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.

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!

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!!

Foul (Middle Eastern Fava Bean's Breakfast)

Good morning! (Good noon?)
I made this last week and have been meaning to post it, but got swamped with work.

So this a mix of the Syrian and Jordanian way to do this dish. Enjoy :-)

Ingredients:

• 1 can fava beans
• 1 medium tomato
• 3 tbsps. olive oil (or as needed)
• 1 lemon
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 2 stalks green onion
• Parsley (granish)

1. Open the fava bean can and place contents in a small pot. Cook on medium heat until soft.
2. While the fava beans cook cut up the green onions, the tomato, and the garlic clove.  Place in medium bowl. -->
3. Once the fava beans are ready you are going to need to mash them. Make sure the liquid level is not too high. You want them to have a smooth consistency, not too runny. I usually just mash it in the pot. 
4. Add fava beans to the bowl. Add olive oil and lemon juice. Mix everything. It is kind of hard to describe, but you can look at the picture below to see the consistency. Add salt to taste.
5. Add chopped parsley to garnish.
6. Add additional olive oil or lemon juice to taste.

I know this recipe was slightly confusing, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Breakfast potatoes

I am a very picky person when it comes to breakfast. Cereal? Not the biggest fan. Warm and salty potatoes? Love them.

I found a recipe online, but then changed a bunch of stuff.

Enjoy :-)

Ingredients:

• 3 medium Russet potatoes
• 1.5 tsp all-purpose seasoning
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Any additional seasonings you want. 
• Onions (optional)

The above spice measurements are estimates. It is all dependent on your own taste.

Directions:

1. Wash potatoes.
2. Cut up potatoes into small cubes. (as seen above)
3. Boil potatoes for 20-25 minutes, or until softened. They need to be soft, but not soft enough that they are mashed potatoes.
4. Remove from heat and place in a colander.
5. Add spices and toss gently. 
6. Heat up some butter or oil in a skillet. 
7. At this point, if you want to have onions, saute the onions.
8. Add potatoes and saute for around 5 minutes or until golden. Be very gently when flipping over the potatoes.
9. When golden take off heat and enjoyyyy.

The picture below is a breakfast we had at home a few weeks back. We had the potatoes, vegetables, foul (fava beans), labne (strained yogurt). and hummus.

Would anyone want to see the recipe for foul?

Leave me a comment if you do!

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?

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.