It’s Friday! Here’s a super quick supper utilizing the falafel saved from Sunday. This bowl will use bulgur instead of rice combined with crisp lettuce, cucumber, cabbage, and tomato. Finish the bowl by dressing it with leftover tzatziki and a drizzle of dressing made from tahini sauce.
Give those leftovers a makeover and call it a Falafel “Rice” Bowl. Your diners will call it satisfying and delicious.
This kale dish is a “go to” version of kale in my house. Any kale will work, but I’m partial to Lacinato Kale as it’s easier to chiffonade.
Easier to what? Chiffonade is just a fancy term from French cookery for stacking leaves, rolling them and cutting them perpendicularly into thin strips. The term literally means, “little ribbons.”
The combination of the poached egg, roasted potatoes and smoky tempeh with the kale provides a delicious meal. Add a piece of seasonal fruit and enjoy a fresh, vitamin-packed meal.
It’s time for some old-fashioned comfort food. When I was a kid, this dish was fairly common in my middle-class home. My mother made it with chicken thighs and used cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup to make the sauce. Every bite was a salt bomb bonanza and we loved it! However, we’ll skip the salty canned soups tonight and make our own yogurt-based white sauce. We’ll also substitute plant-based Chick’n Strips for chicken thighs. Browned mushrooms will anchor the mushroom sauce. This version is still packed with flavor but has a fraction of the fat and salt.
Tonight we’ll feature the miraculous beet, While they’re at the peak of the season. For additional texture, we’ll surround them with an ensemble of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, tree-ripened apple, plant-based tenders and toasted walnuts.
Beets, a root vegetable food source, originated in the Mediterranean and dates back to prehistoric times. High in antioxidants, beets were often used for medicinal purposes, but by the 18th century they became a popular food item.
If you haven’t already roasted beets, roast some during the day today.
*A note of caution, beet juice has been used as a natural dye (even a hair dye) for centuries, so be sure to wear latex gloves as you handle the cooked beets.
Here’s another twist on serving Ravioli using a light “cream” sauce. Butternut squash ravioli and marinated beans are bathed in a delicate yogurt-based “cream” sauce with a touch of lemon and nutmeg. The ravioli are nested over dressed arugula leaves and topped with browned crimini mushrooms and Parmesan.
Cucumbers are still in season, and that makes me think of Tzatziki Sauce. And tatziki sauce makes me think of the Middle Eastern street food, falafel. So I’m thinking it’s time to make some of both. It’s like having fried chicken, only better! What a great meal to share with dinner guests! Mix the falafel ingredients early in the day as the flafel dough needs to chill for 2 hours before cooking.
You will need to have soaked 2-1/2 C. dry chickpeas (garbanzo beans) overnight to make this meal today. (Canned beans don’t work here…too much moisture.)