Easy Falafel Salad

I was in Canberra for work last week and returned quite sick. I think it was a combination of being in air-conditioning all day and night and also sitting next to sick people in my training courses. This week and next week Nat is away for work so don't expect to see to much creation on my blog.

The day I left for Canberra it was quite warm and Nat and I felt like salad for lunch.
We had some leftover falafel from dinner the night before and so we had Tassie Oak Leaf Lettuce, Tassie Tomatoes, Cucumber, red onion and falafel with tahini drizzled over the top. It was so good and refreshing - I think I will make it again as soon as the weather warms up again.

The falafel was from Vegan With a Vengence. This recipe is AWESOME!! I think I know it off by heart now.

Pita Pockets with hummus, baby spinach and falafel

mmmm... is there anything better than pita pockets stuffed with yummy fillings. I remember loving it when my mum bought pita bread for our school lunches. When I saw Jessy's post about her awesome pita/hummus/falafel meal I just couldn't help myself. I had to learn how to make pita bread and then devour it.

I used this recipe as the base for my pita bread. I modified the recipe a little and so here is my version of pita pockets:

1 cup white spelt flour *
2 cups wholemeal spelt flour*
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp raw sugar
2 tsp instant dried yeast
1 1/4 cup water (room temp.)
2 tsp olive oil
*you can use 3 cups of any flour you want really.

1. In a large bowl - mix the yeast, flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. If necessary add more water so that all the flour is incorporated into the dough.
2. Once all of the ingredients are combined, place the dough on a work surface and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Place the dough in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and set aside for about 90 mins until it has doubled in size.
4. When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place a baking stone or upside down cookie sheet on the middle rack of the oven.
6. Spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin and roll the dough into a circular shape. It should be about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
7. Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Here is half a pita with hummus , falafel (from VWaV) and baby spinach.

Lunch time and Jessy's AWESOME pickled cuc and onions

Today's lunch wrap - Spicy Pumpkin Dip with alfalfa,
capsicum, red onion and baby spinach

I am a grazer - I think I was a horse (or maybe more an elephant) in a previous life because I LOVE grazing. I love having a piece of fruit for breakfast and then having another one a little later... and then having another a little later. Same goes for lunch - I grab something from the fridge and have a little and then have a little something else a little later.

Anyway - instead of talking about grazing I am going to talk about my lunches while I am at home studying. During winter I would make a pot of whatever (usually lentils and whatever vegetables I had on hand) but during summer I don't often feel like hot stuff.

So what do you have for lunch thats healthy - but filling. I have found vegetable wraps are great because then I can graze later ;)

I always make them differently because I have different ingredients and varying levels of spare time. I usually have some form of dip that I use as a base then I pile on some home sprouted alfalfa, capsicum, cucumber, grated carrot, red onion, baby spinach leaves - roll it up and YUM!!

I saw an awesome quick recipe for pickled cucumbers and onions posted by Jessy at happyveganface. I love her recipes and I thought that this looked fantastic so I had to give it a go. Initially I was worried that I wouldn't use it up before Nat and I went to our parents place this weekend... how silly of me - I ate it within a day!!! It was fantastic!!


Because I wasn't thinking of keeping it for a while and because I am trying to not use extra oils/fats I ommitted the oil and sugar and just used rice wine vinegar (cause that is all I had) and salt and pepper. It was FLIPPIN AWESOME!!! I think that if your were not an oil-phobic like me you should definatly rock on to check out the Jessy' s recipe.

So I am sure that I will be posting more summer time lunches over the coming months. When I start working (and can only have one lunch) I am sure my lunches will be more substantial - so I guess these are really just a grazing snack ;)