Tomato Bisque Soup

More soup! This time one of my favorites, tomato bisque.
I based my recipe, on this.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. butter
• ½ onion
• ½ cup carrots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 2.5 cups broth (or water with 1 tbsp/cup)
• 3.5 cups tomatoes, chopped, peeled
• 1 tsp. Dried parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ cup heavy cream (I didnt have heavy cream or enough milk, so I combined 1/4 cup milk and 1.5 tbsp. butter)
• 1 tsp. salt
• Black pepper
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 10 fresh basil leaves

Directions:

1. Boil water and add whole tomatoes. boil until skin starts to crack. Then remove from heat. Allow to cool then peel and chop. Make sure to conserve the juice.
2. Heat butter in large pot over medium.
3. Add onions, carrots, and garlic. Cook, covered, until soft, which takes about 8 minutes. Make sture to stir occasionally.
4. Stir in flour, and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Add broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly.
6. Add in spices.
7. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
8. Remove from heat, and allow to cool.
9. Remove bay leaf, and puree in blender until smooth.
10. Whisk in heavy cream and salt. Pepper to taste.
11. Garnish with basil, cilantro, cheese, and so on.

Serve hot and enjoy!

PS. It had a rich tomato taste. If you like it to be creamy add more heavy cream.

Baked Meatballs Recipe

I adapted this recipe from Alton Brown's recipe. I really liked it and thought it was great. The seasoning is enough such that you can eat it on its own or with a sauce. Enjoy! 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes: 25-30 meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 1.5 tsp dried basil
• 1.5 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 whole egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Combine ground beef and dry ingredients.
3. Add whole egg. Combine well.
4. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheet. 
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms and Zucchini

Hello!
I haven't updated in a long time, but I wanted to restart this blog. I have been cooking a lot more and have many new recipes. Please me comment with any recipes you think I should try out.

This year I tried out one of those food services that send you all the ingredients for a recipe (HelloFresh). They were interesting. Often times I have found the seasoning to be lacking, but the concept is great. This particular recipe was great the way it was made. I might have added more Parmesan cheese because more cheese is always good.

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 zucchini, medium
• 4 oz button mushrooms
• 1 bunch oregano (you really  need 3/4 of this)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1 can coconut milk
• Olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Halve the spaghetti squash, lengthwise. This is difficult so be careful! Then scoop out the seeds. 
3. Drizzle the flesh with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. 
4. Place the halves flesh side down on a lightly oiled pan and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. It should be ready when the flesh is tender.
5. Halve the zucchini lengthwise, then thinly slice. Thinly slice the mushrooms and roughly shop the oregano leaves (discard the stems).
6. Heat some olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. Be sure to toss to make sure nothing gets burned. 
7. Then add the zucchini, half the oregano, and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until softened. Season with salt and pepper. 
8. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Turn off heat. 
9. Once the spaghetti squash is cooked, allow it to slightly cool. Then scoop the flesh into the coconut milk mixture. Careful to not break through the shells because you will be using them to serve the mixture.  
10. Add the Parmesan cheese to the coconut milk mixture and combine thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper. 
11. Scoop the mixture into the squash shells. Garnish with remaining oregano and more cheese if you would like. Serve and enjoy!

Pumpkin Soup

This is a very easy recipe to make and it is soo good! I adapted the recipe from here.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup any additional vegetables (butternut squash or so on)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp. dried cilantro
• 2 tsps. olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. cumin

Directions:

1. Heat up olive oil in pot. Add onions and cook until translucent. 
2. Add remaining vegetables and cook until soft. Around 5 minutes.
3. Stir in pumpkin puree.
4. Add remaining ingredients. 
5. Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to low. Cook for about 40 minutes. 
6. Allow to cool and puree on a blender.
7. Add sour cream as a garnish if you would like!

I love this soup. It tastes like your normal vegetable soup, and very easy to make!

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

I was walking home from work and I passed by the Whole Foods. I was lured in my the amazing fresh smell haha. As I walked around the store I picked up some tilapia because I swear this store can make anything look appetizing.
I am not a big tilapia person so I was trying to figure out what to do with it. I found a recipe on All Recipes and adjusted it a little bit using the comments and what ingredients I had.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I just used canned grated kind)
• 1 tsp. mustard
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 
• 1/4 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. celery salt
• 1/8 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. chili powder
• 2 fillets (recipe makes enough for 3)

Directions

1. Pre-heat your oven to the broil function or 450F if you don't have it.
2. Line pan with foil and place fillets in pan in a single layer. Place the pan within a few inches of the top. Broil for 3 minutes on each side.
3. Combine butter, cheese, and spices.
4. Remove pan from oven and cover fillets with butter/cheese mixture.
5. Broil for 5 minutes or until top is browned.
6. ENJOY.

Because I did. This is definitely going on my weekly dinner list.

Garlic Spinach

Ingredients:

• 1 10 oz bag of fresh spinach
• 4 cloves garlic
• Feta cheese to taste
• Lemon juice to taste

Directions:

1. Thinly slice the garlic.
2. Heat up some oil in a skillet.
3. Add garlic and saute for a minute or so, or until slightly colored.
4. Add spinach in chunks. Don't add more spinach until the spinach already in the skilled has wilted.
5. Remove from stove skillet, add lemon juice and feta cheese. Add a sprinkle of salt.
6. Enjoy!!

Black Bean Soup

One of the best things to break your fast on is soup!

I adapted this recipes from here.

Ingredients:

• 1 T olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 29 oz. can of black beans
• 2 cups of water with 2 tbsp. soy sauce (a substitution for the beef broth)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. dry oregano leaves
• 1 bay leaf.

So my soup turned out a bit salt (I like salty, so it worked out). In order to avoid saltiness you can rinse the beans very well and just overall cut down on the salt. 

Also, this is more of a thick soup. :-)

Directions:

1. Warm up a pot on the stove. Once warm add the olive oil. Then add the carrots, onions, and garlic. Saute for 4-5 minutes.
2. Throw in the black beans and beef broth. (I also added a bit of this chili pepper/tomato mix my mom made).
3. Stir and add all the spices.
4. Leave uncovered and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Add water if the mixture becomes thick.  It is finished when carrots are tender.
5. Let cool. Remove bay leaf and puree in blender. 

Top the soup with cilantro, basil, cheese, sour cream and so on..

Enjoy :-)

Anyone have any other soup recipes I should try out?

Pesto-Yogurt Chicken

I found this in a random magazine. As I was making it, I was kind of skeptical, but it turned pretty good!

Ingredients-Pesto (makes a little more than you need, but pesto never goes to waste!)

• 2 cups basil-packed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients in food processor or blender until well blended.

For the rest of the recipe you are only going to need 3/4 a cup of pesto.

Pesto-Yogurt Ingredients (makes 2.25 cups):

• 3/4 cup pesto
• 1.5 cups Greek yogurt (I used the Arab Labne)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Just mix the ingredients!

You only need 2 cups for the recipe. So I would suggest making a small amount less. I also didn't add salt and pepper, but I do suggest you add some flavoring. I cooked the chicken according to the recipe and then tried it. It tasted a bit bland so I had to improvise by adding spices and cheese later. It might help to add the spices from the get go.

Finally, the rest of the ingredients:

• 2.5-3 lbs. chicken
• salt and pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cups pesto-yogurt sauce
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Clean up chicken and cut up into slices like picture above.
2. Sprinkle salt on a cutting board and cut up the cloves of garlic. This is supposed to make a paste. It didn't work for me. 
3. Mix oil, pesto-yogurt sauce, salt, and pepper. 
4. Marinate chicken overnight.
5. Pre-heat oven to 425F.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Take out, sprinkle with salt and pepper and Parmesan cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese browns.  

Safiha (Meat Pie)

So by far is this is my favorite Arab food. It is sooo good! Me and my mom worked together to make this. Of course the recipe is all hers :-)

This is not an easy food to make. It takes a lot of time and energy, but it is really good.

First, you need to get the dough ready.

Ingredients:

• 1 packed highly active yeast (20.8g), 6.5 tsps.
• 3/4 tsp. sugar
• Warm water
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 vegetable oil
• 1 cup warm milk

Ready to learn how to make dough?

1. Pre-heat oven, just so it warms up a bit. 
2. In an average sized cup, mix yeast and sugar. Add warm water almost to the top.
3. Leave in warm oven for 10 minutes.
4. During this time, mix flour, salt, and honey in a big round pan.
5. In a blender mix egg and oil. Once mixed, add milk (can warm milk, by putting it in microwave for a little bit).
6. Once the yeast is ready you can start. Take pan that has flour in it,k make a hole in the middle of the flour, and pour yeast. 
7. Start kneading and mixing mixture.
8. Start adding egg/milk mixture slowly.
9. Keep kneading and kneading. Your hands will get sticky, but if the dough is good your hands will get clean of dough as you go.
• If your hands are still sticking and all the ingredients are mixed, add a small amount of water.
• If the dough seems to be hard and dry, add water.
10. Take a big pot, and add some oil to it. Take dough and round into a ball and place in pot. Take a small cloth or towel and water. Squeeze any access water out and place over pot to cover.  Put pot in pre-warmed oven. Make sure to put something under the pot so the oven doesn't cook the dough from the bottom.
11. Leave in warm oven for an hour to let it rise! 
12. It should double in size. The dough looked like this after an hour:

While you wait for the dough you can make the meat mixture.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium tomato, finely chopped (I mean really fine)
• 2 tbs. pomegranate molasses
• 2 tsps. salt
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 cardamon
• Any other spices you would like! Just keep in mind the other spices have a slightly sour taste, so you might not want to put too much spices. Keep it simple!

You can also prep your pans. Just put a little bit of oil and spread it all over the pan, to make sure it is evenly covered.  

Now comes the fun part! :-)

Clean off a flat surface that you can work on.

1. Break off a piece of the dough. DO NOT KNEAD IT.  Just grab a small softball sized piece of the dough.

2. Sprinkle some flour on the surface. Put dough on surface and use your hands to make it flat. Don't stretch the dough. The purpose of this is just so it is easier to roll.

3.Then use a rolling pin to roll the dough until it is very thin. Start in the middle and roll out.  Keep doing this until the dough is even. You don't want it so thin such that you can see through it. I am not sure if you can see the thickness, but it is probably half a centimeter.

4.  Then use a round cup with even edges to cut the dough into small circles.  Make sure you cut down really deep so it is completely cut off from the rest of the dough. 

5.  Take each circle. Either with your hand or the rolling pin and make it thin if it isn't already. Then add some of the meat mixture in the middle and thin it out. Like this:

So you want to make a triangle. So take one side and do this:

Then the other:

Then the other:

Make to press down, so it won't open up in the oven. You also want to make a sure a decent amount of the meat is showing so it cooks. 

Put it in a pan and make sure it is covered like this:

This way the dough doesn't dry out.

When you finish about a tray, you can pre-heat the oven to 500F. As for the placement of the racks. One should be at the very bottom, and one two stubs down from the top.

6.  Place the tray on the bottom rack and bake for around 7 minutes or until the bottom of the pie is browned.

7. Switch the tray to the top rack and bake for about 3 or 4 minutes. Or until the top is browned.

8. Take out of the oven, eat, and enjoy!

It goes really well with the Middle-Eastern salad Tabloeh.

Chicken Fajitas and Guacomole

I had sour cream and cheese. So of course I needed to make chicken fajitas. And what are fajitas without guacamole?!

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts. 
• 2 tsp. chilli
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. corn starch.
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped

Directions

1. Cut up chicken in slices.
2. Mix ingredients in bowl.
3. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
4. Heat up some oil in a pan.
5. Cook for 6 minutes or until browned.

Guacamole

Ingredients

• 1 avocado.
• 1 tbsp. chopped onion.
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp cumin.

Directions

1. Mix items in plastic ziplock bag. (i put it in a bag because it is easier to small up the avocado that way if you dont have mortar and pestle)
2. Smash up avocado.
3. Eaaaat.

Pasta and Herbs

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• salt
• 1/4 tsp. rosemary
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 tsp. parsley flakes
• 1 tsp. marjoram
• 1/8 cup Parmesan cheese
• Lemon juice

Directions

1. Cook pasta as directed on the box. Add some salt and garlic powder in the water before you add the pasta.
2. Once cooked, strain the pasta. Return to pot.
3. Add pasta all of herbs and cheese. Mix well.
4. Add a  little bit of lemon juice. I always find that lemon brings out the flavor.

Shepherd's Pie

My mom is out of town so I am left fending for myself. Which means I will be cooking a lot more, but it also means I might not be able to update as often as I would like.

I kind of just threw a bunch of things together.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• 1.5 lb ground beef
• 1 onion
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1.5 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tbsp. rosemary leaves
• 1 tbsp. parsley flakes
• Mashed Potatoes prepared from a box! (After a long day of work I do not feel dealing with potatoes) 2-3 servings should be enough.
• Optional
• Extra paprika
• Butter
• Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
2. Pour some vegetable oil in a pot.
3. Add onions.
4. Once the onions have a slight color to them, add the ground beef and all the spices and tomato past.
5. Keep stirring and mixing up the ground beef until it turns brown.
6. I also added a little bit of grated mozzarella cheese.
7. Continue to cook for 15-20 minutes.
8. Once thoroughly cooked, place in a 9X11 pan. Smoothen it out.
9. Prepare mashed potatoes according to box.
10. Add mashed potatoes on top of meat. Smoothen out. Make sure the mashed potatoes are up against the sides.
11. Sprinkle some paprika on top.
12. Use fork to create lines across dish.
13.  Cut up slice of butter and place on top too. or until potatoes start to brown.
14. Bake for 20 minutes

Shrimp Alfredo

So usually my favorite recipes are the ones I come up with when I have something extra leftover from another recipe. This time I had leftover heavy whipping cream so I made some shrimp alfredo.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbps. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp. cream cheese
• 1 tsp. parsley flakes
• Cooked pasta
• Cooked shrimp

Instructions:

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add cream. Make sure to stir a lot.
3. Add garlic powder, black pepper, and basil.
4. Add cheese.
5. Stir mixture until melted. (if you are not using fresh grated cheese it wont be creamy, but it still tastes good!)
6. Remove some of mixture and place in bowl. Add egg yolk and stir.
7. Add yolk mixture to cheese and cream mixture.
8. Add cream cheese.
9. Stir until smooth.
10. Simmer over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
11. Add parsley flakes.
12. If sauce is too salty for your taste, add some milk.
13. In big bowl add sauce, pasta, and shrimp.

Stuffed Grape Leaves!

Grape leaves. My absolute favorite food. I could eat them more or less everyday.  See they are not easy or fun to make, but the results are amazing. Just looking at the perfectly wrapped leaves...Or maybe it is just my OCDness. Anyways, for the longest time my mom made the stuffing, I stuffed, and she cooked.  I always wanted to try it on my own, because I refuse to say I made anything unless I made it from start to finish.
I got my chance to do so this past weekend. So I decided to finally give it a try.
They turned out pretty good. I did not have the kind of rice my mom usually uses. She usually uses the medium rice (Egyptian rice), but I could only find Basmati.   The  only thing with that type of rice is that it does not puff up and become soft and mushy.  Some people like that, others dont. So it really depends on what you like. I like the mushy type, but my dad likes the "normal" kind and he loved the grape leaves!

Ok, here we go. :-)

Ingredients

• 1.5 cans Grape Leaves
• 1 tomato
• 4 tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 cups water
• ¼  tsp. salt
• 4 tbsp. olive oil

Rice Mixture:

• 4 cups Medium Rice
• 1 pound ground beef
• 3 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 3 tbsp. tomato paste
• 4 tbsp. vegetable oil + extra on hand
• 2 tsp Dried mint
• 2 tsp. Dill weed

Directions

1. Wash rice.
2. Mix all ingredients of rice mixture in large bowl. If mixture is dry add more vegetable oil. Keep oil on hand throughout wrapping.  Use hands to mix!
3. Wash grape leaves in water.
4. Cut stem off grape leaves.
5. Place grape leaves rough side up.
6. Add one tbsp. of mixture to the base of the leaf.
7. Wrap leaves as depicted in the pictures below.
8. Slice tomato.  You can also put potatoes, chicken, or meat.
9. Line the bottom of a pressure cooker with slices of tomato.
10. Line grape leaves in pressure cooker.
11. Place metal plate (comes with pressure cooker) on top of grape leaves
12. In small mix tomato paste, water, salt, and olive oil.
13. Pour this mixture over grape leaves.
14. Place a glass bowl (that can withstand heat) on top of metal plate. (This is put pressure on grape leaves, or your wrapping will come loose). Add some water to bowl.
15. Cover. Place on high heat.
16. When the top whistles, leave the cooker on high for two minutes.  Then lower to medium for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to medium low for forty minutes.
17. Take off heat. Let cool.
18. Remove glass bowl (try to not spill any of the water), and metal plate. Flip pot over on big plate.
19. Eat and enjoy! Saha wa hana!

How to wrap grape leaves!

Place leaves "rough" side up.

Add around 1 tbsp. rice mixture.

Bring up the bottom pieces of the grape leaf. Tuck in mixture.

Wrap in the sides.

Start rolling!

Keep rolling.

So some bumps you might hit are that the leaf might be really big, or it might have holes in it. That is very easy to fix.  

-What is too big? You just have to learn from experience. If you look at the leaf above. That is a perfect size.  If it is too big just cut it right along the middle. If you follow the stem it is very easy.

-if there are holes, what I usually do is  save one leaf that has many holes in it. Anytime I get one leaf with a whole I just tear a piece of the really bad leaf and cover up the hole.

Hope this helps. :-)

BBQ Chicken and Greek Salad with Balsamic Vingerette

Hello!
So I had a couple of friends over for dinner and this is what we had:

BBQ Chicken from here, I changed a couple of things.
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. powdered ginger
• 1 lb. chicken

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients. Marinate chicken for at least four hours. (I could only do 30-45 minutes, but it still tasted good :-))
2. Heat up some oil in a pan.
3. Also, place a kettle of water on the stove.
4. Place chicken in pan. Save some of the marinade. Cook 5 minutes on each side on medium-high. This allows the chicken to brown.
5. Lower heat to medium. Add a bit of the  marinade and the hot water. Cook like this for 20-45 minutes depending if it is bone-in-chicken or not. Bone-in-chicken needs more time to cook.  Add water when water level gets too low.
6. Every once in awhile check to see if chicken is cooked by cutting it open and seeing the color. Pink is bad, white is good.

Balsamic Vingerette. This makes enough for many salads. I got it here.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vingerette
• 2 tsps. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. garlic
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 3/4 cup olive oil

Mix ingredients in re-usable bottle. Shake well.

Make sure you shake well before you use it every time.

The Greek salad just consisted of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and black olives.

The feta cheese offsets the the strong taste of the balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy. We sure did :-)

Teriyaki Shrimp and Pasta

Ingredients:

• Shrimp (as much as you want, I used about 20. I also use the frozen raw type from costco)
• Pasta (use whole-wheat if you want to be healthy)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 3 tsps. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. powdered garlic*

*it is best to use fresh ginger fresh garlic.

Directions:

1. Cook pasta as directed on box.
2. Mix soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar, powdered garlic.
3. Mix shrimp in teriyaki mixture.
4. Heat some oil in a sauce pan.
5. Add shrimp without the sauce.
6. Once the shrimp becomes clear/pink on both sides pour the rest of the soy sauce in the pan.
7. Let mixture simmer.
8. Mix shrimp/sauce mixture and pasta.
9. Serve and eat! :-)

Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1.5 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. crushed garlic
• 2 tbsp. chopped up garlic
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. cumin 
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 1 tsp. fenugreek leaves

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Rub chicken with salt, chili,  and lime. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.
• Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.
• Rub mixture on chicken. 
• Place remaining mixture and chicken in pan and bake for 20-35 minutes.

It tastes best with fresh onions and naan (a special type of flat bread).

Lime-Chili Lamb Chops

This recipe was originally for steak. I also cut down on the spiciness. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. chilli powder
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp.  cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. coriander
• 1 1/2 tsps. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix ingredients. 
3. Rub mixture on meat. Allow to marinate for 15 minutes.
4. Bake for 90 minutes.

So it was a bit spicy, but with a side salad with a lemon based dressing it is pretty good.

Chicken Curry

I kind of made up this recipe on my own. It is not really spicy, but if you don't do spicy food it is. If you do spicy food add more curry. :-)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium tomato
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tbsp. ginger
• 3/4 tbsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. vegetable curry powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. paprika 
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 bay leaf
• Vegetable oil

Directions 

1. Heat oil in pot. Saute onion until lightly browned.
2. Add tomato, ginger, and spices.
3. Stir for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add chicken.
5. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20-25 minutes.
6. Add lemon juice.

Chole (Chickpeas)

I got this recipe from a friend's mom. It is a really nice vegetarian dish. 

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
•  29 oz can of chickpeas
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. cumin
• 1 tbsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• Crushed red peppers (as much as you want depending on how spicy you want it)
• Water
• Oil

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pan.
2. Cook onions until brown.
3. Add garlic, tomato, and spices.
4. Allow mixture to simmer until it becomes a brown color.
5. Add water if mixture becomes dry.
6. Add chickpeas.
7. Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes, adding water as needed.
8. The dish is finished once the chickpeas become soft.