Meatless Monday - Zucchini Patties, Yogurt Sauce, and Chick Pea Salad

My husband and I went to the farmer’s market last week for an outing with Peanut and to sample some of the local fare.  There is nothing like fresh Ontario produce in August!  We picked up some zucchinis (as well as tomato, onion, berries, peaches...etc. etc. etc.), so I needed to find something to feature these delicious treats!  Enter Zucchini Patties and Chick Pea Salad!

Zucchini Patties (makes about 12 patties)

Some of the Zucchini Patties with the Yogurt Sauce

I served these to my in-laws for dinner on Friday – they were a BIG HIT!  So yummy!  I also reinvented the leftovers for breakfast the next morning!

For breakfast the next morning I at the leftover patties.  Instead of yogurt sauce, I melted white cheddar on top, then placed them on top of a delicious slice of Ontario tomato, and some greens - mmmmmmmm!

Ingredients:

½ C grated carrot

½ C chopped onion

½ C green pepper (or do ¼ C each red and green pepper)

2 C fine soda cracker crumbs (I made mine in the food processor)

¼ C all purpose flour (...I wonder how it would work out with WW flour...)

1 tsp baking power

¾ tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

3 C grated zucchini, with peel

2 large eggs, fork-beaten

Vegetable oil cooking spray (or 2 tbsp cooking oil)

Directions:

1)      Measure the first 9 ingredients into a large bowl.  Stir.

2)      Mix in zucchini and eggs.  With damp hands, shape into patties using about ¼ C of mixture for each patty.

3)      Spray and heat pan.  Brown patties on both sides – I did mine on medium heat for 4-5 min per side.  I used a grill, but if you don’t have one, a frying pan will do nicely.  Just heat up the oil in the pan first, then brown the patties.

Cook the patties until they are nice and golden like this!

Yogurt Sauce (to put on the patties):

I’m not sure how much of each I used, but this is what I put in it...

Plain greek yogurt (regular yogurt will do as well)

Lemon juice (just a small squeeze)

Herb and Garlic seasoning (I used Epicure)

Chick Pea (Garbanzo Bean) Salad (serves 6-8):

Even though I don’t generally care for onion, I LOVED this salad.  It wasn’t a huge hit with the in-laws, but then again I didn’t know that Jim doesn’t care for tomatoes OR olives...he was so polite, however, that he ate it anyway and I didn’t find out until Matt told me later...how someone goes through life without liking tomatoes is beyond me – I used to eat them like candy, but have since decided that the canker sores are not worth the over indulgence.  Annnnnyway....here’s the recipe.

Delicious chick pea salad with local zucchini, tomato, red onion, and basil!

Ingredients:

1 ½ C dried chickpeas

1 medium zucchini

1 large tomato

1 small red onion

3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

½ C sliced kalamata olives

Dressing:

1 tbsp lemon juice

¼ C olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp honey

Directions:

1)      Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water.  Leave to soak overnight.

2)      Drain the chickpeas, place in a saucepan, cover with fresh water and cook for 25 minutes, or until just tender.  Drain and leave to cool.
***you can skips steps 1 and 2 by using canned chickpeas, but keep in mind that the sodium content is much lower when using dried.  If you opt for the canned version, I suggest looking for “no salt added”***

3)      Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and cut into 1 cm slices.  Cut the tomato into cubes roughly the same size as the chickpeas.  Finely chop the onion.

4)      Combine the chickpeas, zucchini, tomato, onion, parsley and olives in a serving bowl.

5)      To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients.  Pour over salad and toss lightly to combine.  Serve at room temperature.