Roasted Almonds

Almonds are my favorite nuts; I eat them sweet and savory, in baked goods or just on their own...I never say no to almonds no matter what! UNLESS they become a little chewy or stale .The bagged stuff bought from the store tends to loose a lot of the flavor before it gets to us (imagine how long it takes that bag to make it to your shopping cart).

I had once bought a huge bag of roasted almonds from a bulk store thinking that it would be worth it since they are a favorite snack in my house but by the time we consumed half of the bag the second half was rancid so we just tossed it out. I decided to start making my own in smaller amounts that would last for a week and when it's done make a new batch; that way the almonds are always at their freshest. There are many fancy recipes to make different flavors but I always stick to the basic one.

Ingredients:

Almonds

Salt

Water

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with some aluminum foil (you will love me at clean up time) in a bowl pour enough water to completely wet all your almonds and this will depend on the amount you're making but the goal is NOT to soak each almond but rather wet your whole batch in a uniform manner. Add Salt to your water (depends on your preference of how salty you want the almonds to be). That is it! Almonds wet with some salted water and spread in one layer on the baking sheet. They bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, keep checking every 10 minutes to move the almonds around so all of them roast at the same time.

Enjoy!

Strawberry jam and more

I've been seeing strawberries being sold on the side of the road for a couple of weeks now and I finally caved in this Friday. I stopped on  my way back from work and bought not 1, not 2 not 10 baskets...18 baskets is more like it!! The guy looked at me like I was crazy and said: "You sure love'em strawberries!" I laughed and said: "I am making strawberry jam with these so I do need a lot" He smiled and looked at his wife and said:"You wouldn't guess that about her now would you?!" Seeing the confused look on my face his wife leaned and whispered to me: "It's the high heels" We laughed.

I actually bought a lot more strawberries than I needed for the jam, but look at them, can you blame me?!

This jam is simple to make and so delicious, you only need three ingredients and some spare time. Your house will smell amazing while you're making it too!!



Delicious with toast



Ingredients:

8 cups hulled and quartered strawberries

4 cups of sugar

1/2 cup of lemon juice

Directions:

Put your strawberries in a large non stick pot and slightly crush them (I prefer them chunkier) let them simmer over medium low heat for about 10 minutes.

Add the sugar and let them simmer, you will see that they will release a lot of liquid but it will reduce and thicken and this will take sometime to happen just keep a close eye on it and stir from time to time. Don't try to go healthy and reduce the sugar; it is important in this recipe since it helps the strawberries release their natural pectin and that is key to the final result.

After about 30 minutes add your lemon juice and continue simmering until desired consistency is achieved, you will know this by dropping some of the jelly on a cold plate and checking on it after a minute. Don't judge the consistency by what's still in the pot because it is still hot and will look runnier than you would prefer and that's where the cold plate trick comes in.

Skim the foam at the end and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Or if you are familiar with the canning process that gives home made jam some shelf life you can go ahead and do that at this point.

Ok, the recipe calls for 8 cups of strawberries but I sure had a lot more than that...Here are a few ways I was able to use those and store them for future use.

First, I made some strawberry orange juice by simply tossing both in the blender. The little ones loved it!!

I made strawberry ice cubes by pureeing them with some water in the food processor; just pour them in an ice cube tray and store them in a ziploc bag in your freezer once they are ready.

Add them to your lemonade for some strawberry lemonade or add them to your favorite fruit smoothie and no ice cubes will be needed!!

I had some leftover strawberries still so I pureed them too but with no water, I poured the puree in Ziploc bags and stacked them in my freezer. I will use them in baking recipes.

I had fun working on my strawberry project this morning and so did the kids; they helped with a few things but enjoyed the strawberry orange juice more than anything else!

Preserved lemons (Mssayer)

I ran out of my precious preserved lemons :-( I always have a stash of them in my fridge ready for my lemon chicken recipe or other moroccan dishes that call for this truly amazing ingredient!

I have always had them brought to me from Morrocco by family or friends but I haven't had visitors from the other side of the atlantic in a while and nobody I know is going there any time soon, so I was forced to make my own preserved lemons that I will need to wait on for at least 6 weeks before I can use them. It will be all worth it at the end if they are anything like the ones I am used to.

 I started by selecting these gorgeous lemons

Ingredients:

Lemons

Kosher salt

White vinegar

Warm water

Canola oil

Directions:

Wash your lemons and cut each one into 4 quarters lengthwise but not all the way to the bottom, It will look something like this

Fill each lemon generously with the kosher salt and place in your glass jar, add more salt to the jar.

Fill the jar with 1/2 cup of vinegar and warm water; you want the lemons to be completely submerged in the liquid so don't be afraid to push them down a little.

You will not need to sterilize your jar as you normally would when making jams or that sort of thing; there's just too much acid and salt for anything to stay alive :-)

Top with a generous drizzle of canola oil or olive oil and close your airtight jar

Store in a dark place at room temperature for 6 weeks. Transfer them to the fridge when they are ready and keep them stored there.

When ready to use, wash the lemons from the excess salt and cook according to the directions of you moroccan recipe (Do not use as a substitute for fresh lemons in other recipes)

Me blogger?! Naaah

It never crossed my mind that I would ever want to create a blog since I don't like the very idea of letting people (aka: strangers) know what's going on in my life. I don't even have a Facebook account!! but this here is different; it's a food blog meant to preserve all my favorite recipes for my children and in the future my grand children...Awww Sweet right?!

This whole idea started as a New Year resolution; I wanted to type up a cook book with all the recipes that I gathered over the years in my (very messy and old) recipe note book but before then translate them all into English (Some of them are in my native Arabic and some are in my second language: French) We want our English speaking second and third generations to be able to understand it after all!

My cooking style is very international; mainly Moroccan with a lot of french influences and of course American classics that I always find a way to put my little twist on...I love pasta so that would count as italian cooking right? Maybe not but I thought I'd throw another country in there.

Stay tuned!!