Thursday, January 21, 2010

Just shut your eyes and imagine.......

SUMMER!!!!!!!! unfortunately it's only 3/4s of the way through January but yesterday was a pleasant treat.. it was sunny and about 45 plus degrees... balmy for January... any day that is sunny is a day to be outside, so after school pick up, grandbaby and i went for a short walk, with dogs in tow, actually us in tow.... there is a flat road just down from grandbaby's house and thats where we went... in our world, the ditches would be clean, no garbage, no dead animals, nothing but pristine earthly beauty... in reality there was garbage everywhere, remnants of carcasses, bits of bones, and the worst of all...... PLASTIC!!!! it's interesting to see through the eyes of a young one, who was dismayed by the garbage, fascinated by the carcass and bones, and wonderously excited by the view of the distant mountains.... she couldn't understand WHY people would just dump their garbage on the side of the road... in one patch there were about 10 garbage bags full of leaves, something that could well have been composted in someone's backyard, or even taken to our local compost company who love such items... as i explained to her, it's not so bad that they deposited the leaves, but to leave the garbage bags was a sin, that worms and other insects will eat the plastic and think they are full.. and die of starvation.... grandbaby's lesson 101 in ecology
on the way back to the car we found some pussy willows of which we picked one small branch to take home..it now resides on the windowsill in a jar beside the resident plants, waiting for some roots to sprout, and eventually will be planted in a back corner of the yard...


i wasn't quite done with 'summer' and as i drove home i thought about dinner...something light and airy was on my mind.... Falafel wraps... southwestern... mmmmm good!!!

Garbanzo beans/chickpeas in my mind are one of the best beans of all for cooking, extremely versatile and nutritious.... i don't have a good recipe for Falafel from scratch, so i keep on hand a few boxes of Falafel mix.. easy to whip up in short notice....


Falafel Wraps

wraps of your choice
1/2 box of Falafel mix made into falafel patties (directions on box) (lazy i know ;) )
1/2 tomato chopped
cucumber sliced or chopped
cilantro chopped
parsley chopped
sunflower sprouts
small can of corn kernels
small can of black beans
mayonaise and small can of chipolte pepper 'sauce' ... mixed to you spicy liking
spread the mayo and chipolte pepper sauce on the wrap... 'sprinkle' the wrap with the rest of the ingredients... roll and EAT!!!!
once again, my recipes are vague, but this is definately a throw together meal... tasty and nutritious :D

i love chipolte peppers... yum yum... a wonderfully rich smoky spicy kick of which i can never use the whole can at once.. so i put it in tiny containers and freeze, thus always having some when needed...the leftover falafel, black beans and corn i'll turn into some other southwestern dish or maybe just another round of 'summer wraps'........ MMMMMMM

2 comments:

Ruth Trowbridge said...

Great recipe - thanks for the chipolte link - i didn't know you could use jalapenos, i am going to try it for myself - are you saying people are just leaving their garbage by the side of the road? peace

Roasted Garlicious said...

thanks Ruralrose.. mmm YAY for chipolte!! and yes, there is so much garbage, instead of going to the dump, some just toss it in the ditch... grrrrr
there is a wonderful woman who lives nearby who every year would walk down our road and pick up garbage, and the city would come and collect it.. this year i've seen her walking the road already.. and it's not even been a year since the last time... i've often thought of just taking pics of garbage and posting it but i think anyone who bothers to read my posts also are not litterbugs :D