This month’s theme for Family Dinner Book Club is Citizenship/Responsibility, and our lead book is Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies. Here you’ll find a menu that can be prepared with the help of your children, as well as festive table decorations. Head over to Growing Book by Book for a full reading list of books about Citizenship and Responsibility. Then visit Sunny Day Family for family activity ideas. We invite you to share a picture from your dinner with us anytime during the month on our Family Dinner Book Club Facebook or Instagram page!

This month’s theme is citizenship or responsibility. Being a good citizen of our home town, our country, or our planet. We can and should take responsibility for the world around us and work to make it a better place to live. We can take responsibility and be good citizens in many ways, including the way we eat.

This vegetarian meal starring falafel felt like the perfect way to celebrate responsibility for our planet and our bodies. The production of meat takes a lot of resources, and eating vegetarian just 1 day a week can help to reduce our footprint. You can visit your local farmer’s market to find all the produce you’ll need for this meal. At my farmer’s market, there are even vendors who sell hummus and various dips, bread, honey, and eggs. Eating locally is a wonderful way to help support small businesses, find high quality organic foods, and again help to reduce our footprint.

Citizenship/Responsibility
Family Dinner Book Club
Menu
Falafel (recipe below)
hummus, tzatziki, roasted red pepper sauce
pita bread
carrots, avocados, red onions, black olives
grapes, strawberries, mandarins

Falafel

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Ingredients

• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed, drained, and patted dry
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• neutral oil, for frying

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients, except the flour and oil, in the bowl of a food processor and process until thoroughly combined and crumbly. You don't want a paste, you want a rough dough texture.
2. Add the flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture is no longer wet and you can easily shape it into a ball.
3. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. When ready, heat about 1 inch of oil in a skillet over medium heat.
5. Scoop rounded tablespoons of the dough, shape into discs, and gently place in the hot oil.
6. Fry until golden brown, flip, and fry the other side until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1080Total Fat: 3gCarbohydrates: 236gProtein: 44g