perfect summer side

orzo = love. roasted veg = love. so why not combine them? that's exactly what i did in my roasted vegetable orzo salad. nothing too exciting, but with good, basic flavours. you really can't go wrong. this is a very versatile recipe that can be made with an array of veggies (mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes, onions, etc), you can any add fresh herbs and it can be served warm or cold! soooo many options!

what you need:
1 globe eggplant, cut in cubes
1 zucchini, sliced
2 bell peppers of any colour (i used red and yellow)
1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes
1.5 cups orzo (whole wheat if you can)
nice hunk of feta cheese
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil
salt + pepper

step 1:
preheat oven to 400. i like to cut and salt my eggplant for ~30 minutes, but you don't have to. next, go ahead and chop all veggies in bite sized pieces, toss on baking trays with some olive oil and roast till caramelized, approximately 40 minutes, turning once.
step 2:
while your veggies are roasting, cook the orzo according to package instructions, drain, and put into a large bowl. cut your sun dried tomatoes into small pieces, and add to the bowl.
step 3:
once your veggies are done cooking, add them to the bowl along with the orzo. add a squeeze of lemon juice, a little olive oil, salt and pepper and toss.
step 4: 
when ready to serve, crumble some feta cheese over the top, and voila!


makes ~5 servings
i've eaten this alone for dinner, but would be great along with some grilled souvlaki and tzatziki! 

super easy, super quick zucchini pie-quiche thing

my faaaavourite veggie of all time has to be zucchini. it's basically a must have in my fridge! its yummy, cooks quickly and pretty much can be used in anything. this is why i love it so much! anyways, this is a really quick and super delicious dish that i discovered this summer while staying at my yiayia's house. christina and i both ate massive, massive, massive amounts of this over the summer. it was an issue. buuut now i have the recipe.. which makes it a bigger issue. it's pretty healthy so that makes it a bit better i guess...?

mmm goldeny brown ooey-gooey bits

what you need:
2 large zucchini
6 eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint and parsley
spring onion (i omitted this... not a fan!)
1.5 cups flour
1 cup low fat grated cheese

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 350. dice your zucchini into small, bite sized pieces. chop your parsley, mint, and spring onion.
step 2:
mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and pour into a baking dish. cook for ~35 minutes, or until nice and golden brown.

i had mine with avocado and sriracha sauce!

that's it! see how easy it was? you can eat it warm or cold (i personally prefer it cold) and made enough for 4-5 servings.

orzo shmorzo

truth be told, i forgot about orzo for a while, even though it's one of my favourite pastas to eat! orzo/kritharaki is a rice shaped pasta traditionally made of barley, but now mostly made with wheat. they're so cute! i really couldn't find it anywhere in the grocery store, but it turns out i just wasn't looking in the right places. finally one day i had to ask for some, and it was in the pasta isle the whole time! i don't know. i'm a bit blind i guess. you can also find it in any greek shop, but don't look for orzo, look for kritharaki. one of the best, best ways to make orzo, in my opinion, is in youvetsi, a greek beef or lamb stew with tomato sauce. i'm going try and make it soon... i can't wait!!

kritharaki means 'little barley' in greek

what you need:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup orzo
1/2 a zucchini cut thinly into quarters
4 cloves garlic (i like a lot of garlic!)
1 tsp thyme
lemon juice
1 tsp chili flakes

step 1:
put a pot of water on to boil for the orzo. it should only taken about 10 minutes to be al dente. strain into a colander.
step 3: 
in the same pot set to medium heat, add in the olive oil and garlic. cook down for a few minutes and then add in your thyme, chilli flakes and zucchini slices. once the zucchini is cooked, add your orzo back into the pan and mix. squeeze a nice bit of lemon juice over the top and set aside.
step 4: 
the orzo can be served warm, or as a cold salad. i served mine with lemon/thyme salmon and it was delicious!

chili weather, aussi

mhmm last week i defs had a limited pantry and decided it would be smart to just buy a few things and make a meal that would last a long time. this way, when my famjam came over for a couple of days i didn't have to worry about veggies going wrinkly. i got this recipe for a chilli bake-moussaka type thing from my friend the english girl in bc. it looked really yummy, so i decided to try it out myself. i made a couple of changes, but nothing big. it was reaaalllyy nommy!

what you need:
1 eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1/2 a large onion
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 medium package of lean ground beef
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup grated cheese
salt

step 1:
pre-heat oven to 375. cut up your eggplant and zucchini into slices (around 0.5 inches thick) and lay in a sieve. lightly salt both and lay out for 15-20 minutes. by then, you will see large drops of liquid sitting on top of the veggies. to get out as much water as possible, i decided to lay out the veggies on a couple sheets of paper towel.

the towel will soak up lots of extra liquid

step 2:
chop up your onion and garlic. saute in a large pan with olive oil till translucent. then add in your ground beef and cook. since i used an eggplant and a zucchini, i had leftovers of both. so i took the extra slices and finely diced them up.
step 3: 
once your beef is brown, drain the fat - you want to have as little liquid in the mix as possible. add in the tomatoes (sans liquid), diced up eggplant and zucchini, cumin, chilli flakes, paprika and chilli powder. simmer for a few minutes until there's less liquid in the mix. i scooped some of it out with a spoon just to make sure it wasn't so watery when i went to put it in the dish.
step 4:
put your first layer of veggies down in a oven-proof dish. spoon in your first layer of meat mix on top, and if you have enough cheese, you can put some on the top of this layer. then repeat as many times as you like. on the very top layer, add extra cheese. it makes it uber gooey!

just starting the second layer of nommy-ness

step 5:
lay some tin foil on the dish and put in the oven for ~40 minutes. take the foil off in the last 10 minutes so the cheese gets all nice and brown and bubbly. then you're ready to eat!

the finished product!

this was a really, really yummy and filling meal. it over all didn't cost too much and it ended up lasting me a good 4 days! next time i may try it with some of the veggie stuff that looks like ground beef, and maybe add some more veggies in. possibly some strips of whole wheat lasagna too?

pah-stuh

this weekend my dad came over from the island to hang out with me! i'm surprised he even made it over - it snowed quite a bit friday night. the only problem he ran into was on the ferry... nobody had thought to salt the bridge to take you onto the boat. that was just really stupid. dad left yesterday and today i was a bit homesick and it was cold so i decided to make a big pot of yummy pasta. it was sooo good i seriously wanted to eat the whole thing but i left some for lunch tomorrow.. that took all my willpower!

what you will need:
2-3 handfuls of whole wheat rotini pasta (farfalle or angel hair pasta would be good too)
1 tsp olive oil
5 shrimp (i used pre-cooked frozen and thawed them)
1/2 onion, chopped finely
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 zucchini, chopped
1/2 a broccoli head
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp sun dried tomatoes, chopped into chunks
small chunk of feta cheese
1 tsp paprika and thyme
1 1/2 tsp crushed chili flakes

step 1:
put a pot of water on high and add a pinch of salt. leave until boiling. in the meantime, take your shrimp and defrost them in a sieve under cold, running water. chop your veggies while waiting for water and shrimp.
step 2:
put a pan on medium heat and add in olive oil. when warm add in onion and crushed garlic. saute for 5 minutes until onions are soft. at this point your water should be boiling so add in pasta and cook for ~8 minutes or until done.
step 3:
add spices into saute pan and cook for a minute. add in sun dried tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli and cook for 5 minutes. pour in chicken broth and thawed shrimp, stir. add cooked pasta into the pan and toss. when warm, crumble chunk of feta straight into the pan and toss again. serve!


next time i'm going to add more sun dried tomatoes cause they were just soooo yummy.

nommy pasta   : )