Falafel Waffles

Falafel Waffles  Rating: 8

This is fun and healthier spin on falafel, a Middle Eastern dish of spiced mashed chickpeas that is typically deep fried.  Now mine looks a bit intimidating because, for the life of me, I cannot limit myself to the called for amount of herbs and I double if not triple it.

 I go ahead and soak dried chickpeas because I feel the canned would be mush.  But in a pinch, I may go there.  Just haven't yet.  It's fun to use the waffle iron and I think a regular iron rather than a Belgium waffle iron would likely give the best results.

We served it with a big Greek salad and a dollop of homemade tzatziki or raita sauce (Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and herbs).  Pictured above is leftovers.  A quarter of a waffle is filling enough if accompanied by the salad or fresh cut veggies but we usually use 1/2 a waffle for dinner.  Have fun.

Greek Watermelon Pizza

Greek Watermelon Pizza  Rating: 7

We brought home a 21 pound watermelon for Watermelon Seed Spitting Week so you know we were going to have it in at least one of our meals.

Ingredients:
whole wheat pitas
herbed cheese spread
cucumber, sliced
yellow tomato, sliced in wedges
kalmata olives, halved
watermelon, diced and patted dry with a paper towel
cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Warmed the pitas, spread them with cheese and piled on the rest of the goodness.  Sliced it and served it up.  The flavors worked.  It was fresh, yummy, and way too messy.  I'd make this again but serve it up as a salad with a bit of spinach or romaine and keep the warmed pita wedges and cheese spread on the side.

Spanakopita Triangles

Spanakopita Triangles  Rating: 10 

Yep, a 10! Opa! (Greek exclamation that is the equivalent of "Hooray!", "Woohoo!", "Heck Yeah!", or "Yeehaw!"

I had leftover phyllo dough from this recipe and already knew Neal and I liked spanakopita (a spinach and feta cheese stuffed pie) from dining experiences at Greek restaurants.  I was also secretly hoping this would be a way to get some more greens into my kids.

These were easy and very good!  I got to use my microplane to grate the whole nutmeg which always make me feel extra "chefy."  I threw a salad together and added some dried dill to some plain Greek yogurt for a quick and befitting veggie dip while the triangles baked.

Neal said it was commensurate to the best restaurant ones he has had and my kids asked for seconds! I loved these.  We served them as a main dish but they make great appetizers as well.

I still have phyllo dough so I wonder what will be next to use it up.

Mediterranean Breakfast Sandwich

Mediterranean Breakfast Sandwich  Rating: 8

We put our own slant on this sandwich by keeping it open-face and adding hummus.  We spread about 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp. hummus on toast and used red leaf lettuce because that's what we had.  The tomatoes and the tang of the feta really made this breakfast fresh and tasty.  It was a great way to use up left over hummus and add protein.

Sweet Potato Falafel

Had some sweet potatoes to use from our co-op produce and decided to make Sweet Potato Falafel on a leafy Mediterranean salad with yogurt dressing.  The more sweet potato recipes I try the more I believe they are best left unadulterated.  Neal feels the same way about blackberries.

Sweet Potato Falafel   Rating: 6