Labaneya (Egyptian Yogurt and Spinach Soup)

Labaneya (Egyptian Yogurt and Spinach Soup)
from Baltic Maid

Ingredients:
1 tsp. olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 - 12 oz. bag spinach
4 cups broth
1/2 cup uncooked rice
2 cups yogurt
3 cloves garlic, minced

Instructions:
1. Heat olive oil in large skillet, and saute onion until soft. Then, add spinach and cook until spinach is completely wilted.
2. Transfer cooked spinach/onion into a pot, and add broth and uncooked rice. Cook on medium-high for about 20 minutes, until rice is cooked.
3. Turn heat down to low, and whisk in yogurt and raw garlic. Heat soup until desired temperature, making sure not to boil.
4. (optional) Add salt and pepper to taste, garnish with mint.

Mushroom Risotto

Super tasty, my whole family loved it. This is a double of the recipe. I also omitted 2 diced onions (because my dad despises onion). If you want to add them (highly recommended), add them at the first step with the zucchini and squash. Also, stir in 1/2 t. onion powder at the last step (with the lemon juice).

Mushroom Risotto
adapted from clean green simple

Ingredients:
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 large zucchini, seeded and cut into 1/2" by 1.5" strips, roughly
1 small yellow squash, seeded and cut into 1/2" by 1.5" strips, roughly
5 portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/2" by 1.5" strips, roughly
2 t. dried thyme
1 t. salt
1/2 c. white wine
2 c. long grained rice
6 c. vegetarian chicken broth
1 T. lemon juice

Instructions:
1. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic, zucchini, and squash. Cook until squashes are soft, but still firm.
2. Add mushrooms, thyme, salt, and wine. Mix until mushrooms are softened.
3. Add rice, and stir, until rice starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.
4. Add broth 3/4 cup at a time, stirring well, and letting the rice soak up the broth before adding more (about 5 mins). Stir frequently.
5. Once all broth is added, stir in lemon juice and serve.

Mexican Rice

I made this to go with taco night. Tasty! I forgot the tomato sauce, but it was still very good with out it. Next time I might not rinse the rice before hand, so it might toast better.

Mexican Rice
adapted from Simple Comfort Food

Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil
1 c. uncooked long grain rice, rinsed
2 c. vegetarian chicken broth
3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
4 c. garlic, minced
1/4 c. plain tomato sauce (optional, I omitted)
1 Roma tomato, diced
1 t. cumin powder
1 t. hot spicy powder (if desired)
1/4 cup peas (frozen, canned, or fresh)
salt to taste

Instructions:
1. Heat oil in a pot on medium heat. Add the uncooked rice, and stir frequently until golden-browned.
2. Add garlic and mix for a minute. Then mix in the rest of the ingredients, minus the peas.
3. Reduce to a simmer, cover leaving a crack, and cook for 20 mins.
4. After it's done cooking, fluff rice, and toss in peas and stir to mix.

Parsley Potato Salad

I had some left-over parsley from my Bulgarian pepper experiment, and Google lead me to this recipe! Great side dish, I liked how it turned out.


I found some spring onions around the university, and decided to pull some big ones up. These came in handy today, because I didn't have a whole onion for the recipe, and these substituted nicely. They can be found in lightly-grassy areas. To dig them up, just dig out the earth around a clump of them until you can see the tops of the onion bulb. Then grab the entire group, rotate in a circle pulling up slightly until they give.


To prepare, get rid of all the green parts, and chop off the roots at the end. Then carefully peel off the outside of the white part, and use just the inner bulb.



Parsley Potato Salad
adapted from All Recipes
Ingredients:
1 onion, diced (I used half an onion and 6 or 7 spring onions)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lbs potatoes, scrubbed
1 cup vegetable broth
1 T. olive oil
1 cup minced parsley leaves (all stems removed)
1/2 t. ground black pepper

Instructions:
1. Peel a strip of skin off the potatoes around the center, and put into a pot of warm/hot water, and set aside.
2. Heat oil in skillet on medium heat, and add diced onions and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add in parsley and broth, and bring to a boil, then turn off heat.
3. Pour out water on potatoes, dice potatoes, refill pot with salted warm water, add potatoes. Bring to a boil, and then cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
4. Strain potatoes, add in pepper to parsley mix, and toss potatoes with parsley mix. Garnish with more parsley leaves if desired.