Ta3meya!!!!

While at the local market last weekend, my husband and I found fresh fava beans and so I decided to get some to make falafel for us!  We usually end up using the boxed falafel mix that we get from the Middle Eastern grocery store and then adding our own spice mixes to it.  To be honest, it's never me that makes it, but usually my dad!  He's great at it and they always turn out great.  My mom always makes the tahini sauce to dip them in.  But today, I decided to give it a shot myself!  A few years back, my sister made them from scratch and gave me the recipe her mother in law gave her.  I used that recipe along with a Pinterest one I found as a guide.  Another thing that I discovered while looking up recipes and talking to my sister, was that falafel and ta3meya are NOT the same thing!  I always thought they were and usually just used the term falafel with my North American friends because I knew they would understand that.  But, I came to find out, that they are NOT the same.  Falafel is actually just made with chick peas, but the traditional dish made by Egyptians, is made only with fava beans.  Many cultures actually mix both fava beans and chickpeas to make theirs!  Who knew?!?!?!?

My husband gave today's breakfast a rating of 11 out of 10 today!  He was VERY happy with how the ta3meya turned out!

Here is the Pinterest recipe I used as a guide:
http://www.mamaslebanesekitchen.com/mezza/falafel-from-scratch/#sthash.fSSfauoS.dpbs

Now, I thought 2 tablespoons of salt was waaaaayyyy too much and so I put in 2 teaspoons of salt.  Unfortunately, this was still waaaaayyyy too much for us and so I ended up adding a canned of pureed chickpeas to the pureed fava bean mixture to even out the salt.  This worked perfectly, but I would have preferred to make this the traditional way without the chickpeas. The tahini recipe was what I followed, but I also added some olive oil, a little water, and some parsley to it!

My sister's mother in law's recipe also called for adding an egg to help bind the balls and so I did go ahead and add that too.  I found the mixture to be a little soft and had to add more flour in order to form the balls and found that flouring my hands also helped to form the balls.

To go with the Ta3meya, I made a traditional Middle Eastern salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onions, and of course, got some pita bread!

Here are some pics of my recipe today:

Completed dish for breakfast this morning!

Ta3meya fresh out of the fryer

Rolled mixture on a floured plate

Going into the deep fryer

Tahini dressing

 After mixing and adding pureed chickpeas

Herb and spice mixture over the fava bean mixture

Pureed fava beans

My little one helping me shell the fava beans!

French Toast

One of my dad's specialities growing up was his French Toast.  He would mix together a whole bunch of things and throw it in the pan and voila! French Toast!  Now, my sister also makes a mean French Toast and my husband sometimes asks me to make her French Toast.  She has more of a recipe or finesse to her recipe and so I've sort of adopted her way of making it!  I baked some fresh bread earlier this week (check the blog post!) and my husband asked me to make some French Toast with the remainder of it this weekend!  So here it is!

Here's the Pinterest recipe that I loosely followed:
http://countryrecipebook.com/easy-country-french-toast/
I also added a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the egg mixture!  The cinnamon, vanilla, and salt are KEY ingredients!

Yummy!  The other key ingredient is MAPLE SYRUP!!!

Here's my 2 year old's breakfast!

Browning the other side

Placing the soaked bread on the hot griddle

I absolutely LOVE this Calphalon griddle pan!

The last two weeks....

Well hello there!  It's been a few weeks since I've posted!  But if you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I've been VERY busy with my two little ones and my sister and her little one in town!  I did cook a few AMAZING dishes that I want to share and so I decided to just put up a pic and the link to the Pinterest page that I used for the recipe :)

Here are my zucchini and carrot muffins!  I make these ALL the time because my husband and 2 year old love them!  They're made with no sugar and use maple syrup instead!
http://cupcakesandkalechips.com/healthy-carrot-zucchini-mini-muffins/

Rice stuffed peppers!  I used my mom's recipe for the rice which she usually makes her stuffed grape leaf and cabbage rolls with!
http://dearcrissy.com/ground-turkey-stuffed-peppers-recipe/

We also stuffed some of the peppers with a ground turkey mix that my sister made and topped those ones off with cheese!

The peppers before going into the oven

My sister made us a classic Egyptian breakfast dish called "foul".  This is made with fava beans and some lemon and cumin!  Soooooo Yummy!

This is one of my go-to breakfast dishes when people come into town!  They are crustless quiches made with whatever frozen mixed veg bag I have on hand, eggs, and cheese put into muffin tins and baked!

My sister found a recipe for a veggie burger made with red kidney beans and potatoes mashed together and pan fried. They turned out great!!!! Now, I'm a MEAT EATER, so I wouldn't call this a burger, but it was a good patty and a nice alternative :)
http://www.myfoodandhappiness.com/red-kidney-beans-veggie-burgers/

Mashed kidney bean, potatoes, and seasoning before making into patties

Baked macaroni pie!  This is the West Indian version of mac and cheese!  So yummy with some grated onion, mustard, a can of cream of mushroom soup, carrots, and a seasoning pepper!
Check the Trinidadian Naparima Girls Cook Book I always reference for the recipe!

Overnight Oats

Now that we're back from vacation, it's time to get back into our regular routine!  Part of that routine is helping the hubby out with breakfast for his workdays.  I HATE oatmeal! LOL.  But my husband and 2 year old love it!  I found this idea on Pinterest a few years ago and have been making it for my husband ever since.  I usually make batches of 4 at a time and it lasts him the week at work.  I start by putting some oatmeal at the bottom of a jar, I top it with some fresh grated nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, sliced almonds, raisins, and a teaspoon of brown sugar.  That's all!  Each morning he pours boiling water over it and lets it sit until he gets to work and then eats it.  It's super quick and easy!

Here's what it looks like: