Falafel Pie

This week is shaping up to be pretty good . . .and it's only Tuesday! It's restaurant week in Buffalo, Jon and I have reservations at 2 places, The Buffalo Sabres just took the 8th spot in the Eastern conference playoff race, and I won tickets to the Buffalo Niagara Wine festival this weekend!

First, Monday night, Jon and I had our first reservation for restaurant week at Sole restaurant on Elmwood Ave.

It's a Spanish-themed restaurant that just opened a little under 2 years ago. We both got the turmeric roasted vegetable empinada as an appetizer, the shrimp vatapa as the main course, and then Jon got avocado trifle and I got the dessert enchiladas and we split them both for dessert. While it all sounds tasty and fine, we were a tad disappointed. Aside from waiting nearly 40 minutes between courses, the flavors fell a little flat, the portions left one wanting, and the waitress even forgot to bring glasses of water.

Oh well . . .tomorrow we have reservations for AcQua restaurant.

It's supposed to be sunny and this place promises a beautiful view of Lake Erie, so maybe this experience will be a bit more pleasant. I'll let you know how it goes . . .

Another awesome part of my day was winning 2 tickets to the Buffalo Niagara Wine Festival for this Saturday evening! Jon and I have been to this festival since their premiere year and were thrilled to be able to go for free this year. This event features wineries from all over New York State and the tastings are endless. I'll let you know how this goes, too!

But, one cannot live on restaurant food alone - how about a healthy dinner recipe to help keep you on track during the week? With a little help from The Vegan Stoner . . .

Falafel Pie
You'll need:
1 box of Near East falafel mix
1/2 C water
1/2 - 1 C hummus
1 C Fat Free Plain Greek yogurt
1 Roma tomato
1 Cucumber
1/2 c pitted, chopped kalamata olives
1/2 t Lemon juice
1/4 t Garlic powder
1/4 t Onion powder

To make:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Mix the entire Near East falafel mix with the water. Stir until combined. Press falafel mixture into a greased pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. When falafel 'crust' is done, take out of oven and slather on the hummus.
4. Next, slice the tomato and half the cucumber; arrange evenly on top of the hummus.
5. Add the sliced olives evenly on top of the pie.
6. In a blender, combine the yogurt, the other half of the cucumber (sliced and chopped), lemon juice, garlic, and onion powder. Blend until smooth (this will be liquidy).
7. Slice yourself a portion of the pie and serve in a bowl. Add yogurt sauce on top of your pie.

Does your city offer a restaurant week? Have you ever won tickets to anything?