Category Archives: Recipe

Falafel Sandwich

This one definitely will need work, especially since my mindset has changed to:  What would I serve in my restaurant?  I think this was good, but not quite there.

Ingredients:

  • Nan
  • Baby Arugala
  • Tomato
  • Pickles
  • Tahini Sauce
  • Alfalfa Sprouts
  • Falafel

Construction:

  1. I made the Tahini Sauce from a recipe I found in Vegan with a Vengeance.  It’s a great cookbook, so I suggest picking it up.
  2. While the Tahini Sauce chilled in the fridge, I went to visit my wife at work with my year-and-a-half old in tow.  This is not a critical step to the recipe.
  3. Although I would like to make this from scratch (I’m sure there’s a recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance, but I took the easy way out), I used a pre-packaged Falafel mix, which I put together at this time.
  4. While this is going on, I also made dinner for my son – he had a Vegan Boca Chicken patty, apple sauce, and some red pepper.  Again, this is not critical to the falafel sandwich recipe.
  5. I cooked the falafel per the box instructions (my only deviation from the instructions was me burning the first 3 of 9 balls that I made).
  6. I used Nan, as my bread base.  I think this was my first disappointment.  The nan is awesome – don’t get me wrong.  Aladdin’s makes a great product, but this didn’t work for me.  The Nan I bought started to break a little and was just a little too small.  I have to find a better bread.  I saw online that Aladdin’s makes a Nan wrap.  Maybe that’ll be a little better for what I’m envisioning.
  7. I topped the Nan with some Baby Arugala (it’s the first time I had it at home – kind of a nutty taste to it, I thought – I really enjoyed it), Sliced Tomato, Bread and Butter Pickle slices (Giant Eagle brand), 3 Falafel balls, Tahini Sauce (I just put on two spoonfuls), and finally Alfalfa Sprouts. 
  8. I did my best to bend the Nan to eat like a wrap and ate this sandwich with a side of red grapes.  It tasted good - especially for my first home-made Falafel sandwich.

I think I have some ideas on how I would like to make this better and will be looking into some recipes to make the falafel from scratch, so I can alter it in my own way.  Can’t wait to taste the leftover falafel to see if it still tastes good.  If it does, I figure I could always make a batch on Sunday or something and put in the fridge for the coming week.

Tofu Parmesan

Serving Size: 1

  • 3 oz. Extra Firm Tofu (cut from 15 oz. block I purchased at Trader Joe’s for $1.49 – I like their Tofu the best).
  • 1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs (I used Jaclyn’s All Natural Seasoned Italian Style Breadcrumbs – picked up an 8 oz. container at Nature’s Bin for $2.99).  1/4 Cup was waaay more than I needed.  I got 2 servings out of this amount and still had waste…so, maybe an 1/8 cup will do per serving.
  • Dash of Olive Oil for the pan.
  • 1/2 Cup Sauce (I’d really like to make my own, but I used store bought sauce this time – Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil sauce – purchased at Nature’s Bin for $3.99 – 25.5 oz. jar).  Measurement can be more or less depending on your liking for sauce.
  • 1 oz. Mozzarella Cheese.  Again, can be more or less depending on your cheese preference.  I wanted to use a Vegan equivalent, but I didn’t see any at Trader Joe’s, which is where I stopped prior to making this dish.  If you use real cheese, this is the only non-Vegan component to the dish.
  1. Cut 3 oz. of Tofu.
  2. Roll Tofu around in Bread Crumbs.  Tofu is wet enough that the crumbs were sticking fine.  For Vegetarians, you could also coat the Tofu in egg if crumbs not sticking.  For Vegans, I thought about brushing on some olive oil, but I don’t know what that would do or taste like.
  3. Splash Olive Oil into skillet and place over Medium heat.
  4. Add Tofu to skillet to brown (approximately 2 minutes per side).
  5. In Baking dish, put 1/4 Cup Sauce.
  6. Place Tofu onto sauce.
  7. Cover Tofu with remaining 1/4 Cup Sauce.
  8. Cover with Mozzarella Cheese.
  9. Broil on HI for 5 – 6 minutes (until Cheese is browned – didn’t try with Vegan cheese, so I’m not sure how that will brown, if at all).

My side dish was just some steamed Asparagus, onto which I drizzled some fresh lemon juice and sesame seeds.  Hope you enjoy.  Let me know if you try it.