Easter!!

We invited friends who are transitioning to veganism to Easter dinner at my mother-in-law's, which of course focuses on a huge ham. Because my daughter has been dairy-free for medical reasons, my mother-in-law already made many traditional foods without the even more traditional butter.

I made a vegan sesame drizzle for the cooked broccoli, my honeyed corn dish that would be vegan if it didn't have local raw honey, and gluten-free falafel.

My mother-in-law made all her own Easter chocolate, a cheese pie and a blueberry pie (the crust was vegan but I bet the crumbs had butter in them. I didn't think to ask). Oh, and a molasses cake and a coffee cake. My sister-in-law made some weird cake with chocolate and tea biscuits.


My mother-in-law made dandelion greens with hot bacon dressing (dandelions from my brother-in-law's yard), mashed potatoes, gravy, harvard beets, carrots (plain), cranberry relish, fruit bread, eggs, ham, candied sweet potatoes and an olive/pickle tray.

 My falafel and tahini sauce are improving with every attempt. My going-vegan friends took the leftovers home, so that was a compliment. I based the recipe on a previous attempt and my friend Allison's falafel, details of both can be found here:
Vegan Gluten-Free Falafel

In my food processor, my daughter and I mixed:

• 30 ounces [canned] chick peas, drained
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon stoneground yellow corn meal
• juice of one small lemon
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

* now normally I include 4 tablespoons chopped chives from my garden, but I'm out and this year's crop is not ready for harvest. So I skipped it.

* I also included about 1/3 cup leftover three seed hummus (see recipe here: Three Seed Hummus) just to use it up, not to add anything

The feast

Now to cook it, I made golfballs instead of patties this time. They were very wet, a little looser and stickier than play dough but not as wet and sticky as a wet batch of bread dough. They held together better than my previous version. I baked for 15 minutes at 350 and then rolled them over and baked 15 minutes more. You can heat some oil and fry them lightly after they've baked if you want that fried, crispy outside. I didn't. I fear they'd fall apart on me.

For dressing, I used a variation of Allison's tahini-miso sauce. I don't have miso. But here's her sauce:
Baked Falafel with Tahini Miso Sauce.

Here's mine, which I do in the blender because I'm too lazy to wash the food processor after the falafel.

• about 1.5 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
• about 2 teaspoons minced garlic (or was it one?)
• 1/2 cup tahini
• about 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• juice of one small lemon
• 1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1 cup water

Now for my broccoli drizzle, I did a variation of this experiment: Sesame Buttery Sauce
I whisked in a small bowl about a tablespoon each of

• sesame oil
• walnut oil
• olive oil (?) 
• water

And I very carefully drizzled a drop here and there over the cooked broccoli while stirring and then sprinkled with roasted sesame seeds.

And finally, the corn:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2011/04/almost-vegan-honeyed-corn.html

Vegan gluten-free falafel

I have a good friend who's gluten intolerant and in the past I had an employee who also had gluten issues. For some reason, this came to mind when I saw this vegan recipe on another friend's blog:

http://leangreensuburbanmachine.com/2011/04/04/30-days-of-vegan-day-4-baked-falafel-with-tahini-miso-sauce/

With my daughter's dairy-free stint, and with a bad history of making falafel (despite a love of it) I decided to try it, and make it gluten free.

Why?

Not sure.

I strayed from the recipe so this is what I think I mixed up:
- 30 ounces chick peas imported from Lebanon
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- probably 4 tablespoons chopped chives frozen from last year's garden
- 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon roared sesame seeds
- 2 teaspoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

Forks Mediterranean Deli

This may be my best blog entry ever by the time I get done. I stopped at Forks Mediterranean Deli on the way home, and simply that is a story in and of itself. When I worked at the news editor at Lafayette College, I went to every Hillel Society function because they had the best falafel I had ever tasted and hummus to die for... And finally, the Jewish chaplain leaned over to me, after a year or so, and said "Angel, I get the platter at Forks Mediterranean Deli."

A love affair was born. I don't get there nearly as often as I should, maybe once every four months. I'm planning on homemade chicken curry soup for dinner and for some reason thought "falafel."

Now, on many occasions, Edmund, the owner, has falafel in the case all by itself ready to go. Not tonight. So I asked him. "Can I have some falafel to go with dinner, no sandwich." Of course he said sure and told me he normally puts three patties on a large sandwich, how many would I like? We settled on eight.

I have $10 in my pocket. I look at the wall. A falafel platter is $5 or $8. A large falafel sandwich is $7. How much would eight falafel patties cost? I rationalized a small shopping spree to justify use of my bank card. After all, it's such good food. All homemade and since he has groceries... I can apply it toward the March grocery budget.

So my daughter and I shop.

We buy:

• dried papaya
• random dehydrated fruits and veggies (including green beans and I have no idea what else)
• hot wasabi snack mix
• sesame nut brittle
• nougat candy and apricot nougat candy
• hummus
• whole wheat mini pitas

Then he asks my daughter what kind of candy she likes. She likes the jordan almonds, but he was out of those. He feels terrible he doesn't have any. He went back to check on our falafel. (He makes it fresh.) When he comes back, he insists on giving her some of her next favorite. She picks the sugar coated chick peas, which are really good.

The bill came to $26.09. The irony is: The falafel was $4. But I never feel guilty about money spent there. The food is too good. (And cheap.)

My daughter says she wants to work there, and Edmund told her he'll pay her in food. I laughed and said he'll lose on that deal. Then she gave him a big hug.