Spaghetti, Roasted in Olive Oil, with Tomatoes

This spaghetti was roasted in some olive oil until lightly browned in places, and then cooked in canned tomatoes and tomato sauce (with added water). I added some frozen green peas for extra color and veggies. I then seasoned it with dried Italian herbs, dried basil, a little onion powder, and salt. Usually when I make this, I add extra pasta, so this time, I overcompensated, and added extra water! Therefore, it was a bit soupy, until I cooked it for extra time. After that, it became merely saucy. This just means it's nice to have with some bread, to soak up the extra sauce!

Ghuraybat Lawz (Almond & Tahini Cookies)

These cookies are from a recipe in Habeeb Salloum's Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa. These are a little different than the usual ghurayba, which are like shortbread. These contain tahini, ground almonds, eggs, and baking powder, in addition to flour and sugar. They also contain coconut oil, as a substitute for butter, and I added in some salt for flavor. As they are never very sweet, I added extra sugar this time, in the form of confectioner's sugar, which was a big help. I really enjoyed the cookies, and it was also fun to make them pretty, this way! 

I took the opportunity to test out one of my new cookie stamps, as I thought these were the right kind of cookie for the test. To prevent the cookie dough from sticking, I dipped the stamp in confectioner's sugar and coated it well, before stamping each cookie on a plate. This worked very well, but stamping directly on the parchment-lined baking sheet, caused the dough to stick to the stamp. I hope that helps with using this kind of cookie stamp!

Harcha (Moroccan Bread)

Throwback to: Harcha, from Morocco, made according the recipe of Cooking with Alia. I usually see these described as "bread." They remind me of English muffins, the way you can split them in half. I especially liked making an Egg McHarcha filled with scrambled egg!

Unfortunately, as I can't have butter, I did have to leave that out of this, and use oil, instead. However, now that I am experimenting with coconut oil, I should try it again, using that.

Cooking with Alia Website, 310 - Harcha - Moroccan Semolina Bread

Cooking with Alia YouTube, Harcha - Moroccan Semolina Bread - Episode 310

Sattoo (Corn Pudding)

I made this from the recipe in Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian & Grain Cooking. This is a popular item for breakfast in part of northern India. From the explanation, finding the grains for Sattoo in the U.S. can be difficult, and then preparing them can be complicated. Therefore, this recipe uses cornmeal as a substitute.

The cornmeal is combined with ghee or melted butter -- though as I can't have either, I experimented with coconut oil, instead. This mixture is dry-roasted, and then cooked slowly with water -- I used half-milk/half-water, to hopefully soften the stone-ground cornmeal a bit. Lastly, add brown sugar, and then raisins -- I used brown sugar, and dried blueberries (plumped up in some hot water). Although I chose not to garnish it, she suggests toasted pumpkin seeds, and sliced fruit.

This reminded me so much of the oatmeal that I haven't been able to eat for a number of years, and hadn't yet found a substitute for, until now. That makes me smile. 

Pomegranate-Apple Slushie

This consisted of apple juice mixed with a bit of pomegranate syrup, and poured into an ice-cream maker. I had really wanted some apple juice, but then once I had it, I knew I could never finish it all before it went bad. So, I made a "slushie" out of it! That used it up quite nicely, it could stay in the freezer for a while, and the result was very cold, refreshing, and delicious

Tamatar Pulao 

(Tomato & Basmati Rice Pilaf)

I made this a few weeks ago. I can't remember the source of the recipe!

Grape Focaccia [2] / Sweet Focaccia with Grapes

This bread is from the recipe in Mom's Big Book of Baking, by Lauren Chattman. It is different from the other one that I posted a photo of a few weeks ago, in that: this version specifically calls for red grapes, and there's only one layer of dough. At that time, I had 2 lbs of red grapes, so I needed to make more than one focaccia to use them all up. Both focaccias were delicious, and seemed to freeze well. They make a nice snack, and are good to accompany breakfast.