Pity party for one?

Well - I re-read the last post and it seemed so sad and depressing. I took it down because I was surprised at how negative it was. And really - I must have just been having an off afternoon. Because I really have not been feeling bad foodwise lately. We've been eating some fabulous gluten/dairy/soy/citrus/chocolate (you get the idea!) dishes around here. Just last Saturday after a hard hour or two of garden work in the hot sun we sat down to this:



Yum, yum, yum!

In fact, the carrot and pepper almost didn't make it into the bowl!


(Emma was camera shy at the moment)

My favorite so far has been falafel. It is sooooooooo good! I made a double batch and froze them. Most of my recipes come from food bloggers with similar food allergies. This one came from all recipes.com

Falafel
INGREDIENTS
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 egg
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup dry bread crumbs
oil for frying

1 (6 ounce) container plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber - peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon mayonnaise

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl mash chickpeas until thick and pasty; don't use a blender, as the consistency will be too thin. In a blender, process onion, parsley and garlic until smooth. Stir into mashed chickpeas.
In a small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon juice and baking powder. Stir into chickpea mixture along with olive oil. Slowly add bread crumbs until mixture is not sticky but will hold together; add more or less bread crumbs, as needed. Form 8 balls and then flatten into patties.
Heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry patties in hot oil until brown on both sides.
In a small bowl combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, salt, pepper and mayonnaise. Chill for at least 30 minutes. *I use homemade mayo to avoid the soybeen oil and just skip the yogurt. Put the falafel over some greens and drizzle the cucumber dressing on.

Life is good!

Em arranging some flowers she picked from our yard in a vase. I love having flowers for them to pick and enjoy!

Almost one month

Wow! Has it been almost one whole month since I last blogged? I guess it has. After a somewhat mild day yesterday full of playing with cousins and jumping on the trampoline, we woke up this morning to this:



Snow in April! It's good day for staying inside playing games, reading and blogging!

It's so hard for me to get started blogging again after a long hiatus. There is so much that has happened that I don't know where to start!

We moved! Well, across town. We are now renting a house!! It is such a nice change. We have a basement and a back and front yard. We have a living room and a playroom. It's pretty sweet.

I'll finish off with some random pictures from the last month.


My gorgeous boy.

Emma and I went to Barnes and Noble for their storytime (A big dissapointment) and while waiting for it to start we found some great books to look at. Have you seen those large hardcover books with little envelopes inside and flaps to lift - very rustic and heirloom looking? Emma was facinated. Ipulled this one off the shelf first and was sure that she would love it.



No go. She walked straight past it and pulled this one off the shelf.


Yeah - I was surprised but happy that I got to ooh and aah my way through the fairy one while she thumbed through the piratology and wizards and wands books. LOL






Why is it that pictures of children asleep over their food are so darn cute? Anyway - here is our most recent dreamy diner.



I'm not entirely sure why, but I crack up everytime I see these pictures. Check out Daniel. He's a game show host!


Fun with the kitchen. I think that they are using an old, old bottle of dried basil I had laying around. The place smelled like dried basil for days!


A quiet moment. *sigh*


She was so worn out. Can you see the drool running down her cheek? :o)