Cheese

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

categories: Beef, Posts, Recipes

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs_2

I love those mornings when I wake up to a text from my brother containing a photo and the words “make this.” Which is exactly what happened a couple days ago. We live in the same house, about two doors apart and yet I haven’t seen him in days – probably because we’re each on a different schedule. But not seeing me regularly doesn’t mean he’s forgotten that I can cook up some good dishes. Enter the random text Monday night at 11:07pm. Where do you suppose he found this photo? From the Food Porn Twitter account, where else? And of course, he expects me to drop everything and have it ready to eat at a moment’s notice.

I let him drool for a couple days before I got to experimenting and then promptly surprising him on a random Wednesday afternoon. (more…)

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French Onion Soup

categories: Posts, Recipes, Soups

French Onion Soup

It’s cold. Actually, it’s beyond cold. We were hit with snow early this week and it was terrible. Fairfax County schools, DC schools and the Federal Government all failed to call – at a minimum – a two-hour delay causing mass chaos during the morning commute.

Since Tuesday’s snowfall, the snow hasn’t melted. We’ve been seeing temperatures no warmer than 30 F with mornings at 8 F and afternoons hovering around 25 F. I’ve probably said this at least 10 times on the blog, but I am not a fan of cold weather. If it were up to me, I would hibernate all winter and come back to life when it’s no colder than 60 F, sometime around late March. The layers: sweaters, coats, socks, leggings, gloves, hats, ear muffs; it’s all too much for me. And to top it all off, the days are cut short when the sun sets at 5pm. (more…)

Samboosa [Meat and Cheese Filled Pastries]

categories: Appetizers, Posts, Recipes

Samboosa

Ramadan Kareem!

Yesterday marked the first day of the holy month of Ramadan – where billions of people around the world refrain from food and drink from sunrise until sunset for 29-30 days based on the lunar calendar. It is a time to reflect on your life, reconnect with god and be thankful for everything you have, most notably a kitchen full of food (which those less fortunate do not have the luxury of having). (more…)

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Croissant Breakfast Casserole

categories: Breakfast, Posts, Recipes

Breakfast Casserole

It’s graduation day! Our youngest brother, Tarik, is leaving high school behind to start his journey in college.

It’s a big day for us all. It always seems like the youngest takes forever to catch up to the rest of us who have already found our career paths, or are finishing up college in that first step towards adulthood and responsibility. So when the youngest of the pack is growing up and reaching a major benchmark, that’s a pretty big deal. (more…)

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Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

categories: Chicken, Posts, Recipes

Broccoli-and-Cheese-Stuffed-Chicken

Last week I overdid it on red meat. I had lamb chops, a burger, kubbeh, and steak (and probably more that I can’t really remember). I’m pretty sure I had red meat at least once everyday for the entire week.

Generally, for health and preventing high cholesterol reasons, I limit my red meat intake to twice a week – three times max. But last week was a little out of the ordinary meal-wise. While I’m all about free lunches at work, it’s hard to keep track of what I’m eating when I’m hovering outside of a conference room waiting for leftovers and will honestly be willing to awkwardly stand outside the door of a concluding meeting for leftover Roti –it’s that good. I’m thinking I might have had red meat for lunch and dinner on some days. (more…)

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Party Loaf and a Taste of Switzerland

categories: 500 Calories or Less, Breads, Posts, Recipes

 

Party Loaf_3

 

Party Loaf

In December 2010, my mom and I took a mother-daughter vacation in Europe. We took advantage of Christmas break to tour four European countries in the span of two weeks.

We started our adventure in Italy, starting in historic Rome and made our way to Venice and Florence, where we splurged on Italian leather, gelato and espresso. Then we spent some time in Switzerland, mainly Lugano, and Lucerne where we spent Christmas Eve and reveled in Swiss breads, cheese and chocolates. We made our way through the snowy Swiss Alps to Paris, where we spent magical nights at the Eiffel Tower and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. From Paris, we took the Eurostar to London. We extended our stay to spend New Year’s Eve in Westminster to watch the fireworks on the Thames with the backdrop of the London Eye. It was one of the best vacations I’ve taken. Aside from the historic wonders of each location, we were given the opportunity to try specialty foods in each of the four countries. (more…)

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