Venture*

1 onion, diced
2 red peppers, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, minced
1 cup lentils (black, brown, french work best, sub 1/4 cup of red lentils for creamier sauce)
1 can vegetable stock + water to make 3 cups
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 block extra firm tofu, frozen, thawed, pressed and then cut into cubes

Lentils
Saute onion and peppers over medium heat until soft, 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and ginger, saute another minute. Add lentils and broth. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until lentils are soft, about 20 minutes. There will be some liquid left in the pot.

Tofu
Heat 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat. Sprinkle in cumin seeds, ground cumin, curry powder, and cayenne pepper. Cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add tofu and stir to coat with spices. Cook until browned, stirring occasionally.

Add tofu to the lentils and mix together. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice.


*The original recipe added 5 ounces spinach to the lentils at the end of cooking. We really like the spinach the first time around but it ruins the leftovers for us. I always mean to divide the lentils in half and add the spinach to the portion we'll eat that night but I never remember.

She's got mad skills.

Hula Hoop from Leslie Ann McNolty on Vimeo.

New Backyard

We have a new backyard! It's awesome.

Yard Before

New Fence in January, No Grass for Months

Yard After

Patio Before

Patio After

Obviously, Thomas loves it out here. Mostly he likes to throw his toys out onto the patio and into the planters. He misses the front yard with all of its cars but it's wonderful to let him wander around outside and just keep an eye on him from the kitchen window.

In other news, we were sick, sick, sick. We wished for death but it didn't come. Now we're better and will grudgingly admit that the death wish was probably overkill. The end.

Thomas Jump

Thomas Jump from Leslie Ann McNolty on Vimeo.

Another Trip to the ER

Croupy, Sick Boy

Thomas has croup. Croup sounds like a normal illness that every kid gets eventually. No big deal. But it was actually completely terrifying.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. Originally it was just supposed to be Alexa, Chris and their son Cam but then Jeremy's friend Nathan and his daughter Saige decided to drive into town and Nathan invited his friend David over as well. So what started out as dinner for six turned into dinner for nine. This always seems to happen. So, I was a little frazzled.

Before everyone came over for dinner, Thomas coughed a couple of times during his nap. I didn't really think much about it. It was a harsh, barking cough but he only coughed three or four times. And I was really busy.

Then, while I was cooking dinner, I noticed that he was wheezing. I asked Jer to keep a close eye on him and after a couple of minutes, it stopped. About half an hour later he started coughing again and wheezing and crying. I was afraid that he had something stuck in his throat. I saw one of those TLC shows about mothers once, Bringing Home Baby or something, where the older daughter, a toddler, got caught playing with some change. The next day she stopped breathing and was rushed to the hospital. She had swallowed a dime but it got caught in her throat and moved around until it blocked her airway.

I called our insurance nurse hotline. She told us to call our pediatrician. But by the time I got off the phone, he was breathing fine and playing with the other kids. He seemed fine again.

Thomas stayed up late playing with Saige after Alexa, Chris and Cam left. Before we put him to bed he was really wheezing and breathing hard. But he was running around, laughing. I was really worried about him but we decided to put him the bed and just check on him throughout the night.

Twenty minutes after he layed down we heard him crying. He sounded panicked. I ran into his room and he was laying in his crib, gasping for air. It was horrible. I thought he was about to stop breathing. I snatched him up and brought him out into the living room where I could see him better. His lips were red so I thought he was still doing okay but he was working so hard to breathe. We decided to take him to the emergency room and by the time we got him strapped into his car seat, he was breathing easier but still wheezing.

We finally found a hospital without 50 people in the waiting room. He started to struggle to breathe again in the waiting room. I told the receptionist that he was having a really hard time and they called us in. He had a fever and a barking cough so they immediately knew it was croup. The gave him a breathing treatment and he fell asleep. (This took 3 hours; why are the staff in the emergency room so slow? We could see five and six people at a time chatting behind the desk. Ugh.)

He's still sick. His fever keeps coming back but he can breathe. If he had gotten the fever earlier, I think I would have realized it was croup and just turned the bathroom into a sauna. But he didn't seem sick. Jeremy thought he'd sucked in a bug or something. He kept getting better.

So, I managed to take my kid to the emergency room for croup. I feel a little ridiculous.