In the homestretch!!

We've hit the home stretch. Only 4 more days left. I've lost a total of 10 pounds so far. And that's with no exercise. Now that my feet have healed from the ongoing problems I've had, it's back to the grind! I can't wait to get back into shape while we continue to eat healthy. Hopefully I'll continue to shed weight. The last couple days have gone well. We've been eating the leftover chili like crazy. It was so delicious!! Today for lunch we had salad, only the lettuce was homegrown on our back porch. It was super delicious. You really can't get anything better than what you grow at home. It is well worth the effort. For dinner we had a Baked Wild Rice Falafel with corn tortillas (because I didn't have time to make unleavened bread), hummus, and broccoli. It was a mix of some homegrown broccoli and store bought broccoli. You can really tell the difference. The homegrown broccoli had so much more flavor that it made the store bought stuff taste a lot less appealing. I won't be mixing homegrown with store bought again although I enjoyed seeing the difference between the two. I'm really happy with this experience so far and I have seen God's work in our lives. I got the call I was waiting for today, I have orientation with Olive Garden tomorrow. It's definitely a step in the right direction. I feel like Bekah and I are growing closer, not only together in our marriage, but also in God. I know nothing but good can come from this whole experience. We are also praying at every meal together, which is something we tried to do in the past but never really stuck with it. We have talked about doing the fast again starting in the middle of July which is about halfway through the year. As for today's recipe, I basically blended the normal baked falafel and the wild rice cakes together to make them how I wanted them to come out. We both thought it was a huge success!!

Baked Wild Rice Falafels

1 (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
¼ cup diced onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley or 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley
2 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil 

2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp water or vegetable stock
1 garlic clove, minced
  1 tsp cumin
pinch of salt
1/8  tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup cooked wild rice

½ cup brown rice flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients except wild rice and flour in food processor for about 30 seconds, scraping sides as necessary. Blend until mixture is well combined into a thick, pasty texture. Pour mixture, brown rice flour, and cooked wild rice into a mixing bowl and stir until fully mixed together.  Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to form into balls. Put balls onto a baking sheet wiped with olive oil and flatten into patties. Bake 15 minutes. Flip, and cook another 15 minutes or until crispy on the outside. For a little extra crispiness I like to switch to high broil for the last few minutes but that is optional.

I hope you enjoy this delicious and healthy meal. Thank you for following me and may God bless you each and every day!