Mediterranean Couscous Salad

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

Hi again! So this time it didn't take me a whole 3 months for my next post! Whoooooohoooo, someone congratulate me! I really do want to try and blog more often, I promise! I love writing and letting my 5 viewers learn new recipes that I have tried and loved!

Wedding planning has officially taken over my life, but I have to say, if I didn't have Faraz (my fiance), I would be so much more busy, not to mention stressed! He has been helping out so much! (I can be as sappy as I want on here, because Faraz never reads my blogs!)

Oh and one last thing before I start talking about my recipe today.  I want to give my girl, Farhana, a shout out.  She is one of my newest bloggers that I love checking out, and I like to think we keep each other motivated with these blogs! You can check her out here!

Anyways, so I made this dish thanks to a friend. She inspired me! She made this for iftaar (breaking fast meal) for her family, and I wanted to attempt it myself! It turned out quite delicious! I loved how light yet flavorful it was! So go on and give it a try, you won't be disappointed :)

Ingredients for Salad

Ingredients (6-8 servings):

1 cup uncooked couscous

1 cup grape tomatoes

1/2 cup cucumber

1 cup artichoke hearts

1/2 cup cups chopped kalamata olives (pits removed)
1/4 cup fresh basil

1/4 cup feta cheese (optional)

-----Dressing-----

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large lemon (juice)

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook the couscous according to package instructions. For mine, I have to boil about 1 1/2 cup water, stir the couscous in, turn off heat, and cover it for about 5-6 minutes. So simple!

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Let marinate while you move on to next steps.

3. Slice the tomatoes, dice the cucumbers, cut the artichoke hearts, slice the kalamata olives, and chop the basil.

2. Place the couscous in a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, cucumber, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, and basil.

4. Pour the dressing over the couscous salad and stir until well combined. Add salt and pepper to your own taste. If you want to top with feta cheese, you can at this point (totally worth the extra calories!)

5. ENJOY!

Balsamic Watermelon Cucumber Salad

Balsamic Watermelon Cucumber Salad

So I am definitely not even going to talk about how long it's been since my last blog.  It's been long, I know! My excuse, you ask?

I AM GETTING MARRIED! Hahaha, it's been a crazy few months, getting engaged, planning a wedding, getting ready to move out! Crazy, but very, very exciting! It also means I have been pretty darn busy, but I wanted to get back into blogging.  I mean I do love cooking, but after a long day at work, and various wedding appointments, the furthest thing on my mind is food!  I also have to take advantage of my mom's cooking for as long as I can! In a few months, I won't have anyone to cook for me anymore (let's face it, my fiance can't really cook!).

So here I am blogging, but no promises on exactly how often I am going to be doing this.  Just often enough so you don't forget about me!

As many of you know, Ramadan has started, which means long days of no eating and drinking when the sun is up! I live in Seattle, where daylight is around 15-16 hours.  That's a longggggg time of NO EATING/DRINKING! On top of that, it's been very nice in Seattle! It's currently 80 degrees right now (and 7:58pm, almost time to eat!).  But all this makes me want to eat chilled salads! Of course as a side meal since, come on, after a long day of fasting, I can't just feast on salad!

Alright, so I made this salad yesterday for myself (thanks to the lovely Gina), I didn't want to make too much just because I wanted to see how I liked it.  It turned out quite delicious actually, and I will definitely be making it again! Watermelon is definitely in season, so it's always at my house! This salad was for about 2 people and I thought I would have the leftovers today except my dad ate the rest last night! Desi parent approved! :D Anyways, enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients for Salad

Ingredients (2-3 servings):

2 cups watermelon

1/2 medium cucumber

1/8 cup kalamata olives (pitted)

1/8 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 tbsp fresh basil

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 tbsp brown sugar

Instructions:
1. Dice the watermelon and cucumber. Slice the kalamata olives. Chop the basil.

2. In a small sauce pan, pour the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.  Place over medium - high heat until brown sugar is dissolved, then reduce to low heat and reduce glaze to about half the amount (about 8-10) minutes.  (You can also just buy balsamic glaze).

3. In a medium bowl, place the watermelon, cucumber, olives, basil, and feta.
4. Add about 1 tbsp of the glaze (more to taste) to the top of the salad.  Toss just to mix everything.

5. ENJOY!

Pesto Eggplant Panini with Avocados and Tomatoes

Pesto Eggplant Panini with Avocados and Tomatoes

First post of October! I know, I know, pretty terrible.  This is becoming a monthly update and not a weekly update which is what I intended this to be.  Anyway, with work, working out, and hanging with friends/family, there just isnt many hours in the evening to myself! I have also been pretty obsessed with watching Once Upon a Time (if you don't watch it, you NEED to).  All my shows started back up, so my evenings are back to watching all my favorite shows! Yay! Oh back to some cooking!

I made this a while back, but it was delicious.  I got a Panini Maker as a birthday present this year and every now and then I use it to make some pretty delicious paninis! This one is definitely one of them that I got from SkinnyTaste.com with of course my own twist! It's full of veggies, but believe me you do not miss the absence of meat at all! Give it a shot if you have a panini maker, and if you don't, I suggest going out there and getting one! You can probably also use a stove grill and a pan to press the panini.  Trust me, give this a try, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients for Panini

Ingredients (4 large paninis):

1 large eggplant

1/4 cup onion

1 roma tomato

1 hass avocado

1 french bread

cooking spray

2 tbsp pesto sauce

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

salt, pepper, and chili to taste

Instructions:
1. Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Lay pieces on a paper towel and season them with the salt, pepper and chili on both sides of eggplant. Set this aside for about 30-40 minutes so that all the moisture is drawn out.

2. Slice the onion, tomatoes into 1/4 inch circle pieces. Slice the avocados into long pieces.
3. Preheat your panini maker.
4. Lightly spray the eggplant pieces.
5. When the panini maker is hot, place the eggplant pieces and onions on the panini maker.  Close the top and grill for about 8-10 minutes or until the eggplant pieces and onions are nice and golden brown.

6. Slice the bread into 4 pieces and open each piece to get ready to put the ingredients in (a little trick I learned from SkinnyTaste's Gina to save some calories is to pick out some of the breading).  Spread about 1/2 tbsp of pesto sauce on each side of the bread.

7. Inside each piece of bread, place 3 eggplant pieces, a few slices of onions, 2 pieces of tomatoes, and 2 pieces of avocado.  Top with about 2-3 tbsp of mozzarella cheese.

8. Close the piece of bread, spray the top, and put in the panini maker. Grill for about 4-5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the french bread is toasted.
9. Cut diagonally and ENJOY!

Coconut Curry

Coconut Curry

So this is odd that I am posting on a Tuesday, but this is the request of a friend/co-worker who wants to try to make this.  I thought it would be better that I just went ahead and blogged since it's been again forever since my last blog.  My new goal is twice a month?! No, I need to start blogging once a week again! Anyways, this curry was a friends recipe that I slightly modified.

This turned out to be really good! I am not a fan of coconut, but this tasted pretty darn good! With the mix of all the different veggies, it turned out to have everything you need.  I served this over some rice, which complimented the curry very well. You could also very well make this a little more liquidy by adding a whole can of the chicken/vegetable stock instead of just half and eat it over some pasta.  Either way it's very yummy!

Ingredients for Curry

Ingredients (6-8 servings):
1 tsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp of ginger

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1/2 head of broccoli

8 oz of vegetable/chicken broth (about half a 14.5 oz can )

13.5 oz of coconut milk (Chaokoh brand is what I used)

1.5 lb chicken breast

3 tsp curry powder

1 tsp chili powder (or to taste)

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Instructions:
1. Slice the onion, garlic, ginger, bell peppers, and broccoli.  Also, slice the chicken breast into square pieces (about 1-2 inches).
2. In a large skillet or wok heat oil on medium heat. Fry the onions, garlic, and ginger for about 5 minutes on medium-high or until the onions appear to be clear and translucent.
4. Add the bell peppers and broccoli to the wok. Stir for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the chicken to the wok and stir the mixture for an addition 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked through.

6. Add the coconut milk to the wok and mix up everything.
7.  Pour the chicken/vegetable broth into the wok and mix up everything.  (If you want a little more curry (liquid) add more broth to the wok.)

8.  Add the curry, chili, and salt powder to the curry. Simmer for about 20 minutes on medium-high.  Do a taste test and see if you need to add more curry, chili, or salt to your curry.

9. ENJOY!

Fried Couscous Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Green Bell Peppers

Fried Couscous Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Green Bell Peppers

So I recently discovered the amazingness of couscous.  I have been adding it to EVERYTHING! I make a simple salad, and then go ahead add about a fourth cup of couscous and voila, you have a fancy salad for yourself! Couscous is also VERY easy to make, when you buy the pre-streamed and dried one.  Literally takes like 5 minutes.  I was again watching Giada and found her making something with couscous which made me rush out the door to get some. I would advise getting the whole wheat one just to be a bit healthier! Anyways take a stab at making this delicious dish.  Mine turned out really yummy, but the couscous was a bit mushy, which was entirely my fault for not waiting the whole 5 minutes before frying them.  So be warned! Anyways hope you like it!

Ingredients for Couscous

Ingredients (6-8 servings):

3 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves

2 cups couscous (whole wheat is what I used)

1 3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1/4 cup onions

1/4 cup of green bell pepper

1/2 cup cucumber

1 tbsp fresh basil

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

lemon zest (1/2 of a lemon)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
1. Boil stock in a small pot. When stock is boiling, turn off stove and add couscous.  Cover and leave couscous for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork.

2. Fry 3 garlic cloves in a medium skillet (medium temperature) until golden brown.
3. Cut green bell pepper and onion into small pieces.
4. Add pepper, onions, and couscous and bell pepper to skillet and turn up skillet to medium-high.
5. Cook couscous for about 10-15 minutes, breaking up lumps. When done the couscous should be a nice olden to dark brown color. Set aside in a medium bowl.

6. Remove seeds of the cucumber and cut the cucumber in small pieces.  Add cucumber to couscous.
7. Cut the basil and sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces and also add to the couscous.
8. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese to couscous.  Toss together.  Add more salt and pepper according to taste.
9. ENJOY!

Pesto Gnocchi with Black Olives

Pesto Gnocchi with Black Olives

I cannot believe that this is my first entry of April! Where has the time gone?! I am sad to say that April will only have a few recipes since I have been on vacation for the most of it.  I haven't really had the time to sit and make food, since come on who cooks on vacation?! I decided though that I would finally post the one recipe that I did make right before I left.  It's a super fast and easy recipe that anyone can make! You can make this as a side dish, but easily double the recipe and make it as a main dish! The inspiration of this dish is from twopeasandtheirpod.com.

Have you heard of gnocchi before? It was definitely my first time hearing about it, but since it's made from potatoes (which I LOVE) I decided to give it a shot.  You can find gnocchi right in the pasta isle and they can come in one solid cream color, or different colors like mine!

Gnocchi found right by the pasta

Ingredients for the Gnocchi

Ingredients (2-3 servings):

1 package potato gnocchi

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup onions

3 cloves garlic

2.25 oz can sliced black olives

1/3 cup basil pesto

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions:
1. According to package instructions, boil the gnocchi (should be around 3-8 minutes).

2. Chop the onions and mince the garlic.
3. Heat the oil in a medium skillet on medium-high heat.
4. Saute the onions until they become golden and translucent, about 1-2 minutes.

5. Add the gnocchi, making sure that each gnocchi is touching the skillet (single layer), and let them fry for 4-5 minutes without moving the gnocchi.

6. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes making sure to turn them occasional so that all sides are nice and golden.
7. Add in the black olives and stir for another 30 seconds.

8. Remove from heat and add in the pesto sauce. Make sure that all the gnocchi and black olives are nicely covered with the pesto sauce.
9. Top with Parmesan cheese.
10. ENJOY!

Easy 10-minute Tortilla Pizza

Easy 10-minute Tortilla Pizza

It was Saturday afternoon, and my sister wanted pizza.  None of my family wanted any so getting a pizza delivered was out of the question, not to even start with the unhealthiness of a pizza! So I had to get creative and that's when I came up with this recipe.  It's super fast, light, and won't leave you feeling guilty about anything! You can customize it however you want, add another layer of tortilla to make the crust thicker, add any toppings of your liking, ANYTHING! This turned out pretty yummy and definitely will definitely go down as a go to lunch item! 

My sister helping me write down the quantities of each ingredient!

Ingredients for the Pizza!

Ingredients (for 1 tortilla pizza):

1 uncooked tortilla (using cooked is also fine)

1/8 cup tomato sauce (I used Prego, but any tomato sauce will do)

1 oz black olives (optional)

7-10 pieces of turkey pepperoni (optional)

1/8 cup mozzarella cheese 

Instructions:

1. Cook uncooked tortilla in a pan on stove top, medium-high, for about 4 minutes or until lightly brown.

2. Spread tomato sauce equally on top of tortilla.

3. Add toppings (in my case black olives and turkey pepperoni) evenly on top of sauce.

4. Cover entire tortilla evenly with cheese, I used 4 cheese Mexican blend because that was all I had in the fridge, but it would taste a lot better with mozzarella in my opinion.

5. Transfer tortilla to baking sheet.

6. Broil pizza on low for about 4-5 minutes or until cheese turns golden brown. 

Pizza in broiler

7. Let cool for about 2 minutes before cutting.

8. ENJOY!