Fa-la-la-lafels!

The best posts start with me making you want to kick me in the face, right?

I am FULL. ON. CHRISTMAS. SPIRIT.

The bug first starts oh, mid October, but I suppress it.

By November snowfall, it starts to creep in and I give in with some Christmas tunes safe in the solitude of my own car.

Come December and the start of the Advent calendar, it gets to be pretty intense.

Going to NYC and seeing the Rockefeller tree and all the holiday lights puts me in spazz mode.

And it just increases exponentially from there until alllllll I can think about is wrapping pretty presents, sitting by the fireplace, drinking buckets of cinnamon holiday tea, all the while  N’SYNC’s Christmas CD plays in a loop in my head.

I’m not pretending that it’s a classy Christmas.

One of my best Christmas gifts already? My husband willingly watched “A Muppet Christmas Carol” with me and ACTUALLY ENJOYED IT.

“The muppets live alongside the humans? And it’s like no big deal?”

While I’m sure you would love for me to go on a tangent and quote every single line from that movie, I’ll spare ya. Maybe next year.

Check out my decked out mantel! I bought these on clearance at Target a few years ago. I bought six ‘cause I wasn’t sure how many kids my husband and I would end up having. OH THE IRONY. Maybe we’ll end up getting two more dogs and calling it a full house.

My game plan is to put  a new picture in the frame each year, so then when my husband and I are 93 we can sit by the fireplace, drinking our buckets of holiday tea, listening to ye olde NSYNC Christmas record and look back on our 63 years of Christmases.

Back to my dinner creation last night.

I’m pretty sure it was last year that I was all like ‘Oh it’s going to be our tradition to have homemade Chinese food on Christmas Eve.’

Yeeeeeah. This year we’ll be doing leftovers.

But that’s ok because these are pretty stinkin’ good. Emphasis on the stinkin’. Curry powder. Garlic. Onions. TWO kinds of onions.

Plus two cans of beans.

Silent night? Not around here.

Worth it!

• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzos)
• 1 can Northern beans (or other white bean)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup ground cornmeal
• ¼ cup chopped green onion (scallions)
• ¼ teaspoon curry powder
• ½ teaspoon minced garlic
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon chili powder

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray that down with nonstick baking spray. I used olive oil baking spray. Set that aside
2. Drain and rinse your beans. Dump them in a large bowl. I have a potato masher that I use way more than you’d think, and that worked pretty slick for this. You could use a food processer too though. Mash away with either your masher, a fork, or your food processor. It’s perfectly ok to have some whole beans left. No need to make total mush here.
3. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add onions and saute, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned. Add to bean mixture.
4. Stir in cornmeal, eggs, green onions, and seasonings. Stir until well combined.
5. Form into 8 patties and plop those on your foil-lined pan.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I stopped at the half way point to flip those babies.
7. Serve on a whole wheat pita with a blob of plain Greek yogurt and some spinach

Per falafel patty: 120 calories, 16 grams carbs, 6 grams fiber, 7 grams protein, 3.5 grams fat