Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Number one pantry must have - Red Lentils, the hottest trendy food at the moment, often appear on the cover of the earthy hip magazines. It's commonly seen in Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Indian restaurants. This traditional Turkish dish was completely alien to me, my first introduction came when we were living in Thailand many years ago, I became an instant fan.

Tuscan Chickpea Frittata

Your dreams should be unattainable or you're wasting time on dreaming; time perhaps better spent washing dishes. I dream of living in Italy one day, f'real. I watch every movie filmed in Italy, married an Italian (okay part Italian), and cook a lot of Italian dishes in the kitchen. Everyday I'm getting a little closer to my dream.

Today we're making a Tuscan delight called "Chickpea Frittata aka Cinque e Cinque".

Roasted Balsamic Eggplant & Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad

Introducing one of my must-haves in the pantry - "Quinoa", the hipster's hippie food, this health building grain was once called "the gold of the Incas."

Marcato Atlas 150

I pretty much quit making spaghetti because it's too easy (yawn), I don't feel challenged at all. It's like Ramen Noodles meet sorority girls, one of those Bachelorette/Bachelor foods.

Jamaican Baked Fries and Roasted Sage Sweet Potato

Today, I'm practicing simplicity. 

I can't recall when was the last time I drove thru for fast food. It hurts my brain to think of deep fry oils they use in restaurants, what goes in it and how many times it's been reused, the high calories and trans fat, gross. Of course there's a smarter and healthier way to make fries, um.. make your own.

Veggie Risotto

Risotto is a regular guest in our house. It is one of those magical one pot all the way to the end kind of meals. I'm giving it my highest rating as “Champion of Bachelorette/Bachelor Foods”. The name sounds gorgeous already, it has a wide range of dramatic personas, it can appear subtle and sophisticated, or stunning and splendorously over the top.

Homemade Ravioli

Here comes Trouble! Bring it yo! I do whatever I can to make things from scratch. "What a control freak", are you thinking out loud?

Couscous Cranberry Salad

I needed to make something quick and light right before my yoga class, which by the way has become one of the best experiences I have had in years. There was some asparagus in the fridge and dried cranberries that I stored for making muffins. Fantastic! They are the perfect match for light and fluffy couscous. Exactly what I was looking for.

Tuscan Tomato & Homemade Crouton Salad

Unlike me, my husband is a major tomato fan, there's just something about tomatoes, I have a hard time liking them. However, I knew saying no to $0.77 a box ripe cherry tomatoes, would not be very wise. We had half of a baguette that had been sitting on the counter for two days, and we do not waste food, I'm not sharing the baguette with the birds either. The fastest way to get rid of it is to make a quick batch of homemade croutons.

It's is so easy and delish you will absolutely fall in love with it; and probably won't be buying packaged croutons anymore. Promise.

Spinach Sausage Frittata

Today I just wanted to use my new 10 inch cast iron pan to make something so I picked frittata.

From Scratch

In our house we strive to eliminate canned products and processed foods whenever possible. It's much easier than you think, it's called starting from scratch. You see every ingredient in front of you, nothing is hidden, don't you feel safer that way after all you are going to be putting this stuff in your stomach and the stomachs of those you love? Not to even mention it's more economical, no preservatives, no chemical color pigments, no artificial fragrance, and no HFC. Do you even want to know how long those cans have been sitting on the shelves? One of the best ways to taste the freshest (short of buying fresh and in season) is to buy in bulk (organic where possible) and do it yourself.

I guess I'm a bit hung up on the "you are what you eat" principle.

Lebanese Spinach Rice

I absolutely love and will try any exotic food, but when it comes to Basamati rice, I'm just not into it, you can't even pay me to eat it. (shrug) It has a distinctive perfume fragrance, no texture, way too fluffy and not filling at all, to make matters worse it doesn't have much nutritional value either.

Until one day recently we were having friends over for dinner, one of them only goes for Basmati rice.... ahhh....can it more tricky? I had to come up with something for our guest. Thank Google! It lead me to find this gorgeous recipe and completely made over my old enemy, Basmati rice. This dish originates from Lebanon, and according to Google, this is a traditional common dish that every Lebanese woman knows how to make it.

Homemade Pure Vanilla Extract

 

I'm way behind to post this holiday homemade gift. Wha-what? The optimists would say I'm way AHEAD of my game for 2012 holiday gift ideas. Achiever. :)

Ingredients: Bourbon vanilla beans, unflavored vodka. That's it.

Roasted Asparagus with Almonds

  

No need to scream in order to wake up the spring; simply grab some fresh asparagus and the spring will self invite to your house. We are having an asparagus bonanza here lately (seen as low as $.95/pound) and they just look too gorgeous to resist.