Monthly Meals Week 2

These are actually a bit out of order since I haven't posted in awhile, but these are the meals that I will make starting on Friday. 
Maybe you'll find some new favorites!  

Mon: Alfredo Pasta with Sausage

Tues: BBQ Meatballs

Wed: Salmon Burgers (from Costco)

Thurs: Beef Hot Dogs and Mac & Cheese (from Costco)

Fri: Creamy seafood pasta or pesto pasta

Sat: Homemade pizza

Sun: leftovers

Somali Tea Cookies

Update: Added pic!

Yes, we do have a cup with Layla and I on it :-)

Here is a recipe I came up with based on a couple other recipes that I combined.
It is not actually a Somali recipe, but is based upon the spices used to make Somali tea.

I  made these for a cookie exchange at our ESL classes this week and they were a huge hit among the Somalis. They're really easy to make as well.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1/2 cup powdered sugar 
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg 
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour

1. Cream the butter and sugar together, then add egg, mix all well.


2. Stir in the spices, salt, and flour.


3. Form dough into a cylindrical shape and refrigerate until firm. It can be wrapped in plastic wrap so it doesn't get dry.
When your dough is ready, preheat your oven to 350F


4. Cut cookies into rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for about 10 min., or until lightly browned.
They don't need much space, because they don't spread out much.


You can dust them with powdered sugar when they cool to create a nice look.

I'm planning to make some more, so I will post a pic of the finished product.

How To Eat a Pomegranate

It's Pomegranante season! I just got 8 of them for $2 at this great bargain grocery place near my house.

I thought I would share this great fruit with my readers along with an easier way of opening them.
Some people cut the pomegranate in half to remove the seeds. Don't.
Its messy and destroys a lot of the seeds in the process.
Instead, score the blossom end like a plus sign (+), but only go as deep as the outer skin.

You can see the lines if you look closely

Next, pull the top of each section, and it will begin to split along the membranes. After you pull a few of the seeds away, you will able to break it in pieces from the outside with very little pressure. When it breaks this way you will be able to brush off the seeds section by section into a bowl very easily.

 This is where it starts to split easily
Notice some of the seeds are brown, maybe thats why they were so cheap!

If you find that there are little pieces of the membrane stuck to the seeds, you can rinse them in a bowl of water and the membranes will float away.

Do you eat the whole seed? Of course!
I think its wasteful to just suck the juice out and throw the seeds away. Plus, the seeds give you all the vitamins and fiber too!

Enjoy

Food Diary Day (In progress)

After reading this post on Steve and Paula Runyan's blog about the food pyramid, I was curious to see how many calories I consume in a normal day, as well as the ratios of certain nutrients, and servings of various types of food. Of course, the actual things I eat vary from day to day, so some days I probably eat healthier, and I do occasionally eat some junk.

 According to the USDA my pyramid site, I should be eating about 2200 calories a day for my activity level.

Here's what I actually ate, with individual numbers provided for calories, fat,  protein, and carbohydrate grams.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 low-carb toast slices with about 1 Tb. real butter, weak coffee with whole milk and sweetened with stevia (didn't count the coffee as anything though.)

Calories: 280
Fat: 15g
Protein: 17g
Carbohydrate: 18g

Snack: 1 mozarella cheese stick and cheese-filled pretzels

Calories: 220
Fat: 13g
Protein: 9g
Carb: 17g

Lunch: 1 turkey corndog with mustard, 2 cups salad greens with 1/2 avocado and 1 Tbsp dressing.(I don't like much dressing and think ketchup is gross on hotdogs.)


Calories: 400
Fat: 27g
Protein: 15g
Carb: 33g


Snack: 1 crunchy granola bar, Somali tea with milk, sweetened with stevia

Calories: 95
Fat: 3.5g
Protein:: 2.5g
Carb: 13.5g

Totals so far before dinner: 
Calories: 995
Fat: 58.5g
Protein: 43.5
Carb: 81.5

Dinner: Beef chili with beans (2 cups) and 1/4 cup shredded cheese
I didn't have an exact calorie count of my chile recipe because I didn't really use one. I am using the calorie information for this recipe from Fit Day that has almost the same ingredients. 
Calories: 730
Fat: 35g
Protein: 50g
Carb: 55g

After Dinner totals:
Calories: 1725
Fat: 93.5
Protein 93.5
Carb: 135.5


Snack: 2 cups fresh cranberry salad, 4 dates
Calories:300
Fat: 0
Protein:2
Carb: 55


Final Totals: 
Calories: 2025
Fat:93.5
Protein: 95.5

Carb: 190 (prob. about 40 of this was fiber)



Well, that was fun wasn't it? This is something that would get really tedious if I had to do it every day, but I was always curious about how many calories I eat in an avg. day. Its a little less than the 2200, but I think I eat like this most days, then on occasion eat more when I'm out to eat or buy something I really like.

Chicken Korma Recipe

I got a facebook request to post this, so here it is! 

This is a recipe that I make fairly often at home. It is really easy and is pretty fool-proof. You can vary the spiciness by adding more red chili powder and ginger. The garbanzo beans are not a part of an authentic korma recipe, but I think they add a nice texture and some fiber. I usually serve this with rice and chapatti. You can make your own chapatti pretty easily, or another option I use is toasting some plain flour tortillas in butter on a skillet. If the sauce needs thickened you can always add 1 or 2 tbsp. or cornstarch mixed in cold water.

1 1/2 pound boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces.
1 cup of yogurt
1 finely chopped onion
1 clove of garlic, chopped finely or ground
1 tsp grated ginger
1 can coconut milk

1 can or 16 oz. cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp sweet yellow curry powder
2 tsp hot red chili powder, or to taste
1 tsp ground coriander powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cardamom
salt to taste

oil for sauteing 

1. Marinate the chicken with one cup of yogurt for at least an hour or two.

2. In a big frying pan heat oil, then fry the onions until they turn golden brown.

3. Now add the garlic paste and ginger paste. After a minute or so add the cardamom powder, stir and then add the cumin powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, salt and the coriander powder.

4.Add the chicken and yogurt mixture and stir-fry the until it has become fairly dry and the chicken is cooked through

.
5. Add the coconut milk and garbanzo beans, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened. If the sauce is not thick enough, add a 1 or 2 tbsp. of cornstarch mixed with cold water while the curry is still boiling.

Serve with naan, chapatis, or basmati rice.

You can also garnish the curry with some fresh cilantro.

Who ate all the Sambusa?

Layla ate all the sambusa!

Well, I guess that's not completely true. Layla, Dave and I ate all the sambusa, and wow they were really good. Probably shouldn't be looking at this if you're fasting and faint of heart. I
If you're looking for something fun to make for iftar, sambusa are the best.
Check out Tammy's Somali Home on my side bar for sambusa recipes because I didn't really use one.
Basically, I wrapped them in egg roll wrappers that I had cut diagonally, they are filled with ground beef, garlic, lots of onion, Anaheim peppers, cumin, curry powder, chili powder, salt, and ancho chile powder.