Matbucha

Hi there. I made matbucha, pronounced mott-boo-cha, where the 'ch' is the sound of clearing your throat. Matbucha is a Moroccan tomato dish that primarily consists of tomatoes, spicy peppers and garlic. I guess red peppers are often also put in there but I'm not sure. Technically you're supposed to make it with really ripe tomatoes but I had to make it with normal tomatoes. This is how it went down.

I cut up about 6 medium sized tomatoes into big chunks. I seeded and cut up 6 jalapenos, and chopped about 8 cloves of garlic, as shown below.


I then put all of these ingredients, as well as 1/4 cup of olive oil, and salt and cracked black pepper in my soup pot:


Next I opened up a big can of whole peeled tomatoes:


And poured them into the soup pot (aw yeah, action shot):


And then it looked like this:


I had these roasted red bell peppers hanging out in my fridge and decided that I wasn't going to use them for anything else


So I threw them in the pot:


And then it looked like this:


I then let these ingredients simmer, covered, for about an hour and a half, stirring every once in a while


Eventually the whole thing becomes pretty watery and at that point you want to let it cook half covered, to let the juices evaporate


...And finally, you end up with something like this:


All that fit in this little container:


I made a wheat challah to enjoy this with, but you do your thing

Baba Ganoush

I love food blogs that have lots of pictures, so from now on I will attempt to have more pictures of the steps of the recipe. For pesach I made baba ganoush for the first time. Here is how it went down.

Ingredients:
3 eggplants
5 tbsp mayo
juice of 1 lemon
4 cloves garlic
cumin
salt
pepper

I tryed charring the first eggplant over a burner but it just wasn't working out for me. My mom then told me that I could put all 3 eggplants on a baking sheet and broil them... so that's what I did. I turned on the broiler and let the tops of the eggplants get nice and black. I then flipped them over. I did this so that all sides got charred, about 20-30 minutes. They then looked like this:



As you can see, the eggplant is deflated and soft. The next step is to peel off the skin, making sure to leave all of the flesh.

Next, chop up all of the flesh and put it in a bowl:


I then blended this together:


... and then it looked like this:


Then I added the rest of the ingredients.


... and then it looked like this:


Tada! It was good but not the best. If I make this again, I don't think I'll blend it. I like seeing seeds in baba ganoush and the blending did away with those. Instead, I think I'll cook it longer and then mash it up with a fork or something. I think it had a really nice flavor though, and it wasn't too mayo-y which was nice.

Chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips

These are delicious. Probably my favorite cookie that I've made. I've made these before but this time I subbed peanut butter chips for chocolate chips. I love these cookies because they're so rich and are also really soft. They remain soft for days. Crispy cookies are not my thing. This is the recipe I used (but replaced the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips). It also makes me feel better because only 2 tbsp of butter are called for to make 12 cookies... but I'm sure the quarter pound of bittersweet chocolate more than makes up for it ;^)

Cinnamon Rolls (part 2)

I had been craving cinnamon rolls for a while, and I finally made them. Oh my goodness, these are amazing. I didn't want to make a big batch because baked items like these, muffins and scones are only good the day of, and maybe a few days afterward. I followed this recipe except I quartered the recipe, which yielded the perfect amount. Since the recipe calls for 2 eggs and I quartered it, I took a chance and used 1 egg. This caused the dough to be more sticky, so I added extra flour as I saw fit. Also, I used 1 packet of active dry yeast, when I think I was only supposed to use about 1/4 of it. This resulted in the cinnamon rolls being incredibly fluffy and delicious. I let the dough rise for about an hour, but the recipe says to let it rise for only about 10 minutes. I made the glaze out of powdered sugar, milk, salt and vanilla. Sooooo goooooood.

Here they are after they were baked, pre icing:














Finally, here they are after being iced:














Ready to be eaten:

Leek and Random Vegetable Quiche

Ohai there. I made a quiche. The crust I made using this recipe (just the crust), and then I just went with the flow for the rest. The innards of the quiche consist of leek, broccoli, green beans, tomato, egg and cheddar cheese. I also topped the whole thing off with some mozzarella, just cuz. It came out pretty good. I really like the crust, it was perfect, and there was no butter involved! The innards were kind of plain, but still pretty good. Next time I'll prepare more of the filling because there was room for more. Also, maybe next time I'll put some ricotta or something in the filling. I'd still call this a success.

Chocolate Chip Scones

Hi there. I made scones tonight using this recipe. They came out great! I used chocolate chips instead of cranberries because that's what I have. I also used whole wheat pastry flour, and fat free milk instead of whole milk because that's what I have. I've only had them right out of the oven and they were wonderful. Nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I wonder how they will taste the next day... probably not nearly as good. Oh well! I really like the chocolate chips in them. I think scones are the new muffins for me.

Raspberry Muffin Tops

I bought a muffin top pan! I used it tonight for the second time. The first time I made muffin tops they didn't come out quite right but these ones are better. I love the crunchy aspect of muffin tops so that's what I am looking for in them, and last time they just didn't have that. These ones do, and they are delicious! I used this recipe substituting nonfat strawberry yogurt for the plain yogurt because that is what I had, and I used a pint of raspberries instead of the blueberries. Needless to say, I used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. I also made raspberry muffin tops for my first attempt. I'm starting to think that I shouldn't be making raspberry mufins because raspberries are too soggy after I wash them. I won't make them anymore. Next time perhaps I will make chocolate chips ones.... ooooh lala!! My favorite.