can we say Cala-freaking-mari?!

There are some foods I think seem a little intimidating to make at home.

Or perhaps people think of certain foods as 'restaurant' goodies.

Well, I'd like to shed some light on one of the all time great foods we love to order at restaurants, but never really make at home...

the ever so daunting but undeniably delicious,

CALAMARI.

Oh yea baby.

Who doesn't love love love them some calamari?

I know I do.

Isn't it a known fact that anything fried, really, is going to taste incredible?!

Actually, scratch that.

Have you seen some of the foods they fry at the county fairs?

Some of the stuff they dip in breading couldn't even be considered 'food'.

Fried Snickers?

Fried Butter?

Yea, no thanks.

I'll pass.

But fried calamari?

Now that's a food worth frying.

The crunch of the breading,

the texture of the calamari,

what's not to love.

It's a little slice of salty heaven.

And truly, it's quite easy to whip up a batch at home.

Trust.

I wouldn't lie to you.

I'm not a very good liar anyway, so you would know if I was.

Maybe.

:)

There are certain little hands and mouths that absolutely loved the calamari and couldn't get enough of the dipping sauce I made.

I named it Bloody Cilantro Sauce.

I made it with blood oranges.

Get it?

Bloody Cilantro.

Because of the blood oranges...

Clever?

Or Creepy?

Creepy, right?

I'll work on the name.

Anyway, here are some estimated numbers that I came up with.

I really need to start writing things down...

Calamari:

2 calamari steaks, sliced into thin strips

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 tblspn garlic powder

2 tspn onion powder

1 tspn paprika

1 1/2 tspn salt

1 tspn pepper

Mix all the dry ingredients together and dredge the calamari strips.

Heat the vegetable oil to 360 and fry calamari until crispy, about 1-3 minutes.

Take out of oil and place on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.

Immediately sprinkle with salt.

Wanna make my Bloody Sauce? ;)

Ok, let's change the name tooooooo.......

Peachy Cilantro Sauce.

Better, no?

It's tres delicious, so I highly recommend you get on this sauce.

You can use it for many different things too, so it's worth it!

I poured it over fish and baked it in the oven and it was so yummy.

Like SUPER yummy.

Here's the lowdown on the sauce...

Peachy Cilantro Sauce:

2 Blood oranges, juiced

2 garlic cloves

1 bunch cilantro

2 tablespoons honey

2 heaping tablespoons peach preserves

1 jalapeno, (you can seed it if you don't want your sauce too spicy)

A few glugs of olive oil, I'd say like 1/4 cup

salt and pepper

Throw everything in the food processor and blend.

If it's too thick, taste it and see if it needs anything.

Sometimes I'll even add some water to thin out my sauces so I don't overdo the flavors if I think they are right on and don't need anything more.

You can add more honey or peach preserves if you like a sweeter sauce.

I'm telling you, this sauce is some serious eats!

Tons of flavor and so versatile!

Try it.

Taste it.

Love it.

a little something different

I am a Lebanese girl living in America, trying to keep Lebanese traditions that I grew up with in my mom's house, alive in my own house for my kids.

One huge and easy way for me to do this is through cooking.

A staple in any Lebanese household is a spice mixture called za'atar.

It is usually a mix of thyme, oregano, sumac, sesame seeds and a few other ingredients that vary from household to household. It can even include fennel, cumin and coriander, depending on where you're from. The Lebanese versions normally contain sumac.

You mix this dry medley with extra virgin olive oil and it turns into a spread that you put on arabic bread or any dough base and bake it as bread. This is generally called manaeesh or manoosh.

Growing up, this was always a breakfast food staple in my house. Waking up to the deliciously unmistakable smell of za'atar in the oven with a gorgeous spread of all the accouterments was divine. My mom would have all chopped and ready some tomatoes and cucumbers and a bowl of olives to top our manaeesh with. It has now become a staple in my house for my own family. My kids have been eating this since they got their first teeth and my husband has been enjoying it since we first got together.

I don't have a recipe on how to make the mixture. In fact, I have never seen my mom make it and I'm pretty sure she never has. We buy it in bags from the Arabic market. We are also lucky enough to have family that go to Lebanon every summer and buy us fresh, vacuum sealed bags of it from the locals over there that make their own.

It's incredible. Each bag always tastes a little different. There's nothing like it.

There is sure to be an Arabic market in your area, or at the very least, an international market. Look for one and you will most likely find Za'atar there.

Pick up some extra virgin olive oil to mix into it and believe me, you will not be disappointed!

Top it with fresh tomatoes, persian cucumbers, olives and I like mine with fresh mint, too!

It's pure heaven.

Really.

No joke.

Just be prepared for lots of it to get stuck all up in your teeth with every bite!

It is sooo worth it though!

So try a little something exotic and different for breakfast, lunch or dinner this week. Get some za'atar and spread it on your favorite bread and get your teeth all tangled up in the easiest, tastiest and most delicious condiment from Lebanon!

Psst ...

Here's a little secret.

No matter what your cooking, the key to making good food is freshness!

My favorite place to look for fresh fruits and vegetables is at the local farmers markets.

They have lots of great finds that you may have never even knew existed... like purple beans and 8 ball squash!
Check out your local farmers markets and try something new for dinner tonight!

Grilled Veggie Lasagne

There is a farmers market that I just love around here and I have been going every Sunday.

There are great vendors with amazing produce that I just can't resist.

So after coming home with more veggies than I knew what to do with, I decided to put them together into a lasagna.

Now, I'm not the biggest lasagna fan, but I thought I'd give it a try and see how it turned out.

Well, needless to say since I'm writing about it, it was some seriously good eats.

I grilled my zucchini, asparagus and eggplant on my indoor All-Clad grill pan with olive oil, salt and pepper to a crispy, tasty perfection.
I had made some marinara sauce with a ton of fresh tomatoes from my dad's garden. I am so lucky my dad has a green thumb because every summer we get so much freshness coming out of his garden it's almost not fair! I love love love his tomatoes. They are simply divine.

So I ground up tomatoes in the food processor and added them to the onions and garlic and oregano I sauteed in my saucepan and let it simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour and the result was an absolutely delectable marinara sauce. So fresh tasting, it was so good!
Then, I have a little trick I like to use in most of my vegetarian dishes. I take cremini mushrooms and grind them in the food processor to a coarse chop and saute with garlic and onions and a touch of allspice. This gives my dish a meaty texture without the meat and adds another layer of flavor besides just the veggies. It's so good, you should try it.
I also added some sun dried tomatoes between each layer for some texture and sweetness. I love sun dried tomatoes. It's no joke, they are one of my favorite things.

I used the 'no boil' pasta noodles which always turn out perfect. You just have to make sure you have enough sauce so that they can cook all the way through.

This recipe is one that I don't really think you need too many measurements for. You can use any veggies you like in this. Anything goes, really. It's a great, versatile dish that is super easy and you can make it ahead and just bake it off when you're ready to eat.

I promise, cooking isn't that hard. You just need a little time and inspiration to make a healthy and delicious meal for you and your family.

Okay, here goes my attempt at some measurements for you.

For the marinara sauce:

If using fresh tomatoes, I used about 7-10.

If using canned tomatoes (which is what I normally use),

1 can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1 medium onion, chopped

4-5 cloves garlic, diced (I love garlic, so you can use less if you like)

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 handful fresh chopped basil leaves, added at the end

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

Saute the onions with some salt in olive oil until translucent, about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Add the garlic and oregano and saute another 3-4 minutes. Add the cans of tomatoes and then fill the can of tomato sauce up halfway with water to get the excess sauce out and add to the saucepot. Add some more salt and pepper and simmer for as long as you have. I do about an hour. Then I take a hand emersion blender and blend all the ingredients together to make a smooth sauce. You don't have to do this step, but I prefer smooth sauces as opposed to chunky.

Taste it along the way so you make sure the seasoning is on.

For the veggies:

2-3 medium zucchini

2-3 medium japanese eggplant

1 bunch asparagus

Grill your veggies indoors or out. If you want to make it even easier, you can roast them on a baking sheet on some non stick foil in the oven on super high (like 450-500) with salt, pepper and olive oil until a little charred, about 10-15 minutes.

For the mushrooms:

1 pound cremini mushrooms, chopped

2-3 tblspn olive oil

1/2 tspn allspice

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper

Saute all the ingredients in olive oil on medium heat until most of the moisture evaporates out of the mushrooms.

Get your sun dried tomatoes chopped and ready.

Make an assembly line with all your prepared ingredients and start putting the lasagna together.

I start with some sauce on the bottom of my baking dish so the noodles don't stick and then lay down four pieces of the noodles.

I put 1/2 of the mushroom mixture, 1/2 sun dried tomatoes, all the zucchini and 1/2 of the asparagus. I ladle on marinara sauce on top of it all (like 2-3 good ladles) and add a sprinkling of mozzarella and parmesan cheese on the first layer.

Next layer, four more noodles, the rest of the mushroom mixture, the rest of the sun dried tomatoes, all the eggplant, and the rest of the asparagus. Add more sauce and a sprinkling of mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Cover it all up with four more noodles and the rest of the marinara sauce. Top off with more mozzarelly and parmy and you're ready for the oven.

Bake covered with foil for about 20-25 minutes on 400, then uncover for another 5 minutes and stick it under the broiler so the cheese can get all ooey gooey and delicious.

Enjoy!

Sidenote: If anyone tries this and follows my directions, please leave a comment and let me know how amazingly right on (or off) my measurements are.

easy as pasta

One of my husband's most favorite dishes that I make is this

Roasted Butternut Squash and Pesto Lasagna.

I layer the lasagna with delicious homemade basil pesto and roasted pureed butternut squash with sprinklings of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses throughout.

Sometimes I will put sausage in it too if I'm feeling extra nice to the hubs (because I'm not a meat eater).

So anyway, the other day I was getting ready to make the lasagna, as I had all the ingredients ready for it, but then I decided I wanted to try something different.

I wanted to use all the same flavor elements of the lasagna, but make it less labor intensive for moi.

I came up with this...

butternut squash pesto pasta with sun dried tomatoes

can we say delish?

I already had the pesto in the freezer waiting for me to dress it up with my love.

I just roasted the butternut squash, chopped up a few sun dried tomatoes, boiled the pasta and...

voila!

A delicious and healthy lunch or dinner (or breakfast even, if that's how you roll).

Here are the deets on how to get it done.

**But first, a disclaimer**

I am a home cook and a mom, so that leaves very little time for me to write down specific measurements while my mind is busy creating these masterpieces

(besides, you can't stifle the ar-teest with rigid measurements, can you?).

So, please take all measurements with a grain of salt

(hahaha I'm so clever)

and have fun with the recipes.

Ok, upward and onward then.

What you need for the pesto:

(or you can buy your fave kind from the store to make it even easier for you)

2 cups basil leaves

1/2 cup almonds, roasted (or use your favorite nut)

2-3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

pinch of salt and pepper

Puree the garlic and almonds in the food processor. Then add in the basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and blend. While the food processor is running, drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto has a slightly runny consistency but still remains fairly thick (how's that for a measurement?!)

TIP~you can freeze whatever pesto is leftover. Just put in an airtight container and drizzle a little olive oil on top to prevent the basil from browning. Easy Peasy.

The rest of the ingredients:

1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced.

About 10 sun dried tomatoes, sliced or diced

1 pound pasta of your choice

Put the diced squash on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast on high in the oven at 450 for about 20-30 minutes, until the squash is cooked through and you see some caramelization happening around the edges.

To finish her off, boil up a pound of pasta ( I used whole wheat shells ) and toss in the pesto until the pasta is coated. You may add more olive oil if it seems too dry. Or if you're in a very naughty mood, you could even add some heavy cream to the pasta and pesto for a creamier version.

Add in the squash and sun dried tomatoes and toss altogether.

Grate some fresh cheese on top if your heart desires and that's it!

(I find the sharper cheeses like Asiago, Pecorino Romano, or Parmesano Reggiano taste best on this!)

Healthy food makes a happy girl!

And tasty food makes a happy home!

This one here is a little of both.

Enjoy!

Welcome to my world, where food is the star and I am just a gal trying to make it fun and delicious for us all.