Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Creamy Cauliflower Salad

3/4 cup mayonnaise dressing
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bacon bits
1 head cauliflower, in pieces
6 cups torn Romaine lettuce leaves

Mix dressings, cheese and sugar in large bowl.
Add remaining ingredients; mix lightly.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Eggplant Parmigiana

I would always see eggplants on sale at the grocery store but wouldn't know what to do with them, until I found this recipe by Mario Batali. It's simple enough but looks rather fancy and tastes yummy. I use one eggplant to feed my family and adjust recipe from there.

1/4 cup olive oil
2 large eggplants-about 1 lb each
salt and pepper
3 cups basic tomato sauce (I use jared pasta sauce)
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves removed and cut
1 pound mozzarella, cut into 1/4 inch think slices-you will need 12 slices
1/2 cup fresh grated parmigiano
1/4 cup lightly toasted bread crumbs
1 pkg spaghetti noodles

Preheat the oven to 450. Oil a baking sheet with olive oil.

Cut each eggplant into 6 slices. Lightly season each disk with salk and pepper and place on oiled sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until deep brown on top. Transfer to a large plate and let cool. Lower oven temperature to 350.

Arange the 4 largest disks in a 9x13 baking pan, spacing them evenly. Spread 1/4 cup of tomato sauce over each disk, and sprinkle each with a teaspoon of basil. Place one slice of mozzarella over each and sprinkle with 1 ts of parmigiano. Top with 4 more slices of eggplant and repeat layers. Sprinkle with toasted bread crumbs over the top.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and tops are lightly browned. Cook noodles and warm remaining sauce.

Serve eggplant with noodles and sauce.

Funeral Potatoes

I'm not sure why they call this funeral potatoes. My sister prefers to call them "Happy Potatoes". All I know is that they are really yummy!

1 bag frozen shredded hash browns
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup chopped onion (fine)
2 cups crushed corn flakes
2 Tbs butter melted

Put hash browns into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Combine soup, sourcream, cheese, 1/2 cup melted butter and onions (you may want to saute the onions to make sure they are tender. it depends on how small of a dice you can get). Gently bend into potatoes. Combine crushed corn flakes and the 2 Tbs of melted butter. Sprinkle on top of potatoes. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. makes 12 servings.

Spinach pies

Another arabic bread that my great-aunt makes. I use half a bread dough recipe and use the other half of the dough for sfeeha.

2-10 oz blocks of frozen spinach
1 onion, finely chopped
4-5 Tbs of lemon juice
2 Tbs oil
salt and pepper to taste

Defrost spinach under running water in strainer. Squeeze out excess water with hands. Sprinkle with salt and alow to sit in strainer for 15 minutes.

Mix with all the ingredients.

Pinch off 2 1/2" balls of dough and roll out into 4" squares. Put a heaping tablespon of filling on each circle (kind of in a triangle shape, pointing to one of the corners of the square). Fold up from the bottom of the triangle and bring in the sides to the center. you will have formed a triangle. Press down seams firmly and pinch ends together.

Place on greased cookie sheet. Brush with olive oil. Bake at 400 until golden brown.

Sfeeha (meat pies) & Laban

This is another arabic dish that my family makes. You can use your favorite bread dough (I used my mother-in-law's roll dough) to make these. I usually make one batch of dough and use it to make both sfeeha and spinich pies. The recipe is adjusted to use half a bread dough recipe for each. These are great dipped in laban-a yogurt spread.

1 lb ground beef (or lamb)
1 onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt and pepper and allspice to taste


Brown the pine nuts in a skillet. Set aside.

Saute the onion is butter. Add meat and spices. Saute until tender. Add browned pine nuts and lemon juice. Mix well.

Roll dough into small balls (raquet ball size), flatten into 3 inch circles in greased cookie sheet. Spread meat stuffing evenly on top of circles to within 3/8" from the edge.

Bake at 400 until meat and dough are lightly brown (about 7-8 minutes)


Laban:

Plain yogurt
Cheesecloth

Put your yogurt in the cheesecloth. The yogurt will start to drain off liquid. Allow it to drain over night in the refridgerator. (you will have to figure out a way to hang the cheesecloth over a bowl without touching the liquid) The result is a creamy spread that is yummy on meat pies and pita bread.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Stuffed Grape Leaves


This is a family recipe from my Grandpa, or rather his sister-my great aunt Farida. I just love Arabic food, I guess it's in my blood, and this is one of the recipes that we make a few times a year and it makes me think of grandpa. This year we are doing it for Easter along with some other Arabic dishes.

1 jar grape leaves (found by the pickles in some grocery stores. Safeway carries them)

1 1/2 cups ground meat, raw--traditionally lamb but I use beef
1 c rice (uncooked)
3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cinnimon
2 tbs butter (use if you are using a lean meat)

Mix the above ingredients together well. This is your filling for the grape leaves.

Remove all the grape leaves from jar carefully, unfold, separate, and rinse leaves. Remove stems, place 1 tsp of filling near base of leaf fold in sides and roll up the leaf like a cigar. Should be very tight or it will come unrolled while cooking. Place in a large sauce pan, add 1 (8oz) can of tomato sauce and water to cover the rolled leaves. Sprinkle with salt and bring to a boil. Cook covered on low for 50 minutes, checking to make sure there is still water and they are not buring on the bottom. Check to make sure the rice is cooked in the leaves. Add a couple tablespoons of lemon juice and heat through. Serve warm or they are good cold too.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Strawberry Shortcake

Growing up my mother often resorted to using the recipe on the back of the bisquick box for strawberry shortcake. Josh is a little more adventuresome (and less kitchen tired) though and prefers my mom's own recipe for shortcake. We look forward to when strawberries are on sale and plentiful so we can make this simple dessert.

2 c flour
3 ts baking powder
3/4 ts salt
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 c shortening
1 egg beaten
1/3 c milk

sliced strawberries mixed with sugar to get them to juice

Mix together until you get a ball of dough. Place ball in greased pie pan and squish it down to fill the pan evenly. You do not need to push it to the sides of the pan. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, until deep golden brown and toothpick comes out clean in center. Cool slightly, cut into wedges. To serve place wedge in bowl, slice it in half lengthwise. I like to butter mine then put strawberries (with the juice) in the middle, place the top back on and top with more strawberries and whip cream. Really yummy served when the shortcake is warm.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

There are a lot of variations of this cake out there, here's one that I use (or adapt from). I just love the fresh taste of the lemon glaze.

1 yellow or lemon cake mix
4 eggs
1 c water
2 ts vanilla
1/2 c oil
1 T flour
poppyseeds (couple tablespoons, I eyeball it)

Mix it all together and bake in a greased bundt cake pan at 400 degress for 45 minutes. Allow to cool in pan 10 minutes then transfer to plate. Poke with fork then pour glaze over entire cake.

Glaze:
2 c powdered sugar, sifted
Lemon Juice
milk
Beat these ingredients together until you get a glaze consistency and lemon taste that you like.

M&M Party Cookies

This is another old recipe from my mother. We like to make it with the seasonal M&M's and Elijah loves to help put the M&M's on the cookies.

1 c shortening
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 ts vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 c flour
1 ts baking soda
1 ts salt
1 1/2 c M&M's

Blend together shortening and sugars. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Add dry ingredients. Use cookie scoop to put 1-1 1/2 inch balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place M&M's on top of balls, pressing in lightly (alternatively you could mix the candies into the dough). Bake at 375 until just golden and set, 7-10 minutes, do not over bake. Let cool on cookie sheet then transfer to wire rack.

Basic Sweet Roll Dough

This is one of those recipes that my mother taught me when I was an early teen. This dough works great for cinnimon rolls as well as orange rolls. I mix it all in my bosch and let it do all the work for me.

2 1/2 cup warm/hot water
2 Tbs yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup dry milk solids
2 ts salt
2 eggs beaten
6-7 cups flour

Sprinkle yeast over water, let sit and soften. Add sugar, shortening, milk solids, salt, 4 cups of flour and stir until smooth. Add beaten eggs and 2 cups flour and mix well. Add additional flour until soft dough results. Kneed well, keeping the dough very soft. Let rise until doubled, and roll as desired.

Cinnimon Rolls: roll out the 1/3 off dough in a thin rectangle. I use a butter spread and spread butter all over the rectangle. Sprinkle with a cinnimon/sugar mixture. Roll dough up with cinnimon inside and cut into 1 1/2 inch rings with a thread.

Orange Rolls: Combine 6T butter, 1 cup sugar and grated rind from one orange. Cook on stovetop to spreading consistancy. Roll out dough the same as cinnimon rolls, spread on orange mixture.

Place on greased cookie sheet or muffin pan, let rest in pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes (time could be less).

I use a tub of cream cheese frosting to glaze the rolls while they are still warm.