GREASE IS THE WORD

I recently was cast as Betty Rizzo in Grease—a dream role for me. In honor of my first rehearsal on Sunday, I planned a Grease- (and Greece-) themed dinner for Saturday night (after my 10-mile long run and zucchini bread snack).

What’s a Grease-themed dinner? Diner food… Burgers!

I chose Falafel “Burgers” & Baked Sweet-Potato Fries. Ironically, it was light on the grease—but heavy on the taste buds. Take a look these finger-lickin’ recipes we combined.

For the falafel “burger,” we used the following Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce recipe.

FALAFEL PITA WITH TAHINI SAUCE

Recipe from Health.com

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 cup bulgur
• 1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves (I nixed this, as I’m weird about mint)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 cups torn lettuce
• 1 cup roasted red peppers (I roasted my own! Recipe included below)
• 6 (6-inch) pitas

PROCESS

Cook bulgur according to package directions; drain and set aside to cool. In a food processor, combine cooked bulgur, garbanzo beans, egg white, parsley, 1/4 mint, garlic, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, and pepper. Form mixture into 6 (approximately 3-inch) patties and place on a large plate. Refrigerate until firm (20 minutes). Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook falafel burgers until browned and heated through (3 minutes per side). Transfer to a plate. Before serving, whisk together tahini, lemon juice, and water in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Divide falafel burgers, tahini mixture, lettuce, and roasted red peppers among pitas and serve.

Nom! Side note: We roasted our own red peppers with this recipe from Domesticsuperhero.com. So much better than buying the jar!

And, of course, these delicious sandwiches were paired with baked sweet potato fries. I found the following recipe on Pinterest.

BAKED SWEET POTATO FRIES

Recipe from Momsneedtoknow.com

INGREDIENTS*

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder (I used fresh minced garlic!)
• 1/8 tsp paprika

*I scaled this recipe down quite a bit to fit just one sweet potato. Okay, so I didn’t actually do any math. I just eyeballed the ingredients, and the fries turned out DELICIOUS.

PROCESS

Preheat oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a shallow dish, combine oil & spices. If leaving the skin on*, scrub your sweet potatoes really well. If not, peel your potatoes. Cut sweet potatoes into ¼” fries. Toss fries in olive oil to coat. Spread fries out on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30* minutes, turning occasionally or until fries are browned.

*I left the skin on because that’s the best-tasting and most nutrient-dense part! Also, I baked my fries for 20 minutes, and as you can see in the top photo, they were slightly burnt. I recommend baking for 10-15 minutes with a watchful eye. (They still were amazing.)

Another note: These fries are made from true sweet potatoes, not the orange yams people commonly call sweet potatoes. I learned this while grocery shopping for this recipe! 🙂

PEACHY KEEN, JELLYBEAN!

I can’t stress enough just how delicious and satisfying this recipe was, especially after a long run on a cold, snowy day (that was also filled with running tedious errands and getting my car oil changed, etc.). Those fries were bomb.

WHAT’RE YOUR FAVORITE FRENCH FRIES?