Falafel Wraps

I sort of made this up, so quantities are guesses. Sorry. I hate recipes like that! But this is so very yummy that you'll want to try it.

Falafel mix - 1 or 2 boxes depending on your family
1 bag of broccoli slaw
tortillas or flatbread or pitas
any combination of mayo, sour cream or yogurt
curry or garam masala seasoning
oil for frying

Make the falafel mix according to package directions. Usually you mix it with water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. While it's sitting, mix the sauce. I took 2 or 3 large spoonfuls each of mayo and sour cream and mixed them together then added a tsp or so of curry and tasted it. I added another bit of garam masala and some salt then tasted. I LOVE curry so I ended up using a few tsps but taste it as you go until you find the level you're comfortable with. Throw it in the fridge to chill.

Once the falafel mix is done "resting" (lazy falafel, get back to work) fry it in oil. I just blobbed a medium scoop into the oil so they were about the size of an egg, only flatter because I squished them.

To assemble the wrap, put some sauce down the middle of a tortilla or bread of choice then add a falafel nugget or 2 or 3, then broccoli slaw then a bit more sauce. Eat.

These were so dang good. We pretty much ate them all and didn't have leftovers. The first time I used flour tortillas and this week we'll be trying whole grain tortillas. We'll also be trying it with yogurt mixed in. I loved that this was fast, vegetarian, and mostly healthy. And that the kids ate it!

Caramel Frosted Cake

My mother-in-law was telling me how her mother made a caramel cake that was so good. She had lost the recipe, so figuring it was on the back of a box, I looked it up. There is a great website called back of the box, or something like that and there it was. Most recipes people pass down really are from the back of boxes, so I tried it out. I thought the instructions were a little weird, but it was really good.

Golden Caramel Cake-
1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted and cooled
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
Caramel Icing (below)


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 round pans, 9x1 1/2 inches.

2. Beat all ingredients except Caramel Icing in medium bowl with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly (batter will be thick). Beat 2 minutes longer. Remove 1/2 cup of batter; cover and refrigerate to use in icing. Pour remaining batter into pans.

3. Bake 28 to 33 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Fill layers and frost cake with Caramel Icing.

Caramel Icing

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup reserved cake batter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


Heat butter in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until brown; remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar, cake batter and evaporated milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until smooth, bubbly and almost thick; remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Cool slightly.

Special Touch: Caramel and chocolate are natural companions. Drizzle caramel-frosted cake servings with melted chocolate chips.

Chicken with Peach and Melon Salsa

So as I was surfing the foodnetwork website for some ideas on what to cook that week, I came across this recipe. Let me tell you, it is soooo good! Chris was a little sketchy at first with the fruit salsa, but even after all the chicken was gone he ate it with chips, cause it's so tasty!

It's a really, really easy recipe, if you can't find jerk seasoning (which I couldn't) then just get some good chicken seasoning, and I doubled the recipe for the salsa. Also, you can just find a pre-cut melon medley for like 2 bucks ready to go at walmart.

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can peach halves, drained and rinsed
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 teaspoons Jamaican Jerk seasoning
1 cup pre-cut melon medley, diced
1 tablespoon diced pimientos
1 tablespoon freshly chopped cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat.
Place peaches halves on grill pan and grill 2 to 3 minutes per side. Set aside to cool and then dice into small pieces.
Season both sides of each chicken breast with 1 teaspoon Jamaican jerk seasoning. Place chicken breasts in pan and grill for 6 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine grilled peaches and remaining ingredients. Stir thoroughly.
Serve chicken topped with peach and melon salsa.