Eating what you want on a diet

I've been hungry for falafel a lot lately. The only way I could eat store bought or restaurant falafel and stay within my caloric limit for the day unless I ate nothing else. I looked at some recipes and identified the worst aspects and tried to eliminate them (tahini, flour as binder, frying!). AP flour would work but I saw the chickpea flour while walking through the grocery store. It wasn't very expensive for a specialty flour and helped add flavor back that had been cut out elsewhere.

1/4 cup(s) chickpea flour

15 oz canned chickpeas

3 clove(s) garlic clove(s) (medium)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 item(s) egg white(s)

juice of one lemon

1/2 cup(s) onion(s)

1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp table salt

1/2 cup(s) parsley

Instructions: Chop up all the veggies and parsley and throw in a food processor. Pulse until smooth (I ALWAYS process too much, it never has that falafel stand grittiness, maybe that's good?). Form into small patties or balls and throw in a non stick skillet with a touch of no stick spray. Brown on each side and transfer to a sprayed sheet pan and throw in a 350* oven for about 30 min or until firmed up. It's important for the onion to get enough time to mellow out.

I've tried different baked falafel recipes before but I think this is the closest I've come to the real thing. Goes great with home made fat free tzatziki (spell check anyone?).

I had three patties for dinner with some braised radishes and lemon steamed summer squash with herbs de Provence.

I ate exactly what I wanted yesterday, wasn't hungry, and still lost weight.

I can do this.