The first time I had a macaron was in Paris, and I liked them so much I brought a box home to New York. Fast-forward to three years later and you can buy macarons as easily here as you could in Paris! We’re not talking about Passover macaroons here, which are gross when they come in a box, but I recently discovered are good if they’re homemade. These French macarons are popping up everywhere, but they’re expensive little cookies, some costing around $3 each. So I decided to make them myself.
The best part about eating Indian is the colorful variety. I already made a vivid green palak paneer, so I needed a contrasting side dish: This is an easy solution, and the yogurt has a cooling affect against the peppery spinach dish.
My favorite kind of tea is Earl Grey. I probably drink it too much. But don’t worry, I switch between brands so I don’t get sick of it. My favorite? Revolution Earl Grey with Lavender (in a box with a silk bag!). So this “grown up cookie” has been on my list of things to bake for a very long time. Ever notice how that list always gets longer, even during my week off? I need to stop looking at new cookbooks, reading blogs, and watching cooking shows until my entire “to bake/cook” list is checked off. Yeah, sure. Anyway, this is the perfect cookie to bake for a tea/coffee get together with friends, and the perfect end to a meal. Why? Because it’s easy to make. All you need is a food processor and some pantry staples. And some loose earl grey tea (only about a tablespoon). And I have plenty of that in my house (decaf, too!). Continue reading
I like to stock my freezer with different kinds of veggie burgers. Of course, you can buy these pre-made in the grocery store, but homemade things are just more fun! Not to mention better for you, tastier, and cheaper. But enough of that…you know all this already. This veggie burger (I know, we’ve shared many with you since the summer. One more can’t hurt, though) uses quinoa as the protein and has a much softer (read: mushier) texture than the rest. It’s great on a salad with some roasted or fresh veggies or a homemade hamburger bun with chummus. Continue reading
Remember when I made paneer? That was really only so I could make this dinner! A fragrant and spicy spinach dish flavored with garlic, cumin and green chiles. This was a good start for a Syrian cook, spice-wise, since I already have whole cumin in my pantry. So you don’t have to go spice shopping just yet!
I actually couldn’t find green chiles, but poblanos are pretty close, and they sell those at Fairway. Continue reading
I’ve experimented with Indian food before, but when I found an Indian cookbook in the food section of my library, I decided to try again. How to Cook Indian: More Than 500 Classic Recipes for the Modern Kitchen by Sanjeev Kapoor is a great introduction to Indian cooking, and I even renewed it so I could experiment with some more difficult recipes, too. Sorry, neighbors, for smelling up the hallway!
The first and easiest thing I made was paneer, an Indian pressed cheese.
I love Yemenite soup. Lucky for me, I live pretty close to David’s and I can order it in any time. But like any foodie, I had to try to make it myself. The first time I tried, it was a major fail. It was too thin, not meaty enough, and I really just wouldn’t share the recipe. Fast forward a few months, and someone told me that the Taste cookbook had a great recipe, and I knew that I needed to find someone with a copy and look at the recipe. And I did. I changed the recipe just a bit, and prepped all the ingredients. Much to my surprise, the soup was SO easy to make! Except for the spice mix, but that was Zeke’s job.
Way back when this blog was just a baby (and before this baby was around), we shared a recipe for chocolate babka with you. We love this babka recipe. We double it to freeze some. We make it with chocolate, cinnamon, white chocolate, and just eat it up. We impress dinner guests and impress hosts with it. We make it all the time. And we love it all the time. And hope you do to. If you don’t, this is just a friendly reminder that you should. Continue reading
I love baking muffins. I always have to have at least one kind of muffin in the freezer. You know, because they are a great go-to snack, a perfect oops-I-forgot-my-breakfast treat, and an easy addition to a not-big-enough packed lunch. I sometimes even make savory muffins…an extra special treat. My favorite are blueberry muffins, but with blueberries out of season and all, and those bananas hanging on my makeshift banana tree turning browner by the minute, I just knew I would have to make muffins with them (instead of this or this or this). Continue reading
I never realized how much I like split pea soup. And not just because it’s the easiest soup to make. Ever. Seriously. The. Easiest. Soup. Ever. Chopped onions optional. I really don’t even think I need to give you a recipe for this, because once you’ll read it, you’ll probably say, “That’s it?!” But when you make it, you might want to eat this soup a few times a week. Or not, but if you’re like me you’ll like the deliciousness paired with the yumminess, you’ll probably make it pretty often. Or, if you’re not like me and have endless time to cook dinner, you can try this soup anyway. Unless you don’t like soup. But who doesn’t like soup? Continue reading
