Easy Homemade Falafel-Quick to Make

Sticking with my menu for the week I made falafel, chickpea patties, from scratch today. It was so easy, actually as easy as using a mix because you don't have to wait for it to 'set up', it's ready to go as soon as you finishing blending it. Which is nice because I never remember to mix it before hand. I would recommend using a food processor though, that's what made it SO easy.
This was my first time making them from scratch rather than the mix and we loved them! In fact I should double the recipe next time because we could definitely eat these as leftovers. And my husband officially asked me NOT to make the mix anymore. Sweet!

Quick and Easy Falafel
1/2 and onion
1clove of garlic
2 cups chickpeas-canned or cooked from dry beans
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon salt**optional especially if you are using canned beans
2 teaspoons parsley **didn't have any omitted use if you have it
2 TBSP flour
cooking oil

in the bowl of a food processor pulse the onion and garlic until minced
add the beans, spices and herbs
pulse until well blended
add the flour and blend until thickened-about 30 seconds
until you add the flour it is like a chopped mess, then the flour pulls it into a
nice mixture to make into balls or patties
starting heating your oil, I pan fried mine over medium high heat, but you can deep fry them too
make balls about ping pong ball size and then flatten slightly or make into complete patties
fry for about 3-4 minutes per side
serve with pitas, naan or plain with a good dipping sauce-I wrote mine down for you below
of course a nice assortment of pickles, lettuce, a slather of hummus will really make these into a divine sandwich
but my kids prefer to dip them in the 'good sauce' with no accompaniments-I'll take that!

The good sauce-
Easy Yogurt Dipping Sauce
1 cup yogurt
2 TBSP whipping cream or whole milk
2 TBSP dill-fresh is best-if using dried make it to taste
1 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon parsley*again use it if you have it
salt and pepper to taste

combine all and let rest at least 20 minutes before inhaling

So that was my experiment making my own homemade falafel, good, quick, tasty and easy! Plus I stayed on my menu plan, score one for me!

Guess who's blogoversary is coming up?!? Guess who's trying to line up and ENTIRE week of giveaways!?!

Peace and Love--

Things I LOVE this year

 What am I loving this year? What do I want to give this year? What do I want to get this year? Well a girl can dream right? Because we are so broke this year, er living on a budget, er paying off my creepy loser ex-husband his blood money we can't spend much money on Christmas presents to give this year. I don't care if I GET presents but I dearly love to give them so this is my way to virtually shop without spending a dime. Remember though we are hand making about 90% of our presents and you'll see those as we finish them up in the coming weeks. I have also been buying my treasures throughout the year for my family so I WILL have plenty to give. I have to admit there is a certain something to being in the little stores in downtown that makes me feel all Christmassy in my heart. But I can still get that feeling by 'virtually' window shopping and sharing my finds and of course venturing out to be amongst the crowds and 'shop' will fill that gap too.

Let's start with chocolate!

A six month chocolate subscription from Foodzie-how delicious would this be? I mean really a box of chocolate every month for 3, 6 or 12 months would be awesome. Check out the 6 month subscription of chocolate from Foodzie now!

The Pasta Roller and Cutter set for KitchenAid-my husband would LOVE this, he loves to make fresh made pasta and with our KitchenAid it will be so easy!

I'm always looking for things we can use whether we have power or not I'd have to say this grain mill is at the top of my list for must haves-sitting for 40 hours this fall without power opened my eyes to the reality that when the power is out we'll still have to eat.

 

A grain mill will serve us for years with power and without power, this one is especially awesome.

This top is so beautiful, I swear we had one like it when I was little--LOVE!! Check out ALL of Leman's toys, they are all safe for kids, no toxic paint here!

Looking a little more close to home check out the Slippery Slope Bloomer Company, located in my hometown. Their hand drawn birds on vintage and vintage inspired under garments are to die for, really amazing!

More from Etsy this awesome funky little necklace is just so cool, I love it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE these old metal trays, you know I love trays and these are awesome!

And one more Etsy pick, this handmade owl wallet is way too cool to pass up!

Oh how I would LOVE a box of fresh organic fruits and vegetable every week! I 'd love to get this one or give, what a gift to give. Full Circle farms delivers to Alaska all year round, sweet!

My kids play hard with their Sarah's Silk, I'd Love to give them each a few more, especially the Starry Night from Hip Mountain Mama.

And lets end it with another bit o'chocolate from Salt Side Down Chocolates on Foodzie! yes I love chocolate, anybody remember chocopalooza from last year? Yes indeed I do love chocolate! They truffles look amazing

and I want them now please!


Peace and Love--

The Return of Just Another Meatless Monday #36?

After doing some research I came to the conclusion that it was not the link causing me problems but probably an ad on my blog. WHEW! Now I can continue Just Another Meatless Monday and I started a new weekend link party The Penny Worthy Project. Basically I have expanded my Thrifted Sunday posts  and "it's a link party, it's inspiration, it's thrifted Sunday, it's your Etsy store, it's your weekly craft check-in, Ebay listings, art journal posts, recipes to share, presents to make, decorating on a budget, book selling and anything else you want it to be.
It's a study in how you are making it, surviving life with or without a job, with or with out your own home. With kids without kids. With special materials or nothing at all. What inspires you? What drives you to be creative? How are creatively making your money go farther?"

This week for Just Another Meatless Monday I am posting my dinner menu for the week for consideration:
Monday-Crock Pot Pinto Beans-topped with lettuce and tomatoes
Tuesday-Falafel Patties with yogurt dipping sauce-bulgur and vegetable salad
Wednesday-Stir Fried Brussels Sprouts with Almonds-Brown Rice-Edamame
Thursday-Ratatouille over Polenta
Friday-Walnut Pesto Pizza and Cheese Pizza
Saturday-Barbecued Lentils
Sunday-Veggie and Noodle soup

Looking over my list I see that I need to hit the store for yogurt, edmame, and perhaps more walnuts. If the meal requires an additional vegetable I believe we'll be reaching for celery, carrots or green salad so I'll grab more of those at the store. Milk will be on the list too because we have blown through it making fresh cocoa and more iced coffee than normal, long weekend! I should probably get coffee and more flour for making bread too. Now I have a plan, I feel ready for the week. How about you?







I'd love to have you check out The Penny Worthy Project too, it would mean so much to me to know I am not alone in my struggle to thrive in this world.

Peace and Love--

The Penny Worthy Project

The Penny Worthy Project:

The objective of the Penny Worthy Project is undefined as of right now. It's an idea rolling around in my head begging to get out and that's why I'm starting it without a clearly defined goal. It's a link party, it's inspiration, it's thrifted Sunday, it's your Etsy store, it's your weekly craft check-in, Ebay listings, art journal posts, recipes to share, presents to make, decorating on a budget, book selling and anything else you want it to be.
It's a study in how you are making it, surviving life with or without a job, with or with out your own home. With kids without kids. With special materials or nothing at all. What inspires you? What drives you to be creative? How are creatively making your money go farther?

This week we started making a Christmas present for Union-it's going to be a robotics parts box

start with a thrifted cheap pencil box

use recycled cardboard for dividers

make a pattern and cut as many as needed

hot glue the partitions

paint with thrifted paint

painted, drying and divided

Once painted and completed we'll fill it with small screws, switches, lights and other robotics goodies all from broken, 'useless electronics', watches and other thrifted goodies. Since he loves 'robotics' this is sure to be a hit and won't little Mr. Sir Prize be proud to give this gift to his brother?

 The net from a bag of Cuties, remember I used Cuties to brine the turkey, the bag was headed to the recycling bin when I tied it into a bow to stuff it in there. Inspiration hit and now I'm planning to hot glue some pine cones and berries to it and use it for a bow on a package for Christmas.

 And then of course we have the Levi's I bought for Hero. They were his size except that teenager had the nerve to grow! I almost sent them to the thrift store when I decided to check them on ebay. WHOA! Levi's sell well on ebay, who knew? So I took a couple shots and listed them, they had a bid in 1/2 an hour and close tomorrow. I can't wait to see how they end!

So that's how I'm making it, crafting with kids, getting inspired and making a little cash on the side.







Peace and Love--

An invitation to get creative

What can you do with a plain pencil box, recycled cardboard and some thrifted paint? What about some Levi's that just don't fit your son and maybe never did? A mesh bag bound for the trash and a spruce cone stolen from a squirrel? If you have a camera and a hot glue gun you can do ALL sorts of things.

Starting tomorrow I'll be hosting a creative, thrifted, ebay, etsy, homemade present- apalooza link party. Basically if you can make it, bake it, recycle it, sell it or create it you'll be invited to link up. I'll be making a button here soon to grab if you want it and I'll hopefully have a name for this link-apalooza party. Etsy shops, tutorials, ideas, gifts, decorating ideas, recipes and thrift store find all work in this link party so I do hope you'll join me for a new twist on my Thrifted Sunday posts. And come back tomorrow for the answer about the plain pencil box, Levi's and a mesh bag, three thrifty ways to stretch your money is all I'm gonna tell you for now.

Peace and Love--

We REALLY like desserts

Hope your day was thankful and happy, where ever you are in the world. Ours was. Friends and family filled our home to the brim with laughter, love and a good solid scrabble beatin'. (no comment) The brined turkey was delicious and perfect. If you have not brined your meat you really ought to give it a try, the full directions for brining a turkey were in my last post.

Let me tell you something, a 23 pound turkey is a LOT of bird. And I really need a new oven, STAT! Our poor little oven was full to the brim with bird, thankfully he cooked pretty fast and we had plenty of time to get 5 pans of rolls, 6 quarts of stuffing, roasted cabbage with cheese sauce and savory sweet potatoes warmed while it rested. We had enough leftovers to send everyone home with a happy little tray goodies to nibble on. And we still have bird.

Hero and girlfriend-she's sweet!

a nice snowy day and grandpas!

But I have to say around here we really really like desserts, we had 12 of them. Orange Bars, Chess Pie, Blackberry Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Cream Pie, Apple Cranberry Pie, Pumpkin X2, Caramel Apple Cranberry Pie, Pumpkin Roll, Banana Cream Pie, Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies and fresh from the cow whipped cream. Behold dessert-orama:

I'm looking forward to a quiet non-black Friday-we're doing Craft Friday! Staying home and beginning work on Christmas presents seems to be the perfect antidote to spending a whole lotta money I don't actually have to spend. If you are heading out good luck and be safe!

I'm bringing back Just Another Meatless Monday, please feel free to come back and leave a link starting Sunday night! I'm also thinking of a Creative Outlet Sunday project, a place to post links to your recently posted craft projects, etsy stores, thrifted recycled projects, upcycled goods, frugal living links and thrifted ebay auctions, thoughts? Would you be interested in sharing your posts here? Leave me comment and let me know! I want to keep expanding Hey What's For Dinner Mom? because life really isn't ALL about food, wait is it?

Peace and Love--

The Time to Brine is Now

We have our home grown bird harvested, plucked and ready to be cooked, it weighs 23 pounds. Last year our bird was good but a tad dry. This year thinking ahead, not by much but ahead none the less, I decided to brine it. I consulted the official word (twitter) to make sure I still had enough time and to get ideas. Turns out I did indeed have enough time left but I needed to get a move on. You need about 24 hours for 12 pounds of meat. I put it in this morning and I'll pull it tomorrow night, not quite as long as needed but it's better than nothing.


I got the general rule of thumb being 1 cup salt to one gallon water, with 1 cup sugar per gallon optional. Spices, fruits and flavors were all recommended too. I used a cooler we use when  harvesting birds, sterilized of course, to put the turkey and brine in.

Turkey Brine
1 gallon water
1 cup salt
1 cup sugar-more, less or none
herbs-sage and rosemary
lemon-no lemon I used cuties-all I had!
bay leaves

mix the salt and sugar with the water until dissolved
pour over turkey
make enough brine to cover the bird by 1-2 inches
let soak for 24 hours per 12 pounds of bird
pat dry and let sit to air dry before roasting

In the picture below my bird is waiting for more brine, but I wanted to get a shot of it before it was submerged. I used brown sugar for a sweet twist and cutie oranges because I didn't have lemons. I will be turning him over and over in the brine to make sure he is evenly brined.

Happy Brining!

Peace and Love--

Wondering Where I have Been?

I like to joke about the school that ate my life, but honestly when I see the community we are building I KNOW every minute I spend will come back to me again and again. I have been hard at work with a fantastic group of ladies making our fall fundraiser a roaring success. I played a small part in a huge group effort and it was fun. Although my house was ignored and will be nearly impossible to get ready for dinner for 20 on Thursday it was all worth it and I wouldn't change a thing.
So enjoy a little video I made of photos from the event while I clean and attempt to cook again.



Peace and Love--

Making Jelly or Jam From Frozen Berries and Fruit

Why yes you can! All summer I spend little bits of time putting away fruits and berries as they come into season. I freeze them for later when life isn't so hectic. For days when summer seems so far away and I need a quick dose of something luscious. Like today for instance, the wind was blowing in town but calm and quiet here and then it hit like a mack truck. WIND, a 50 mile an hour north wind.

And the perfect antidote for cold, windy weather is something hot and bubbling on the stove. When it reminds you of that day in summer, when it was so hot and the berries were ripe, it is so much sweeter. I like to flash freeze my berries by laying them on a cookie sheet and freezing them for a couple hours. Bigger fruits I tend to stick to what the book says, usually it involves peeling but hardly ever blanching. Then I freeze them in 4 cup increments for crumbles, crisps, jams and jellies.

You can use them the same way you use fresh, simply thaw them first. Then proceed with your jam or jelly recipe. If you are using pectin I ALWAYS recommend Pomona Pectin because you can use no sugar, low sugar, honey or fake sugar (yick!). I look at it this way, regular store bought pectin has recipes calling for 9 cups of sugar and 5 cups of juice, that's almost 2:1 sugar to juice, that's CRAZY! Plus you end up with 6-7 jars of sugary jelly when want you really want is 2-3 jars of intensely flavored jelly, I know what I want.

Now let's just say you didn't put away any fruit or berries this summer because you don't grow them or didn't get them in season. First I'd like to say join the club, we all do that! For goodness sake I live in Alaska, there is no way I can pick all the blueberries my family eats so I buy them frozen from Azure Standard or Costco. No shame in that, they are sustainably farmed and organic. They have more air miles than I'd like but we do what we can do, right? So get out and buy some fruit or dig some out of the deep freeze and put a little sunshine in your day.

summer memories for this boy

Peace and Love--

How to Make Pie Dough in the Food Processor

Sure Thanksgiving is all about the turkey but in my family of all boys it's also all about the pie. More specifically how many, what kinds, whipped cream and how much pie can we eat at one time. Me, I don't love pie, in fact I would go so far as to say I don't really like pie. But my guys love pie, so I've learned to make pie dough so I can whip up pies for them whenever the mood strikes without having to keep that store bought stuff on hand. Not only is homemade healthier, it tastes better and looks better too.

Many folks don't realize just how quick and easy it is to make your own pie dough. It literally takes less than five minutes once you practice and get comfortable. And the difference between homemade and store bought are very visual, they just look better. They taste better too. A homemade pie dough is easier to work with, no crazy unrolling and mending cracks. Try one this Thanksgiving or Christmas and see how your family reacts. My guess is that they will notice and they will love it.

 Here's a very short video showing you just how easy it can be:

Martha Stewart's Pie Dough My way

Best Pie Crust Ever

Pie Crust ----- makes 2 crusts
2 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup unsalted butter cut in chunks
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice cold water


whirl dry ingredients together
add butter and pulse to chop until flour looks like course meal 10-15 seconds
add ice water and pulse quickly 1 tablespoon at a time=1 pulse at a time
when dough holds together stop adding water
remove from the bowl and divide the dough in half
flatten each piece in to a disk and wrap in plastic wrap
refrigerate 60 minutes, keep 1 in the refrigerator while working with the other
roll out on a lightly floured surface until 2 inches wider than your pie pan
roll on to the rolling pin and unroll on the pie pan
pat in to place chill until ready to use
repeat for a second 1 crust pie or roll second crust out as a top crust and lay over your filling trimming and crimping as desired

I've linked up to:

Peace and Love--

NOT Just Another Meatless Monday

Sorry folks, seems someone linking up with Just Another Meatless Monday has malware or spyware on their blog or machine. I don't know if it's malicious or they have a virus but it's caused two of my readers to have evil little boxes pop up on their screen and try to hijack them when they open my blog. I have deleted all the Just Another Meatless Monday links from my blog posts and this seems to have stopped the problem, I don't know what else to do.

Do you run a link party? How do you control what people link up with? How can you? I usually visit every post that is linked up and I never have any trouble. Of course I'm on a mac and I run  firefox mozilla so the chances of me having problems are slim. Seems Internet Explorer is highly targeted and has the most trouble with these things. I wonder why?

So what is the fate of Just Another Meatless Monday? I don't know. I certainly don't want to have a blog that tries to hijack your computer, that would suck. It would be the exact OPPOSITE of what I want in fact. I don't want to drive people away because 'I may have a problem' yet I don't want to give up Just Another Meatless Monday. Ack, deadlock.

So I'd like advice please. What should I do? Is there any link up system that scans for malware/spyware/virus' in the links? How can I tell who had the problem? What would you do? Has this happened to you? Should I take the chance and continue?

We are remodeling a bit in our 1935 Colony House. Life is kinda cranky right now. We spent the day tearing out the ceiling in our dining room in preparation for Thanksgiving. What an absolute mess our house is. Dinner was fried potatoes, cheese toast and apples, completely uninspired and I forgot the apples so we basically carbed out. But, BUT our kitchen and dining room ceilings now match, they are both open ceilings with bare wood beams and the upstairs floorboards as ceiling. If you saw our house I'm sure it would all make sense. The kitchen and dining room run along the south wall and now feel like one nice long room with a high ceiling. We are well on our way to new light fixtures and closure on project that needs to be done.

And of course I'm now crazy busy with another project for school. We are having our Fall Fundraiser this week. An auction to raise money for our natural playscape playground. Thankfully I am NOT in charge of the whole thing, I'm only organizing the food. We opted NOT to have a catered dinner but a tapas style buffet, little bites of this and that. We are also having a dessert auction. My job is to round up volunteers who want to make appetizers and small bites for 150 people and/or a fancy dessert. Luckily we have fantastic volunteers and they have jumped right in to help support our school.

I do plan on actually cooking for my family this week, real food too! I also plan to:

• figure out what to with Just Another Meatless Monday
• Finish cleaning up after tearing down a disgusting ceiling
• Shop for food for the Fall Auction
• help make baskets up for the Fall Auction
• set up the auction food
• run the bar at said auction--BEER!
• Completely clean my house from top to bottom including washing windows-yick
• List more ebay items so I can finish paying back my ex-husband(long stupid story) where I had to buy my house from him and now have one payment left to go
• post my latest video blog-Perfect Pie Dough in the Food Processor

Don't forget to give me your 2¢ on linky parties and the like, I need your advice.

 Peace and Love--

Thrifted Sunday

It's been a long time since I've had it together enough to post a Thrifted Sunday ON Sunday, score one for me! I've had a lot of luck in the thrifting department this last month, here are a few treasures I came home with-
A brand new Hot Wheels track still in the box:

And it came with 4 extra packs of track:

3 Paula Deen Cookbooks for me, I was never interested in her until I met her sons. They were so nice and sweet I decided to check her out, some of her recipes scare me but some are down right awesome.
I bought The Lady and Sons, The Lady and Sons Too and The Lady and Sons Just Desserts, good reading!


3 vintage wooden puzzles, Minnie Mouse, Goofy and My Pretty Pony:

 A brand new Ravensburger Puzzle:

Some wooden train tracks, these always sell nicely on ebay.

I found several cool Christmas presents too but I can't share those because people who are getting them might see them here.

I love to give my 'treasures' to people it feels so much more like finding the "perfect" gift rather than plunking down money for the newest this or that. What about you? Do you shop all year or go on a spending spree? I guess if I had my druthers I would like an equal mix of both, this year is tight because I have to make a payment to my ex husband so we are all about the treasures. And living in the feeling of giving rather than the monetary element. Wish us luck!

Peace and Love--