Today's school lunches, Homemade Flatbreads & Falafel

Good morning!  What a beautiful day! 

Here is what my kiddos took for lunch today ...

Homemade organic cheesy noodles, organic yogurt w/ homemade berry sauce to stir in, 1/2 a sandwich (GH lemon blueberry bread, real butter, dried cranberries, & honey), a mix of raisins & raw organic pumpkin seeds, raw broccoli florets w/ a packet of organic Caesar dressing

What did you pack/have today?

One of our favorite meals around here is falafel...FALAFEL IS AMAZING!  

The entire family loves it and devours it like piggies!

Here is our falafel spread from the other night...

The romaine isn't pictured.  When we have falafel we usually pair it with steamed French green beans (Not French-style, but actual French green beans).  Here is how I build a falafel: flatbread, toum or tzatziki, lettuce, patty (cut into 2 halves), tomato, parsley, cucumber, onion, romaine, more toum or tzatziki. Keep reading for recipes.  :)

Here is my husband's plate...

The flatbreads, tzatziki or toum, and falafel are all homemade.  

Toum

Toum is a Lebanese dipping sauce that is absolutely delicious!  A little goes a long way, though.  It is pretty powerful.  I got my recipe for toum here.

• 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled 
•  ¼ cup of vegetable or olive oil (I use nonGMO canola)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Toss the ingredients in a food processor or chopper, and give it a whir.  Keep whirring until creamy and white.

This is VERY acidic, but so deliciously tangy!  Remember, a little goes a VERY long way.  My poor stomach just couldn't handle toum anymore, so I had to make the switch to tzatziki.  I was so sad.  

Tzatziki

I didn't much care for the first tzatziki recipe I came across, as it didn't have enough zing to it.  So, I made my own.

1/4 c plain organic yogurt 

1/4 c organic cucumber

3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled

3 T parsley

1 T chopped red onion

Salt & pepper, to taste

Again, I tossed it all in my little Ninja chopper and gave it a whir for a second or two. (I LOVE MY CHOPPER!!  It's the absolute best!)  This makes a nice tangy tzatziki.  Warning: my little ones thought it a little too spicy with all of the onion, garlic & pepper. 

Flatbreads

What a challenge it is finding healthy flatbread!  It's ridiculous, honestly, because they only contain a few ingredients.  I often buy a 5 ingredient flatbread from Whole Foods, but it's the only place I've ever been able to find such a simple flatbread.  

I'm sure it's easy for you to spot the difference in these products.  The left image is of the flatbread that I buy at Whole Foods; the right image is of a package of Orlando flatbread. Both are white flatbreads.  The package from Whole Foods is $1.99 for 5, while the package from Orlando was priced at $2.69 for 5.  

See that?  5 ingredients vs. dozens...insane!  Let's break it down...

-Pkg on left uses unbromated, unenriched wheat flour.  Pkg on right uses enriched wheat flour, adding  5 additional ingredients.  Our bodies don't recognize all of these vitamins & minerals as real, therefore it doesn't process them or absorb them as it would these same vitamins and minerals from real sources.  

-Both packages use soybean oil, though pkg on right could also contain cottonseed oil.  

-Both of these pkgs contain GMOs, which is why I choose to make my own, now. :)  Keep reading to see why the pkg on the left is still a better option.  

-Both use yeast & salt, but that is where the similarities end.  

-Soy flour blend...Virtually all soy in the US is genetically modified, as are cotton, sugar & corn.  Visit the Non-GMO Project for more info on GMOs.  If that isn't bad enough, this flour blend contains MSG, TWICE! Isolated soy protein (I avoid all isolates!) & maltodextrin are both hidden sources of MSG.  MSG actually makes you crave the food that it is in.  It makes you want to keep eating it.  In addition, there are many who are sensitive to this additive.  

-Dough conditioner...YUMMY!  Check that out!  MSG is there again in the "enzymes".  Mono & Diglycerides are sources of trans fat, and doesn't "cultured wheat sponge" just make you salivate?  All of these additives are designed to extend the shelf life of this product.  

-Sugar...Sugar?  Why would my flatbread need refined genetically modified sugar?  It doesn't state "pure cane", which means it is a combination of cane and GMO sugar beets. 

-Calcium Propionate...Another additive to prolong the shelf life of this product.

In fact, there isn't much in the flatbreads on the right that could actually be considered real food.  

I got my flatbread recipe here.  I use whole wheat flour & organic whole milk yogurt in mine.  I make enough for a few meals and freeze them.  To freeze, I lay them in a single layer on baking sheets and place them in the freezer.  I then transfer the frozen flatbreads to a freezer bag.  This prevents sticking, for the most part. Many of mine puffed up during cooking, making pita bread.  I love using these for the kid's falafel.  A pita pocket is much easier for them to eat than a flatbread is.

This is how they turned out.  :)  Beautiful!

This is a store bought one, before I began making my own.  It is just to give you an idea.  

Falafel

Here it is...the star of the show!  My falafel recipe was adapted from the recipe found here.

I add an organic egg to this, but it can be left out, or you can even use "flax eggs". It helps hold the recipe together.

• 1 cup dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons flour (I use whole wheat, and actually add more flour than this to help the patties keep their shape when frying.  Too little flour and they will fall apart; too much flour and they will be very dense and not as crispy.)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Oil for frying

Prepare the beans, if using dried, as you normally would.  If using canned, drain & rinse.  

Toss it all into the food processor, whir until blended. 

You can try forming into patties, but it's messy work!  I just scoop them out into mounds on a baking sheets.  

These baking sheets go into the freezer.  THIS IS IMPORTANT!  DON'T SKIP THIS STEP! Freeze your patties, even if you are planning on using them that day.  If the patties aren't frozen, they won't hold up well in the oil and will disintegrate.  

This is what they look like when scooped into mounds, after being frozen.  I store them in this large container in the freezer.  Each patty has been individually frozen, so there is no sticking. 

These were successfully made into patty shapes.  I've only attempted this once!  Either way makes a beautiful falafel once cooked.  :)

Heat oil in a frying pan (I use nonGMO canola).  You don't need as much oil as you would think.  Mine is about 1/4" deep in my skillet.  Make sure the oil is good and hot, and don't crowd the patties.  Don't fool with them until the bottom of each patty is good and fried, keeping its shape.  Then, flip carefully, leaving alone until bottom is cooked solid.  If you push them around, or fool around with them, they will likely fall apart.  If I can't fit all of them in my skillet at one time, I put them on a baking sheet in the oven set to warm.  

In the pita pic above, you can see one of my cooked falafel patties...deliciously soft and creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside!  They are more difficult to see in the pic of my falafel spread.  :)

I like preparing things in bulk so that I have them ready and waiting when I need them.  One 16 oz bag of chick peas made 32-34 falafel patties. 

Give it try, and let me know how it went!