Feta Stuffed Dates

After working with dates for my homemade energy bars, my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to try more date recipes, so I bought another box.  A quick Google search unearthed these feta-stuffed dates with nuts... sounded like a good second date with dates (har har).

Super easy: mix some cream cheese with a bit of feta and parmesan, stuff the mixture into pitted dates, top each with an almond, baste with olive oil and drop them in the oven.  Then, inhale with a glass of wine like Tim and I did.  Or, alternatively, serve them as an appetizer at a party because they look fancy despite their simplicity.

I took these photos before baking them since I was quickly losing the natural light, but they look even more appetizing once baked.

Chili-Lime Roasted Squash Salad

Continuing our health kick, we (well, I) picked out some tasty looking salads for us to munch on in the new year, trying to avoid meat and processed carbs where possible.
 

Our first foray into the salad world was this chili roasted squash salad with a cilantro lime dressing.  I had seen it in the November Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine (RIP!) and then again on The Bitten Word, so I thought it was worth a try. Squash (we used the readily available (in Jakarta) kabocha squash, or Japanese pumpkin) roasted with chili powder, lime, cilantro and honey dressing, feta cheese, pepitas (we brought some home from Trader Joe's... I cannot explain to you how much I miss TJ's...), your lettuce of choice (we went with a mesclun mix). 

I thought this was a solid and really easy recipe, but nothing spectacular to write home about (and yet here I am, writing home about it).  I'm not sure what it was missing, but perhaps a little bit of spice?  The chili powder I have is a dark chili powder and it's not too spicy.  Maybe I should have jazzed it up with some cayenne powder...?

Slow-Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Pasta

Indonesia does a lot of things well... batik, tropical fruits, apples... but one thing I have found to be sub-par are the tomatoes.  Unripe or overly-ripe, but still tasteless. Boo. But occasionally you can find reasonably priced grape tomatoes, which are ok, but do not live up to the amazing heirloom tomatoes I was getting from my CSA back in DC.

One way to ameliorate the bland tomatoes is to slow-roast them like I did last summer... it intensifies the flavor big time.  I used my slow-roasted tomatoes to make an eggplant pasta dish similar to the one I made last summer, but with a pesto made from both basil and mint.  Quite tasty!

Fritter FAIL

I was trying to use up the mint leftover from my mint ice cream as well as some feta left from my grilled corn and feta salad... add in a zucchini and you get: mush.  Oops.

Very loosely (no ricotta, fresh rather than dried mint) based on this recipe from an Australian cooking show I've been watching recently, I put together these zucchini, feta and mint fritters that I planned to top with a spicy fresh tomato sauce.  Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to drain the zucchini of its water, these fritters were super soggy, floppy and definitely not crisp like I imagined.   Sigh.

But the flavor was good... perhaps a similar flavor combination in a different format next time.  Over pasta?

Grilled Corn Salad and Fresh Mint Ice Cream

Tim and I were invited to a BBQ here in Jakarta this past weekend... the hosts made an awesome spread of great Aussie sausages, a whole baked red snapper with rosemary and some tasty steaks.  Our contributions to the meal were of the side-dish and dessert variety:  a grilled corn salad with feta, tomato, cilantro and a cumin-chili-lime dressing and fresh mint ice cream with chocolate chunks, both of which seemed to go over quite well with the crowd.

The salad was really tasty and easy.  Grill corn right on the cob until it's slightly charred, cut it off the cob and mix it with cherry tomato, chopped red onion and cilantro, and a lime vinaigrette flavored with chili powder and powdered cumin.  The only changes I made to the recipe was to toast the spices for the dressing in a dry pan until fragrant before adding them...  brings out the flavor.  Also, I skipped adding the whole cumin seeds, as ours were a little "off."

The mint ice cream was a big hit... while it wasn't florescent green like the stuff you get at the store, but it was better since it was full of natural mint flavor from steeping a bundle of fresh mint leaves in the cream before making the custard.  Awesome. 

Mini Farfalle with Eggplant, Cherry Tomatos, Almond Pesto and Feta

Kate passed on this recipe for labor-inducing eggplant Parmesan so I could share it with Jamie, who was nearing her due-date... it made me hungry for eggplant, which I had conveniently bought from the CSA this week. I didn't have all the ingredients for the parm, but I did have the world's biggest bag of basil, also care of Star Hollow Farm, so I decided to merge the eggplant with some basil pesto and serve it over pasta.Using this recipe from Giada "Boobs and Teeth" De Laurentiis as a general guideline for cooking the eggplant, I chopped it up, sauteed it until brown, and threw it all together with fresh basil pesto (basil, parm, olive oil, almonds, garlic), cute mini farfalle, a pint of halved sweet orange cherry tomatoes, and salty feta. Awesome warm, and also delicious cold the next day.

PS: Yes, the eggplant parmesan apparently did work for Jamie- she went into labor the day after eating it! Introducing my beautiful brand-new baby niece, Zoe:

Greek Style Meatballs, Homemade Pita, Lemon Dill Hummus, and Cucumber Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Since Chuck moved out, we've been doing alternating Sunday "family dinners" (a la The Jersey Shore). So far we've avoided chicken parm and sausage n' peppers, focusing on more interesting, yet equally comforting culinary endeavors. We also avoid Ron Ron Juice, leopard print, and fist pumping, mostly. Mostly.

A couple weeks ago, Tony made a great slow-cooker chicken curry. This week, I tackled a Greek/Middle Eastern meal: feta and dill meatballs, lemon dill hummus, homemade pita bread, and a cucumber yogurt sauce. All parts of the meal came out really awesome...Here's how I did it:

I used this feta meatball recipe from The Other Martha, but made it my own by substituting the oregano with a generous handful of fresh dill, some minced parsley and a sprinkling of lemon zest. Plus, since ground pork was conspicuously absent from 2 of my local grocery haunts, I ended up using half ground chuck (not to be confused with Chuck) and half ground turkey. Despite my liberal mutilation of the recipe, they came out pretty awesome. Dipped them in the sauce recommended by The Other Martha, to which I also threw in some fresh dill.

The hummus was basically my usual recipe, care of Ina Garten, with extra lemon juice and zest, as well as, you guessed it, more fresh dill.

I made the pita by thinly rolling out the extra dough from my whey bread, using this technique from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Soooo easy and soooo good. I loved watching the little pitas poof in the oven. Delicious!

Warm Orzo Salad with Beets, Feta, Spinach and Pine Nuts

Dudes... so I went into tonight's dinner with fairly low expectations, but ultimately I was blown away. It's so good! Even Tim, who merely tolerates beets, really liked it.
I combed the internets for a recipe to use up some ingredients I had in the fridge: beets on their last leg, a ginormous block of feta that needed to be whittled down. I found this recipe for a warm orzo salad with beets, feta and pine nuts on The Parsley Thief, via Foodgawker, and thought it might be a decent way to go, with a few substitutions (namely frozen spinach for beet greens, which didn't come attached to my beets).

Wow, this salad came out great... crazy florescent color (you cook the orzo- or "orzu," as Tim calls it- in the water leftover from boiling the beets), a little sweet, a little salty, earthy, garlicky. Pretty healthy, too!

Super Bowl!

We had some folks over to watch the Super Bowl (followed by Glee's Thriller episode) last night... and by "some folks" I mean about 40 people. So there had to be a TON of food, particularly in the unhealthy and dip categories...

I went with some tried-and-true favorites:

- slow-cooked pulled pork sliders with kohlrabi/carrot slaw... a favorite with the boys
- black bean and sweet potato chili with all the fixings... a hearty veggie option
- roasted jalapeno popper dip... cheesy, creamy, spicy and AWESOME
- mocha cookies with white chocolate chips... my new favorite cookie
- pepperoni pizza rolls... Tim's childhood favorite/Hot Pocket substitute

But, I also tried a new recipe: chocolate-covered peanut butter and pretzel truffles. They were a BIG hit, especially for something that only has 3 ingredients... here's a shot of the inside, thanks to Chuck, who, along with Colleen, dug into dessert before they had even tried the dinner dishes:

Finally, my girls provided some seriously tasty dishes:

- Colleen made this awesome Greek/Middle Eastern version of a 7-layer dip. So good. Salty, fresh, creamy, hummus-y(?):- Chuck made "Heart Attack on a Plate," which is a layer of cream cheese, covered with a layer of chili, topped with a thick layer of shredded cheddar, then heated until creamy and totally addictive:- Chuck also made a delicious traditional 7-layer dip, based on this Rachael Ray recipe. Forgot to take a photo in my cream cheese dip-induced coma.

New Year's Nibbles

We had an awesome New Year's Eve: lots of delicious food, champagne and playing board games and Wii (Just Dance 2 = super fun!).
At Tim's request and to Meghan's delight, I made old-school cheese balls, one just cheddar, one blue cheese and cheddar, both rolled in walnuts, both pretty tasty. I used a recipe from my ancient Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Better Homes and Gardens is not responsible for the suggestive knife placement, however.I also made 2 types of cute puff pastry swirly things: one with prosciutto, Dijon and Romano, a riff off of Joy the Baker's recipe, and one with feta and spinach. Both tasted great (although the Romano may have been a tad salty, but it's what I had in the house), can be served hot or at room temperature, and the leftovers also reheated well in the oven the next day. Plus, as I said, they were pretty cute.Liz made these awesome mini-roast beef sandwiches with melty Havarti, peach preserves, and chopped walnuts- so good! Plus, they sounded fairly easy to put together, which is always a bonus.Chuck successfully remade a couple of the deviled egg recipes we tried a few months ago... the Sriracha eggs still kick ass, and the herbed deviled eggs are a step up from the usual eggs (although the recipe makes waaaay too much filling). We also had some cute mini-quiches, corn and bead salad, excellent pumpkin bread and other tasty delights...

Chickpeas and Feta in Tomato Sauce with Couscous

Threw together this chickpea and feta dish pretty easily... rather than use a can of diced tomatoes, I used frozen tomato sauce I made this summer. Also substituted red wine for white, since that's what we had open. Finally, I topped mine with some Kalamata olives to make it more Greek. Tasty and ridiculously easy!

Cauliflower and Feta Baked Pasta

I had a bunch of cauliflower from the CSA, as well as a block of feta, so I decided to make this baked pasta recipe, which incorporated both. However, I amped it up by adding several of my own ingredients for more flavor: crushed red pepper and garlic were roasted with the cauliflower along with a couple small heads of fennel (cut into eighths), plus I threw in a can of artichokes which I'd sliced. Over all, it was really tasty (although not picturesque). Salty, full of veggies, and infinitely reheatable for work lunches.

Eggplant Feta Salad Toasts

Sometimes I feel like Deb from Smitten Kitchen has a secret view into my refrigerator. She always seems to put together dishes that use exactly what I have that week from the CSA. Maybe she gets a photo of my fridge contents every week, a la Mark Menjivar's 'You Are What You Eat'? I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since that's the nature of eating seasonally, but still... mind reader! Refrigerator looker! Anywho... this roasted eggplant salad with feta and green onion is super easy and pretty delicious. Try it!

Mexican Feast

I heard that chilaquiles is what people in Mexico eat when they're hungover. Today I think I still had a bit of a hangover from Chuck and Liz's party on Friday night, so I thought chilaquiles might do the trick. Stale corn tortillas, crisped up, cooked in roasted tomatillo salsa, topped with onions, sour cream, feta and a fried egg. Mmm.

Served with a side of Mexican-style street corn (off the cob, as Tim is due for a root canal tomorrow)... awesome.

Zucchini and Toasted Corn Tacos with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

Wow- I've made vegetarian tacos before, but these were by far the best. The toasted corn gave these a unique flavor- some awesome caramelization... mmmm.
Plus, topped with feta and freshly made salsa verde with CSA tomatillos: to die for.

Quinoa Salad with Blueberries, Snap Peas, Feta and Almonds

Inspired by some snap peas from Star Hollow farms, some blueberries from the store and the ginormous bag of quinoa I got at Costco, I decided to make a healthy quinoa salad for lunch. Riffing on these quinoa salad recipes, I added raw blueberries and snap peas, feta, toasted almonds, minced green onions and parsley and a lemony dressing to my salad. Really easy, pretty good and definitely good for you!

Spanakopita and Greek Salad

I love me some spinach pie. And yet, until today, I'd never made it. This recipe from Closet Cooking (whose recipes I always end up clicking on on Tastespotting and Foodgawker), was simple, easy and delicious. Plus it used up many of the veggies I bought from Star Hollow Farm last week: spinach, dill, green onion, parsley.If you wanted to make some self-contained empanada-sized spanakopita, or even little appetizer sized spanakopita, I think you could easily modify the recipe- just cut the phyllo into long strips and roll tablespoons of filling up.

Served with a Greek salad with this easy red wine vinaigrette.

Deja Vu: Risotto with Shrimp, Asparagus, Feta and Dill

So... remember last year when I raved about this risotto dish with asparagus, shrimp, feta and dill? Yeah, well, I'm raving again. It's still good. I still suggest you run to your local farmers market, pick up some asparagus, and make this dish.

Camarones Enchiladas (Shrimp in a Spicy Tomato Sauce)

I've been craving something cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and served with feta since seeing various recipes bandied around the internet of late... Deb from Smitten Kitchen has been making shakshuka (eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce), Kevin from Closet Cooking is making tomato and feta baked eggs, and Alejandra from Always Order Dessert (who I met once in DC, as she used to be coworkers with Andy), had a spread in Real Simple with her mom's recipe for camarones enchiladas, or shrimp in spicy tomato sauce.

I decided to give Alejandra's recipe a try: definitely worth a try. The second recipe for us this week that uses the awesome smoked paprika as the main star.

Green Beans with Feta Vinaigrette

Originally, I planned to make this Green Bean Salad with Feta and Lemon that was in last week's Washington Post Food & Dining section, but after unsuccessfully searching for the requisite dill at two separate grocery stores, I decided to look for another green bean and feta recipe.

Google gave me this Green Bean and Feta Salad as the first hit, which is basically green beans, feta, and Vidalia onion with a vinaigrette. Pretty good, although the recipe made a TON of sauce. I didn't put it all on the beans. I also only let it marinate for like 30 minutes, not 4 hours. And I didn't cook the onion because I couldn't figure out what the recipe instructions were trying to get me to do with the onion... pour hot water over it? Meh.

Look closely at the photo and you can see my arm, nostrils and glasses. Photography = not my specialty.