Eggplant "Pizza" (Patlicanli Pide)

This is a Turkish recipe from Anissa Helou's Savory Baking from the Mediterranean. The dough is very simple and easy to make, according to this method, and I had some eggplant topping already cooked and frozen. It's better for me if eggplant is blended with a food processor, so that's what I did this time. This eggplant is very delicious by itself, and of course, as a pizza topping, it's even better! Very yummy and satisfying.

Vanilla Muhalabiya (Pudding) Ice Cream with Pomegranate Syrup

The ice cream, which was a Middle Eastern pudding that I froze, wasn't photographing well by itself. (My camera has trouble with very light monocolor foods like this.) Since I'd eaten it a few times served with the syrup, I tried that approach of photographing it; this seemed to work better. For the syrup, I boiled some pomegranate juice with a simple syrup, and it was successful, if a bit too sweet. I must say, though, that it went very well with the ice cream! 

Thai Curry Potato Soup 

This soup is from a Foxes Love Lemons recipe. It was fantastic! I had it with some fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and homemade bread (not pictured here). It was well-spiced, but not too hot for me (as I have to be a bit careful with that). All the ingredients just melded so well together. A real winner! 

Based on what I can't/don't have, I substituted the following: rasam powder for curry powder, water for chicken broth, and storebought Thai red curry paste for sambal oelek. Also, for some reason, I don't know why, I don't really like very smooth, blender-ed soups, so I skipped putting the soup through a blender. I did mash the potatoes in the soup with a spoon, however, and they melted right in. Yummy!

Foxes Love Lemons Website, Thai Curry Potato Soup

Foxes Love Lemons Facebook

Gobhi Matar Mini Samosas 

(baked turnovers, with a filling of cauliflower and green peas) 

These samosas are from an Archana's Kitchen recipe. I took one bite, and decided these are awesome! The filling, which I made the day before, is sweet and spicy at the same time. The pastry is very flaky, but the dough didn't require much work at all. I think I need more practice making this small size samosa with this method. Next time, I might make twice as much pastry, and make larger samosas. That should help with the shape. No help is needed with the flavor or texture, both of which are awesome! 

I left the garam masala out of the filling, as it looked to be seasoned very well without it (and I have to be careful not to get too much spice). I can't have butter, so there's no ghee in the pastry. However, I've been experimenting recently with coconut oil, and that's what I used here, instead.

Archana's Kitchen Website, Gobi Matar Mini Samosa Recipe

Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream

Throwback to this Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream. I guess it's really ice milk, strictly speaking, but as I can't eat cream, I'll take what I can get. It's ice cream-y enough for me, and nice to finish off the day with. 

Bhavna's Kitchen provided the pudding recipe, which I modified by using an equal amount of honey instead of butter. After the pudding cooled in the fridge, I just put it in the freezer. That seems to work better with chocolate pudding; still trying to perfect the technique for vanilla eggless pudding.

Bhavna's Kitchen Facebook

Bhavna's Kitchen YouTube, Quick Chocolate Pudding

Thai Red Curry with Cauliflower & Broccoli

I don't know much about Thai cooking (except how to eat the finished product), so I decided to start out by using a vegetarian red curry paste from the supermarket. Instead of putting the curry together using the method on the jar, I followed instructions from similar recipes in Nancie McDermott's Real Vegetarian Thai. It worked out very well, and I enjoyed it with rice. Since I have to be careful what I eat, I hadn't eaten Thai food in years until recently, and I missed it. Now I don't have to miss it anymore, yay!

Blueberry-Almond Scones (with dried blueberries)

This recipe is from James Villas' Biscuit Bliss. The scones are based on the recipe for chocolate chip scones, with the dried blueberries instead of the chips. Also, I was trying out some almond milk at the time, so I used that here in place of the regular milk. With my usual habit of using oil instead of butter, these scones are vegan. I really liked the very blueberry-y flavor from the dried fruit, and it was easy to use with these scones. (Normally, I use frozen blueberries for muffins, but I don't think they'd work so well here.) A success!