30 days of iftars: #8 & #9

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. So let's get back to our Ramadhan menu. I know I've been leaving out suhoor but really we eat almost the same things. Boiled eggs, mini bagels or pita bread, olive oil, yougurt, fruit or we do a multi-grain cereal with 1% milk and then yougurt or granola bar. Simple. A few days I've done an egg sandwich on oatbread. I grew up eating the cheap white bread which I still love with mayo and fried bologny (as we say in the south!) but I stay faaaar from that snack now! lol

So day #8: I made another shorba (of course) and this one was uber-simple and very yummy. Use canned, frozen, or reconstituted chicken stock. I use about 3 qts generally. Add a few cloves of finely chopped garlic and a good swirl of olive oil. Sometimes I lightly saute the garlic first but my family loves garlic so it isn't necessary.

Then I added some shredded carrot, just a bit to add to the color and overall texture/nutritional value. Give it a nice boil, then add your rinsed/drained red lentils. Yes I love these little guys. I like the color and how fast they cook. :-) Gently boil for maybe 15 minutes, test for the doneness you prefer. I like them slightly mushy, kinda disintegrating. Maybe ya'll like it different so cook it less or more.

We also had salad of course, and then I made a pretty tasty dish with the leftover burgers. There wasn't a lot left so I sauteed some baby 'bella mushrooms and an onion in a bit of butter, then mixed a mushroom gravy (from packet lol) and added the chopped, cooked burgers. I served it over plain boiled basmati rice. It was surprisingly good! Oh I did add a little "Bam!" to it with a tbsp of chipotle adobo sauce. Hmmmmmmm good!

Looks possibly less than appetizing but don't let its appearance fool you. :-)

#9:

We had the leftover lentil shorba (addis abba) and salad (duh!). :-) Aaminah was craving some salmon so we made a baked salmon fillet, Me... sorry I only like salmon in patties, mixed with celery, onion, egg, and cornmeal. :-) I know, southern girl likes fried food, go figure. lol I used the 3 spice mix I ground fresh the other day (coriander, dried lemon and caraway), some salt, cumin, and maybe something else I forgot. :-)

We had about 1 pound of skin on, Atlantic salmon and we baked it at 350 for around 45-50 minutes, checking frequently. Oh and drizzle a bit of olive oil on top so it doesn't dry out.

Funny story, Aaminah loves salmon, adores it, her eating habits are masha'Allah very mediterranean. :-) However she has recently developed this understanding of exactly where our food comes from. Last night, she took one look at her salmon and said, "I am afraid it's alive!"

It didn't matter how I tried to reassure her she just woulnd't eat it. I can't blame her, I'm weird with food too. I tried our normal little funny things when I am trying to make her laugh. I picked up a bit of salmon and said "Eat me, eat me, I'll make you strong!".

She eyed it skeptically then announced, "I don't EAT fish that TALKS. No no!". LOL So that backfired and she only ate a few bites of a dish she normally loves.

I also bought some ice cream for a treat and she was excited.

Once again sorry for the lack of photos but if something turns out a treat, I'll try to remember and snap a shot. :-)

Ma salaam ya'll....