Day 3 and what's this lurking.....?

 Hello everyone,

Thanks again to everyone who's reading this, who left a comment or became a follower. Today, because I'm ever so school marmish really, is a lesson in what to do with the dusty old beans that I know all of you have lurking in the back of a cupboard somewhere!! Be honest, you bought them, like I did, with very good intentions and they fall out every time you want the flour, staring at and you'll probably never use them. Today, I wondered what I could do with them.

As I haven't been shopping, we have to have something for our packed lunches. I started off yesterday, by soaking half a bag of dried chick peas. I left them over night. Today, I changed the water and brought them to the boil and then simmered them for an hour. (Timer in my pocket whilst I filled spud sacks with homemade compost in between the showers)

 The first thing I made was hummus. It's so easy. Weigh 16 ounces of cooked chick peas, 2 garlic cloves, 2 table spoons of oil, 2 tablespoons of tahini and half a teaspoon of salt with 60ml/quarter of a cup of water. Stick in food processor and blitz until a smooth paste.

 Store in portion size, in the freezer. I use it as a very thick spread inside pitta bread, none as yet but I'll keep my eyes open for some end of day cheapies. Spread the hummus very thickly, and then stuff salad in with it. Chick peas are 20% protein, so no meat needed the day you eat this!

 Next, I made falafels! These are also so easy! Same again really, 16 ounces of chick peas, one large chopped onion, one egg, 2 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of dried parsley, 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of corriander, half a teaspoon of salt and when you bind it, about one tablespoon of any flour you have. Blitz in the processor and turn into a bowl.

 Make into walnut size balls. Whilst you are doing this, get a wok or shallow pan on the cooker, with a couple of inches of oil and get hot.

 Drop them gently into the very hot oil and cook for a few seconds on both sides.

 When cooked, they are fluffy, spicy, garlicky golden balls of loveliness!!! You can eat them on their own, with salad, with cous cous, dipped with hummus, but we like them with sweet chilli sauce and some salad. You can also freezer these. When you want to re-heat them, just defrost and warm through in the oven as they've absorbed some of the oil.

I know I'm frugal, but today, even I've been impressed with how much you can make with so little. I usually buy tinned chick peas for about 50p a can and even then, they're still economical. We'll take two falafels each to work, each day, in a little pot with salad with some sweet chilli sauce over the top. Nothing has been bought in, it's just what I have. That's another job ticked off the list, lunched prepared for the whole week along with all the meals prepared for the whole week.

OK, everyone, what shall I do with all that spare time????