Vegan Falafel + Heirloom Tomato Beet Salad

“I’ll make falafel tonight!”, said me.  I’d been on a week long “no cook, because both Bruce Almighty and the Teenager are away” binge. Basically, I ate my way through the last pieces of fruit, a handful of organic arugula, olives, leftover lentils, farm eggs, nuts, and a glass or two of wine. And then the return of our fabulous Teenager snapped me back into delicious reality. “Yes, I’ll make falafel tonight!”

And so we did. It’s vegan and we also baked it for a healthier version. Hope you enjoy and, as always, feel free to play with the recipe, and let me know how it works out.

Falafel

2 cup dried chickpeas or 2 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans

1 small red onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons of fresh parsely, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon turmeric (I double dipped here for color and nutrition. There’s already turmeric in the curry powder but that bit of extra did it!)

1/2 teaspoon ginger powder (Optional, since there’s already a bit of ginger in the curry powder.)

1 cup bread crumbs (I make my own in the food processor.)

salt

pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 475°. Combine all ingredients, except bread crumbs in a food processor. Add a bit of olive oil (not too much) and pulse until all ingredients are incorporated and mix is still a bit chunky. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place ingredients into a mixing bowl, add a touch more olive oil if mix is too dry, and fold in bread crumbs. Place golf ball size falafel onto a baking sheet. Add a bit more olive oil on top of each ball. Place in oven to back for 15-20 minutes. Remove and let rest for a few minutes, then serve.

Heirloom Tomato + Beet Salad

2 large heirloom tomatoes, chopped into large pieces

2 medium sized beets, chopped into large pieces

1 medium sized carrot, shredded

1 1/2 cups collard greens, chopped

apple cider vinegar

extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

Note: I lightly roasted the beets for this recipe since the oven was already on for the falafel but you could leave them raw for sure

Place beets into a preheated oven at 475°. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Remove and let cool. While beets are cooling, place all other ingredients, except for vinegar, oil, salt & pepper into a bowl. Once cooled, remove skin from beets, chop, and add to bowl. Add dressings, salt & pepper to taste. Serve.