Falafel & Quinoa Bowls

I’ve got an extremely short week at work this week (I’m just working Monday – Wednesday) because I’m headed off for an anniversary weekend adventure with my husband.

Every year we try to go somewhere new (last year was canceled, obviously, due to COVID) and this year we’ll be going to Canton, TX for the world’s largest flea market!

First Monday Trade Days has been around for decades and it’s 100+ acres of shopping. I can’t wait to try and find some unique items. I don’t really have anything I’m searching for, but I would like a Magnalite pot and some trinkets for my kitchen wall collage.

My husband, of course, will be on the hunt for vintage Jurassic Park toys. He’s a big-time collector and rarely finds anything on our adventures, but I’m convinced he’ll find something here (he almost has to!).

I made a bunch of food this weekend so I wouldn’t be lacking in the content department, so this is the first of many dishes you’ll see over the next few weeks.

This dinner was solely a fridge-and-pantry-cleanout style dinner. I only used ingredients I had in my house, and didn’t go grocery shopping for any more. I used a new falafel mix from Trader Joe’s (I DO NOT recommend. The best falafel mix continues to be Knorr, in my opinion), some lemon pepper quinoa from Costco (I DO recommend! It’s really good.), and anything else I could find in my fridge.

Thankfully I had some feta leftover from a few weeks ago so I threw that into this Mediterranean-inspired dish as well. Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh bell pepper rounded out the dish.

FYI: This dish needs a sauce to go on top. I used Trader Joe’s sesame dressing (it was a little weird flavor-wise, not going to lie) but you could use a yogurt-type sauce or tahini instead.

Enjoy!

Falafel & Quinoa Bowls

Servings: 4-6
Time: 35 mins
Difficulty: Easy
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A simple fridge-cleanout style meal with falafel, quinoa, peppers, olives and feta.

Ingredients

1 box falafel mix (I recommend Knorr)

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 TBS. olive oil

1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted

1 tsp. oregano

2 TBS. chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1/4 cup feta, crumbled

Dressing/sauce of choice, for topping

Directions

Cook falafel according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Saute bell peppers in oil until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in chickpeas, oregano, salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, stir together quinoa, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, and bell pepper mixture.
Serve quinoa with falafel on top. Drizzle your choice of sauce/dressing on top and serve.