1) Falafel

Last night we made our first attempt at a "get out of the dinner rut" dinner using a lot of ingredients from our first stop on the Farmers Market Tour. On Saturday we visited our most favorite farmers market of all the 32nd Street Farmers Market in Waverly. We have been going to this one most Saturdays for years so while I am excited to check out some new ones, this one will always be our favorite! The last few weeks have been pretty hectic around here (I feel like May is always crazy) so I thought I would ease into this whole thing with a pretty easy recipe, that I have actually a made before, although not in a while. Since it is still pretty early in the season, I went with something that you can always get at the market most of the year round, fresh herbs. We bought parsley, chives and cilantro as well as some strawberries, and hot house tomatoes and cucumbers.

The recipe (see below for full recipe) for the falafel we actually got from the Food Network but as is always my problem I didn't actually stick right to the recipe. We begin by soaking 2 cups of dried chickpeas in water over night. I once tried this with canned chick peas and it just doesn't work out. The mixture is too wet and just disinigrates, but with soaked chick peas it works great. After soaking the chick peas and draining the remaining water out, I dumped the chick peas into the food proceseor. I added the  herbs, baking soda, garlic, cumin, corriander, salt, pepper and lemon juice to the processor. Then blended until all the ingredients where mixed well. While we were blending, I heated a little vegtable oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. The Bee and I then formed the mixture into little balls, with the help of a small ice cream scoop. She loved this part. I then put the balls into the oil, turning up the heat, for 2-3 minutes per side, or until brown. While the frying works great I saw another great recipe for baking falafel which I would like to try next time. After draining and cooling, our falafels were ready to go. I served the falafels with feta cheese, tzatziki and hummus, all of which I got at the store. I also cut up our tomatoes and cucumber from the farmers market, with the strawberries on the side for some fruit. The verdict was: Bee- 2 thumbs up, Bean-1 thumb up, and the adult taste testers both gave it 2 thumbs up. So overall not bad, They liked the falafel, loved the dipping options and the Bee asked for more feta! Next time I would like to try the baked method and see how that works out and maybe if I'm feeling really adventerous try our own hummus/tzatziki.

Recipe: 

• 2 cups soaked chickpeas (chickpeas need to be soaked in cold water for at least 18 hours and up to 24 hours), add more water if necessary
• Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 or 2 serrano chiles, chopped
• 2 green onions (white and green part) finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• 3 teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted and ground
• Scant 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper