Cheap Meal Ideas: All for Falafel and Falafel for All!

This bear is emerging from blogging hibernation to introduce a guest post from the lovely Carolyn of the Blog Content Guild. I’ll let her dazzle you with her falafel recipe as I lazily retreat back to my cave filled with aromas of cookies baking and tangles of ribbon scrap. A Murray Christmas to all!

Well, it’s that time again: time to make those New Year’s resolutions. And we know just the one we’re going to tackle come 2012. Admittedly, we eat out a lot. Okay, so we like to sample different cuisines, wasting ghastly amounts of money on great food! So sue us! Even so, maybe it’s time to turn over a new leaf and start cookin’ up meals at home. Need some cheap meal ideas? We got just the thing:

Falafel (with all the trimmings)

Anyone who has even had the chance to wander down Rue des Rosiers in Paris has probably enjoyed absolutely magnificent, world-renowned falafel. But going to grab falafel every Sunday may not be the best way to save money. So, why not make it at home? Here’s a great recipe that will help you save a bit of money, while also enjoying a delicious treat.

1 15 oz can of chickpeas
1 onion, diced
1 tbs. garlic, minced
2 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped, 1 tsp coriander
3/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbs. flour
1 cup hummus (You can make this homemade too. All you gotta do is throw some chickpeas, olive oil, and tahini paste in a food processor. Yeah, that simple.)

1. Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Add flour and combine well. Mash chickpeas and make sure all the ingredients are mixing together. You can also throw all these ingredients (except the hummus) into a food processor. This will create a think paste. Form paste into small balls and flatten a bit. Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden.

2. Now all you have to do is get some pita, pick up some nondairy mayo, add a little bit of tomato ketchup, and serve with hummus, tomato, cucumber, and cabbage. Eating cheap has never tasted so good.

Herbed Chickpea Polenta

I enjoyed this on a cool summer’s night after I was convinced my pantry consisted of nothing remotely appetizing. Enter the glories of polenta, a.k.a corn grits. While you might often see it in weird sausage-like tubes (pre-cooked, I believe), I prefer simple ground corn as it is infinitely more customizable. If you’re looking for a great brand, you can’t beat Bob’s Red Mill.

For this version, the fresh thyme really makes the  dish, but if you only have dried thyme that’s fine too. I know how fresh herbs are ridiculously expensive if you don’t grow your own; poo’ students gotta stick togetha’.To be honest, the dish won’t be as good but I am still a big fan of polenta in its plain unadulterated version. So creamy, so easy, so quick, and, most importantly, so goddamn delicious.

(Finally, an actual recipe to post!  I feel like an official food blogger now.)

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal

3 cups water

3 tsp Better Than Bouillon No Chicken paste

3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, plus a sprig for garnish if you like your food pretty

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well

roughly 1/2 bag frozen peas, thawed

Method

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. When boiling add both the chicken paste and corn grits. If you prefer, you can also use 3 cups vegetable/”chicken” broth and omit the chicken paste. Cover and reduce heat. Cook slowly for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to let the polenta stick too much to the pan. Add thyme and cook for 2 minutes more. Add chickpeas and peas and heat through. When both the chickpeas and peas are fully cooked, remove from heat and let stand for a couple of minutes. Garnish with a sprig of thyme and enjoy. Careful, it’s hot!

Serves 3-4 people, or 2 servings for a gluttonous college student

One more photo, because I can.

I’m Back…?

You know what surprised me today? The fact that I might actually have readers, people who actually follow this silly little blog I started. When a recent friend (you know who you are) berated me for my lack of posting, I felt… guilty.I think I suffer from postpartum: I nurtured my little baby blog and now it’s a neglected sadface bloggie. So from now on, I’m going to post, post, post, post until you get sick of me. Like that could ever happen, psh.

This is life right now: film set, class, essay, french comp, russian cinema (DISLIKE!), food. I’ve pretty much been a zombie for the past week, and March has been a blur. I mean, when your roommate has to remind you what night you went to bed at 2 versus 4 you know that life sucks. Let’s just say spring break (T-minus 6 days!) could not be more welcome.

On to the food!

Nothing mind-blowing, but good all the same.

Tofu scramble with chickpeas, carrots, nutritional yeast (hipster vegan translation: nooch) and whatever else I decided to throw in there. Lots of smoked paprika on top because I’m addicted to the stuff. I’ve discovered there is no cure except to put it on everything possible- potatoes, scrambles, stir-fries, your dog…

Tofu- you know, that boring stuff vegans eat.

Falafel from King Falafel Palace in PARIS, France. Half of me thought it was amazing and the other half was just jumping for joy not to be eating pasta for the 8th time in a row.

HELL YES.

Stir-fry! This is what I live on. Beets (they make going to the bathroom a fun… surprise. Sorry, TMI?), carrots, onions, broccoli, and zuchini. I liked how the onions turned beet-pink

Veggies gettin' friendly in my wok

Sesame seed sprinkled

Polenta fries made from leftover polenta chilled in the fridge. These were quite a treat, and they’re even better coated with Panko breadcrumbs (sorry, no pic). I dipped mine in barbeque sauce because that’s how I roll.

They look like wet, yellow alien fingers. YUMMY wet, yellow alien fingers

Trivia of the Day: The world record for time without sleep is 264 hours (11 days) by Randy Gardner in 1965. Kudos, Randy! And I thought I had it bad…