We got on FoodGazing!

It's a favorite Foodie website of mine! And we got featured! Yay!



By the way, the scones next to me are made by someone else I'm a devoted follower of. Visit her website at The Nesting Project!

-Rana

Ratatouille and Parmesan-Thyme Couscous! (Rana)

Yumyumyum! Let me tell you, this vegetarian dish should get rave reviews. It was tender and flavorful and with the couscous, I literally almost melted into it. It's a homey dish that I'll be sure to make again! Besides, who didn't love the movie Ratatouille. This dish was a bit of a homage, but since my family just can't have squash and eggplant alone, we added a bit of a twist. :]

Now I don't want to take credit for a recipe someone else created. The Ratatouille was not my recipe, but I did happen to modify it. I added another clove of garlic, and when she specifies a few sprigs of thyme, I used 4, and I also added just a little bit of crushed red pepper flakes. And lots of olive oil because it's my favorite condiment! Also, PLEASE get a smaller and or longer and skinner bell pepper. My brother messed up and got me a fat one. Obese bell pepper makes me sad.



Okay so for the Ratatouille recipe, go here: Smitten Kitchen

Now I take credit for the couscous! It's not those tiny little couscous you see most of the time, but a chunkier version. Because these do well in filling you up!

Parmesan-Thyme Couscous

Ingredients:
1 Cup Couscous
1 Cup Water or Chicken Stock(I used consomme to make it taste like chicken stock)
2 Sprigs thyme
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 pinches of parmesan cheese, shredded
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried basil, dried parsley to taste

Step 1:
Bring water or stock to boil in a pot. Salt generously if water, if stock not too generously.

Step 2:
Pour couscous, drizzle just a tad of olive oil, swirl around, then cover and put it to low heat. Be patient, you want the couscous to absorb all the liquid.

Step 3:
Once liquid is absorbed, drop the butter in, then drizzle some more olive oil, sprinkle on the spices and run your fingers along the thyme sprig to separate the leaves from the twig. Stir around and let the flavors set in, give it a taste to see if you like it.

Step 4:
Sprinkle the cheese on, stir it around, give it another taste and adjust the flavors as you like.

Step 5:
Ready to serve! :D

It's amazingly delicioussss! You could even add sharp white cheddar for a nice zing! Now you may notice the bits of meat at the top, that pinkish ham looking stuff. That's some fried up prosciutto! One of my favorite things to splurge on! Just cut it up to your desired size, I actually used scissors(clean of course!), and then I tossed it into a pan with heated oil and warmed them up until I was certain they were free of the dangers of pork poisoning, or whatever they call it. xD

It's super yummy with the saltiness of the prosciutto, just sprinkle it on top, you can serve it however you like. My mom even came back for seconds on the ratatouille SAUCE. And the couscous flew out of the pot, so if you wanna make more because your sure it'll be a hit, just double the ingredients. No biggie. I should have listened to that advice, I didn't get enough couscous. ;D

Here's another shot just because I love it so much. <3



- Rana

Manaeesh(Arabic Pizza)

So this dish is extremely delicious and comforting. My mother made it the morning after my father returned from the hospital. She made three different kinds, onion and pepper, zaatar(which is a mixture of spices that I cannot describe), and lebni and veggies. My favorite?



Lebni and Veggies!

Now it may not look completely mouthwatering to you, but whenever I see this on a plate I drool. This is one of my favorite dishes ever. It's garlicky, sweet, tangy, spicy. It's absolutely amazing and refreshing and just... yummm. So here's the recipe!

Lebni and Veggie Manaeesh:
1 tomato, chopped
2 seedless cucumbers, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
2-3 stalks of green onion, chopped
1 handful of mint, cleaned and chopped
3 large tablespoons of lebni, or depending on how thick you want it. I actually usually put 2 tablespoons.
Salt to taste
Olive oil to taste
3 premade and half-baked pizza dough rounds(can be storebought, or you can make your own and freeze them like mom did)

A little note: The pizza rounds were about 6 inches in diameter, so they were a personal pizza size. If you want a big pizza, just make one. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Step 1: Combine all chopped veggies and herbs into a bowl with lebni. Sprinkle with salt. Set aside.

Step 2: Drizzle some olive oil on your pizza dough. Start baking your pizza, once it starts to reach a golden brown around the edges, pull it out.

Step 3: Cut the pizza's in half, then pile the veggie mixture onto it and spread it around. Don't care about an even coat or anything.

Enjoy!

Like I said, I love this dish. Have some gum on hand for afterwards, it gives you garlic breath, but man is it good. The chewy crust of the pizza mixed with the amazing crispness of the vegetables, the kick of garlic, the refreshing mint. It's a great summer eat. ;]

-Rana

A new post?!

It's insanity! Well I've been cooking a lot, but not putting it up on here. Makes me a bit sad.

Well here's another quick culinary fixation, my Homemade Pasta Sauce!
(Jimmy calls it Hoe-made)



I put it in a bento last I made it because I was going on a train ride and I really wanted to eat something that wasn't a sandwich. :D

Alright so let's get started on this sweet, savory, and spicy sauce. :]

Ingredients:
1 lb. of ground turkey or beef
1 large can of Hunts tomato sauce
1 large can of stewed tomatoes(italian seasoned, you can buy them in any supermarket)
1 or 2 large sweet onions chopped, depending on how much you like onion
1 handful of fresh basil chiffonaded(you can use dried if you like, just use less of it)
7 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder to taste

Start off by heating a pot, not a pan or skillet, on medium-high heat. Drizzle some oil on the bottom. Put in your onions and garlic and stir around until the onions are a little brown at the edges.

Place in beef or turkey and start breaking that stuff up, unless you like your pasta sauce super chunky.

Once the meet looks to be totally browned but not well done, pour in sauce and tomatoes. Sprinkle in the red pepper flakes. Stir it around, place the top on the pot, and let simmer for a while. Takes around 5 minutes.

Drizzle some more olive oil, throw in your basil, and stir around. Let simmer a little while more.

Season to taste, it should taste amazing.

And you're done! Enjoy with any kind of pasta, I love it with whole wheat spaghetti. :]

This recipe takes all in all about 20 minutes, maybe 10 minutes to prepare all the ingredients. It's great when my brothers or house keeper helps me. My house keeper actually asks for this dish on a lot of occasions.

YUM!

Spinach and Cheese Enchiladas (Vivi)

Wow, it's been so long since I have posted anything that i feel kind of bad. In apology, I will try to cook and blog about the food as much as possible~

I learned this recipe at work. I work in a convalescent home kitchen, and there's so much to learn during lunch time! My imagination for cooking has reached new heights because of lunches here ^_^

Ingredients:

Salsa-

• 8 tomatillos, (the green mini-tomatoes) husked
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• half a large onion
  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, or just one handful
  
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper (Roll it around a little bit against the counter with the heel of your palm if you want the salsa hot, My coworkers call this "pissing the jalapeno off")
  
• salt to taste
• two large green Chile peppers

Filling-

• 1 average sized pack of Queso Fresco (literally "fresh cheese" in Spanish but good luck trying to find it with the English name. It should be in most dairy sections) sliced into thin strips
  
• 1 box fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
  
• 1 large bag of fresh spinach
• Monterrey Jack cheese
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
   
   
2. Begin by placing the tomatillos, chili peppers, and jalapeno in a skillet on medium heat. This is to bring out the flavor of the veggies more and make it easier to blend later. Leave for a few minutes, turning them every now and then so the skins don't burn completely black. (A little is OK, just not too much or your salsa will carry a "burnt" taste)
3. Meanwhile, heat a very small amount of oil or margarine in a large skillet, then leaving the mushrooms and spinach to cook until spinach is very soft. add a little salt and pepper to taste as it cooks.
   
   
4. By now your salsa ingredients should be ready for blending. There might be a bit of juices from the tomatoes in the pan, so just pour all that into your blender, adding in the cilantro, onion, and garlic. Blend to your hearts content, and add salt to taste. Set aside.
   
   
5. Using the same pan you used for the salsa, heat more oil, this time for your corn tortillas. I'm not sure about the exact number of tortillas, but brown enough of them up in the oil to fill with half of the sliced queso fresco and spinach filling. About fifteen seconds for each tortilla.
   
   
6. Oil up a baking dish
   
   
7. fill each tortilla with one slice of cheese, and a bit of the spinach, mushroom mixture, roll them up and place them seam side down on the baking dish until you've used up all your spinach filling, but making sure you still have enough cheese to sprinkle over the top of the enchiladas
   
   
8. Slather some more of the salsa over the enchiladas ad sprinkle over the fresh cheese and as much Monterrey Jack as you want.
   
   
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the sauce is bubbling and cheese is lightly browned at the edges.
   
   
10. Serve with some rice of your choice, and enjoy~
    

Hamburger Helper ala Vivi (Vivi, of course)

Alright... I don't have any pics of this because my camera ran out of batteries. HUge bummer, but at least i can post up this recipe.. if you can call it that.

Ingredients:
2 boxes of macaroni and cheese (whatever brand. I just use the cheapest available)
1 lb+ of ground meat (depending on how much meat you like and what kind of meat you like)
3Tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
Sour cream
Butter
Oregano
Garlic powder/salt

Directions:
1. Follow the instructions on the boxes, meanwhile cooking up your ground meat. Season it with garlic, and oregano. After the meat is mostly done, chop up your three tomatoes and throw them into the meat. Put on low heat to keep warm while you take care of your macaroni.

2. Once macaroni is done, rinse and return to pot. Mix in the meat mixture.

3. Mix in a scoop of both sour cream and butter.

4. Mix in the cheese packets, and fill one of the now emptied cheese packets with the Parmesan, then mix in as well.

5. Serve and enjoy~

Hope you guys enjoy this. My family liked it to bunches.

Sushi [Rana]

So I made Sushi quite a while ago. It was my attempt at California Rolls, and I went a bit crazy and put fried spam in its own roll. So in this case I'll give you the spam recipe, to get Cali rolls all you must do is trade the spam for crab. :]

The story behind this is... I felt like making sushi. My littlest brother wanted to take some to school, so I pulled out two bento. The other brother hates the idea of a lunchbox...



That was my brothers. He had a little Mudkip shaped sauce container. Soy sauce, of course. I smeared wasabi on the bottom of MY bento, because he doesn't like wasabi. He didn't like the Spam rolls, so I made him avocado rolls instead.



That one is mine. It isn't two tiered, I know, but it holds a whole lot. I love my little Pikachu sauce container. Very cute. Alright, here's the recipe:

Spam preparation:

Half a cube of spam, cut into slender rectangles.
One teaspoon of olive oil(or any except motor).

Simply fry the spam in the heated oil until it starts to brown and crisp on the outside. Let cool on a paper towel to drain the moisture.

Spam Rolls:

Steamed rice, however much you like, but it must be cooled.
Two sheets of Nori seaweed.
Your prepared Spam.
Thinly sliced cucumbers.
Thinly sliced carrots.
Thinly sliced avocado.
Wasabi paste.

Lay the nori flat out on plastic wrap, which is laid on a chopping board. Spread a thin(or thick, depending on preference) layer of rice on the nori, then proceed to layer the other ingredients one at a time close to the edge closest to you. When done, if you wish, put some wasabi paste on the rice. Very little, overdoing it could be a dire mistake.

Grab hold of the nearest edge to you, and the plastice wrap, then begin to roll up very tightly. If stuff falls out the side, it's okay. Just keep rolling up tightly, and it should automatically stick in that shape. Keep it in the plastic. Begin to cut into rounds, and make them any size you like, but I kind of like them pretty thin. More rolls to share.

Enjoy with some soy sauce and storebought pickled ginger!