UD Recipe Story Archives - Undefined Declarations

UD Recipe Story: Couscous-Stuffed Peppers

I just finished having dinner about an hour ago, and I couldn’t feel more satisfied and content! I made these stuffed peppers for lunch yesterday. But because I made four pieces – and had two for lunch yesterday, I still had two more in my fridge. So, it felt great coming home at around 9 in the evening after a blogging-related meetup and not having to worry about what to eat – or to resort to a sandwich or a takeaway…I heated these babies in the oven for a few minutes and they tasted even better than when I first made them!

This is why I recommend this extremely simple recipe for a tasty and healthy dinner. I got this recipe from Good magazine, but I made some minor changes to suit my preferences.

Let’s start with the ingredients that were listed in the magazine:

And the instructions:

Here are my ingredients for the recipe (I skipped the feta cheese and toasted pine nuts):

Now if you’re like me – you don’t have all the time in the world to cook your own food and you hate having to wash so many post and pans after cooking – then you can buy ready-made couscous from the store’s ready food counter 😀

Of course, for those of you who prefer to make their own couscous, then by all means, go ahead. I admire you for your culinary skills and passion and I hope to reach your level one of those days 🙂

As you can see in the above photo, I added capers – which I’m a huge fan of…Here’s a close-up of the ready-made couscous:

Here are my chopped veggies…I added some spring onions, parsley, and green chilies for my personal taste:

I added some sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and drizzled some olive oil to my halved red peppers before putting them in the oven:

For the filling, I mixed all the ingredients in two small bowls (because I didn’t have clean large bowls) – I told you I hated washing dishes :p

Next, simply stuff the roasted peppers (which I cooked in the oven for around 25 minutes) with the couscous and vegetables mixture. I added the capers, chopped olives, some salt and pepper and some lemon juice too.

Finally, put the stuffed peppers back in the heated oven to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. And voila! you’ve got your juicy, tasty and nutritious meal, which you can have for lunch teamed with a salad, or on its own for a light dinner 🙂

Stay tuned to the blog for more healthy, quick and scrumptious recipe posts….You might want to follow my fan page too!

Love,

The Rebellious Saudi Diva

UD Recipe Story: Vegetable Frittata

Do you want to know the precise meaning of the word: comfort food? If you’re a foodie like me, then you won’t be surprised when I tell you that I started making this healthy frittata late one evening – it was around 11:00 or later…I had to finalize my University’s research project the following day, so I decided to make this simple and tasty dish the night before – to save time during the day so I can work on my project.

To tell you the truth, I couldn’t have made a better decision in my life! This frittata turned out to be the first culinary creation that I make from scratch on my own and ACTUALLY like the taste of! I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen for some time, but most of the dishes I make are just OK…nothing really special. This dish however, made me feel ecstatic, satisfied and full 😀

I got this recipe from the fabulous Gourmet magazine, which I have been featured in a few months ago. You can find a photo of my appearance in Gourmet on my blog’s Facebook Page – while there, don’t forget to hit the “like” button!

The great thing about this frittata as mentioned in the feature is that it can be eaten at room temperature, or warmed up. And can easily be packed in a container to take to work or school. Also, I personally can have frittata for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Let’s have a look at the ingredients (as taken from Gourmet magazine):

And the method:

To make my frittata more filling, I added some potatoes that I boiled for some time. As well as a yellow pepper that I had in my fridge 🙂

Here are my vegetables, after they have been chopped:

My potatoes as they are boiling:

The veggies are being sauteed…

Whisking away those eggs, with some coconut milk, parsley, sea salt (which adds amazing flavor to the food) and black pepper:

Then, once the vegetables are soft, you can add the potatoes followed by the egg and parsley mixture….

After baking the frittata in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, you are rewarded with a comforting meal that you can have over the next couple of days (if you live alone and are still not confident enough with your cooking skills to share the results with friends or neighbors) 😀

I can’t describe how good it felt to have this perfect frittata at around midnight – a foodie’s dream 🙂

I hope that you will try to make this simple dish and enjoy eating it as much as I did…I’m so excited to try another recipe from Gourmet magazine. I will share it with you once I’m done from my final exam for my “Media Audiences and the Public” class. That will be on the 10th of August. Looking forward to taking a break from University assignments and exams…

Wishing you a wonderful week and see you soon X

You can still keep track of my random posts by following my blog’s Facebook Page 😀

UD Recipe Story: Aubergine & Chilli Pasta

I’ve started to go more vegetarian with my food choices recently, in an attempt to become more healthy and clean. And since I love aubergines especially when teamed with rich tomato sauce and baked in the oven – yes I’m talking about that delicious Italian starter – parmigiana.

Today’s recipe isn’t exactly Italian, but it’s a very tasty and authentic one that I got from BBC Good Food ME magazine and decided to try out.

Here’s the recipe from the magazine:

I decided to get spaghetti instead of the type of pasta recommended in the recipe, because I wanted to go for the whole grain choice…

The main ingredients:

You start by cutting your aubergine into bite-sized cubes:

Then chop the tomatoes and onions…

Start cooking the onions, aubergine and oregano…

Then add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and 200ml water…

While this colorful mixture cooks on low heat for 20 minutes, you can start cooking your choice of pasta…

Once your sauce is thickened in the other pan, and the tomatoes reduced and softened, you can add the vegetables to the drained pasta…

And voila! there you have it!

Note: I skipped the red chilli in this recipe – not because I’m not a fan of spicy food – but because I could only get a pack with tons of it and I didn’t want to buy a whole army of chillis…However, I must admit that the chilli is a main ingredient in this dish and skipping it will greatly influence the taste of the pasta. It still was OK, but I could tell that there was something missing. So I highly recommend that you add the chilli to give this dish the zest and rich flavor it deserves 🙂

UD Recipe Story: Chickpea Tomato Soup

When I’m not blogging, commuting to the other end of town to attend a lecture at University, working on my school projects, complaining about being single to almost anyone who would listen, or doing anything that will add some value to the world and the human species, then I can be found doing something of major relevance: day-dreaming about being a house-wife who spends the day trying out different recipes, watching repeats of cooking TV shows, going for Pilates, yoga or other fitness classes, catching up with friends, and writing on this blog in the evenings.

OK, maybe my life isn’t that far fetched from my imaginary one…the point is, that I absolutely love and truly enjoy doing my own thing! Ever since I was young, I would plan out my day into different slots – each with a type of activity. At the time, they could be things as silly as watching a certain TV show, or doing rounds around the house! Yes, I used to be a very weird teenager 🙂

Hopefully, if I continue to work hard towards my dreams, one day I will meet prince charming and those day-dreams of mine will become a reality 😀

I would still like to write my biography though….so that would be one activity that I would dedicate some time for 🙂

Enough ranting about my life, let’s move on to talking about this recipe post…

As many of you know, I was feeling a bit under the weather last week. And since I live alone, I decided to cure my cold and make myself a home-made soup from scratch! I must admit, I do feel much better now, especially after trying to eat more freshly made salads at home and try to eat less at restaurants.

My previous recipe post – if you missed it – was for a super healthy and nutritious smoothie. You can check it here.

I got the recipe for this tasty and wholesome soup from a food blogger’s web site. You can get the ingredients and the recipe from her blog here.
I’ll take you through the steps of when I made the soup with pictures.

1st, the ingredients:

This is what the soup looked like while it was being cooked 🙂

Et Voila! A healthy and tasty home-made soup 🙂

Having coconut milk in soup adds a new dimension to the flavor. It also gives the soup more richness and so it becomes more filling and could also replace a meal.

If you don’t like the taste of coconut milk in soup or in food in general, then I would suggest that you simply skip that ingredient and just make the soup without coconut milk.

I’m really excited to try out more recipes (that include solid food!) when I get the chance. I also plan to get my friends involved and have them make their favorite home-inspired dish or appetizer. So, stay tuned to the blog and the Facebook Page for more ideas, inspirations and healthy lifestyle posts 🙂

UD Recipe Story: Superfood Smoothie

Here’s a simple recipe for a highly nutritious and healthy smoothie. Coconut milk can be replaced with regular cow’s milk or any other type of milk you prefer (soya, nut milk, almond milk).

The ingredients as shown above are:

One ripe banana.
One cup of fresh strawberries.
One handful of berries. The original recipe uses Goji berries, but I couldn’t find them. So I used raspberries and Mexican blackberries instead. Which makes for a delicious combination.
One can of coconut milk – I used organic coconut milk.

Step One:

Place all ingredients in a blender. I used a blender that has a juice/smoothie setting.

Step Two:

Blend the ingredients on a medium to high speed setting. Or use the smoothie setting button on the blender if you have one.

Note: The above ingredients serve two persons (two large glasses).

Hope you get to try making this uber healthy and refreshing smoothie….and look out for more UD recipe posts coming soon to this blog!

UD Recipe Story: Nia’s Mexican Salsa and Guacamole Dip

I’ve always been a huge fan of Mexican cuisine, so I was very excited when my Mexican American friend Nia suggested to make some authentic dips at my place.

Nia’s recipes for the traditional salsa and guacamole dips are authentic ones, that have been passed on from one generation to another. It’s so generous of her to share with us these original and one-off recipes that only real Mexicans know how to make!

Let’s start with the ingredients for the salsa and guacamole dips:

Avocados: choosing the right type of avocados is essential to the success of this recipe. You need to look for Mexican or U.S. avocados that are: smaller in size, dark green in color, and tender at touch.
White onion
Large tomatoes
Cilantro
Lemon
Fresh green chilli peppers
Fresh garlic

How do I make Salsa Dip?

Fry four whole tomatoes in a frying pan over medium-high heat.

2. Add the fresh chilli peppers and garlic to the pan, and fry them along with the tomatoes until the tomatoes are soft. You need to make sure that you toast the tomatoes until they become soft and you are able to mash them with the spoon.

Add the chilli peppers and garlic to the pan

3. Once the tomatoes are soft, put all the ingredients in a blender. Add chicken stock powder (Nia brought this from the States), salt, and cilantro.

4. Blend the mixture until it turns into a liquid. This salsa is meant to have a liquid texture, so turn up the blender speed to the max 😀 Luckily, my blender has a “Dip” setting, so we used that. We also used the standard high speed setting to bring the dip to the texture we wanted.

Nia blending away... — Nia blending away…

Et Voila! You’ve got your authentic Mexican Salsa Dip!

How do I make Guacamole Dip?

As I mentioned earlier, the main element in making a good guacamole dip is choosing the right type of avocados. Trust me, I’ve once tried to make guacamole with very hard and dry avocados and the result was not edible! So make sure that you:

Get smaller avocados that are from Mexico or the U.S. only.
Choose the ones that are dark green in color, but not too dark because those are too ripe and will not be OK to use.
Touch them to see if they are tender and soft. Because that’s how they should be.

2. You start off by scooping out the avocado from the peel into a medium size bowl.

Nia scooping out avocados for our guacamole :) — Nia scooping out avocados for our guacamole 🙂

3. In a bowl, you add the avocados to the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped cilantro, some salt and lemon.

Adding the ingredients for the guacamole dip

4. Bonus Tip:

When mashing the mixture, separate it into two bowls. In one bowl, you can mash it all you want until it turns into a “dip” texture and all the ingredients have been mixed together. You can leave half or less of the ingredients in their solid, whole texture to add them to the mashed mixture. This will give your dip an extra edge as it will have some crunchy pieces that give it a fresh and wholesome texture and taste 😀

Lastly, present your dips in some dip bowls or any other bowls that you might have. We added ready-made sour cream to our third dip bowl 🙂

You can have your dip with sour cream chips, regular corn chips or fresh cucumber and celery sticks for a healthier snack 🙂

I hope that you will try and make this recipe one day, as it was truly tasty and so fresh! I even used the left-over salsa to make a Mexican-style shakshooka the next morning!

A big thank you to my sweet and adorable friend Nia for the recipe and the kitchen work….Hopefully we’ll cook up an authentic Mexican meal one of those days….Stay tuned to the blog for more recipes from our cozy kitchen X