fathers day lunch - baked falafel with spinach and basil pesto

This was just a healthy lunch I put together for fathers day today. Happy fathers day Dad! 

Apologies for my absense from this blog, I used to post almost every day but now I'm lucky if I post once a week. I feel that the quality of my posts/photography was deteriorating, so I'm going to try to put a little more effort in from now on!

Anyway, my absense is also due to me trying to get my eating habits under control whilst balancing study and other things. Yes, it may surprise you to know that I do have eating problems. Food controls my life a little more than I like to admit. Although I'm sure I'm not alone on that one! I'm not going to go into the details now, I'm just informing you that you will see a change in most of the food that appears here as I have now adopted a no-sugar (natural sugars from fruit are allowed), no-processed/refined foods, vegan diet (although, I may on occasion allow myself some fish/animal products, I'm still unsure on this). It's officially been a few weeks now since I cut out sugar and processed/refined foods but only recently decided to add animal products to that list too. So this means that the meals you will see will mostly be natural, plant-based foods and whole grains.

Baked falafel with spinach and basil pesto

What you need...

For the falafel

Makes 12
1 19oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup red onion, diced
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Small handful each of fresh parsley and cilantro
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon unbleached all-purpose flour (I used buckwheat flour instead)
1/4 cup sesame seeds

What to do...

1. Preheat oven to 220C (425F). In a food processor, combine all the ingredients except the oil. Pulse until mixed together and fairly smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, just mash it up well in a big mixing bowl.

2. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Divide chickpea mixture into 12 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball and flatten slightly. Place on the prepared tray and lightly spray with olive oil spray. 

3. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through cooking, for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

NOTES: Usually falafels are fried, so if you choose to bake them they may have a different texture to what you have tried before.

Serving suggestions: Up to you how you want to serve these. They are usually accompanied with hummus, tahini or yogurt as an appetizer or in pita with salad. 

I served these with the pesto recipe below and a mixed salad with lettuce, spinach, sprouts, red cabbage, capsicum, cherry tomatos, avocado and pepitas.

For the spinach and basil pesto:

1 cup basil (packed)
1 cup baby spinach (packed)
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts/walnuts (I used a combination of both)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese* 

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste 

1. Place the nuts, basil, spinach, garlic and parmesan in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. With the motor running, gradually add the oil in a thin steady stream until well combined.

NOTES: *For a vegan version, you can leave the parmesan out as I did or add in 2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast for a bit of a cheesy flavour.  

This is the start of a happier and healthier life for me :) I hope you guys enjoy this and the recipes to come!