Tabouli!

Tabouli is one of the most popular Middle Eastern salads out there. You can now buy this pre-made at some local grocery stores, and I now am starting to see them in salad bars! To make this from scratch is a process, but so easy! If you take the time, I promise you it will be worth it! The combination with this and hummus is spectacular, and the sandwich possibilities are endless.

                                                   

Ingredients:

3 bunches of parsley

2 tomatoes, finely chopped

1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped

3 lemons, squeezed

½ cup of burgal, fine cracked wheat

1 tablespoon of salt, or more to taste

This whole process starts with the parsley. This is when you want to get your friends involved to help! This salad only requires the parsley leaf, not the stem, and you do not want to waste any by chopping off the bunch. This means you have to hand pick each leaf off. Don’t be scarred! Just pop in a movie, have a glass of wine and get it done. After picking the 3 bunches, wash in a large bowl. Then spread on a towel to air dry for a couple hours (if you can, overnight). OR you can spin dry in batches. After they are dry, hand chop or throw in a food processor until the parsley very fine. When this is done, we are ready to make the salad. Combine the parsley, tomatoes, onions in a large bowl. In a small separate bowl, add the burgal. Rinse with warm water, and drain out. Throw that in the salad. Add the lemon and salt, mix well. Taste at this point and add in what you prefer, if it’s more lemon or salt. You can also add in garlic if you like. This is really great to eat with lettuce as well. Use the lettuce as you would pita, and scoop the tablouli. It is so delicious and refreshing!

  Laying out the parsley to dry overnight, longer process way to do it!

Hand chop the parsley fine.

Pan Roasted Sea Bass with Herb Quinoa

Sea Bass has to be one of the most flavorful fishes I've ever had! It has a natural butter taste to it, and it's so melt in your mouth bomb! I made an onion mushroom concoction to go along with it that complimented so well with it. The herbed quinoa was amazing too. I love putting tons of lemon in my quinoa, it tastes so fresh and earthy with all the herbs.

Ingredients:

2 filets of sea bass

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Mushroom/Onion Topping-

1 package of portabella mushrooms or regular

1/3 cup of white wine

2 tablespoons of butter

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup of chicken stock

Quinoa-

2 cups quinoa

4 cups of water/or chicken stock

2-3 lemon, squeezed

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon of cayenne

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup of chopped basil

1 cup of parsley

3 tablespoons of thyme

Cook the quinoa and water/stock in medium saucepan. When boiling, turn to low and simmer for 20 minutes until done. Put in medium bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Ready to serve with sea bass!

 Preheat oven to 450.

Heat olive oil for mushroom topping in a large skillet pan. Add the onion for about 5 minutes, mix well until cooked through. Take the pan off the heat, and add the wine. Place back on heat and cook until wine has absorbed the onion. Add the mushrooms and butter. and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock and salt & pepper to taste. Cook on medium heat until it begins to thicken and the liquid is almost gone.

In another oven proof pan, or cast iron skillet, add the oil and heat on high until the pan is hot. Season the filets with salt and pepper on both sides. Add to hot pan, skin side first, for 5 minutes, then flip and cook for about a minute. Transfer directly to the oven for 3 minutes. To plate, put fish and top with mushroom and onion topping.

Sweet Potatoes...and a burger

Ohhhh Sweet Potatoes, how I love thee! This makes such a great side to burgers and other dishes, so I am a frequent SP eater:) The beauty of these potatoes is how naturally sweet they are, so you don't have to do much with them. A couple of simple spices, and you are ready to go! You can cut them the way you like, my new thing is making them into circle/potato chips. I also like to cut them up the night before so I can bake them the next day. I also love a certain burger you can find at Whole Foods called the Buffalo Chicken Burger. Words cannot describe how flavorful this is. The combination of the hot spicy sauce and blue cheese is magnificent!

Sweet P's:

2 large sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt & pepper

1 teaspoon cayanne pepper

2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchement paper.

Peel and cut the potatoes however you like. Round, sliced or in wedges. Place in medium bowl. Combine all the spices and oil. Toss with hands. Spread all over the sheet. Bake for 40 minutes. Last 5 minutes, broil on high until brown on top.

Grill burger indoors or on outside grill.

Eggplant Dish

This is a new favorite middle eastern dish of mine. "BaitnJan" meaning eggplant in arabic. I discovered it through my husband Rani, since it is his favorite dish. His mom makes it in a way I have never seen, and everyone does it different and I absolutely love the way she does it! I love this recipe, it reminds me of lasagna, but much easier and a lot healthier!

Ingredients:

2 eggplants

1 pound of ground lamb/beef

1 cup of pine nuts

1 can of crushed tomato

1 can of diced tomato

1 onion, chopped

Rice, make to how many servings you would like

2 tablespoons olive oil (for frying onions and meat)

2 tablespoons olive oil (for eggplant)

Salt & Pepper

2 tablespoons of allspice

Preheat oven to low broiler. Line 2 baking sheets with parchement paper.

Heat a large skillet. Toast the pine nuts until golden brown. Set aside on plate when finished. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in same pan and add the chopped onions. Sautee for about 10 minutes until cooked through.

While the onions are cooking, slice the eggplant into 1 inch slices. Spread the eggplant between both baking sheets. Spread the oil on both sides of the eggplant, and season both sides with salt and pepper. Place in oven for 10 minutes, then flip the eggplant and cook for another 10 minutes. In my oven, I could only fit one pan at a time to broil.

Remove onions and set asided on top of pine nuts on same plate. Add the last tablespoon to the same pan again, and add the meat. After 10 minutes, add the allspice, and salt and pepper to your taste. Add in the dish with the onions and pine nuts and mix well.

Now pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Place eggplant in 9x13 until bottom of dish is covered. Add the meat mixture on top of the eggplant in the 9x13. Then add the remaining eggplant on top of the mixture. Top with the 2 cans of tomatoes. Cover this with foil and bake in oven for 35-40 minutes until bubbling. Serve with rice. SAHTEIN!

Sweet Bailey Cookies

Ok...so not sure if you knew this, but I have an obsession with baking with baileys. I pretty much love to incorporate it into anything I make. It just gives it that coffee liquor kick you need. The combination of baileys with chocolate is UNREAL. These cookies are my favorite ones to make, they are so incredibly soft and heavenly.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cups baileys

3 cups oatmeal

2 cups of chocolate or raisens or toffee, if you are feeling adventurous, ALL of them:)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Get two cookie sheets ready, line with parchment paper.

Mix together the first 4 dry ingredients in a small bowl. With an electric mixer, combine the butter with sugars. Add in eggs, one at time until creamy then the baileys. Add in dry ingredients slowly, in about 4 small batches. I don't like to overmix my dough, so at this point, I had mix/fold in the oats and the choice of raisens or chocolate.

Spoon with tablespoon and spread on sheets. Bake for 10-12 mintues. Do not overbake!

This Cake will make you go BANANAS!

 This is my favorite banana cake ever! I discovered a new technique of freezing a cake after it's out of the oven to guarentee moistness, especially with banana and carrot cakes, and let me tell you, it's magical:) I love playing with all kinds of pans, so I made a standard cake out of it, and of course the giant cupcake. The cupcake was for Mark's Birthday, my friend and co-worker at work, and one day we will be challenging him to eat the whole thing:)

Ingredients:

4-5 ripe bananas, mashed (I like to use 5)

Juice of one lemon

 3 sticks of butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

             1/4 cup of baileys (optional)

      3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

 1.5 cups of buttermilk

Frosting:

1 stick butter, softened

1 8ounce of cream cheese, softened

3 cups of powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of baileys (optional) or vanilla

Topping:

3/4 cup of flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup oatmeal

1 stick cold butter, diced

3/4 cup of walnuts or pecans

Preheat 275 degrees. Spray any pan you'd like to use with spray, butter or oil. Depending on the size of the pan, you  might have extra which you can always bake in another pan. Mash banana with lemon in small bowl. With a mixer, cream the butter, sugars, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and baileys. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Beat in flour mixture and buttermilk into butter/sugar mixture. Then banana mash last. Pour into pan and bake for about 1hour and 15 minutes. This bakes differently depending on the oven, so might be longer. Just make sure to test with toothpick, and if it comes out clean, it's ready to come out of the oven. Remove from the oven and place directly in the freezer for an hour.

For the topping, combine all the ingredients in a food processer. Spread on cookie sheet on parchement paper for 15 minutes until golden brown at 350 degrees. Let cool, this will set into a crumble. Break up into pieces.

Frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add in baileys. Add in sugar one cup at a time.

To assemble: take cake out the freezer, spread the frosting on cake then add the crumble. Serve right away, or this can sit overnight in the refridgerator. This can be made days in advance and still be DELICIOUS!

Lentil Soup

This has got to be one of my favorite soups out there, it is a comfort food that I grew up with. In arabic, it is called "Shorabot Addas"...as a child, I just remember calling it the yummy lemon soup:) I guess you can say it is the middle eastern version of chicken lemon rice soup, minus the chicken! The lentils really take the lead in this dish, and keep it hearty and you reaching for seconds.

2 cups washed lentils (orange ones work best)

7 cups water

1 large onion, chopped

2 cubes of chicken bouillon

2-3 lemons (squeezed)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon of flour

1 tablespoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of Salt and Pepper

Get water in a large pot and heat while prepping. After water is almost boiling, add lentils and chopped onions. When boiling, lower to simmer and cover for 30 minutes. Add the 2 boullion cubes in pot. Mix oil, flour, and spices in a small bowl. Add 1/4 of soup to the mixture in the small bowl and mix, to incorporate the flour with the soup and make a thick paste texture. Pour in the mixture, and make sure to whisk in the soup and stir well. Add the juice of 2 lemons and simmer for a minute.

Ready to eat! I always have add an extra lemon since I squeeze it directly into the soup when I serve in a bowl, and sprinkle pepper on top! This makes even better leftovers for about a week.

Z's Hummus

This is the easiest, healthiest, and most delicious hummus you will ever have! Hummus basically consists of chickpeas, tahini (a sesame paste) and FRESH ingredients. Not only is it easy, but such a great snack and you can do so many awesome things with hummus. My personal favorite is eating it with Taboli (a middle eastern salad) and pita bread. Here are some other tips that you can creatively use hummus:

• Hummus Sandwich- 2 slices of wheat bread, 3 tablespoons hummus, 2 tablespoons of feta, 1 tablespoon of kalamata olive, 4 slices of cucumber and 2 slices of tomatoes...heaven.
• This goes great with any choice of meat, grilled chicken and steak, just divine. Try to spice up your chicken/steak fajitas with a dap of hummus, so delicious with salsa too you would be surprised!
• Serve with veggies! Carrots, broccoli and celery are great!

So here it is, this serves as an appetizer for about 4-6 people:

1 can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas drained and washed (OR you can use about 1.5 cups fresh dried chickpeas, soak them overnight, and then boil under soft)

3 Tablespoons of Tahini

2 lemons

2 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of white pepper

1 tablespoon of salt

 1/2 cup of water

Combine all of the ingredients except water in a food processer. You will notice how chunky it is, so then you add in water gradually. This will thin it out, you can add more water, garlic and lemon depending on your taste! This can easily be doubled, tripled as well:)

To garnish, I love to give some color to the dish. Curly parsley in the middle, a dash of paprika and some assorted veggies and you are ready to go!