Chick Pea Kale Patties

Last year I found this Chick Pea and Parsley Patties recipe via Aimee at Simple Bites and it has become a standby in my house. My husband and I wolf them down and my youngest, who loves foods that are full of flavor, can't get enough of them. I made some modifications to the original recipe - initially based on ingredient availability in my own kitchen (recipe below) - and they were such a hit that we've continued to make them this way. This recipe is straightforward, simple and delicious. 

Ingredients: chick peas, kale, dill, lemon, garlic, dried shallots, ground corriander, ground cumin, olive oil, flour and egg.  

Combine all of the ingredients except eggs and oil and refrigerate for several hours to let the flavors open up to each other. Add those ingredients into a food processor along with the egg and combine until the mixture is a chunky batter. Some of the chick peas may remain whole and that's okay. 

Spoon the batter into a hot pan with olive oil, turn down the heat to medium and fry the pancakes until golden brown on both sides. Holy moly. These things are jam packed with flavor and loaded with nutrition. Home run!

Chick Pea and Kale Patties

Ingredients
One 15 ­oz can of chickpeas
1/2 cup chopped kale
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon dried shallot (or one fresh shallot, chopped) 
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Juice of 1 lemon (approximately 2 tablespoons)
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 large eggs
Approximately 1/4 cup olive oil for frying

Method
Rinse and drain the chick peas. Pour them into a large mixing bowl. Add kale, dill, shallot, garlic, cumin, coriander, lemon, flour and combine. Let the batter sit for at least one hour so that the flavors play nicely together. In a food processor (or in a bowl with a potato masher) mash the ingredients together until they form a batter (chunky is good, don't worry if it's not uniform). Add eggs and form into patties with your hands or a spoon. Heat half of the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and fry until golden brown (about 4-5 minutes per side). Repeat. This made 12 patties for us. Reduce the heat if they appear to be burning. Serve warm or room temperature with a dollop of sour cream or sea salt yogurt. Enjoy!

Resolution Food #3: Eggs

The other day my daughter and I were chatting about meal possibilities for an upcoming brunch that we're hosting. I suggested omelets. "Mom! Omelets are a dinner food. Sunny siders, frittata, poached and soft boiled eggs are for breakfast or brunch. Hard boiled eggs and egg salad are for lunch." Ahem. 

We eat a lot of eggs in my house. It's one of the few things that all five of us regularly enjoy. There's joy in eggs. They're the glue that holds so many recipes together (like cookies, meatballs and muffins) and they are fabulous by themselves.  Eggs can also be an inexpensive way to feed a family. I thought I'd push the envelope on my daughter's thinking with these Egg Eyes - I'd eat them with any meal. We've enjoyed various mini frittatas made similarly (affectionately called Egg Nibbles chez moi) but never the straight up baked egg. Not sure how that's possible, but it's the truth.

Success! The Egg Eyes have been proclaimed "adorable!" I used a small muffin tin, which doesn't hold an entire egg so six eggs made twelve egg eyes (six were whites only). My awesome babysitter took one look at the baked eggs in the tin and assembled them on the plate like this (hence the name): 

Egg Eyes!

Egg Eyes

6 large eggs
Vegetable oil or cooking spray for oiling the muffin tin
Mini muffin tin

Method
Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the Egg Eyes for approximately 9-10 minutes. If you like the yolk slightly more runny or slightly more well done, adjust the time as needed.

*Note: you can use a regular muffin tin for this too. One large egg makes one Egg Eye in this size. 

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Egg Salad on a Seaweed Rice Cracker

Egg Salad

My mother makes the best egg salad ever. Consistently. Other egg salads seem like mayonnaise and salt concoctions with a touch of egg. My mom's is all about the eggs with a touch of mayonnaise. In my own home, I follow my mom's recipe but add fresh dill. We all love it. My kids love to eat this on seaweed rice crackers for lunch. Me too! 

Egg Salad with Dill

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
Slightly less than 1/4 cup of mayo
1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste)
2 tablespoons of fresh dill
 

Method
Place the eggs in boiling water and take them off the heat after 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Peel the eggs once they have cooled. Grate or chop the eggs (I prefer to use a boxed grater). Add the mayo, salt and dill and mix thoroughly but gently to avoid mushing the eggs.   

Check out other New Years Resolution foods for kids right here. 

Carrot Dill Frittata

Hello Meatless Monday! After the hoopla about Nemo, and the sledding fun we had this weekend, I'm tired! I was left scratching my head for dinner ideas tonight. My daughter complained last night -- apparently we've had chicken too often for her liking lately. Ugh. 

Hmm. What to do? We always have eggs in the house. I *love* eggs. And I was pretty excited to read this in Greatist recently about the egg news. Bottom line, and to quote Shana Lebowitz: "It turns out, for non-diabetic people, there was no association between eating up to one egg a day and CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) or stroke." 

Awesome.

Carrot Dill Frittata

Frittata for dinner? Well yes, don't mind if I do! I don't have time to shop for the week until tomorrow so dinner will have to be something cobbled together from the fridge. Behold! Carrot Dill Fritatta. This was so easy, I almost feel guilty about it. Actually, no. I don't feel guilty at all. It's mid afternoon and a big part of dinner is already done. Ready to whip this up? Here's how:

Carrot Dill Frittata (serves 4-6) 

8 organic carrots
2 onions, sliced
1/3 c fresh dill, chopped
12 eggs
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Slice the carrots into shreds using a slicer. Put aside. Slice the onions and saute in a pan with olive oil until caramelized. This may take a while - for me it took 45 mins. In a bowl, crack the eggs and add the dill and carrot ribbons to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the caramelized onions on the bottom of the pan you'll use to cook the frittata. Pour in the egg/carrot/dill mixture. 
Bake at 375 for approximately 40 minutes or until egg is cooked through (but not so much that it's rubbery). 

Enjoy!