I have a confession. I love Jamie Oliver. Moving to the UK has only amplified this love. He is my go-to for everything I could possibly want to make. On Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals a few weeks ago, Jamie prepared an amazing lamb kebab coated in crushed pistachios and honey. I immediately decided that this would also work with falafel and be delicious. I was right! It took me a little bit longer than 15 minutes to make, but I was close Jamie, very close! Feel free to get creative with the seasoning and fresh herbs in this recipe. My choices were different from Jamie’s, so use any of the spices you love. Here is my version of Pistachio and Honey Falafel Wraps.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yields: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
2 400g cans of chickpeas
4 garlic cloves
1 red onion
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon curry powder
½ tablespoon cayenne pepper
2 lemons (for zesting and juicing)
Sea salt
Pepper
2 large handfuls of shelled pistachio nuts
2 tablespoons honey
1 bag mixed salad
4 tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
6 pita breads
1 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Rinse and drain the chickpeas. If you have a food processor, throw them in there and chop until they are still slightly chunky. Alternatively, mash with a fork or potato masher for the same slightly chunky effect.
2. Chop the garlic, red onion, thyme, and parsley. Zest one lemon. Combine with the mashed chickpeas. Season with curry, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice from the zested lemon.
3. Heat oil in a medium frying pan. Form small balls or patties of the chickpea mixture and fry on low heat. Don’t worry if they fall apart, they will still taste great! For a healthier option, you can also bake the falafel in the oven until brown.
4. While the falafel is frying, unshell the pistachios (or get your sous chef to do it for you, thank you C!) and crush them with a mortar and pestle if you have one. Otherwise putting the nuts in a bag and hitting them with the end of a fork works too!
5. Add the honey and crushed nuts to the frying pan when your falafel is browned all over. Cook for about 2 minutes more to heat the nuts and absorb the honey.
6. Chop your salad and mint leaves. Combine, leaving some mint for the yogurt. Coat the salad with a little bit of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon. Chop the tomatoes and add to your salad.
7. Add the juice of the remaining half a lemon to the cup of Greek yogurt. Add a small handful of chopped mint leaves and stir to combine.
8. Warm pita breads in the oven for a few minutes.
9. Assemble wraps with salad, falafel, and yogurt.
10.  Enjoy!

What seasonings would you add or exchange in this dish?

Check out Love Creative’s blog today, where this recipe is cross-posted for our friend Amanda while she’s off getting married!

I am so happy to be blogging for Amanda while she’s off getting married! For my guest post, I wanted to do something that I do a lot, with a new twist, so I settled on a smoothie recipe.

You might be thinking that this recipe sounds crazy. But let me tell you, after you’ve worked out for the afternoon and you’re craving a snack before dinner, this is the perfect smoothie that’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and a lot of earthy. Plus, it comes together in a second which is great when you’ve been working out and need a little boost!

Here’s your lineup: kale, strawberries, applesauce, a lemon, cayenne pepper, milk, and coffee syrup. I KNOW it sounds like the weirdest thing, but I promise it’s awesome.

So here’s what you do: mix two handfuls of kale, a dash of cayenne pepper, the juice of half a lemon, about 8 strawberries, two tablespoons of coffee syrup, a half a cup of milk, and half a cup of applesauce in your blender. Mix well.

I have decided after making this that I definitely need a new blender, because my kale just doesn’t want to get smooth. So mine had bits in it, but yours won’t, if you have a better blender than I do. In which case, can you please make me this smoothie and I’ll be right over?

Here’s an easy to read recipe:

2 handfuls kale
8-10 strawberries
2 tbsp coffee syrup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup applesauce
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Dash cayenne pepper

What is your go-to smoothie recipe – is it veggie heavy, or full of fruits?

This is a report from Shark Week 2012 in honor of this week’s adventure TV!

You may or may not know it, but it my favorite week of the year: Shark Week. Shark Week is on Discovery, and usually takes place in late summer, and is a week long dedicated to shark programming: conservation, stories of shark bites, countdowns of the most shark attacks prone beaches, and usually a special historical reenactment or two of people stranded at sea for weeks being attacked by sharks.

For me, it’s a nostalgic week that reminds me of summers of Popsicles, sandwiches, and getting along with my siblings all week to enjoy watching bull, mako, tiger, and of course white shares getting their chomp on.

This year I decided to share my love with my friends and hosted a Shark Week opening night party. And of course, needed some shark influenced foods.

Enter Ocean dip.

Recipe is:

1 can cannellini beans
1/3-2/3 cup olive oil
Parsley and oregano
3-4 cloves garlic
Blue food coloring

So start by chopping up some garlic.

Measure out some olive oil. I doubled the recipe, and used all that’s pictured above plus some more, to be honest.

Take your beans and rinse them.

Put your garlic, beans, and olive oil together in the blender.

Add your herbs in, and blend that up. And now, it’s time to bring a little ocean into this.

Add some more oil if it’s too thick (mine was) and add some blue food coloring.

Ocean in a blender!

Place in a bowl, and add a fin or two!

And, of course, you can serve it with some fishies, too!

And, for a drink, don’t forget to whip up some ocean punch (soda water, blue Koolaid, a splash of sugar, and the alcohol of your choice!)

Enjoy while watching sharks swim through chummer waters, biting cameras, and generally being awesome!

Do you love Shark Week? Do you love themed parties? Do you love sharks? dips?

We pinned this recipe for West African Peanut Stew almost 5 months ago, but I rediscovered it last weekend while trying to plan my lunches for the upcoming week. This seemed like the perfect stew to cook up a big batch and eat throughout the week!

The original recipe was vegetarian, but I didn’t see the harm in adding a little chicken, and years of cooking for Jennie have trained me to cut out all spicy ingredients, so I nixed the hot sauce. Aside from those changes, this recipe came together almost perfectly. One tip: Don’t skimp on the fresh ginger! You can make this with dry, powdered ginger (as I did) but the end result will be missing an important element.

Even without the fresh ginger, this came together easily and has provided me with a week’s worth of delicious lunches that make my coworkers’ mouths water. What more can you ask for?

Hello friends! I leave tonight for the first leg of my two month east coast photography adventure, and I couldn’t think of a better way to say farewell to LA for a bit than to visit my favorite vanilla latte spot. That brings us to Coffee Commissary in West Hollywood! I first discovered this small minimalist gem while meeting friends for a brainstorm meeting several months ago.

A major perk – Corelyn and I now live a mile away from Coffee Commissary. My life is full of joy and delicious vanilla lattes!

I picked out an unassuming chocolate chip cookie to accompany my super smooth, deliciously sweet beverage. Oh myyyy. Now, I love a cookie…but this cookie?! SO GOOD. Melty chocolate, perfectly soft…bliss.

Forewarning – if you find this vanilla latte nearly as delicious as I do, it’ll be gone far too quickly!

Coffee Commissary recently opened in Hollywood too, although I haven’t had a chance to check out the new location just yet. I’m so glad I was able to visit the WeHo location before I left Los Angeles! Stay tuned for some New England Sweet & Caffeinated posts in the upcoming months!