Baked Falafel and Hummus

When I studied abroad in Luxembourg every food joint cost way too much except for the falafel restaurant down the street. My roommates and I ate a lot of falafel sandwiches that semester, and I grew kind of fond of their not-so-healthy goodness. When I stumbled upon this healthier baked version on The Picky Eater trying my own hand at it was a no-brainer. The result was delicious and also managed to be truly healthy! Score!

Alina's Crab Cakes

I plan my recipes in advance, but I woke up on Saturday craving crab cakes with a cucumber sauce, and so that's what I made. I've never craved crab cakes before, but this recipe has changed that! These were really delicious.

I slightly modified this video recipe that I found on the Food Network website. Traditionally, crab cakes are loaded with mayo and other bad-for-you ingredients. My goal was to make them as healthy as possible, and so I mixed in plenty of veggies, baked them and only used a teeny bit of mayo.
I topped the crab cakes with a delicious cucumber and grapefruit salad.

Grapefruit and Cucumber Salad

I created this grapefruit, cucumber, onion, and jalapeno salad to compliment my delicious crab cakes. It's a zippy, slightly bitter salad that set the crab cakes apart from your average crab cakes. I made some slight modifications to the original recipe I found, such as substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream.

I'm not a big fan of grapefruit, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone for this salad and ended up really liking it! This went super well with my crab cakes, and there's a great chance I'll be whipping up another batch of this salad and some crab cakes again soon.

Alina's Yummy Coleslaw

Sometimes a summer day calls for a little coleslaw.

My dad gave me some radishes and scallions from his garden, and so I called upon my Vegetarian Planet cookbook again for a delicious way to use the radishes and scallions. I modified the Vegetarian Planet recipe slightly to make it a little bit healthier and to match the ingredients I had on hand. This straightforward recipe is super simple and makes a delicious slaw, so I would definitely make it again. I served it alongside some buffalo chili.

Alina's Tofu Pumpkin Seed Asparagus Wraps

My younger brother Dugan graduated from Grinnell College a few weeks ago. Here he is during the graduation march... doesn't he look excited?

His computer science department had a special breakfast the morning of graduation and while we were there one of his favorite professors gave him a cookbook that I recognized. I made a comment about it, Dugan told his professor I love to cook, and one thing or another led to the professor giving me a vegetarian cookbook: Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons.

This week I'm modifying the Tofu and Pumpkin-Seed Burger recipe from that cookbook, and so the recipe this week is in honor of my little brother- an intelligent, friendly, kind-hearted guy who has always loved to eat.