Balsamic Marinated Roasted Veggies

I adapted this from a recipe in a Southern Living for marinated, grilled veggies.  Sadly, we don't have a grill (yet), so I tweaked the recipe a little, roasted the veggies and they turned out quite good.  And aren't they pretty?  

Balsamic Marinated Roasted Veggies

lots of chopped fresh veggies- I use whatever's in season here and I try to make it colorful

(carrots, various color peppers, zucchini, onion, eggplant, cauliflower etc)

4 TBSP olive oil

3 TBSP honey

2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

fresh herbs to taste (today I had rosemary in my window planter so I used that- I've also used thyme or basil)

sea salt

Chop veggies.  Combine other ingredients including herbs.  Put veggies in a large ziploc and pour marinate over.  Seal and shake well to combine.  Marinate in frig for at least 4-6 hours.  Roast at 400 degrees until tender. (about 15-20 minutes)  Sprinkle with sea salt and parmesan if you like.

Cranberry Bran Muffins

This is from a bran muffin recipe that's classic.  Been around a while.  But I've gradually changed it around a little to better suit our family and the ingredients we can get over here.  What I love about this recipe is that it makes almost 3 dozen muffins- much more practical for our family considering we can clear 1 dozen as a family in one sitting and the girls will maybe still be hungry!  Yeah, that whole thing about teenage boys eating you out of house and home, applies to girls too!!   Thing 2 that I love is that you make these in advance and keep the batter in the frig for up to a month, making them when it's convenient.  Helps with our crazy morning routine!

Cranberry Bran Muffins

i cup boiling water

1 cup All Bran

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup shortening or oil (I always use oil)

2 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup yogurt, i cup milk- that's what I do...)

2 cups oats

2 1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour (I use either all wheat flour or half white/half wheat depending on the consistency of the wheat flour I've found...)

1 cup craisins (I've been wanting to try chopped dried apricots also- seems like that would by yummy too)

Pour Bran into boiled water, soak, set aside and let cool.  Cream shortening or oil with sugar; add beaten eggs, buttermilk or yogurt and milk along with bran/water mixture.  Add bran flakes, soda, salt, beat well; fold in four.  Stir in craisins.  Keep in refrigerator at least overnight before baking.  It will keep up to a month.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  

Feta Coleslaw

Well, I guess it looks like none of us eat anymore!  We do eat.  And I even cook still.  Some.  It's just been such a crazy few months, I'm lucky to get a decent meal in front of my family- much less blog about it!  

Anyway, trying to get back into the routine!  Here's a recipe that's become a favorite side dish in our house- AND it's healthy.  AND my 13 year old LOVES it.  And finding veggies that she not only loves but asks for regularly- well I consider that an accomplishment!  

When we were in the states a year or so ago, I went to a place called Zoe's Kitchen in Birmingham.  You can find their link here.  Kind of a trendy, Mediterranean style restaurant with lots of yumminess.  More Greek Mediterranean than Lebanese (in my opinion) but still super good.  They have a fantabulous coleslaw with a vinegar based dressing and huge yummy chunks of feta cheese.  I made it my mission to replicate this recipe.  Mine has ended up pretty different than the original mainly due to the different consistency of feta in this part of the world but it's still super yummy and all my kids love it.  

Feta Coleslaw

1 head cabbage shredded

diced green onion

other diced veggies as desired (I usually use red pepper, green pepper, maybe carrots)

crumbled feta (enough... ok lots)

Dressing

vinegar

olive oil

Cavender's greek seasoning

lemon juice

salt

Ok, for the dressing- I have never measured.  I use more vinegar than oil (maybe 3 parts vinegar to 1 part oil?).  Then I squirt in the lemon juice (a few TBSP?).  The seasoning and salt is to taste but I'd say  at least 1-2 tsp of Cavender's if not a little more.  

Combine all slaw ingredients.  Combine dressing and pour over veggies at least a few hours before serving so the flavors can combine.  

Mint Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

The recipe for this cake came about completely by accident, but it was an instant hit!  Maddie came home a month or so ago needing to take a cake to school the next day.  Since it was 6 at night, dinner wasn't made and I did not want a trip to the floor, I scrounged around and realized I had the ingredients for chocolate chip pound cake.  The recipe called for a box of instant chocolate or vanilla pudding.  I didn't have just regular pudding but I had a box of magic color changing pudding that Jason's mom had brought months ago- it had gotten pushed to the back of the cabinet and forgotten but I found it in my hunt for ingredients.  So I figured why not (knowing that a room full of hungry 5th graders were not going to be hard to impress especially if chocolate is involved!).  Anyway, we used the pudding, and WOW- that batter turned the most amazing (and by amazing I mean VERY bright and sort of obnoxious...) shade of green.  Maddie was a little distressed that the cake would seem weird so I scrounged around in my cabinets again and decided that by adding a bit of peppermint extract, the green color would fit right in and voila, mint chocolate chip pound cake!  This time, I stuck with the regular recipe (using the regular box of vanilla pudding) and just used a few drops of green food coloring along with it.  I also went online and found a recipe for peppermint glaze which finished it off very nicely!

Mint Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

1 box yellow cake mix (I have yet to use yellow- the first time all the store had was coconut and this last time, it was white chocolate...)

1/2 cup sugar

1 box instant vanilla pudding

2/3 cup water

3/4 cup oil

4 eggs

8 oz sour cream (for those in the ME- I used labneh which worked great)

6 oz chocolate chips (I chunked up a semi sweet chocolate bar)

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Combine first 6 ingredients.  Mix well.  Stir in sour cream, chocolate and extract.  Bake 350 for 1 hour.  Cool in pan 10 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely.  Top with peppermint glaze

Peppermint Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

hot water

Combine sugar and extract.  Add hot water until desired consistency reached.  

Banana, Peanut Butter and Honey Muffins

Image Credit

These were a wonderful departure from the usual breakfast suspects in our house this morning. I saw this on the Tasty Kitchen Blog last night and knew immediately that it was what I was going to make for breakfast this morning.

1-¼ cup Flour
½ cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
1 whole Ripe Banana, Mashed
⅔ cups Plain Fat Free Yogurt
1 whole Large Egg, Lightly Beaten
¼ cups Water
⅓ cups Creamy Peanut Butter
⅓ cups Honey
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 teaspoons Sugar
¼ teaspoons Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F and line a 12-cup standard muffin pan with baking cups then coat baking cups with cooking spray. Set aside.

Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

Combine banana, yogurt, egg, water, peanut butter, honey and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk to combine. Add this wet mixture into the well that you made in the center of the flour mixture and stir just until combined. The batter will be thick.

Fill each baking cup 3/4 full of batter. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the muffins.

Bake for 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let muffins cool in pan set on a wire rack for 2 minutes before removing them from the pan to serve warm or cool completely. Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Hummus (Lebanese- the ONLY kind...)

I have discovered that after living in Lebanon,  I will never look at hummus the same again.  Those of you living in the good ole' US of A who think you have had yummy hummus, if it did not come from a Lebanese restaurant or from the home of someone who learned to make it in Lebanon, sorry but it could not have been that great!  Yep, I'm a little biased!

I've started making our hummus because I have yet to find it in Jordan that is quite like I like it.  I have a Lebanese cookbook and follow that basic recipe and then tweak it until I get the right flavor and appearance.  So, these measurements are not exact.  You have to figure it out for yourself!

Hummus, Lebanon style

4 cups chick peas, soaked overnight

tahini (sesame paste)

lemon juice

salt

garlic cloves (several, crushed)

olive oil

Cook the chick peas in salted water for several hours until very soft adding water as necessary.  Now, the first time I made hummus, I became very overwhelmed at the amount of chick peas produced and how difficult it was to process them.  A friend told me that one of her Lebanese neighbors separates the chick peas after cooking them into serving size freezer bags and only uses a little at a time.  It worked so much better this way!  Again, I don't know the exact measurements but I divided the cooked chick peas into 4 equal portions, froze 3 of them and prepared the last portion.  Place chick peas (with a little water and a good bit of lemon juice in large bowl).  Process until smooth.  Add crushed garlic (2-3 cloves), salt and tahini to taste and until you get the consistency you desire.  Top with olive oil, serve with pita chips and fresh veggies- YUMMY!

KJ's Chicken Salad

KJ might not even know that she has a chicken salad, but in our house, this is KJ's chicken salad.  She made it for supper when I visited them back in the fall and I LOVED it so much and now make it a good bit.  So yummy and quick and easy!  (and pretty...)

KJ's Chicken Salad

1 rotisserie chicken (or chicken cooked in crock pot- white and dark meat)- torn into pieces

chopped celery

chopped walnuts

craisins

celery salt (amount depends on if you also used celery too)

mayonaise (enough to where it sticks together but not so much that it gets gloopey- is that a word?)

Combine all and serve on a bed of lettuce.

(I had mine with hummus and red peppers- also super yummy!)