I’m off work today so I’m cooking dinner, and because it’s me I’m making a big thing of it and blogging about it, whereas Soph would just cook and eat :)

Xmas falafel is from BBC Good Food Magazine December 2013 (p99), but I’m baking instead of frying them.

• 1 sweet potato
• 1 can chick peas
• 200g (vacuum) pack of read-to-eat chestnuts
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• salt & pepper
• 2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 25g coriander plus the rest of the 31g pack to serve
• 120g of cranberries (should have been 85g but I had lots to use up…)

Peel and chop the sweet potato, put in covered bowl with 1 tbsp water and microwave until soft, 3 minutes in my case, then mash.

Chick peas and chestnuts in the food processor and pulse until broken up, but not into a mush. Add spices and coriander into the chickpea mix, mix into the sweet potato, then whisk the egg and mix well.

Scoop out 2 tbsp size portions and roll into balls and put on a lined baking tray (there was extra mix for maybe 6-8 more) and chill until needed.

For the parmesan crisps I’m following this recipe I found online, but adding crispy onion bits (although I wanted crispy bacon bits but I still can’t find them anywhere!).

• 2 courgettes
• 1 cup grated parmesan (probably 1/2 a cup if packed a bit)
• 1/2 cup onions bits
• 1/2 cup panko (breadcrumbs)
• salt & pepper
• 2 egg whites
• flour

Mix the panko, onion bits and parmesan, then season and mix.

Slice the courgettes thin on the bias. Dip in flour, then egg whites, then parmesan mix. Lie them out on lines baking sheet.

I must get better at not moving the camera as I press the button to take the picture…

Anyway: then both falafel and crisps go into a 200c fan over for 30mins swapping over and rotating half way through.

Serve with salad, coriander & fat-free Greek yogurt.