Sweet Potato and Chick Pea Fritters

This past week has been nothing short of plain stressful. It was the last week of classes, finals are coming up and I have a small mountain of papers that take about 30 minutes each to grade. Oh, and I caught one of the colds going around. Yes, stressful. Needless to say, grocery shopping wasn't high on my priority list. Thankfully, this recipe (adopted from Cooking Light) fit the bill! I actually had (almost) everything in my pantry. I ran out of tomatoes a few days ago, but I included them here since I think it would be delicious in the avocado salsa.

Fritters
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 chopped yellow onion
2 cups grated sweet potato (I used golden yams)
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs or panko
juice from one lime

In a medium sauté pan, heat the olive oil (about 1 tablespoon), garlic, and onion. Cook until onion is tender. Do not let the garlic burn.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a food processor, combine the sweet potato, chick peas, salt, pepper, egg, and garlic/onion mixture. Process until mixed well. I have a small processor and had to do this in a couple of batches.

Then heat a medium sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add about one tablespoon olive oil. Using your hands, form patties about the size of your palm and add to the pan. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (easy clean up!) and place fritters on pan. Cook for five minutes further. (No need to flip the fritters.)

Salsa
1/2 small avocado, diced
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
juice from 1/2 lime

Combine the ingredients in a small bowl. Serve on top of fritters.