Spinach-Falafel Patties

I've been super into legumes lately. They're cheap, healthy and if cooked right, delicious. Last week I ate the same roasted chickpeas for lunch every day. Today I decided that I should probably experiment with some other lunch ideas.

That's when I had this inspiration. I've had (and loved) falafel balls many times in the past, but don't eat them anymore because they're ridiculously fattening. I've experimented with low-fat versions in the past, but today I decided to try a whole new take.

Simple math: spinach patties+falafel balls+healthy eating= low fat spinach-falafel patties.

Here's how it goes. I took out my handy-dandy food processor (I can't believe the thing used to intimidate me!). I peeled an onion, and dumped it in. I followed that by two cloves of garlic, and blended that until it was well mixed. I then opened, drained and rinsed a can of chickpeas, and added it to the onion mixture, blending until it all formed a paste.

Next, I took a 32 oz bag of (mostly defrosted) frozen spinach and dumped in about a third of it. That made the mixture too thick for the food processor, so I dumped in an egg. After blending that until it was incorporated, I added another third of the bag, followed by another two eggs and a small amount (probably about a tablespoon) of oil.

Once the mixture was fully processed, I dumped it into a bowl and added some whole wheat breadcrumbs until I had a mixture that was thick enough to form into patties. I then added the spices: salt, black pepper, cumin (for the falafel flavor), a dash of coriander and a dash of cayenne pepper.

I then cooked the mixture in two ways:

1) I fried some with a bit of Pam. This way came out nice, but it was labor intensive. (Note- the black color isn't burned, though it looks kinda like it is. It tasted delicious.)

2) I baked them. This method was super easy, so I think it's going to be the way I make them next time. I laid them all out on a tray and stuck them in the oven at 375.

About a half hour later, I flipped them over and stuck them back in the oven. Half hour after that, I took them out.

The result: delicious. The texture was very interesting, but I mean that in a good way. The taste was delicious. I put a little chummos on them, and felt like I was back in Israel in a little falafel joint.

Sweet Potato Chips

There is no special significance to these delicious chips that inspired me to use them as the first recipe on this blog, except for the fact that I made them today, and they are absolutely delicious, not to mention ridiculously easy. Go ahead and make them, even if you are cooking for non-dieting folks. They'll never know you slipped them something relatively healthy.

Start with a couple of nicely round, long cylindrical sweet potatoes. Peel them, then slice 'em up into uniform widths:

Take a cookie sheet, give it a spray of Pam, then take out the following spices:

Now here's a trick that I discovered that makes life simple. I sprinkle a bit of salt, black pepper and cinnamon on the tray before I put the potatoes on it. Then I put the potatoes down, like so:

Spray the tops with Pam, another sprinkle of the spices, then stick 'em in the oven at 400 degrees. About 45 minutes later, turn them over, then put them back in for another 45 minutes to an hour, or until they look like this:

If you are saying to yourself "that's not really diet food," the answer is, it depends. Would I advise eating the entire tray? Good heavens no. But a reasonable portion of these will compliment a protein and vegetable, and make you feel like you had a full meal.