I adore Mediterranean food and cooking, and Kemal, who’s from the Mediterranean, naturally loves it as well.  We don’t follow any particular diet in that we eat whatever we want; however, our eating patterns and lifestyle basically follows the Mediterranean diet pyramid.

Most of our meals are centered around vegetables, beans, bread, fruits, and whole grains. ... [read more]]]> I adore Mediterranean food and cooking, and Kemal, who’s from the Mediterranean, naturally loves it as well.  We don’t follow any particular diet in that we eat whatever we want; however, our eating patterns and lifestyle basically follows the Mediterranean diet pyramid.

Most of our meals are centered around vegetables, beans, bread, fruits, and whole grains. Legumes, nuts, spices, and olive oil, as dairy products centering around cheese, yogurt, and eggs, are also an integral part of our meals.

Fish and meat make up the smallest part of our diet, and that suits us fine because we both prefer more plant-based foods versus animal-based.

Neither one of us can get enough veggies. We both constantly crave them and enjoy preparing (and of course eating!) meals centered around vegetables.

One such meal is a Greek dish called dolmades which are grape leaves stuffed with rice, veggies, fruit, and nuts. The dolmades I made were were stuffed with arborio rice, fresh mint, fresh parsley, raisins, sunflower seeds, onions, and spices.

Dolmades are extremely easy to make, but they do take just a bit of time to stuff and roll all the grape leaves. Then after they’re rolled and stuffed, they’re simmered in a pan with either vegetable or chicken broth for about 45 minutes. Then they’re chilled and eaten cold.

They’re great both plain or dipped in tzatziki sauce. I also enjoy eating them served on top of a Greek salad. They’re excellent that way!

If you’ve never tried them before, I highly encourage you to make them sometime and see for yourself just how wonderful they are. They can be eaten as an appetizer or for the main course.

There are many recipes out there on the web, but I found mine in a cookbook I have here at home called “Tastes of the Mediterranean“; the recipe for Dolmades is on page 37.

Making a Greek salad is also very easy. Just toss together some spring mix, sliced cherry tomatoes, sliced green olives, crumbled feta cheese, crumbled goat cheese, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and some salted sunflowers. I also sometimes toss in some raisins, diced green onions, and fresh mint.

My mom found a recipe online for a Greek salad dressing that’s out-of-this-world delicious. It’s so easy to make, and to learn how to make it, just go to allrecipes.com (recipe submitted by Danielle M.

Instead of using Dijon mustard which is called for in the Greek salad dressing, I just used my mortar and pestle to grind up some mustard seeds to make mustard powder. Worked great!

Anyway, after you make the salad and drizzle on the dressing, just place some dolmades on top of the salad, and there ya go!

Couldn’t be easier!

Since I have a hard time digesting mushrooms, he also made some stuffed peppers and zucchinis with the same filling ... [read more]]]>

Since I have a hard time digesting mushrooms, he also made some stuffed peppers and zucchinis with the same filling and sauce. They all turned out incredibly delicious. I had one mushroom (one small mushroom won’t hurt my stomach), and I thought they were even better than the ones we had at Buca di Beppo.

Here’s what the veggies looked like before we covered them with the creamy pesto sauce:

They’re good plain, but the sauce not only dresses ‘em up, but it also adds a whole lot of flavor.

The prosciutto is great in these stuffed veggies, but I’ll bet they’d be just as good using some cooked, crumbled turkey bacon in them.

Speaking of bacon, what do you think about turkey and beef bacon compared to pork bacon? We both love turkey bacon and find it to be every bit as good as pork bacon. We’ve only tried beef bacon once. The meat department at Whole Foods had some so we tried it, and it seemed really dry and not nearly as flavorful as turkey and pork bacon. What kind of bacon do you buy?

Prosciutto and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms, Peppers, and Zucchini with a Creamy Pesto Sauce

Inspired by: Buca di Beppo’s Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients for the Stuffed Vegetables:

• 3 small zucchinis
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 6 baby portabello mushrooms
• 6 slices Prosciutto, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup Panko breading
• 2 green onions, finely sliced
• 1 egg, beaten
• handful of Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Veggie Chips
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup goat cheese
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• parsley to taste

Ingredients for the Creamy Pesto Sauce:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 8 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• prepared pesto to taste
• 2% milk
• salt to taste

Instructions for Making the Prosciutto Stuffed Vegetables with a Creamy Pesto Sauce

Step One:  Prep all the Veggies

• Wash all the vegetables.
• Cut the zucchinis lengthwise in half, and then core out some of the inside of the zucchini slices so you have a place to put your stuffing.
• Finely chop the cored part of the zucchini, and then place it in a medium sized bowl because you’re going to use that in your filling.
• Cut the peppers in half, and remove the stem and seeds.
• Remove the stems from the mushrooms.
• Finely slice the green onions, and then place them in the bowl with cored out part of the zucchini.

Step Two:  Make the Filling

• Grate the Parmesan cheese; set aside.
• Beat an egg in a small bowl, and then add the egg to the bowl with the cored out part of the zucchini.
• Crush the veggie chips, and then add them and Panko bread crumbs to the bowl with the egg, green onions, etc.
• Finely chop the prosciutto and then add it to the bowl with the other ingredients.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, goat cheese, and feta cheese over low to medium heat, stirring frequently.
• After the butter/cheese mixture becomes creamy, add the stuffing mixture (bread crumbs, egg, prosciutto, etc) which is in the bowl to the butter/cheese mixture.
• Add olive oil until you get the desired consistency (so it can be easily shaped and/or molded).
• Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Mix well.

Step Three:  Stuff the Veggies

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Grease a baking pan with olive oil.
• Stuff the vegetables with the filling and place them in the pan.
• Brush a little olive oil on the top of all the stuffed vegetables, and then sprinkle everything with a little black pepper and parsley.

Step Four:  Bake the Stuffed Veggies and Make the Creamy Pesto Sauce

• Bake uncovered until the stuffing is golden brown.
• While the stuffed veggies are baking, make the creamy pesto sauce.
• In a large frying pan, heat about 1/2 cup of canola oil on medium high heat.
• When the oil gets hot, stir in the flour with a wooden spoon.
• Stir constantly until the flour has blended nicely with oil and there are no lumps.
• Slowly add about 1 cup of milk  and some prepared pesto to the flour/oil mixture. (How much you use depends on how strong of a pesto flavor you want.)
• Stir constantly on a very low heat to combine all the ingredients.
• Continue adding more milk until you get the sauce the consistency you want. I made mine the consistency of a thin gravy.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Keep stirring until the sauce has thickened to your liking, and then remove it from the heat.
• After the stuffed veggies have turned golden brown, remove them from the oven and transfer to a serving dish.
• Cover the them with the creamy pesto sauce, and enjoy!
• Optional: Sprinkle a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

About a month ago, we went to a lovely pizza place, Coal’s Artisan Pizza, here in Louisville and enjoyed a wonderful dinner! Their appetizers and pizzas are fantastic, the beer selection is great, and we can’t wait to go back!

Their pizza dough which is baked in a 1,000 degree coal-fired oven, is perfect! And their ... [read more]]]> About a month ago, we went to a lovely pizza place, Coal’s Artisan Pizza, here in Louisville and enjoyed a wonderful dinner! Their appetizers and pizzas are fantastic, the beer selection is great, and we can’t wait to go back!

Their pizza dough which is baked in a 1,000 degree coal-fired oven, is perfect! And their most interesting pizza, in my opinion, was made with prosciutto, fig jam, a balsamic vinegar reduction, mozzarella cheese and Gorgonzola cheese. While Kemal and I highly recommend their pizza and will be their loyal customers, we wanted to create our own prosciutto fig jam pizza at home…one with a different spin. Why?

Well, first of all, Kemal and I both prefer our pizzas made with goat and/or sheep cheese because he’s lactose intolerant and I’m allergic to casein which is the protein found in cow cheese. We do eat pizzas cow cheese, but we always pay the price after doing so. No fun! So we decided to try their prosciutto fig jam pizza with cheeses that wouldn’t upset our tummies, although we did thrown on a little bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It was such a small amount though that it didn’t bother us.

The other reason we wanted to make this at home was because we love hot and spicy foods, and Kemal wanted to see how this pizza would taste with a hot chipotle garlic taco sauce mixed with the fig jam.

And finally, the third reason is because we wanted some veggies on the pizza. We chose green onions and sliced Kumatos…a very sweet type of tomato which is brownish-green in color.

Anyway, we made two pizzas because we wanted one leftover for the next day, and oh my gosh…you wouldn’t believe how incredibly delicious the pizzas were!!

The fig jam and taco sauce combination was perfect! The sweet combined with the hot and spicy was perfect, and we’ll definitely be making this pizza again!!

We made our own crust, but certainly if you’re in a hurry, you can just add the toppings to a pre-made crust. Give a try sometime and see what you think. I’ll bet you’ll love it!

Before I give you the recipe, I just wanted to thank Katie at What Katie’s Baking for nominating me for the Stylish Blogger Award. I always look forward to reading Katie’s blog because she features such great recipes and content. Actually, both times she’s nominated me for awards, I’ve wanted to nominate her blog. Can you nominate person who nominated you? I’m not sure, but she certainly deserves the awards.

Anyway, I’m honored to accept the stylish blogger award, and in doing so, I need to tell you seven things about myself. Here we go.

Seven things about myself:

1. I don’t believe I’ve ever cooked with sweetened condensed milk. (Or at least if I have, I don’t remember doing so.) I don’t have anything against sweetened condensed milk so that’s weird that I haven’t cooked with it, right?
2. I guess I’m old-fashioned in some ways because I’m not into text messaging. I’d much rather talk with someone over the phone or shoot them an e-mail.
3. I love hanging out at the swimming pool in the summer. It’s like my favorite thing!
4. I’ve never been to a tanning bed before. I’d much rather get my tan at the pool.
5. I really enjoy mowing the grass…but only with a push mower. I don’t like riding lawn mowers. Something about pushin’ that mower is fun for me, and since I live in an apartment, I don’t get to mow grass anymore. *wah*
6. I love carrots, and I once at so many of them for months at a time that my skin turned orange.
7. I don’t pluck my eyebrows.

I’m passing the Stylish Blogger Award on to:

1. Megan @ When Harry Met Salad
2. Carol @ There’s Always Thyme to Cook
3. Heather @ The Culinary Chase
4. Katie @ Chocolate-Covered Katie
5. Melita @ Cafe Chocolada

I hope you’ll check out their blogs and see what great content they have consistently.

Anyway, thanks so much again, Katie! I really appreciate it!!

Prosciutto and Fig Jam Pizza

Adapted from: Coal’s Artisan Pizza

I love all kinds of salads, especially when the weather warms up. I find them refreshing, love the pretty colors, and most importantly, love how delicious they are.

I also like how easy they are to make and that I don’t have to measure anything or follow a recipe. I like not knowing exactly what’s gonna ... [read more]]]> I love all kinds of salads, especially when the weather warms up. I find them refreshing, love the pretty colors, and most importantly, love how delicious they are.

I also like how easy they are to make and that I don’t have to measure anything or follow a recipe. I like not knowing exactly what’s gonna be in my salad and surprising myself when it’s all said and done.

I can just get in the kitchen, start chopping and dicing, as well as throw in a little of this and a little of that to see what I end up with. It’s fun! Are you the same way when it comes to making salads?

Anyway, here a couple of the salads I made recently. Both are quite tasty, and you can enjoy them either as a meal or they can be made to accompany a main dish.

Pasta Salad with Mango Cucumber Dressing

Instructions:

• pasta (I used tri-color fusilli)
• water
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• cherry tomatoes
• 1 green onion
• feta cheese
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Greek seasoning
• mango cucumber dressing (I just used some of the cold mango cucumber soup that I had leftover. Click here for the recipe.)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: Add some diced cucumber and mango to the salad. I wanted to, but I didn’t have any cucumbers or mangoes in the fridge.)

Instructions:

• On high heat, boil about 3 quarts of water in a large pot.
• When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium high, and then add the pasta, 1 tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. olive oil, stirring occasionally.
• Cook the pasta until it’s tender but firm.
• Drain the water off the pasta.
• Run cold water on the pasta to chill it down, and then let the water drain off it.
• Wash the green onion and cherry tomatoes, then dice them up.
• Grate the Parmesan cheese.
• Toss together the chilled pasta, diced tomatoes and onions, Parmesan cheese, and some crumbled feta cheese.
• Stir in some mango cucumber dressing so it coats all the noodles.
• Sprinkle with Greek seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Toss, cover, and chill until ready to serve.
• Optional: Add a little more freshly grated Parmesan cheese when you’re ready to serve it.

Broccoli Salad

Inspired by: a post I saw somewhere on the web. It was a broccoli salad with cabbage, and I can’t remember what else was in it. I’ve looked and looked but can’t find it so I can link to it.

Ingredients:

• broccoli
• baby carrots
• cherry tomatoes
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Wash the broccoli, and then cut it up into very tiny pieces.
• Wash and dice the tomatoes.
• Chop the carrots into small pieces.
• Mix all the vegetables together, and then drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice (however much you like).
• Stir, and then add salt and pepper to taste.

If you’re like me, you oftentimes decide what to have for dinner based on whatever leftovers you have in your fridge.That’s what I did last night.

I happened to have a little sour cream, yogurt, and feta cheese that needed to be used up, as well as some roasted garlic, one zucchini, one orange bell pepper, ... [read more]]]> If you’re like me, you oftentimes decide what to have for dinner based on whatever leftovers you have in your fridge.That’s what I did last night.

I happened to have a little sour cream, yogurt, and feta cheese that needed to be used up, as well as some roasted garlic, one zucchini, one orange bell pepper, and some baby spinach leaves. So I made a baked pasta casserole and used everything up. Perfect!

The casserole turned out great, and it was very easy to make. Here’s a picture of the front:

And here’s a picture of the back side.

It does make quite a bit though…about 8 large pieces…and that’s good for us because we’ll have leftovers waiting for us when we get home from work. Cool!

One thing to keep in mind if you make this is that I thought the casserole was a little bland. So did Kemal. I didn’t add a lot of salt and Greek seasoning because the feta cheese and Parmesan cheese are both salty. Turns out I could have added a bit more. So keep that in mind if you make it.

But we just added more Greek seasoning and pepper to our slices after warming them up, so it turned out fine.

Baked Orzo Casserole with Spinach, Cheese, and Veggies

Recipe Adapted from: Jil @ Big City, Lil’ Kitchen who got this recipe from her mom. Her mom  got the recipe from a friend who adapted it from the recipe she saw in The Boston Globe. The recipe in the Boston Globe was adapted from a 1967 edition of The Joy of Cooking.

I had absolutely no appetite when I came home from work, but when Kemal was cooking our peppers and onions, it smell so wonderful that my appetite came back!

The combination of vegetables, cheeses, and seasonings is just perfect and makes a ... [read more]]]>

I had absolutely no appetite when I came home from work, but when Kemal was cooking our peppers and onions, it smell so wonderful that my appetite came back!

The combination of vegetables, cheeses, and seasonings is just perfect and makes a wonderful accompaniment to most any meal. And it takes only minutes to make!

Fried Peppers and Onions with Feta and Parmesan

Ingredients:

• 3 red bell peppers
• 2 medium onions
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 5 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
• Parmesan cheese (for sprinkling on the top)
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. black pepper

Instructions:

• Grate the Parmesan cheese and then refrigerate it until needed.
• Wash the peppers, and then cut them into strips.
• Peel the onions then chop it into big chunks.
• Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, and then put the peppers in the hot oil.
• After the peppers have fried for 5 minutes, add the onions and fry for another 5 minutes.
• Stir in the crumbled feta cheese and seasonings.
• Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with freshly sliced Parmesan cheese.

It’s a high-protein meal that’ll give you a lot of energy, but best of all, it’s incredibly delicious! Give it a try one day and see for yourself.

Egg and Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

They make adorable appetizers as well.

Whether you eat before your meal or as the main course, you and your guests will love them!

The pastry is buttery ... [read more]]]> These tarts combine all our favorite ingredients (tomatoes, spinach, olives, feta cheese, and goat cheese) into a scrumptious meal.

They make adorable appetizers as well.

Whether you eat before your meal or as the main course, you and your guests will love them!

The pastry is buttery and flaky while the filling is divine!

They’re not hard to make either, and that’s always a plus.

Before I give you the recipe though, I want to tell you that the recipe for the pastry dough that I used called for all the dough to split up into 6 tartlets. I found, however, that I had a lot of dough left over, and so as not to waste it, I just rolled out the excess and used it in large tart pan. I didn’t have quite enough dough to cover all the edges of the pan so my large tart isn’t uniform around the edges. It looks rustic-looking. Here’s a picture so you can see what I’m talking about.

It doesn’t bother me that the edges aren’t perfect. I’d rather have an imperfect pastry than throw away that beautiful dough. Wouldn’t you? Next time I’ll just add a little bit more flour and water so I’ll have enough dough to fully cover the entire pan.

Huge thanks to our dear friends, Vanja and Vesna,

for giving me these tart pans, as well as many other wonderful gifts, for my birthday.

Mediterranean Veggie Tarts

Recipe for the pastry adapted from: The Book of Mediterranean Cooking by Lesley Mackley, page 92-93

Needed Equipment: 6 tartlet pans, 1 fluted French tart pan with a removable bottom, and a rolling pin